‘Impossible,’ he murmured, ‘and yet you did it. I saw you. What does that mean?’
‘I don’t know,’ I told him. ‘It’s why I was running.’
There was a loud clap of thunder and it started raining. We stared at each other as the sky fell down around us. And that’s when they came.
Ambrose
They emerged through the sheet of rain like a silent army of death. It took me a moment to blink away the heartache of what I’d just realised in order to see that they were Kayans – about thirty of them – which didn’t make any sense.
Men and women, all armed to the teeth. They were quick – they surrounded us almost instantly, moving like a contingent of my own army, not needing any orders to know what to do. I gripped Avery’s wrist tightly and looked at each of the soldiers, trying to understand what they wanted. I realised with a chill in my bones that they all had marked faces – ugly brands on their cheeks. The brands were the shape of a small, howling wolf – my royal sigil.
The Kayans drew their swords. My own weapons were lying in a pile with my clothes about a hundred feet behind us.
‘Who are you?’ I asked. They were all at least a head shorter than me, and not one of them immediately stood out as a leader.
‘That depends,’ said a woman, ‘on who you are.’ Her skin was very tanned, her hair very blond – a woman undoubtedly of the sea. But where in the world had she come from? Where had any of them come from? This was a Pirenti isle – our prison was here, and it was supposed to be otherwise uninhabited.
‘My name’s Avery,’ Ave spoke up. ‘I’m Kayan.’
‘We’re aware of that, boy,’ the woman said. ‘What I don’t understand is why you’re travelling with a Pirenti pig.’
Avery and I stared at each other. It was pretty obvious that I’d be slain where I stood if they found out I was holding Avery captive and taking him to prison. I guessed this was the end then. I’d had a pretty good run – I’d even managed to feel something for another human being before I died, which was not something I’d ever expected.
And then Avery said, ‘We’re friends. Ambrose has helped me survive and cross the isle.’
I blinked and stared at him. Whatever I’d been expecting, it wasn’t that. A part of me – a secret, hidden part – started to make plans without my permission. It started to dream and wish, just as Roselyn did.
‘How did you come to be here, and what are you doing?’ the woman asked crisply. Her voice was cold and sharp, and made me think of what Avery had said about women being more devious than men.
‘We were shipwrecked,’ Ave told her. ‘We thought we had landed on the Pirenti prison isle, so we were trying to reach the prison in order to find a boat to take us back to Kaya.’
‘And you thought the prison guards would hand over a boat to a Kayan and a traitor?’ the woman asked, laughing loudly.
‘They’d hand me anything I asked,’ I said softly, meeting her eyes. Hers were brown, but as she looked at me they morphed quickly into a yellowish, hazel shade.
‘Oh? And why would that be?’
A thought rose to the surface of my mind, something I had yet to address. It was easy enough to assume that Avery knew – easy enough to assume I had simply forgotten to tell him. But the truth was simple: I’d been keeping my identity a secret on purpose.
‘Because I’m the second Prince of Pirenti,’ I said, looking straight at Avery.
Ava
Whatever guilt I’d felt before, whatever shame I’d known, it was a drop of sand in the beach of agony I now stood on. He stared at me with that unreadable expression of his, as though what he had just said was not life changing – as if it was just a trifle of information he’d forgotten to mention, when in fact I’d been chummy with the Godsdamned prince of the people who’d killed my bondmate! I’d smiled at him!
I felt so sick I thought I might vomit. I could have killed him right then and there. My blood started to boil, and I looked around for a weapon of some kind. My eyes were shining bright red – there wasn’t enough red in the world to encompass my fury.
‘Easy,’ he said very softly, only loud enough for me to hear.
The Kayan woman spoke into the shocked silence around us. ‘And what benefit do you imagine will come of admitting to that?’
‘No benefit,’ Ambrose said, relaxed, his pale eyes flinty. ‘It is only the truth you asked for. Avery and I are friends. We were shipwrecked together, have survived together – I wanted to see him home to his people. We Pirenti are not all as savage as you seem to think.’
It all seemed to fit, now that I thought about it – his ease within the palace and his familiarity before the Queen, not to mention having the same eyes as his mother. The command in his voice when on the boat and the way all the sailors had deferred to him with such reverence; indeed, the whole mission itself – escorting a captive to a far-off prison definitely had the reek of a mother’s punishment to her bratty child. I was an idiot not to have figured it out earlier. And now that I thought about it, I’d even known from my lessons that the younger Prince of Pirenti was called Ambrose. And yet I had not for one moment put these things together. I was a complete and utter fool.
‘Savage or not,’ the woman said, ‘you are bound for death.’
Through my anger an alarm bell sounded – I had a choice to make. I could let Ambrose die now at the hands of these Kayan warriors. The prince of my enemies would be gone, and I could make my way back to Pirenti to finish this nightmare. It would be the easiest thing in the world and I’d be free again.
But then what happened to the man who had tended my wounds and told me stories and breathed for me when I couldn’t? Where did he go, when the prince died?
‘Kill someone because of the country they come from,’ I said softly, changing my life forever, ‘and you are as bad as the savages you hate.’
The woman looked at me. Her yellow eyes seemed to see right inside of me, probing, searching for the lie. ‘Easy words.’
‘Yes,’ I agreed. ‘Very easy, as your choice should be.’
‘How would you suggest we proceed, Avery of Kaya?’
I frowned, folding my arms. ‘Give us shelter and supplies, and a way to get home.’
‘Why would we do that?’
‘Because I’m one of you, and Ambrose is with me.’
If Ambrose lived, he would find a way to take me to prison, of that I was sure, but here I stood, willing this into certainty. There was a lunatic woman inside my body, and she spoke and thought and breathed in all the wrong ways. She was stronger than my hate and my anger – I had no idea where she’d come from. Her mouth stayed shut, and her eyes stayed locked on the woman in front of me, waiting for an answer.
‘You want us to give the Prince of Pirenti a boat on which to sail home to his Barbarian Queen?’ she asked slowly. ‘Are you a traitor, or have you just lost your mind?’
I thought quickly. ‘Offer us shelter, under the vow that Ambrose will not harm a soul. When I have recovered I will take the boat, and you may keep the prince to ransom. He’ll fetch a pretty price, I have no doubt.’
‘Perhaps we should keep you both to ransom.’
I met her eyes. ‘Perhaps you should. But I am Kayan, and my mission is for the Kayan people. You must decide how much evil you can live with committing.’
She rubbed her chin slowly, glancing at each of us. No one else had moved.
‘All right,’ she said finally. ‘If you say he is safe for the moment, and means us no harm, then there is no reason to doubt him. But if he misbehaves in any way while he is our captive, you are responsible, Avery, and will be punished alongside him. You may both stay in our village until you are ready to leave for Kaya, but once you have left, the prince is fair game, and will not be kept safe by us. Call it an uneasy, temporary truce.’
‘Thank you,’ I said. I was secretly stunned to have won this freedom, and confused at why I had fought for it. Before meeting Ambrose, I would never have agree
d to harbour anyone from Pirenti. I would have disposed of him without a care. Although, thinking back to the girl I’d been before Avery died, that probably wasn’t true – I hadn’t known the same kind of hate back then, and hadn’t been so untrusting.
One of the soldiers went to retrieve our belongings and then the whole group began to march. I didn’t know where we were going, nor how long it would take, but I knew that I never wanted to look at Ambrose again for as long as I lived.
Thorne
I was in the armoury when they told me. Five dead, one wounded. And my wife. My wife.
Garth at least had the grace to look frightened. Six men stood behind him – his patrol group.
I felt dizzy. ‘You reported this morning. You said the forest was empty, and now an hour later you tell me that five of my wall soldiers are dead, and my wife has been stolen.’
They said nothing. Garth dropped his eyes to the ground.
‘Look at me,’ I whispered. I could feel the earth trembling beneath my feet. He found my gaze and I saw the knowledge in his eyes – the terror. I stepped forward and snapped his neck.
He fell to the ground like a rag doll, soundless. The six men behind him bristled with the complicated awareness of what I had done – these men loved me, just as they feared me. I could smell it.
‘Step forward,’ I told Garth’s second.
He did so, eyes wary.
‘Report. Thoroughly.’
‘Several civilian witnesses at the wall, plus the wounded soldier, all reported the same thing – Lady Roselyn was trying to leave the fortress when four Kayans on pegasi approached and took out three of the guards in quick succession. The fourth guard sounded the alarm and, with the fifth and sixth, attempted to fire at the attackers. They were outmatched from their lower position. Lady Roselyn, meanwhile, was tending to the wounded survivor – Gwynedd – who had an arrow through his shoulder. The three remaining guards were killed. A Kayan landed, intending to abduct Lady Roselyn, but she refused to go until she had bound Gwynedd’s wound. He is alive now thanks to that treatment and wanted it to be known that he feels greatly indebted to the lady’s courage. The Kayan woman then forced Lady Roselyn onto her pegasis, and the four attackers retreated, but left this note.’
I read the parchment. The Princess for the Kayan prisoner, Avery. Dawn tomorrow, at the border.
‘How in Gods’ names did this happen?’ I snarled.
Nobody answered; I didn’t expect them to. I wanted to kill them all, every one of them. I wanted to burn the world down.
I stormed through the fortress to my mother’s rooms on the top floor, shoving the note into her face. The Queen read it from her desk, then started laughing. The wolf by her feet stood up and growled, hackles raised. I felt sick and overawed by the strangeness of the woman and her animal. For the first time in my life, my rage was so unwieldy that I wanted to inflict harm upon her.
‘How wonderful.’
I schooled myself to calm down, but I was losing control very quickly. Roselyn wouldn’t survive being kidnapped – she was too fragile.
‘There will be blood for this,’ I breathed.
‘Come now, Thorne,’ Ma sighed, modifying her tone. ‘You wished her dead.’
‘You don’t wish to trade her?’
‘Are you daft?’ she snapped, losing her sense of humour. ‘Of course I don’t wish to trade her! We obviously have someone they want. I’m not giving the boy up for some stupid slut I was going to kill anyway.’
‘She is my wife!’ I snapped. ‘If I want her dead, then I’ll damn well do it myself. I’ll not let some filthy Kayans take that pleasure from me.’
‘Then hunt them down and make them pay,’ she said simply.
I met her eyes for a moment, and then bowed my head. ‘As you wish, Your Highness.’
She smiled coldly. ‘This is all as you wish, my darling. Do not pretend you aren’t the one out for blood.’
I turned with the words in my mind, letting them seep into my skin. She was right, I was out for blood – oceans of it. My beast knew it, and nothing would be able to stop him tonight.
Ambrose
What we found upon arriving at our destination was nothing short of miraculous – the secret Kayan village covered the eastern side of the mountain, and it was a hidden paradise. I couldn’t believe my eyes. At the bottom were the docks for the fishermen, which stretched out over the rocky beach, with jetties that reached right out into the ocean. Behind those were beautiful marble houses perched on precarious crags at breathtaking angles, all the way up to the highest peaks of the mountain. At first thought, I couldn’t work out how anyone got to the higher buildings, but then realised that there were large stone steps carved into the side of the mountain.
‘Where does all the marble come from?’ I asked, unable to tear my eyes from the sight. The buildings were made of both white and black marble and they glinted in the sun.
‘There is a quarry further into the island,’ the woman – whose name we’d learnt was Marla – said coldly. She spoke everything coldly to me, which I supposed was fair enough – I was still just surprised I wasn’t dead.
At the furthest side of the village there was a mighty waterfall that fell from the very top of the mountain and then disappeared into a river that ran straight out to sea. There were flying creatures diving through the air, and it wasn’t until we drew much closer that I realised they were pegasi.
Avery was taking it all in, his expression guarded. I wondered if his home had looked anything like this – I’d only been to southern Kaya and that had been to fight in battles, not to notice the scenery. I had heard of Limontae, though – everyone had. City of sparkling towers and the people who lived in the cliff face. I could imagine it must have been the inspiration for this town.
We reached the wharfs at the bottom and began the slow ascent up the mountain steps, flanked only by Marla and one other guard. The other soldiers all melted away to their respective houses, I supposed, or back to the jungle to continue their patrol.
‘How have you all come to be here?’ I asked Marla.
‘We are escaped prisoners,’ she told me flatly.
I blinked, my mind working quickly to figure out what this meant. One simple thing: I was never going to leave this place alive.
‘Your guards have never thought to explore the island any further than the prison, believing it to be impenetrable, and they’ve never reported the escaped prisoners, thinking them to have perished. The Kayans here have managed to salvage a life, albeit a lonely one.’
‘The prison must be really secure,’ Avery commented wryly.
I glanced at Avery, wondering what he thought about his new-found power over me. How the tables had turned. The situation was so bizarre, I could almost find it funny – the last thing I’d ever expected to find on the prison isle of Pirenti was a stronghold of Kayans.
Marla led the way up the steps, so I spent the climb watching her from behind, considering what Avery had said to me last night about a woman’s beauty. This woman was definitely strong. She was unlike any woman I’d ever come across. But she wasn’t beautiful – not to me. Her strength was harsh and unforgiving. Plus, she had a more manly face than Avery himself did. It struck me, once again, how similar men and women from Kaya were.
Avery still hadn’t looked at me since he’d found out who I was, which was hurting me in a way I’d never imagined possible. I hated him for it a little bit.
Finally we reached the top, and for the first time since we began climbing I turned and took in the view – it was dizzyingly spectacular. I felt like I stood at the top of the world, like I could see everything from this height. The ocean stretched out forever, magnificent and sparkling in the sunlight. The village lay below us, and I now stood level with where the pegasi were swooping by. I watched them for a moment, wondering why they seemed so different to all the ones I’d seen before. It came to me that they must be wild, unbound to the people who lived in the village, for what
ever reason.
I watched Avery’s face as he took in the view. It was very pale, very sad. His breathing was shallow, and at first I assumed he was puffed from the journey, but when he collapsed to the ground, something in my chest tightened. At that moment I knew – I’d known it from that first moment I’d watched him in the sky, as he’d brokenly flown a pegasis without any fear. I sank down beside Avery, trying to shake him awake. He made a soft sighing sound that was both deeply exhausted and achingly fragile.
‘What’s wrong with him?’ Marla asked quickly, kneeling on his other side.
‘How would I know?’ I barked. ‘He collapsed.’
Several people emerged from the building to crowd around us. Amongst them was an old man who knelt beside Avery and held his hand, checking the pulse. ‘Has this happened before?’ the man asked me.
‘Well he’s— I mean, he’s had a lot of injuries …’
The old man sat back on his haunches, a shadow passing over his face. When he looked at me, it was with pity and tenderness – all emotions I’d never expected to receive from a Kayan. ‘He’s a half-walker. A shadow man.’ The people around us made sounds of sorrow and began to move away, leaving Marla and I alone with the old man.
‘What?’ I whispered, not understanding.
‘He only has half a soul,’ the man explained patiently. ‘His bondmate died.’
My breath left me in a rush and I closed my eyes. ‘I thought he wasn’t going to be affected since it happened so long ago.’
‘It is inescapable. Eventually, the binding takes us all.’
Chapter 9
Roselyn
One of my kidnappers was a lanky man with scars all over his face and long sandy brown hair. His name was Gidion and he looked to be in his thirties. There were two younger men – barely more than teenagers – with short hair the colour of spun gold. They didn’t tell me their names; they were handsome and quiet. But the last of my captors was the one who held my attention, because she was a woman, and everything I knew told me she shouldn’t be the one in charge.