Страница 20 из 162
Rapp blew out a long breath, ru
The animals now satisfied, he tucked the skins into his belt. Grabbing Blaeze’s reins, he attempted to coax him to his feet. But my mount’s legs wobbled, and shadows sprang from Rapp’s hands and wrapped around his belly. With the aid, my horse staggered upright, but his head hung, heavy and exhausted.
Rapp hitched him to the cart again while Rokath dragged forward, leaving thick boot marks in his wake. Seeing his friend struggling, Rapp raced to his side and shoved his shoulders under his arm.
Rokath shook his head. “Help Assyria,” he croaked. Rapp did as he was told, like a good soldier, and swept my tiny, exhausted body into his arms. Despite the water, I barely had the energy to clamp my legs over his stallion’s back. I swayed wildly, and my mate leaped to my side.
“I’m fine,” I told him, even though I clearly was not. “You should ride.”
He stepped closer and brushed the backs of his knuckles across my cheek. “I’ve endured worse hardships. Rest up there.”
I didn’t protest. Sinking down, I draped myself over the horse’s neck for added support. Rokath took the reins, then tugged him forward. I nearly groaned as his back swayed from side to side, forcing my muscles to work.
Rapp did the same for Blaeze, assisting him in rolling the cart onward with more obsidian tendrils that blended with the night.
Once again, the only sound passed between our group was the crunch of dirt beneath the horses’ hooves and the hounds’ panted breaths.
Yet down our bond, Rokath’s trepidation rose—louder than the cawing of the three crows that flew overhead—with each step closer we took to the Demon army’s encampment.
Because Rokath, the infamous Halálhívó with the power to call upon the dead to fight for him, would soon have to explain how fifty thousand of his males had perished under his command when he was supposed to be the most feared warrior in all of Keleti.