“But you never told me-”
“You never asked. You assumed I could not. But I’m not limited by your thinking, Lukien. Now I have to get you to open your mind. Does seeing me like this help you see the possibilities?”
I was just too stunned to answer. All along Malator had been telling me I was special. He was grooming me for something, but I still didn’t know his purpose. And why were we even talking about this in front of Cricket?
“All right,” I relented. “I’m sure that you told me only I could see you, but all right. So you’re powerful. You see the future, you can make fire with your hands and little stick figures come to life. What’s it all got to do with me? Or Cricket, even.”
“Because we’re on this mission together,” said Malator. “Wherever it leads.”
“But you know where it leads?” asked Cricket. “You can already tell?”
“Ha! He won’t answer that,” I laughed. “Don’t ask him a direct question, Cricket. You can stick Malator with a dagger and pull out a corkscrew.”
Malator reared back. “Untrue!” He lowered himself to face Cricket. “You have questions for me?”
“I have nothing but questions,” sighed Cricket. “Can you help me remember who I am? Do you know?”
“I do not,” said Malator. “If I were your Akari I could help you, perhaps. Whatever memories are locked in your mind would be mine to share. But I belong to Lukien.”
Cricket grumbled, “Minikin wouldn’t let me have an Akari. Why not, if she knew it would help me?”
“An Akari can make the blind see and the crippled walk,” answered Malator. “Without an Akari these things are impossible. But you can remember without my help. Minikin knew that.”
“But I can’t!” said Cricket. “I try and try, but I can’t remember! Just little things, little pictures of things like the waterfall. If you have magic, you can help me, Malator. Could I borrow you from Lukien? Just for a bit?”
I tried not to laugh. “It would be nice to be rid of you for awhile, Malator.”
“I’m not joking,” said Cricket desperately. “I’m going mad trying to remember. I need help.”
Malator put on his serious face. “We will help you,” he said. “Lukien and I together. And you, too. We’ll find out who you are, Cricket. Before this journey is done, you’ll remember everything.”
I nodded, but when I turned to see Cricket her face was ashen. “What is it?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I guess I’m afraid.” She studied Malator. “Should I be afraid, Malator?”
All I could think of was what he’d just told me-how sometimes he lies to protect me. But Malator smiled so sweetly at Cricket that it seemed no harm would ever befall her.
“You have Lukien, and Lukien has me,” he declared. “And even death cannot stop me.”
17
We reached the Dovra river that first afternoon, traveling north along its bank until nightfall, where we camped and fell asleep to the sound of rushing water. All that day the landscape shifted, changing constantly from rugged hills to flowered plains. Our horses drank thirstily at the river, and I was glad to finally have a landmark to follow. The Dovra would take us nearly all the way to Diriel’s castle in the mountains of Akyre. That night as we slept by the river, I dreamed I was alone on a boat on the Dovra, being stalked in the water by Fallon’s monster. I tried and tried to outrun the thing, crashing the boat as its tentacles dragged me under.
I awoke with a gasp. Cricket was sleeping soundly next to me. The moon was high and morning was hours away, but I did not sleep again.
* * *
When day finally broke I was happy to be moving again. By now Cricket had grown accustomed to Malator’s voice in her head, and she spoke to him as if he were riding next to her, asking him questions about the life he had before he died, why the Akari helped the Inhumans, and all the other mysteries that I’d spent years trying to unravel. But Malator did not make himself visible while we rode. Instead he remained inside both our heads, sharing his voice with the two of us. When I half-jokingly asked him to conjure up a horse so he could ride with us, he sniffed at the notion.
“What if someone saw me?” he asked.
A fair answer, I supposed.
Nevertheless we were an odd threesome-me in my bronze armor, Cricket on her pony, and Malator, a disembodied voice popping in and out of our heads. But no one questioned us because no one saw us, even on that second day as we reached the mountains. Except for some abandoned homesteads, the road along the river was empty, a soulless highway leading, it felt, to nowhere. Though the day started out cheerfully, we all lost our smiles when we saw the black mountains.
Akyre. The flawed jewel of the Bitter Kingdoms.
I slowed my horse. Diriel’s castle lay in the mountains. The river would take us to him. I studied the river, shocked to see the way it forked both north and east, crashing against the rocks in a churning tangle. I had never seen the like before. Cricket guided her pony toward the bank, up to the very edge of the tumult. Her lips trembled as her mind searched for something. Then suddenly, she sighed its name.
“The Bloody Knot.” She nodded to herself. “That’s what it’s called.”
I’d never heard those words, nor had I ever seen Cricket recognize a place before. I rode closer. “How do you know that?”
“I remember,” she said. “This place where the rivers meet-it’s called the Bloody Knot.” She pointed east. “Kasse is that way. And behind us is Drin. This is where they border Akyre.”
“That’s good. You see? Coming here has helped your memory. Can you think of anything else?”
Her lips flattened into a thin smile as she strained to remember. She closed her eyes and held her breath. “I’m trying. .”
“You must have come here once,” I suggested. “Or someone told you about it. Your parents, maybe?”
“Maybe.” Cricket grunted in frustration. “I can’t think of it!”
“You will,” I said gently. “But this is good. It’s a start.”
She nodded as she stared into the river. “The water. That’s what makes me remember. Like the waterfall.”
“Water?”
“Lukien, when we’re done with Diriel, you’ll take me there, won’t you? I have to see it! I know it will help me remember.”
“I told you, Cricket, I could have taken you to Sky Falls yesterday.”
“I know, but it’s different now. I’m really starting to remember things, see?”
“I’m glad for that,” I told her. “Really, I am. I promise-if everything goes all right with Diriel.”
“No! That’s not what you said! You said you’d take me to Sky Falls when we’re done. That was our deal.”
“And I will,” I said sternly, “if I can. Don’t forget, Cricket, that you’re the one who insisted we see Diriel first. Our mission and all that. You’re the squire, and I’m the knight, remember?”
Cricket looked contrite. “I remember.” She pointed her pony back toward the road. “We should go.”
“You’re trying to make me feel guilty,” I said. “I won’t. Not this time. This is important to me, Cricket.”
“I know. Come on.”
“Damn it!” I rode up hard and cut off her pony, making her look at me. “You can’t act like this. We’re riding into the teeth of the tiger, and I can’t have a squire who just dabbles at the job. Think about the mission. Think about something besides yourself. Think about me for a change!”
Those last words slipped out before I could stop them. Cricket looked aghast, then hurt.
“Huh?”
“Are you brave? Or is it just an act? If you don’t have the stomach for this job you should have told me so back in Isowon.”
“What? No. .”
“I told you we’d go to Sky Falls when we can. I told you I’d try. But right now I have to go to Akyre. Not just so you can get your memories back. Not just for those condemned soldiers either.”
“Lukien, I’m sorry-”