Sky in the Deep(7)

“Eelyn!” Myra called for me, getting sucked into the fighting as I searched the ground for my axe.

I raked my fingers through the grass until I found the handle. “I’m here!” I ran toward her voice.

Lightning lit across the sky again, howling and hissing, and I found her standing over another body.

We headed toward the trees and my eyes trained on the figures before me. We cut them down one by one, reading each other’s movements, until we had a clear path. Myra pushed harder, trying to balance the deficiency of my arm and ribs. I bit down, gritting my teeth, and tightened my grip on my sword, trying to pull my body in line.

And then I saw it. From the corner of my eye—a pale flame moving in the trees.

I stopped short, sliding in the mud with my heart jumping up into my throat. “Iri.”

I took off running, tracking him with my eyes and dodging Riki as I neared the tree line. He wielded his axe, sending it into an Aska and then rearing back and sending another one to the ground. Beside him, a Riki was swinging his sword, dropping my clansmen left and right. The Riki who’d almost taken my life.

I followed them as they moved together, weaving between the trees deeper into the forest. Behind me, Myra’s faint voice called my name.

I jumped over the bodies on the forest floor and ducked into the cover of the trees. I pushed my sword into my scabbard and sunk my weight as close to the ground as I could, running with my axe out before me. My stomach twisted, knowing I should stop. Go back to Myra.

Instead, I followed the familiar form driving deeper into the darkness. The lightning multiplied and the sound of rain on the canopy beat above us. When a hand caught me in the dark, I snapped my arm back, swinging my axe. The fingers clamped down on me, digging into my wrist until I dropped it. I fell flat on my back and the hand grabbed ahold of my boot, dragging me in the other direction. I reached for the trees as they passed, searching for something to hold onto as I slid over the wet ground, my ribs screaming.

The shadow reached down and pulled me upright, slamming me into a tree.

The Riki who’d sunk his blade into my arm was staring down at me. The blue of his eyes glinted like fire-steel striking in the dark. The hair fell down around his face, unraveled from its knot, and his broad frame towered over me as his hands tightened on my armor vest to hold me in place.

“Stop following us.” His voice rose above the sound of rain falling.

I felt for the knife in my belt. “Where is he?”

He shoved me before he let me go and turned, stalking off into the trees.

I ran after him.

He turned suddenly, lifting the handle of his axe to catch me in the shoulder. “Go back. Now,” he growled.

“Where’s Iri?” I shouted.

He shoved me again, sending me back into another tree. The bark grated against my vest as I slid down the trunk and landed on the ground.

I got back to my feet, following him. “Where is he?” I tried to even the shaking in my voice.

When he turned again, he snatched my injured arm up and dug his thumb into the fresh wound he’d made the day before. I screamed, falling to my knees as the stitches popped through the skin. Bursts of light ruptured before my eyes and my stomach turned on itself, making me feel like I was on the water.

He stood over me, his face hidden in the shadows. “You’re going to get us killed. Stay away from Iri.”

I opened my mouth to speak and he clamped his hand down harder until my eyes lost focus. I was going to faint. His voice echoed in my head as the Aska retreat whistle sounded far away.

“Fiske.” Iri’s voice came from somewhere behind us—a voice I knew in my bones.

He stood behind us, holding an axe in each hand. “Let’s go.” He nodded toward the tree line, avoiding my eyes.

“Wait!” I stumbled to my feet, but he was already walking away. “Iri!”

“Go back, Eelyn. Before someone sees you.” The strain in his words was buried deep beneath the hardness that knit his face together.

His face.

My jaw dropped as I marveled at it. He was fair like me and our mother, but he looked like my father. There, in the eyes and the line of his wide shoulders. He wasn’t a boy anymore, but it was him. It was my brother.

“You’re real,” I rasped, trying to catch my breath. I slid my axe into its sheath on my back, staring.

“Iri.” A warning sounded in the Riki’s voice.

“Go.” Iri turned again, giving me his back. “Forget you saw me.”

I leaned into the tree, pinching my eyes closed against the pain in my arm. Against the ache in my chest. Because Iri was alive. And if he was alive, it meant something terrible. Something far worse than losing him.

“Iri?” Another voice sounded in the forest and my feet slid out from under me in the mud.

Iri stopped mid-stride, turning slowly and searching around us.

Ahead, a large man stepped forward, into the slice of moonlight cutting through the trees. “Fiske?”

The three of them looked at each other for a moment and the air turned cold around me, my senses heightening. I pulled my knife free again and looked toward the river. I wasn’t stronger, but even injured I was probably faster than all three of them.

I could make it.

Iri’s jaw clenched, something working in his mind before he looked back to Fiske. He gave a slight nod before his eyes dropped and my breath caught.