The Deathsinger: Book 2

Ch. 2: Prejudice

With Kuga's gleeful declaration ringing in my ears, I walked through the camp without paying attention to where I was going. Not that I had to pay attention in order to navigate. After a fortnight of camping in the same spot, muddy pathways wound through the tents leading to the common areas like the food tent and showers, and since I was not allowed beyond the borders of the camp, I had memorized every square inch.

Barely more than three hundred soldiers made up the army–or the King's Guard–as Tievel called it. To call it an army was too dangerous since we had marched through city-states like Jorridor.

Since they weren't officially under the rule of Edresh, we didn't want them to feel threatened by our presence, but it was all smoke and mirrors. If the king wished to exert his will over any of the small sovereign states beyond the Vesper, they would fall without a fight. Araphel and Estrellum had held all the power, and if Edresh could crush them, no one else stood a chance.

Muck clung to my boots as I worked my way to the outer edge that was closest to the river separating us from Araphel's border. Most soldiers found excuses to go the opposite way when they saw me coming, but there were a few who stood their ground, watching me pass with searing hatred in their eyes. It took great effort not to shrink beneath their gazes because I knew that hatred was deserved. I had killed their friend, and if I let my guard down, they would make me pay for it.

Summoning a strength I wouldn't have believed I possessed just a month ago, I pulled the ice magic to my fingertips. Cold, glimmering talons grew from my fingertips. An obvious threat to anyone who might try to start something. It served its purpose. They did not attack or speak to me, but the biggest elf in the group–a Puca–spit at my feet.

I paused, looked at the foamy spittle splattered on the ground, and looked back up at the Puca. Like the rest of his kind, most of his features moved, never settling on one form or the other. But one thing never changed. The stained, razor-sharp teeth he revealed when he gave me an unsettling smile.

Without a word, I stepped over the spit and walked at a clipped pace until I reached my destination. A jagged gray rock jutting out of the hillside and extending over the frothy waters of the river, Caryn. According to the local shepherd who let us use his land, this was the closest point you could get to Araphel when it burned without being injured. It was the only place I'd experienced any sense of peace since being taken, and I didn't know if it was the sound of rushing waters, the view, or the nearness to my homeland. Surely, it could not be the latter, since I had no memory of it.

What I did know from overheard conversations was that this was the only place you could reach Araphel without a boat or going through Estrellum. This tiny peninsula that was surrounded by the river on one side and the Crystal Sea on the other. The King had once used this point of entry to march into the kingdom and finally end the war.

That was the version I learned while living in the palace, but now I suspected it was quite different. They had not won the war through his might and power, but through a sacrifice. My mother's. If only she had stopped and considered that extinguishing Dycidium would keep not just him out, but every soul as well.

"Why are you looking so glum?"

"According to you, I always look glum. Perhaps it's simply how my face is made," I replied, twisting slightly to look at the young dryad who sat down beside me.

Her grove was nearby, and King Brinley had pressed them into service while we were stationed here. To my surprise, she'd been drawn to me, and discovering I was a Deathsinger only made her more eager to be at my side.

"You might be onto something there."

She plucked a few strands of dried yellow grass and shredded them between her gnarled brown fingers. The remnants caught in the breeze and fluttered over the cliff's edge and drifted to the river, where rapids swallowed them. When they disappeared, she turned her yellow eyes to me and watched me in silence.

"What is it, Cassia?" I said at last, her intense stare making me itch between my shoulder blades.

"I saw you attracted the attention of the Puca." She shuddered. The petals on the flowers growing in her mossy green hair curled inward. "There's a reason there are not many left in Jorridor."

"He's justified in his anger, and just because he's scary and capable of bad things, it doesn't mean he is a bad thing." I looked at her pointedly.

Cassia shook her head. "I know what you're doing, and it's not the same. Death isn't a bad thing, at least when it's working the way it's supposed to. Pucas feed off fear and chaos. Why do you think there are so many in the Royal Army? I'm just saying to be careful, that's all. He can take any shape he pleases."

I drew in a deep breath through my nose and released it through my mouth, creating a silver mist in the air. It didn't matter that she thought she was being friendly by showing concern. She had judged and sentenced him to crimes he hadn't committed the moment she learned he was a Puca.

It was exactly how the Edreshians treated me for being a Deathsinger, and I wondered if maybe we weren't born monsters but made into them when we grew tired of fighting against the crowd.

Still, I wasn't ready to give up yet. Especially not with Kuga nearby as a reminder of what giving up looked like. She couldn't think I truly believed she had started down her path of greed the same way I had? To protect herself?

"You're still very young," I said, stretching my legs out, so they dangled over the edge of the rock. Bits of gray shale broke free and clinked down the hill until it rolled into the river. "And you've never traveled farther than a few miles from your tree, have you?"

Cassia's roughened brown cheeks darkened to almost black as she blushed. "I can't travel farther than that until I'm at least a century old. To give time for my roots to expand."

"But you want to travel?"

"Oh, yes. I want to see the world. My gran doesn't approve. She says I'm too wild, and she hopes it's only the foolishness of youth."

An ache swept through me. Cassia reminded me of Joreen in many ways. It didn't matter that she was a completely different race or that hundreds of leagues separated their place of birth. Both possessed a fearless spirit. One that I envied because it would have made my life so much easier. But it was also proof that who we were as individuals was so much more important than what we were as elves.

"When you travel, make me a promise?"

"It's not wise to agree to a promise before you know what it is."

"It's simple, really. I want you to give everyone you meet the same chance you've given me. Within reason, of course. Don't put yourself in danger, but also don't be so quick to judge either."

The crunch of boots on brittle grass grew louder behind us as someone approached. She nodded as I stood, and I took it as a sign that she would at least consider what I asked. Brushing off the seat of my trousers, I walked up the hill and halted mid-step when I spied who was waiting on me.

Tievel held the reins of two horses. One sleek and black with luminous gold eyes. The other was muscular and white, with silver feathering down its legs and covering its hooves. I stepped toward the white horse, appreciating its sturdy and calm appearance, but Tievel thrust the reins of the other beast at me before mounting his horse.

"Where are we going that we need horses?" I asked, looking askance at the snorting horse while keeping my two feet planted firmly on the ground. "I'm happy to walk."

"Get on the damn horse, Morana," Tievel snapped.

"Where are we going?" I asked again, this time breathlessly as I settled myself on the black horse's back and fought to make him settle. He danced across the hard earth, stirring up puffs of dust beneath his hooves.

"The tide is low enough to enter Araphel this evening, and the fires are out."

"T-to what? You can't be serious."

Tievel twitched and muttered. His hair flashed between blue and red and green. "We're only going ahead to scout, and to see if the Winter Woman has taught you anything."

"And if the fires start up again before we're gone?"

He raised his head and madness flared bright in his blue eyes. "We'll burn."