Halek frowned. “And what will you be doing while the rest of us run away, kahjai?”
Raithe gave a humorless smile. “What do you think?”
Horror filled me. “We’re not leaving you, Raithe!” I told him, as the scrapes and shuffles of the horde drew closer. “We’re not leavinganyonebehind.” Because if I left, I would have to. Ratuk couldn’t fly. Raithe, the sand dragon, and Ratuk would have to stay behind with the horde, where they would be crushed or torn apart by unfeeling, unstoppable killers.
The horror spread, turning to nausea. Was this it? Was this Fate catching up to us? To Raithe? If I had left him behind in Irrikah...
“Sparrow.” Raithe looked at me, and the look in his eyes was both gentle and firm. “You have to survive,” he said softly. “TheFateless has to get to the loom—you’re the only one who can touch it and claim the goddess’s power to stand against the Deathless King.” He cut me off as I opened my mouth to protest. “My life is not important—my only duty is to make sure your mission is successful. I am truly sorry for Ratuk, and we will fight as hard as we can before we fall, but you must get to the World Scar. Everything depends on you finding the piece of the loom.”
No, I decided.Not tonight.Fate would not find us, any of us, tonight. I would not allow it.
“I will,” I told him fiercely. The statues were nearly upon us now, a silent, horrifying wave. From atop Ratuk’s back, I looked over the sea of stone faces and saw the roads and alleyways around the square were finally clear. “I will get to the loom, Raithe,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him. “But I will get there with the rest of you. I’m not leaving anyone behind. Ratuk...” I thumped the beetle’s back three times, and Ratuk snorted, throwing up his head. I had just told the beetle to fight for all he was worth, and not to stop unless everything was dead or he was. “Charge!”
The rock beetle let out a war bellow and surged forward. His horn swept down as we hit the first ranks of statues, plowing into them and knocking them aside. Effigies grabbed at us, swinging stone limbs with clawed stone fingers. Blows slammed into Ratuk and vibrated up his shell, but the rock beetle never slowed down. He shoved forward, crashing into statues and knocking them aside, letting out a bellow that made my blood sing. He seemed unstoppable, a juggernaut that crushed the enemiesbefore him, turning statues into nothing but mounds of broken stone and dust.
“Sparrow!”
Kysa’s voice echoed over the square. I looked behind us to see Rhyne swinging his head as he was surrounded by statues, flinging them back. The statues swarmed forward, cutting off his path to us, and Rhyne fell farther back. “There are too many!” the insect rider called. “We have to go another way!” She swept her spear at the tops of the buildings, where a sickly crescent moon was rising over the trees. “We’ll meet outside of town. If there are too many statues, we’ll keep going until we reach the border of the Dead Lands. Fate be with you both!”
Rhyne turned, sweeping his horn back and forth to clear himself a path as the statues swarmed him. My heart caught in my throat, watching stony hands and fingers tear at the rock beetle. For a terrifying heartbeat, it seemed like they would pull him down. But then Rhyne surged forward, flinging a pair of statues backward and crushing more underfoot as he charged toward the opposite side of the square. I sent a prayer to Maederyss that the insect rider and the Fatechaser would find their way through the chaos and come out safely on the other side, before turning back to Ratuk and the swarm in front of us.
Ratuk hit the entrance of the alleyway with a grinding crunch that raised the hair on the back of my neck. The statues clogging the opening screeched against each other and the wall as the rock beetle continued shoving his way forward, using his horn and pure brute strength to clear a path. Limbs snapped,stone ground against stone, and rocks crumbled as the enormous beetle plowed his way through.
Something grabbed my ankle and curled around the heel of my boot. I looked down to see a statue with half its face gone grasping Ratuk’s saddlebag with one hand, the other clinging to my foot. I let out a yelp and tried kicking it away, but the statue released its hold on Ratuk and fell, taking me down with it. I hit the stone street with a jolt that knocked the wind from my lungs, but instantly scrambled upright, kicking at the jagged, ruined face of the statue clawing at me. That did nothing but send a jolt of agony through my leg, and the statue scuttled after me as two more rushed in. I dodged one’s swipe, ducked beneath another, and hit the wall of a building, boxing myself in. The pair of stone killers closed in with arms raised, and I braced myself to die.
Raithe’s sand dragon lunged in front of me, the kahjai bending down to smash a rusty pipe into a statue’s head. This time, instead of sparks, the blunt weapon crushed the skull beneath it in a cloud of broken shards and dust, and the statue reeled back. Headless, it spun to face the iylvahn on the dragon, as the rest of the statues did the same.
“Sparrow, go!” Raithe shouted, staying in front of me as he fended off the statues that lurched forward, clawing at both him and the dragon. “Get to Ratuk! Hurry!”
I looked up to where the rock beetle was sweeping his horn around in a vicious circle, sending statues flying back from him. He looked enraged, berserk even, and my stomach clenched. “Ratuk!” I shouted, but the rock beetle didn’t seem to hear me through the chaos of grinding stone and flailing limbs. Puttingtwo fingers to my lips, I blew out a piercing whistle, as I’d seen Kysa do.
Ratuk turned his head as the whistle rang through the alley, and his eyes met mine. With a bellow, he swung his head, smashing a statue aside, then charged. The ground shook as the rock beetle rumbled toward me. As he drew closer, he lowered his head, bringing his horn close to the ground. He didn’t slow, and for a second, I panicked, wondering if Ratuk was going to run me over, before I realized what he was doing.
I took three steps, leaped onto the horn, and felt the rock beetle toss his head, flinging me over his back and into the saddle.
A shriek behind me made my blood run cold. I spun in the saddle to see Raithe’s sand dragon surrounded by statues, clawing and snapping at the monsters that grabbed for it. But the dragon’s sharp claws and teeth scraped off the unyielding stone, doing nothing to impede them, as the statues pressed forward. Raithe swung his makeshift weapon, knocking several back, but there were too many clawing at him and the dragon; he would shatter one skull only to have another replace it, and the statues continued to press forward.
“Raithe!” I cried, “Get out of there! You have to jump!”
The iylvahn rose in the saddle, tensing to spring, just as the sand dragon let out a panicked gurgle. Stone fingers sank into its neck and yanked it down. I cried out as both Raithe and the sand dragon were pulled under and buried beneath the relentless limbs of the statues. I heard bones snapping over the dying shrieks of the poor dragon, and bit back a scream of horror.
“Ratuk! Help them!”
The beetle charged, scything into the cluster of effigies with his horn, flinging them away. I caught a glimpse of the mangled body of the sand dragon, literally torn to pieces, and my heart nearly stopped as Raithe emerged from the mess, covered in blood, but alive. A statue swiped at him, clawing at his face, and he kicked it in the chest, causing it to stagger backward. Unhurt, it caught itself and lurched toward Raithe again, but it gave him a moment to look around and spot me.
I bent in the saddle and extended my arm as the statues lurched forward. “Grab my hand!”
Raithe turned, took two steps forward and sprang for the rock beetle. His fingers closed around my wrist, and I pulled him onto Ratuk’s back, feeling his heart pound as he settled behind me in the saddle. Raising my fist, I struck my mount’s carapace as hard as I could, feeling his bloodlust rise up in response.
“Let’s go, Ratuk! Clear the path!”
A few statues still blocked our way, and more clawed at Ratuk’s flanks, their fingers raking down his hard carapace. Ratuk gave an almost impatient bellow and surged forward, tearing himself free from the horde and knocking statues aside. The remaining statues fell behind us, and the alleyway was suddenly clear.
Ratuk put his head down and charged. More statues tried getting in our way, but the rock beetle was unstoppable, barreling through them with barely a thump. We fled through the streets and soon reached the outskirts of town, and the grinding of stone on stone finally faded behind us.
Eleven
“The sun is coming up,” Raithe murmured.
