Night Spinner (Night Spinner #1) - Addie Thorley Page 0,75
hire. Which, on the one hand, is terrifying, but on the other hand is somewhat freeing.
The moment I duck out into the sunlight, Orbai rockets into the sky without so much as a screech of goodbye. “Thanks for the vote of confidence!” I yell after her, making a mental note to set aside time just for her after this mission. I’ve been busy training, but I didn’t think she minded. She’s always off spiraling through the sunshine and badgering the hoopoes.
I’m still watching her shadow grow smaller and smaller when Temujin arrives with Inkar and Chanar.
“Kartok will be waiting for you in the Boneyard,” Temujin reminds me for the hundredth time as he leads us through camp and across the globeflower field.
“And I secured the fastest horse in the grazing lands for you. It’s tied to the large maple near the eastern border,” Inkar says.
“And if there’s a delay, you can access rations in the outskirts of Baimur. Or you could always just do what you do best and burn the Imperial Army encampment to cinders.” Chanar claps me hard on the back.
I wheeze as if I’ve been punched.
Inkar swats her brother. “You’re the worst. Pay him no mind, Enebish. He’s just pouting because he used to be the one scheming in Temujin’s tent.”
“I don’t want to do any of this, if that helps?” I tell Chanar with a self-deprecating laugh.
He doesn’t crack a smile. “That actually makes it worse.”
“You’ll be brilliant.” Inkar buries me in a hug, squeezing me tight through my armor. “The Bone Reader said the universe confirmed it.”
Temujin holds out his palm, on which sit two cerulean stones. They’re the precise color of the bonfire and they pulsate with the same strange glow.
“What are those?” I ask.
“Portal stones. They allow you to travel between the Ram’s Head and the Eternal Blue without me. All you have to do is throw a stone at the barrier.”
I stare hungrily at the little blue rocks. It takes all of my restraint not to snatch them from Temujin’s hands and sprint for the prison shack. They’re my and Serik’s ticket to freedom. All I have to do is steal more later.
Temujin coughs, and I force myself to look away. If he didn’t already suspect my intentions, he certainly does now. I was about as subtle as an avalanche. “I didn’t know it was possible to transfer power from the Goddess-touched into objects.”
Chanar scoffs but Temujin humors me. “Ranaz—an old royal scholar who was also a prophetess of the First Gods—defected when the Sky King denounced the old religion. She found a way to infuse stones from this realm with the power of the Goddess-touched, allowing others to access the gateway. Before that, I would have had to physically go on every mission, which would result in far fewer.”
Never in my life have I heard of the prophetess Ranaz or the ability to infuse stones with power from the Goddess-touched. But then, I was only eight years old when I was taken in by Ashkarians. And Verdenet had already been part of the Protected Territories for several years. Such things were not discussed.
Temujin places the portal stones in my palm. His fingertips linger for the briefest moment. “You can do this,” he says. “Remember all that’s at stake.” His amber eyes are fierce with conviction—and warning.
I blow out a breath and glance up once more at Orbai. She followed us all the way from the encampment, but every time I whistled for her, she climbed higher into the blue.
“It’s time,” Inkar says softly. “You don’t want the recruits to think you’re not coming.”
I drop one portal stone into my pocket, and the other I toss in a high arc. When it reaches the apex, it vanishes and a gateway crackles into existence, sparking yellow and white.
Serik’s desperate plea chases me through the portal, but I shrug it off and mutter one last prayer to the Lady of the Sky. Then I slip into Sagaan.
To spin the night.
And weaken the army I swore to serve.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
AS SOON AS I EMERGE THROUGH THE TAVERN DOOR, THE tendrils of darkness slam me against the building like a great black wave. Pain explodes across the side of my face and panic grips my throat. The monster kneads my belly with its claws.
I want to scream, but I can’t catch my breath.
I want to run back to the realm of the Eternal Blue, but my feet are limp and boneless.