As if some switch had been flicked inside me, I immediately came to my senses—I needed to run.
“MEMENION!” I bellowed over the noise, catching his attention as he stumbled back from the steps of the pavilion. Righting himself, he ran forward, his ministers behind him. Launching himself over the gaping crevice in the stone, he landed a meter away from me, skidding to a halt.
I pointed up at the birds, indicating that we needed one of them to land. Simultaneously we started to run for the forest edge back where I’d originally landed. The black rocks created an obstacle course, but the earth’s cracks were smaller. If we reached the edge of the forest and managed to get one of the birds to land, we might have a chance. I turned to look behind me once, relived to see that Memenion was keeping pace—but Queen Trina had the same idea, and was hot on our heels.
I launched myself forward, feeling another tremor erupting beneath me. I heard the creak and groan as the ground split. I heard the strangled cry as Memenion stumbled.
No!
I spun back around, diving forward to catch the king before his body was swallowed by the earth. I grabbed him around the upper torso, but he slipped further from my grasp as another tremor shook the rock. I was left with only my hand clasped onto his arm, doggedly holding on as the king looked up at me, his legs swinging above a bottomless eternity.
“Hold on!” I yelled, tightening my grip with all the strength I had. “I’m going to create a barrier!”
I wanted to look away. I saw the look of defeat in the king’s eyes—he couldn’t hold on for much longer.
How can I do this if you can’t believe you can do this?
I wanted to scream at the king, but focused my energy on trying to secure a barrier that would hold him. On the fourth attempt, Memenion’s arm slipped further.
“Help me!” I cried down to him. The barrier was impossible to secure—the earth kept shifting, breaking any bonds I tried to make, the screams of the earth shattering my concentration each time that it jolted.
Giving up, I forgot trying to create a barrier and tried to focus on catching the attention of one of the birds. I could hardly distinguish one from another, their hysteria melding them together as one as they flapped and shrieked above us in the sky. I glanced upward as I heard one of them swooping down toward Queen Trina. She was on the opposite side of the crevice. She reached her arms upward, jumping up to close the space between them and clasping the bird’s claws. It rose back upward, the queen dangling from its feet. Envy shifted to shock as the bird was knocked sideways by a rock tearing upward from the ground as the creature tried to ascend. It screeched, and Queen Trina was flung onto the earth next to me, unconscious. The bird flew off.
“I’ll get us another,” I cried desperately to Memenion, more to reassure myself than him. I felt my grasp on the king slip once again.
“Ashbik.”
I looked directly at the king, showing him that I was listening, but not daring to speak.
“This is the work of the entity.” The king spoke softly, calmly. “My son is one who set this in motion. The fault is mine. Perhaps this is the best way.”
“No! No, it is not the best way. Nevertide needs you, Memenion—I need you!” As the words left my mouth, I realized how true they were. How would I deal with all that was to come without him? I had no one to turn to, no one who could guide me if he was gone. I couldn’t do it alone. I wouldn’t.
“HOLD ON!” I shouted down to him, determined that I wouldn’t lose him.
“This is too good an end for her,” he breathed, glancing in the direction of Queen Trina. “She needs to be brought to justice. Take her back with you.”
“And you,” I argued, as Memenion released his hand from my arm. Without the extra grip, his robe slid through my fingertips. Memenion fell through the air, his hand reaching out to mine in a silent, final salute.
Memenion.
Another crash of rock ricocheted nearby, and I scrambled to my feet. Grabbing the dead weight of Queen Trina, I lifted her over my shoulder like a sack of grain and tore off toward the trees. I focused on reaching out to Tejus’s bird. I had thought that the vultures seemed like a hysterical mass, but perhaps it was the other way around.
I kept running, trying to glance in all directions as I scanned the ever-moving land for the bird. Just before I reached the trees, I heard a familiar squawk. My heart leapt as a large shadow loomed behind me. A second later, talons wrapped themselves around my waist, lifting both me and Queen Trina up in the air.
I wished dearly that it was Memenion’s body I held instead of the queen’s. There was no value in her life, and so much in his. The fact that he was buried at the earth’s core while Trina remained above it made my blood boil.