The Stolen Prince (Blood for Blood Book 1) (15 page)

Gage looked pensive. Another guardian beside him said, “We should send in a scout near dawn to find the easiest passages. Then we vanish across under the cover of night.”

“Perhaps we should leave now,” Gage suggested. “Send a part of the tribe. I feel uneasy about being trapped like this. The forest behind us, the smoke ahead of us.”

“I believe we need rest. If we had to, it would be better to fight after a good sleep than a day’s marching,” Tip said. “A scout will be sent out near dawn. Then we will spend tomorrow capturing a few beasts for a distraction. We will make our crossing tomorrow night at moonrise. Should any of us get split up, we gather to the north. At the entryway to the ravines, at the Ancient Su Waters.”

“Where is that?” Skeet asked.

“Head north along the tree line,” Tip said. “Now everyone rest. We might be leaving the forest, but we are heading into unknown territory.”

Everyone nodded. Hakon watched as Gage’s brow furrowed. He approached Tip, “I do not want to stretch the hospitality of this tribe. Not everyone agrees with our mission.”

Tip nodded. “I agree. Hakon, you will sleep separately with Skeet and Tadi, under guard.”

“Why can’t I sleep with the tribe?” Hakon said. If anything were to happen, he wanted to be there to defend his tribe.

Tip put his arm around Hakon. “We will be close, my son. We are all here to protect you.” He smiled and shoved Hakon out of the ring and away from where the rest of the tribe slept.

Skeet gathered his things and kicked Isis lovingly before he followed Hakon out. Tadi and his ziff followed dutifully. Two of Hakon’s pack followed. They would stand guard outside their sleeping ring.

As they left the fire to go to another hut, Hakon heard it again. “Se–ei!” He turned and saw the odd creature he had seen before. It stood in the darkness, eyes glowing just a few feet from where he stood. He blinked at him, and then ported away out of sight. He let Skeet and Tadi go on ahead. It was too odd for him to see the creature twice in one day, as if he was being followed.

“Gage,” he whispered to his guardian when he found him by the fire. He told him briefly about the strange creature. “Have you ever seen this type of animal before?”

Gage didn’t answer Hakon right away. Hakon worried that his guardian was deciding not to tell him something he knew. Finally, he said, “Let me talk to Tip about it. It is strange that you should see a rare creature twice today. But do not let it worry you. Get some rest.”

Gage got up, dismissing Hakon. Hakon went away feeling a little foolish that he had brought the concern to Gage at all.

Late into the night, Hakon was still awake. Tadi and Skeet were already breathing deeply behind him, but he kept thinking of Gage’s observation. He wanted to move on, to get away as quickly as possible because it was Hakon who had brought his entire tribe to this place. This place where they were trapped between the Desolate Forest and the Alem smoke.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

This should be easy
, Lanikai thought to herself, checking again that the cloth around her eyes was good and tight. In her mind’s eye, she saw herself sitting at the top of the night. She listened to the darkness.

Behind her, she heard Maji’s stiff breaths. The horse would wait here till she was finished. She focused farther, and she could hear the collective murmurings of a sleepless and restless army. She touched Maji gently on the head, whispered instructions in her ear, and then climbed to the roof of the building they were hidden behind. Kai had inspected this army camp over the past few weeks, disguised as a simple servant. Even without her sight, she knew she crouched at the top of a storehouse, a relic of the times when the air people still thought it was safe to live and farm this close to the forest.

They weren’t far from the edge of the Desolate Forest now. The camp stretched along it, far as a mile, she guessed. The smell of smoke was distinct. The king’s soldiers burned constant fires along the forest’s edge to prevent any Terra from escaping through zipping. There were hundreds of troops here—a clear warning for those who dared leave the forest.

But Lanikai wasn’t concerned about the Terra. She was here on a single mission. This was the last building in the camp; everything else was made of tents. There was a particular tent she was seeking out. She crawled across the top of the structure to the edge. She adjusted her coats and capes tight against her body with a series of knots. The layers of fabric with their series of tears and knots were laced across her body in a particular pattern. Inside were pockets, each with its own tricks.

She reached behind her now and untied a knot. It released one of her long double daggers. She held it close to her right side and jumped from the roof to the ground. She landed softly but heard a movement to her left. She moved back and waited for the footsteps to approach. They were heavy. A man. She waited for the sound of breathing.

The mouth was just a little higher than her head. She reached toward the sound of his breath, and then lowered her dagger a few inches, slicing through the person’s jugular, while throwing her weight against his back. He fell noiselessly. She bent down and felt for his ear. She kept her voice low.

“There was a small water lizard that lived beneath the three waterfalls. Everyday, she wondered if she should see what’s on the other side of the rock. Finally, she gained the courage to leave her rock, and the current swept her away.”

While she spoke, Lanikai wiped her knife on the man’s clothes. When she was finished, she stood up and moved on. She moved along the edge of the camp, listening for any more feet. She wouldn’t have long before the dead soldier’s body was discovered. She moved inward into camp. Footsteps passed, and she waited. They passed again, and then circled back around. She listened to the sounds inside the tent. Her target.

All she heard was the deep breath of a man asleep. And another, softer breath.

Yes, this will be easy.

She slid through the tent door. She moved carefully along the edge of the tent until she was behind the sleeping figures. By the sound of the breath, there was a man and a woman. She touched the man’s head gently, feeling the crown of his head for his tattoo. Her adept fingers traced the design.

It was the general.

She knelt down beside the man, letting her dagger–free hand search now for his heart, neck, or head—whichever was more exposed. She was willing to improvise.

She whispered, “General, the daisy is a flower that grows wild in the Great Plains, but it grows in the gentle forests as well, along the rivers. So does the lily, but the lily is a tricky flower. She only shows her face when it rains.”

The general stirred just as Lanikai found his neck.

“Sarsa?” he said groggily. “What are you saying, darling? It’s nonsense.”

Lanikai moved quickly and drove her dagger deeply across his neck.
It’s bloody
, she thought,
but so efficient
. “I give you words for your life,” she said, answering the dead general’s question. “I certainly won’t pay for your death with my own life.” Then she stood. She didn’t intend to harm the whore—that would cost more wasted words.

Suddenly, there was a loud shout in the distance. Lanikai judged it to be the edge of camp, the area closest to the Desolate Forest. She left the tent quickly but heard footsteps all around her. She braced herself, but they weren’t running toward her—only around her.

The shouting turned to distant sounds of screams and grunts. She could hear metal against metal and the unmistakable gasps of dying men. A man rushed by her shouting, “The beasts attack! Call to arms!”

If the Terra were finally attacking,
it was time to go
. Lanikai ran against the stream of men, cutting to the edge of the tents and following the same path back to the storehouse. She climbed to the roof, whistled, and ran to the other side. She jumped off, landing easily on Maji. Maji leapt into the darkness away from the fight, and they disappeared.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Hakon was dreaming. They were in a war, but it was not against the Alem. He was fighting the Terra—they came at him one after another with spears or hatchets. They looked angry, like he was the enemy. Everyone was shouting.
Protect Hakon. Protect the boy.

“Protect the boy!”

Hakon jolted awake to chaos. He was covered in water, and something heavy lay on top of him. He pushed it off and realized in horror it was one of his pack—one of the guards outside his room. He looked around, trying to adjust his sight quickly in the darkness. Skeet and Tadi were by his side. Ahead were Terra, pouring into the room with hatchets. One held a bow and arrow, aimed directly at Hakon.

“Link!” Skeet ordered. Tadi and Hakon instinctively grabbed Skeet’s arm as he dug his feet into the dirt. They were outside the lodge now, vanishing to the upper surface of the village. He could see the village was overrun with warriors. Hakon saw with horror they were cutting down his tribe—his family. He looked down and realized it wasn’t water that soaked him but blood.

He pulled out his hatchet, which was tied to his belt—his spear and bow had been left behind. He raised it and made to charge the attackers when Gage appeared before him.

“Hakon! Run. Take your companions and get beyond the border.”

Skeet shouted, “My family!”

“You have a higher mission. Go!”

They didn’t have a choice. Just then an enemy Terra charged them. Gage swung his spear, but the stranger managed to avoid his thrust and reach Hakon. Rather than fight him, however, the stranger grabbed Hakon’s arm and zipped him closer to the smoke screen. Hakon was blinded by the sudden smoke and flame.

He pulled out his dagger and swung it around. It struck flesh. He heard a man groan.

He had killed a man.

The smoke was choking him, so he ran, in any direction. He heard other shouts behind him and in front of him. There was a frenzy around him—Terra attacking Terra, his kin. They had attacked his tribe when they were defenseless and vulnerable? It was a terribly dishonorable thing to do.

Hakon didn’t have time to think. He realized he was now in the middle of the Alem camp. Now the Alem in the camp were pushing forward. They were pulling out their swords and attacking the Terra. His tribe was caught between two enemies. He tried to see, but it was still too smoky. He could hardly make out the uniforms. Several men came at him, and he tried to zip behind them, but they materialized in the smoke just inches from him, wielding swords. He dodged them, ducking deeper into smoke. But he ran into another surprised soldier, who swung his sword. Hakon tried to duck behind him as well, but the thickness of people was too strong for the smoke. He pulled out his dagger and swung out, hoping it would cause the men to hesitate. But they didn’t. They kept coming at him.

“Fools, we don’t want to kill you! Let us pass!” he screamed. He killed another, stabbing senselessly as both enemies bore down on him. He tried to run free of the smoke line. It was thick—fires were built several paces from each other, all covered in green brush, creating a thick smoke that seemed endless. He focused on the ground, where the smoke hadn’t grown so thick, and he zipped that way.

“Attack! Attack!” he heard someone shout, and he turned back to see if his tribe was safe. He saw several of his pack fighting, as well as a few guardians. But where was Skeet or Isis or Tip? Tadi was nowhere in sight. In the distance he saw Skeet engaged with another Terra. Alem were swarming him from behind.

Hakon zipped toward him, leaping high as he did so. He cut down two Alem soldiers and zipped behind the Terra and stabbed him easily in the gut. He stared at Skeet for a moment.

“Can you zip at all?” he asked, surprised.

“No very clearly in this smoke,” Hakon said, “Where’s Isis or Tip?”

Skeet searched through the haze. Another advance of Alem soldiers was coming at them. Skeet pulled his spear and stuck it into the closest attacker, while Hakon scanned through the thick smoke. It was getting difficult to breathe. The attacking Terra kept driving the other members of their tribe into the enemy. Finally he saw Tip fighting near the edge of the haze against both Terra and Alem.

“Skeet!” He grabbed Skeet’s arm, and they zipped toward his father.

“Father!” Skeet shouted and dove toward the group that surrounded him. Tip was a powerful zipper, and he was able to avoid several attacks, but both Terra and Alem were swarming him, oblivious to the real enemy.

Hakon cut down a few men, slicing underneath their arms and zipping around them. But there were a few other soldiers who were air zippers as well, and for the first time, Hakon was scared in a fight.

“Port now! That’s an order!” Tip shouted across to his tribe. “Run!”

The command to run was meant only in a time of emergency, when the chance of winning was hopeless and all that mattered was that the few who could survive. It wasn’t a time for heroes.

“No!” Skeet was shouting. “I won’t abandon…”

“Go, Skeet!” Tip shouted. “Now!”

Tip zipped away from the throng of attackers and reached for his son’s hand. That’s when Hakon saw why Tip had been fighting without running in the first place. Where he stood was Isis’s body, horribly mutilated. Skeet saw it as Hakon did, and he shouted, lashed out, and brought down another Alem in anger.

“Skeet, go!” Tip shouted, pulling his son back. Another man rushed toward Hakon, and he zipped away. Hakon saw Tadi running toward him. Hakon motioned for Tadi to run. Tadi nodded and turned, taking down an Alem with a spear.
Was it Tadi’s tribe that attacked them now?

Finally they cleared the smoke line, and he could see that Tadi had obeyed him. The boy zipped onto a soldier’s head and began to run across their heads, using handfuls of rocks and dirt to zip above them and away.

Another soldier came at Hakon. He zipped behind him and ran, not wishing to kill anyone else. He zipped away again, up to the roof of a tent, flattening himself down to watch the carnage. He saw others of his tribe retreating, but each time they ran or zipped, another Terra or Alem was there to cut them down. He felt utterly helpless. He looked where Skeet and Tip were running. He was about to zip to help them, when, with horror, he saw an enemy Terra grab Tip and zip him into the earth. Tip was dead—half of his body immersed in the earth and the other lifeless. Skeet cried out in rage and swung hard, aiming to decapitate the Terra, but the man was gone.