“Catch me, Lukien!”
She was laughing. I reached for the reins, trying to bring her pony to a stop without spilling her over its head. When I finally got the beast to heel Cricket dumped herself from its back. She just fell off and hit the ground.
“Cricket!”
Slowly she lifted her bloodied face out of the dirt. She didn’t say a word. At least she’d stopped laughing. I got down from my horse and bent over her. She blinked up at me through the dust and blood.
“Lukien,” she whispered, “why did you take me there?”
I really had no answer. Cricket started shaking.
“I saw those things-now I can’t stop. Why’d you let me see them?”
“It was a horror,” I said. “I’m sorry. I am, Cricket. I’m sorry.”
“That man cut his throat. His own throat. Those slaves. .” Cricket pushed her face into mine. “They eat people!”
“I know, it’s impossible,” I fumbled for words. “You should never have seen it. I should never have taken you.”
“But why did you? Why, Lukien?” She grabbed my breastplate. “You’re supposed to protect me. We came here for me. You can’t die, but I can! And now it’s all inside me!”
I let her shake me until the tears came, until she drew back and crumpled. That’s when I knew what I’d done. Why hadn’t I seen it? She’d been brave in Diriel’s hell-hole. Even when that legionnaire slit his own throat. She’d buried it, the way soldiers do. Now it was breaking lose.
I rocked back on my heels. All I could do was let her purge herself.
“Cricket,” I said gently, “I’m a hard man. I’ve seen too much. It’s all poisoned me.” My mind was full of ghosts, the dead of my battlefields. Diriel’s castle had merely sickened me. A lifetime of death had made me impervious to shock. But Cricket, her mind was virgin. No more, though. “Malator was right,” I said. “I shouldn’t have brought you here. No one could have been ready for what we saw. Just me.”
Cricket swallowed her sobs. She laid herself down in the middle of the road, her cheek kissing the dirt. Her hand turned to a claw and raked her face, trailing it with red streaks.
“When will I remember?” she begged.
She wasn’t asking me. Her question was for heaven.
“Rest,” I told her. “Sleep if you can.”
I rearranged her rass-skin cape, covering her with it like a blanket. Her breathing steadied, but she never closed her eyes. I sat down next to her with the Sword of Angels on my lap. Nothing would disturb her, I determined. Not a wolf, not a man, not even a bad dream. Whatever came down the road to harm her, I swore an oath to kill it.
* * *
I built a fire at the side of the road. Not a single rider appeared or even the hint of one in the distance. As the sun went down I listened for animals but they never came, and I remembered what Diriel had said about how they’d all been eaten. It was like we were in the desert again. Only the stars seemed alive. I made myself comfortable by the fire, leaning against my bedroll and tossing scrub brush into the flames. It had taken hours for Cricket to fall asleep. She refused food and drink. I wondered if she had a concussion from her fall. The cut on her forehead had stopped bleeding, though. I cleaned her up while she lay there, lost in her own mind. Sleep would help her, I thought.
I’d pushed us both too hard. Despite the strength the sword gave me I needed sleep, too. I closed my eyes from time to time, drifting in and out of slumber, determined to stay awake. I doubted anyone would come, but just in case.
Once I thought I saw Wrestler coming. He appeared more giant than ever, a monster emerging from the darkness. I shouted, waking myself. I cursed and ran my fingers through my filthy hair. My eye twitched. I was desperate for a bath. Suddenly Fallon’s gilded castle seemed like paradise.
Soon, I told myself. Just have to hold on.
“Malator?” I whispered. “Where are you?”
He hadn’t come to me for hours. I could only barely feel him.
I’m here, he said inside my mind. He sounded tired.
“I need strength.”
You need sleep.
“Can’t. Just help me.”
I gripped the sword, waiting for the energy to fill me. It came but in a trickle.
“More.”
There’s no one to fight here, Lukien. That’s enough. I need strength too, you know.
“Keep me company, then,” I said. “Can you do that? I need to talk. I don’t want to be alone.”
I heard him laugh. Ah, so you don’t want to be rid of me anymore!
“Not just yet. Come be with me.”
He appeared at my left, shimmering into view in the firelight, sitting comfortably in the dirt like he’d been there all along. His handsome face bore none of the signs of his weariness. Malator just seemed eternally young. I envied him. Even though I was barely aging, I felt old. Malator studied Cricket as she slept. He turned back to me with a sigh.
“If only I could get into her head,” he lamented. “I wonder what I’d find there.”
“Something awful,” I said. “That’s all they have in this part of the world-awful things.”
“You made your apologies,” said Malator. “It’s up to her to accept it or not.”
“An apology can’t change what she saw.” I picked up the longest stick I could from my pile and poked it into the flames. “I gave her memories, all right. I’ll bet she’ll remember those.” The heat burned my hand. “You were right, Malator. I shouldn’t have taken her here. I should have listened to you, but I was too damn stubborn. Everything I touch turns to shit.”
“Now you’re feeling sorry for yourself. That won’t help Cricket.”
“I don’t know how to help her! I thought taking her to Akyre would help. I thought making her my squire would. But everything’s just getting worse.” I looked suspiciously at Malator. “Is that what you thought would happen? Did you foresee this?”
Malator grew circumspect. “I did warn you, Lukien.”
“Yes, and that’s all you did,” I said bitterly. “I need to know more, Malator. I need you to be specific!”
“Your decisions are your own, Lukien. Even what little I’ve told you might have been too much! You have a path to follow. But it’s the monster that matters here, Lukien. Remember that.”
Why was everything about the monster? The creature dominated me, not just my thoughts but my actions. Even Diriel wanted it. The monster was the key-but to what? To Cricket? Me?
“I can’t bring it to Diriel,” I whispered. “Even if I could control it. He’d be unstoppable with a creature like that in his army.”
“Your lie bought us time,” said Malator. “We have a week to get Fallon and his men ready.”
“Six days,” I corrected. Just sitting there was wasting time. The fire mesmerized me, bringing back Diriel’s words. “Diriel said his ancestors knew magic. Maybe he knows about the monster. Maybe he thinks he can control it. You said it’s a demon, right? Could the kings of Akyre control demons?”
Malator shrugged. “We’re far from my expertise here, Lukien. Where I come from spirits were part of life. Maybe it’s the same in Akyre.”
“The monster came out of a tomb. Fallon said he woke it.” I laid the puzzle out as best I could. “Is that why it’s after him? It marked him, but he doesn’t seem to know anything about it.”
“Or he’s lying. You know what kind of man he is.”
“I do.” I tossed my stick all the way into the fire and watched the sparks fly. “It galls me to be going back there. To help him, of all people. And what about the creature? If you can’t tell me what it’s after, can you tell me how to stop it?”