Thunder Rattles High (Unweaving Chronicles Book 3) Read online

  He twisted the rings, studying it as he spoke. “If you can’t, then we’ll all die together here.”

  “That’s very comforting.” I frowned.

  His honey warm gaze flicked up to my face before returning to the scintellex. “There’s no point in denying reality any more than there is in giving false comfort. We’ll do what we can as quickly as we can, but we’ll only wear holes in our souls fretting constantly.”

  “Then what should I do?” I asked.

  Rusk finished trying to make the scintellex work and laid it on the table beside the bed. The shadows were growing now that the sun had set. Only the light of the bonfires in the courtyard lit our room.

  “First, you should tell Graxx that you will not enslave the Eaglekin in the future and then see if he will willingly accompany us as we try to save the world.”

  “And if I don’t want to give up one of our best assets?” I asked. I could hear the petulant tone in my voice.

  “Oh, but I think better of you than that,” he said, drawing me close, and kissing my forehead.

  “Maybe you think too highly of me.”

  “I don’t. I think just … highly … enough.” He punctuated each word with a kiss down the side of my cheek. His fingertips held my face delicately in place so he could explore it with his lips.

  “And after that?” I asked. I was starting to feel hot inside. I wasn’t sure if I could concentrate on Eaglekin or anything else.

  “Does that mean you’ve agreed to my request?”

  “Yes. Graxx and the Eaglekin can go free – after they help us save the world. It won’t do them any good to get their freedom for a few days only to see it melt away.” It was all I could do to keep my hands off him, but what else would he talk me into if I let this go farther? “You can be the one to tell Astrex.”

  “Good,” he murmured. “I’ll negotiate for you in the morning.”

  “And tonight?”

  “Tonight, I make love with my wife and try to remind her that no matter how desperate the times are, they are never too desperate for love.”

  My breath caught in my throat and a fluttery feeling began deep in my belly.

  “Nothing to say to that?” he asked, as he kissed his way down my neck and under the curve of my jaw.

  “Oh,” I said.

  “Very eloquent.”

  I cleared my throat, still trying to think straight.

  “Stop worrying,” he said, his words muffled by his kisses.

  I leaned back and let my hands run over his long, lean physique. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to lose myself in his love for just one night. I could worry tomorrow about scintellexes and worlds ending. There really wasn’t anything that I could do about them tonight … was there?

  CHAPTER SIX

  “It’s the perfect refuge,” Edrixx was saying as we loaded Graxx together.

  He and Rusk were consulting one last time before we left. It wasn’t quite dawn yet, and already the Black Talon were up and at work. Astrex was organizing a group of young people, only a few years younger than myself, as they lined up with tools in hand.

  “With the gardens and the deep well and the food stores we found, we can hold this place for a few weeks, as long as we shore up the walls and defend the bridges.”

  “You should prepare yourselves,” Rusk said, “The Canderabaians are treacherous. The High Tazmin may send troops if we fail to assuage his wrath.”

  “We’ll be ready for small assaults,” Edrixx said. “Astrex is seeing to the walls herself.”

  I glanced towards Astrex, whose arms were waving as she called down one of her workers. At least she wasn’t threatening to cut anyone’s fingers off if he didn’t finish a VR test in time. He should count himself lucky.

  “We can’t handle a siege here, no matter what we do. The structure isn’t built for it. We’ll need to head off a battle before it gets this far if it looks like a full siege. Trust us. We will keep an eye on the surrounding forces. And you, do you truly want no troops with you?”

  Rusk laid a hand on Graxx who was snapping at a circle of birds that flew around him. He’d better get used to them. With Rusk back in Everturn, who knew what birds might turn up.

  “The three of us will move faster and draw less attention to ourselves. We’ll send for reinforcements when we are ready. Perhaps, if we succeed, we will not need to fight.”

  Who was he kidding? Graxx still seemed exotic to me, and I’d ridden Eaglekin for days. It didn’t matter where we went on Everturn, he’d be turning heads.

  Edrixx saluted him in that fist-to-hand gesture he used, and Rusk saluted back. I was distracted by the people in the courtyard. No one stood idly by. Everyone was already moving with purpose and intention. I’d never seen this sleepy place so alive, so determined. It felt fitting and took some of the sting out of our departure. Who knew that the other-worldly Black Talon with their glowing ko would look at home beneath the lacework and minarets of my home.

  “Are you happy with your people’s new home?” I called into Ra’shara.

  “It’s suitable,” Kjexx said, appearing out of nowhere and squatting on the ground, sword in hand, studying the earth as if it could tell him something.

  “We’re off to seek peace for them with the High Tazmin,” I said. In the real world, Rusk and Edrixx had turned to the boring matter of logistics. I had a moment to talk to Kjexx.

  He stared at the horizon, his back to me.

  “In the meantime, if you could see if you can find a way to stem this cataclysm, that would be helpful. I think the scintellex needs more people than just me to operate it.”

  He grunted.

  “Are you ignoring me?”

  “Do you remember how I told you I was walking around in the real world as if I was really here?”

  “Yes.”

  “But no one can see me?”

  “Yes.”

  “That doesn’t mean that I can’t see them.”

  He spun around, his ice-shard eyes flashing.

  My hand rose to my mouth as his meaning became clear. He’d been there last night. My face felt hot. I must be blushing a thousand shades of red. He’d seen…

  “Exactly,” he said.

  “Well, I did tell you that they expect an heir…”

  He sucked in a deep breath and held it as if he was trying to keep his temper.

  “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”

  But was I sorry? Last night … well, I’d do it again if I could. I rubbed my sweaty palms on my black leather pants. Yes, I would certainly do it again.

  “I just need some space. Don’t call me unless you need me.”

  I cleared my throat, awkwardly.

  “I just need a little space,” he repeated, eyes on the horizon.

  “Yes,” I agreed and vanished from Ra’shara.

  Thankfully, they weren’t really much for speeches in the Black Talon. Astrex paused her wall instructions for long enough to pour water over our bowed heads – a ritual that was much more welcome in the balmy climate of Canderabai – and then she smiled as we mounted Graxx. Of course, she was smiling, she must be happy to be rid of me and be back to ruling the roost.

  “We need to hurry,” I said to Rusk as we mounted Graxx, adjusting ourselves to fit well in the saddles that Ran along his spine.

  “Graxx,” Rusk said quietly, and he erupted into a run like a racehorse off the line.

  The wind flowed through my hair, and I clung to Graxx’s feathers and the leather harness straps. My heart was pounding, and exhilaration thrilled through me. Beneath us, the rocky ground went by in a blur.

  Had it only been a month ago that I’d traveled with Amandera and been beaten every night as she tried to call forth my magic? It seemed like a lifetime ago. I’d met Rusk on that journey, and now the two of us were racing towards salvation together.

  A flock of birds flew towards us in a “V,” their wings beating almost in time with one another. As we drew closer, they banked and sp
iraled over us. My eyes followed them and my mouth hung open. They were huge.

  Rusk tugged on my shoulder and when I met his eyes he pointed up at the lead eagle.

  “See their leader?” That’s Swift Current. He saved us when Amandera dropped me off a cliff.”

  “He’s all the way over here?”

  “He says that most of the Teeth of the Gods are still intact where we left them.”

  I frowned. I’d expected Amandera to bring them to Azaradi to present them to the High Tazmin. Had she only brought one back? I hadn’t had a lot of time to think of Amandera, but her actions in Axum were puzzling. I’d always thought her to be unflinchingly devoted to the High Tazmin, but to be so close to Catane, she must have betrayed her husband. She’d called Catane ‘the new High Tazmin’ perhaps she was the one fuelling his desire to come to Everturn. Perhaps she had a greater plan in all of this than I realized.

  I wished, more than ever, that my mother had not died. Without her death, none of these events would have been set in motion. She and I could still be exchanging gossip, and she could still be doing the High Tazmin’s bidding so that Amandera never needed to see me.

  I pulled the scintellex from my pocket and let my fingers trace the engraving as we rode. The rings twisted freely and couldn’t be pulled vertically. They were solidly built. There were no flaws or marks other than the engraving. Could it be a box that held something? My vision blurred again, and my hands deftly flicked the rings, and it let out a piercing note that scattered the birds from overhead and made Graxx jump to the side.

  “You might want to leave that for another time,” Rusk called, but just as the words left his mouth, I saw something high in the sky growing bigger. The scintellex seemed to glow and then fade, but whatever it was above us grew larger and closer.

  “What is tha-”

  It corkscrewed towards us, and even from this bad angle, it was clearly one of the Teeth of the Gods.

  Rusk cried out, pressing me down flat against Graxx’s back just as Graxx leapt forward, spun to the side and then stumbled. We hit the ground, flying from our saddles and I tumbled across the ground, so disoriented that I couldn’t tell up from down until I finally landed flat in the dust.

  The sound of a heavy object striking the earth and metal screaming and shrieking across the rock shook me back to my senses. Shakily, I pulled myself to my feet. Rusk was already up, coaxing Graxx out of the swirling dust.

  I swayed, stunned by our fall, and shocked by the Tooth lying on its side in the dust. It seemed strangely undamaged, despite the noises it had made.

  The door opened, and a figure stumbled out and then stood, the sun at her back so that all I could see was a silhouette of a woman in a sarette. I didn’t have to see her face to know … it was Amandera.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  NO, NO, NO, NOT HER! I didn’t think, I didn’t shout, I just ran as fast as I could and slammed into her, knocking her against the Tooth. I could feel the tug of Rusk on the other end of the tether and hear his yelp, but I wouldn’t be hindered.

  The look of shock in her eyes and the bruise on the side of her face from the crash knocked me to my senses. I wasn’t her captive. Not now and not ever again if I could help it. Her fate was in my hands now.

  I gripped her sarette, a sense of power filling me. If it hadn’t been for her, Kjexx would have lived, Rusk wouldn’t have suffered like he did, and I wouldn’t feel so betrayed. She should have been my ally, not my enemy. I should … I should … An’alepp had made me promise to give her a chance to make things right. I owed An’alepp for her sacrifice, and even more, for her faith and friendship. I sighed.

  “Do your worst,” Amandera said through gritted teeth. What did she think I was going to do? Smash her teeth in? Actually, that sounded appealing, but no. No, I needed to honor An’alepp.

  “I will. I demand your surrender.” It wasn’t quite the olive branch of peace, but at least I hadn’t killed her.

  “Surrender?”

  “Tylira?” Rusk asked.

  “Are you going to help us fix this cataclysm, Amandera, or am I going to unweave you where you stand?” Please pick the second option, please pick the second option.

  She sniffed. “As a matter of fact, I was headed to the Event Alura to try to discover just how to fix this problem,” she said.

  “I thought that you’d allied with Catane because he was our only hope. Don’t you know how to fix this already?”

  Thunder shook the sky and I flinched, watching as one of the cracks in the sky lengthened. I bit my lip and looked back at Amandera.

  “We don’t have the time to waste on this. Tell me why you were going to the Event Alura?” I asked. When did visiting ancient, run down spaceships become so commonplace?

  “There must be information on it. Information that can tell us how to prevent this apocalypse.”

  “Keep dreaming. If such information existed, An’alepp would have given it to me.”

  “Our ancestors didn’t know everything that was in their ships. Drusica only knows about what she had access to.”

  “ An’alepp was the ship’s captain. If there was information she would have known about it. What would have been more helpful would be a working Tooth. We could use that to fly under the crack in the sky, and then you could have woven it shut.”

  Her jaw clenched. “If that was possible I would have done it already.”

  I heard a clank and glanced at Rusk. He was peering into the crashed Tooth.

  “They expect you to come back in this Tooth, correct?” Rusk asked. “We could take it and fly right into the heart of Azaradi and plead with the High Tazmin to return my sisters.”

  His sisters? What had happened to the cataclysm first and the sisters second? He and Kjexx were out of control. I needed to figure out how to get everyone back on track right now. We needed to focus on the problem that would destroy the entire world first and then focus on everything else second.

  “Why do you want your sisters so badly?” Amandera asked, her face expressionless. “What does it matter to you where they are or what they are doing?”

  Could I really trust her enough to work with her? Should I? I needed her help, but her expression showed she was hiding something. Maybe it was a bad idea. Maybe we should set her loose and do this ourselves.

  “You’re all heartless,” Rusk said, spitting on the ground. “Every last Tazmin and Tazminera.”

  I felt a stab of something – guilt? Hurt? – it was hard to say. He wasn’t talking about me. I shouldn’t take it personally. I needed to think. How could I remind them of why they were here?

  “He wants them because they are his sisters. You promised us their freedom, and you lied,” I said quietly. Maybe if I could stay calm everyone would see reason. “You betrayed us. But now we all need to focus together on stopping this cataclysm from destroying everything.”

  “Sometimes things just aren’t that simple.” Amandera’s gaze wouldn’t meet mine.

  “We could leave you here miles from anything and deal with these things ourselves. Is that simple enough?” I was losing patience.

  “Then who would tell you where to find his sister? I can take you to her bedroom door. Then we can heal the world together. Isn’t that what you want, Tylira? To save the world?”

  “Yes, it is.” I clenched my jaw. Every time she spoke I grew more wary of her motives. Why did she suddenly seem to care about the cataclysm? That hadn’t bothered her when she was hand-in-hand with Catane earlier.

  “She?” Rusk asked, his face stiff with worry.

  “Evanessa,” Amandera said. “She’s your sister, isn’t she? She’s nearly as talented as I am at weaving. Why do you think the High Tazmin was so reluctant to let her go?”

  “Promise you will help us find Rusk’s sisters and heal the cataclysm,” I said.

  “Wait,” Rusk said. I stepped back as he stepped in close so that his face was inches from Amandera’s. “First, she needs to explain why she keeps s
aying ‘sister.’”

  I frowned. What was he talking about? Amandera’s arms crossed over her chest, her back pushed against the hull of the Tooth like she was trying to sink through its skin.

  “Because only one of them is still alive.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  I STOOD MIDWAY BETWEEN RUSK and Amandera, torn by indecision. Rusk seemed to want his space. He’d turned his back to me, leaned against the side of the Tooth, and after a few moments the too-quiet sounds of a man crying were loud in the awkward silence. With the tether between us, I couldn’t just walk away.

  Amanadera stood on the other side of me, arms crossed. She was bent over her left side like she’d been injured. I should probably be checking to see if she was fit for a journey. I should probably be comforting Rusk. I just didn’t know how to do either one.

  I opened my mouth and then shut it again, rethinking whether I should speak. I took a step towards Rusk and then stepped back again. Would he want me to intrude on his pain? I’d never even asked him what his sisters’ names were. Heartless. He’d called me that before, and the more I got to know myself, the more true it seemed to be. But I didn’t want to be heartless. I just didn’t want to break, either.

  What should we do? I didn’t dare put anything before healing the cataclysm, but was that the priority here? Maybe we should go find his sister first.

  Amandera watched me as I tried again to gather the courage to speak to Rusk. Her knowing smirk made me scowl. What right did she have to know what I was thinking? What right did she have to laugh at my inability to fix this problem? What I should be doing was getting our revenge on her, a cry and squeal of hers for every one that she’d given us. But revenge felt empty. Somehow, it just didn’t appeal to my heart anymore.

  I took a deep breath, swallowed, and then walked over to Rusk, making sure that I could keep an eye on Amandera while I spoke to him.

  “Rusk?” I asked gently, laying a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t shake it off, but he turned further into the hull of the Tooth. “I’m so sorry. I wish we’d been quicker.”