Fantasy of Fire (The Tainted Accords #3)(14)

“We have to get rid of it,” Hamish says, looking around the sky. “There’s no one there.”

“The Solati sentries are hand-picked and well trained.” I shake my head. “We can’t both go up there,” I decide.

“I’ll go.”

I shake my head. “No. I need you waiting at the bottom to deaden the sound of the falling rope,” I say. “I’m smaller and … no offence, more adept at sneaking.”

Hamish gives me a wry grin, but nods and soars down to his position.

“Stay here,” I say to Jimmy. He turns his head away, still sulking a little at my earlier words.

I fly to the other side of the cliff, which has shelves and looks relatively easy to climb. My only other option is to jump across the gap from this island to the next—not happening. I unstrap myself so the shiny material doesn’t give me away, and climb with quick hands. It’s easier than climbing out from my room in the palace—just with a higher chance of death if I fall.

I pause upon reaching the top and peek upward, but I can’t see anything. I can’t be sure if that’s normal or not. I’m certain my sight has been affected by having the veil on for so long. It’s possible the sentries are there and I just can’t see them. But time is short. It’s now or never.

I skim across the top of the island toward the sheer cliff and the dangling rope, keeping to the shadows as much as possible. At the top, I don’t dare pause to see if I’ve been spotted. I take out the small saw and begin slow, steady strokes, wincing at the grating noise it generates. I’m sure Hamish can barely hear it, but it sounds as loud as the fighting pits in the silence of early morning. At least there’s only one rope to cut through. I manage to saw the final strand and don’t even wait to see if Hamish catches it at the bottom. If it does make a sound I’ll be the thing they catch sight of, not him.

I do pause briefly once out of sight. There are no alarmed voices or sounds of scraping rock. I didn’t even hear the rope fall. Hamish must have caught the bulk of it. I soar back over to where Jimmy is, thankfully, still standing.

“Hamish took the rope over there.” He points. I look over and see Hamish is making his way back.

We deal with the last support easily. It’s farther away, a long single rope looped around a rock on an island above, used to swing over a large gap. We hide the rope and start back, following the same pattern as we used to get here, stopping at each island to check the coast is clear.

We’re nearly at the third island and the closest we’ll be to the pathway when an echoing sound reaches us.

The sound comes again. I’ve never heard anything like it in the Oscala before. What is it?

The noise echoes again and I get a sense of its locations. It’s coming from above us. But what is it? My eyes widen as I hear the hollow echo once more. I don’t need Hamish’s whispered confirmation a second later. It’s the sound of wood hitting stone! Something’s falling. One of the teams has dropped a support.

The shock of the booming disturbance loses its edge as it falls past ours and the army’s location. There’s one last resounding boom … then deadly silence. I exchange a grimace with Hamish before dread settles in my stomach.

I whip my head around, realizing we’re in plain sight. A shout goes up behind us.

“Hide,” I hiss. Abandoning caution, we hurtle to the next island and throw our Soars to the ground before flattening ourselves against the rock.

I squeeze my eyes shut, not wiping at the bead of sweat rolling down the side of my face.

Another shout. Soon a flurry of activity has started around us.

“Do you think they saw us?” Hamish asks. I don’t answer. I don’t know.

Hamish lies half a pace away from me and we stare at each other, wordlessly sharing the horror of our predicament. I remember Jimmy and turn my head to see he lies not far away, creeping toward the edge.

“Jimmy,” I hiss and give him a don’t-you-dare look. He shuffles back our way with a guilty expression.

“What are we going to do?” Hamish asks in a low voice. I rub my forehead. Jovan would know what to do. Solis, I miss him. And I shouldn’t.

“We wait,” I decide. “We’ll have to watch for the right moment. They’ll be on extra alert after hearing that. I’m not sure we’ll get away unseen,” I say truthfully.

“Shit,” he says. I nod in agreement.

“Shit,” says Jimmy, causing a grin to spread over Hamish’s face. I ignore the small boy and shake my head at Hamish, who shrugs.

“At least we can just wait here,” he says.

And we do. Hours pass with us shifting uncomfortably as rocks go out of their way to dig into one or another part of our bodies. Half of this time is spent explaining to Jimmy why we can’t go and peek over the edge at the Solati army. The only break in monotony is finding one of the rods in Jimmy’s Soar has snapped during our rush for cover. The contraption no longer folds properly and will need to be left behind. Jimmy will have to fly with Hamish.

Eventually, the waiting gets so monotonous, my heart stops pounding and I let my mind wander. I think about my brother and his journey through the Oscala. Olandon attempted to traverse the pathway without a map. No wonder he got lost. In fact, he may be the only person in Bruma and Solati history to successfully make the journey from one world to the other without a map. That’s not to say the crossing didn’t take its toll. My brother had hovered on the brink of death for weeks.