Chapter
19
As they rode fast to the border of Zorfina in the final hours of night, the vegetation changed, the altitude rose, and the climate slowly shifted. Buttressing roots of jungle trees gave way to thinner trees as they moved upward over the low-lying hills in the morning light. When they finally crested the peak, trees turned to sparser shrubbery on the other side. Rich, fertile soil of clay and silt morphed to something grittier as they descended and the land flattened out. The blazing sun beat down on them. Aerity’s skin felt tighter with lack of moisture.
A dire sensation pervaded her with each mile that brought her farther from Paxton. Aerity couldn’t shake the awful feeling. She knew they couldn’t go back, but she also couldn’t seethe point of going anywhere other than home now. Her father needed to know what was happening in Kalor. Something had to be done.
“I think we’ve crossed the border!” Harrison called once they’d finally left the hilled forest in the far distance. Chun and his brother gave a holler of triumph. Their voices made the monster cub stir from its slumber on her back. Chun had given her a rucksack to keep it in. She didn’t want it to try to climb out. Aerity carefully pulled the strap over her head and shifted the pack to her front. The little beast poked its head from the opening. It sniffed the air and twitched its whiskers. Then it opened its mouth for a wide yawn, revealing the full length of its large, white, sharp teeth.
When it closed its mouth and ran its pink tongue over its fangs, it appeared so young and innocent. Aerity reached in her pack and pulled out a piece of dry jerky. It nearly jumped from her arms when it smelled the dried meat, but she held it tight.
“Easy, boy.” She slowly brought the food to its mouth. When he tried to snatch, she made a sharp clicking sound and gave him a yank back. “Gentle.” She brought the meat forward again and this time let him have it. Harrison glanced back over his shoulder.
“We’ll let it hunt for its own food when we stop. He’ll probably do better than even I could.”
They surged forward into the cracked dirt, the beast blinking its little eyes in the movement of air. Aerity had toshield her eyes against the glaring sun.
When it was time to stop and rest the horses, Aerity pulled the beast from its pack and held it like a baby. It was shockingly compliant, lying back lazily and turning its head to look about them. She checked and saw that it was, indeed, a male. It probably weighed twenty-five or thirty pounds. It had to be very young still. She set him down on the ground and he stretched, digging his massive claws into the ground. Harrison had been right; within minutes the beast sniffed out a snake in a shrub and pounced, effectively killing it and playing with it before eating it.
She doubted her parents would approve of bringing one of Rozaria’s beasts home. The creature would no doubt be dangerous full-grown, but right now he was such a little thing. Perhaps if he wasn’t raised to kill people he would lose that instinct? She cringed a little as she watched it thrash the snake around between its teeth. When he finished eating, he bounced back to Aerity and swatted at her loose skirts.
She turned to Harrison. “May I see the map?”
He took it out and they knelt in the dry dirt to spread it out. The afternoon sun was unhindered by clouds or tree cover. There were occasional patches of shorter trees and bushes, yellowed grasses, and out beyond was more of the same. If they continued east it would turn to desert sand.
Chun’s wife set to feeding her daughter and two nephews while the men joined Aerity to peer at the map.
“Where is the Zandalee tribe?” Aerity asked Harrison.
He pointed to a spot further east. “A day’s ride from here.”
Aerity shook her head. “We can’t go. I must return home.” She looked at Harrison, and then turned to Chun. “It is imperative that you take your family, though. You will be safe with the Zandalee.”
“Zandalee?” asked Chun’s brother in surprise. “But they hate men!”
“They are matriarchal,” Aerity explained, “but they do not hate men. They are Lashed supporters. Be honest with them that you escaped Rozaria’s camp and be willing to share everything you know.”
The men looked skeptical. Chun asked, “What if they think we’re trying to trick them?”
Harrison sighed. “Ask for Zandora and tell her Lieutenant Harrison Gillfin of the hunting party sent you.”
Chun’s mouth bobbed open. “You lied about your identity? You are a soldier?” He looked upon Harrison with complete distrust.
“Of course I lied,” Harrison said with a tone of frustration. “The Kalorians would have killed me on the spot if they’d known I was a Lochlan soldier. But I wasn’t there to hunt Lashed or spy or infiltrate. We were truly traveling through and I wouldn’t have taken Callie anywhere near that bloody lake if I had known who was there.”
His impassioned words must have done the trick because Chun and his brother seemed to relax again. Then Chun asked, “What did you say the Zandalee woman’s name was again?”
“Zandora,” Harrison said.
Chun looked at his brother. “We met her! Do you remember the first day Paxton came? The women were only there a short while before they left.” Both men grinned at the fact that they had, indeed, met the notorious Zandalee women.
“That makes sense that they’d been traveling together,” Aerity said. It made her glad that he hadn’t been alone.
“They’ll likely remember you then,” Harrison told them. He pored over the map with them, giving specific instructions. Then he and Aerity mapped out their own route home along the borders. This time they would have to go through Toresta to get back to Lochlanach. She hoped the Torestan border patrol would allow them in without papers. Kalorian lands had to be completely avoided. The Torestan route would take a day longer, but Aerity was willing to stop less and ride faster this time. Shehadto get home. The sooner her father’s army could foil Rozaria, the sooner Paxton could be free of the madwoman and everyone could be safe.
Paxton was not looking forward to breaking the news to Rozaria, but he could wait no longer without looking too suspicious. She would already be furious that they escaped under his watch.
He took a deep breath, set his shoulders, and sprinted from the building, glad to at least be away from the stench.
