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He nodded. “I knew whatever secrets you’d tell Sal Sahteene would put your life—and the Azurstone—in even greater danger.”
I couldn’t believe it. “So, you’ve been following me this whole time—but how? We would have seen you …” I trailed off, answering my own question. I furrowed my eyebrows. “You’re the magpie. You’ve been trailing us in your bird form.”
A knowing smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
“You were the one that warned us the Rathalans were approaching at Javan,” I said, the shock still fresh. I studied him for a moment. With his snowy-blond hair and black leather armor etched with intricate feather designs, now it seemed obvious his other form was a sleek black-and-white bird. “I still don’t understand why you didn’t tell me all this earlier.”
“You weren’t the Raven I once knew,” he said solemnly. “You were traveling with a strange Kovak, you weren’t carrying any weapons with you, you couldn’t fly, you didn’t seem to remember our mission, and you didn’t recognize me. Worse, you actually ran away from me when I caught up to you at the tavern.Though, despite all this, I decided to try to talk to you at the inn in the marketplace. But you fled again before I could.
“At that point, honestly, I started wondering if you were the White Widow in disguise. Maybe she was using your likeness to trick Sora into giving her the map or convince the Kovak to use his tracking skills to find the stone. Or maybe you were leading us into a trap. I know it sounds crazy, but I just couldn’t think of any other explanations for why you weren’t … you.”
“But you still saved my life in Javan and that night in the bramblelands. Why?”
He sighed. “I promised myself I wouldn’t let anything happen to you until I figured out what was going on.”
“What changed your mind? I mean, why tell me all this now?”
“When I saw you were still sick from the bramble poison after the Bramblemen took you to the cells, I went to the queen to beg for her to give you the bramble nectar, assuring her you meant no harm to her land or her tribe. I was sitting outside the room when you confessed to Queen B’Kara that you’d lost your memories. Suddenly, it all made sense why you’d been acting so strangely. After that, I knew it was time I explained who I was and why I was following you—something I should have done the moment I saw you in the Market of End. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s all right,” I said, meaning it. Despite everything, he’d been by my side, protecting me the entire time.
The bramble canopy around us had drifted to sleep, and it was almost quiet enough to hear the stars sparkling above our heads. I studied Skyler’s face in the moonlight. I desperately wanted to remember him. Though his story sounded like the tale of another girl, in another life, at another time, there was something about it that resonated as real and true.
“Suns, Raven, I feel like I’ve failed you a thousand times since we left home,” he said, shaking his head in regret. “I nevermeant for any of this to happen.” When he looked at me again, his crystal eyes were clear and sharp like he could see inside me—see past my fears, faults, and inner turmoil—to the person I was underneath it all. I didn’t shrink under his gaze. Instead, I felt bolder and stronger, knowing I had a past, I had a family, I had ahome. And even if I couldn’t remember it, I’d finally found someone who could.
“I promise you that no matter what happens, we will find the Azurstone and make this right. And the White Widow will pay for what she’s done,” Skyler said.
My mouth fell open.She’ll pay for what she’s done.That was what my brother had said in my dream night after night. He wasn’t talking about me. He was talking about the White Widow. It suddenly all made sense.
Everything I’d just learned made it even more imperative that I get to Askeland as fast as possible.
“I’m going to a healer in Askeland so that I can get my magic back,” I told Skyler, realizing he still might not know why I was traveling with Jeddak. “That’s the only way I’m going to be able to read this map so we can find my brother and get back the stone.”
“Raven, that’s what I need to talk to you about?—”
A hawk called in the distance, silencing him.
“Friend of yours?” I said when Skyler tilted his head up to listen.
“I have to go,” he said, speaking fast as he stood and pulled me to my feet with him.
“What’s happening?” Behind him, I saw a flap of wings, and then suddenly there was a person standing on the bridge connecting my guesthouse to Skyler’s. My heart almost flew out of my chest.
“Oh, hey Raven,” the guy said, like we’d known each other our entire lives. Perhaps we had. In the dim light, I could tellhe was about my age, with slate-colored hair, dark-gray leather armor, and eyes dark like an oil slick. “I’m glad you’re all right.”
“Barrd, what news?” Skyler said before I could respond, unfazed by his friend’s sudden appearance.
“I think I’ve found a way to get Sora out of Malengard,” he said. “But we’ll have to act quickly.”
Skyler’s focus seemed stretched between us, like he didn’t know whether to stay or go. He turned toward me. “Raven, listen to me, you can’t go to Askeland. The Kovak king is after the Azurstone.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I overheard Jeddak talking in the bramble cells. The Kovak king sent him on a mission to find the Azurstone. That’s the real reason Jeddak helped you escape Malengard and is taking you with him to Askeland. He knows about the suli map and is bringing it to the king,” Skyler said, his tone urgent and unbending.
I took a step away from him, blood thrumming in my veins. “You’re wrong,” I said, unwilling to accept this. Jeddak would have told me if he was after the stone … wouldn’t he? “I’mthe one who asked him to take me to Askeland.”
“I’m not wrong,” he said, his eyes not leaving mine. “If you go to Askeland, the Kovaks will find the stone, and our people will die, Raven. You must stay here until I return. Queen B’kara will keep you safe. Then we can figure out how to get your magic back and find your brother and the stone, all right?”
