The Huntress of Iyhiri

Chapter 20

Agnez and Rajhani walked through the darkness of the woods, leaving a sleeping Yaalon in the lignom behind them. He told them that he hadn't been hiding the presence of the vials. He just hadn't thought of them because Thalassa hadn't explained what they were or how they worked--she just cryptically handed them over to him when he agreed to their deal. He had asked about them but Thalassa simply refused to answer him. She just said to take them and that he would know what to do with them when the time was right.

The moon was high in the night sky as the two sisters walked, heading for the domes. Rockdog had wandered off into the woods when the three had settled into the lignom to talk and hadn't returned yet but Agnez knew he was nearby and listening for any threat to Yaalon. Yaalon would be safe while she and Rajhani went to find the Zaryan Priestess.

"Agnez, it'll take days to get back to the domes. Why are we heading there when we finally know where the Vi'qom ship is?"

"I have to know, Ra."

"I really don't think he was trying to deceive us."

"Well, I can't risk it. We can't climb into a ship looking for an enemy with someone I can't trust."

"Sister..."

Agnez stopped and turned to look at her sister. She reached out with her right hand and laid it on Rajhani's shoulder. "Ra, I have to be certain before we go in there. There can't be a doubt in my mind. If I have to worry about his intentions and you and the Vi'qom, I'll fail. I'll fail at everything. I'll lose everything. I'll lose you, sister." Her eyes turned to steel as she looked at her baby sister. "I won't lose you, Rajhani."

Rajhani looked up at Agnez. She saw desperation trying to claw its way out and Agnez fighting to keep it from escaping. She wondered what Yaalon would think when he woke and found himself alone again.

"Okay, sister, let's go," she said, and they turned and walked deeper into the forest

Agnez stopped when she heard the snap of a twig. In the briefest of moments, her bow was up and an arrow was notched, ready to be released at whatever was in the dark before them. Thalassa stepped into a sliver of moonlight reaching down between the dense copse of crimyth and fern trees.

"What are you doing here?" Agnez asked, stepping in front of Rajhani, keeping her arrow aimed at Thalassa.

"You were looking for me."

"You're Thalassa, aren't you?" asked Rajhani from behind Agnez. "How did you know we were looking for you?"

"As I told your troubled companion," the Priestess said as she stepped forward, "we watch Iyhiri. I knew you were on your way."

"How did you get here so fast?" asked Agnez. "I only decided to seek you out tonight. That's not enough time to get here from the domes."

"You make many assumptions, Agnez. Who is to say where I was or how I travel?" Thalassa swayed slightly in the night air as she spoke.

"You've been following us?"

Thalassa continued to move, side to side like a current was pulling her back and forth. The moonlight lit up the scales on her dress and made them shimmer like stars in the forest. "It doesn't matter how I got here or how I knew where you were. What matters is that you return to your friend sleeping in the lignom and accompany him tomorrow to the ship you found."

Agnez's arrow moved with Thalassa. "You knew where it was, didn't you?"

"I did not," replied Thalassa softly. Her voice swam slowly through the air and eventually landed in Agnez's ear. "The Vi'qom are clever at camouflage. I do not see them come or go. I only know when they are here."