Page 147 of Starside

This is a quest of survival. And if the snarls and stomps of the dozens of horses below us are any indication, this journey just got much harder.

I can’t trust him. I know that. But I won’t make it to the end of this alone.

I raise my chin. Rain spills down my cheeks. If I’m going to work with him again, I need assurances. “Are you going to kill me? Are you going to take my sword?”

A second of consideration passes. Two. Three.

“No,” he says simply.

“Which one?”

He doesn’t answer me.

And that’s just as well. Because I can’t promise I won’t do either to him.

“Lead the way,” I say, my voice as cold as his. He turns.

I look back at the cavalry one last time—and a shard of light spears through the storm clouds. It illuminates one of the shields hanging off a saddle.

I don’t know that crest. But by its color, I think I know who it belongs to.

“It’s not a lord after our blades …” I say, my voice quiet. Raker has turned around. I watch his body tense as he reaches the same conclusion.

This entire time, we’ve been on a quest to reach the gods. I’ve been on a journey to hunt them down.

And now it’s clear … the gods are hunting us.

26

“Why would the gods want our swords?” I say over a flickering fire.

We headed north through the woods, away from that main road, for a full day, until we reached where it turned into a stretch of mountains. When Raker managed to catch a wild boar, I didn’t object. I sat and watched him set the fire with his stone. Roast it.

And hand me a good portion of it.

By going back for him … it seems a rock in the wall between us has been removed. His mask still hasn’t. There are still secrets thrumming between us. I can feel them.

But there is also the start of a different type of partnership. One with a push and pull. I hand him a smattering of nuts I found a few hours ago. He takes them without a snide remark. I hear them crunching in his mouth.

“Mine’s pretty nice,” he says.

And there he goes again, proving just why I want to throttle him.

I nod. “What a relief,” I say, chewing on the meat. Swallowing. “You were starting to be a little too tolerable for my taste.”

He makes a huffing sound that isn’t quite a laugh. He finally answers my previous question. “The gods hoard power. Haven’t you noticed?”

I have. But I just thought it was being hoarded on this side. I didn’t know … I didn’t know they were keeping so much of it from the immortals too.

Now I’ve seen the truth. The villages are better off than the ones on Stormside, of course, but not by much.

The nature here is beautiful, the fruit and vegetables are plentiful, but the land is too dangerous to cross. The roads are full of perils. What good are all these resources if most can’t access them? The God of Travels has outlawed maps and stationed Masks at each major trail. Now it all makes sense.

The gods want to keep the immortals weak and reliant on them. They want to keep them separate, lest they form an uprising.

“The gods were supposed to protect us,” I say.

Raker snorts. “The only thing you can ever count on is your metal, Aris.”