Page 14

Chapter 13

Sun

I held Clem tightly while his body continued to quake and shiver. His eyes sometimes opened and sometimes closed as the visions continued to overtake him.

We all knew what was happening at once this time when he fell into the spell. That didn't make the situation any less tense, or the timing any less unfortunate.

It had felt like a betrayal to leave those that fought with us to handle the emperor’s men on their own. The fighting could still be heard close by, but Bracken had moved us a little bit deeper into the trees where we would be less easily seen.

“We should be fighting,” I murmured, but Hadi shook his head.

“You are no longer just a soldier, Sun. More rides on your shoulders.”

“He’s right,” Kiar agreed. “As you know, if one of us was killed trying to keep Clem safe it would all be for nothing.”

His shoulder was still bleeding and the slash across his tail from days ago still shined white against the black of his scales, so I didn’t have the heart to argue.

I looked up at the sky at the dark, angry moon. It was so strange to see it blotting out the sun like that. A miraculous vision in the midst of all the chaos.

“What are you thinking Tsuki?” I wondered aloud.

“She is playing with us,” Bracken spat. “With Clem in particular.”

He was pacing, occasionally leaping into the air to scout our location but never venturing far from me and Clem. His eyes sought us out more than they searched the area. He was more worried now than I had ever seen him.

At some point the monstrous batbeast had become our warm protector and that fact still surprised me.

“We cannot remain here long,” Hadi whispered. “There is something whispering beneath the earth.”

My eyes flew to his face, searching in the strange glow of light for whatever that could mean.

Neither Bracken, nor Kiar looked remotely surprised and suddenly I understood their agitation on a whole new level. There was something happening. Something that could not be felt by humans. Something that only animals could feel. Noc senses were attuned in the way that an animal’s would be. They were half made of the creatures of the night after all.

“What is it?” I asked, foreboding filling me, but none of them seemed to have an answer.

I looked down at the ground I was sitting on. Clem's shoulders and head were cradled in my lap, but the rest of him stretched out on the beaten earth.

Nothing good remained beneath these soils. There had been too many battles fought and lost here.

The worst of which had seen every steed wiped from our army at the hands of the nocs in a particularly cruel strategic move. My beloved Haru had been lost that day after so many years riding together. And over the years the casualties had grown. Humans and nocs alike falling right in this very spot.

“We must leave this place,” I said with sudden urgency, struggling to lift Clem's stiff body.

He moaned and his eyes flew open, still unseeing. He did not rise, still taken by the visions that Tsuki was sending to him.

“Where will we go?” Bracken demanded. “The very earth is angry.”

I shook my head.

“We can fly–”

“Bracken is right,” Kiar said, softly. “Whatever it is, it stretches long and far.”

“There is no escaping,” Hadi added.

“So, we wait?” I demanded. “We wait for a legion of fallen nocs to rise from the earth once more to finish us all?”

The three of them watched me, stricken.

I forced myself to my feet, leaving Clem sprawled across the ground, chest heaving.

“After all this, after how far we've come... No. We must act now before it is too late.”

But the earth suddenly quaked beneath my feet. Not a moment later, a loud moan, like air escaping from deep underground filled the air and I realized that it already was too late.

“No!” Bracken shouted and he dove toward me, suddenly hoisting me into the air and catching Clem by the arm just as the ground split open beneath us.

I cried out, reaching for Clem to pull him in closer as Bracken leaped into the air with each of us held tight.

I glanced around frantically, finding Hadi and Kiar both at the top of a tree. Shouts from the battle rang through the night. Clearly, we weren't alone in having the ground moved from beneath us.

For a moment, we all watched each other, breathing hard, but silence rang until Clem suddenly gasped, his eyes shooting open.

“Wh–what happened?” he asked breathlessly.

Relieved, I looked at his confused face and shook my head. I was glad to see that his visions had passed but there was no time to address what he had seen.

Looking out over the trees and the battle grounds beyond, as far as the eye could see, cracks ran through the land.

“Fissures,” I whispered. “The earth... It's releasing something.”

Clem took a sharp breath, following my gaze.

“It's Tsuki's doing,” he whispered. “She is using the last of her energy to help us.”

“To help us?” Hadi repeated, sounding incredulous. I agreed with his doubtful tone.

There was something uneasy in the air, something sinister and my instincts were proved correct when a sudden war cry sounded.

At the very least, it was the human one, but that didn't change the fact that another battle was starting right now.

An arrow suddenly whipped past me, nicking my cheek.

Without having to be told, Bracken dropped from the sky.

Perhaps driven by the distraction, they decided to attack now. Perhaps that was always their plan and not even the ground opening was enough to stop them.

Either way, the four of us, up so high, were such easy targets when we should still be hiding.

“There!” Kiar shouted and leaped down as a wave of human soldiers came upon us again just as our own side caught up, joining the fray and taking the fighting up another notch.

I joined easily, moving on instinct, using my dagger to slice through flesh as it came close enough to touch, wiping from my mind the fact that these weren't nocs. These were my own people, yes, and right now, they were my enemies. Life wasn't black and white or good and evil. It wasn't as simple as that and I leaned into that new way of thinking, striking them down to protect me and my own.

Nothing could distract me during battle normally, but this was no ordinary night and a sound unlike anything I'd heard nearly stopped me in my tracks. It was like thunder but not coming from above. The sound rose from below.

It seemed that Tsuki was not done yet after all.

I tried to keep focused, to get through the wave of people attacking, to keep any other bit of my attention on my comrades. But the rumble beneath us grew and grew until everyone stopped, simply trying to remain on their feet as the ground shook.

That was when the first shocking wave of beings suddenly emerged from the earth.

In a thundering stampede, hundreds of horses burst from below.

Shocked, I watched as they ran between us, each seeming to be on a mission as they barreled through the field in different directions and only then did I realize that the horses weren't right.

They were decayed and deformed. Bits of bones, fur and flesh hung and a green tinged them.

They seemed unbothered but the sight was horrific, hardly the gift that Clem seemed to think it was supposed to be.

I held my breath in disgust and confusion, turning to take them in until one drew my gaze like a magnet.

I didn't know how I knew so quickly, but it was Haru. She wove through the horses and people, heading straight to me before stopping in front of me.

“Haru?” I whispered and suddenly the fact that she was an undead abomination of what she had been didn't bother me. My beloved horse was back, right in front of me. Tsuki had done this for us. She had raised our most loyal allies from the dead.

The pain of losing her was nothing compared to the sharp feeling that lanced me as I set eyes on her again and saw the affection in her round eyes as she gave me a look as though to say, I'm back. What next, master?

I took a breath, trying to breathe through the sharp pain of her resurrection but the pain didn't go and suddenly, I realized that Clem was screaming bloody murder and Kiar was shouting something to Hadi and Bracken and then, just behind me, there was the sound of someone choking and the sharpness I had felt in my ribs slipped free.

I fell back, caught by familiar arms. Hadi had crouched down to catch me. And he had killed the soldier who had stabbed me. Of course, that must have been it. The shock of seeing Haru had completely derailed me. I had let my guard down and now... now ...

“Sun!” Hadi said urgently. “Don't close your eyes!”

My lids were heavy, but I forced them open.

It was all I could do. My entire body felt limp.

“Haru,” I managed to choke.

He shook his head helplessly.

“What?”

“My horse... she came back... I don't have to ride you anymore.”

I laughed and metallic liquid splattered from between my lips.

Hadi's eyes widened in horror.

“Clem!” he shouted.

Suddenly, I was being lifted into the air. The world spun around me. I couldn't make sense of up or down as he bound over the field, trying to reach our most magical member for help.

Suddenly I saw him. Clem was a bright white light, like moonlight was shining off of him, but his entire body was red. He was angry.

I wanted to tell him not to worry, but suddenly I was falling away.

Hadi's hands tightened on me. Two held me firmly around the middle, one cradled the back of my head, another held my legs in place.

I heard him gasp as we were swallowed by darkness and then the sudden jarring feeling as we hit solid ground, reminding me that this was all real and not a dream, even though it felt like it was.

“What happened?” I whispered once I found my voice.

“We fell into one of the fissures,” Hadi said, voice tight. “Don't worry Sun. I will get you out of here. You will be okay. I promise.”

I could feel his heart pounding against me. Nothing had set him on edge yet the way this had.

“Look at you...” I found myself saying into the dark. “It seems you really do care.”

One of his hands loosened and suddenly was on my cheek, stroking gently. I could see nothing in this darkness, but it wouldn't surprise me if he could see me at least a little bit.

“Keep talking,” was all he said.

“Haru returned,” I found myself saying in answer. “She came back.”

“Yes,” he agreed, and I felt the familiar sway of him walking.

“Why did Tsuki bring back my horse?” Then another more troubling question hit me. “What will happen to her? She is up there without me. A zombie horse in the middle of the battlefield. What if someone kills her again...?”

I trailed off, the thought exhausting me.

“You're hurting me,” I whispered, trying to wiggle free, but Hadi's hard grip on my back tightened.

“Don't,” he snapped. Then, with a hiss, I felt something cold and sticky suddenly seal over the spot he had been holding.

I gasped and remembered.

“I was stabbed.”

“Yes. But you will be fine. We will be fine.”

He cursed and we slipped. I was jerked in his arms and felt the wound more clearly now. My body felt cold, wet with sweat. I was shaking now.

“This is not good.”

“Don't panic,” he said sternly. “We just need to find somewhere to climb, or...”

His voice trailed off.

“What is it?” I asked.

“There is something here.”