“Higher!” she said. “We need to go higher!”
And what good would that do? It didn’t matter how high they went. It was like running from them – they could not escape.
“Begone!” she snarled, throwing all her power into the word. “I command you, begone!”
The beast evaporated in a puff of black smoke. Another was already coming up, not leaping but climbing, scrabbling up the tree as if it were merely a steep incline.
“Begone!” she shouted.
It kept coming. She kept shouting, louder now, until her ears rang, but the beast continued climbing. She gripped her dagger.
What good will that do?
Probably none, but she had to try. The fiend dog was almost an arm’s length from Tyrus now, and she wasn’t letting it get any closer. She pulled back her dagger —
The fiend dogs below hit the trunk all at once. The tree jolted so hard it knocked the climbing beast to the ground. She went to grab the limb, but it was too late. Her dagger fell and she followed, one arm still wrapped around the branch, holding on as tight as she could as her legs dropped. Then hands grabbed her around the waist.
“I’ve got you,” Tyrus said. “Just find your balance. I’ve got —”
The fiend dogs hit again. Tyrus’s eyes widened, and she realized he wasn’t holding onto anything except her. She scrambled to grab him, but as soon as he started to drop, he released her.
“No!” she shouted.
He fell, dropping into the leaves and the darkness below. To the fiend dogs below. A snarl sounded overhead. Then a dark shape leaped past her. Daigo jumping down, branch by branch. The fiend dogs snarled and snapped. Tyrus let out a stifled cry. Moria was already climbing down, right behind Daigo, but that way was slow, too blasted slow. She remembered the horses in the grove, ripped to pieces, and she let go, hurtling like a rock toward the ground. Toward Tyrus. Toward the fiend dogs.
FORTY-SEVEN
When they stopped for the night, Ronan figured they were still nearly a day from Okami’s compound. They made camp by a stream.
“Do you think Tyrus will be there yet?” Ashyn asked as they ate dried fish and fruit.
Ronan shrugged. “Equally likely either way.”
Which was the only answer he could give, and the one she expected. She’d asked in hopes of starting conversation, but he lapsed into a silence that forbade small talk. She waited until he rose to wash his hands and then followed him.
“He said to wait at the inn until he arrives,” she said. “Which sounded simple, but now that we’re getting close… Should we stay at the inn or make camp nearby?”
“We’ll figure that out.”
They bent to wash their hands in the stream and refill their water skins.
“Are you angry with me?” she asked.
“Of course not, Ash. I’m just tired.”
“Perhaps we ought to have made a quick stop in the city. Quickly. I know you truly wanted to check on —”
“They’re fine.”
“But you —”
“I’ll be there soon enough.”
They began walking back to the campsite.
“Once I’m with Tyrus, you’ll go back to the city,” she said. “You ought to stay there a few days to be sure everything is all right. You’ll feel much better when you return, knowing that they are safe at home.”
He nodded and seemed ready to let silence fall again, but as they reached camp, he cleared his throat and said, “I ought to tell you now, Ash. I’m not returning.”
“What? You said…”
He crouched by the campfire. She stayed standing. She wanted to say, You are angry with me, but that was arrogant, to think he would change his plans so drastically because of her.
“I understand,” she said carefully as she lowered herself cross-legged to the ground. “You’re worried about Aidra and Jorn. That your aunt will make them steal for their keep. You’ve done enough, and you should go home to them. I don’t know if Tyrus can presume upon Lord Okami to borrow money to repay you —”
“I don’t care about that.”
“Well, he will, obviously. As soon as he’s able, he’ll pay. I know it won’t compensate for —”
“It was never about the money, Ash. I wanted —”
He swallowed the rest and rose to poke at the fire.
“What did you want?” she asked.
It seemed as if he wasn’t going to answer. Then he said, “Caste. I wanted caste.”
She hesitated as she remembered he’d been trying to talk to her about caste outside the stables, before they heard the accusations against the prince. “A higher one, you mean?”
“What caste am I, Ash?”
“I don’t know. Your family were warriors, and I’m not sure what the demotion is when that’s stripped. It seems to vary, so I haven’t wanted to ask.”
“You wouldn’t want to be rude.” He crouched beside her. “You’re correct, it varies. Warriors can be demoted to artisans or to farmers or merchants. It depends on the crime. If it’s serious enough… My family backed the wrong heir to the imperial throne. Before Emperor Tatsu’s reign. It was considered high treason.”
“So you’re merchant class then.” She managed a smile. “Like me.”
He shook his head. “You’re not merchant class, Ash. You’re —”