Page 72 of Scorched Earth
“What will you do?”
“I don’t know.”
“If you—” Elyanna sucked in a deep breath, then blurted out, “If you pleaded with the legatus not to go after the stems, told him that you were willing to accept the losses, would he do what you asked?”
In truth, the thought had never occurred to Teriana, because not once had she been willing to let her people die without a fight. But Teriana forced herself to consider the question and eventually gave a small nod. “Yes. Marcus would free my ship and let me go my own way.” Facing the other woman, she said, “Except that’s no victory for us. The doors are open, whether we like it or not, and getting Marcus executed for the sake of a few months of peace changes nothing. Cassius will only send more legions and a nastier legatus to pick up the reins, and the invasion will continue. Sacrificing our people accomplishes nothing. The battle will have to be fought, one way or another. There is no running from it.”
“But can we win it?”
“I don’t know.” Hearing Quintus’s soft whistle of warning, Terianapulled Elyanna to her feet. “What I do know is that we can’t hide from it. You should go.”
Her cousin nodded, pulling up her hood and retrieving her weapons from Quintus. “I don’t know if the path you’re on is the right one, Teriana, or if you will damn us all. But it was you who won my children freedom from that nightmare, so I will give you fair warning. You’ve been named a traitor. They say you are on the side of the enemy because of sentiment between you and the Thirty-Seventh’s legatus, and that you act in his best interests. Watch your back, cousin.”
Without another word, Elyanna hurried down the beach and out of sight.
“You all right?” Quintus asked in a low voice.
“No.” Never had she felt more alone in her life. Chest aching, she pulled on her clothes. Paper crunched in her pocket and Teriana withdrew it, smoothing out the wrinkles. Taking in Cassius’s familiar cursive.
Teriana,
I’ve included this gift in the hopes it aids you in achieving our mutually desired ends.
Lucius Cassius
Nothing that Cassius offered up freely would be a good thing. Except when you were drowning, you could not be particular about whose hand drew you out of the water.
Biting at her bottom lip, Teriana said, “Let’s go unwrap Cassius’s gift.”
27LYDIA
“Well shit,” Agrippa muttered. “This is going to be a problem.”
An understatement if Lydia had ever heard one, because as far as her eye could see in either direction stood a wall of blighters five deep.
“This escarpment isn’t on any map I’ve ever seen.” Killian looked east and then west before shaking his head, and as Agrippa opened his mouth, he added, “I know, Agrippa. Map or not, it is clearly here,just as you said. It just never ceases to amaze me how little we know about what resides within Derin’s borders.”
“Well, you can color the Eyrie on your maps when you get home,” Agrippa quipped. “Runs near the full length of the border between Derin and Anukastre.”
Impressive in and of itself, but the scarp itself had to be at least five hundred feet high, and beyond, the great dunes of Anukastre stretched below them like a golden sea.
“There are a handful of these outposts.” Agrippa gestured to the fortification in the distance. “There’s a pulley system that lifts a platform up and down the scarp. From experience, I can tell you that down isn’t that much easier than up. It’s not well made, but there is little need to go out into the desert, so no one has ever bothered with improvements. We considered it as an alternate launching point for the invasion of Mudamora, but then we mapped the stem to Deadground. Given that the Anuk’s prince, Xadrian, was making short work of every scout I sent into the desert, we went with the path of least resistance.”
“Is it possible to climb down it?” Killian asked.
Agrippa hesitated, glancing between Lydia and Malahi. “It’s a tough climb, especially without rope. Five hundred feet, give or take. You’re probably the only one who could do it, though Lydia we could just toss off the side, and she could heal whatever damage would be inflicted by the fall.”
She rolled her eyes at him, and despite the gravity of the situation, Agrippa laughed before tugging Killian forward so that they could continue to discuss the obstacle before them, Baird following after them.
Lydia took the opportunity to stare back the way they’d come. The terrain had shifted as they’d traveled south, growing more arid. It was hot during the day but chill at night, and water had grown scarce. The ground here was dry and rocky, the only foliage spindly pines and dry brush. The ground crunched beneath her feet as she shifted, and the raven that had been cawing loudly above them fell silent.
“How are you coping?” Malahi asked. “I’ve been wanting to ask but I didn’t want to press.”
Lydia examined her hands, which were still concealed by the gloves Agrippa had given her. She almost never took them off. “It’s tempting to say better,” she replied. “Except I’ve not really been put to the test. All we’ve been doing is following the blighters.”
“Well,” Malahi murmured. “That’s notentirelytrue.”
Lydia’s cheeks warmed. “Agrippa ties me up every night.”
