“Yes.”
He sighed. “Okay. I’ll join you – but if they had the sense to listen, they’d already be preparing a defense or an evacuation.”
“We’ll just need to be convincing,” Fayre concluded, and Jarom joined her in making her way to the officiant’s table.
“We need to see your town’s council,” Fayre informed the man.
“They’re busy,” he replied dismissively.
Jarom slammed his fist on the table, scattering the man’s papers and getting his full attention. “We weren’t asking,” he said with cold menace.
The man swallowed hard. “Why didn’t you say so?” he said nervously. “Follow me.”
He led them past the guards at the gates, waving the men aside, and through the town to the council hall. Arriving outside the doors to the council chambers, he told them, “I’ll let them know you’re here.”
“No need,” Jarom replied. “We’ll let them know ourselves.” He pushed past the officiant and swung open the doors to the council chambers, as the man howled his objections.
Fayre walked past the apoplectic man. “What’s done is done,” she soothed and joined Jarom inside.
Jarom took in the room with a sweep of his gaze. Four women and three men sat around a semi-circular table, papers strewn in front of them. He cleared his throat. “We’ve come to inquire about the city’s defenses or lack thereof.”
“Who pray-tell is this gentleman?” the man seated at the center of the table inquired.
“They’re from the camp,” the officiant replied, rushing into the room. “I told them you were busy,” he added lamely.
Jarom ignored them both. “I’ve spent time in the camp outside your gates, yes, and before that, I spent time in Soren’s camp.” He paused to let that sink in. “I can tell you that he’s going to raze this place to the ground and everyone in it.”
“We appreciate your candor – thank you,” the man said cavalierly.
Jarom stood firm, staring him down.
The man sighed, and asked Jarom the way one might a schoolchild, “Do you think we could beat this Soren fellow in battle?”
“Of course not,” Jarom responded.
“Then, fighting isn’t an option, so we’ll negotiate our surrender instead.”
“He doesn’t want your surrender. Don’t you see? He doesn’t want to conquer you. He wants to destroy you and build a new world of his own design out of the ashes. There will be no negotiation – there will only be bloodshed.”
“We will take what you say under advisement,” the man concluded, shuffling his papers and glancing about at his colleagues.
Jarom clenched his fists, then spun and made for the door. “We’re done here,” he told Fayre, stomping past her.
Fayre joined him in exiting but stopped in the doorway to address the council. “I know it’s hard to fathom the situation you find yourselves in, I really do – I’ve been in your shoes. If there’s anyone you care about in this city, I pray you don’t let your short-sightedness doom them with you,” she told them and strode out before they could reply. The doors slammed closed behind her.
The officiant motioned to show them the way back to camp.
“I remember the way,” Jarom snarled, and the man slunk away. “That went about as well as expected,” he said to Fayre.
“We had to try,” she replied. She placed a hand on his arm and looked at him earnestly. “Thank you for trying. You’re a good man.”
They walked back to the camp in silence only to find it abuzz with rumors of a girl in the northlands that they were calling Soren’s Scourge.
“She faced down his entire army alone,” a young man claimed.
“She travels with a pack of dire wolves,” another added.
“I hear she’s a shape-shifter,” a woman added.
“She killed fifty men without breaking a sweat,” the first man added.
Fantastic as it sounded, it kindled hope in the camp that maybe all was not lost.
Forest heard the rumors, and she was skeptical. “We can’t wait for some made-up girl from the north to save our skins,” she told Lily. “We’ve got to save ourselves.” She got up. “I’m tired of sitting around – I’ve got an idea,” she said without elaborating. Lily looked at her worriedly, so Forest added, “It’s not all that dangerous.” This didn’t reassure Lily in the slightest.
Forest walked out of the camp and stared at the town walls. She needed to scout the town, but camp dwellers were not permitted inside its walls unless escorted by the official in charge of the camp. She couldn’t very well ask the pompous ass, “Excuse me – could you show me around your town so I can advance my nefarious plans?” All the reasons she could come up with for having to enter the town would likely raise his suspicions, so she decided on a different approach. She sat down cross-legged and studied the comings and goings of the townsfolk through the gates, mostly farming families heading to and from the fields. She spied a family with a daughter about her age. The girl looked unhappy but resigned to be dragged out to the fields. Perfect, thought Forest.
Forest walked back to camp and changed into clothes suitable for a day in the fields. She put her hair into ponytails and did her best to look girlish.
Lily eyed her dubiously.
“Just thought I’d change my look,” Forest told her, which only raised Lily’s suspicions further.
Forest walked out to the fields and located the girl she’d seen. “Hi there,” she said, approaching her.
“Hi,” the girl responded, surprised.
“It’s pretty boring in the camp,” Forest told her, looking back at it over her shoulder. “Want some help?” she asked, then added, “It beats sitting around all day.”
“That would be nice,” the girl replied, and Forest spent the day chatting with her. That evening, she walked back to town with her, and, as she thought would likely be the case, walked right past the guards without their taking any notice. The girl asked her parents if Forest could join them for dinner, and they accepted, happy that their daughter had a new friend. The girl walked Forest back to the gate after dinner. Forest repeated this routine for a few days to make sure that the guards became habituated to seeing her come and go. Soon enough, she was able to enter and exit the gate on her own without their batting an eye.
Once she’d accomplished that feat, she spent her days strolling around the town, marking the location of key buildings, the routine of the guards, and, most importantly, the placement of the armory.
Forest returned to camp and sought out Dhara and her sisters. She found them organizing some black-market trade in hard-to-get foods that refugees from the most northerly villages craved, but couldn’t procure themselves.
“Can I ask you for some help?” Forest asked Dhara.
Dhara looked skeptical. “You can ask.”
“I’m planning on raiding the armory – but I can’t do it alone.”
Dhara continued to look skeptical.
“There will most likely be violence,” Forest suggested, then added, “and maybe a little nudity.”
“Two of my favorite things!” Dhara exclaimed, halfway won over. “Tell me this plan of yours.”
On the day of the raid, Forest dressed as she would if she were going to school, and brushed out her hair. She walked through the gates, smiling pleasantly at the guards. They smiled back automatically but didn’t really notice her.
Zara met her inside the city, having snuck in through some means that she and her sisters had established to further their black-market dealings. Together they bided their time until dark.
Forest waited for the armory guards to change over to the night shift, and gave them a little extra time to ease in and become bored. She wandered up, with as much innocence as she could muster. “Excuse me,” she said shyly. “Can you help me?”
The gruffer-looking guard replied. “You can’t be here. Go ask someone else.”
Forest looked crestfallen and wiped away fake tea
rs.
“Oh, for the gods’ sake,” the second man exclaimed and nudged his companion. He turned back to Forest. “What do you want?”
“Just a moment of your attention,” she replied.
They puzzled briefly over her meaning, until Zara slammed their heads together, having crept up behind them while Forest provided a distraction.
Forest walked up and surveyed the unconscious men. “Should we tie them up, in case they come to?” she asked Zara.
“I could slam their heads together again, only harder,” Zara suggested, and bent down toward the men.
“No, no – I think it’s okay,” Forest stopped her. “We’ll take our chances.” Forest walked up to the armory doors, only to find them padlocked. “Oh no,” she said. “I should’ve assumed the doors would be locked.”
“I did,” Zara replied and pulled a hairpin from her hair.
Forest looked at her, confused.
“My mother taught me how to pick locks. No daughter of hers was going to be barred entry anywhere.” She leaned over the padlock and made short work of opening it. She repeated it on the door lock, and it creaked open equally quickly. Zara slid the hairpin back into her hair and smiled over her shoulder to Forest.
“Figure out what’s most worth stealing,” she told Zara. “I’ll go grab a cart from the family of the girl I play with, so we can wheel it out of here.” She stepped over the bodies of the guards and hurried down the street. She returned a few moments later, pulling the empty cart. She noticed with alarm that the guards’ bodies had changed position.
Zara poked her head out of the armory door and noticed her concern. “I thought I’d slam their heads together again anyway, just in case,” she declared.
Forest sighed and pulled the cart up to the door where Zara had made a pile of bows, arrows, and shields, with a few daggers thrown in. Forest looked at the pile and raised an eyebrow about her choices.
“Up against trained fighters, we need missile weapons. If they get close enough to engage us in hand-to-hand combat, we’ve already lost.
Forest nodded her understanding, and together they loaded the cart. Forest laid a blanket over the top and secured it.
Zara moved toward the two prone guards.
“I think they’re all right,” Forest intervened, and Zara shrugged and joined her. Getting back out of the town gates was always going to be the hardest part, Forest thought as they began pulling the cart toward them.
Just outside the gates, Dhara and Kaia had lit a campfire and were passing around a bottle of wine. They’d persuaded Calix, Lily, and Cera to join them, and Lily had invited Oriel and Allie. Dhara was more than a little tipsy, and she put her arm around Calix.
“You’re cute,” she declared, slurring her words slightly.
Calix smiled wanly, but uncertainly.
Kaia got up and sauntered over to the guards at the gate. “Come join us!” she suggested.
“Look, miss – we’ve already told you we can’t,” one of the men replied wearily.
“You’re no fun,” Kaia protested, pouting.
Dhara leaned over and gave Calix a peck on the cheek, then winked at him and rose unsteadily to her feet while he stared up at her, confused. She began unbuttoning her top.
“Dhara,” Calix began. “I really don’t think that’s appropriate.”
Dhara ignored him and removed her top, revealing a tight-fitting brassiere. She waved her blouse over her head and shrieked while she ran over to her sister at the gate, sloshing the contents of the wine bottle in her other hand. She stopped beside her sister and looked down unhappily at the wine that had spilled over her hand.
Forest chose that moment to appear out of the shadows on the other side of the guards, looking the picture of innocence, but out incongruously late. “Excuse me,” she called to the guards.
Dhara shrieked louder and began chasing Kaia in a circle.
The guards just stared, bewildered at their antics.
“Excuse me!” Forest called out more insistently.
The guards turned around, confused and annoyed. “What?!” one of them asked Forest.
“That woman is following me,” Forest said, pointing out Zara lurking in the shadows.
The guards peered into the darkness, trying to fathom Zara’s intentions.
Dhara and Kaia each struck a guard hard in the side of the neck, and their eyes rolled back as they lost consciousness and slumped to the ground. Kaia pulled the unconscious men off to the side, while Dhara wiped the wine off her hand and buttoned up her top. Dhara joined her sister and poured a little wine into both men’s mouths, then left the bottle propped between them. “Sweet dreams,” she said, looking down on them.
Zara pulled the cart up to the gate. “Some help?” she grunted. Kaia and Dhara gave her a hand and Forest led them back toward the camp, past the fire.
“Hi, Lily,” she said to her bewildered sister as she passed.
17
Kala
Kala pulled out her journal and showed Skye and Hawke the map while the airship drifted southeast. She pointed to a circle on the map and told Hawke, “Here’s your town.” She slid her finger southward on the map. “And here is the next sizable town in Soren’s path. We’ll land there and warn them to either prepare a defense or flee.” She closed the journal and put it away, then looked out the window, thinking that people would eventually run out of places to flee to. They had to fight. But how and where? Soren had amassed an army, while the settlements he preyed upon were spread out and isolated from each other. The impossibility of her task worried her.
Skye could tell that she was unsettled and put a comforting arm around her. “Whatever we face, we’ll face it together,” he told her.
She leaned into him and readied herself for the coming storm.
The airship descended slowly toward the city. Skye watched out the window and let them know that it still stood. Kala said a silent prayer of thanks that they’d not arrived too late. She secured her swords to her back and checked the placement of her daggers around her body. Hawke did the same, and Skye felt a little useless off to the side. Perhaps I should start arming myself, he thought as the ship touched down with a gentle thud just outside the city walls.
Kala breathed in deeply and centered herself. She opened the door and stepped out into the bright daylight. A small crowd of hungry-looking people had arrived to see the airship that had curiously landed itself. A silence fell over them when Kala stepped out.
“It’s her,” a murmur went up.
Kala disregarded the chatter. If they knew anything about who she’d become and what she’d done, she didn’t want to be reminded of it. Hawke and Skye emerged from the airship and stood behind her. “Who’s in charge?” she asked the crowd.
They parted rather than answering and pointed to an official sitting at a distant table, flanked by a pair of guards. Great, thought Kala. The world burns and administrators keep administering. She marched toward the man, with Hawke and Skye following closely behind. The crowd followed at their heels, gossiping wildly.
The man looked up from his papers. “Name?” he asked, bored.
Kala stared at him intensely. “Death,” she replied.
His pen hovered over his book, and he looked up at her, confused.
Kala gripped the table and threw it aside, stepping menacingly closer.
He blanched, terrified, and his guards took a step forward, placing their hands on the hilts of their swords.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Hawke informed them. “Not if you value your life,” he added conversationally.
Forest’s ghost pushed through to the front of the crowd and confronted her. “Kala?” she asked uncertainly.
“I wasn’t going to kill him,” she replied, annoyed.
“Meadow?” Skye asked, turning around.
Kala glanced over at him. “Forest,” she corrected, then stopped herself. “You can see her?” she asked him.
Skye narrowed his
eyes in confusion. “Of course, I can see her,” he replied, unsure of what Kala was getting at.
Kala turned back to Forest, who looked unsure. “Forest, is that you?” she asked.
A dam burst in Forest, and she surged forward into Kala’s confused arms. Forest hugged her fiercely and buried her head in Kala’s chest. Kala hugged her back, still too shocked to register the truth of Forest’s being alive.
Lily made her way to the front of the crowd and stopped, staring at Kala in stunned disbelief. Their eyes met, and the crowd quieted at the newly risen tension. Images of Lily screaming as Kala hurled her dagger into her father’s throat flashed in Kala’s memory. Lily advanced purposefully, and Forest detached herself from Kala. Lily stopped in front of Kala and stared at her accusingly.
“Lily…” Kala began but was interrupted by a hard slap across her face.
“You took him from me,” Lily accused her, shaking with anger.
Kala could find no words to apologize for killing her father.
“He was all I had left of her, and you took him from me.”
Kala realized that Lily was talking about her mother. She looked at Forest, who was standing beside them. “You have Forest,” she countered cautiously.
“You stole her from me, too,” Lily replied. “She becomes more like you every day. I miss my sister. I miss Meadow,” she declared and burst into tears.
Cera strode up and put an arm around Lily, who surrendered to her embrace. “It’s good to see you, Kala,” Cera said, slowly turning Lily around to lead her off. “Give her time,” she added over her shoulder and guided a sobbing Lily away.
Kala stood in stunned silence, and Skye placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Calix raced up, wide-eyed, but stopped abruptly when he registered Skye’s presence. He stood there briefly, then turned away. Not you too, Kala thought, and her heart broke. Calix, who had always been there for her. Calix, who had always held out his hand to help her up when she’d been knocked down.
A hand wormed its way into hers, and she looked down at Forest. “Don’t mind my sister,” Forest said. “She didn’t mean it. She loves you.”
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