Shadow Wings (The Darkest Drae Book 2)(33)

Tyrrik managed to drag his eyelids open once to look at me before he lost the battle again.

“His strength is depleted,” Kamoi said as he approached. “This occasionally happens to my people, too. He will require much rest.” He touched my shoulder and offered a small smile. “But he’ll be okay.”

My shoulders relaxed, but I wasn’t quite ready to forgive the prince. Still, my mum raised me right, so I gave the Phaetyn a tight smile. “Thank you.”

The Phaetyn stood over me silently until Dyter corked the water skin.

Kamoi said, “I’m sorry I snapped at you, Ryn. I lost my temper, and it was wrong of me to take it out on you. The Phaetyn and Drae have bad blood between them. If you tell me Lord Tyrrik is trustworthy, I believe you. I didn’t mean to slight him.”

I looked up and met his direct gaze and the sincerity shining in his violet eyes.

“And definitely not you,” the prince added with a small smile.





14





Harder than tipping nectar into the Drae’s mouth was getting him onto a horse without losing contact. I stood and helped lift Tyrrik upright and then climbed onto the horse while holding his hand. Then I leaned down, straightening as Kamoi and Dyter lifted the Drae and draped him in front of me and over the steed. I felt the warmth of his body where he overlapped on the tops of my knees.

“Tamah, Makoa, please resume your posts here,” Kamoi ordered. “Akani will escort us in and return tomorrow morning.”

The two Phaetyn dipped their heads and strode out toward the edges of the forest, facing the deadly wall and the brutal landscape just outside.

My horse trotted after the others with Dyter plodding behind on his horse.

“Dyter,” I called back. “What do you know of the Gemond King?” Now that the danger to Tyrrik had passed, and we were heading toward safety, my mind wandered back to what had caused all of this trouble in the first place.

“Can’t say I speak to many Gemondians, but those I do make no complaint against him. Their kingdom is a hungry kingdom, as Verald was. Those of their people who joined the rebellion were those wishing to overthrow the emperor.”

There he went again with the talk of overthrowing the emperor. I’d seen hundreds of rebels die in a single jet of Drae flame. How could Dyter even talk about another attempt so soon? I had just transformed, and Tyrrik—being nearly one hundred and ten years of age—possessed much more control and power. How much control and power did the emperor possess? If power increased with age, he would be tough to beat.

“I saw something before we fell,” I said, running my thumb over Tyrrik’s back. “There was a tribe of elderly Gemondian women fighting over a male, and the others . . . ate one of the women when she tried to take the man for herself.” Bile rose in my throat just thinking about it. “How could that happen? How could a king allow that kind of atrocity? Does he know that happens, and he does nothing? And, if he doesn’t know . . . how could he not know? They are his people, Dyter.”

Dyter took a deep breath, forehead wrinkling. He pursed his lips while he contemplated and then said, “We do not know much of Gemond, Ryn. We do not know the circumstances.”

I blinked several times as his words sunk in. I set my jaw, and with a shake of my head, I said, “I know what I saw.”

I thought of the people of Verald, and I couldn’t conceive of any reason they would debase themselves to cannibalism. But the women in the Gemondian camp didn’t seem to share my view. I couldn’t make sense of their madness.

The smaller trees disappeared as the canopy grew thicker from the foliage of the larger trees. Our horses wound between the enormous trunks in single file. I assumed the Phaetyn knew where we were going because the spots of sunlight beaming through the canopy disappeared, and only filtered light trickled through. It was impossible to use the sun’s position as a guide, and that would only help if I knew which direction we were supposed to be going.

I checked Tyrrik and shifted my legs as much as his weight allowed. The restlessness of my mind made no sense. “Tell me of Gemond, Dyter. Please.”

I couldn’t shake my repulsion over what I’d seen, and to me, the Gemond King and the emperor were pretty much on equal footing in terms of horrors induced on the helpless. Dyter couldn’t ask one villain to join his team against another.

“You know their kingdom is nestled deep in the Gemond Mountains at the northern tip of the realm?”

I nodded as his voice carried forward to me.

“They’re miners. They excavate everything from minerals, various rock, and precious gems. But, like we in Verald, the hunting of the Phaetyn resulted in the slow death of their kingdom. Their land is stripped just like Verald. Their population has also suffered loss—there are more women than men.”

I nodded. I understood all of that. We might grow some plants on our own, but the way Dyter spoke of Gemond, it didn’t seem that much different than Verald.

“Their society does have some distinct differences.”

“You mean besides eating each other?” I muttered.

Dyter continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “Gemond is a polygamous society. Rather than have large numbers of single and widowed women, they adopted polygamy. It’s been that way for years . . . as long as I can remember.”