Chapter 30

30

Quil

Quil fled the jungle with Sirsha, Arelia, and Sufiyan, Loli Temba's brutal death fresh in their minds, lending them frantic speed. They didn't stop to eat or drink or rest their horses. Not after seeing what happened to Loli.

Even when Musa's wight arrived, Quil didn't slow, reading the message as he rode.

Much of Serra destroyed, but we resist. Fewer supplies, enough for five weeks. Sadh under attack. Tribes scattered. Nur rejected a truce. It is gone. Send word of progress. Everything he needs awaits him. —AH

Destroyed. Scattered. Gone. The devastation was unending. The prince wanted to write a letter in which he told his aunt all that had happened, and all that he feared. He wanted her wisdom and advice. For years, that hadn't been enough for him. What a fool he had been.

In the end, he responded curtly. Alive. Almost to T .

He knew his companions looked to him for their next move. But he couldn't reconcile that the killer who murdered Ruh and Ilar was also the puppet of the Tel Ilessi. Questions circled his mind like hungry crows: How had the Tel Ilessi learned of Ruh and Ilar? Why had they been his first targets in a war that would claim thousands?

None of this made any bleeding sense. Quil wanted to carefully sift through every scrap of information he had before deciding his next step. But he was also consumed by a volcanic fury that he didn't know what to do with. A grief-driven rage that obliterated all rational thought. He didn't want to cage it, as he did every other emotion. He wanted to shout, break, stab.

Instead, he channeled the wrath into riding harder, into attuning his mind and body to every possible danger he and his companions might face. They rode all night and the next day, not stopping until they were out of the Thafwan jungle and entering the highlands that marked the country's central region.

They'd long since left the road behind, and it was impossible to traverse the rocky terrain with so much cloud cover. Spotting a copse of trees and boulders that would shelter them from the rain, Quil finally called a halt.

"I could get a s-s-stew going," Sufiyan offered, teeth chattering from the cold. "If you can find something to burn."

"No fire," Arelia said. "We're too exposed. That thing saw us. It knows there are four of us, and if it's working with the Tel Ilessi, the Kegari will know too. You said the Tel Ilessi saw you in Jibaut. That he tried to capture you?"

Quil nodded. "Would have, if not for Sirsha."

"I have the killer's trail now." Sirsha's voice was strangely flat, as if she'd never laugh at the world again. "She's far from here, due south. As for the Kegari"—she tipped her head up to the rain-heavy sky, closing her eyes for a moment as it drenched her skin—"I don't sense anything. But the wind is difficult to read. I might not be able to tell if they are close. I—I don't trust my tracking right now. Arelia's right. No fire."

Quil felt her desolation, understood in his bones that even speaking took an enormous toll on her. She'd lost someone she'd loved. She blamed herself. Nothing he said would bring her out of it. All he could do was try to physically look after her and listen if she needed to talk.

He coaxed her down off her horse and asked Arelia to curry them. Sufiyan doled out the bread and cheese that Loli had packed, and after tucking an extra blanket around Sirsha, Quil checked the perimeter of the camp, looking for signs of pursuit and attempting to avoid copious piles of goat dung. At least there would be good hunting if they ever could make a fire.

By the time he returned to their shelter, the rain had stopped and Sirsha looked marginally less like a wraith. Arelia had lit a blue-fire lamp, keeping the flame low and hidden under a cloak, and she and Sufiyan rolled out a map beneath a tarp they'd strung up. They gestured Quil over. Sirsha lay back against a boulder, watching.

"We're here." Arelia pointed to the southern end of Thafwa. "A few days from the Ankanese border. The Empress told you Tas is in Burku, the capital." She pointed to a dot southeast of their current location. "Sirsha—how far is it now that we're off the roads?"

"Maybe ten days," Sirsha said, and at their looks of dismay, she shrugged. "The highlands are hard going. We can do fifteen miles a day if we push the horses."

Ten days to get to Burku. A day, at most, to find Tas. If he had whatever it was that Helene wanted—Quil assumed it was a weapon of some sort—they'd take the first ship north. Quil would have to persuade the High Seer to let them sail under an Ankanese flag, otherwise the Kegari would discover them. But if all went well, they would be back in the Empire within five weeks. Before Serra ran out of supplies.

The plan was solid. But Quil's mind and body rebelled against it, for a better opportunity had presented itself.

"I'm going after the Tel Ilessi," he said.

Arelia looked at him in alarm. "We have no idea where he is," she said. "And the Empress told you to—"

"The Empress isn't here," Quil said. "She told me to save the Empire. I finally have a clear way to do that." He turned to Sirsha. "You're tracking the killer. You said she was bound to the Tel Ilessi. How tight is that binding? How long is the leash?"

"She can't stay away from him for long." Sirsha gave Quil an appraising look. "A few hours. As for the leash—I have no idea. The encampment the earth showed me was near the sea." She leaned forward to examine the map, tapping on a broad swath of land to the east. "Thafwan prairie. The camp was massive—looked like it had been there for a while."

"Perhaps the Thafwans capitulated to the Kegari," Arelia said. "Like in Jibaut."

"Thafwa has miles of shoreline," Sirsha said. "The camp could be anywhere."

Arelia looked between Sirsha and Quil, shaking her head. "If we go after the Tel Ilessi, we can't go after Tas," she said.

"Yes, you can," Quil said.

Sufiyan understood first, knowledge dawning on his face, followed immediately by anger. "We don't split up."

"The Tel Ilessi has a Sail, Quil," Arelia said. "Use your head, cousin! He can go anywhere."

Sufiyan watched Quil, and when he spoke, there was a sharpness to his tone. "You could be tracking him all over the place. He could be in Ankana for all we know, and we'd have split up for no reason."

Quil shook his head. "Ankana is our trading partner. They've been honest and evenhanded in their dealings. They wouldn't harbor the man responsible for the Empire's destruction. The Kegari need a permanent base for their Sails and the Tel Ilessi will eventually visit."

"Yes," Sufiyan said. "And any idiot could figure that out, so you're playing into his hands."

"The last time we ran into the Tel Ilessi, we were heading west. And he knows Ankana is an ally. He'll expect me to go there. Arelia, you said yourself—he knows the four of us are together. We'll be safer if we split up."

Sufiyan paced, agitated. "We're not splitting up."

Quil hadn't wanted it to come to this. In all their years of friendship, Quil had never pulled rank. But the Empire depended on him, and though he hated what came out of his mouth next, he didn't know any other way of getting Sufiyan to cooperate.

"I'm not asking, Suf," he said. "You might have grown up with Tribe Saif, but your parents are a Martial and a Scholar, and you are still a citizen of the Empire."

Sufiyan's jaw dropped open. Quil wondered if his aunt had ever felt like sinking into the earth when she gave orders to her friends.

"Someone needs to find Tas." Quil hoped reason would help. "Tell him what's happened, procure a ship, and make sure everything is prepared for us to head back to the Empire with whatever he has that our people need."

"You're not wrong," Arelia said, and at Sufiyan's shock, she fidgeted. "He's not," she said. "It's the logical next step, though I hate it. We'll need a meeting point and time. And a plan for if any of us don't make it."

"This is ridiculous," Sufiyan said. "What if something happens to you? I've already lost—"

One brother.

"You will not lose another," Quil said. "You're heading south, we're heading east. This is a detour. We'll be a few days behind you."

"I can track you, Suf." Sirsha held up her Adah coin. "I'm stuck with Quil for a bit more, anyway. After he takes out the Tel Ilessi and I bind the killer, it will be easy enough to find you."

Quil watched Sirsha flip their gold coin between her fingers, and wondered if it had changed since their oath conjured it. His own coin had slight etchings on its silvery surface, and when he'd ranged ahead, he'd gone three miles and felt nothing but a warm sense of her presence, somewhere behind him. As if they were a few feet apart instead of miles.

Perhaps they didn't need to travel together anymore. Once the Kegari were dealt with, Quil could ask for a Raani to break the bond. Sirsha would collect her money from Elias and move to the Southern Isles. Buy an inn and never track again. He wanted that for her.

Even if it means you never see her again?

Quil pushed the thought away, though his chest tightened. The Empire is first , he reminded himself. Loyal, to the end.

"If anyone should go after the Tel Ilessi," Sufiyan said, "it's me. His pet murderer killed my brother, not yours."

"You seem to be forgetting—"

"Ilar. Yes. You knew her for what, a few months?"

"I was going to say that you seem to be forgetting that I loved Ruhyan too," Quil snapped, blood rushing to his face. "Skies, Suf, I know he was your brother. I know you loved him. But I'm the one who taught him to string a bow. I taught him to ride. To read. You never had the bleeding patience for him or his stories. He was my little brother as much as he was yours, so don't you dare say that I didn't care or that I don't understand."

Sufiyan fell quiet, his eyes haunted, and Quil knew he'd gone too far. He cursed himself. This was why his aunt had taught him control. This was why he'd worked so hard to keep a lid on what he felt.

"Ruh knew you loved him," Quil said tiredly. "He did, Suf—"

"But he didn't, did he?" Sufiyan said. "He attached himself to Ilar because she listened to him. She loved his stories. She understood him the way I never did. Maybe if I had made an effort, he wouldn't have gone with her that night. Aba never trusted her. He didn't say it, but I could tell."

Quil frowned. Elias had been reserved around Ilar. But he'd never warned Quil away from her.

"Enough," Arelia said. "Don't take the blame for something you didn't do, Sufiyan. The monster killed Ilar and Ruh. Not you. Now we can make sure she doesn't kill again."

"Fine." Sufiyan stared at the ground, black hair damp from the rain. "We'll leave for Ankana. Arelia and me. In the morning. That's what you want too, right?" He glared at Arelia, who stared right back, her jaw set.

"Because it's the logical thing to do. Yes."

"And logic is all that matters." Sufiyan sounded like he had in those months after Ruh had died. Like he couldn't care less.

He walked away from their shelter, down the hill, and into the woods. Quil made to go after him, but felt a light touch on his arm.

"Leave him." Sirsha stared out into the night. "You'll only make it worse. I'll track him. If anything threatens him, I'll know. Sleep. I'll take first watch."

He nodded and squeezed her shoulder. "I'm here," he said. "If you need me."

Sleep was elusive, but it must have found Quil at some point, because before he knew it, Arelia shook him awake for the predawn watch. By the time the rain-heavy sky lightened enough to see their surroundings, everyone was packed up and the horses were saddled.

Quil hugged Arelia goodbye and told Sufiyan how to find Tas. To this, his friend merely shrugged before turning his back. It was clear he'd be happy to leave without a further word exchanged. But Quil had made the mistake of parting ways with someone on bad terms once before. He'd never do it again.

"Look at me, damn you," he finally said to Sufiyan, who glowered at him, surly as an aging ox.

"Yes, Crown Prince Zacharias. Whatever you say, Crown Pri—"

"Oh, shut it," Quil said. "I wanted to say thank you for doing this. You and I both know that you're stubborn enough to ignore me if you wanted."

Sufiyan shifted from foot to foot, jaw stiff. "You're an idiot," he said. "But don't die. I don't give a fig, mind you. But Ama will kill me if anything happens to you."

"Same goes for you," Quil said, "as she'll kill me if anything happens to you ."

"And if Laia kills you, Quil," Arelia said, "the only practical choice as your favorite cousin would be for me to kill her. Which means Elias would have to kill me."

"And then," Quil said, hand on his chin, "Aunt Helene would have to kill Elias."

"I'd have to kill her because she killed my father," Sufiyan said. "But she'd end up killing me, obviously. Then my father would have to come back from the dead to kill her—which, knowing him, he'd figure out how to do—"

"Well…who would I kill?" Sirsha said, and Quil was relieved to see that blank look was gone, replaced by the tiniest spark of mischief beneath the sadness. "It's not fair that you get to have all this vengeance, while I'm stuck watching from the sidelines."

"We'll have to involve your sister." Arelia put heel to flank, calling out from the bottom of the copse, "From what I can tell, R'zwana would inspire anyone to murder."

"Don't say her name." Sirsha's countenance went as dark as the clouds above. "Skies know she's demon enough that it might summon her."