“And avoid Ish along the way.” Maks nodded. “Good call.”
I backed away from Ali and went to my own horse. Balder watched me as I brushed him off and tacked him up carefully, checking that all my straps were straight and not pinching his skin. The last thing I needed was a saddle sore from being careless. I flicked a hoof pick through his hooves, checked his shoes that they were all nailed on tightly. While I could manage to fix a loose shoe, it was better to catch it early. So far, we’d been lucky not to throw any.
Balder nudged me with his nose as I finished attaching the last of his gear and mine. The flail sat on my cross-spine sheath I’d made for it. The weapon was light as a feather and I rarely noticed that it was even there. Until a fight broke out, then the urge to grab it and knock the shit out of my enemies was overwhelming. Which I did my best not to do simply because when I used it, the weapon drew my own life force into it. Basically, it tried to kill me.
I reached up and brushed two fingers along the wooden shaft, feeling the engraving of my family’s crest in it. What were the chances that I found it in the giant’s hoard all those months ago? That I’d seen it amongst the garbage and shit as if drawn to it? I shook my head as the wooden handle warmed, becoming tacky to my fingers. I snatched my hand away. “None of that,” I said quietly.
The heat from the weapon’s shaft pushed through my clothing and marked a line across my back as clearly as if I’d had Maks draw one there. Yeah, not sentient exactly, but there was power running through it I didn’t fully understand.
Ignoring it as best I could, I slid a horse treat out of my cloak pocket and offered it to Balder. He took the treat and chewed contentedly, unbothered by eating around the bit in his mouth. That was our life, eating on the run. I sighed and mounted up, swinging my leg high over his back, then settled into the saddle.
His head snapped up and his ears pricked forward. Something moved in the distance at a flat-out gallop. Balder let out a whinny welcoming the newcomer.
I frowned as the person came into view. Person, satyr, same difference. Goat from the waist down, man from the waist up, I’d sent him to Ish to get help for Kiara and her child. Maybe he had good news. But by the look on his face, I doubted it. Damn it, I needed to restart this day.
Chapter Four
Marcel the satyr slid to a stop, gasping for breath in front of me. I didn’t dismount from Balder, but instead, urged him forward. “Marcel, you have news about Ish?”
I’d sent him in my place to beg for help from Ish when Kiara had been taken by the Jinn. I’d been torn in two directions—Bryce had gone into Dragon’s Ground, and Kiara had been scooped by a fleeing Jinn as a prize. I’d hoped that by sending Marcel to Ish, she might consider doing something to save the young lion shifter. In a dream or a vision or some shit like that, I’d seen the meeting between Ish and Marcel, and the entrance of Merlin. But I didn’t see it all and I was worried about what I missed.
Marcel bent at the waist, breathing hard, his hands on his furry knees. “Holy shit. Merlin showed up while I was there. Flounce me sideways for days, I do not want to ever see that kind of power thrown around again.”
My eyebrows shot up. “What kind of power?” I hadn’t seen Merlin since we’d forayed into the Witch’s Reign, if you discounted the vision. What was he up to now?
Shem growled. “He’s causing trouble, is he? No surprise there considering who his pap is.”
Marcel stood and waved both hands at us. “He tried to calm Ish down. Said something about the jewels being what was making her mean again. Like she’s been a bitch before. She flipped her shit and we ran for it.”
I moved Balder beside him and handed him a skin of water. He took it and gulped it down. “Did she even mention Kiara? About helping her?” Again, I’d seen her response with my own eyes, but I was hoping that after I’d left the scene she’d changed her mind.
He nodded as he drank and a burst of hope climbed through me. He lowered the flask of water. “She said, and I quote, ‘Kiara will have to save herself if she is to survive at all’ or something like that.”
Lila swung in close and whispered, “I think he doesn’t know what a quote is.”
I smiled, but it fled quickly. “Anything else?”
“Well . . . ” He looked to the sky. “Basically, she said that you aren’t safe around her. Something about the giants’ jewel making her meaner than normal. And that they hate you and that is filling her up.”
“The giants’ hatred of thieves is nearly as strong as a dragon’s,” Shem said softly. “If she is feeling that, then the satyr is right, you should not go near her again.”
I shrugged as if it didn’t bother me, but . . . “We’d already decided to go to the west of the sea. This only reinforces that idea. Away from Ish. That’s what we need.”
Marcel grimaced. I frowned as I took my water flask back from him. “What else?”
“Merlin, he went to the desert. He said that the Jinn took someone, a woman named Flora. I never met her, but I think she’s important to him.” He shrugged. “The things people do for love, am I right?”
I didn’t know what Merlin was up to, but I doubted it was as helpful as he would try to make it seem. Drowning me in a freezing stream in order to help me came to mind as his idea of helpful.
“Marcel, we are headed to the desert. I’m thinking . . .” I said, but he was already shaking his head.
“Yeah, that’s a no from me.” He rubbed his face. “I’m headed to cross the wall. I’ve seen a few satyrs headed that way. Long as I can avoid Stella, I’ll be good.” He grimaced.
Shem leaned forward in his saddle. “Wait, cross the wall?”
Marcel grinned up at him. “I know, right? Think of all the human women who need flouncing on the other side!” He ran his hands down his lightly furred chest and tweaked his own nipple.
“The wall . . . what do you mean you’re going to cross it?” I asked. “We saw it, and while it’s far from too tall to climb, it’s got magic all wrapped up in it that electrifies you.” Or something like that anyway. I wasn’t dumb enough to try it to know for sure.
Marcel tipped his head. “I only know that there are places you can cross now. The wall is crumbling, along with the magic, and . . . well, there is a story already spinning around it. About a young female lion who is bringing down the wall. With a dragon at her side.” His eyes flicked between me and Lila. “I mean, maybe they got the sizing wrong, but I . . .” He shook his head again, his nubby horns catching my eye. He reached up and took my hand, and brought it to his lips, drawing my eyes back to his face. He kissed it gently and then let it go. “Thank you, Wall Breaker. You are saving us all, you know that, right?”
My heart did a funny thump and my throat tightened. I managed a quiet “You’re welcome.” Maks and Lila wished him well and I was sad he was leaving us so quickly. Pain in the ass he might be, but it looked like he had completed his part in my story.
He trotted away, his tail flashing side to side as he hopped along, kicking his heels up here and there. Maks urged Batman closer to us. “What do you think? Is the wall down?”
“I have no idea. But if it is in places, it has to do with the jewels,” I said.
We didn’t watch Marcel for long before the three of us turned our horses to the southeast without another word between us. We needed to drop far enough to the south that the Stockyards was well out of range. And we needed a horse trader.
Riding for less than an hour, we came upon a small group traveling to the west. A few satyrs, a couple shifters, and behind them a wagon with several horses tied to it. I flagged them down and made a deal in no time. Ali would be traded for one of the finer boned riding horses along with other supplies that would see us through the next leg of our journey. I traded out my heavier winter coat as well.
Call it a hunch, but I did not see myself coming back to the cold ever again. Maks saw what I was doing and followed my lead, haggling for a better price on his coat. Of course, those headed to try and get past the Dragon’s Ground would need heavier coats. Winter still held a grip on the land there.