“Did you speak to her?” Tejus asked when I returned to the palace.
“Yes. She’s coming with us.”
Tejus nodded, looking at me with concern.
“Let’s just get going,” I snapped.
Derek and Ben met us by the terrace, and we all walked together over to the stables. We mounted the bull-horses in silence, each of us focused on the task that lay ahead.
“Tejus.” Derek broke the silence once we’d left the yard. “You lead the first regiment. If there’s any sign of it becoming…difficult—please send my granddaughter back.”
“You know I will,” he replied quietly.
We rode down to the barriers, the armies ready and waiting behind us. Ruby and Hazel trotted up a moment later, followed by the rest of GASP.
“Ready?” Tejus asked me.
I nodded.
“Open the barriers!” he called to the ministers. A split second later they were torn down, leaving the pathway open.
The battle was about to begin.
Tejus
We set off at a quick pace, the bull-horse beneath me quivering with anticipation. I could hear the thundering of hooves behind me and the fast steps of the guards who weren’t riding. Just ahead of us, but keeping pace, the vultures, dragons and Hawks soared through the ripped sky.
Hazel rode next to me, but I hadn’t forgotten her grandfather’s request. The moment it looked like the shadow army might be approaching, she would be sent back. Already I felt wary; the trees either side of us were so still, not even a breeze strong enough to sway the topmost branches. It felt like we were the sole survivors of this land—that there was nothing around us but death and destruction.
I wondered what would happen if we were to fail. Would Nevertide become home to these creatures? A dimension that was nothing more than an empty dark graveyard that bore little resemblance to what it once had been—all evidence of the sentries’ time here destroyed completely? And if that was to be the case, would our kind die out and cease to exist?
“Tejus?” Hazel spoke my name, bringing me back to the present. I glanced over at her, seeing concern in her wide eyes.
“Sorry,” I replied. I must have looked brooding and tense. “I’m fine,” I reassured her. “Are you?”
“Scared, but okay.”
“I won’t let you be harmed,” I promised.
She gave me a small smile. “You can’t guarantee that, but I’m not just scared for myself. It’s everyone else I’m worried about—you, Benedict, Ruby, Ash, my parents. The list goes on.”
I opened my mouth to tell her that she needn’t be worried, that she should focus on the task ahead, but I thought better of it. It was too hypocritical given my own thoughts. She would worry anyway, and she would be scared—and there was nothing I could do about it, no matter how much I wished I could.
The main road that ran through Nevertide appeared ahead, and I pulled my bull-horse to a stop.
“It’s time for Benedict and the others to leave us,” I told Hazel. She nodded, dismounting from her saddle. I joined her on the ground, and a few moments later we were met by her and Julian’s parents, and the small group of humans, jinn and half-Hawk boys that would be going off to find the mysterious jinni—the only creature to ever gain control over our enemy.
I watched as they hugged their children goodbye. It must have been hard for the parents to watch their children leave, not knowing if they’d ever see them again. I had never been overly familiar with such a bond—such easy familiarity between children and parents. My own mother had loved me greatly, but we were royal sentries—there wasn’t often the warmth between us that these creatures shared.
Benedict and Hazel were last to say their goodbyes, Hazel’s eyes bright with unshed tears.
“Be careful,” she told him.
“You too. Remember that you’re already a hero for killing Queen Trina, so I figure you can take it easy on this one,” Benedict replied.
“Right,” Hazel agreed, trying to smile.
To my surprise, Benedict turned to me.
“Tejus, I know you’ll look after my sister, but make sure you don’t die. You’re all right, really, even if you did kidnap us and then turn my sister into a sentry. I’m kind of glad it all happened, so, yeah.”
As soon as he finished, he flung himself forward, his small human arms wrapping around my waist in a brief hug. Not knowing what to do, I gently patted him on the head, looking to Hazel for direction.
She just smiled, delighted.
A moment later he released me, his face slightly pink from embarrassment, and turned on his heel to leave with the others.
“I think I would have been less surprised if he stabbed me,” I murmured to Hazel.