Red Hood's Revenge (29 page)

 

Talia could hear Danielle outside, carrying on a quiet conversation with whatever vermin had come to keep her company.

Roudette stirred a short time later. She stretched, passed gas, and crawled out of the cave. Sunlight peeked past the blanket’s edge, but still Faziya slept.

Talia reached out with one leg, kicking Snow in the hip until she groaned and slapped the foot away.

“Faziya’s been sleeping a long time,” Talia said.

“Lucky girl.” Snow yawned and sat up. Her mirrors caught the sun from the entrance, adding to the light of the cave. With much of the gold wire from her choker being used to stitch Faziya’s wound, Snow had reworked her choker into an armband around her right arm.

Snow reached over and pulled the blanket back from Faziya’s shoulder. A splotch of dark blood marred the center of the bandage. Snow clucked her tongue as she peeled back the edge of the bandage to check the stitches. “She’s oozing blood, but it’s not bad. Go ahead and wake her up. Her body needs food and water.”

Snow slipped out of the cave, leaving Talia and Faziya alone. Talia leaned her head close to Faziya’s and whispered her name. When that didn’t work, she kissed Faziya’s cheek and tried again, more loudly this time.

Not a twitch. Talia fought fear. Doing her best imitation of Mother Khardija, Talia said, “Sister Faziya, wake up this instant. Your duties don’t go away simply because you stayed out too late with your hoodlum friends!”

Faziya groaned and started to roll over. Talia held her shoulders, trying to keep her from moving her arm.

“Mother Khardija?” Faziya coughed, then gasped and grabbed her arm.

“I have you,” Talia said. “Try to relax.”

“Talia?” Faziya blinked and looked up at her. “How—” She coughed again. “What happened? Where—”

Talia kissed her. Gently at first, not wanting to aggravate her injury. Faziya wrapped her good arm around Talia’s neck, returning the kiss with a hunger that reminded Talia of their first days together. All too soon, Faziya fell back, panting for breath.

“Don’t try to move,” Talia said, trying not to feel guilty. Even this small exertion might be too much for her.

“I used to pray that God would bring you back to me.”

“God had nothing to do with it,” Talia said.

Faziya pulled her down and kissed her again. When Talia broke away, Faziya smiled. “You taste like salt.” Her lips pursed. “Though you smell like horse and blood.”

“And you have jackal breath,” Talia said.

Faziya frowned and looked down at herself. “I’m also naked.”

“Yes, I noticed.” Talia found herself wanting to laugh and cry at the same time. She did neither, instead doing her best to explain what had happened. She had only gotten halfway through the story when Faziya reached over to take Talia’s hand in hers.

“Thank you for finding me,” Faziya said.

Talia shifted against the rocks, allowing Faziya to rest against her head against Talia’s chest. “How do you feel?”

Faziya shivered. “My arm feels like it’s been smashed with a hammer.”

“I’m sorry.” Talia kissed the top of Faziya’s head. “It was the only way.”

“It worked.”

Danielle coughed politely before crawling into the cave, carrying a skewer of meat and a waterskin, along with an extra robe and head scarf. She smiled when she saw them. “Snow said to make sure Faziya eats the liver and kidneys first. They’re small, but they’ll help with the blood loss.”

“What’s she saying?” Faziya asked. After Talia translated, Faziya frowned. “Her voice is familiar.”

“Danielle helped to calm you when you were a jackal. When I—” She swallowed. “When we broke your curse.”

“I remember,” Faziya said. “It’s hard. Like a dream from childhood. Please thank her for me.” She pressed against Talia’s body. “I remember being afraid. Terrified of everything.” She broke off in another bout of coughing.

“That was the fairy spell.” Talia helped her to sit up and take a drink. When Faziya had swallowed enough, Danielle passed her the meat.

Faziya chuckled. “Liver and kidneys first. Your friend is a good healer.”

“I’ve given her plenty of practice,” said Talia.

That earned another smile. Talia blinked and turned away, fighting tears that came out of nowhere. Danielle was already retreating into the sun, leaving them alone. “What were you thinking?” Talia whispered. “Leaving the temple, going to Rajil’s mansion?”

“You would have done the same thing,” Faziya said.

“You’re not me.”

“I know.” Faziya swallowed. “Zestan-e-Jheg. She’s—”

“Deev,” Talia said. “Father Uf’uyan told us.”

“I left my tribe years ago, but I’m still Kha’iida.” The liver and kidneys were both gone, and she had moved on to the rest of the meat. Talia took her appetite as a hopeful sign. As Faziya chewed, she said, “My people swore an oath.”

“You could have been killed.”

“I went to Rajil the day of the new moon.”

Talia nodded. Every raikh held open court with each new moon. Faziya would have been one of hundreds, all petitioning to speak to Rajil or her adviser. “What did you plan to say? You can’t simply march into the raikh’s mansion and accuse her of conspiring with deev.”

“
Now
you tell me.” Faziya smiled. “I told her I was a fairy worshiper, and I wanted to serve Zestan. I hoped she would take me into her confidence. Instead, she brought me to Jhukha.”

Talia’s fists tightened. Once she had dealt with Zestan, she would return to Jahrasima to kill Jhukha herself. “You were always a lousy liar.”

Faziya finished the meat and took another drink, then settled back down against Talia. Talia brushed the hair from her face. Faziya still felt cold. Talia pulled the blanket over them both.

“You
could
help me get dressed,” Faziya pointed out.

Talia smiled. “I could.”

“Mm.” Faziya closed her eyes.

Talia’s back was bruised from the rocks, and Faziya’s weight was already starting to numb her right leg. Her shoulder was cramped, and her stomach growled. She hadn’t thought to ask Danielle for any food for herself.

She couldn’t recall the last time she had felt so content.

D
ANIELLE WAS TALKING TO ARMAND and Jakob through the mirror on her bracelet when Talia and Faziya finally emerged from the cave. Danielle kissed the mirror and rose to greet them. “Faziya wanted me to thank you,” Talia said.

Faziya was pale and looked as though she would collapse without Talia’s support. Her lips had no color, and she flinched against the sun. But she was alive. Danielle smiled. “You’re welcome.”

“About time you got up,” Roudette said from the shade of the rocks. She bit into a strip of smoked goat meat, eating half in a single bite. Still chewing, she asked, “Did your friend tell us where we could find Zestan?”

“She doesn’t know.” Talia frowned and looked over at the horses, which were munching on a small, twisted tree. “What did you do with them last night?”

“I sent them away,” said Danielle. “We hid the saddles and supplies. I told the horses to run and enjoy themselves and asked if they’d come back today to help us. Wild horses roaming the desert shouldn’t draw attention, right?”

Talia led Faziya to a spot in the sand by the rocks. The way she held Faziya’s arm reminded Danielle of a lord escorting his lady at a ball. The sun was still low, providing plenty of shade. Talia waited until Faziya was comfortable before turning to answer Roudette. “If Zestan is deev, then we’ll need the help of those trained from birth to hunt and destroy the deev.”

Roudette stood up and shook the sand from her cape. “You mean to find the Kha’iida? You realize that puts us back into the Wild Hunt’s path. Having failed to catch us, Zestan will probably order them to resume hunting the Kha’iida.”

“No doubt,” said Talia.

Roudette bared her teeth. “When do we leave?”

Talia pointed east. “Faziya says her tribe should be at hai’ir tel this time of year.”

“Hai’ir tel?” Danielle asked.

“The Valley of God’s Tears,” said Talia. “An oasis, about halfway between Jahrasima and the Makras River. Two days on horseback.” She glanced at Faziya. “Possibly longer.”

Snow pursed her lips. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for her to be on horseback so soon.”

“Would you rather wait around until we run out of food and water?” asked Roudette. “Or until the Hunt finds us?”

Rarely had Danielle seen Talia so indecisive. Talia glanced at Faziya, whispering something in Arathean. Whatever Faziya said in response, it made Snow roll her eyes and walk away.

“She’s as stubborn as Talia,” Snow complained. “She insists she’s well enough to travel.”

“Healers make the worst patients, don’t they?” Danielle teased, earning a mock glare from Snow. Danielle’s face turned serious. “Waiting is too dangerous. I’ll tell her mount to be as gentle as possible.”

Talia nodded. “She can ride with me.”

“Of course.” Danielle helped gather the rest of their supplies into the saddlebags and packs, shifting as much weight as she could from Talia’s horse to make up for carrying two riders.

Once everything was ready, Danielle sat down and tried to figure out what to do with the sheffeyah. She tried to remember how Talia had wrapped it for her the day before. She knew it wrapped three times, and the second loop protected the neck and lower part of the face, but she couldn’t get it to stay in place.

Eventually, Talia took pity on her. “Don’t start with the center of the scarf. Start midway between the center and the end, and wrap the long side.” She moved to Snow, reaching out to help her next, but Snow shoved her hand away.

Roudette had already changed into her wolf form. Danielle checked the cave one last time to make sure they had left as little evidence of their camp as possible. Normally Talia would have done this, but she was understandably distracted.

Danielle watched Snow closely as they rode. Snow’s scarf hid all but her eyes, making it difficult to read her mood, but it was clear something was bothering her. Normally she would have been joking with Talia or singing an obnoxious drinking song. The danger posed by Zestan and the Wild Hunt should have only made the songs more cheerfully obscene. Instead, Snow rode in silence. Fatigue at having used so much magic, or something more?

Roudette raced ahead of the others. She appeared to be testing the limits of Snow’s binding spell, running until she stumbled, then waiting for the others to catch up. She repeated this time and again, each time getting about fifty paces before the curse stopped her. Once she even managed to scare up a lizard the size of Danielle’s arm, which she gulped down as eagerly as Jakob did sweets.

Whereas Snow was uncharacteristically quiet, Talia was almost chatty, commenting on various landmarks as they rode: hills of orange rock rippling like waves on the sea; an abandoned village, half-buried in the sand; a stone wall that stretched for more than a mile.

“Why build a wall in the middle of the desert?” Danielle asked.

“To hunt gazelle.” Talia pointed into the distance. “A mile away, a second wall would have angled toward the first. The Kha’iida herded the animals into the narrowing walls, trapping them in a circular pen at the end. The animals could only escape by leaping over low spots in the walls, at which point they would fall into the pits on the outside. Some tribes still use them.”

“I thought such traps were forbidden by Siqkhab,” said Snow, speaking up for the first time since setting out that morning.

“They are,” Talia said cheerfully. Snow didn’t answer.

Enough of this. Danielle whispered to her horse and Snow’s, asking them to slow down. When the others pulled ahead, she guided her mare closer to Snow. “What’s wrong?”

“Aside from being stuck in the middle of Arathea, you mean?” Snow brushed her hands against her robe. “I feel like I’m carrying enough sand in my hair and clothes to start my own desert.”

“You’ve been quiet ever since you cast that spell last night. Is that what’s bothering you? You made the right choice. You saved Faziya’s life.”

“Maybe.” Snow shrugged. “We’ll have to see how she heals. Dragging her across the desert won’t help matters.”

“You don’t like her, do you?”

“It’s not that.” Snow turned away, adjusting her sleeves to pull the cuffs down over her hands.

“Snow?”

Snow sighed. “It’s not Faziya. It’s
her
.”

“Roudette?” Danielle asked.

“Talia. She’s
different
here. She’s been acting differently ever since we arrived. It’s only gotten worse since we found Faziya.”

“This is her home.” Danielle paused. Despite fairies and humans both hunting for them, Talia was home. Whereas Snow was even farther from Allesandria than ever. A part of her had to envy Talia the chance to see her homeland once more.