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After dining on blackberry pancakes and freshly pressed juice, courtesy of Zia, they acquired horses and rode out of the gates.
“Where exactly are we going?” Tenah asked, throwing him a suspicious look.
“No interrogations. Just ride.” Renton nudged his horse into a gallop, tearing through the waist-high fields, hot air billowing his shirt and hair.
“No offense, but I’m not partial to the secrets you keep,” Tenah yelled.
He tipped his head back with a free laugh as he caught her spewing curses. The rhythmic drumming of hooves on the dry ground picked up, and he peeked back, spotting her leaned down against her mare’s neck. It looked like she was whispering insults in its twitching ear. The animal would never catch him. He’d purposely given her the slower horse.
Massive chunks of rock, slashed through with lines of deep red and orange, rose up from the flat landscape. Evidence that the isles had once been part of something much greater.
Renton slowed his horse, enraptured by Tenah’s awestruck expression.
“Your riding has improved,” he said.
She rolled her eyes. “My riding is exactly the same. The western kingdoms just breed better horses than your wretched isle.”
He surveyed the plateau before them, a hand rested on his hip. “Shall we climb?”
Her head lurched to him. “What?”
Renton dismounted. He strode to the rocky wall and gripped the first jutting handholds. “Aeyis mentioned you enjoy climbing. It’s a stress reliever, yeah?”
“Aeyis needs to find some other hobbies besides stealing secrets,” she retorted.
He was grateful to see her taking up position on the plateau wall.
Tenah rubbed her hands on her pants before finding her first hold. “We’re not racing, are we?”
“No race. Just climb.”
With no sight of what was at the top, sometimes it was hard to do just that. To keep moving. To force torn, aching muscles to respond.
Renton had buried himself so far down, shredded by Boedworth and hunters he’d once considered family, his father’s death and all of his own anger-fueled mistakes, that his climb had taken years. Hell, he still wasn’t at the top.
He prayed to higher beings that Tenah would find the inner strength to do what he had never accomplished. He prayed she would come out of the Void whole, or he might find himself back down in that pit, greeting old demons.
Chapter34
Tenah
Tenah’s arms were trembling by the time she slapped a hand down on the top of the plateau. Sweat-caked and panting, she yelped as someone grabbed her and hauled her up the rest of the way.
“About time you made it.” Gireth beamed. “Took Vesara and me less than ten minutes. Aeyis clung to the wall for what, another forty minutes? It was hilarious.”
Tenah glanced over at Vesara poised on the center of the giant, ancient rock, knives all arranged before her, waiting to be sharpened. Then she took in Aeyis, laid out with his eyes closed as if he were begging higher beings to take him into the afterlife.
She snorted, appreciating the fact that he wasn’t instantly good at everything.
“Shut up. Heights aren’t my thing,” Aeyis grumbled.
“Weren’t you the one to suggest this idea to the group?” Vesara asked.
“I am my own worst enemy, aren’t I?”
Flustered, Tenah rubbed at her temples. “Okay, what’s going on here?”
“You asked for me to take you out of city limits,” Renton said, heaving his body onto the surface of the giant rock with a grunt.
