From Ashes and Snow

No time

Chapter 41: No time

I imagined it was Kendon climbing swiftly beside me, shimmying along narrow stretches of rain slick rock.

 We had spent years leaning the knacks of climbing the walls of Dratlan, in slick ice and snow so even now, the rain felt like nothing to me. He had been more graceful than I, but I had been quicker. I had grown up on rocking boats, balancing on the wood between the deck and the sea. If I fell and my father or my brothers had not been there to see, the other fisherman would not have batted an eyelash at a drowning mutt girl overcome by waves.

So, I did not fall.

Kohen was just as lithe, sure-footed and certain as he scrambled past me, far quicker than I could have hoped to be. Soldiers huddled on a sheath of rock and a single Magin kept her fire burning, a shield shimmering to stop them being rocked in the storm raging ahead.

"Tell me what you see?" The soldiers snapped to attention as I made my presence known, legs locking together as they murmured a greeting.

The Magin replied. He was a young man with a sallow face. Fear pinched his lips tight. "Look, Miss Birchwood."

I looked, pulling magic into me as my eyesight sharpened. I hated this cast. Even with my Elven eyesight, I could not see well through the rain and darkness. This cast made my eyeballs itch and I curled my fingers tight, resisting the urge to scratch them. I saw droplets of rain. The smooth, glistening stone. Water building up.

Then, dark bodies moving. Writhing together, packed so tight that I knew they couldn't be human. Coldness flashed behind my breastbone. "That's an army."

"Coming to destroy us. Grind our bones to dust." Kohen murmured. "A hive controlled by one, cruel brain."

"Can you tell how many there are?" I asked.

Attention turned to Kohen. The Zentin was obviously troubled, his eyes apparently unfocused as he continued to stare outwards. "Too many for us to fight."

"I do not appreciate this lack of optimism." I stared out into the growing night. "When did you notice this?"

The scouts snapped to attention at my question, stammering and clambering to answer first. "Too late, Birchwood. It seems like they were attempting to hide themselves but now they're not."

"I asked when." I repeated.

"Yesterday," A scout answered meekly.

Anger swept through me, but I bit my tongue as Kohen flashed me a reproachful look. Clearing my throat, I asked, "And why did you say nothing then?"

"We were not sure. Sometimes there are traders who use these roads. We thought perhaps they were just an especially large number."

I couldn't hold my tongue. "There are families in our convoy. Bakers. Servants. People who have never even held a weapon in their lives. Why would you take the chance?"

Asha'da, Dratlan had been filled with soldiers and we hadn't a chance. Below that anger, terrible fear began gnawing at me, but not for myself. I couldn't bear...I wouldn't see these people fall to the Nirani. Bidding the scouts, a quick goodbye, Kohen and I began our descent and angled back towards the camp.

We didn't speak.

Kohen didn't my words to know how I felt, and my tongue was too tied to even begin to ask him anything. Fyr and the others were waiting for us, bent over a drawn map of the canyon route. From my expression, they knew it was bad.