Page 139 of The Jasad Crown

From the sky, the Desert Flats bore a striking similarity to the cracked, stale surface of month-old aish baladi, the thin layer of sand and dust over the plains a near-replica of the flour slapped onto the bread before the baker piled it on top of our wicker trays. We’d been flying over the lifeless expanse for a full day, and I had yet to see any kind of life. What creatures might have once called the Flatshome had long desiccated, and even the buzzards had vanished for lack of fresh meat.

Which was why I drew Ingaz to a halt when two tiny shadows moved, interrupting the miles upon miles of nothing we’d put behind us.

“Is everything all right?” Namsa yawned, maneuvering her kitmer into a standstill beside me. Lateef, Maia, and Efra struggled to control their kitmers, looping around us in helpless circles.

I pointed out the shadows. “I think there are people down there.”

Namsa followed my finger. “Probably just a couple of rock formations.”

“Rock formations wouldn’t move.” My magic juddered like a wheel caught in mud, fixating on the figures. There was something there.

I swooped lower, searching the ground. No rock formations. The shadows belonged to a man and a woman. Blond and black heads of hair that, even if I couldn’t have recognized them separately, were unmistakable when bent together.

I pressed Ingaz’s horns down, and we shot toward the ground. I heard Namsa and the others shout behind me, but I didn’t slow. It could be a hallucination. Another vision.

The figures swiveled at the sudden whoosh of Ingaz’s wings, and the choked noise I released barely registered as human. I cut through the sky like a falling star, heedless of my trajectory.

Ingaz landed hard, and in my stupefaction, I forgot to tighten my hold. I tumbled off her back in an inelegant sprawl, limbs cascading into the hard dirt.

Two faces appeared above me, blotting out the darkening sky.

“Until you landed, that was the most impressive thing I had ever seen,” Marek said breathlessly.

“Is it really you?” Sefa’s teary brown eyes, warm as a blanket on a winter’s day, roamed over me.

The grin spreading over my face couldn’t have been stopped by any earthly means. Maybe Ihadfallen asleep on Ingaz’s back, and this was just a dream. A wonderful, wonderful dream.

Awaleen below, I hoped I never woke up.

A dry sob heaved through Sefa. “I never thought I would see you again.” She moved to cup my face and paused. “Can I touch you?”

It was that question—so benign, so gentle, soSefa—that finally convinced me.

I sat up too fast, tackling her to the ground with the force of my hug. Sefa started weeping immediately, clinging to me as though I might change my mind and throw her off.

A lightly muscled set of arms wrapped around the both of us. Marek laid his cheek on top of my hair. We stayed on the ground, wrapped in a spine-stretching embrace, until someone cleared their throat.

I peered around Marek to see Lateef, Namsa, Maia, and Efra observing us from a safe distance. Efra appeared vaguely constipated, which wouldn’t have been worth noting given his general demeanor, except the expression was mirrored on Lateef and Namsa.

I drew away from Marek and Sefa. I took my first proper look at the pair.

“Marek… why are you in a Nizahl soldier’s uniform?”

Before he could answer, Sefa pushed her hair behind her shoulder, exposing a row of ruby studs along the shoulders of her clothes.

No, not clothes.Livery.

No one knows where Vaida vanished off to after her attendant cut off her finger and tried to steal her ring… She also managed to escape the Traitors’ Wells with a Nizahl soldier.

At the look on my face, Sefa winced. “We have much to discuss.”

Lateef stepped forward, casting a nervous glance to the darkness spreading over the Desert Flats like spilled ink. “Perhaps those discussions are best conducted at another location.”

“We can’t take them with us.” Efra pinned Marek with a hostile glare and received a wide grin in return. “They aren’t Jasadi. One of them is aNizahl soldier.”

“Fake soldier,” Marek corrected good-naturedly, not seeming the least bit put off by Efra’s attitude.

“They’re coming,” I said. “Namsa, Maia, do you mind sharing your kitmers? They’re a little larger than the others and should support the added weight. It’ll take us another few hours to get to the mountain, but we should land by dawn.”

---