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I searched Kalen’s scrunched face for any sign that he’d registered Abdiel’s comment. That he thought any different of me for murdering so many men. For clearlyenjoyingit. But he was in too much pain, and I was being self-absorbed.
Underneath my palm Kalen’s wound grew hot and began tofizz as the Silverwood worked deep into his muscle. Spider-like tendrils of black and purplish-grey reached out from the point of entry and up past his hip bone. That the arrowhead had been ejected on the underside of his thigh most likely saved his life, but if I didn’t take the stalk out, all of that good fortune would have been for naught. It wouldn’t take long for the Silverwood to reach his heart.
“You have to take it out, Gwyn. I’ll die before we reach Sythe if you don’t.” Kalen struggled to piece together the words. His chest heaved upwards, then fell, a deep whine releasing from inside his throat.
The boat tilted on the crest of a wave, pushing everyone sideways against the hull. The arrowhead sticking out of Kalen’s leg caught a notch in the deck and pulled the shaft deeper into his thigh. The Preserver vomited as the boat settled.By the Light.I frowned, surveying the wound again with more urgency, knowing he wouldn’t make it past sunset if I didn’t get over myself. Spitting and wiping his mouth, Kalen sat up again, begging me with his stare. My heart clenched.
“I’m sorry,” I muttered, scooting back over to him. I didn’t really care about the blood or the gruesome way the skin of Kalen’s leg was puckered open. But the way I was about to hurt him, the agony I was surely going to inflict on him. The thought turned my stomach in a way, unlike the gore of battle. I took a deep breath.I could do this, I thought.I had to do this. Besides, I should be thankful I wasn’t pulling this arrow from his dead body.
“This is going to be bad,” I warned. “Here,” I handed him the tie to my robe. “Bite down on this.”
Kalen took it from me, hissing as I snapped the iron arrowhead from the shaft and tossed it to the floor. It skittered across the wood with a metallicting. He stuffed the thick end of the tie into his mouth, fisting the slack tight around his hand. Through themuffle of fabric, he said, “I can’t believe she attacked her own faction.”
I shook my head and waited until he readied himself, grabbing on tight to the grey wood. Sure, I couldn’t remember knowing Ione in my life before, but it had always felt clear to me she would do anything to set herself against us. Maybe it was her constant threats, or the fact she’d tried to cover up the attack on Leoth, but somehow this betrayal of hers didn’t surprise me. Either way, now was not the time forI told you so. Instead, I offered, “Looks like you’ll have to kiss Gabriel’s arse from now on.”
Tearing the arrow from his flesh, Kalen’s howl of laughter turned into one of excruciating pain. It was the last thing I heard before I passed out.
I woke to thesound of flapping wings.
No. It couldn’t be. We had made it out.
Jolting upright, I took in the paralyzing darkness of a night at sea. There were no clouds in the sky, only clusters of stars bursting out around the mast of our ship, but even as they numbered into the millions, no wave caught their light. It was all a void.
Clenching the wooden rod that was still in my hands, I readied myself to poke out a couple of giant bird eyes. The thick snapping sounded again, and I jumped, pulling myself under the ladder that hung from the side railing of the ship. Crouching, I let myself peek through the space between the hull and the ladder’s rungs and immediately cursed myself. There were no giant birds. Only the mainsails slapping and rolling against theirropes from the wind.
Wind.
The domes were down, we weren’t in between Planes anymore. I looked around for Abdiel and Owen but didn’t find them. Frantically, I searched for Kalen, who I found only a few paces away from me, sleeping soundly. I sighed and sat back down to watch the Preserver.
Kalen was lying on his side, his knees slung haphazardly to the right, his head propped up on a pillow presumably from the barracks below us. An oil lamp sat at his feet, flickering amber onto his shadowed face, which looked peaceful considering all it had seen today. He was naked, a threadbare blanket tossed over his middle to keep out the chill in the air. The wound on his thigh had been tended to while I was out, new blood leaked from a fresh white bandage that was wrapped expertly around it. I would have to thank the Astralites for that later.
Another debt we owed them.
For a while, I just stared at him, watching his nostrils flare with heavy breath and being so thankful as it came and went. Eventually, someone nudged my shoulder from behind. I didn’t scare when Abdiel sat down cross-legged beside me. The Astralite handed me a nob of overly baked bread, and I took it greedily before asking, “How is he?”
“Better than he looks,” Abdiel replied through a mouthful. “Owen had a time moving him around and bandaging his wound. Both of you lilies passed out at the same time,” he added with a smug grin. Mortified, a hot itch crawled up my chest.
“It’s been a tough couple of months,” I said. “I think we are both exhausted.”
Owen plopped down on my other side, snatching the rest of Abdiel’s food with one hefty arm behind my shoulder. “Everyone is exhausted, Gwyn,” he said, then bit off a chunk straight from the loaf.
Shame joined in on the reddening of my skin. Of course, everyone was exhausted. The factions had been relatively at peace before I returned to this world and thrust it back into the throes of war. Now a city had been swallowed by the sea, the Well had fallen, and I was left without a scratch but still not nearly whole enough to fix the mess I’d left behind me. I pinched the bridge of my nose between two fingers. Owen laughed as I tried again. “Thank you both, for everything,” I said. “Kalen and I would be dead–or worse, captured, had you not been there.”
“Don’t thank us.” Abdiel dusted his leathers, which were impeccably clean, then leaned back onto his hands. He scanned the dark waters, watchful even under the cover of night. “We are warriors, you know. Orders are orders.”
“Well, that’s really what I don’t understand. Why would Gabriel send for us? I mean, he hates Kalen, and I would only go so far as to say he enjoys toying with me.”
I looked between the two men, waiting for either to reply. Owen glanced between the bread in his lap and my face too many times to be discreet. I turned toward him, crossing my arms around my legs and applying pressure with my gaze.
Eventually, he stuttered. “The King feels...badly...for what he could not help the last t–”
“The King does not need a reason to send you aid, Gwynore.” Abdiel cut in, staring at his friend with a look that I would have hated to be on the receiving end of.
The last time. That was surely what Owen had meant to say. Gabriel had been there, then. When I was exiled. When I had done something so vile that the gods of this world had no choice but to turn their backs on me. I felt the blood rush from my face and watched Owen shift uncomfortably. Abdiel cleared his throat and said, “I’ll be sure to relay your thanks.”
And that was that.
“Alright,” I agreed. “On to more mannered subjects then.” Themen exchanged wary looks as I nodded in the direction of the violet orbs in the vambrace of their armor. “How do you make the purple light disks?”
