Page 75 of Blood of the Sands

I didn’t answer his question, scowling at him instead. “I won’t do things your way if it makes me like the Viper.”

“I wasn’t the one who looked within myself and found anger. That was all you.” He sounded satisfied, and my hackles rose.

“And what is the purpose you meditate on? To destroy your own city—your own family?”

“The peace of Kelvadan is a lie.” His smooth voice had transformed into a menacing growl.

It was the second time he had said something similar, and I found myself springing to my feet.

“Says the one that would bring war to his own people. I was wrong to think that you could teach me about anything but violence and betrayal.”

I spun on my heel and set off into the desert. Wishing for the strength of Daiti beneath me, I pumped my arms, my soft soled boots churning up the sand beneath me as I ran. I knew Erix didn’t follow, but I felt compelled to put as much distance between us as possible.

I ripped off my hood, wanting to feel the wind in my hair and the sun on my face. The desert was my one constant companion throughout the years— the one who looked on me without judgement. I ran until my lungs screamed and my legs turned to fire.

Falling to my knees in the sand, I panted, gathering my breath before turning my face to the sky and letting out a feral scream. It was a wild noise, the type of thing that felt natural in exile, but I held in within the walls of Kelvadan.

The sound of pure frustration was swept away across the open plain by the wind. I could run away from the Viper, but I couldn’t outrun the anger I found inside myself.

I led Daiti out of the arched opening to Kelvadan, the flanking guards looking at me curiously as I turned in the opposite direction of the encampment. I wasn’t in the mood to join the feasts tonight, even though I had no intention of joining Erix again. Now, I only wanted my horse and the open sky for company.

I swung up onto Daiti’s broad back, relishing the solidity of his body between my thighs and the silkiness of his mane as I let it wash over my hands. He pawed the ground and tossed his head, obviously pleased to be out of the stables himself.

Wasting no time, I urged him into a canter, riding straight out, away from the cliffs. I didn’t worry about getting lost when the spire of Kelvadan could be seen for miles.

The desert looked different in the moonlight, less harsh in the silvery light of night. Where the sun leeched the landscape of its colors, now the sky looked so rich and velvety that I imagined I could reach out and touch it. Still, the desert was no less alive in the dark, a burrowing owl swooping overhead as it looked for its next meal and a family of sand cats darting by in search of water.

Some semblance of peace had just started to wash over me when the quiet was shattered by a shout.

“Rider!”

I wheeled Daiti around, looking for the source of the sound.

“Rider!”

I spotted a woman, stumbling over the sands, waving her arms desperately for my attention. With a murmur, I urged Daiti toward her, hand on the hilt of my saber. As I approached, I released the weapon. The woman was so haggard, clothes torn and barely on her feet, that I knew she posed no threat to us.

“Please, I need help.” She tried to clutch at Daiti’s side, whether for support or to keep me from riding away, I couldn’t tell. My mount tried to snap at her hand, but I slapped at his neck in a silent command to stand down.

“What’s wrong?” I frowned down at her, wandering the desert without a mount. Perhaps another exile.

“Clan Otush, we’re under attack,” she gasped. Her voice came out rough, as if she hadn’t had anything to drink in hours.

I unhooked my skin from my belt and handed it to her. “From another clan?”

She gulped greedily before answering, shaking her head and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “No, the clans are in a truce until the results of the Trials reach us. It’s a creature… a lava wyrm.”

I frowned, shaking my head, even as a slither of fear crawled up my spine. “It can’t—”

“I know what I saw.” Despite her obvious exhaustion, the woman’s voice came out strong.

My blood ran cold despite the warmth of the night. Lava wyrms existed only in legends—stories of old told around clan campfires of how they could only be felled by the greatest riders. They hadn’t been seen since the desert had been crossed and tamed by humans nearly a thousand years ago.

The woman staring up at me, determination palpable in her gaze, convinced me otherwise.

“Get on,” I ordered, scooting forward to make room behind me on Daiti’s back. He huffed as if annoyed that I would let somebody else mount him, but stayed still as I glared between his ears, begging him to behave.

We set off toward the encampment, my mind racing as fast as Daiti over the baked earth. Perhaps the desert was really tearing itself apart if creatures of legend were terrorizing the clans once more. This would only make the lords more desperate for a solution—one that Lord Alasdar and his Viper were all too happy to supply.