Storm of Locusts

Chapter 43

Lightning strikes the command tower on the west side of the canyon, and Ben and I stumble onto solid ground. Ben collapses, vomiting. I’m not much better. My whole body feels like it’s going to shake apart. With unsteady hands, I sheathe the sword in the scabbard on my back. Stomp my feet to try to dissipate some of the raw energy around me.

“Did we just . . . ? Did you . . . ?” Ben stutters out once she’s left the contents of last night’s dinner at her feet.

“I think so,” I admit, my voice as shaky as my hands.

“And you’ve never done that before?”

“Once, with Ma’ii, but he was driving, and it was a lot smoother. Sorry for the bumpy ride.”

She shakes her head. “Don’t be sorry. Look.” And I look where she’s pointing, back to the center of the dam, where we were just moments ago. Most of the dam is still there, still holding the water back, but there’s a V-shaped chunk of concrete probably fifty feet wide missing in exactly the spot where we were standing. Lake water pours through the break in a powerful rush that cascades down seven hundred and fifty feet to the rocks below. It looks peaceful from here, beautiful even.

I scan the sky, searching the clouds, but I can’t see Kai anywhere. I know he must be there, embraced by the storm, controlling the flow of water with whatever supernatural powers he’s harnessed from Tó’s pot and his own power.

The rain is steady now, a cold curtain of a downpour that’s already starting to chill. It’s been so long since I’ve felt rain, I can’t help but turn my face upward, let it wash over me. Ben’s not as charmed. She’s running to the nearest shelter, the guard tower. I take one last mouthful of rain and then hustle after her.

Ben’s rattling the doorknob, trying to open the guard tower door. “It’s not locked,” she explains, “but there’s something heavy blocking it.” She leans in with her shoulder. “If I could just . . .”

I add my shoulder to the push, and together we open the door a foot. Ben peeks in the narrow opening. “Maggie, wait!”

“What is it?”

“There’s somebody there. Blocking the door. A body.”

I look in, and sure enough, there’s someone lying on the floor, blocking the doorway. I see long legs sheathed in familiar brown leathers, big biker boots, and the edges of two thick red braids.

“It’s Rissa,” I say, voice grim.

I move Ben back and reach through the opening. Try to push against Rissa’s shoulder to get her off the door, but I can’t muster enough power to move her, and she only flops forward at the waist before she falls back again.

“Is she dead?” Ben asks, her voice scared.

“I . . . don’t . . .” I sit down, stick my foot through the door and kick Rissa in the side. This time she stirs, and I think I hear her groan. “She’s alive,” I tell Ben. “But hurt.”

We need another way in. There’s a window on what looks like the second floor. Narrow. Too narrow for me, but not for a sixteen-year-old Deer clan girl. I explain what I’m thinking to Ben. “Can you make it?”

She nods, eager. I position myself under the window, and Ben steps back about ten feet to get a running start. The rain is quickly oversaturating the parched earth, turning the ground to mud. I plant my feet wide, brace my back against the tower wall, bend my knees, and cup my hands in front me. Give Ben the go-ahead nod.

She doesn’t hesitate. I grunt as I take her weight in the makeshift steps my hands make, then I lift and push. Her foot on my shoulder is surprisingly light, as if she’s suddenly weightless, and she scampers up the wall. Grasps the windowsill with ease, flipping herself over, and kicks through the glass in one smooth movement. After a moment she leans out the open window to give me a thumbs-up, and then I can hear her quick footsteps on the stairs as she makes her way to the front door.

“Careful,” I warn her as she grabs Rissa by the armpits and drags her out of the way. Once she’s moved, I join them both inside.

“Her pulse is good,” Ben says, relief evident in her voice. “And I don’t see any wounds.”

“Check her neck.” I have a suspicion.

Ben gently turns Rissa’s head, lifting her hair out of the way. And sure enough, there’s a small needle prick at the base of her neck. Ben frowns. “Gideon got her?”

“Or Aaron.”

She sucks in a breath. “Do you think he betrayed us?”

I motion for her to be quiet and I sit back, listening. I can’t hear much over the steady pounding of the rain. I walk over to the winding staircase. Take a few steps up, straining. And there is it. Dim but definite. Voices.

“Stay here, Ben,” I say as I start to shed myself of metal weapons: Böker, gun. I even unbuckle the scabbard and lay my sword near Rissa’s feet. The only thing I keep is my obsidian knife. “Watch Rissa. My guess is Aaron wanted to have a little one-on-one talk with his brother.”

“What are you going to do?”

I start up the stairs. “Interrupt them.”

“Maggie,” she says, her voice soft but urgent. I look back. “You don’t have to kill him. I know before I said . . . but it’s okay. I’m okay.”

The truth is that Gideon is going to be hard to kill. Conventional weapons won’t work, and the lightning sword is too dangerous and my control too erratic to wield it in such a small space. I’m just as likely to burn everything to ash—guard tower, Gideon, and everyone else inside.

“What about your purpose, Ben?”

She places Rissa’s head in her lap, cradling her gently. Her eyes are downcast. “I don’t know. I know before I said I thought it was my purpose, but I think I’d rather just get out of here and go home. With you and Rissa both alive. So if it means you could get hurt . . .”

Ben runs a hand over Rissa’s head, smoothing her hair down, and says, “Your life means more to me than his death. Does that make sense?”

A warmth spreads through my chest, that same feeling I got back at Twin Arrows when Rissa offered me her friendship. “It makes a lot of sense.”

“Okay, then.” She presses both hands over her heart, something I remember Hastiin doing with the Thirsty Boys before a bounty hunt. A blessing he learned on the frontlines of the wars.

“What does that mean?” I ask.

“It means come home safe. It means we’re family.”