Queen's Hunt (River of Souls 2)

But you helped me escape the prison.

I did. You will go home. I swear it. But not before you deliver us all.

What do you mean deliver?

But Daya had resumed humming.

… rûf ane gôtter … rûf ane zoubernisse …

The mist streamed around them, once more a thick and brilliant white.

Wait, Valara cried. Tell me what you want. I’ll do it.

Deliver me. Deliver my brothers-sisters-cousins-self. Promise me …

Her words ran together into a chorus of silvery notes, high and clear and precise, the rill of water singing over stone, of raindrops cascading from the trees …

The crackle of thunder brought her back. She started, found herself gripped by both arms. Galena on one side. Ilse Zhalina on the other. They were dragging her back down the hillside, which was awash in heavy rains. Valara twisted away to break their hold, but Galena smacked her across the face. “You filthy lying bitch.”

“No more, Galena,” Ilse said, but she didn’t protest when Galena struck Valara again.

When they regained the camp, Galena flung Valara onto her mattress. Ilse stepped between them. She leaned over Valara. “You lied to us,” she said in a low angry voice. “You said you needed our help to escape Osterling. Now we find you can walk between worlds. At least, you tried to. What happened?”

She could not admit what happened. That meant explaining about Daya and the other jewels. Valara pressed her lips together and met Ilse’s gaze with stubborn silence. Galena laid a hand on Ilse’s arm, but Ilse shrugged her away. She stood and stared down at Valara, her face a blank mask in the night.

“Never mind. She will speak or not as she wishes. If she does not, we leave her behind.”

A bluff, Valara thought. Or not, as Ilse turned.

“I—” She stopped and licked her lips. Ilse did not turn around, but she was clearly listening.

“I did try to escape,” Valara said. “I tried before and couldn’t. I don’t know why.”

It was the truth. Even so, she didn’t expect Ilse to believe her. She waited, not certain what the others would say. In the end, Ilse shrugged and told Galena that she

would keep the next watch. The two of them would take turns after that.

Valara released a shaky breath. No reproach. No ultimatum. Just a choice.

* * *

UNACCUSTOMED SUNLIGHT WOKE her early the next morning. She rolled over and groaned. Her body was stiff from the previous day’s march. Her clothes were still damp, and clung to her in patches. She levered herself to standing, biting her tongue against the painful blisters that rubbed against her borrowed boots.

The previous day came back to her in sharp, uncomfortable detail—the escape, the long trek through the tunnel, her failed leap into Autrevelye.

I shall have no chance like that again. Not soon.

Galena and Ilse were eating a breakfast of raw fish and more turtle eggs. They said nothing as Valara approached, nor did they acknowledge her beyond a glance. She noticed, however, that they had left her a mug of water and a share of the eggs and boned fish. She should have taken satisfaction, but she was too hungry.

Breaking camp took more time than expected. Ilse scattered the pine branches. Galena covered the latrine with dirt, then leaves. She had snared two rabbits, which she skinned and gutted before hanging the bodies from her belt. The two of them repacked their belongings in the blankets. Then they set off with Galena in the lead.

Valara waited a few moments before she followed.

They climbed the hillside to the next ridge, circled around the clearing where Valara had attempted her escape, then followed a narrow track between the trees, which led them over the ridge and into a low range of hills. A hush lay over the forest, and already the air felt thick with summerlike heat. As they climbed higher, they left behind the dense patch of trees for another clearing, where sunlight filtered through a web of shadows. A breeze drifted between the trees, carrying the rich scent of pine. Relief, Valara thought, as she tilted her face to meet it.

A movement to one side caught her attention. She went still, her heart beating faster. Was that a soldier, an animal? As she stared through the dust-speckled sunlight, the patterns of light and shadow slowly resolved into human features.

A woman stood underneath the pine trees. She was of ordinary height, her coloring a pale brown, much like Galena’s. Oh but this was no ordinary human. With a shudder, Valara realized she could see the blurred outlines of the trees through the woman’s body, lines that fluctuated and eddied, then hovered still.