Page 19 of Lies That Blemish
Tej peered over at me, frowning. “You need rest,” he commanded.
“No, I don’t,” I snapped, widening my eyes to look more alert.
He glanced at Arjun, who had dark circles under his eyes.
“You both do,” Tej said. “We’ll camp here for a bit. You sleep for four hours, we have a light meal, then we head over about midnight. Just as Kohen instructed.”
“I’m not sleeping in the Wilds,” I declared.
Tej glared at me. “I’ll keep watch over both of you. I’m older. I don’t need as much sleep as your young, growing minds,” he taunted. Both Arjun and I launched at him. I punched his arm while Arjun went for his chest.
Tej laughed, rolling away from us. “Seriously though, get some sleep,” he ordered.
I peered at Arjun, who yawned. “I don’t feel like I can slay any dragons right now,” he admitted.
“Me neither,” I said. “But my sister told me not to sleep.”
“Because you were alone. I will look out for you both. I promise.” Tej placed prayer-clasped hands up to his chest and bowed deeply for dramatics.
I rolled my eyes. “Fine, but remember, my sister knows I’m with you now, so if you hurt me in any way?—”
“Yeah, yeah.” Tej waved me off. “Go to bed, kid.”
I growled. He was incorrigible!
Arjun smiled a little at my bickering with Tej and rolled out his sleeping bag, pulling his blade out to hold it over his chest. He was ready to wake up and fight if needed.
I did the same, grasping the dagger they had given me, holding it as I slipped into my bag. I glanced over at Tej to see him sitting on a large flat rock, scanning the trees and then the sky, looking for any kind of threat.
It was crazy that just two days ago, I’d been mortal enemies with these guys, and now I was trusting one of them with my life while I slept. My sister would kill me if she knew, but I really hadn’t trained well for the sleep deprivation, and it was hitting me hard. So hard, in fact, that the second I closed my eyes, I felt like I was melting into the earth. Then I was out.
A small shakeon my shoulder had my eyes snapping open. I instinctively pulled my blade between me and the person hovering over me. Tej sneered down at me. “Not a morning person?” he asked as he stepped away from me.
It took me a second to figure out where I was and what was going on, but then everything came rushing back to me.
I peered up at the fire sky, trying to tell time based on the moon beyond it.
“It’s near midnight,” Tej told me.
I felt much better, less groggy, and more alert. I peered over to see Arjun yawning as he rolled up his pack.
“Thanks,” I muttered to Tej, who had clearly kept watch the entire time. He looked tired.
“You want to rest?” I asked him.
He shook his head. “I’ll be fine,” was all he said. “But if you have any more coffee, I’ll take that.”
I handed him my satchel of ground coffee and then packed up my sleeping bag, shoving it into my pack. After we’d eaten a small amount of food, and Tej drank coffee while Arjun and I opted for water, we headed out.
Twenty minutes later, I couldn’t believe I was doing this. As Tej lowered himself into the rushing river, bypassing the Wall and wading into Luska, I had a moment of panic.
Now was the time to turn back and try to bond that lioness. This was crazy. This would be how I died. My heart fluttered in my chest, but Arjun’s words came back to me then.
“Because on the night of the second day, you bond a red dragon and fly yourself home. Safe. Alive. Powerful.”
And then I thought of Kohen’s letter.
If you do not bond a Talanagi, your people will say you are too young and weak to lead. They will revolt, and the empire will fall.
