The Drowning City - Amanda Downum [42]
After a final swoop the birds flew higher, till they vanished against the sun. Murai applauded, bouncing on her toes. Isyllt grinned at Asheris and he smiled back, and for a moment there was only the wind and the fire and the taste of magic like spiced wine on her tongue.
She wished she could have met him somewhere else, somewhen else.
Asheris’s smile dimmed, and the moment with it. He glanced at the sun and straightened his shoulders. “It’s time to go down. Lady Shamina will be waiting.”
The light deepened and streamed sideways between the trees when Xinai finally returned to Riuh. His eyes widened and she wondered what he saw in her face. She’d wiped away the dirt and tears as best she could, but she was too light, spinning; shock still tingled in her hands and cheeks.
She didn’t speak on the way back, despite Riuh’s attempts to draw her out. Her head was too full of questions, all the things her mother had told her, all the things she had to ask Selei.
They heard the noise before they saw the village walls. Shouts and screams, metal on metal, the sound of clumsy feet through the brush nearby. Her pulse surged with shock and panic—for an instant she thought it was another memory-trap. For an instant she thought the memories were real.
Riuh caught her arm and pulled her behind a bank of ferns. Her knife was in her hand, blind instinct, and it was all she could do not to cut him. His attention was turned toward Cay Xian, though.
“Ancestors.” She read the word on his lips—her heart raced too loud to hear it. Her hand tingled against her dagger hilt, and her back stung and itched with sweat.
Riuh drew his own knife. “We’ve got to help them.”
“No.”
They both spun at the voice. Phailin Xian stumbled out of the trees, clutching her bloody arm to her chest. “Cay Xian is overrun. You’re not enough to change that.” She staggered and went to one knee; blood trickled down the side of her face.
Riuh knelt beside her, wrapping a careful arm around her shoulders. “What happened?”
“Khas soldiers. They came with warrants, demanding Kovi’s accomplices, members of the Dai Tranh—they named you, Riuh. We…resisted.”
“You should have let them have me. I can take care of myself.”
She shrugged, winced. “We won’t lose anyone else, not without a fight.”
“What happened to Selei?” Xinai asked.
“She escaped, with most of the other elders. But we paid for that.”
Xinai forced her nerves aside, tugged off her cloth belt, and began to wrap Phailin’s wounded arm. The cut was deep into the flesh of her upper arm, but she had at least some use of it. The girl’s lips pressed white, but she made no sound.
“We have to get out of here,” Riuh said as soon as Xinai tied off the bandage. He helped his cousin to her feet.
“Where?” Phailin nodded toward Cay Xian. “The soldiers are between us and all our safe houses.”
“Cay Lin,” Xinai said, before she could consider it.
Riuh’s throat worked. “It’s haunted.”
“Better spirits than Khas swords.” Shaiyung had driven away the gangshi, and her own witchcraft was enough to best lesser spirits.
After a heartbeat’s hesitation, he nodded. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 8
Zhirin watched the procession ride toward the far gate and swallowed. The Viceroy and Imran al Najid strode across the courtyard and up the steps. There was still time to salvage their plans, and perhaps more.
“I’m going to find Jabbor,” she said to Adam and Vasilios. “Wait for me inside.” Her cheeks warmed as she heard the tone of command in her voice, but Vasilios only smiled and nodded.
She circled past the stables, around the library wing of the hall, but didn’t head for the fig tree by the wall where she often left messages for Jabbor. Instead she waited in the shadow of the building until she saw Faraj and Imran emerge from the eastern hallway. Isyllt and her plans had distracted Zhirin from the mystery of the diamonds, but now she had a chance