She felt the tingle between her ears, and the energy coursing down her spine. She held it,

  pooled it, and then let it go. It faded more slowly, the more she gathered. If she brought it on too fast, her head began to hurt. If she brought it too slow, it would eke away before it could be used for anything. She needed to discover the right measure, the right mix. It was not an easy task.

  It took two hours before she felt like she had succeeded a single time, and even then it

  left her sweaty, with the blood running from her eye and down her cheek to drip onto the grass.

  She saw the sun beginning to peak up above the horizon, and she quickly folded the cuff of her shirt and wiped away the blood. She didn't want Silas to worry about what she was doing.

  He came up behind her just as she finished.

  "Good morning, Eryn," he said.

  She felt her heart flutter while she wondered if he had seen. She didn't think he would be

  one to stay quiet if he disapproved, so she decided if he had seen, he didn't mind, but he probably hadn't.

  "Good morning, Silas. Isn't it incredible?" She pointed at the horizon.

  It was, from up on the steps of the Rushes. The sky was filled with color.

  "Look," Silas said, pointing down. At the base of the steps, nearly hidden by shadow, were his soldiers.

  "I never saw them," Eryn said, worried that she had failed in her duty. She had been so preoccupied with trying to control her Curse, she had never noticed them riding in.

  "It isn't your fault. To be this close, they had to have crested the horizon during my watch. I should have seen them."

  He walked over to the grass and scooped up the saddlebags and his sword. Eryn followed

  suit, strapping on her own sword, and grabbing her quiver and bow.

  "They'll be coming at nightfall," he said. "Hoping that we won't have seen them. They can't know how close they came to us either. We'll walk for half the day, and then try to find someplace to lie in wait. Maybe they'll go right by."

  They started walking, north now, towards the sea. The terrain stayed grassy and green,

  but in some places became much more steep, both up and down. Before long they were in a

  winding crevasse about ten feet wide and twenty feet deep. The sides were solid rock, but coated in a layer of green and blue moss.

  Eryn had her sword in hand, practicing the two basic defensive maneuvers Silas had gone

  over with her so far. She stepped into a fighting posture and pretended an attacker was thrusting their sword towards her. She stepped back and turned to the right, bringing the blade up in a simple parry. Then she stepped back and turned left, completing a similar move.

  "Very good," Silas said. He was walking ahead of her, but he would look back every now and then. "Your form is improving. Make sure you keep the blade up."

  She nodded and repeated the move a few more times.

  "Try not to wear yourself out. I know you're young, but we still have a few more hours to walk."

  Eryn smiled. She wasn't close to being tired. In fact, she felt wonderful. She repeated the posture again, stepping back and turning left.

  Something reflected in the shiny metal of the sword. Eryn focused on it, and saw a yellow

  eye.

  "Silas!" It was all she had time for. Something barreled into her, sending her sprawling onto the soft earth. The sword fell from her hands.

  He had his own blade out and ready, but he stood there, looking for her attacker. She

  turned her head, searching. Then she saw something at the top of the crevasse. A pair of yellow eyes, black skin, a mouth curled back in a snarl, full of sharp teeth. It looked vaguely like a person, but it was bent and twisted and scaly. It looked at her, and vanished.

  Eryn pushed herself to her feet and picked up her sword. She held it up in front of her and walked towards Silas.

  "What are they?" she asked.

  "I didn't see anything," he replied.

  She saw it. It was right behind him. It appeared from nowhere, shimmering as it came

  into view. It had sharp nails at the end of long fingers, raised up to strike.

  Silas ducked and turned as the hand came down, avoiding the blow and bringing his

  blade up and through its stomach in one swift move. The creature howled and fell to the ground.

  He had to have seen its reflection in the sword.

  There was howling and chittering now, and she thought she saw motion against the side

  of the passage. When she turned to look, another of the monsters came into view, jumping

  towards her.

  Silas' hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her back out of harms way. The creature hissed

  and tried to spring towards her again, but Silas kicked it in the face. It tumbled backwards and disappeared.

  "We need to get out of here," Silas said, holding her wrist and running along the crevasse.

  He only made it a few feet before something slammed into him, knocking him against the wall. It appeared with its hand around his throat.

  "No," Eryn cried, thrusting forward with her blade. It sank into the creature's back, and the monster let go. "Come on, Silas."

  She took the lead, running along the natural corridor. Silas followed behind. They

  couldn't see their attackers, so there was no way to know if they were close, or even if they were still coming for them.

  She found out when three of the creatures appeared in front of her, blocking their way

  forward. Eryn came to a stop and looked back at Silas. He had turned around, because there were three more behind them.

  "They're boxing us in," Silas said.

  She looked up to the top of the crevasse. There were more of the things on either side.

  "What are they?" she asked.

  "Not human," he replied.

  They were moving in slowly, cautious of the swords. Silas pressed his back against hers.

  "Have you ever seen anything like this before?" she asked.

  "No. Never. These are the stories parents tell their children to scare them into

  compliance. Now we know the real reason nobody has settled here."

  "What are we going to do?"

  The creatures were getting closer. Above them, the others howled and chittered, the pitch

  rising in intensity.

  "We have to fight."

  Eryn took a deep breath. She knew she was going to die, unless she did something. She

  could try to use her Curse, but how? There were too many to throw aside, and she could never get to the blue stone before the monsters got to them. What good was it, if she didn't have it when she needed it?

  One of the creatures bounced forward, and then rocked back, testing her. She poked

  towards it with the sword, then retreated and turned, ready to parry an attack that didn't come.

  "Get ready," Silas said. The howling had gotten so loud, she could barely hear him above it.

  She reached for her Curse. She wasn't sure what she was going to do with it, but it had

  saved her before without her direct command. She hoped if she had the power ready, it would happen again.

  It was difficult to concentrate, surrounded by the black, humanoid monsters with the

  sharp fangs and terrifying eyes. Eryn closed her eyes and thought about working the forge with her father, pumping the bellows to keep the oven hot and the steel malleable. There was a rhythm to the bellows, a song to the up and down motion, and the soft sound that came out with each blow. She thought about that, found that rhythm in her mind, and didn't let it go.

  Time seemed to slow. She was vaguely aware of the creatures around them, crying out

  for their blood. She heard Silas scream her name, the sound coming so slowly that it stretched into nothing more than a deep rumble like thunder. Above it all she heard the bellows, felt the motion, played the song.

  She opened her eyes. She felt the power of the Curse between her ears, and coursing

  throughout her whole body. Everything was moving as though time was almost standing still.

  She stepped forward, her own body moving in normal time. Was she moving faster, or

  was everything else moving slower? She didn't know, and it didn't matter. She took her sword, and stabbed one creature, and then another, and then another. She plunged the blade into each of them, her motions so accelerated compared to theirs that they had no time to defend themselves.

  There was a part of her that felt guilty for killing them in such a way, but when she looked at Silas, and knew they would kill him if she didn't, it eased her mind.

  With the monsters around them mortally wounded, she put her sword in its scabbard and

  drew her bow. She pulled arrow after arrow, sending them upward and into the creatures around them. Her aim wasn't the best, so it took more shots than there were monsters. It didn't matter, she hit them all before they could move.

  All the while, she could feel the tingling, the power running through her, the wetness of

  the blood under both of her eyes. Whatever she had done, she knew when the power fled she

  would pay for it. She only hoped that Silas would get them to safety.

  She leaned up to his nearly frozen cheek and kissed it, and then shoved him out of the

  way of a sharp claw. She stepped back behind the creatures and closed her eyes. She could still feel the rhythm of the bellows. She could still see herself at the forge with her father, keeping the fires hot.

  "I love you, father," she said.

  He looked up at her, his face streaked with sweat. "I love you too, my darling girl. I'm proud of you."

  She let the memory go.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Silas

  Silas saw the creatures coming at him. He raised his sword, ready to strike, not noticing

  the one that had come at him from the side, its sharp claws ready to rip into his side.

  "Eryn," he cried, giving her warning of the attack.

  The word hadn't even finished coming from his mouth, when he found himself stumbling

  forward, avoiding the unseen attack. Around him, the creatures were screaming, gushing blood, and falling to the ground.

  "Eryn," he said again. He spun around, searching for her, finding her in the center of the carnage, laying on the ground with blood running from both eyes. What had she done?

  A body plummeted from the side of the crevasse, landing on its back, an arrow jutting

  from its neck. He looked up and saw the rest of the beasts were gone. Or dead? He saw the bow lying next to her, and that her quiver was half empty. Somehow, she had attacked them all in the span of a single breath. Somehow, her Curse had made her impossibly fast.

  He didn't know all that it meant, but he knew enough. He bent down and put his ear to her

  chest, hearing her heart still beating. She was unconscious again, but alive. He picked her up, carrying her like he had from the soldier's camp. He didn't have a horse to help them get away this time.

  He took her as far as his legs would bear, out of the crevasse and upward, to higher, more

  defensible ground. It was a slow and grueling climb, but he was desperate to get her to safety.

  His soldiers would be on the move by now, and he needed to find a place for them to hide. It would have been difficult enough with her awake.

  Not that he could fault her. She had saved his life with her Curse. She had been right, he

  realized. The Curse was the way she was hunted, not the powers that she held. Although, he

  could only imagine how such an ability could be abused by the wrong person. He was grateful Eryn had such a strong, kind soul.

  Good fortune was with them. They were almost to the top of one of the flat, stepped hills

  when Silas spotted a thick covering of trees and brush two steps down on the western side. The trees abutted a curved outcropping of rock from the next step up, and he was sure that he could see the dark shadow of a cave of some kind nestled in between.

  He hated to have to leave her alone, but Silas placed Eryn on the ground. He took her

  book and quiver from her, and rushed towards the trees. He didn't even try to descend the steps on his feet, but rather allowed himself to slide on his back. Small stones tore into his cloak and scraped him, but he ignored the pain. He didn't have a lot of time.

  "There you are," he said, reaching the trees and finding that there was a small cave pushing into the side of the hill. It was four feet tall, and eight feet wide, a crack in the earth that vanished into the depths. Silas notched an arrow to Eryn's bow and held it ready while he ducked under the lip of the cave, walking in a tight crouch. He was dependent on nothing more than luck that the space wasn't occupied by anything dangerous.

  Small rodents scurried away from him, and he felt his head brush by creatures that turned

  out to be bats, who flapped in his face and evacuated the cave.

  He only went in about ten feet. The light wouldn't penetrate any further, and he had no

  way to create his own. The ceiling had gotten lower and lower as he progressed, so he didn't think it continued much further. He turned and ran back out of the cave. When he reached the outside, he began collecting wood from the ground around the trees.

  Within an hour, he had started a fire at the mouth of the cave, a small one that produced

  little smoke. He collected leaves and branches and brush to cover the cave face from sight, and then removed his cloak and threw it into the corner. Finally, he began taking the items from Eryn's quiver, so that he could place it and the bow inside the cave. The first thing he found was a coin purse, and he opened it laid it next to him, to put the other items in.

  He marveled once more at the blue stone when he transferred it to the purse, and he was

  curious about the red crystal clasp, holding it up and turning it in his hand while he wondered if it had power like the stone did. Neither affected him like the final item he found, shoved into the corner and nearly forgotten.

  He held it up in front of him, turning it so it would catch as much light as possible. He

  examined it closely, measuring the size and the shape. Then he felt the inner edge, tracing his hands over a light but identifiable scoring.

  His eyes filled with tears, and he couldn't breathe.

  He knew the ring he was holding. He had given it to Alyssa on their wedding day.

  Always.

  That was what he had paid the artisan to inscribe on the inside of the band, a promise of

  his devotion. How in Heden did it wind up in Eryn's quiver?

  He closed his eyes, trying to remember. He saw Alyssa again, right before she left to sail

  away to the unknown lands. She wasn't wearing the ring. When had she lost it? Who had she lost it to?

  He saw her, the day he had told her what he had done.

  Murderer.

  She had called him that, and worse. She had slapped him, and punched him, and thrown

  things at him. He blinked his eyes quickly, trying to clear the tears. She hadn't been wearing the ring then either. Why not?

  Silas clutched the ring tight, squeezing it so hard it began to cut into his hand. He kissed the outside of his hand, and then placed the ring in the coin purse. He would ask Eryn about it later. Right now, he had work to do.

  He finished setting up the camp, and rushed back to where he had left Eryn, praying that

  she had been safe in the hours he was gone. He found her right where he had left her, still resting almost peacefully on the thick carpet of grass.

  "Where did you get it?" he asked her sleeping form.

  He looked at her closely. The shape of her face, the set of her eyes, the rise of her nose.

  He saw something there, features that could have belonged to Aren. Could she be his grandchild?

  He shook his head. It was so easy to see things that weren't there, to fill in the blanks for the explanation that he sought so desperately. Aren had been Cursed. The Cursed couldn't have

  children. Everyone knew that.

  The thought saddened him. How proud he would be to have a grandchild like Eryn. He

  put a gentle hand to her face, and then picked her up again. He turned and looked back at the campsite he had made, and then he headed south.

  It didn't take him long to find the soldiers. They too had left the horses behind to climb up into the Rushes. They moved on foot, trying to be quiet, but metal armor would never be good at that. They had spread out along the steps, their eyes seeking signs of his and Eryn's passage. He crouched with her behind a thorny bush, watching and waiting. The timing was everything.

  The soldiers swept ever closer to his spot behind the bush. He was still on a step over

  them, so it would be hard for them to locate him there. He had his sword laying on the ground in front of him, but he hoped he wouldn't need it. That wasn't what he had worked so hard for.

  The soldiers came closer.

  One of them was on the step below him, only a dozen feet from the bush. The moment

  his commander gave them the order to move up, Silas would be forced to kill him. He reached down and grabbed the hilt of his sword, readying himself for that moment. Eryn lay next to him, still asleep.

  A silent alarm came cascading through the line, a hand signal passed from one to the next

  to follow to the west. They had found the camp. He had tried to hide it, but he hadn't done a good enough job.

  He had done a perfect job.

  They rushed off, and Silas picked Eryn up and carried her south behind them. His body

  ached everywhere, and he was hungry, thirsty, and tired, but both of their lives depended on him.

  He refused to let her down.

  ***

  He nearly collapsed from exhaustion more than once. When he crossed back through the

  crevasse where the monsters had attacked them, he was surprised to find the creatures were gone, the only evidence they had ever been there the blood stains and discarded arrows on the grass.

  He hoped that something worse hadn't come and claimed them, or if it had that it wouldn't show itself to him. He made it through without trouble.