Red Hood's Revenge

crashed into the guard on the right. Danielle called to Talia’s horse, who stepped to the side, shouldering the other guard off of the bridge. Glowing jaan swarmed toward the splashing guard.
    Roudette took care of a third. The mere sight of the charging wolf was enough to make him leap into the water.
    That left only the guards on the far side. The horses galloped as fast as they could, but it wasn’t going to be enough. Already the guards were raising lengths of chain to block off the end of the bridge. The chains were bolted to a large post on one side. Two men worked to secure them to a similar post on the opposite side, which would create a makeshift fence too high for the strongest horse to clear. Roudette pulled ahead, but she wouldn’t be fast enough to stop them.
    Danielle leaned forward, rubbing the mare’s neck. “How do you feel about swimming, girl?” The water would make them easy targets, but it was the only way she could think of to get through.
    A shortspear flew over her head, flying the full length of the bridge and splintering against the paving stones less than an arm’s length from the guards. The guards dropped the chains and dove for cover.
    That delay was enough. Roudette was on them before they could recover, and then Danielle and Snow were galloping past, leaving the stone bridge behind and tearing down the road.
    Danielle turned, watching as Talia rode after. She had little trouble with the guards, catching up a short time later. She was twirling the club she had taken from Naheer.
    “War club,” she said. “A notch in the butt of the shortspear fits onto that hook on the club’s handle, letting it double as a spearthrower.” She smiled. “You’d be amazed at the range you can get.”
    For the first time since learning who had hired Roudette, Talia seemed like herself again. Danielle smiled to see it.
    “Where to next?” asked Snow. “You know Zestan is going to be coming after us.”
    “Into the deep desert,” said Talia, urging her horse forward. “There’s an old Kha’iida saying. No prey is so dangerous as that which hunts you in return.”

CHAPTER 15

    T HEY PUSHED THE HORSES HARD AT FIRST, putting Jahrasima as far behind them as possible. The landscape changed quickly as they left the lake. Hills the color of overbaked rolls stretched out ahead, dotted in gray-green scrub. Worn rock formations protruded from the dirt like sun-bleached islands in a sea of sand.
    The air was noticeably drier away from the lake. Talia reached up to tighten her sheffeyah, her hands moving automatically to pull the scarf over her mouth and nose, then another wrap to protect her head and neck.
    This was the real Arathea, deadly and beautiful and unforgiving, yet she paid it little mind. Faziya had grown even more skittish, shifting and squirming in Danielle’s lap. Talia kept remembering the way Faziya had shied from her touch, back in Rajil’s garden.
    The thought crossed her mind that Rajil might have lied, giving her some other poor soul. Was that why Faziya didn’t recognize her? The real Faziya might still be trapped in Rajil’s mansion, or worse. Talia twisted the reins in her hand. Rajil was too much of a coward to lie. Not with Roudette’s jaws a hair’s breadth from her throat.
    She slowed to a trot. “We need shelter. Rajil’s people will be tracking us. Lakhim’s too, probably. If the queen hasn’t learned of our presence by now, she will soon enough.”
    Snow pulled her horse to a stop. “Where exactly are we going from here?”
    “I hadn’t planned that far,” Talia admitted.
    Danielle climbed down from her mare, then reached up to retrieve Faziya. “Let me see what I can find.”
    Faziya darted away once again as Talia jumped from her own horse and stretched. She tried not to take Faziya’s fear personally. She failed, but she continued to try.
    Dust coated her mouth and throat. She unpacked a waterskin from the saddlebag and took several long swallows before tossing it to Snow.
    A ripping sound pulled her attention to Roudette, who was using her teeth to peel the wolfskin from her body. A long tear split the skin down the chest. Roudette growled and dug harder with her teeth, revealing a flash of red. Talia thought it was blood at first, before recognizing the other side of Roudette’s cape.
    Fingers poked through the pads of one paw. Roudette raised the paw to her mouth, using her teeth to rip the skin back, and soon her hand and arm were free. She