They broke through the billowing smoke like warships through fog, a landslide of muscle and coarse fur. Weak sunlight picked out the steel spikes bristling the deadly bone arcs of each tusk, the plates strapped to every massive skull and trunk and leg, the razor-sharp lances lashed in clusters within reach of their riders.
Fie had seen mammoths before. At a distance. In a pasture. She had never seen them ridden to war.
She couldn’t tell if the Vultures had, either, but at least they had the sense to scatter when the mammoth riders charged.
Tatterhelm’s mount reared and whinnied. Fie heard a growled curse. He kicked at the horse’s sides until it dropped and shied toward them. Fie’s heart lurched as his hand swiped for the prince—
And a spear thudded into the road one hair away from his fingers, its shaft reverberating like a warning rattle.
Tatterhelm cursed again, turned his mount, and fled into the cover of dust. In a heartbeat, every Vulture rider and skin-ghast vanished from the road.
Fie slumped back with a broken laugh, red swimming in her vision. She didn’t know if the lightness in her chest came from relief or blood loss.
She’d done it.
She’d brought the prince to his allies.
A mountain of a shadow rumbled nearer, fading in and out of sight. A mammoth. A rider, spear still in hand.
“Master-General Draga,” the prince said stiffly from somewhere above her. “How did you know?”
“You lit a fire the size of Gerbanyar, Highness,” his aunt answered from even higher. Fie could scarce pick her form out of the blur, but she sounded like the sort of woman who enjoyed riding mammoths full tilt at a pack of Vultures. “And even if you hadn’t, I was warned to expect your arrival.”
She pointed her spear to the gates behind them.
Fie reeled about, heart in her throat. Had she missed it? But Tavin hadn’t—he couldn’t have gotten the message out—
A black thread of smoke spooled into the sky, lit from Trikovoi’s plague beacon.
“Oh,” Fie said.
And then, eyes shuttering, she fell to the dirt.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CROW MOON
“She’s coming around.”
“Am not,” Fie grumbled into unyielding dark.
“I, for one, am not convinced,” another voice said, dry. Fie had heard that one before, grating through dust and smoke … Jasimir had called her Draga—
Her eyes flew open and saw only stone.
Fie blinked and craned her aching head about, tallying up the surroundings. Stone walls, stone floors, stone ceiling, diamond-shaped windows letting in near-sunset light. Dark figures at a desk. Another figure crouching by her side.
The weight of her swords was gone. Fie threw a hand to her throat and found the string of teeth untouched, Pa’s tooth yet humming.
Trust Hawks to take her steel but leave her teeth.
“Stay still,” the first voice ordered, the one who’d announced her awakening. A little sting of pain darted through Fie’s right leg. She blinked once more and found herself sprawled on a low wood bench. A bloody arrow lay on the ground nearby. Someone had cut gashes through her wool leggings—likely the Hawk woman at her side, who was frowning at the gore. Fie felt naught but a faint unpleasant tickle until the woman rocked back and stood. “All done. It’ll be stiff for a day. Expect flashburn scars.”
The healer didn’t address Fie, instead directing her report to the woman across the room. Now that Fie could see her plain, it was clear the master-general did not need the mammoth in order to loom. Draga hadn’t bothered changing out of her dusty leather armor; the only concession she’d made was a discarded helmet, which was leaving a rim of sweat on the parchment scattered across the desk. Fie saw the family resemblance between her and Jasimir at once: same dark gold skin, same sharp jaw, same lean build.
Where Jasimir fidgeted in a chair before the master-general, however, his aunt all but lounged against the desk, the picture of ease. “Good work, Corporal Lakima.” Draga nodded to the healer, who saluted and posted herself at the door.
She’d dealt with Fie’s wounds faster and more painlessly than Tavin ever had. He’d been right about being a middling healer after all. Fie sat up and stretched out her sore leg. “Where are we?”
“Inside Trikovoi,” Draga answered. “The fort’s commander has generously lent us his office. Corporal, please arrange for food and water to be sent up. The children look rather peaked.”
“I can escort you to a location more … suitable for the master-general,” Corporal Lakima