“Place of storms,” Espen wrote in the dirt.
What did that mean? Senna’s hand found Joshen’s. “And what’s happening to me? Why is it I’m nearly as strong as a full choir?”
Espen’s branches quivered, and Senna realized the Dark Witch was laughing. “Don’t realize” Espen wrote.
Senna clenched her teeth. “What? What don’t I realize?”
“Lilette—” The branch clawed a slash into the ground before going limp.
The last of the leaves fell gently to the ground. “Espen?” There was no answer. Senna took a step forward, grasped the branch and listened for music, but there was only silence.
The Dark Witch was dead, and Senna hadn’t even had to kill her. She wiped the blight off her hand.
“Senna?”
She whirled around to see a hunched-over old woman coming past Reden. Joshen started to raise his musket.
“Still afraid of old Desni, I see.”
Senna stumbled forward with a cry. “You’re alive.”
She reached out and took hold of Senna. “You should not have come.”
“The others—Kaen, Ciara—are they all right?”
Desni nodded. “They’re traveling along the coast until they leave the cursed lands.”
All the breath went out of Senna. “But then why are you still here?”
The woman pulled her back the way she’d come. Joshen marched beside her, his eyes alert.
“I’m old and I’m tired,” Desni said. “I don’t want to fight anymore. I came back to my forest—to the hill my home still sits upon. When I saw the ships full of soldiers coming from the north and heard gunshots coming from this evil place, I knew it had to be you.”
Ships full of soldiers? That had to be Tartens, and Parknel was in the bay. By the Creators, were they already too late?
Reden barked out orders. “Mistin, ride ahead. See if the ship is under attack. If not, find some way to warn them. If it is, ride back to us.”
As Mistin rode away, Senna gripped the old woman’s hands, so fragile they felt like bird bones. Her heart was thumping in her chest, but she couldn’t go without telling Desni the truth. “Your daughter, Tiena—she died.”
Something in Desni crumbled before Senna’s eyes, a stark contrast to the old woman’s joy of being reunited with her daughter after Espen’s dark songs had forced them apart for decades. “How?”
Senna tried to block out the pain. “She was shot during our escape from Tarten. We buried her at sea.”
Desni closed her eyes. “So even the comfort of visiting her grave is denied me.”
Joshen leaned low and spoke in Senna’s ear. “We have to go.”
Desni pushed her towards where Reden held their horses. “Get her out of here. They’re hunting her.”
Senna swung into the saddle. “Come with us.”
The old woman’s smile was full of sadness. “No. I will stay to welcome the end.”
Reden pushed his horse into Senna’s, forcing her back the way they’d come. “How many, how soon?”
“Run,” Desni said quietly. “Swift as water runs from the sky.”
They turned the horses eastward, Reden in the lead, Joshen bringing up the rear. Their horses were already exhausted, but they pushed them harder. Sweaty foam had built up around Sunny’s saddle blanket. His limp was worse. They only had to maneuver around one more mountain before they descended into Zaen.
So close, but the beat of the Four Sister’s music pounded out a savage beat. “We’re not going to make it.”
Though Senna whispered, Joshen heard her. He slapped his horse’s rump with the ends of his reins and rode up beside her. “What? What can you feel?”
She turned her fearful eyes on him. “Something bad.”
Sunny turned his head back. His nostrils were flared so wide Senna saw the red deep inside. Every vein on his face stood out.
“We have to stop. The horses are no good to us dead,” Joshen shouted to Reden.
Reluctantly, Reden eased his horse to a stop and dismounted. “We run beside them.”
They jogged on until the heat wrung sweat from Senna’s skin.
Cord came galloping back. “We’re too late! The way back to the ship is blocked.”
“Where’s Mistin?” She should have seen them first and come back to warn them. She should be with Cord.
He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
By the Creators, Senna had insisted they continue. She steadied herself against Sunny’s sweaty shoulder. Pushing her worry aside, she focused on the task at hand.
The mountain obstructed most of Senna’s view of the ocean. She started to cross the distance. Over the sound of her heart pounding in her ears, she heard the distant boom of cannon fire.