Page 29

Seventeen

KURAI

S corching heat fried me alive. It came from both above and below me. Searing pain rolled through me in agonizing waves.

I couldn’t breathe. It was dark and burning hot, like I’d already died, and my spirit descended into the vilest bowels of the afterlife.

Even more torturous than the heat and the pain was the emptiness that racked me. The space I was in was too vast for me alone. I longed to share it, but only darkness was my companion here.

Something pressed on my back from above, shoving me deeper into the sand.

“Fuck, Malis. I found another one,” a male voice sounded above me. “Shit, I almost tripped over this one.”

“Is his neck slashed too?” a female voice replied.

Someone grabbed my shoulder, flipping me to my back. Pain speared through my body, jolted by the movement. Agony blinded me, with my thoughts going momentarily blank.

“Nope,” the male voice announced. “His throat is fine. His nose and mouth are stuffed with sand though. Poor fellow, he couldn't breathe, in addition to whatever weapon killed him.”

A rough finger scooped the sand out of my mouth, finally allowing for some air to pass through to my lungs.

“Wait, Gefred,” the woman, Malis, stopped him. “There aren’t any signs of decomposition in this one. No wounds. No shadows. See? What if he’s still alive? Just look if he has anything good on him, then let’s get out of here.”

“This dagger looks nice.” The man wrenched the handle out of my clenched fingers.

I coughed up the sand and grime, spitting it out of my mouth.

“Shit!” Malis screeched. “I told you he’s alive!”

Gefred sprang back, holding up my dagger in defense.

I couldn’t attack him, even if I tried. I felt too weak, with my strength and my senses shattered. Gathering my shaky legs and arms under me, I pushed to all fours.

How long had I been without air? Fae could survive without breathing, but it had taken its toll on my mind and body.

“A resilient bunch,” Ciana had called us.

At the thought of her, emptiness crushed me, pressing me back into the sand. Pain burned my arms and back. I willed to release my tendrils, but only agony was the response. It spread through my body like a searing web.

“He’s no threat,” Gefred scoffed. “Just look at him. Weak as a kitten.”

“Get his bag,” Malis urged, then paused. “Wait. He’s wearing the golden skirt of the Joy Guardians. Is he one of them, you think?”

A rough hand ripped my garment from my head.

“He's wearing their collar. And his hair is cut in their fashion too,” Gefred said.

“Should we kill him? Then cut his collar off? It’s real gold, I’ve heard.”

“I don’t know… Is a live Joy Guardian more useful than a dead one? ”

I didn’t intervene in their decision-making process. At this point, them killing me seemed like an act of mercy. At least, it would stop the pain.

My limbs shook as I tried to get up again but only managed to sit back on my haunches.

The two desert dwellers eyed me from a safe distance. Both were rail-thin and dressed in rags. Instead of a chest armor, a mesh of ropes and belts crisscrossed their torsos, with various items tied to them—all must’ve been acquired by scavenging.

“Are you alone?” Gefred asked cautiously.

He was slightly taller than the woman. His long hair was corded into several messy, uneven braids, some of which reached down to his hips.

“Alone…” I echoed with a twist of torture in my chest.

The emptiness in my heart expanded, swallowing me whole and forcing me to bend over in pain. I hadn’t felt this utterly alone in my life before. For over two weeks, Ciana was with me, in my emotions, my thoughts, and in my arms. And now, she was gone…

I had to get her back even if it was the last thing I did.

“I must go.” I rose to my knees, then finally climbed to my feet, swaying sideways.

“Woah! Steady there, Joy Guardian.” Gefred grabbed me under my arm, stopping me from keeling over.

His female companion, Malis, took a careful step our way. Her braids were tied into a giant knot on top of her head. Two long knitting needles pinned her worn garment to the knot of her hair by spearing it all the way through.

“Are you really a Joy Guardian?” she asked. “Or did you kill one and steal his clothes?”

Judging by the casual way she mentioned that scenario, it wouldn’t have shocked her if I did what she said.

“No. I really am one…” I coughed, clearing more sand out of my nose and throat .

“Prove it,” Gefred demanded, letting go of me and raising my dagger menacingly.

Reaching into my satchel, I pulled out the first item that my fingers touched—my navigation crystal—and thrust it his way.

“This helps me find my way in the desert.”

Gefred squinted at it with calculated appreciation. But Malis propped her hands on her rag-covered hips.

“You could’ve stolen it from a Joy Guardian, along with that fancy skirt you’re wearing,” she scoffed.

I muttered the spell, barely recalling the words through the fog clouding my mind. The crystal glowed with the map of constellation rising over it, visible day and night.

“Hmm, you know how to work it too,” Malis muttered, trying hard not to look impressed.

Gefred didn’t even try to seem unaffected. His green eyes lit up from under the ratty blanket he wore over his head.

“It’s real,” he murmured, then shifted his attention back to my face. “You’re real.”

“A Joy Guardian is nothing without his knowledge. And the Joy Guardians’ knowledge is only accessible to those who give our vows,” I said, putting the crystal back in my satchel.

“Alright, alright, so you are who you say you are,” Malis brushed my words aside. “Now, what are we supposed to do with you?”

“Take his bag and leave him here.” Gefred adjusted his grip on my dagger, looking ready to attack.

His aggression raised my defenses, clearing the fog off my mind somewhat. These people weren’t my friends. A suspicion sliced through me that they might belong with the thugs who took Ciana.

Anger gave me strength and speed. I leaped at Gefred, giving him no chance to attack first. Knocking the dagger out of his hand, I twisted his arm behind him and shoved him into the sand, with my knee shoved in his back.

“Where did you take Ciana?” I demanded, calling on my willpower to not snap his neck at once. I needed him alive, at least long enough to answer my questions.

“Who is Ciana?” he croaked from under me.

“My woman.” It came out easily and sounded natural to my ear.

Mine.

She was mine.

Because we belonged together.

“Hey!” Malis jumped on my back, pressing a blade to my neck. “Get off him or I’ll cut you!”

It was hardly a warning because her weapon had already pierced my skin just under my gold collar. Blood splashed on my chest. Releasing Gefred, I grabbed Malis and dragged her off my back.

She hissed, like a venomous snake, trying to bite me while wielding a sharpened strip of some cheap metal she used as a weapon. Lucky for me, Malis’s makeshift knife was not made from iron. The cut on my neck stung but wasn’t lethal.

Spitting out sand, Gefred rolled aside, then climbed to his feet. Malis slinked out of my grip and joined him. Both glared at me.

“Why would I take your fucking woman when I have my own?” Gefred spat at me, then wrapped an arm around Malis proudly, pulling her into a side hug. “Thanks for helping, my stinger.”

“Sure.” She shrugged.

I wiped off the blood dripping from the cut on my neck. The wound wasn’t serious, but the fight, as short as it’d been, had taken a toll on my diminished strength. With my hands on my knees, I bent over, trying to catch my breath.

Malis elbowed Gefred. “Let’s get his bag and run.”

“Wait,” I spoke through the pain that zigzagged through me like lightning from every open wound where my tendrils used to be.

“I have to know… Who are the people who took her? I need to get her back. I…I love her,” I finally named the feel ing that had been consuming me all this time.

It had elated me when Ciana was with me, but now threatened to crush and devastate me with the loss of her.

“I can’t lose her, or I’ll lose everything. ”

“The poor fellow is in love.” Malis gazed at me with compassion.

Gefred grunted, scratching behind his ear. “Are Joy Guardians even allowed to fall in love?”

“Does one ever plan for it? Or need permission?” I asked.

“True. Well… How are we supposed to know who took your woman? We just got here. Was she not with you when it happened?”

“Could they be that guy’s buddies who did it?” Malis pointed at a bump in the sand in the distance.

I recognized the bump as the body of the man whose throat I’d slit. With the sun now setting and the storm gone, I could see a steady stream of shadows rising into the air as the corpse had begun to decompose.

“I believe so, yes.” I nodded.

Gefred spat into the sand at his feet. “If that is so, I don’t envy you, Joy Guardian. Those men are a brutal bunch.”

“What do you mean? Who are they?”

Malis made a face of disgust. “Thieves, vagabonds, murderers, and such. People who don’t belong to any place and don’t follow any laws. But why would they take your woman?”

Gefred squinted at me suspiciously. “Yeah, what do they need a woman for? She’d just be another mouth to feed. They wouldn’t bother stealing anyone unless they can benefit from it somehow.”

I trusted no one. I certainly wasn’t going to tell these two desert thugs all about Ciana.

“I don’t care why they took her,” I said. “I just want her back.”

“Well, unless you have an army, you’ll be killed if you go after them. I’m surprised they haven’t killed you already,” Malis dismissed.

“How many of them are there?” I asked .

She shrugged. “Who knows?”

“A lot,” Gefred said. “And more are joining them, now that they’ve got Joy Vessels.”

“They have Joy Vessels?” I remembered what Oria told me about the humans stolen from Prince Rha’s sarai .

“Yeah, didn’t you know?” Gefred asked. “A bunch of humans escaped the sarai in Teneris, thinking they’d just go back home, but pleasure traders caught them.”