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The priest lowered his teacup. “I’m afraid I can’t give you that information.”
“Why not?” I demanded. “You speak our language, so obviously that means you’ve met them.”
“I am but a lowly village priest,” the male demurred. The dull ache in my chest throbbed, and my fingers twitched with the urge to reach out and shake the priest until he told us what I wanted to know. “Such mysteries can only be discussed at the capital, with the head priest of Sobek-Ra Temple. You will need to travel there if you want your answers.”
“How far is the capital?” Quye asked, surreptitiously nudging my twitching fingers. I realized I was clenching my teeth, and forced myself to relax.
“It’s a three-day journey by camelback.”
“Camelback,” Quye repeated. “What’s a camelback?”
The priest gave her a bemused look. “I will show you tomorrow,” he said, getting to his feet and brushing the crumbs off his hands. “I have other matters to attend to, so I will leave you now. The servants will show you to your quarters when you’re finished with your tea, and we can discuss the journey during the feast tonight.”
“You’re saying you’ll help us get there?” I asked.
“Of course.” The priest rose an eyebrow. “The high priest there will want to meet you. It will be my sacred duty and honor to deliver you to Kemet-Nefer.”
7
Leap
The stench of rotting carcasses drifted to Leap’s nostrils, yanking him from his thoughts and back to the present.
“Is everything all right?” Mavlyn asked sleepily as Leap jolted upright. They’d been flying atop Cirra for the last couple of hours, heading from the Bala Oighr to Fenwood so they could start their anti-war campaign.
Leap was more than happy to accompany Mavlyn to the earth realm. He’d never been there, and he was none too eager to return to the Gaoth Aire, not after breaking out of Angtun and then breaking in and out of Windhelm to rescue Quye. His uncle would be livid once he found out Leap had stolen his precious Oracle away, and would likely order the lightning riders to strike him down on sight.
He briefly thought of Gale, and wondered how the older rider was faring. Had Ryker punished him for helping Leap escape? Did the other riders support his decision? He wished he’d had a chance to thank Gale for helping him escape—he’d risked his career, maybe even his life, so that Leap could get away.
He would have to repay the favor someday, once this was all over.
“I smell something strange,” Leap told her, still looking down. Unfortunately, all he could see were the clouds blanketing the earth below. “Cirra, take us beneath the cloud cover,” he ordered.
His cloud familiar dipped beneath the cloud line, revealing a battlefield just on the outskirts of a smoking village. Mavlyn sucked in a breath beside him as they took in the blood-soaked grasslands. Hundreds of dead fae littered the burnt and torn up ground, their glassy eyes staring sightlessly as snowflakes drifted onto their lifeless faces.
“Giant’s teeth,” Mavlyn swore as Cirra brought them to the ground. Leap hopped off her back and helped Mavlyn down, his stomach clenching against the reek of gore and rotted flesh. Slowly, the two of them picked their way across the prairie, trying not to throw up their breakfast as they inspected the battlefield. He’d seen dead bodies before, but nothing like the carnage before him. Flies buzzed around the dead, some with arrows sticking out of their chests, while others had their guts slashed open by blade wounds. Many of the death blows had been inflicted by magic as well. Leap saw a body covered in thorny vines, another leaking watery blood from various orifices, and many others who had been crushed or frozen or trapped in the earth.
“Most of the dead are water fae,” Leap said, crouching down to examine one of the bodies. It was of a lesser fae with sea green hair and patches of scales on his pale skin. He clutched a farming scythe in his cold, dead hand, and wore battered leather armor that looked like it had been worn by several generations of his family. The body next to him was an earth fae female, dressed in brand new, forest green armor with the House Ithir emblem stamped in the center of her breastplate. “Have you seen any air fae amongst the dead?”
“No.” She spoke through gritted teeth, her eyes burning with angry tears. “This is General Slaugh’s doing. He must have sent troops to attack this village.” She kicked at a pitchfork sticking out of the ground. “They didn’t even have proper weapons to fight with."
They searched the field and the village for survivors, but found only death and destruction. The earth fae had used their magic to destroy the village—there were deep cracks in the roads from where the earth had split open, and the houses and buildings had all collapsed in on broken foundations.
“What was the point of this?” Leap asked. His head spun with the senselessness of the destruction. “It’s not as if this is an important village. These people could barely even defend themselves!”
Mavlyn shook her head. “This is part of Nox’s plan,” she said, her voice heavy with sadness. “By ordering General Slaugh to attack water fae villages unprovoked, she’s hoping to force Lady Axlya to retaliate. I’m sure she plans on doing the same with the air fae too, if she can manage it.”
Leap clenched his fists as he looked toward the Gaoth Aire mountains. They loomed in the distance, their shadowy peaks veiled by thick clouds. It would be snowing heavily up there now, which was a good thing, as it would make the mountain passes nearly impossible for the earth fae to traverse. But Leap knew better than to trust the snow would hold the earth fae off forever. He wished he could travel back there and warn his people.
But he already knew what would happen if he tried. The best thing he could do right now was to help Mavlyn.
Searching the battlefield one last time for any clues, they found tracks leading away from the village and into the forest. “They’ve headed back to Domhain then,” Leap said as he traced the edge of a particularly large footprint. The prints were at least a quarter inch thick, made by heavy military boots. “Do you want to follow them, try to take them out before they do any more damage?”
He glanced up at Mavlyn to see her staring at the boot print, indecision written all over her face. Eventually, she shook her head. “We shouldn’t engage if we can help it, or put ourselves in a position where we could be captured or killed. Getting back to Fenwood has to be the priority.”
“All right. We’ll keep going, then.”
They took off on Cirra, but as the battlefield shrunk behind them in the distance, Leap couldn’t help wondering if they were really doing the right thing.
