“We need marshmallows,” Theo said and pointed his fork at Julian. “Next time. Note it.”
Julian grinned at him. I watched Astrid catch that grin and then look away. I couldn’t figure her out. Did she like us or not?
Theo and Cato volunteered to be first watch and the rest of us crashed. I packed my now dry, though still dirty, socks in my pack and zipped up my and Owen’s tent.
“I know you’re still team earthquake,” Owen told me quietly, once we were snuggled under the blanket.
“It’s not that I don’t like the Greek fire plan,” I said. “My intuition is telling me we won’t have the time to do it. It’s also telling me that the force of the explosion won’t be enough. The bomb that we set at the cave blew up the rocks, sure, but this portal was created when a meteor hit. We’re talking about more force than a nuclear bomb.”
“How confident are you that you can control an earthquake?”
I thought carefully before I answered. “I’m confident that I can trigger it and direct the epicenter. I’m not confident that I can keep it localized. And I’m not confident that I can stop it within the timeframe of Astrid holding her air shield.” I hesitated.
“And, if Astrid’s holding the shield, that means she’s not through the portal before we shut it. How can I ask her to stay behind?” I stopped again.
“And her family, if they’re already through the portal, I don’t know if they’ll escape the tremor zone either. If the meteor blast traveled between the worlds, I think an earthquake will too.”
“So, what, we send them through, keep their daughter and their sister to protect us, and hope they make it?” Owen asked.
I responded, “Or do we ask them all to stay here instead and hope the shield holds?”
We were both silent, thinking.
Owen started to answer when Theo’s shout cut through the night.
I pulled on my boots in a split-second and jumped out of the tent, right behind Owen. There, clearly visible in the center of our camp, stood the bes commander and a bauk. A crumpled form lay beside the fire, Cato, and Theo staggered to his feet by the tree line.
The bes sneered at us, its tall horns gleaming in the firelight. He barked something and the bauk let out a coughing yowl. It started toward Owen and I, its long arms swaying close to the ground. It carried a club in its right hand and its curling horns were capped with iron. I kept my eyes on its approach while also watching the bes, which was inching toward the tent on the far side of the fire where Rurik and Astrid were sleeping.
I shouted, “Varangians! Enemy in the camp!” though I was sure they were awake at this point.
Owen held his wolf pommel and transformed. He howled at the bauk and snapped his teeth, stepping in front of me.
I trusted him to handle the bauk and I focused on the bes. I whistled to him, a soft, coaxing tune. “Peace, sleep, peace, sleep,” I whistled.
The bes closed its eyes and swayed on its feet, then its eyes snapped open and it leered at me. “No whistle,” it said, its voice garbled by the long, sharp teeth in its mouth.
I smirked back at it. It definitely felt my power. I tried again, “Tired, weary, rest, sleep,” I whistled. I made my tone assertive, but recurrent and soothing.
The bes swayed again. Its knees buckled and its red eyes started to drift closed. It took a half-step forward and then Rurik appeared behind it and with a quick slashing motion, beheaded it.
I looked at Owen and saw him finishing off the bauk. He withdrew his sword from its heart and stepped toward me, his eyes hazy and glowing.
“Owen,” I called sharply. He focused on me and his eyes cleared.
“I’m here,” he answered.
I walked forward and stroked his chest; he grabbed my hand with his and reaffirmed, “I’m here.”
“Don’t let go yet. We don’t know if they were alone.”
He nodded at me and I ran to Cato. Astrid was already there and she helped him sit up. His nose was bleeding and he looked sheepish.
“We were playing with the smoke,” he said, thickly. “I was making images of, ah, some women, and then the bauk crashed through the fire and backhanded me.”
I shook my head at him and turned to Theo. “What’s your excuse?” I asked.
He had the grace to look embarrassed but just shrugged. He was holding his shoulder tight to his chest, so I motioned him closer.
“Your ribs?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he answered.
I pulled a wrap from the first aid kit and had him strip off his shirt in front of the built-up fire. I bound his ribs, which were already looking purple, and told him, “You better stop getting hit here. Zasha won’t want a boyfriend with a caved-in chest.”
He smiled at me, grimaced, and stood.
“Okay, Theo and Cato, you’re off duty. Owen, please toss the bodies out of our campsite. We’ll have to burn them on our return trip to the valley. Once you’re in our tent and tucked in, let go of the sword.”
I paused while Owen walked past, muttering, “Tucked in.”
“Julian, Astrid, and Rurik, please stay up. I want to talk to you.”
I laid out everything Owen and I discussed just a little bit ago.
Astrid, to my surprise, was the first to speak. “I’m staying,” she said, with a defiant look at her dad. “The most important thing is to shut the gate. More important than me returning to the citadel.
“And I want to stay. For a thousand years we’ve lived in fear and darkness, hunted by monsters in the night. I want a chance to live in this world.”
Rurik looked at his daughter for along moment and then turned to me. “If it’s possible, I would like a chance to return to my world. I accept the consequences of the earthquake following me through the gate. I must try
