Rasia came to while tied to the mast of Timar’s warship. She peeked her eyes open, careful to hide the fact that she was conscious. They had chained her hands behind her back. A puddle of blood had grown underneath Rasia’s thigh. They hadn’t even bothered to take out the arrow.
Next to her, Kai struggled to breathe, lightheaded from blood loss and . . . what the fuck?
The scavengers had locked an iron choker around his neck. The metal cut into his windpipe, practically choking him every time his head lolled to the side.
When they reached the Graveyard, one of the facehunters kicked the arrow in Rasia’s thigh to ‘wake’ her.
“Fuck you,” Rasia spat as the facehunter untied her from the mast.
Another crouched down and pressed their thumb into the hole in Kai’s shoulder, but Kai only flinched in response. Kai was pulled to his feet, groggy and dazed the entire time they forced him from the ship. Rasia limped next to him, trying to subtly keep him standing with her shoulder.
Timar sent her armada through an entirely different entry point and ordered a select few, including Rasia and Kai, to follow through a smaller overgrown animal trail.
Rasia took note of the path, dug in her feet at landmarks, and timed how long and in what direction they walked. She had her ropes loosened and a dagger they missed in her chest wrap, but Timar had the key to Kai’s collar, and he was in no shape to escape. Still, Rasia kept her eyes sharp and observant.
The facehunters moved in a tight formation with Timar taking point, weapons out, which had all Rasia’s instincts buzzing. They were in Timar’s territory, and from the moment Timar caught Rasia, she didn’t seem to be taking any chances with her or any other scavenger group. The more defensive Timar and her group became, the more and more Rasia wove the threads together.
“Kai?” Rasia asked. He tilted his head in acknowledgment. “How many people in the Grankull know how your magic works?”
“Just . . .” Kai struggled with his words, unable to take a deep breath. “. . . the Council.”
“The scavengers put that collar around your neck to keep you from breathing deep enough to perform magic. How would scavengers know that? They also wouldn’t have known you had magic until you blocked that sniper’s arrow from earlier. But there’s one person they do know who has magic, and I think every scavenger is out hunting for her. There’s a bounty on Nico’s head.”
Because, of course, this was about Nico.
Of fucking course it was.
Timar’s base was located strategically inside a large dragon tail that formed a natural defense around the camp. The shipyard, inside the jaw of a separate dragon nuzzling the end of the tail, had boats ranging from the smallest of rigs to stolen Grankull ships. Rasia and Kai walked through the skull, up through the path where the tongue once furled, and out into the ring of bones.
Rasia had never seen a scavenger camp before. Their location was a closely guarded secret and often moved within the territory every few years. It was deceptively small, but with closer inspection, Rasia spied dwellings hidden among the bones. Woven into the trees, the houses were built and shaped to fit and blend into their surroundings. Judging by the number of houses, Rasia calculated that hundreds lived in Timar’s hikull alone.
One tree in particular stood out among the rest. Unlike the many other tree trunks sharing space with the bones, this tree bloomed mighty at the center. The scavengers had thoughtfully decorated its branches with severed heads.
Timar walked off, giving orders to the no-faces who served the camp, while Kai and Rasia were jerked in the other direction and thrown inside of a large wooden wheeled cage.
“Why am I not surprised?” said a familiar voice from the next cage over.
Rasia peered over into the cage next to hers, filled with dirty and smelly children. Rasia spotted a face she recognized, but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember the name. The kid gave a flat look, and it was a wonder the cage could contain all that sass.
“Neema. The name is Neema. We were literally on the same Forging kull.”
“Right. You.”
“Rasia?”
Rasia turned to the other cage on her other side. She recognized this face, even though it was much gaunter and sallower than she remembered. “Faris? Looking pretty pathetic there.”
“You know his name?” Neema huffed out. Faris was the child of Shamai-ta’s old kull members, and the grandchild of the current Claws Councilor. Faris and Rasia ran in the same circles.
“It’s nice of you to take a break from your dragon hunting to visit with all of us normal folks,” Faris mumbled, eyes closed against the bar of his cage.
“You could have joined me.”
“I don’t have anything to prove to anyone.”
“Certainly not stuck here in a cage.”
Faris sighed. “You don’t change, do you?”
Rasia rolled her eyes and turned her back to him. She motioned at Neema with her chin. “How’d you get here?”
Last time Rasia checked, Neema had been with Nico’s kull. Rasia thought she saw Neema back at Nico’s camp, when Kai was hightailing Rasia out of there. Had Neema been missing this entire time?
“Fucking Nico,” Neema spat out. Rasia could relate. That was practically all the explanation Rasia needed, but Neema further elaborated, “I jumped ship back at the oasis, but a few days later, a bunch of scavengers came through looking for her. I told them Nico left. Guess they found the wrong one.” Neema indicated where Kai was slumped against Rasia’s shoulder, who was focused more on trying to breathe than following any of the conversation around him.
“They dragged me and everyone else across the entire fucking Desert. We’ve all told them everything we know. I don’t understand why they can’t let us go.”
“They’re scavengers,” Rasia explained. Utter cluelessness crossed Neema’s face. Wasn’t it obvious? “Timar is waiting until after the Forging when you’ve failed and are less likely to run. Then, she’ll determine which to make no-faces and which to coerce into her kull. She’s starving you so that when she makes the offer, you’re desperate for it.”
Forging kids broke easily, especially once the Forging ended and children faced shame returning home. A lucky few were recruited, but most were branded as no-faces. Once branded with the X, there was no going back to the Grankull. No Forging or dragon large enough could ever earn back a face.
A facehunter approached Rasia’s cage. Kai squeezed Rasia’s arm weakly and shook his head. No doubt Timar planned to question her about Nico. Rasia might not personally like the stuck-up ohani, but Rasia was no snitch.
The facehunter reached for her, and Rasia kicked the facehunter in the face for the effort. She could get out without any help, thank you very much.
“Careful before you add to your collection,” Timar warned, indicating the arrow still stuck in Rasia’s thigh. Rasia should get the arrow out, eventually, when she had the time to make sure she wouldn’t bleed out first.
Timar held court on a wooden throne under her rattling windchimes of skulls. Scavengers gathered to watch the interrogation. “I like you, kid. Don’t make me kill you.”
Rasia scoffed. “Let’s make this easy then. The bones put me on Nico’s kull, and we went our separate ways after some . . . differences, and I haven’t seen her since.”
“She never came after her sibling?”
“If she did, she couldn’t keep up. Not my problem. I’m not her fucking keeper. Are we done?”
“We’re done for now,” Timar said. “I do want to remind you my original offer still stands. I am always in need of a capable apprentice, and you have the bones for this life.”
“Or bones too many. I don’t need you to earn my own.”
“You are willing to risk your life for what? A test dictated by the Grankull as an excuse to cull an entire generation? You are smarter than that. Certainly, you see the Forging is nothing but a lie. Here, among scavengers, you need no one to determine that you are grown. Or would you rather die for their meaningless respect?”
“You’re wrong to assume I do what I do for the Grankull. I act for my tahs, for my kull, and ultimately, for myself. What do I care that most won’t survive? The Desert has finite resources. There will never be enough to go around. Let the weak die and the boneless join your merry band. Strength is those who survive.”
“How strong are you in my chains?”
“Let me go and find out. I’m hunting the dragon Aurum for my Forging.” Rasia paused and allowed the ensuing laughter to die down before she spoke again. Timar was the only one among the scavengers who didn’t laugh. “Hunting this dragon benefits you as well as the Grankull. No more wings breaking your trees, no more fires razing your homes, and less competition to the gonda population. I can kill that thing, but I need my windeka to do it.”
“It is my understanding that his jih can track him with her magic. She will come looking for him. He’s bait.”
“Can I go?”
“No, Rasia,” Timar said, smiling. “I enjoy wasting your time. You can always kill dragons once the Forging is over.”
At a signal from Timar, two facehunters approached Rasia. Rasia calculated her chances. With her wounded leg, Rasia wouldn’t get far with all Timar’s scavengers at the ready. She’d have to choose her moment, wait until night when they were asleep, perhaps. Therefore, she didn’t resist when the facehunters pulled her to Timar’s side. She wondered why they didn’t put her back in the cage, until they dragged Kai out of it.
They dumped Kai to the ground, and he fell harshly to his knees. Timar’s eyes narrowed. “The ohani can use magic to find you, and I imagine it can go both ways. Now, we can wait until she gets here, or you can give up her location.”
Kai kept his face to the ground. Rasia didn’t know if he was playing dumb, or if he was really out of it. She remembered the moment of lucidity from him in the cage and figured it was the former.
“This is pointless,” Rasia complained. “He’s the runt of the Grankull. He’s dumb. He doesn’t talk. You’re not going to get anything out of him.”
Timar gave Rasia an unimpressed expression. “He jumped my chain line. You’re telling me a dumb mute can steer a windship as well as he did?”
“You’re the Han of a scavenger band, and you’ve got one leg. Anything is possible when you put your mind to it,” Rasia said, smiling.
“You’re not the only perceptive one here,” Timar remarked before turning back to Kai. “I know you’re not as dumb as you pretend to be. I know Rasia had a chance to leave you behind, but she didn’t. I know you whisked Rasia off that windship without any regard to yourself, be it a lack of control or a lack of time, but be it as it may, I am no one’s fool. So, you can do this the easy way, or I can cut off Rasia’s sword arm.”
“What?! But both my arms are my sword arms!”
Timar gave Rasia a knowing look. “Exactly.”
Rasia oomphed when a facehunter kicked her to the ground. Pissed, she spun on her back and kicked a knee out from under them. The facehunter folded over. Rasia locked legs about their waist, pulled up, then latched her teeth to their throat. The facehunter stood, snatching at Rasia’s back to try and throw her off, but Rasia ripped at the larynx with her teeth.
She rode the facehunter to the ground. Then she picked herself up and spat out the vocal cords and cartilage.
“Touch me again, I dare you.”
“Not easy, then.”
Timar reached for her fancy white sword. The scavenger crowd cheered.
Rasia smiled, teeth stained red with blood. Rasia shook off her bindings. She broke off the arrow shaft in her thigh and tossed it aside, leaving some of the shaft behind to keep the wound plugged, for now. Rasia limped as they circled each other with the dagger previously hidden in her wrap finally in hand.
“Not much of a fair fight,” Rasia said.
“I don’t plan for it to be,” Timar said, and signaled the archers. As Rasia expected, they shot at her wounded right. Rasia leaped out of the line of fire, landing to the ground at a roll.
Rasia swept a kick at Timar’s good leg. Timar stumbled and stabilized her footing with her sword. Timar sneered. “That’s what I like about you. Everybody always goes for the bone leg.”
“I’d never be so predictable.” Rasia leaned back as an arrow swept past her face. Rasia reminded herself not to have too much fun. This was a serious fight.
Rasia avoided more arrows, straight into the diagonal swing of Timar’s sword, forcing Rasia to evade on her wounded leg.
It buckled.
Rasia fell and found herself slow to get up. Timar stabbed her peg leg into Rasia’s hand, forcing Rasia to release the dagger. Timar raised her sword.
Kai tackled Timar to the ground.
Rasia blinked in surprise. She used the moment to grab the dagger, whirl it into one of those archer’s faces, and retrieve Timar’s dragonsteel sword that had fallen to the dirt. Rasia clutched both hands around the elaborate dragon hilt. The blade was sharp and beautiful. This baby had to have been stolen from the Grankull, right out of the temple no doubt.
Kai couldn’t hold Timar for long. He was hardly a brawler and barely conscious. By the time Rasia found her feet, Timar had gotten the upper hand and had cracked her knuckles against Kai’s face.
Timar rolled off him to evade Rasia’s sword swing. The blade whistled sharp and clean, heavier than Rasia’s custom dual blades. Rasia grabbed at Kai by the scruff of his shirt and dragged him up to his feet. He dropped against her back.
Hundreds of scavengers surrounded them with swords brandished and arrows pointed. Timar stood and wiped dirt from her face. Timar lifted her hand, and one of her apprentices tossed a spear into it.
Rasia knew she wasn’t making it out of this alive, but she couldn’t wipe the smile from her face. At least this was a better end than poisoning herself dead.
Kai collapsed.
“Shit,” Rasia cursed, swinging around to check on him. His chest wasn’t moving. “Fuck.”
Kai had lost too much blood. He needed medical attention now. Rasia glared at Timar. “How the fuck is Nico supposed to track him if he’s dead?”
Timar’s eyes narrowed through her mask. Then the scavenger Han lifted out of her fighting stance and stamped her spear to the ground.
“Get him a healer.”