“We were introduced when I was assigned to you,” she went on.
“Yeah, but I wasn’t paying attention. Stop dragging your feet and get out of here, Shira.”
Her brow creased in worry, and she looked from him to the clouds flying away, now with small Kazan families in tow. “If you don’t leave now, you’ll miss the cloudships.”
“Don’t worry, I know better than to stick around.”
Surviving one Dreadgod attack was enough for a lifetime. The second he saw an inch of the Wandering Titan’s tail, he was gone.
Until then, he could afford to wait for a little while.
Yerin reappeared a long way from where she meant to end up.
She generally recognized the spot. She was in between Mount Yoma to the north and Mount Somara to the east, in a grove of those purple-leafed orus trees. She wasn’t too far away from Orthos as he led the natives from the Fallen Leaf School to Heaven’s Glory, as she felt his presence. She’d be able to pinpoint him if she could focus her perception for a real scan.
The problem was, her Moonlight Bridge wasn’t supposed to miss.
Every time she’d used it before, she had just imagined where she wanted to end up, and the Bridge had taken her there. This time, it was off. Why?
Might be because I’m falling to pieces.
She had arrived on hands and knees, heaving air into scorched lungs, every breath coming out with a cough. Her whole body felt weak, her spirit ached, and she saw the trees only through a haze of pain, tears, and fury.
The Moonlight Bridge hadn’t worked quite right ever since they’d crossed the border to Sacred Valley. It took more out of her than it should.
Lindon had speculated that it was drawing on her willpower to make up for the authority that was being suppressed by Sacred Valley’s script, but he was just guessing.
Didn’t mean he was wrong. But it meant that she was lost and weak when she really didn’t want to be.
She caught her breath, wiped her eyes clean, and felt the Moonlight Bridge to see how much longer it might need to recharge. Her lungs had already started to clear, and she didn’t know if she had her almost-Herald body to thank for that or the weakness of the Wei clan poison.
That brought her thoughts back to Lindon, and her anger and fear came flooding back. By all rights, the Wei clan’s betrayal shouldn’t hurt anything more than his feelings. If he wanted, he could clean them up with no more madra than it took him to light a torch. Dross could probably do it without Lindon lifting a finger.
But her master had thought he was so far above that he was untouchable, and he had taken stupid risks.
Stupid risks like coming into this place.
This place that choked the sacred arts, the life, from your spirit. This place that bred treacherous idiots who would stab any hand extended to save them.
Images of Jades swarming over her master overlapped with Lindon, and she pushed herself to her feet. The Moonlight Bridge had recovered, and though she looked forward to using it again about as much as a Copper looked forward to carrying a boulder uphill, Lindon was in danger.
She’d have given up her sword to turn around and help, but she was a boulder tied to Lindon’s ankle here. Orthos could help. Lindon just needed to hang on until he got there. He could do that.
As long as nothing else went wrong.
At the exact moment she thought as much, the ground trembled strongly enough to shake her balance. She looked down at the earth aura and saw it brighter than ever, bleeding up into the air. It overwhelmed all other aspects of aura until it was visible to the naked eye.
That was when the sky turned gold. It might have been an earthquake, but she could have sworn she heard a distant roar.
For just a moment, she stared blankly into the west, with one thought dominating her mind.
This place is cursed.
Then the panic overtook her and she walked through the Moonlight Bridge.
It was like sliding through a tunnel of white light, and this time it came out where she intended: next to Orthos.
The great black turtle was munching on a fallen log as he marched, surrounded by the Fallen Leaf School. Little Blue sat on his head, and both of them turned to Yerin in surprise as she appeared.
“Lindon…” she said between breaths. “…clan…betrayed…”
She bent over and rested hands on her knees, gulping down air. Heavens above, she hated being weak. She wished she could scream out her words.
Orthos exchanged glances with Little Blue. “He does not feel like he is in danger.”
Blue chirped agreement.
Yerin’s heart eased a little. She had worried that Orthos would tell her that Lindon was horribly injured. Yerin took that to mean that she had enough spare time to catch her breath before she responded. “What does he feel like?”
“Old anger,” Orthos responded. “And deep sorrow.”
Blue sang a long, sad note.
“Bleed and bury them.” She was starting to think the Wei clan might be worth even less than the Heaven’s Glory School, though she suspected there wasn’t a rat hair’s difference between them. “Go anyway. Scoop up Lindon, and let’s fly ‘til we run out of sky. Let this whole place burn.”
Orthos’ head tilted upward again. “We were just discussing the sky. From what Little Blue tells me, that’s what we should be worried about.”
The Riverseed spread her arms and gave a high chime, emphasizing the size of the Dreadgod.
“Can’t contend she’s wrong.”
Yerin looked up to the rust-colored mountain, which had been stained with gold.
How much time did they have left? Two days? Three? Or would the Titan stop dragging its feet and just kill everyone already?
Yeah, it was time to leave. If anyone decided to stay after being warned and got crushed under a Dreadgod’s heel, that was between them and the heavens.
Something moved in the horizon, and she realized one of the distant peaks past Mount Venture had crumbled. No surprise there. With the earth shaking like it—
Her thought cut off as the Wandering Titan crashed through the mountain.
It swept through the mountain like it was brushing aside tree branches. Its dark silhouette was distant, and clouds cut off its head.
It walked a few steps closer, but those steps must have eaten miles. Only then did it move to its knees, disappearing below the reddish mountain.
The sound of a crash hit her like thunder a moment later, but her heart was racing.
The Titan wasn’t days away.
It was here.
It could make it to the Valley inside the hour, if it wanted. It was just taking its time.
Orthos took in a long breath. “The Wandering Titan…never did I think I would see not one, but two Dreadgods. And only a few years apart.”
“Trapped,” Yerin whispered.
They couldn’t escape in time. It was too late. Ziel and Mercy were too far away, and she couldn’t carry anyone in her Moonlight Bridge. She wasn’t certain how many more times she could use it herself.
They needed more time.
They needed help.
Yerin limbered up her shoulders, stretching herself as madra ran through her channels. None of that helped the soul-deep fatigue that came from the Moonlight Bridge, but she still focused her will.
“Grab Lindon,” she said. “I’ve got my own ditch to dig.”
Little Blue gave a whistle of alarm, and Orthos looked as though he agreed with the Riverseed. “What are you doing, Yerin?”
“Somebody’s got to slow that thing down. Heavens know I can’t do it myself.”
“You’re not from the Kazan clan!” Elder Rahm shouted.
Eithan held a hand to his chest, feigning offense. “Am I not? How can you be sure? Perhaps we’re very, very distant relatives.”