by Amanda Fleet
I knew how big an admission this was from him. For the first time since my return, he wasn’t exuding confidence from every pore and the fact alarmed me. I yearned to tell him my plans, but if I did, there was a good chance he’d feel obliged to tell his father. It seemed as if he was a mind-reader though.
“Are you intending to go Outside?”
“I’m not going to answer that.”
We turned a corner and Faran pulled me into a doorway, out of the view of people in the corridor.
“Please don’t leave,” he urged, his eyes full of worry. “What if Mathas is right? If you’re forced to become one of Aegyir’s vassals, I can’t save you.”
“And what if Lilja’s right? Faran, I have the talisman on. Hypothetically, I could go and find out where Aegyir is and be back before you and Lord Sondan and Cerewen left.”
“No.”
I sighed. “Then let me see if I can find Lilja and get her to take the damned thing off me and put it on you!”
“Okay. Aeron, promise me you won’t go Outside?”
I blew out my cheeks, looking away. “I can’t.”
Faran’s communication button crackled. His father, summoning him to the Council meeting.
He leaned against me, his hands on my hips, pressing me against the door and making my heart skip unexpectedly. He touched his forehead to mine. “Aeron, I am begging you. I cannot bear to lose you again.”
I rested my palms on his chest. “You think I can bear the thought of you getting slaughtered by Aegyir?”
“Sondan, Cerewen and I are three of the strongest Guardians. You don’t think Aegyir has recruited any others. He’s close to the portal. We’ll go out, and either we’ll find him or he’ll find us. We’ll overpower him. We’ll trap him again.” He pressed his palm against my cheek. “You won’t lose me.” He rubbed the end of his nose against mine. “I love you.”
“I know. You have to go to the Council meeting.”
He stared at me. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
I stroked his cheek. “When have I ever?”
He pushed away from me, snorting. “That answer is not reassuring.”
He walked backwards, slowly, his eyes on me, before eventually turning back to the Great Hall. I waited in the recessed doorway until he was out of earshot, then tapped my communications button.
“Lilja?” I whispered.
My button clicked, but there was no reply from Lilja. Still hiding then. Or at least, not answering her button.
Should I leave while the Council meeting was on? The portals would be heavily guarded. I knew where one was – the one I’d arrived through – but I didn’t know where the other portals were and had no one I could ask without raising suspicion.
I followed the direction Faran had gone in, intending to scope out how many guards were on Traitor’s Gate. Just as I reached the main thoroughfare, a messenger boy in deep copper livery hurried up to me and handed me a tightly folded piece of paper.
“Thank you.”
I prised the paper open. Inside were written three things: Central-20; C13B1; L. I frowned and called the messenger boy back.
“Who gave you this?”
“Steen, the Seer,” he said, standing in front of me, clearly waiting for more instructions.
“Okay. Thank you.”
He scurried away, and I studied the paper again. Central-20 was a corridor label, but what were the others? L for Lilja? Possibly. C13B1?
Only one way to find out. Go to Central-20 and see what was there.
***
I negotiated my way to Central-20. It lay on the other side of the Great Hall and it would have been quicker to have been able to cut through the Hall but the Council meeting was on, so I skirted around the edge. After one or two wrong turns, I eventually found the corridor I was looking for. Central-20 was the vast area in the city given over to storage. I remembered the way The Realm worked – everything was pooled centrally and then distributed to those who needed it. Hence the enormous storage space. Okay. What, or where, was C13B1?
The storage area was divided up into smaller zones. Unlike the main area around the Great Hall or the residential areas, the corridors here had no deeply carved panelling. Instead, the plaster was painted until waist-height, with interlacing loops and knots, much like the carvings. No animals here though – all the motifs here were plant-based. I studied the paintings. Within the entwined shapes there were runes, just like in the carvings. I traced out C20-A1, then moved to the next turning. C20-B1. The third turning led me to C20-C1 and picked my way down the corridor. The labelling was logical, and I found corridor C20-C13 without difficulty. B1?
I turned down the long, straight corridor, relieved to see that the first few doors had A1, A2 and so on. B1 was on my right and I pushed the door open, my ears pricked for any sounds – either of Lilja or of anyone else. I had absolutely no valid reason to be down here.
The room held crate upon crate of beer and I smiled, despite my nerves. If there was one thing I could really, really do with right now, it was a crate of beer. I closed the door behind me and tiptoed deeper into the room.
“Aeron?” came a soft whisper from the left.
“Lilja?”
She emerged from behind a tall stack of crates. Dark circles bloomed under her eyes and she’d been crying recently. She grabbed my hands, pulling me back into her hiding place.
“Aeron. You understood my message.”
“Yes. Why all the subterfuge? Why are we here?”
“Both Steen and I have seen it again. And so have three more,” she blurted out, ignoring my questions.
Three more? Surely Mathas must see it too? Maybe he did and was telling the Council that, right now. A lump formed in my chest at the thought of Aegyir killing Faran. I ushered Lilja deeper into the storeroom, the scent of the untreated wood of the crates tickling my nose.
“Have you told Mathas?”
“Yes. He says he’s seen it too. But he says he sees other things that change the interpretation.”
“Me killing Faran in the Great Hall.” I rubbed the space where my finger should be. “Can you take the talisman off me and give it to Faran?”
She pursed her lips. “No.”
“Lilja?” Frustration made me want to shake her.
She set her shoulders, her wavy brown hair falling loose from the clip she’d fastened it back with. “If you don’t go Outside, all three of them will be killed and then Aegyir will take The Realm. You have to go. You have to find out where he is and tell Faran.”
“If Faran goes out with the talisman, Aegyir won’t be able to kill him, so take it off me and put it on him.”
“I can’t.” Her hazel eyes filled with tears. “I won’t. Please Aeron. If I thought it was the right thing to do, I would. I’m trying to protect The Realm.”
A door banged not far away, and we froze, eyes wide. No one came into the room we were in and we breathed again.
“Where’s Faran?” she whispered.
“In a Council meeting. I could go Outside now. No one would realise.”
She shook her head. “The portals are too heavily guarded.”
“Yeah, I know, but the longer I leave it, the stronger Aegyir will get. I’ll try to work something out.”
“Maybe the Council will let you go? At least wait and see?”
“I don’t think they’ll give me permission. Even if Mathas’s views didn’t outweigh the junior Seers’, everyone’s determined that I’ll betray The Realm. How do I get to the other portals? Will they be as heavily guarded?”
She screwed her mouth up. “The Hidden Gate would be the least heavily guarded, but all of them will have both guards and Guardians on.”
Promising. There had to be a catch. “Why is the Hidden Gate less guarded?”
She shrugged. “No one’s ever come through it. It’s really hard to find Outside. Traitor’s Gate and the Side Gate are large rock faces. The Hidden Gate is smaller, apparently. And it comes out hi
gh up, with a tricky route down. So, a difficult climb up to it if you were coming into The Realm.”
Step through the portal and plummet to my death? That didn’t sound promising after all.
Lilja gripped my hands. “Talk to Faran.”
I snorted. “Seriously? He’ll go straight to his father. He already suspects me.”
“He’ll go with you.”
I shook my head. “You’ve really lost your mind. Faran go against his father’s orders?”
She held my gaze. “You underestimate just how much he loves you.”
I pulled a hand free to scrape my hair back. “How do I get to the Hidden Gate?”
She described the route. The Hidden Gate was in the opposite direction from the Great Hall – almost in the Technicians’ quarter – and I hoped I wouldn’t get lost getting there.
“Okay. I’m going to grab a couple of things from my room, then go.”
There were louder sounds from the corridor outside us, unsettling me. Please don’t let anyone come in here and find us.
“Is there another way out?” I asked.
“Yes.” She grabbed my hand, pulling me after her until we reached the door at the other end of the storeroom. “Here. Go out here, turn left, and go down the long corridor. You’ll come out near the library. Be careful. Find Aegyir and come back as quickly as you can.”
I paused, fingering the roughly sawn wood of the crates. “Are you going to be okay?”
She smiled unconvincingly. “I’m going to hide until I know you’ve gone.”
“How much trouble will you be in? What will Mathas do to you? What will Signar think?” Her words about husbands being responsible for discipline came back. What would Signar do? Hopefully nothing more than yell at her.
She looked away. “I’ll face all that when I have to.”
Before I could say anything more, she pushed the door open and peered out, then shoved me into the corridor. “Go! Stay safe!”
I made my way down the hallway keeping a close eye on the runes on the wall to see where I was. Still Central-20, apparently. The library was in Central-01 so I kept going, watching as the numbers decreased steadily. The central zone held the Great Hall, the State Rooms, the library and other official areas. It was also the way to the portal. I rounded the final corner, trying to look nonchalant as I passed the narrow passageway that led to Traitor’s Gate – the portal I’d arrived here through. Four guards and two Guardians patrolled the narrow entranceway. How many would be covering the Hidden Gate?
I moved away, walking briskly towards Faran’s rooms. I didn’t need much from there, but I wanted my bag and my wallet. And some weapons.
The corridors were busy – Guardians returning to their rooms after training to shower before dinner. A few cliques passed me, though no one spoke to me. I reached Faran’s rooms and hurried through to the bedroom to pull my things together. My bag was in the closet; my wallet inside it. Faran had a variety of knives stashed in the top drawer of the dresser and I gathered them together, ready to stuff them into my bag.
Just as I pulled my bag open, the outer door to the suite banged.
“Aeron?”
“Fuck!”
I put the knives back in the dresser and kicked my bag to the back of the closet. “In here!”
Faran came in a fraction of a second after I’d closed the closet door and stepped into the middle of the room.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Staying out of trouble. Like you told me to.”
His eyes narrowed briefly, but I smiled reassuringly.
“How did the Council meeting go? Can I go Outside?” I asked.
“Nope. The vote was tight though… Are you ready for dinner? The bell for first sitting is about to go.”
“I think Pavlov must have been from The Realm,” I muttered.
“What?” He caught my fingers, twining them in his.
“Nothing. Come on then. Dinner with the in-laws. Hurrah.”
He kissed my fingers, laughing.
***
Faran and I made our way across the Great Hall. Lady Alix and Lord Eredan sat at the central table and my hopes of having a quiet family dinner away from prying eyes vaporised. Silver threads ran through Lady Alix’s thick black hair and she wore it pinned up in a neat pleat. She was a handsome woman, with well-defined bone structure and large, clear eyes, and a long, graceful neck. She glared at me, and from deep in my memories, I recalled that she’d never liked me, even in the early days of my marriage to Faran.
Lord Eredan scowled up at me as we approached.
“We have state matters to discuss. Perhaps your wife could join another table.”
“Lady Aeron is entitled to hear all the matters of state,” Faran said, making his bows and sliding into a seat. He drew me down to sit beside him. “And Mother asked us both to have dinner with you.”
The two men stared at each other. Neither looked as if they would give an inch.
“The matters of state?” prompted Faran, folding his arms. He still hadn’t blinked.
“We should discuss preparations,” said Lord Eredan. “Aegyir may attack sooner than you and the others can go Outside and find him.”
“You still think our raiding party will manage to find Aegyir when we don’t know exactly where he is, or how to speak the language of Outside?”
“I do. I hope you’ve been practising more of the language than merely pillow-talk.”
Faran bristled next to me, but said nothing.
Lord Eredan eyed me nastily. “If Aegyir attacks, we will need to make the triad, but Aegyir may have to be weakened before that. Will your wife be able to do that?”
“She felled you this afternoon,” said Faran, leaning back to allow a plate of food to be placed in front of him.
Lord Eredan glowered at us both. “Then put her as the first line of defence. Since you’re so confident of her ability.”
Faran inclined his head, still nettled. My heart battered against my ribs. Beating Faran and Lord Eredan was one thing. Weakening Aegyir might be something else entirely.
The hall filled rapidly with more Guardians and the noise levels shot up. The serving kids were run off their feet feeding and watering everyone. My throat twitched at the smell of roast lamb and I swallowed sharply and buttered some bread.
Faran and his father moved on to talk intensely about a variety of matters in The Realm – the crop yields, the threat of uprising from certain quarters, the latest coalitions and fractures in the other Guardian families. I wanted to listen in but was distracted by Lady Alix.
“Lady Aeron. Are you reconciled with my son? Your fight could be heard across half The Realm yesterday.”
Before I could answer, Faran moved his body towards me so that the warmth of his skin coated mine. I thought it best to say we were reconciled, even though I suspected she was asking about more than whether we’d stopped arguing.
She smiled coldly. “Then I am pleased for my son. Don’t misinterpret that as me feeling any pleasure at your presence in The Realm.”
“Mother,” said Faran sharply, turning his head to stare piercingly at her.
“I won’t pretend, even for you.”
Faran said nothing, holding eye contact with her until she dropped her gaze to her lap. Only then did Faran turn his attention back to his father. The muscle in his jaw bunched, and I slipped my hand under the table and squeezed his thigh gently. He started, almost dropping his fork, and I retreated quickly. A blush crept up his neck, and he cleared his throat before returning to the conversation with his father. I picked at my meal, listening in. Lady Alix didn’t bother trying to make any further conversation.
The meal dragged on. Just as I thought we were able to go, Lord Eredan swung his attention to me.
“You’ve been listening intently, Lady Aeron. What’s your opinion on the demands of the farmers?”
“Lord Eredan, I can’t claim enough knowledge to have an informed opinion. My ill-inf
ormed opinion is that you should consider listening to their appeal and make some conciliatory offer. They do, after all, feed The Realm and without them, we would starve.”
The intensity of his gaze made me want to squirm, but I held firm and refused to look away.
“Every group in The Realm has their role,” he said, his voice measured. “All groups are needed to ensure the smooth running of The Realm. Why should we favour the farmers?”
I glanced up at the glass ceiling, the air warm on my cheeks. The temperature in the city never changed. It never rained in here. It was never icy. The hot water always flowed whenever you needed it. What the hell did city-dwellers know about the countryside?
I looked back at Lord Eredan. “Because farming is controlled by the weather and the vagaries of livestock. The Guardians have very set days – rise with the morning bell, eat, train, and so on. All under glass in a warm and dry environment. The farmers are out in all weathers. Livestock don’t have their offspring to a schedule. They have them in the middle of the night, or in pouring rain, or both. Cut them a bit of slack.”
Faran shifted in his seat, his elbow jabbing me in the ribs, and I added swiftly, “In my ill-informed opinion.”
Lord Eredan leaned forwards, his chin on his hand. “You feel able to rank the values of the different groups? Who has the least value?”
“I think that all groups are equally important,” I said, aware of the tension billowing out of Faran. “But I worry that others in The Realm don’t share that view. To the other groups, the Guardians accept everything for free and do nothing in return. They know nothing of the threat from Aegyir because there’s no universal information system here and the different groups don’t mix. In their eyes, they wonder what you guard. What did you last defend The Realm from?”
Faran blanched next to me in direct correlation to the colour rising in his father’s face and I realised with a sickening horror that the answer was me. I forced myself to hold my nerve and keep my chin up.
“Father,” came Faran’s voice, low and warning.
Lord Eredan turned to him. “She’s right. The people haven’t seen The Realm require defence since her betrayal. If Aegyir attacks, we could quell all uprisings and be rid of another problem in a single move. Lady Aeron, you will be the first to defend The Realm, to demonstrate your fealty. I doubt that you will hold Aegyir back. I hope that you get hacked to pieces defending The Realm. Then my son would be honourably free, but you would be perceived as a loyal wife and Guardian. The Guardians will be seen as the ones who defended the people.”