Page 41 of Shardless
The two men went silent, staring at her expectantly.
“We need to move,” she grunted as she made a half-successful attempt to push herself up into a sitting position.
Aiden was the first to regain himself. “No. You shouldn’t exert yourself. The restoration spells need time to work before we try to move you.”
“That may be so,” Taly replied with a groan, “but there are only a few hours of daylight left. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but there’s a harpy nest just on the other side of this cliff face, and harpies hunt at night. We need to go. Now.”
“Where’s Aimee?” Skye asked.
“I’m here!” the fey noblewoman called as she emerged from the forest. Her skirts were hiked up around her hips, her dirtied bloomers peeking outfrom underneath the tattered hem, and she rode astride Taly’s horse. She held the reins of the sidesaddled mare as it struggled to keep up with the nimble gelding.
“Well look at that,” Taly muttered tiredly. “Shecanride.”
Skye laughed as he put his arm around her and helped her stand. “At least your sense of humor is still intact. That has to be a good sign.”
Taly leaned heavily against him. Though the wounds on her leg had closed, the limb felt like dead weight and refused to respond to her commands. She tried to take a step but lost her footing and stumbled.
Without hesitation, Skye reached down and hooked an arm under her knees, effortlessly hoisting her up. “She can ride with me. Aiden, is there anything else you can do for her right now?”
“No.” Aiden paused, thinking. “Just monitor the spells—they’ll last longer with a steady supply of aether. Once we’re back in the forest, I can check to see how she’s doing.”
“Wait,” Taly said, tugging on Skye’s collar. “The harpy… I want its feathers.”
“What? Why?” Skye asked, pausing to look at the harpy’s rapidly cooling carcass. Its head had been cleaved from its body, and its arms and wings still twitched sporadically.
“My trophy,” Taly replied, smiling when she felt Skye’s bark of laughter. “I promised that bitch I was going to turn her into a feather duster. Don’t make me a liar, Skye.”
Skye sighed before glancing at Aiden. “Will you…”
“Yeah, I got it,” Aiden said, chuckling to himself.
With Aiden’s help, the two men managed to get Taly seated in the saddle, and Skye placed a protective arm around her waist, tucking her safely against his chest as he settled in behind her.
The journey back to Ryme was far shorter this time around. The harpy had carried her southeast of where they had originally emerged at the Aion Gate, so they were able to cut through the forest, heading south until they found an old, forgotten back road. The path was overgrown and cracked, but the horses managed to pick around the broken stones.
As they rode, Taly tried to take stock of the damage to her body. Most of the bleeding had stopped now. She could still feel blood trickling down her leg from the puncture wound, most likely from where the saddle rubbed against the delicate layer of newly grown skin, but it was minimal. The gashes and lacerations from her fall through the trees had closed, and though her skin was still red and swollen, Aiden was a skilled healer—she doubted she would even have any scars left over from this ordeal.
The sun began to slip behind the horizon, plunging the forested road into darkness, but Taly barely noticed. She made no complaint when Skye gently lifted her out of the saddle so that Aiden could check the spells, and she remained silent when they set out again. A single image was burned into her mind’s eye. The harpy—it had just stopped. Like it was frozen in time. That wasn’t a spell she recognized. It couldn’t have been Skye, and there had been no one else around to help her. That left only one conclusion.
I did that, she thought.I used magic.Real magic. Time magic.She pressed her eyes closed asher body began to tremble. Skye shifted in the saddle, and the arm around her tightened as he tucked her more firmly against him.
“Everything’s okay now. I’ve got you,” he whispered in her ear. For a moment, she almost believed him. As he rested his chin on the top of her head, his fingers absently caressing a patch of skin peeking through the shredded fabric at her waist, she wanted so desperately to believe him.
But he was wrong—everything was far from okay. If a Sanctifier had witnessed what happened today, she would’ve been immediately sentenced to die for the crimes of a Queen she’d never met. No trial. No mercy. Because that’s what the Sanctorum did to time mages or anyone they suspected of having time magic. They hunted them, killed them, and then erased every trace of them from this world. And anyone stupid enough to try to protect a time mage… they got to share in their fate.
“Here,” Skye said, jolting Taly out of her thoughts. He looked back at Aiden and jerked his head toward an overgrown path that veered off the main road. “It’s a shortcut. Should take us around the back of the manor property.”
No!Taly shook herself, trying to dispel some of the overwhelming fatigue that weighed her down. She couldn’t let them take her back. She was even more dangerous than before.
“Let me down,” she ordered weakly as Skye steered his horse toward the side road.
“What?” Skye asked, confused. Nevertheless, he complied, easily sliding out of the saddle and gently placing her on the ground.
She pushed his hands away, but her knees buckled as soon as he let go, and he quickly pulledher back against his body to keep her from falling. A growl of frustration ripped from his throat as she continued to struggle against him, but when she managed to wriggle out of his grip a second time, she finally found her feet.
“I’m going back to town,” she mumbled, trying to ignore the way her words slurred together. Her heart fluttered rapidly in her chest, and a strange shimmer had crept in around the edges of her vision, making the world around her dance and sway.
“Are you kidding?” Skye sputtered in disbelief. “No. You were practicallydeadnot two hours ago. You can’t even walk!”
