Gates of Thread and Stone

CHAPTER 10

IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE to see beyond the flat, dry earth illuminated by the energy stone. Avan checked the map every once in a while to make sure we hadn’t gone off course, but we could have been anywhere and nowhere. So far, there was no sign of gargoyles, but anything could be lurking beyond the wall of darkness. It was like riding through empty space, only the sound of metal hooves striking dirt and the wind tugging at my clothes to remind me we were moving at all.

With nothing to focus on but the red glow of the Gray’s chest and the windblown smell of Avan’s shirt, I slept in intervals. Lucidity was never far out of reach, though. Falling off the saddle and breaking my neck wouldn’t help Reev.

Being this close to Avan was a practice in contradictions. His body heat and the solid comfort of his back soothed me. I could relax against him and feel secure enough to sleep, even if only lightly. It was almost like being with Reev.

But Reev didn’t also make me hyperaware of every point of contact between us. The shift of his muscles beneath my cheek. The backs of his thighs. The way our hips aligned on the seat. For the first hour, my heart pounded so hard, it was like a battering ram against my ribs.

It didn’t help that, surrounded by nothing but the pressing dark, it was as if we were the only two souls in the world.

Stupid. The dark could also be hiding a pack of gargoyles closing in. I glanced over my shoulder, but I couldn’t see anything except the vague line of the horizon in the blackness.

I pushed down the paranoia and rested my head against his shoulder blade. I closed my eyes.

The next time I opened them, daylight had begun to filter in through the clouds, giving my first clear view of the Outlands. Flames of light licked across a flat brown landscape. Low, craggy rock formations rose haphazardly to our left, interspersed with yellow-green cacti.

My instructors at school said most of the Outlands was desert, and I could see now that this was true. All around, patches of dead grass and copses of skeletal trees marked miles and miles of dry earth with no recognizable roads. Without the map, we would’ve had no idea where to go.

The wall of darkness was gone, but the world didn’t feel any less empty.

I leaned a bit in the saddle to try and see Avan’s face. “You should rest,” I said.

“I’m okay,” he shouted over the wind.

“I could take over while you sleep. Can’t be that hard. I’m a quick learner.” It was too bad I couldn’t speed up the threads to make the hours go by more quickly. I watched the terrain pass in silence for a few minutes before saying, “Hey, do you think it’s true that there’s nothing out here but dust and gargoyles?”

“Looks like it.”

“But seriously. You’ve seen the archived maps. We can’t be the only ones left. It’s just not possible.” Not to mention it’d be incredibly lonely. The maps in the records hall showed whole countries spread across vast lands, filled with cities.

“If enough people around here survived to rebuild, then it’s likely the same thing happened somewhere else,” he said.

I had to agree. The alternative was too depressing. But if there were other cities hidden within the expanse of the Outlands, then the people had never tried to make contact. Maybe they believed they were alone as well. Maybe there were even other mahjo out there.

It made me wonder about those scouts leaving and entering the city. What exactly were they doing? Scouting for habitable land? Harvesting natural resources?

Either way, it was possible to survive out there if the Black Rider had set up a base somewhere in the Void. Especially if he was sustaining an army of kidnapped Ninurtans.

When we found Reev, would he still be himself? Or would the Rider have already . . . I chased away the thought.

“If there’s anyone else out there,” Avan continued, “they’re too far away to get in contact with. I doubt we’ll run across anyone. Look.” He pointed ahead.

The terrain was so flat that I could make out a strip of brown and green far in the distance. The border of the forest. It looked like moss growing against the horizon. I couldn’t be seeing that right.

“We’re almost at the forest already? But it’s only dawn. We can’t have been riding for more than eight hours. How fast are we going?” I looked down, watching the Gray’s hooves practically fly over the ground.

I could hear the pride in Avan’s voice when he said, “Pretty sweet, right?”

“But Grays can’t go this fast in Ninurta.”

“We’re not exactly in Ninurta anymore.”

“But I didn’t think they were even built to reach this speed.”

He turned enough for me to glimpse the dimple in his cheek. “I made some modifications to this guy.”

“Illegal ones.”

“Says the fugitive.”

I preferred not to think about that. Anyway, I was grateful for the “modifications.” Not only would we get to Reev sooner, but I’d have to spend less time plastered to Avan’s back. I wasn’t used to being physically close to anyone for so long, not even Reev.

“How much farther until we reach the forest?” I asked.

“About an hour.”

“We can rest then,” I said. “You need sleep.”

“I’ll be okay. I’ve stayed up longer than this.”

I didn’t want to know why. But the curiosity remained at the back of my mind.

“Nervous?” he asked.

I was. Our knowledge of forests came strictly from school. The trees in Ninurta bloomed for one week a year, but they were sickly and yellow, nothing like the green leaves in the history books.

White Court experts theorized that there was either a vast source of water hidden inside the forest or an underground reservoir that fed it and kept it alive. But their theories had never been confirmed because they couldn’t get a team of researchers past the gargoyles.

“I’ve read about the forests. They’re dangerous. Lots of places for wild animals to hide,” I said.

“What do you really think, though?”

“I can’t wait to see it,” I admitted. Had the Rider given Reev the chance to appreciate the forest?

The air became steadily hotter as the hour passed. Moisture gathered where our bodies touched, and although the feeling wasn’t exactly unpleasant, I tried inching back to give us some space. When it grew difficult to swallow, I twisted around to rummage in Avan’s bag for one of the canteens I’d seen him pack. I had forgotten to pack water myself. If Avan had let me go alone, I would’ve died of dehydration before ever finding Reev.

I hated feeling so incompetent. With a sigh, I maneuvered the open canteen between his arms so he’d see it.

“Drink?”

“Thanks,” he said, taking it from me.

I relished the wind against my face. I drank from a second canteen, taking even more sparing sips than I would have in Ninurta. We didn’t have a pump out here. I took another deep breath of hot, dry air before putting away the water. Something dark flickered at the corner of my eye.

I jerked my head to the side and scanned the line of rocky outcroppings. Maybe it had been a trick of the li— There it was again!

A figure darted between the rocks, keeping pace with the Gray despite our speed. I squinted. The figure ran on all fours, with a long tail whipping behind it.

“Avan,” I rasped, my hands flattening against his stomach.

A gargoyle.