“Josef, come on,” Eli pleaded. “I wouldn’t do that to you, to either of you. I’m your friend. I’d die for either of you. You know that. ”
“I do,” Josef said. “But I also know that you’re a con artist, a thief, and a stubborn bastard who doesn’t take no for an answer, even from us. Now shut your mouth before it runs you any deeper into trouble. Nico’s not one of your idiot spirits, and she’s not taking you anywhere. ”
“I’ve never thought of her that way!” Eli shouted, clenching his fists. “You’re the one treating her like an idiot, Josef. You think she needs you to stand up and say what she will and won’t do? You’ve been all mother hen with her ever since you found her, but Nico’s her own person, and she can make her own decision. ”
Josef clenched his fists as well, his white-knuckled hands moving to his sides where his twin swords rested. “She has enough to fight without adding you to the list,” he said, his voice thick and dangerous. “Now back off, thief, before I—”
“Stop it. ”
Both men jumped as Nico stomped forward, pushing herself between them. She grabbed Josef first, wrapping her hand over his shoulder and pushing him down with a burst of her demon strength. He folded like a collapsing chair, his legs buckling as he landed on his rear with a slam. She did the same to Eli, though more gently. The bewildered expressions on their faces as they hit were so similar that Nico almost laughed.
She suppressed the urge at the last second. Laughing would ruin the moment, and she only had the nerve to do this once.
“Josef,” she said. “Your support and protection are dearer to me than you can ever know, but this time it’s not necessary. Eli wasn’t conning me. He was trying to make a point and getting carried away like he always does, but that doesn’t mean he was wrong. We are a team, now more than ever. ”
She stopped. Her voice was faltering and she didn’t want to lose her courage. Breathing as she’d heard Tesset do so many times, she found her calm again. Only when she was utterly in control did she speak again.
“We are a team,” she repeated, her eyes flicking back and forth between them. “And you two are the only family I’ve ever had. ” She looked at Josef. “Eli might be a con artist, but he stood by me in Osera when you were out cold and no one else thought I’d make it. His voice was the one I heard in the dark. You saved me on the mountain years ago and you’ve saved me countless times since, but so has he. He’s saved you as well, and you’ve saved him. We’re all tied together by so many life debts now we can’t begin to untangle them, but there’s no need to. I don’t need debts to help either of you. When friends are so close they’re blood, you don’t need anything but a request to walk into a sword with your head held high. ” She turned back to Eli. “That’s how I feel, but I don’t need to ask to know you agree. After all, you already walked into the sword for us in Osera the night you stopped the sea. ”
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Eli shook his head. “That was different,” he whispered. “I’m not—”
“It wasn’t,” Nico said, drawing strength from the iron certainty in her own voice. “And you are. So go ahead. Ask me. ”
Eli glanced up at her. “Ask you what?”
“Ask me to take you through the shadows to the Shaper Mountain. ”
Eli took a hissing breath, glancing at Josef, but the swordsman’s face was closed, his eyes focused on Nico. “All right,” Eli said, turning back to Nico. “Take me. Please. ”
“I will,” Nico answered without hesitation. “And I’m not doing it because I want to face down the demon or because I think it’s a good idea. I’m doing it because you need to get there, and because you asked. ”
The look Eli gave her then was so bewildered Nico couldn’t stop the enormous smile from breaking over her face. She fell into a crouch beside him, bringing her head level with his. “Of course I’ll do it, stupid thief,” she said, punching him softly on the shoulder. “We’re a team, aren’t we?”
For three heartbeats Eli didn’t move, and then his face broke into the most beautiful, joyful expression Nico had ever seen.
“That we are, Nico,” he said. “That we are. ”
“Well, I’m not going. ”
Nico’s and Eli’s heads both snapped toward Josef. The swordsman was leaning back on his hands, but his face was deathly serious.
“Nico’s a free woman,” he said. “She can take you wherever she wants. But I’m not moving a step until I get a promise. ”
Eli went very pale, and though his body was still, Nico could see his spirit trembling. “What kind of promise?”
“If we’re a team, you need to act like it,” Josef said flatly, looking Eli up and down. “I’ve followed you for years now, no questions asked. I’m not saying we should change that. I kept my secrets as tight as either of you, after all, and I’ll never forget that you were the first ones at my side when my past caught up with me. But this isn’t another heist. I don’t know what you’re wrapped up in, Eli, but even I can see it’s big. Bigger than us. Too big to walk into blind. So before I agree to throw my lot in with you once and for all, I want your word that, from here on out, you’re going to tell us what’s going on. No more secrecy, no more glib brush-offs when I ask you a question. I don’t care if you’re the prince of the spirit world or just a big-mouthed idiot who talked himself in over his head. From now on, you tell us what’s coming as best as you can, and when either of us asks a question, you answer it straight. Promise me that and I’ll follow you to the end of the world or wherever it is you’re headed. ” Josef raised his hand, holding it in the air between them. “Deal?”
Eli glanced at the offered hand, and then he raised his own, clasping Josef’s palm. “Deal. ”
Josef gave Eli’s hand a hard shake as his glare dissolved into a smug grin. “I would have come even if you hadn’t promised,” he said as he released him. “You know that, right?”
Eli’s jaw dropped, and then he kicked Josef in the shin. “You are such a jerk. You know that, right?”
“You’ve told me as much before,” Josef said as Eli’s kick bounced off him easy as a child’s. “I’m glad I got the promise, though. Despite all your other faults, you’ve always been a man of your word. ”
“Gee, thanks,” Eli grumbled, glancing at the window. “Now, if you’re done being a pain, can we get going? Daylight’s burning and we’ve got a long way to go. ”
Josef shrugged and stood up. He grabbed the Heart of War and slung it onto his back, fixing the strap over his other blades. Nico grabbed their bag and started to put it over her arm when Eli stopped her.
“I’ve got it,” he said, sliding the bag over his shoulder so that it rested on his hip. “You just worry about getting us there. ”
Nico nodded, fighting the icy spike of fear that stabbed her stomach at the mention of leaving. But she’d made her promise, and nothing was going to stop her now. For the first time in many months, maybe the first time ever, the three of them were all on the same page, united in purpose. She was going to do her part or die trying.
“Grab on, then,” she said, steeling her voice against the fear.
Josef’s arm was around her waist before she’d finished, pulling her close. Eli latched on next, wrapping himself around her shoulders.
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“Isn’t this cozy?” he said, smiling over her shoulder. “Wrapped up together like coins in a cloth. ”
“Just make sure you stay that way,” Nico said, planting her feet. “And whatever happens, whatever you feel, whatever you see, do not let go. ”
She waited until both men nodded, and then, with a final, deep breath, Nico stepped them backward into the shadows and vanished without a trace.
Eli gasped as the darkness ate them whole. The first thing he noticed, aside from the black shutter that had closed over his eyes, was the cold. It sank straight to his bones, as sharp as broken glass.
So sharp, in fact, that he had trouble breathing. But the biting, breathless cold faded to a minor inconvenience once the fear hit him.
Pure terror gripped him like a giant’s hand. He could actually feel the weight of it pressing on his heart, stopping it cold between one beat and the next. Lungs frozen, heart stopped, Eli’s body sank, a dead weight sliding down Nico’s arm. His fingers twitched uselessly as they slipped from her coat, and he started to fall. In the parts of his brain that still worked, he cursed himself and fought to grab hold again, but it was no use. His body was a wooden doll, an empty vessel crushed by fear. Another second and he would fall into the dark entirely, and the grasping mouths that nibbled at his arms would fall on him in earnest and eat until there was nothing left.
But just before he fell away altogether, something strong and warm shot around his chest, pulling him tight. He looked up to see Nico looming over him. There was no light, but he could see her pale face clearly. Her eyes were as bright as lanterns, and her arm was wrapped around him, holding him up as they slid through the dark.
Eli didn’t know how long they traveled. It could have been minutes or days or lifetimes. The dark had no end. Nico’s arm kept the cold away, and though the fear never abated, Eli found he could manage it if he clung to Nico’s small, wiry body with his face buried in her coat like a child’s.
He couldn’t see Josef, but he could feel the swordsman’s arm wrapped around Nico’s waist. His fingers were pressed as tight as Eli’s own into her coat, and Eli took some bitter comfort that Josef felt the fear, too. The only one who didn’t seem to feel it was Nico. She stood above them, her pale face calm and determined below her glowing eyes as she stared into the dark ahead of them.
And then, just when Eli was sure he’d never see daylight again, they burst out of the blackness and into blinding light.
The three of them stumbled and fell as one, landing on something soft and sweet smelling. Eli blinked rapidly, willing his eyes to adjust, fearing they wouldn’t. He wouldn’t have been surprised to find he was blind. It seemed impossible that he could face so much darkness without suffering some consequence. But his sight slowly returned, and the first thing he saw were his hands digging into newly plowed dirt.
A field. They were lying on a tilled field in the shady lee of a stone shed. The land was rolling, a gentle country of undulating hills. There was a low, red farmhouse on the ridge above them, and above it, Eli could see the shadow of mountains in the distance.
“We’re three days’ ride north of Zarin. ”
Eli jumped. Nico’s voice was surprisingly loud, and he rolled to see her and Josef standing over him. Nico frowned at his surprise. “Sorry,” she said.
“Not your fault,” Eli assured her, pushing himself up. “Are we in the foothills yet?”
“Almost,” Nico said, nodding at the mountains. “We’ll be there after the next jump. ”
Eli eyed the distant mountains. “That’s a long jump. ”
“It’s good to do the large ones first,” Nico said. “Before we get tired. ” She held out her hand. “Ready?”
Eli wasn’t, but he grabbed her hand anyway, pulling himself tight against her. Josef did the same, wrapping his arm around her waist again. As Nico took a deep breath, Eli examined her face covertly under lowered lashes. She was pale, but that was usual for Nico. Her breathing was steady and her shoulders were straight, all good signs. Still, he could see the first hints of dark shadows under her eyes, and he was about to suggest they should rest a moment when Nico pulled them back into the dark.
This time Eli was prepared for the cold and the fear, but it didn’t help a jot. He went stiff just like before, and he would have fallen again had Nico not gotten a good grip on him this time. He could feel her spirit now. It was open and roaring, surrounding them in a bubble of her will so solid Eli felt like an idiot for not knowing she was a wizard from the very first time he met her. Nico’s will didn’t ward off the dark or the cold or the fear, but as he clung to her coat, Eli had the strong suspicion that, were it not for her protection, they would never have made it through with their souls intact.
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This time, their trip through the dark was noticeably shorter. Just as Eli had dug in to weather the terror and the cold, it was over. They popped back into the light like a surfacing cork and toppled over onto the pine-strewn floor of a dark, mountain forest.
Eli rolled as he fell, landing on his back in the soft, cool loam. His vision returned more quickly this time, and he looked around to take stock. It wasn’t good. Josef was up as usual, but Nico was still down beside him. She was lying on her back in the pine needles. Her eyes were closed, and her pale face was the color of chalk. Josef was hovering above her, his brow set in a permanent scowl.
“We’re resting here,” he announced, looking at Eli like he was daring him to object.
“Fine with me,” Eli said, letting his weight press him into the ground. “Where’s here?”
Josef glanced up. “Going by the trees, I’d say we’re exactly where Nico said we’d be, in the forest covering the foothills of the Sleeping Mountains. The road we took across the northern kingdoms on our way to Gaol cuts through here somewhere, probably south of us. ”
“Ah, memories,” Eli said, pushing himself up with a groan.
With some difficulty, he scooted himself over to the nearest tree and propped his back upright against its scaly trunk. Josef did the same, laying the Heart across his knees. Assuming the swordsman was right about their location, they were already halfway to the mountain.
Not bad, Eli thought with a grin. The morning sun was still low. At this rate they’d be knocking on the Shaper Mountain’s slopes by noon. But then, they couldn’t keep up this rate, could they?
He glanced at Nico. She was lying perfectly still on the forest floor, the gentle rise and fall of her chest the only sign she was alive. In addition to the usual deathly pallor of her skin, the dark circles under her eyes were now deep and pronounced, and her cheeks looked hollow. Worse, her coat was twitching.
The movements were small and subtle, so small that Eli would have dismissed them as a trick of the wind if a wind had been blowing. But the forest floor was still. The coat was moving on its own, inching around her like it was trying to fold her into a cocoon.
Eli bit his lip. That was bad. The coat Slorn had made was as loyal as a Spiritualist’s spirit, and it knew Nico’s body better than she did. If it wanted to wrap her up, she was in a bad way. But the movements were still minor, and despite the dark circles, Nico’s face was peaceful. A good thing they didn’t have much left to go, then.
An hour later, Nico suddenly opened her eyes and sat up. Josef’s arm shot out just as fast, steadying her shoulders. “You all right?”
Nico nodded. “I’m rested enough. We should go. Next time might be longer. ”
Eli cursed under his breath. “Nico, we can take as long as you—”
“I can do it,” she said, cutting him off as she stood up. “Come on, let’s go. ”
Eli took a deep breath and reminded himself that if Karon’s core hadn’t faded by now, the lava spirit could certainly wait until nightfall. With that truth firmly in his mind, Eli made a great show of not hurrying as he stood up, stretched, brushed the pine needles and dirt from his clothes, and finally stepped in to stand with Josef at Nico’s side. He took his now customary position at Nico’s shoulder and looked up, filling his mind with daylight as Nico leaned back into the tree shadow and the darkness ate them once more.
This jump was even shorter than the last, but when they emerged again, Nico collapsed in a heap. Josef fell to his knees beside her, pulling her into his lap while Eli slumped to the ground and focused on assessing their surroundings.
His eyes were getting faster at recovering, and almost immediately he saw they were in another forest, a familiar one this time. They were sitting on the sandy bed of a dry creek.
The banks were crowded with beautiful, spindly, golden-leafed trees, their dove-gray trunks ringed with white. Nico had brought the three of them out in the shadow below a large outcropping of water-worn stone at the center of the dry stream bed. Off to their left was a long, flat sandbar strewn with leaves and feeling somehow empty, as though it were missing something.
Which, of course, it was. This was Slorn’s Awakened Wood, and Slorn was what was missing. While Josef pulled Nico out of the rock shadow into the sun-warmed sand, Eli wondered briefly what happened to the house on chicken legs with both Pele and Slorn away. Did it wander on its own like a dog waiting for its masters? Or did it sit empty like any other building, gathering dust as its awakened parts fell asleep?
“Eli!” Josef’s voice snapped him out of his dreaming. “Get over here. ”
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Eli was at Nico’s side in an instant. “What?”
“I was afraid,” Josef said, looking at him pointedly.
“Josef,” Eli said tenderly. “She’s going to be fine. ”
“No,” Josef said, rubbing a frustrated hand through his cropped blond hair. “I meant when I was moving her, I felt a small flicker of fear. ” He leaned in close and dropped his voice. “Demon fear. ”
Eli stiffened. That was a different matter. He looked down at Nico. Her coat was moving more than before, bundling itself tight around her until all he could see was her face.
“Her coat’s in place,” he said. “That should block any fear. Are you sure it wasn’t just left over from the jump?”
Josef shook his head. “I specifically felt it when I touched her. ”
Eli bit his lip. “She’s tired. It’s possible her control is slipping. ”
“Powers help us if it does,” Josef said, his hand flicking to the Heart’s hilt. “If the League finds us now, she’ll be a sitting target. ”
Eli could only nod and nudge the coat tighter around Nico’s body. “Let’s sit in the sun for a while,” he said softly. “When Nico wakes up, we’ll see what she wants to do. ”
Josef nodded and sat down by Nico’s head. Eli took a similar position by her feet, pulling his legs up in front of him and resting his knees on his chin. They sat like that for a long time, neither saying a word. Still, it was hardly silent.