For the first time, the jair’oa didn’t answer right away. His ears twitched as he sat there, gazing at the star grub still moving weakly on the rock with him. “Meeka... not know,” he said at last.
“Will you be able to eat other things when you run out of grubs?”
“Meeka not know.” Meeka reached down, picked up the dying star grub, and slipped it carefully back into his pouch. “Meeka has never been away from nest. Meeka has never eaten anything but star grub.” He paused, the end of his tail swaying back and forth. “Meeka not know what to do,” he said at last, and his whiskers trembled. “Rememberers and Meeka’s family back at nest, far, far away. Meeka cannot see them. Cannot blink that far.” His ears flattened, and he curled his tail around himself and clutched the tip to his chest. “Meeka is alone.”
Sympathy swelled in my chest. “You’re not alone,” I told him, sitting beside him on the rock. “You still have us. We’ll figure something out, I promise.” He stared at me with large black eyes,looking so much like a mournful puppy dog, I resisted the urge to pet him between the ears. “Come on,” I told him, and held out a hand. “Let’s go back to the others. I bet Halek will have some sort of crazy scheme that may or may not work. But it’ll be something at least.” He blinked at me, and I smiled. “You’re part of the group now. We’re all in this together.”
The jair’oa observed me a moment more. Without warning, he sprang up my arm, tiny claws digging into my sleeve, until he reached my shoulder. Wrapping his tail around my neck, he settled against me, balanced perfectly and weighing almost nothing at all.
“Meeka like this,” he stated. “Can see far. Meeka stay with human Fateless for a while.”
His body was a small, furry warmth against my neck, his whiskers and the tuft of his tail tickling my skin. I gave in to the urge and reached up, scratching the jair’oa behind the ears, stroking his soft fur. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to mind.
Seventeen
“So, your magic caterpillars are all dead now?” Halek said, gazing at Meeka, who was still perched on my shoulder. Behind him, Kysa stood with Rhyne and Ratuk, the two rock beetles saddled and waiting impatiently to go.
“Not all yet,” Meeka answered. “Soon, though. Soon grubs will be... dead.”
“I guess I’m trying to understand the problem,” Halek went on, scratching the back of his neck. “A grub is basically an insect. If a jair’oa can eat a grub, it can eat other things, right? Plenty of spiders, scorpions, and centipedes live in the desert. Have you tried chomping on one of them?”
“That is not the problem, Halek.” It was Kysa who answered, stepping away from the rock beetles and looking at Meeka as she came forward. “The star grubs are the jair’oa’s source of magic,” she said. “The life they sacrifice to gain power. Once they are gone, Meeka will be unable to use that magic. Is this correct?”
“Meeka not know,” Meeka said from his perch on my shoulder. His tail beat an agitated rhythm against my collarbone, tickling the skin. “But dead grub has no magic. No energy from creator king. Meeka could taste nothing.”
“I guess the question is, do you have to consume the star grubs to survive, or can you eat other things?” This was from Raithe,sitting against a rock a few steps away. “You’ll lose your ability to do magic, but staying alive is preferable to the alternative.”
The jair’oa wrinkled his nose, then slumped against me, ears drooping. “Meeka will try,” he said, sounding glummer than I’d ever heard before. “Once star grubs all dead, Meeka will try... other things.” He sniffed and bared his front incisors in a silent grimace. “Meeka has no choice.”
“Hey, it’s not all bad.” Halek grinned at him. “One of the best things about wandering the world is all the different foods you encounter. You haven’t really lived until you’ve eaten a slice of fresh honey melon from Tahveena. Or tasted Daggerpoint’s famous cactus blossom wine.”
He was trying to cheer Meeka up, but the jair’oa settled down on my shoulder, curled his tail tightly around my neck, and closed his eyes. I felt bad for him. Halek didn’t understand. It wasn’t about having to eat new things; it was about losing something that had been as natural to the jair’oa as breathing. The jair’oa were small, but their ability for magic made them unique, even powerful. Without it, they were as vulnerable as any creature living in a harsh, unforgiving world of predators and prey. I could understand his fear; I had felt like prey myself on more than one occasion.
The chill of the night faded quickly. Even before Solasti had risen fully over the horizon, the air was already shimmering. Against the haze, the World Scar mountains loomed, ominous and threatening. As we got closer and the mountain range became clearer, they resolved themselves into a line of jagged black peaks scraping the sky. For some reason, lookingat them sent a shiver crawling up my spine. The sharp, uneven spires didn’t look natural. They looked like they had been forcibly pulled from the ground and dragged into the air, pointed and arranged in the most threatening way possible.
“They might’ve been,” Raithe said, after I voiced this opinion out loud. “After the Deathless broke the loom, they didn’t want anyone finding the missing piece, so they turned the land around it into an inhospitable wasteland. Maybe theywerethe ones who pulled up the mountains, to further separate the loom from everything.”
I shivered. Before the rise of the Deathless King and the fall of Kovass, I would’ve been hard-pressed to believe that. It was difficult to imagine anything having that kind of power. Now I wondered what kind of horrific things we would encounter once we crossed into the mountains. If the Deathless had made the land impossible to survive, how were we going to get to the temple, much less find the loom?
QueenSahmessyiawas one of the Deathless who brokeMaederyss’sloom and hurled the piece to the earth, I thought.She was here when they changed the land to keep it hidden. In the thousands of years since, did she forget what they did? Or does she know exactly what we’re about to face, and didn’t warn us?
I did not voice those thoughts out loud. It wouldn’t have made any difference. I trusted Raithe with my heart, my soul, and everything I had. I was not so certain about the queen he served.
Demon Hour crept close, and we set up camp, pitching the tent and the shelter for the rock beetles. Ratuk seemed moremorose than usual, half-heartedly chewing the sticks I offered and not responding when I scratched his horn.
“He is missing being able to fly,” Kysa said when I asked the rock beetle what was wrong. She looked up from where she was adjusting Rhyne’s saddlebags, and a worried frown crossed her face. “I warned you this might happen. Rock beetles are creatures of the land, but also creatures of the air. Flying is how they fight, how they travel, how they push themselves as warriors.”
“But he’s injured.” Gazing at Ratuk, I gave him the command to open his wings. He did, revealing that the rip in his membrane was still there. It was definitely smaller, so itwashealing, but he certainly wouldn’t be able to fly without risking permanent damage. “He’s still hurt,” I said, as Ratuk closed his shell again. “If he flies, he could tear the wing further.”
“I agree,” Kysa said, nodding. “Buthedoesn’t understand that.”
“What do I do, then?”
“Sadly, aside from getting into a battle, I’m afraid there is nothing we can do.” Kysa gave Ratuk a sympathetic look. “Hopefully, he will come out of it, but if his spirit is waning, he will sink further into depression. If he stops eating or starts ignoring commands, that is when you should worry.”
“I’m already worried, Kysa.” I gazed at Ratuk, a lump growing in my throat. My rock beetle was unhappy, and I didn’t know how to help him. “Is there really nothing we can do to cheer him up, even a little?”
“Rock beetles require only three things to be content,” Kysa replied. “Food, structure, and battle. They appreciatecompanionship, but they are warriors at heart. Challenges and battle nourish their spirit like nothing else.”
