Traitor (30 page)

My stomach was growling angrily. There was no food left, no fire to keep us warm, and only another day’s worth of water. We had no idea where we were now or how far off course we’d wandered. Somehow, we’d have to make up all that ground tomorrow on empty stomachs. I wasn’t looking forward to that at all.

Kiran was busy tending to the deep cut on his arm. Despite my offer to heal it for him, he insisted he could do it himself and told me flat out, “Scars are to be worn with honor.” I assumed that was just another example of gray elf stubbornness and pride. I didn’t try to argue it with him.

Instead, I sat by and watched him make a poultice out of dried medicinal herbs from his bag. He smeared the paste over the wound and then wrapped it tightly with a strip of bandaging. When he was finished, he curled up on his pallet and immediately went to sleep.

Since Blue was gone, and my ability to sense presences in the jungle around us was now our only line of warning in case something came after us, I volunteered to take first round of watch over the camp. Jace wouldn’t have it, though. He was determined to take it, and I had my suspicions as to why. His motives were getting a lot easier for me to read now. Especially since his eyes scarcely left Araxie. The only time he wasn’t looking at her is if he was right beside her.

So I let him have first watch in the hopes that he’d do more than sit there and look stern. No sooner had I stretched out on my side to “sleep” than I heard him begin speaking quietly to her. I kept one eye cracked just a tiny bit so that I could watch.

“I’ve wanted to tell you for some time now—and trust me, I know this won’t change anything or make any difference at all,” Jace murmured without ever looking her way, “but I am sorry about your brothers.”

Araxie didn’t answer. Her brow was furrowed apprehensively, like she wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

“You were right about me, you know. I was, and am still, very much a monster. I was promised absolution from my past if I did my job well. It was presented to me like some kind of redemption. Like I was proving my loyalty. The more of your people I killed, the more assured my freedom would be. I let that justify the things I did,” he continued. “I suppose that’s why the idea of dying has never frightened me. I realized too late that I’d only traded one form of slavery for another, so death in any form would be the only real freedom I could ever hope for. I found myself almost wishing for it, hoping that each battle would be my last. I thought it would always be that way … until today.”

“I don’t understand.” She began to sit up. The movement must have hurt that swollen, angry knot on the back of her head, though, because she winced and almost fell back again.

Jace caught her by the shoulders and held her upright.

They sat frozen like that for a few awkward moments, just staring at one another.

“I didn’t want to die,” he said stiffly, as though he were forcing the words out past all his internal fortifications. “I didn’t want to leave you behind.”

Araxie’s lips parted slightly. Her eyes widened, and I saw her begin searching his gaze desperately like she was hoping for something else.

I knew that look right away because Beckah had looked at me that exact same way many times before I’d eventually wised up and realized what it meant.

I guess Jace was a little more experienced than I’d given him credit for when it came to women. He got the message right away.

Without hesitating, he pulled her in close enough to press his mouth against hers.

I hadn’t quite made up my mind as to whether or not I would help him out if she started to lash out at him for it. She was fast enough that she might be able to snap his neck and both his arms before I even got to my feet.

Well, that and I suspected that if the situation had been reversed and
I
was the one going out on a limb with the girl I liked, Jace probably would have just sat back and laughed if I got beat up for trying to make a move.

Then Araxie grasped the sides of his face and kissed him back, and I decided that was a good time to roll over and give them some privacy.

After all, it’s not every day a guy gets to kiss a princess.

After a day like that, I was hoping for some good, meaningful sleep. Of course, it just wasn’t in the cards for me. As soon as I was settled in and my eyes rolled closed, I was yanked under the grip of another dream that refused to let my weary brain rest.

I found myself in a familiar place, which was a rare thing when it came to my usual nightmares. But that wasn’t a comfort to me at all. Standing in the middle of a muddy, trash-strewn street—I knew exactly where I was. I’d walked down this same street many times as a child. I stared up at the front door of the lopsided little hut where my mother and I had lived in the gray elf ghetto of Halfax. The last time I had seen it, there had been lights in the windows—evidence that a new family was living there. Now, however, I saw nothing but pitch black. The door had been kicked in, and the thin, grass-woven blinds on the windows had been torn away.

Up and down the street, the other huts looked much the same. There were no lights and no signs of life anywhere. I saw footprints—hundreds of them—leading from the empty doorways out into the street. They formed a rut in the middle of the road that led out of the ghetto.

So I followed them.

The trail led out of the city, through the gates, and out onto the open road for almost a mile. All along the way, personal items had been dropped and left behind. Bits of clothing. Shoes. I even saw a child’s doll made out of rags trampled into the grime.

I walked for what felt like hours. All the while, I noticed a bright red glow on the horizon. It was in the dead of night, and I was familiar enough with Halfax to know it couldn’t have come from any other city. But there was something else—something I was all too familiar with—that I knew had once been nearby.

A feeling of dread began digging deeply at my gut as I drew nearer and nearer to that place. Cresting a grassy hill, I looked down across the valley to where an ominous structure belched fire into the night sky.

Felix was right. The prison camp had been rebuilt.

From where I was standing, I could see the trail of footprints I’d been following led away across the grassy open fields directly toward the black iron gate of the prison camp and disappeared
inside. I could see guards dressed in armor walking the perimeter and manning the ramparts.

A column of black smoke belched out of the center of the fortress, churning upward to blot out the light of the stars. I could smell it. I was now intimately familiar with that putrid scent and where it came from. I’d stood over the place in the center of the prison camp where they burned the bodies of the deceased captives once before.

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. Horror froze me in place, staring at the prison camp without any doubts about what was happening there. Genocide. Mass, cruel, and unwarranted.

Suddenly, I felt every little hair on my body prickle. A strange warmth spread over me.

“Why are you showing me this?” I dared to ask.

The being standing beside me looked exactly like my mother, but I knew better. It wasn’t her. Her eyes had never been green and they certainly hadn’t glowed.

This was Paligno.

“
So that nothing will sway you from what must be done to end it
.” The god’s words hung in the air like a chorus of whispers. Among them, I could hear my mother’s voice.

“You think I won’t go through with my plan to kill Hovrid?” I tried not to take that too personally, although it definitely felt like a shot at my resolve.

Paligno turned slowly and focused an ancient gaze upon me. It was enough to make anyone feel two inches tall. “
It is not in our nature to enjoy taking the life of another under any circumstance. But sometimes it must be done, as you have learned. The sacrifice of one life can ensure the freedom of an entire generation
.”

I had to think about that. I’d never stopped or even thought to question myself about whether or not I would be able to kill Hovrid when the time came. He was my brother. Well, half-brother. Despite what he’d done, and was still doing, that was a fact that wouldn’t change. The question was would I let it change me? If he begged me for mercy, would I offer it? Was I going to let that family tie trip me up when everything else demanded that he pay for his crimes?

If someone didn’t stop him—if I didn’t take a stand—then he would continue butchering my mother’s people until they were gone. He would continue trying to defile and control the god stone, and Paligno’s curse would ravage all of nature until the balance was restored. I couldn’t let any of that happen. Brother or not, it made no difference.

“When I became a dragonrider, I swore an oath to obey the commands of the King of Maldobar.” I looked back at the prison camp and clenched my fists. “But he is
not
a king. I owe him no allegiance.”

Paligno just kept staring at me with those unfathomable, gleaming eyes. It was like stealing a glimpse of eternity—something my feeble brain could barely understand. It was as terrifying as it was comforting, though I couldn’t wrap my mind around that, either.

“
Hovrid swore an oath as well. He sealed it with my essence,
” the god said. “
Before the end comes, I will hold him to it. I do not forget. Nor do I compromise
.”

An uneasy silence settled over us as we stood side by side, watching the prison camp scorch the horizon. My mind was racing like wind over a dragon’s wings. I was thinking over the scenario that now lay ahead of me. Nothing about it was going to be pleasant. I knew that. And despite my best efforts to grit my teeth and bear it, it filled me with dread.

“
Your father’s people will not understand
,” Paligno said solemnly, as though the god could read my thoughts. I didn’t doubt that he—she—whatever
it
was—probably could. “
Long have they lived and faithfully served an imposter, and are now caught up in his treachery. Their hands are stained with blood spilt to satisfy his rage. And when you reveal yourself to them, they will indeed call you a traitor. They will curse your name. They will scorn and despise you. They will even try to take your life. The truth you will offer will appear to them as the highest treason because they dwell in a kingdom built upon his deception
.”

“It doesn’t matter what happens to me,” I replied. “I’d rather die a traitor than live as an indifferent accomplice and watch everyone else suffer.”

“
Then when the time comes, you must not doubt me
.” The god smiled knowingly, but it wasn’t a comforting smile at all. Something about it chilled me right to the marrow. It reminded me that although I’d seen Paligno’s true form and felt the peaceful warmth that came from his presence, I’d yet to witness his wrath.

In that cold, all-knowing sneer, I got my first real glimpse of it.

I was already awake when the sunrise gradually broke through the jungle canopy. It filled the air with a faint greenish glow as the light streamed through all the layers of leaves. The birds awoke to pour out their morning songs. Some of them sounded downright prehistoric, although I’d gotten used to all their bizarre calls since I’d been here. I was going to miss that.

A few of the more curious birds, with brightly colored feathers as vibrant as jewels, came close and even landed on my shoulders. I suppose they could sense who I was and knew they had nothing to fear from me. They appeared content to sit there, preening and making conversational chirping sounds.

Sitting a few yards away from where the rest of my companions still slept, I meditated on what my dreams had revealed to me. I was beginning to realize that the path that lay ahead wouldn’t be as clear-cut as I had originally thought. When it came time to finally lay out my plans for dethroning Hovrid to all my friends, my loyalty was going to be questioned. Every person I’d ever trusted or cared about might turn against me. But I had already chosen this course. I couldn’t turn back now. And for the first time, I felt sure and comfortable with the task that lay before me.