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Corayne fought the urge to scoff. Instead she drew herself up, sitting straighter in the shade. To her surprise, all eyes flew to her. Even Valtik, counting serpent fangs, looked up from her work.
The combined weight of their eyes fell heavy on already-weary shoulders. Corayne tried to think of her mother, of her voice upon the deck. Unyielding, unafraid.
“We should keep moving,” she said.
Dom’s low rumble answered. “Do you have a destination, Corayne?”
Immortal as he was, one of the ancient Elders, he seemed exhausted.
Corayne’s confidence faltered and she picked at her stained sleeve. “Somewhere without a massacre,” she finally offered. “Wordwillget back to Erida and Taristan. We must keep moving.”
A chuckle escaped Sorasa’s lips. “Word fromwho? Dead men don’t carry news, and there’s only dead men behind us.”
Red and white flashed behind Corayne’s eyes, a memory as much as a physical presence. She swallowed, fighting back the dreams that plagued her more and more. They were no longer a mystery.What Waits,she knew.Can he see me now? Does he watch us? Is he following me wherever I go—and will Taristan follow too?The questions overwhelmed her, their paths too fearsome to follow.
“Even so.” Corayne forced her voice to turn to steel, channeling a bit of her mother’s strength. “I’d like to use whatever head start we have to get away from this place.”
“Only one gone.” Valtik’s voice was a scratch of nails on ice, her eyes a vibrant and impossible blue. She shoved fangs into the pouch at her waist. “We must keep on.”
Despite the Jydi witch’s constant and insufferable rhyming, Corayne felt a smile rise to her lips.
“At least you aren’t entirely useless,” she said warmly, dipping her head to the old woman. “That kraken would be terrorizing the Long Sea by now if not for you, Valtik.”
A murmur of agreement went through the others, except for Andry. His eyes trailed over the witch, but they were far away.Still with the Gallish bodies,Corayne knew. She wanted to tear the sadness right out of his chest.
“Care to explain exactlywhatyou did to the sea monster ofanother realm?” Sorasa said, angling a dark eyebrow. Her dagger slid home in its sheath.
Valtik didn’t reply, happily rearranging her braids, plaited with fangs and old lavender.
“Suppose krakens hate her rhyming too,” Sigil replied, chuckling through a crooked smile.
Charlie smirked in the shade. “We should recruit a bard next. Really round out this band of fools and sing the rest of Taristan’s monsters back home.”
If only it were so simple,Corayne wanted to say, knowing it was not. But even so, hope fluttered in her chest, weak but still alive.
“We might be a band of fools,” she said, half for herself, “but we closed a Spindle.”
Her hands balled into fists and she stood, legs strong beneath her. Determination replaced her fear.
“And we can do it again,” she said. “As Valtik said, we must keep on. I say we go. Head north to the Long Sea, hug the coast until we reach a village.”
Sorasa opened her mouth to argue, but Dom cut her off, rising to his feet at Corayne’s side. His eyes were on the southern horizon, finding the red line of the Marjeja and the once-flooded plain of gold.
Corayne turned to smile up at him, but stopped short at the sight of his face.
Sorasa saw the fear in him too. She flew to his side, shading her eyes to match his stare. After a long moment of searching, she gave up and turned back to the immortal, glaring up at his stone-blank face.
“What is it?” she bit out, breath ragged through her teeth.
Sigil’s hand went to her ax and Andry roused from his dreamlike sorrow, whirling from the horses. Charlie cursed down at his feet.
“Dom?” A swoop of terror dropped in Corayne’s stomach as she abandoned her shade. She eyed the horizon too but found the glare of sun and sand unbearable.
At last the immortal sucked in a gasp of air.
“Forty riders on dark horses. Their faces are covered, their robes black, made for the heat.”
Sorasa kicked at the sand, hissing to herself.
