Inkmistress (Of Fire and Stars 0.5)(27)
“So where is the dragon? Let me go and I’ll talk to her now.”
Mukira barked a short laugh. “Last we saw she crested the cursed cliff. It will have to wait until tomorrow.”
“Cursed cliff?” I asked.
Mukira gestured skyward with her staff. “No one goes up to the top. If you can see the edge at all, you’re already too close. At least once every few years, someone decides to try to conquer the winds and get into the Sanctum up there. In the heart of the Sanctum lies a pool that can be used to see any place in our lands and to communicate with other tribes. We haven’t been able to access it for generations, but the young and the foolish hope for the respect and glory that would come from reclaiming it. Every time, they die doing it—blown off the cliff and onto the rocks below.”
“They couldn’t have fallen?” I asked. It made sense that the winds might be stronger at a higher altitude, as they had often been on my mountain at home. However, there were plenty of trees up there to cut the wind. It didn’t make sense.
Mukira shook her head. “The bodies are always found too far away from the edge. Anyway, come along. Tonight, we rest. Tomorrow, you hunt.”
I didn’t want to wait to search for Ina when I was so close, but arguing with Mukira wouldn’t get me anywhere. I clung to what little hope I had. All I had to do was find Ina, tell her the truth, and stop her from killing the king. We could then grieve those we’d lost and start over somewhere new.
The elder turned to the two girls who had carried Hal through the forest. “Take him inside.”
Their eyes betrayed some surprise, but they didn’t question her orders.
Mukira dismissed Kaja and the other hunters with the wave of a hand, and they slipped away into the woods. As soon as they were out of sight they became as insubstantial as ghosts, as much a part of the forest as the trees.
“You, walk with me,” Mukira said to me. “And stay where I can see you.”
That was fine by me. I didn’t trust her either.
We followed a path along the base of the cliff, leaving behind the fire pit and all signs of human life. Every sound in the forest seemed to carry secret meanings I couldn’t decipher. Was that distant hoot the call of an owl, or another Tamer message?
The twin girls had almost left our line of sight completely when they turned toward the cliff and disappeared into an angled fissure in the rock. As we drew closer to where they’d gone, I yelped in surprise as Mukira’s bony hand clamped around my wrist and pulled me through the pitch-dark zigzag entrance into the cave.
I gasped in awe when we emerged on the other side. This cavern was nothing like the humble place I had once called home. Hundreds of candles made from purified and dyed animal fat framed the room in a rainbow of colors. Natural columns that stretched from floor to ceiling had been intricately carved, making the room feel more like a temple than a living space.
“Come along,” Mukira said, leading me deeper. We passed a fireplace with cushions scattered all around it, and Mukira’s lynx trotted over to flop down on one, starting the serious business of grooming her graying whiskers.
In a small alcove at the back of the cavern, the hunters laid Hal on a bare cot, then left when Mukira dismissed them. I knelt by his side, already pulling the lavender and peppermint from my satchel. I dabbed a bit of each essential oil on a cloth and laid it carefully over his eyes.
“Do you expect him to wake up and make himself useful by morning?” Mukira asked.
“I hope so.” Perhaps he could decipher what was going on with the wind at the top of the cliff. But the truth was that I had no idea what condition he’d be in the next day. We’d barely had time to get acquainted before he lost consciousness, putting us in a situation even worse than the one in which we’d met. Tomorrow he might choose to save himself and leave me behind, but I couldn’t bring myself to do the same.
CHAPTER 12
A WIDE PAW BATTED AT MY CHEEK, ROUSING ME FROM restless sleep. I gently pushed the lynx aside. She gave me an affronted look and stalked off in the direction of the exit. Elder Mukira was nowhere to be seen, nor was anyone else. Though no sunlight penetrated the cave to help me determine the time, voices chattered unintelligibly outside and the smell of seared meat drifted into the cave. Morning had come.
“Hal,” I whispered, rising to my knees to hover over him. He’d shifted during the night and now lay on his side. He opened his eyes slowly, taking a minute to focus them fully on my face.
“I knew you’d come through,” he said, his voice a little scratchy. “Lovely accommodations you found. A bit rustic, mildly creepy . . . but they’ll do.”
“It’s hardly the time to joke,” I said, handing him the clay vessel of water one of the Tamers had brought us. All I could think about was finding Ina, and what might happen if I didn’t succeed. She would try to kill the king. She would die—and I would be completely alone in the world.
He took a slow drink.
“Thank you for not leaving me,” he said, and I recognized in the look he gave me that it meant more to him than words could communicate. Perhaps he’d been left before. Something broke in me as I remembered the feeling when Ina took to the sky, leaving me alone with the blood and chaos she’d strewn across the road.
I understood.
“So what trouble have you found now?” he asked with a half smile.