Ash scorched the ground in every direction, with the lone exception the resilient puddle at Nico’s feet.
An unfamiliar windship whipped past. It rolled over dead bodies and came to a screeching stop.
Was that Kai?
Was that Kai’s magic?
Kai dropped Rasia to the windship deck in one smooth motion, then kissed Rasia as if the world had not enough air and she had all he needed to fill his lungs. The sight was far from the hesitancy he’d displayed during the kiss Rasia had planted on him during the windship chase. This time, Kai kissed with every ounce of his being.
Soon, Nico realized, they might not stop.
Nico walked over and banged a fist on the windship hull. Rasia and Kai separated with shared smiles, and the happiness in Kai’s face almost broke Nico into pieces. Nico hadn’t seen Kai smile like that since they were children, since they were young enough to believe his magic was the power to turn invisible. It had been their secret world before hate and cruel understanding tore it down. Now he’d found another world, a truer world, of joy and light.
Nico climbed to the deck and noted the blood and bruising around Kai’s neck. Bloody bandages peeked out of the collar of his oversized shirt. Blue ringed his left eye.
For a moment, Nico was uncertain of her reception, but Kai’s smile turned on her. He stepped forward and Nico rushed to meet him. They wrapped each other up tight. Nico sputtered, relieved to hold him whole and so, so sorry and hoping he could feel her remorse in every ounce of her strength.
“What a touching reunion,” a female intruded, tied practically naked to the railing.
“Who are you?” Nico asked.
“That’s Timar. The recently deposed Han of the Crimson scavengers,” Rasia said, then asked Kai, “Why didn’t you kill her?”
Kai shrugged. “I didn’t have to.”
“Nico,” Zephyr called, stepping out of the trees. Kelin followed, then the no-faces they just rescued. Nico climbed down the windship to find out what was going on.
“You were supposed to wait with the windship on the main road,” Nico said. “We’re almost done here.”
“The Forging kids stayed with the windship, but the no-faces wanted to come back,” Zephyr explained.
A young no-face stepped before Nico. Nico almost didn’t recognize the curly-haired female. Nico hadn’t seen that face since a scavenger snatched the shroud off a child in the dark shadows of the Tents. Now, a large “x” was branded onto her face, an ugly reminder Nico had saved no one but her own conscience that day. Nico didn’t know her name.
“My name is Yana, Ohan.” Yana bowed in deference. She straightened, looking Nico in the eye. She was far from the trembling mess with the blond curls she had been when they first met. “We appreciate your help, but many do not wish to return to the Grankull. There is no place for us there. This tail is one of the most defensible places in all the Graveyard. If we can establish ourselves here, we should be able to take care of ourselves.”
Nico frowned, uncertain. This place didn’t look all that defensible anymore. Before, the scavenger base had been surrounded by the curved tail of a slumbering dragon, but now, the dragon woke in a state of war and unrest, half-turned over and clawing at the air.
“Ohan,” Yana said, unwavering. “We can’t go back. We have no faces.”
Yes, but, realistically, how could a handful of no-faces on the edge of starvation survive out here by themselves? Nico wished she could have done something more for Yana. “I’m sorry. I failed to save you.”
“That’s not true. You have saved not only me, but all of us. Now, we can survive on our own terms.”
A commotion broke out behind them.
Everyone had drifted toward the rip in the forest where the gonda had fallen. Nico shoved through the crowd to find her kull at the center of the disturbance, defending the dead gonda from the feverish expressions of the no-faces.
Kelin had both his knives out, turned on the people he had protected moments before. Azan used his axe to bar the no-faces from encroaching further. Even Suri stood on Kelin’s side.
“What is going on?” Nico demanded, moving between the crowd and her kull.
“Tell them this is our gonda,” Azan bit out. The no-faces tensed and wound tight at the words, and Suri aimed her bow in response. “We killed the gonda. We get to bring it back for our Forging.”
“We should have left all the no-faces in their cages,” Rasia muttered, butting in. She had an arm looped around Kai’s shoulder and limped into the chaotic mess.
“Rasia,” Kai said. “No.”
Shockingly, Rasia only pouted in response.
“Fine, but I’ve got to say it.” Rasia looked at Nico and raised her brows dramatically. “I told you so.”
Several no-faces swept forward, and Azan pushed them back with the sharp, wide curve of his fan axe. Many of the no-faces had picked up weapons from the ground, and Nico realized keenly that the no-faces far outnumbered them. If she didn’t do something soon, this was going to erupt into violence. Against a trained kull with a tent assassin, magic, and Rasia on their side, Nico had no doubt the weak, starved no-faces would pay the highest price.
“This gonda belongs to the scavengers!” A voice bellowed out beyond the crowd.
The no-faces parted. A crimson mask with a bone leg came stomping through, freed from the windship she had been previously tied to. Yana walked loyally beside Timar, the Crimson Han.
“See? This is why you should have killed her,” Rasia complained. She straightened off Kai’s shoulder and unsheathed her khopesh, readying for a fight.
“You know you’d miss me.” Timar winked at Rasia.
Timar looked out at the group, the very Han who had branded an X on all their faces. “This is our territory! This is our gonda! Do we choose weakness and allow these outsiders to take what is ours? Or do we choose our faces?!”
The group of no-faces looked at each other. All at once, they picked bone masks off the dead. They fitted those hard masks over their x’s and became scavengers. In a sudden reversal, Timar confronted Nico with an army of scavengers at her back.
“Good,” Rasia said, excited. “I was due a rematch.”
“We saved you,” Azan said, outraged. “This is our kill.”
Timar laughed. “Whether yours by right, we are scavengers. We take what is ours.”
Nico stood, undecided, uncertain. Nico found it hard not to sympathize with the scavengers’ plight. Everyone’s got to eat.
“Nico, don’t,” Suri pleaded.
“We saved your jih,” Kelin hissed at her. “We rescued everyone. This gonda is our due. You owe this to us.”
“He’s right,” Suri said, in support. “We don’t have much time left. We need to get back. We need this gonda.”
Nico turned to Zephyr, seeking his opinion on the matter. He looked conflicted, unsure what to do but gave a nod, a promise to back her play.
Kai placed a supportive hand on her shoulder. Nico turned to him for some sort of answer, but Kai looked at her like everyone else, waiting on her decision.
Growing up, people had always looked to Nico to tell them what to do, so Nico had developed the habit of giving out orders before they asked. Leadership was never anything Nico considered herself good at, but time and time again, especially in tough situations, everyone looked to her to make the tough decisions.
Nico took a breath and closed her eyes to center herself. She blocked out the rising voices. Rasia taunted Timar. Someone threw a rock, hitting Azan. Kelin surged forward, and Zephyr caught him by the shoulder.
Nico searched for the right . . . rightest thing. She considered their options. There had to be some sort of compromise, some sort of path between the two sides. Then Nico realized.
How could she forget? Nico couldn’t believe how much desperation had clouded their logic. But Nico was clear of purpose now.
Nico faced Timar, decision made.
“We didn’t rescue your people to leave them to starve,” Nico said. “This gonda is yours.”
“What?!”
Kelin moved in a flash. His dagger paused at Nico’s neck, one motion away from ending her life.
Suri loosed an arrow, but Nico splashed it out of the sky. Kai tensed beside her, and Nico placed a hand on his chest to let him know she had this. Azan and Zephyr stilled, fearful any sudden movement might trigger Kelin’s hand. Timar smiled, amused by the show.
Kelin clenched his teeth with anger shaking so strong he struggled to put words to it. Nico locked gazes with him, demanding all Kelin’s attention, locking assassin to heir, tent kid to kuller, brown eyes to brown. Nico didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to.
“Fuck,” Kelin cursed. He threw down his blades.
Azan rushed forward to drag Kelin away from doing something more stupid.
“As I was saying,” Nico said, looking at every member of her kull. “This gonda belongs to the scavengers. We did not save these people to abandon them to hunger. But, I still intend to keep my promise to you. This isn’t the only gonda lured to the Graveyard this day. According to my senses, thirteen gonda have all met their end in various places of the Graveyard. Many of the scavengers have fled, which means it’s a free-for-all as long as we get to them first.”
Just like that, the tension popped.
Azan scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. Kelin bowed his head, kicking at the ground. Suri lowered her bow. Relief billowed through both sides.
Rasia rolled her eyes. “Well, that was a whole lot of needless drama.”
Then Timar had to add, ratcheting the tension right back up, “All thirteen of those gonda are ours and your head.”
Nico raised a brow, hardly intimidated. “From what I understand, you like to make deals. Thirteen gonda are out there for the taking in a currently empty Graveyard. We can go collect the gonda and split the haul or continue to argue for the other scavengers to get there first. If my kull takes seven, and yours take seven, including this one here, that is no doubt far more food than the Grankull could have ever promised you.”
Seven gonda should be enough to keep this small group of scavengers fed for a while, and more than enough to bring back for the Forging. The rules of the Forging explicitly required a hunt for every five participants. With the addition of the rescued oasis kids, the seven gonda should be enough for everyone.
“The Grankull promised us something far more important than food.”
Nico blinked, surprised by this. She couldn’t think of anything more important than food, other than water, but that was one resource the Graveyard didn’t lack. “What could the Grankull have possibly promised you?”
“Seeds.”
At that revelation, Nico saw the Graveyard with new eyes. The Graveyard had a hundred ancient dragons to the Grankull’s one. Albeit asleep, these dragons imbued the ground with richness and fertility. What could this place become with the careful farming techniques and horticulture of the Grankull? It could be the solution to everyone’s problems. Enough food for everyone.
“That is not something I can currently promise you,” Nico said. “But when I become Ohan, I swear to you, I will give you more than seeds. I will grow you a garden.”
The scavengers whispered. Timar scoffed. “An Ohan allied with scavengers?”
“I make this deal on one condition: no more no-faces.”
Timar laughed at that, then looked at Nico cruelly and challenged, “Sure. When the Grankull stops giving them to us.”
Fair.
“Can you at least tell me who in the Grankull bought the hit?”
“Done by proxy, nor did I ever care to ask.”
Nico feared that might be the case.
“We will speak more regarding the particulars of an alliance at a later time,” Nico said, “but for right now, gonda are out there waiting for us to retrieve them. In exchange for the help of your ships and people, I will identify where your gonda are located. Do we have a deal?”
Timar’s lips quirked in an amused smirk. “You have a deal, Ohan. Stay wary the Hunter.”