Night Spinner (Night Spinner #1) - Addie Thorley Page 0,122
Shadows weave and dart through the smoke, and I swear I feel the brush of fingers at one point. Whether the Shoniin are hunting us, or racing for the portal themselves, I’d rather not find out.
When we reach the top of the crest, I fold into a cough. The smoke is so oppressive, I can hardly see Serik and his face is a hand’s breadth from mine. “How will we get out? How did you get in?”
“After you gave me that portal stone, I took a little detour through camp and snatched a few more before fleeing this hellhole. I wasn’t about to leave you behind without taking insurance.” He shakes his cloak and a handful of blue portal stones rattle inside the pocket. Just like the alms money he stole from the abba to buy our winterberry pies at Qusbegi.
“You’re brilliant,” I say as he tosses a stone into the air.
“Try not to sound so surprised. Monks can be just as dashing as deserters. Maybe even more so.”
Cries flare up behind us when the gateway sparks into existence—blinding white against the burning blue. Serik and I dive through the portal, and I offer up a prayer to the Lady of the Sky, begging Her to seal it before the Shoniin follow.
We tear across the empty Ram’s Head and out onto the murky streets of Sagaan. It should be bitter cold, but the heat from the inferno has followed us through the realms. I’m breathing so hard and sweating so much, I may never be cold again.
When we reach the nearest intersection, we turn an aimless circle. The royal complex looms to our left, where Ghoa and the king are undoubtedly plotting my capture and death. The grasslands extend to our right, where the Zemyans are advancing, trampling our magic-barren warriors like wilted globeflowers. And the tavern is behind us—a cocoon of wickedness, bursting at the seams. It won’t be long before Kartok and Temujin spill into the city and claim it for Empress Danashti.
I steal a nervous glance over my shoulder. “What now?”
Serik shrugs. “I was hoping you might contribute a few ideas. This is as far as my plan extended.”
“Only you would storm into battle with a half-formed plan.”
“It’s worked, hasn’t it? There’s something to be said for the element of surprise.”
“You are nothing if not surprising,” I agree as I scan the empty streets. The city is so quiet, it feels deserted. Every shutter is drawn, every door barred. The braziers lining the roads are dark and cold. Everyone has gone to ground after the horrors that unfolded at Temujin’s execution. I don’t blame them. The Sky Palace still pulses like an ember in the dark, the ravaged timbers glowing like shards of exposed bone.
A knot lodges in my throat.
They are hiding from me. From Enebish the Destroyer.
I am not the enemy! I want to shout the truth so loud that they can hear it clear from the icy tundra of Chotgor all the way down to the deserts of Verdenet: Temujin has betrayed you. The Sky King has forsaken you.
But saying it won’t change their minds. I have to prove it. Show them.
Save them, somehow.
Not knowing what else to do, I lead Serik down an alleyway and stitch the night around us. “We have to make a plan,” I say, pacing the narrow space. “Temujin and Kartok are going to lay siege to Sagaan. They have my darkness and starfire. We have to protect the people, get them out of the city, but they will never follow me after what I did to the Sky Palace. Especially not without Temujin. And if we don’t find shelter tonight, we’ll freeze to death. Even though I still feel like I’m burning alive—”
“Take a breath, En.” Serik steps into my path and puts his hands on my shoulders, which only makes me hotter.
“There isn’t time to breathe!”
“Let’s focus on one thing at a time—the things we can control.”
“And what’s that?” I snap.
“No matter where we stay tonight, I can guarantee we won’t freeze to death.”
“How? Did you miraculously smuggle a tent through the realms too?” I fling my hands into the air and yelp when my bad arm twinges.
“Remember when you asked how I was able to blow up the Shoniin’s encampment? Well …” He holds up both hands and wags his fingers. A fiery orb blooms to life. The air around it wavers like the air directly over a fire.