I shivered as a warm curl of energy seemed to pool in my belly and spread outward, down my arms and into my hands. This new sensation had me moving automatically. I needed Balder to be able to outrun Batman if Maks gave him a boost of energy . . . desperately needed him to be able to keep going. I placed my hand against his neck and the warm energy zinged through my fingers. He gave a grunt as if I’d shocked him.
His body surged below me.
Renewed, refreshed . . . “Holy baby goddess, what was that?”
He ran as though he were fresh, as though he’d not already been galloping as fast as he could for the last hour.
Which was great. Except for Lila. She was fast, but even she couldn’t keep up with Balder at top speed.
I had to find her. I couldn’t just keep running like this or I’d lose her, and I couldn’t do that again.
I eased Balder back, and he reluctantly slowed. Of course, he wanted to keep running now that he was powered back up.
“LILA!” I shouted for her, already knowing that it was probably wasted breath. I frowned, frustrated beyond belief. Maks had given us the break we needed and we’d screwed it up by being proactive in our own escape. The irony was not lost on me.
“ARG!” I yelled to the sky. “Motherfucking Murphy’s Law. You fucking suck!”
While that did nothing more than make me feel a little better, I’d take it.
If Lila had been one of the lions in my pride I could have found her. The thought rippled through me. I’d made Lila one of my seconds. Which meant she was part of my pride, the same as I’d done to Maks. Only they were tied to me by the heart, rather than bloodlines and species. I swallowed hard. I didn’t have time to get off and sit on the ground for two hours to find Lila’s threads.
I needed to find her now.
I closed my eyes and let Balder keep up a quick trot. Lila was all air and fire, even though she wasn’t a fire-breathing dragon, she was fire. Maks was like me, earth and fire. The thoughts fumbled through me and I was not even sure where they came from. I only knew they were true. The lions were of the earth . . . that was why I had to find them by touching the ground.
Lila . . . air, fire . . . I peeled off a glove and held it palm up. Part of my brain told me I was being fucking ridiculous. The other part told that half to shut up and let it do its job.
The air was warm on my hand, dry and soft, the breeze coming from the south and meeting the wind that drove at my back from the north. The two together wrapped around my fingers, tingling and dancing between them.
“Come on, Lila, show me where you are.” I spoke out loud, and Balder snorted his agreement. There was a tug on my fingertips and I opened my eyes. Woven around my fingers was a bright silver and purple strand, the same jeweled tones as Lila’s eyes. It tugged me to the west and I didn’t hesitate.
We’d intersect and then head south. The good thing about this hard ground was that maybe Maks wouldn’t see my direction change.
I let Balder gallop as fast as he wanted as I kept an eye on both the footing and Lila’s threads. An hour passed with no sign of her other than the silver and purple lines. She wasn’t injured. I could tell that much. But . . . where was she? She shouldn’t have flown that far away.
The plan had been for her to check quadrants. To the west first, and then slowly moving south. I doubted the Ice Witch would have wanted to be all that close to her sister, Ishtar. I mean, considering they were trying to kill each other, that seemed logical.
West, west, west. I rode the rest of the day and finally had to slow Balder as night fell. Riding in the dark was dumb, especially on a night with no moon, and on ground that was rough and unfamiliar.
Lila’s thread still pulsed happily. At least she was not hurt. Not until I’d stopped for the night did I realize something integral about the threads that led me to Lila.
“You haven’t moved all day.” I sucked in a sharp breath. “Fuck, what happened?”
A single bark of a werehyena sent my heart rate up. Shit eating dogs were still coming. Even if Lila’s position hadn’t changed, I would have to keep moving.
Forget not riding in the dark. I remounted and slowly followed Lila’s threads. There would be no stopping now, even if I had to ride all night.
Lila was not moving, which led me to believe one of two things. Either she’d run into trouble and had to hide . . . or worse . . . the Ice Witch and her Raven had her.
Don’t ask me why, but I had a sinking feeling it would be option number two.
Chapter Twelve
Balder and I rode through the night, carefully, slowly, with nothing more than Lila’s threads to guide me and the werehyenas behind us to drive our feet. Exhaustion tore at me, but fear for her kept me moving and my eyes open.
Whatever the extra juice was I’d shot into Balder had faded and he yawned repeatedly as we walked through the last hours of the night and into the morning. The only good thing I could think was that Maks would have stopped for the night—assuming he was alive—and I’d gained a lot of ground on him.
But at what cost? It wasn’t like I was able to push hard through the next few days, and Balder surely wouldn’t be able to after going hard for nearly twenty-four hours.
“Fuck!” I yelled the word to wake myself up as much as to express my displeasure at the circumstances I was looking at. Fuck indeed.
Ahead of us, a big hill blocked our path. Lila’s threads hummed right on over it. I slid from Balder’s back—not for the first time during the night—and held onto his saddle as we walked up the slope together.
He dug in hard and half pulled me up, but the movement woke me some. Not as much as the sight that greeted me at the top of the hill, though.
We stumbled to a stop and I just stared at what lay in front of me. I couldn’t wrap my brain around it. I couldn’t make myself believe that I wasn’t dreaming. The Ice Witch’s castle stood in front of me. A river around it. A forest and . . . snow. There was freaking snow in the desert.
My jaw dropped. I’ll admit it. Dropped, and I sucked in a breath that tasted of ice and snow and . . . “What the ever living fuck is going on?” I yelled the words. Yelled them because I suspected the Ice Witch was watching. I could almost feel her eyes on me. “Seriously? Is this your idea of a joke?”
There was a deep caw from the castle turrets and a wingspan that would put any dragon to shame stretched out as the Raven rose into the air. I didn’t know if I should mount or stay on the ground.
I mounted. I wasn’t about to let Balder take the brunt of anything bad happening if I could help it.
I didn’t ride down to greet the Raven. Balder danced under me. He was no fool. He knew a predator when he saw one and . . . the Raven was a predator. She had eaten young dragons in the past.
Distantly I wondered if she would know who was stealing the dragon younglings. The dragons thought it was the Jinn, which was likely, but I doubted they kept the dragons for themselves. Another time, I reminded myself. One problem at a time.
Speaking of . . . behind us rose a cacophony of laughing howls. I twisted in the saddle to see four werehyenas racing toward us, jaws open. There was no way I’d be killing all four.
“Any time, big bird!” I yelled at the Raven.
The whoosh of the huge feathered wings rushed through the air as she closed in and I held up one hand in greeting. Best I could do at that point.
She cawed and swooped down, her talons outstretched. Balder tried to bolt and I held him fast with my hands and my legs. “Hang on, my friend. It’ll be just like riding with the dragon Trick again.”
He let out a long snort and pawed at the ground with one hoof. Yeah, I wasn’t so sure either.
Goddess, let me be right about this. It was either go with the Raven or face the werehyenas. I was betting on the bird as our safest route, which was a crazy fucking thing.
I held my breath as the massive talons wrapped around us with room to spare. My chest burned as I clung to the air and my hand went to the handle of the flail. Just in case.
But the Raven didn’t squash us or tear us apart. She only scooped us up and rose into the air. Balder grunted and flicked his head up and down in obvious irritation, but he didn’t thrash about. His ears swiveled and beneath me I felt his legs moving as if he were running. Maybe he was getting used to the idea of flying. After all, this was not his first flight with an oversized predator.