The landscape spread bleak and forbidden around them, no plant, no water, no life. The companions had walked for the better part of three hours, and their legs now felt heavier, their stomachs emptier and their throats drier.
Avienne leaned on Yoma, her features tight. Zortan had re-splinted her bandage twice, both times just as tightly, and each time the ankle had swollen further. The smuggler did not complain once, but her lack of smiles, jokes and swears was worrisome. A small cropping of hills lay before them and Zortan led them to a spot between three hills, blocked from view.
“We’ll rest here briefly,” he said as he lowered the bag, and then he vanished around the next hill, scouting to make sure the area was safe. Yoma helped Avienne sit down.
“How’re you holding up?” Yoma asked, offering some dried meat to Avienne.
“Bloody painful. If I had two good legs, I would kick Zortan.”
Yoma smiled and nibbled at the meat, forcing the food down. They still reeked of blood and for the first time in her life, she found herself craving a bath. Dirty, she was used to. Disgusting and bloodied, she was not.
She took a swig and handed the water skin to Avienne, who sighed and looked it forlornly before taking some herself. She winced as though it was poison.
“I hope my brother’s having better luck than us,” Avienne said as she handed the skin back to Yoma.
“With any luck, Gobran found them and brought them somewhere safe by now,” Yoma said. She offered meat to Zortan as he joined them again.
“It seems safe, but we shouldn’t linger long.” He crouched by Avienne and felt her ankle. “I’m going to have to re-splint this.”
Avienne shrugged her assent. “If stars didn’t explode in front of my eyes every time you touched me, it just wouldn’t be the same.”
“Just don’t lose consciousness, or we’ll have to leave you behind if the enemy closes in.” Yoma was about to protest, but then she saw that Zortan was smiling. Avienne slit her eyes at him, but the humour in them was obvious. Zortan turned his attention to undoing the splint and Avienne squeezed her eyes shut, her face losing what little colour it had left. The moon, full and bloodied, was now almost over them.
“Why did this moon not shine before?” Yoma asked.
“The moon was created to reflect ether from the sun to the dark side of the planet,” Zortan answered as he skilfully wrapped Avienne’s foot again. “For Mirial, which is so close to the First Star, it’s like a warning system. Imagine not drinking water for a long time and then drinking too much. You would make yourself sick. If you drink a bit at first and get used to it, then your body can drink greater portions. That’s what the moon is to Mirial. Small sips of ether before it gets to gulp.”
Yoma looked at the moon. “So that means the sun will rise soon?”
Zortan nodded and stood up, finished with Avienne’s ankle. “Yes. Adina kept the planet safe from the sun with her ether, but without her controlling it, the planet has resumed its normal rotation.”
“Is that so bad?” Yoma looked out at the hills, as dead as everything else on Mirial. “This land looks like it could use some light.”
Zortan sighed. “The sun of Mirial is wild with ether right now, and could flare up at any moment. A flare would wipe out the entire area touched by sun — maybe the whole planet, now that Adina no longer protects it.”
Yoma shook her head. “That’s ridiculous. Why didn’t Adina just reset the sun, or however it works?”
Zortan was very still for a moment, gazing at the moon but not seeing it. He spoke softly. “Because she couldn’t. She would have given her soul to save her people, but only the heirs can actually link with Mirial. All that she could do was channel its ether, not take full control of it. And that wasn’t enough.”
His shoulders squared again, as though shedding the memory, and he looked down and held Yoma’s eyes with his own. “We’re running out of time. If the sun strikes this half of the planet and you lower the shields, the First Star will flare and destroy us. And it might shed its overflow of ether anyway before the next sunset.” He paused, took a deep breath. “If you think this part of the planet is dead, where it has not seen light in almost two decades, then imagine what it will be like after the sun destroys it. At least we’ll probably all be instantly killed, and we won’t have to witness it.”
“Sounds fun,” Avienne mumbled, sitting up. “I like Zortan’s plan better than the death thing, Yoma.”
Yoma cast a glance at Avienne, the smuggler pale and drawn. “I can walk,” Avienne insisted. She clenched her jaw and struggled up, her eyes cold and set. Yoma went to her side, but the woman refused assistance. She hobbled forward. “I can walk.”
“The capital is just beyond these hills.” Zortan said. “Let’s go.”
Avienne hissed and followed after him, limping surprisingly quickly and refusing all help from Yoma.
“Aren’t you just the little stubborn one,” Yoma said, staying near. Avienne didn’t answer, too focused on keeping pace.
A sound caught Yoma’s ears from all sides, odd yet chillingly familiar. Zortan was at their side in a moment. Without a word, he grabbed Avienne and threw her over his shoulders as if she was nothing more than a sack of potatoes. Avienne screamed in protest.
“Blood and bones, what are you doing?”
“We have to move fast.” He broke into a run that left Yoma struggling to keep up with his pace, despite his extra load. Avienne was tossed by his strides, and the repeated collisions of her ribcage with his shoulders pulled short, high pitched swears from her. Around them, the gurgling was closing in.
Yoma pulled her gun free and fired as the first creature moved out of the shadow of the hill beside them. It jerked back, but Yoma doubted it was dead. She didn’t linger around to find out.
She chanced a look back. The creatures were pouring into the path behind them, gaining speed. They looked like a tumbling, thick river of tar filling a dry riverbed.
“They’re gaining!” She screamed ahead as she fired again, the bullet lost in the mass of goo. Zortan stopped and she smashed into him, not fazing him. He dropped Avienne and pulled his sword free, the blade blood-red as it swung at the first creature. He struck it and sliced it, the creature shrieked and evaporated. White smoke rose from its vanishing remains.
Avienne jumped back on her good leg and fired her gun, throwing knives in between shots. Yoma fired as well, but her bullets and Avienne’s knives had very little impact beyond buying them a few more seconds.
Zortan’s thrusts and parries proved so quick that Yoma couldn’t keep up with his movement. The dark-clad warrior blended in with the dark creatures until only the flash of his sword allowed her to see him — and to see that he was losing ground, as well.
Yoma fired again. The creatures were barely two metres from her and Avienne. Her gun choked. No more bullets! She fumbled into her pockets, finding no refills. Why hadn’t she taken the other guard’s gun too?
“I’m out too.” Avienne closed ranks and pulled two more knives free, handing one to Yoma. “Just in case,” she said over the rising gurgling sounds, and Yoma knew what she meant. Just in case they got too close, it was better to die by a blade than to get sucked into the tarry mass.
The land was covered by the dark creatures as far as Yoma’s eyes could see. She clutched the knife and prepared to fight with her bare hands, wondering if the dark flesh would give at all.
Gggrrrrrrrrrggggggggrgbbbbbbbrrrrrrr. The sound washed over them, the ground shaking. The creatures closed in around them, their noise shifting until they almost seemed to be purring in anticipation.
“Let go!” Avienne screamed. Yoma whirled around. Avienne was down, her good leg clutched tightly by the tar.
“Bloody and bones!” She swung the knife at the creature, only to have it absorbed into the mass. The smuggler screamed in anger. It was dragging her in further now. Her fingernails dug into the ground and her leg kicked out, but the creature continued unfazed, ensnaring Avienne’s second leg.
Yoma threw herself to the ground and grabbed Avienne’s hands, pulling her back with all her strength.
“Zortan!” she screamed, chancing a glance at him. He was surrounded, and soon even the ether of his sword would not be enough.
The smuggler was ripped from Yoma’s grasp and pulled into the creature. Only a few strands of red hair stuck out from its side.
“Avienne! No!” Yoma felt her insides boil, her vision becoming black. Her anger exploded, covering the world in light for an instant. She remembered the warm embrace of Mirial, as she had felt it on the Victory, when she had wished for nothing more than to save Josmere. She called out again, not with her voice but with her thoughts, hopes and fears. Her breath ripped out of her in a warm gale; her body was struck with heat so great that her fingers and legs grew numb. Mirial responded with a caress on her cheek, like a kiss blown from far away. The world spun, and her limbs tingled again. Her eyesight returned and she blinked. The land was free of the creatures; there were only knives strewn about on the ground. Avienne sat up and stared at her, eyes wide.
Yoma blinked again. She wanted to see if Zortan was okay, if she was dreaming, but her body would no longer respond.
She closed her eyes and concentrated on her breaths, not surprised when she felt herself meet the ground a few seconds later.