Mirage (31 page)

Aluna rolled and spun her legs, trying to get away. She took the worst of Scorch’s attacks with the force shield. Its green light flickered on and off. Without it, she’d have died ten times over.

Scorch kicked, and the world exploded in stars and blackness. Aluna clutched her temple with one arm, trying to protect her head. Her mouth tasted like blood. She spat out what she could and begged the world to stop spinning.

“Keep fighting,” she heard Scorch say. Not loudly. Not to everyone. Just to her. “Keep fighting, so I can kill you.”

H
OKU CRINGED
. “Stay down, Aluna. Stay down.” He could barely stand to watch. She’d done so well, landed more blows than anyone had expected. But now she was done. Broken. In danger of being seriously hurt. “Tides’ teeth,” he said louder. “Stay down!”

Aluna didn’t stay down. She lifted her blood-spattered face and struggled to her feet in time for Scorch to kick her down again. Scorch slashed her with her swords, but Aluna somehow managed to activate the force shield a flash before the blades hit.

Why hadn’t he made the shield into a weapon as well? Why hadn’t he ignored his stupid ideals and made her something she could use to fight back?

The shield flickered again and again, as Aluna continued to swing punches and spin her legs to attack. Even Scorch seemed to grow tired. Aluna landed a hard blow to Scorch’s knee, and the leg twisted awkwardly. For the first time, Scorch’s face registered surprise.

Then she was all fury and flashing steel again, and Aluna fell in a spray of blood.

The sun slipped closer to the mountains. The Equians wanted the match to end now, to best honor the sun, but Aluna wouldn’t give up. Scorch kicked her in the shoulder, and Hoku saw a small object go flying. It looked like a feather.

And still Aluna got up. Again and again. Force shield. Spin. Block. Dodge. He wanted to weep for how tired and hurt she must be. The crowd seemed close to frenzy. They stomped the ground and yelled. He could barely hear Dash and Calli calling out to Aluna at his sides.

Finally, Scorch landed a blow to Aluna’s stomach that sent her flying half a dozen meters. She crumpled against the ground with a sob he could hear in his ears.

“Stay down,” he whispered, relieved that she was finally close enough to hear him. “She’ll kill you if you don’t. Please, Aluna.”

Dash heard him talking and came closer. The horse-boy’s face was taut with worry. “Tell her to stay down,” Dash whispered to him. “I will do anything if she only agrees to stay down.”

But no. There she was, injured beyond belief, pulling her legs under her, using her hands, twisting herself up. When she finally stood, the whole arena cheered.

Aluna didn’t seem to hear them. One arm hung useless at her side. She lifted the other and swung, slow and sloppy. Scorch batted the knife out of her hands with a laugh and kicked Aluna’s feet out. She landed on the dusty field with a whimper.

Hoku couldn’t breathe. He wanted to turn away, but he made himself watch. He could be that brave, at least. For Aluna. For her family.

“I’ve grown bored of you, girl,” Scorch said. She pulled back both her elbows and prepared to drive her twin swords through Aluna’s body.

“Hold!”

All eyes turned to the Equian at the edge of the ring, walking slowly but deliberately across the field. High Khan Onggur. Hoku hadn’t even seen him arrive. The crowd fell silent immediately, and even Scorch had the wits to stop her attack and take a step back.

The High Khan’s face had a yellow tinge, but his arms still bulged with power. Hoku saw a familiar figure in the shadows behind him. Nathif stood there, bobbing on his tail. So that’s where the healer had gone — to save the High Khan.

“This fight is over,” Onggur said. “It seems, in the moment of the sun’s passing, that Red Sky is once again victorious.” The Red Sky in the stadium cheered and stomped, a thunderous sound. They may have hated watching Scorch fight, but they clearly didn’t mind winning.

Scorch straightened her shoulders. One of her legs dangled uselessly from her hip. Her face and arms were crisscrossed with lines of red. None of these injuries kept the smile from her face. “Flame Heart has lost,” Scorch said loudly. She raised one of her swords over Aluna, who was once again trying to stand. “The Path of Sun demands blood,” Scorch said. “What better way to celebrate Red Sky’s victory and my father’s call to arms than with the death of a traitor?”

The crowd began to murmur and shift.

Hoku looked to Onggur but couldn’t read his expression. The Equian looked tired. Exhausted. The poison had clearly ravaged his body, however bold he tried to appear now. The High Khan seemed too spent to fight with Scorch.

Hoku took a deep breath, then hopped over the sandbags lining the field. He felt the Equians staring at him, saw Scorch’s eyes trace him like lasers as he walked quickly and quietly toward Aluna. No one stopped him. He’d half thought they might.

When he got to Aluna, he bent down and helped her up. Her face was a mess, and her body shook. He held her arm to keep her steady. Scorch was so close, she could have skewered them both with one thrust of her blade.

“If you kill her, kill me, too,” Hoku said.

Scorch smiled. “That’s the plan.”

High Khan Onggur remained silent, his brow furrowed, but the Equians in the stadium grew louder. Hoku couldn’t make out what anyone was saying. Next to him, he heard Aluna chuckle. Then Dash was there, holding Aluna’s other arm.

“You will need to kill me as well,” Dash said.

The salty sand around Hoku’s feet began to swirl, and he felt a soft breeze against the top of his head. He looked up to see Calli — sweet, wonderful Calli — drifting down to his side. She sagged when she landed, and took his other arm.

Tal hobbled over next, painfully slow, her whole front covered in bandages soaked with blood. A Serpenti tried to hold her back, but she nipped his fingers angrily and kept stumbling forward. Hoku recognized the look in her huge eyes. He’d seen it a million times on Aluna’s face.

Nathif and the rest of the Serpenti joined them. They must have looked ridiculous out there. A tiny band of misfits all crowded around one bloody girl.

Scorch laughed. “Perfect! They have all given themselves up as sacrifices, High Khan. The sun will be well pleased with this offering! Let us show the world how Karl Strand deals with traitors.”

Hoku heard hooves and was shocked to see another person run out to join them.

Tayan.

She took her place in front of Aluna, not behind her, and Scorch was forced to step back to make room. But instead of addressing Scorch, Tayan turned to the High Khan. “Red Sky has fought well, High Khan. The Sun Disc is yours, and with it, the desert and our lives. I have only one question to ask you first.”

High Khan Onggur looked surprised. “Name it.”

“I would know how this Human woman can know our ways better than us. She who has never tasted sand. She who does not know honor.”

The High Khan stared at Tayan. Hoku had no idea what he was thinking or what he intended to do. One word from him, and they’d all be killed. He looked at Calli on his left and Aluna on his right. If he had to die, maybe this was the best way to go.

Just then, the ground thundered again, and more Equians galloped out to join their growing band. Hoku was shocked to see Khan Arasen and Dantai leading the rest of Shining Moon herd. Even as they arrived, more Equians filtered down from the stands to join them. Arrow Fall. Sand Storm. Cloud Hoof. Sun Haven. Their tiny group suddenly felt mighty.

Khan Arasen trotted forward to stand beside his daughter.

“High Khan Onggur, I believe we have something in common,” he said. The crowd gasped. Hoku did as well. “We have both allowed our own sense of honor to be swayed by those less deserving.”

Onggur narrowed his eyes.

“I allowed Weaver Sokhor to twist my vision of honor, to convince me that exiling one of my own was in the best interests of the herd.” Arasen spoke directly to Dash. “I was wrong.” He turned back to Onggur. “These outsiders, now Flame Heart, have shown me a little of the way I used to be. Of how I wish to be again.”

He reached out and took his daughter’s hand. Hoku saw tears in Tayan’s eyes, although her back stayed stiff, her eyes forward.

“I would be glad to ally myself with the man you used to be,” Arasen continued. “Before you allowed Scorch to turn you from the path of honor you once championed.”

“Ridiculous,” Scorch said. “I have done nothing of the sort. High Khan Onggur is a man of great power, and I will help him achieve his rightful place in the world. The Red Sky will rule far more than this bit of dust.”

Hoku held his breath. It seemed like every person there was doing the same.

And then High Khan Onggur chuckled. He laughed softly, and then he laughed louder. For one ugly moment, Hoku wondered if the poison had destroyed his mind as well as injured his body. But when the High Khan spoke, he was as clear as calm water.

“That was your last mistake,” Onggur said to Scorch. “An Equian does not wish to be known for power. A true Equian wishes to be known for honor.”

Every Equian in the arena thundered their hooves against the ground.

High Khan Onggur held up his hand. “That you could fight this brave girl, Aluna of the Kampii, and decide that the sun would be honored by her death . . . that alone should have told me how little you understand us. We do not glory in the deaths of our strongest; we are thankful that their lives better our desert.”

Now Hoku and Dash cheered, and all the herds behind them.

“Karl Strand will be angry if you do not kill the girl,” Scorch said. She pushed her glasses farther up her nose. “We are allies, and we march to war. This is no time for mercy. That girl and her friends destroyed my brothers, Fathom and Tempest. My father demands revenge.”

“Then he must exact it for himself,” Onggur said coolly. “This desert does not belong to him, and it never will. Our alliance is ended. I suggest you leave quickly, before my new Serpenti allies determine the true source of the poison they found in my veins.”

A
LUNA SAT BY THE BONFIRE
and let its heat soak into her body. Every part of her felt bruised, sore, mangled. Nathif had told her how many bones were broken, but she lost track after the first handful. She wondered if she would ever feel strong again.

Calli sat next to her, gnawing on one of Tadder’s smoky snake skewers. Tal hovered near her head, too wounded to dance but too stubborn to miss the celebration. Thankfully, Tal would live. She might never regain the speed and swagger she once had, but only time would tell. At least now she had that time.

Dash, Hoku, and Nathif danced nearby, their grins matching their awkward attempts to move their bodies to the rhythm. Nathif wore a special black-and-red sash given to him by the High Khan himself, marking him as an ally of Red Sky. It was a strong step toward peace for the Equians and Serpenti.

Calli pointed to the gold sash draped across Aluna’s body, from shoulder to hip. “It’s a good color on you,” she said. “Makes your eyes sparkle.”

Aluna ran a tired finger over the slippery fabric. “I didn’t know I would get one of these just for fighting.”

Calli snorted. “You didn’t just fight, Aluna. That’s like saying the sun is a little bright.”

Aluna leaned back on the pile of pillows Hoku and Dash had built for her. “I wish they had killed Scorch, or at least imprisoned her. Letting her run back to Karl Strand gives him more time to prepare his next move.”

Dash plopped down next to Aluna, his face covered in a sheen of sweat. “The High Khan wants Karl Strand to understand the strength of the desert. He wants Strand to know he was beaten.”

“He’s not going to like that,” Aluna said. “He may have lost an army of Equians, but he’ll find more people he can control. Or enslave. This isn’t over.”

Dash shrugged. “All of us live, and the desert is once again a place of honor. It is once again my home.” He’d been grinning nonstop since Khan Arasen had welcomed him back to Shining Moon. Like Tayan, he was now part of two herds. “There is much work to be done — we still need more water, more food, a better future. But tonight I see only victory.”