Thief Eyes - Janni Lee Simner [61]
The gray sky was bright, sun turning the clouds gold around the edges. I took a few steps toward the stream, stopped short, and looked around. “Here,” I said.
“How can you know—”
“I know this hillside. I stood here in my dreams.” Heat rose in me as I remembered—blocks falling, fiery arrows striking the ground—this ground. I released Ari’s arm to take off my backpack. He staggered and fell to his knees.
I knelt by his side. “You sure you’re all right?”
Ari gave me a long look. “As sure as you are.”
“Right.” I tore off my jacket. Wind blew through my sodden T-shirt, but it felt hot as the desert wind back home. I drew the spellbook from my pack and laid out the ingredients for the spell: The mead. The bowl. The claw. The rock, which was softer than it looked, flaking at the edges. I left the knife in the pack—I didn’t plan to use it. At last I reached for the coin. Its heat felt good against my burning skin, like a warm caress. I pulled it out.
As I did, the air filled with the beating of wings. I stood and whirled around, shoving the coin back into my pocket. Ari got to his feet by my side, though his legs still shook.
Muninn circled once around us, then landed on a rock beside my backpack. The terns fell silent. The clouds thickened, and the drizzle turned to a fine misting rain.
Not again, not now, I can’t forget now—I didn’t look into Muninn’s eyes. I’m Haley Martinez, I thought fiercely. Daughter of Gabe and Amanda—
“Haley.” Muninn’s wingbeats were soft and slow. “I come to offer you a bargain.”
Chapter 15
“What bargain?” I could run. But Ari couldn’t, and besides, even an ordinary raven flew faster than my fastest sprint.
The wind died. Scraps of mist hovered over the wet hillside. “A bargain to protect this land from the fire you hold.”
“You can do that?” I looked into Muninn’s eyes after all. Dizziness washed over me. “You can take the fire away?” Mist brushed my neck, but the cold was a surface thing. It couldn’t sink into my skin or reach the fire that flowed beneath it.
“I cannot.” The fine rain didn’t seem to touch Muninn’s feathers. “The bargains you made in the fire realm are your own. I cannot undo them. What I can do is take you out of this place. In my mountain, you’ll be beyond the reach of those who would enter this world through your fire. The land will be safer if you are not in it.”
“No.” Ari grabbed my hand. His fingers felt cool around mine.
Muninn krawked—it sounded like a laugh. His bright gaze shifted to Ari. “And how do you like being a bear, boy?”
“I like it fine.” Ari leaned on me to steady himself. “What about Haley? How safe will she be if she accepts your bargain?”
“Safer than she would be anywhere else.” Mist drifted around the raven. “There are no spirits in my mountain to feed her fire, and in my halls she might find the knowledge to keep that fire from consuming her.”
Like Mom had been consumed—but Hallgerd’s magic had done that. I thought of those fiery arrows tearing gashes in the earth. “Would I have to forget again if I went with you?”
Muninn’s wings stopped for a beat—a moment’s hesitation. “No. And I’d return the memory of you to the wide land—a gift for a gift.”
“So you’re saying our parents can remember us just in time for us to disappear forever?” Ari swayed and tightened his grip on my hand. “Some gift.”
“Don’t be stupid,” I said. “You wouldn’t have to go.”
Ari laughed softly. “Ah, but being stupid is what I’m good at. Always best to stick with our strengths. Of course I’d go with you. I may not be much use in the rescue department, but I can get this much right. I won’t abandon you, either.”
I thought of how in my dreams I was the arrow, the fire that tore the earth open. “If I accept your offer, could I return the coin to Hallgerd first?”
Muninn’s krawk was angry this time. “That other one is not as great a danger to this land as you are now. Even so, I’ll not have you returning any part of her power to her. There is danger