Free A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet Page B

at the base of the skull, where the skin is thinnest, and so is the bone.”
    Hope sparks in their eyes, and I sigh, disgusted with myself. “Flynn’s ax will do.”
    “How do you know how to fight a Giant?” Kato looks impressed.
    Satisfaction swells in my chest. I can’t help it. I like impressing people twice my size. I shrug. “Maybe I’m lying so you’ll all get killed.”
    There’s no reaction, not even a raised eyebrow. How come they never get riled up? It’s not normal.
    Kato turns back to Beta Sinta. “How much time do we have?”
    “A few hours,” he answers. “At most.”
    “So do we ride and make them chase us, or do we wait for them to come?” Carver’s hand is still twitching near his sword. He’s like me with my knives, and I feel a surprising surge of kinship.
    What’s wrong with me? I must be coming down with something, like empathy. Gah!
    “We wait. We’ll be fresher that way, and there’s a cave just to the north. We can hide the horses and gear in there.” Beta Sinta jerks his head toward me. “And Cat.”
    “You are not tying me up in a cave!”
    Flinty eyes swing my way. “I can’t have you attached to me while I fight.”
    “Untie me, then!”
    He snorts, and I roll my eyes.
    “Two hours, then the cave,” Beta Sinta says. “Enjoy the sunlight.”
    “I can fight. Help even the odds.”
    He shakes his head. “You’ll turn on us.”
    “You don’t even know if they’re enemies!”
    Sternness overcomes his features, startling me with how different it makes his face. “Everyone’s an enemy.”
    “Learn that from me?” My frosty, snide tone shocks even me, turning my voice disturbingly like Mother’s. I swallow the panic rising in my throat. What if the olive really doesn’t fall far from the tree?
    Beta Sinta levels his hard look at me. “I don’t need a petulant soothsayer to teach me what every conqueror already knows.”
    * * *
    Frustrated beyond belief, I’m tied to a big, fat rock in a stuffy cave that smells like horse dung. At least I have four feet of rope.
    Shouts and clashing metal eventually disturb the murky silence. I hate not knowing what’s going on. I could help, especially if the Tarvans have magic. Not that I want to help, but I can put a dagger into a Giant’s eye from forty feet away, and I doubt any of the Sintans can do that.
    Restless, I pluck at the frayed edge of my boot. They’re fighting a Giant, a creature from the Ice Plains. A monster. I’ve seen one in its prime. It was colossal, and as ugly as ugly gets.
    Mother glances down the hill, the chill wind tossing her hair and slapping pink across her cheeks. “It’ll either rape you or eat you. Possibly both, so I suggest finding a way to kill it quickly.”
    Icy snow stings my face and hands. Looking down the frozen slope into the gaping hole of the Giant’s lair, I shake even though I’m not terribly cold. “Any other advice?”
    She arches one perfectly sculpted eyebrow, imperious.
    “Do you have any other advice, Mother?” I correct.
    A thin, hard smile curves her lips before she grabs my shoulders and shoves.
    At least she left me my knives. I blinded the Giant on instinct, paralyzed it with a well-placed jab, and then sawed its head off with a throwing knife. I was eleven, and there was nothing quick about it. At least all the gore kept me warm. And Mother got what she wanted. She tested me, and she covered me in blood.
    The knowledge of what to do came out of nowhere that day, guiding me. The Sintans won’t have that. It’s not written in their bones.
    Anxious, I force my hands to my sides before I tear my boot apart.
    Outside, something stomps hard enough to shake the ground. Dirt and pebbles cascade from the cave’s dark ceiling, and I duck, covering my head with my arms.
    Did they listen to me about the Giant? I was telling the truth.
    My gut churns as I pull on the knot Beta Sinta tied, blind to the battle outside, listening to deep bellows, clashing metal, and