“The Adder has come,” she said – this time loudly enough for everyone assembled around us. “The time of waiting is over. The time to cleanse the land has come!”
The circle responded with a loud whoop and Juste sprang to his feet as light as if he hadn’t just passed through the Forbidding in a journey that might have taken us months to complete.
“So, let it be declared,” he said calmly in Hissan, straightening his Adder crown. “So, let it be done.”
If I’d thought the cheer was loud before, it was deafening now. How could he manipulate a crowd so well when he cared nothing for people?
My eyes stayed fixed on Juste even as the Hissan helped our people to their feet. They stayed locked on him as our helpers led us through the grass to where a hill rose in a perfect mound before us and to the open-topped tower that stood on the mound. The bottom of the tower was open, the top accessed by a winding staircase that spiraled around the whole structure. They began to prepare a feast the moment we arrived. And still, my eyes were locked on Juste. Because that was not triumph on his face. It wasn’t joy. It wasn’t even relief. I knew that look. He was counting and measuring, weighing and choosing. He was scheming. And his scheme had something to do with these Hissan and this outpost of theirs.
Was it something he had planned with Ixtap? Or was it something of his own?
I wished I could be sure he would stick to what he’d promised – that we were here to gut the Forbidding, but with Juste trust was a bad choice.
His words never gave him away. His manner was utterly polite and deferential. His orders to his people were to recover and rest. He, himself, took a place in the shade and drank water and fruit juices and talked to the woman – Essa – of Ixtap and the wonders he had seen when he visited with him before. He spoke of Hissan fashion and weapons, of a game called Ichene, and of beadwork and foods, and all the time his eyes glittered with planning and ambition.
I watched him until I could stand it no more and I climbed the tower stairs instead. Elodie was resting her agonized eyes – burned from staring at the flames for too long. And since there was nowhere to run – since this outpost was completely surrounded by fire, held back only by the snake magic of the people who lived here – no one followed me, and no one tried to stop me.
The steps came out to the top of the tower where a low wall surrounded the platform. From here, I could see the fields surrounding the tower where there was just enough farmland for herds of goats and careful rows of vegetables and grains. Just enough to sustain the people who lived here. So why set up this outpost in the middle of the Forbidding? Why create this place? Our hosts had kept their mouths closed about that, and Juste hadn’t seemed interested in finding out more from them.
I bit my lip and looked at the horizon. Every moment I spent here might mean days back at home. And I was missing it all. I thought of Osprey sheltering my nieces and nephews. I thought of the Single Wing and my siblings fighting for freedom.
Just like that, my vision waved and I saw Exhausted Aella dying in the ash again, saw her bee fly out to the world beyond to see the Forbidding creeping across the land and swallowing up Glorious Ingvar, swallowing everything clear to the sea.
I blinked and the vision was replaced by Returning Aella in her cage, watching as Juste lined up her family at a tall gallows.
“This marks the last of those who opposed me in Far Reach,” he declared. “This land and all its inhabitants are the property of the Empire of War and Wings.”
And then that vision as gone, too. I sagged as it left me.
Two possible other futures. Both terrible. Both worse than this one – maybe. I didn’t know. I felt blind without my bees. How much time had passed out there in the world? In that time had I lost more of those I loved? It had to take a while for an army to form against Ixtap. How long? Weeks? Months?”
I chewed the inside of my lip and felt like I might vomit. My life was slipping between my fingers – and for what? We needed to find this Heart of the Forbidding. We couldn’t afford to waste another moment.
“I’d offer a coin for your thoughts, but I’ve already given you a crown.” Juste’s voice pierced my musings and I spun toward his voice. Around us, darkness was falling.
“We need to get to the Heart of the Forbidding,” I said. “Who knows how much time has passed since we left Glorious Ingvar.”
“About three months, I would guess,” Juste said casually.
I felt my jaw drop. “And how would you have calculated that?”
“I asked Essa a few questions about times and days and compared that to what I knew from Ixtap. But this is not our final destination,” he said, looking out to where the distant fires still lit the skies. “To get there, this outpost must be stripped down. And it will burn. We leave at midnight. You might want to think about sleeping until then.”
“Why must it burn?” I asked.
“We will require every snake manifestor here to get us to the Heart of the Forbidding. There will be none left to keep this place whole. And any we cannot bring with us will die in the flames.”
I swallowed. “No. That can’t be. There must be another way out.”
He looked at me blankly and I realized that he simply didn’t care. If there was another way, he hadn’t bothered to look for it.
“You have five hours until we leave. If you want to find another way, you can, but if you don’t sleep, you’ll have nothing to give to me and it may cost us all our lives.” His smile quirked in the corners and one of his eyebrows lifted. “I’m sure you’ll make the wise choice, won’t you, Empress? The compassionate choice?”
I cleared my throat. “What does Essa think?”
“Essa has always known her people were here for this step – to guide the Adder to the Heart of the Forbidding. Her whole life has been for this. What has your life been for?”
I swallowed. If my whole life would be spent doing this – ending the Forbidding and then ending him. Wouldn’t that be worth it? After all, what you really loved, you sacrificed for. If I loved the remnants of my family – if I loved Osprey, and I did! I did! – then shouldn’t I be willing to give what was left of myself for them? Was it really too much to ask?
I felt my eyes tearing up and I blinked the tears violently away. Because in my mind I saw myself sneaking kisses with Osprey and I saw myself round with his child and I saw myself playing with my nieces and nephews again, hugging my brothers and sisters. And none of that would ever happen, would it? Because even if I succeeded and I ended this, all the years of my life would be used up and I would crumple and fade and die. And so it was left to me to choose what I loved more – them or my own life.
I didn’t realize Juste was still there – watching me – until I looked up and his smile turned predatory.
“Yes. I thought that would be your choice. Neither of us was made to live a boring life, Empress. We were always meant to live or die loudly and brightly. And we will. That much, I can promise you.”
The darkness was a hollow, grim thing when he turned and left me there in the cold. I didn’t go to seek the fires below. Instead, I huddled against the low wall of the tower in my tattered dress and cried myself to sleep.