Coldmaker(60)

I almost forgot I’d been carrying it, and I went to tuck it back on the shelf before I hurt someone. I hadn’t had enough time to gather the amount of scorpion poison that I’d lost the night it had been destroyed, but the dose in the chamber now was still hefty enough to keep someone out for days.

‘Wait,’ she said, putting a hand on my arm. I felt a jolt travel through me at the unexpectedly soft touch. ‘Can I trade you for that? I could use a weapon.’

‘It’s kind of dangerous.’

She gave me a harsh look. ‘That’s the point of a weapon, isn’t it?’

Our faces were so close together that I could smell her breath, with a hint of Khatmelon. It brought back a flood of memories and I had to retract. ‘Trade for what?’

She stood up and grabbed the new pair of Rope Shoes that I’d fashioned. ‘Put these on. I left mine outside.’

‘Why?’

She smiled, and for a moment, her sarcasm faltered. ‘I make things too. Different things, but I think you’ll want to trade. Come on. And try to keep up.’

‘Welcome to my home.’

‘So,’ I said, heart sinking as I realized Shilah was truly insane. We’d come to the last of the rocks, the only thing waiting at our feet being a large drop from the cliff to deadly water below. ‘You live in a boiling river.’

‘Yes,’ Shilah said, hand gently wrapped around the Stinger. ‘All my life. Born in the Hotland Delta, and I swam all the way here. Did I mention I can breathe underwater? I find it best to sleep on the hot clay at the bottom of the river, and sometimes I make friends with the bubbles.’ She pointed off into the distance. ‘That’s Shem. And that one is Michael.’

I started to back away from the edge of the cliff, now slightly nervous about the fact that Shilah was armed and I was not. Luckily enough my Rope Shoes were a lighter pair than hers – this time made with thinner metals – so I could probably outrun her back across the dunes if need be.

She looked at me with a grin and then turned back to survey the Kiln, the current steaming and fast and hungry. ‘Also, if you’re going to be my partner, you can’t be such a gullible idiot.’

‘Who says I’m going to be your partner?’ I asked, glad that she was just playing around, and that the Sun hadn’t baked her head full of false visions. ‘I don’t even know you.’

Shilah smirked, keeping her focus on the water. ‘That’s the part that bothers you, huh? Not the idiot thing.’

‘Seriously,’ I said, annoyed that I’d agreed to come. I should have been spending these last few nights with Abb and Moussa, not traipsing around the sands with a troublemaker like her. ‘Why are we out here?’

Her smile faded, and her cheeks became as rigid as her back. If there were still wars in the Khatdom, she’d suit being a warrior. Her face was stoic and poised, and I wanted to reach out and touch the angles of her cheeks, just to feel what such a thoughtful face was like to touch.

‘You shouldn’t trust him,’ Shilah said. ‘That Noble who keeps pulling you in.’

‘Cam?’ I asked after a moment, shaking off the trance.

She gave me an impressed look. ‘No title or even a full name? Maybe there’s hope for you yet.’

I shrugged. ‘It’s what he asked for.’

She stared across the River Kiln at the empty sands beyond. ‘Why did he take you to the library?’

I smirked in turn. ‘You’ve got to stop following me, you know. It’s very creepy.’

‘Not following,’ Shilah said, annoyed, slipping out of her Rope Shoes and flexing her toes against the rocks. ‘Judging. You think I would just bring anyone here?’

I gestured to the raging waters. ‘Okay. To your home, right? I imagine it’s a lovely place to spend—’

She jumped off the cliff.

My stomach clenched and I darted to the edge, looking over in horror. The Kiln would cook her alive in a matter of minutes, and I felt my head go light thinking about how loud her screams were going to be.

But she looked up at me from a long ledge jutting from the rock face below, shaking her head. Then she slipped inside some sort of cave underneath where I stood, the angle making it impossible to see inside. I placed a hand against my chest, feeling the thumps reverberating across my palm.

And then I smelled something impossible.

My nose wrinkled, knowing it couldn’t be true. The only time I had smelled anything like it was when I had crawled near the Garden Quarter. But this time it was much heavier, more potent, tickling my nose with its earthy bitterness.

I peeked over the cliff further and saw the edges of dark greens and even darker browns.

Impossible. It couldn’t be what I thought it was.

Shilah popped her head back out, pointing to a series of rungs she’d hung down the cliff’s edge. ‘Try and keep up. You can use them if you’re scared.’

‘I’m not scared,’ I said, heart beating. ‘I’m shocked. Is that—’

‘Soil,’ she said, rubbing her finger along an exposed leaf, which was attached to some sort of creeping vine. ‘Welcome to Little Langria.’

I could scarcely breathe, winded worse than when Thoth had driven his rod over and over into my stomach. ‘Did you say Little Langria?’