Page 7 of Sky in the Deep
The Riki.
Thunder grumbled over us and the unmistakable smell of a storm rode on the wind. My father planted a kiss on the top of my head.“Vegr yfir fjor.”He pushed me toward the other end of the line, where I would find Mýra.
She pulled me to her, lifting my axe from its sheath on my back and handing it to me. I tightened the bandage around my arm and shook the numbness out of my hand. She didn’t say it this time, but I knew what she was thinking because I was thinking it too. My left side was almost useless now. I’d fought in the dark with my clan before, but never this injured. The thought made me uneasy.
“Stay close to me.” She waited for me to nod in agreement before she led us to the front of the line.
The fighting erupted before we were even in place. To the left, down by the water, the shouting began, but this end of the line was still quiet. I said my prayers, my eyes searching for movement around us as raindrops began to fall. Beside me, Mýra’s eyes closed, her lips moving around the ancient words.
The next whistle sounded like the soft call of a bird, and we lifted onto our feet, moving silently as one entity into the black. I put my hand on the back of the Aska in front of me and felt the hot hand of the warrior behind me, keeping us together. We stepped in rhythm, our boots breaking the thin frost on the grass. The sound of the river pulled in from theleft and the muted quiet of the forest from the right as the familiar sound of battle grew between.
Straight ahead, the Riki moved toward us like fish under water.
We walked until I could hear them and Mýra’s elbow pressed into me, letting me know she heard it too. I clicked my tongue, and the clansmen around me repeated the sound, spreading the message through the line. They were close. Mýra pulled up her shield and I tucked myself closer to her as we moved faster. Beneath my vest, my heart beat unevenly, sending my sore ribs into spasms.
A gurgling wail beside us signaled the Riki’s arrival to our end of the line and as soon as I saw movement ahead of us, I swung, driving my sword forward and catching the hard surface of a shield. The form knocked Mýra to the ground and I lunged again, swinging my sword up and around me to let it cut down. This time, I heard the scrape of bone on my blade. I kicked at the lump, freeing my sword, and we pushed farther in. The rain fell harder as the sky opened up and the clouds pulled back just enough for a bit of moonlight to fall down on us.
I couldn’t help it. My eyes were already combing through the Riki on the field. Searching.
Lightning washed across the night sky and the mass of warriors scrambled like insects, crawling over the land as it lit everything white and then flickered out again. The crack exploded around us, shaking the ground.
Mýra caught the thigh of a man with her knife, knocking him over with her shield, and I came down on him with my axe, grunting against the searing burn in my arm. Mýra caught me as I fell, yanking me up and throwing my weight forward. I gripped the handle of my axe as we jumped over the body and the silhouette of a screaming woman came at me from the left. I swung again, catching her in the side. She went down, splashing in the mud, and I doubled over to keep from losing my balance.
“Eelyn!” Mýra called for me, getting sucked into the fighting as I searched the ground for my axe.
I raked my fingers through the grass until I found the handle. “I’m here!” I ran toward her voice.
Lightning lit across the sky again, howling and hissing, and I found her standing over another body.
We headed toward the trees and my eyes trained on the figures before me. We cut them down one by one, reading each other’s movements, until we had a clear path. Mýra pushed harder, trying to balance the deficiency of my arm and ribs. I bit down, gritting my teeth, and tightened my grip on my sword, trying to pull my body in line.
And then I saw it. From the corner of my eye—a pale flame moving in the trees.
I stopped short, sliding in the mud with my heart jumping up into my throat. “Iri.”
I took off running, tracking him with my eyes and dodging Riki as I neared the tree line. He wielded his axe, sending it into an Aska and then rearing back and sending another one to the ground. Beside him, a Riki was swinginghis sword, dropping my clansmen left and right. The Riki who’d almost taken my life.
I followed them as they moved together, weaving between the trees deeper into the forest. Behind me, Mýra’s faint voice called my name.
I jumped over the bodies on the forest floor and ducked into the cover of the trees. I pushed my sword into my scabbard and sunk my weight as close to the ground as I could, running with my axe out before me. My stomach twisted, knowing I should stop. Go back to Mýra.
Instead, I followed the familiar form driving deeper into the darkness. The lightning multiplied and the sound of rain on the canopy beat above us. When a hand caught me in the dark, I snapped my arm back, swinging my axe. The fingers clamped down on me, digging into my wrist until I dropped it. I fell flat on my back and the hand grabbed ahold of my boot, dragging me in the other direction. I reached for the trees as they passed, searching for something to hold onto as I slid over the wet ground, my ribs screaming.
The shadow reached down and pulled me upright, slamming me into a tree.
The Riki who’d sunk his blade into my arm was staring down at me. The blue of his eyes glinted like fire-steel striking in the dark. The hair fell down around his face, unraveled from its knot, and his broad frame towered over me as his hands tightened on my armor vest to hold me in place.
“Stop following us.” His voice rose above the sound of rain falling.
I felt for the knife in my belt. “Where is he?”
He shoved me before he let me go and turned, stalking off into the trees.
I ran after him.
He turned suddenly, lifting the handle of his axe to catch me in the shoulder. “Go back. Now,” he growled.
“Where’s Iri?” I shouted.
