The Spell of Rosette by Kim Falconer Page A

over him, lifting her cloak slightly to keep it from touching his face. The bag of coins disappeared back into her robe. She retrieved the keg as well.
    ‘Who’s the idiot now, Sunshine?’ she asked, heading to the tavern door.
    He let out his last breath, cursing her through pale lips.
    ‘Damn you underworld bitches…’
    Jaynan handed Kreshkali the reins. The mare was restless, pawing the ground. ‘I take it there’s no need to rush?’ she asked, securing her staff with double ties.
    Kreshkali reached across the space between them and squeezed her companion’s arm. ‘No rush at all.’
    She got Archer? How? Jaynan hid her surprise.
    A silence built between them as they headed out of town, punctuated by the horses’ hooves clipping over the cobblestones.
    ‘Much of a fight?’ Jaynan finally asked, eyeing the small keg strapped to Kreshkali’s back.
    The moon came out of the clouds, lighting the road with a soft glow as it rose towards the zenith. Kreshkali’s eyes were black, glistening. ‘None at all. The last of them gone.’ She paused. ‘Does that disturb you?’
    Jaynan shook her head. ‘It’s a triumph, of course. But one thing’s confusing me.’
    Kreshkali raised her brows.
    ‘Where is Bethsay’s child? Weren’t they going to deliver the girl to us…to you?’
    Kreshkali urged her mare into an easy jog, which Jaynan’s horse matched. ‘The child?’ she replied. ‘Seems Archer got his instructions wrong. The child’s dead. Do you know how that could’ve happened, Jaynan?’
    She knows! Or at least, she suspects. I can’t let her go back to Earth now, and I can’t turn my back. ‘What will we do?’
    Kreshkali stretched her neck, leaning from side to side. ‘We’ll rest the horses and have supper before we head back home. The death changes everything.’
    ‘But…we have to keep moving!’
    ‘Do we?’ Kreshkali glanced down at the sheath that held her staff.
    ‘It isn’t safe.’ Jaynan gestured out into the black maw of trees that lined both sides of the road.
    Kreshkali kept her face smooth. ‘What did you have in mind?’
    ‘Keep hiding, of course. We can go straight to Los Loma. It’s safe there. If we ride through the night, we’ll be…’
    ‘I’m not hiding any more,’ Kreshkali replied, throwing her voice behind her as she moved ahead at a gallop.
    Of course you aren’t, my queen. And that’s why they sent me, just in case Archer failed.
    They sped along until the woods thinned out into a grey meadow. Kreshkali brought her mare to a halt, dust rising around the horses’ legs.
    ‘Does this look safer to you?’ she asked, not waiting for an answer. She dismounted and led her mare out into the field.
    She looked ethereal, like she was walking on water, the grass a shallow sea undulating beneath her feet. For an instant, Jaynan’s eyes burned, and she brushed the tears with her fists.
    ‘Wait up,’ she said, swinging her leg over the saddle and dropping lightly to the ground. ‘There’s something I didn’t mention.’ Not quite all the trackers are gone, my love.
    ‘What’s that?’ Kreshkali turned back as Jaynan’s thin sword levelled at her neck.
    ‘You have yet to deal with me.’
    Kreshkali let the mare’s reins slip through her fingers. ‘What’s this?’
    ‘You’re coming back to Earth with me.’
    ‘Or?’
    ‘Or die here.’
    Kreshkali lifted her head, avoiding eye contact. ‘I’m not going with you.’
    Without hesitation, Jaynan thrust the sword tip forward.
    Kreshkali’s mare reared, iron-shod hooves pawing the air. Kreshkali stepped to the side, inches out of the line of the blade, her own dagger flashing briefly before it sank deep between Jaynan’s ribs.
    The tracker’s eyes went wild, searching for comprehension as her sword fell from her hand. ‘They’ll send more,’ she said, dropping to her knees. ‘You’ll never be free.’
    ‘Ah, but I will, sweet Jaynan. And you would have been too, if you’d only trusted me.’