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And now Spindletorn.
“Keep going,” she shouted, to anyone who could hear her, to anyone who made it through the canyon.
Corayne’s grip shifted on her waist, the pressure fleeting but unmistakable. To their right, Dom had the sword. Sorasa nearly wept in relief, choking out a triumphant cry.
We are enough.
She dared not look back, lest she see the others broken or trampled.
On the horizon, the oasis glimmered. An odd sight, like the edge of a blade laid against the earth. Steel. Silver. Mercury.
Her breath caught.
Mirrors on the sand. The Eye of Haroun.
And this.
The sand turned to liquid, her horse’s hooves kicking up water instead of dust. But the mares kept on, the Shiran never stopping, every horse plunging into the shallow layer of water laid across the harshest desert upon the Ward.
It was shockingly cold.
Sorasa shivered as she never had before. The merciless sun of Ibal beat down on her face while the water of Meer splashed around her, lapping up the legs of her mare.
“I think this is the right place,” Corayne said weakly in her ear.
31
BLOOD AND BLADE
Corayne
Corayne flinched as a spray of water broke across her face, stinging her eyes and spurting up her nose. It tasted too cold, and a gray edge to the water left streaks on her skin. She tried to wipe them away, staining her hands. She’d never seen anything like this. The oasis was flooded, a new lake forming across hot sand, turning everything to sucking mud. She could barely make out the slight hills of the oasis, palm trees bending brown and green. The town nestled within, small and unassuming, its buildings blue paint and decorated white stone. She heard crashing waves somewhere, or a waterfall, or both.This doesn’t make sense,Corayne thought, blinking at the shining water, nearly blinding as it reflected the sun overhead.
But there was no time to wonder. The Gallish soldiers guarding the canyon would pursue, and there were more in Nezri, to protect the Spindle. She leaned forward, pressing her cheek against Sorasa’s warm back. The assassin’s firm, steady heartbeat grounded her.
“Did we make it?” Corayne panted, fighting to be heard over the splashing hooves.
The Shiran fanned out, snorting and tossing their heads. Their formation lost its tightness without the canyon, and Corayne felt like she could breathe again, no longer surrounded. She searched the horses, looking for riders, in the saddle or dangling from it.
There was no one behind them but the dust cloud and, in it, the telltale flash of sun on steel.The Lion is already coming.Corayne hissed through her teeth.
“We’re here!”
Andry panted as he rode up alongside their mare, back in the saddle, his face streaked with red dust. Blood bloomed along his sleeve, seeping from some wound. Corayne’s eyes flickered to it.
“One of the horses bit me,” he said, catching his breath. “Could’ve been worse.”
Another mare joined their number, breathing hard beneath the weight of Charlie Armont. “No shit. I nearlydied,” he crowed, his face purple. There were angry burns on his arms, lines from the reins.He must’ve been dragged all the way through the canyon.“I nearly lost mysupplies! My ink, my seals...”
Sigil rode out of the mirrored sand, her figure rippling into solid form. The horse danced beneath her. “A child could outride you, Priest,” she said dryly. “What of the witch?”
Corayne could not say what swelled in her, an instinct or a feeling or something deeper. But she didn’t bother looking for Valtik, in the herd or on the horizon. “She’ll come when we need her.”
Sorasa tightened under her hands, glancing over her shoulder. “I think we need her now.”
Soldiers ahead, soldiers behind. A Spindle between them.
Corayne looked to Dom, one hand on his reins, the other on her Spindleblade. He followed her gaze and dipped his brow. Again she saw him on the cliffs of Lemarta, kneeling on the road and begging her forgiveness.Asking me to save the world.
