by Imogen Elvis
“It’s difficult to feel secure when you hear such stories as those bandits in the north,” Briar pressed. “I’ve often wondered whether we’re safe, even here.”
“No one would dare threaten Mizra,” the young woman declared with a toss of her perfect curls. “Even the king wouldn’t allow an attack like that anywhere near his city.” She straightened the centre display, absent-mindedly. “And the soldiers would be prepared.” The shopkeeper smiled, though it was more than a little forced. “There are no threats to Mizra though. No reason to worry yet.”
So, it was as Master Talor said. People in Mizra didn’t know about the children marching towards the city yet. In one way, Briar envied the woman her ignorance. She didn’t have to worry about what horrors might be coming their way, dread weighing on her mind every moment of the day. In another way, though, Briar pitied her. Because if the children did come, this woman would not be prepared for them.
“I’m sure you’re right.” Briar did her best to sound unconcerned. “I suppose there’s no sense in worrying about things when we have good people to look after us. The soldiers, the king, the councils, Lord Sachio…”
“Indeed.” The shopkeeper resolutely did not take the bait to share her opinion on Master Sachio. “Now, I have some other options that might suit you, if you’d like.
“I think the blue and silver one is perfect.” Kade joined them. His voice was light, but his eyes, when they met Briar’s, were dark and full of concern.
Briar understood his worry. Master Sachio preyed on the biggest fears of these people. All they wanted was safety. If the king failed to protect them, well, the ruling council would find it easy to pass the throne to Master Sachio. And if the children marched on the city, people would be looking to the castle for help.
“You have an excellent eye for these things,” the shopkeeper said. “The blue and silver scarf is one of my personal favourites. I think it suits her very well.”
“I shall have to keep it in mind-” Briar began.
“We’ll take it,” Kade said.
“Kade…”
“My gift,” Kade said.
A flush rose in Briar’s face. This scarf was too fine. And far too expensive for them to be wasting money on. But already money had changed hands, the shopkeeper closing her fingers over what must have been a small fortune, a smile spreading over her face as she tucked the coins away in her pocket.
“A pleasure to see you both. Please, do call again anytime.”
“Thank you.” Kade placed his hand on Briar’s back and guided her from the shop. “Have a nice day.”
Briar held her tongue until the door. Only then did she stop and turn to Kade, frowning. “You didn’t have to buy the scarf, Kade. “I would have found a way to excuse us without buying anything. It must be expensive.”
“I wanted to.” Kade’s smile warmed. “You deserve something nice. And the shopkeeper was right; it does suit you.”
“I’ve never had anything so exquisite.” Briar ran the end of the scarf through her fingers. It was finely woven from soft, light threads, and the silver stands sparkled as they caught the sun. She didn’t deserve something like this. But her heart was warm from Kade’s kindness. “I don’t deserve it, but thank you.” She smiled.
“My pleasure.” Kade offered her his arm. “And in my opinion, you deserve beautiful things. Now then, I think we still have time to speak to a few more shopkeepers before we have to return to the inn. Shall we go?”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Briar and Kade visited a few other shops, nudging what little information they could out of the shopkeepers under the pretence of small talk. With everyone they spoke to, the story was always the same. People were concerned about the king. They knew how unpredictable he could be, how he didn’t like to listen to the advice of anyone. But most people still believed they were completely safe here in Mizra. Times might be more difficult than they would like, but they were certain no harm would come to them here in the city.
As the afternoon grew old, Kade led the way to The Gilded Pony. It was a smaller inn than Briar was expecting. Everything about Mizra was so large that she had expected their lodgings to be the same. The inn stood near the tree-filled square that housed the Order house, a few streets back from the central road. The sign that hung above the door displayed a painted image of a bright yellow pony rearing up on two legs, pawing at the sky. Well, they had the right animal at least, though the lacklustre colour left something to be desired.
The street was bright with the glare of the late afternoon sun, heavy and golden, reaching down between the buildings in long shafts. Stepping from the sunny outside into the cool, dim interior of the inn, it took Briar’s eyes a few moments to adjust. The tables in the front room were mostly empty. The innkeeper, a short, round, older woman, her wispy grey hair pulled back off her face, wiped out cups at the back of the room, one eye on the scattering of people seated around the tables, the other on a young serving boy laying out wood for fires.
“I see Lara,” Kade said. “There, at the back of the room.”
They wove their way through the tables towards Lara, who raised a hand in greeting. “I was starting to worry that something had happened to you.” Lara’s eyes were bright, and a smile lurked around the corners of her mouth. “I have so much to tell you.”
“So do we.” Briar slipped into the chair opposite Lara, and Kade sat beside her.
“Shall I go first?” Lara drew her chair a little closer and launched into her tale without waiting for their response. “I reached Lady Madella’s house without any problems. Her garden stretches all the way to the bank of the river, so I climbed over the back wall to get in, so that the servants wouldn’t see me. Madella’s breakfast room looks out over the garden. I waited until she sent her servants away, and then I approached.” Lara paused as if to gauge how they were taking her story.
“Go on.” Briar was breathless with anticipation, even though the very fact that Lara was here to tell her story meant it had to have a good ending.
“At first, I was a little afraid that she might call the servants to escort me out. I mean, I was pretty sure she would trust me, but you never quite know. But then she started scolding me for being in Mizra when there was a price on my head, and I knew I was safe. She wanted to know why I was here, and I told her I was here because of Sachio.”
“Just like that?” Kade asked.
“Well, with a great deal more care, of course.” Lara tossed her braid over her shoulder. “But it wouldn’t have made much of a difference if I had just blurted it out.”
“Why not?” Briar asked.
“Because she already knows.” Lara leaned forward, her whole face lighting up. “She knows Kade’s not a traitor, and she knows that Sachio is trying to take the throne. This whole time we’ve been tracking the Nameless Ones and trying to piece together Sachio’s plan, Madella and the queen have been fighting him right here in Mizra.”
“My mother is standing against Sachio?” Kade’s voice cracked. He swallowed hard.
Lara nodded. “Madella says that the queen approached her, not long after you fled the city. She was the one who convinced Madella that Sachio wasn’t what he presented himself to be. They’ve been working together this whole time.”
Kade nodded. He pressed his lips into a thin line, and it took him a moment before he could ask, “H-how is she?”
“Madella says she’s well. She’s fighting hard,” Lara said. “She refuses to give in.”
“That sounds like her.” There was such deep longing and sadness in Kade’s voice. It made Briar’s heart ache to hear him, but he was smiling slightly. Under the table, Briar slipped her hand into Kade’s and gave it a squeeze. Kade’s fingers tightened around hers, and he cleared his throat. “So, Madella is willing to help us, then?”
“More than willing,” Lara said. “Eager. Even with Queen Acacia’s help, they’re limited in what they can do. They need us, not just to help slow Sachio’s plans, which is all t
hey’ve been able to do, but to stop him for good.”
Briar frowned. “But the queen must be powerful in her own right, surely? Can’t she stop Master Sachio herself, if she knows what he is doing?”
Lara and Kade exchanged a look before Kade shook his head. “She’s the queen, but my father is the ruler. For her, it’s just a title. It doesn’t give her as much power as you might think. If it were the other way around, if she were the ruler, and my father was not, then it would be him who would have limited power.”
“She’s the queen, but she can’t send people to arrest one of the most powerful people in the court. Besides, no one would believe her, even if she did speak out against him. We’ve seen how much people trust him,” Lara added. “As a member of the ruling council, Madella almost has more power than Queen Acacia does.”
So that was one avenue closed off to them. There would be no easy arrest. Not that Briar believed things could be that simple. Not anymore. “Did she have anything to say about the children?” Briar asked. “What is being done?”
“Very little.” Lara’s voice grew sour, and she leaned back in her chair, two frown lines appearing between her brows. “The king dismissed the threat outright when the first reports were brought in. He didn’t believe they could pose any danger. The ruling council agreed with him, because, well, they are children. Who would believe children could do such things unless they’d seen it with their own eyes? It wasn’t until they got close to Mizra and the damage was done that the council became concerned.”
“That explains why Sachio is using children,” Kade said. “It would have been simple for Sachio to convince the king to turn a blind eye.”
Briar swallowed hard. It made her stomach churn to think of his scheming, and Ava being caught in the middle. Of course, he could have used the Nameless Ones to do the exact same thing as the children had done, and more effectively at that. But it made so much more of an impact when people discovered that it was children doing these terrible deeds.
“But they must know by now that the children are a real threat,” Briar said. “What are they doing to stop them?”
“Nothing.”
There was a beat of utter silence. “What do you mean ‘nothing’?” Kade asked.
“I mean that the king still refuses to believe in the danger, even after Lorholt, and the farmlands. He won’t let the ruling council take any action against them. Their hands are tied.”
“Someone must be doing something.” Briar shook her head. “They can’t just be ignoring the problem.”
“Oh, they’re not. Madella says that they’re trying to pass the matter over to the Order. It involves magic, so if they can convince the king to let the Order deal with it, some action might be taken in time.”
“Sachio must know that this is happening,” Briar said. “Which means that either this won’t happen, or it’s part of his plans.
“He’s actively supporting the idea,” Lara said.
“But how would it benefit him to have the Order deal with the children?” Briar frowned. “The magicians would have the best chance of actually stopping them before they could harm anyone else.”
“That, I think, is something Talor will be able to tell us when we speak to him tonight,” Kade said.
“You managed to convince him?” Lara said.
Briar nodded. “He’s agreed to work with us.” She told Lara the whole story, how she managed to get into the Order house, and how she had persuaded Master Talor to listen, and how he believed her, because he too had seen what Sachio was doing. At first, the look on Lara’s face was one of incredulity, but, as Briar continued, it resolved into a grudging sort of admiration. “He’s coming here, tonight,” Briar finished. “Perhaps he will have some answers for us.”
“Between Talor, Madella and the queen, we’ve got an ally everywhere important,” Lara said. “If we could get a few more people on our side, then we have a real chance of loosening Sachio’s hold.”
“He’s so clever though,” Briar said softly. “And he holds all the strings.”
“Then we’ll need to cut a few,” Kade said simply. “Right now, that means talking to Talor and seeing how strong Sachio’s hold on the song council is.”
Tonight. They could find out so much more tonight. If Master Talor kept his word. In this world run by Master Sachio, it was hard to be sure of anything. How the master of fire would react when he found out that one of his allies was the exiled prince was uncertain, but they had come this far. If he could believe that Master Sachio was a traitor, then surely, he could trust that Kade wasn’t.
As evening closed in, the inn filled up with men and women from the city arriving for a friendly drink, a meal, maybe, and to catch up on the gossip of the day. There were travellers too, trudging wearily over the threshold, in search of hot food and a warm bed. The orange light of the smoky lamps hanging from the walls and pillars of the large room thickened, turning the shadows into deep pools. Tucked away in the back corner of the room, Briar and her friends disappeared into the dark corners.
“Are you sure we can trust Talor, Briar?” Lara fiddled with her wooden mug, rolling it between her hands and across the tabletop, over and over with a hollow rumble.
“I’m certain.” As certain as Briar had been the last twenty times that Lara had asked that same question. Master Talor promised he would come, and there had been no lie in his voice when he did so. They just needed to be patient a little longer.
“And those soldiers coming in right now have nothing whatsoever to do with him?” Lara arched an eyebrow, jerking her head ever so slightly towards the front of the room.
Briar’s eyes snapped to the door. Four soldiers ducked into the inn, letting the door swing shut behind them. Their vivid blue coats were harshly out of place in the soft, smoky light. And it wasn’t just Briar who noticed that. As the soldiers passed through the tables, nearby people lowered their voices until the guards moved on. They didn’t seem to be searching for anyone, but their very presence sent a shiver down Briar’s spine.
“He wouldn’t have sent soldiers to find us.” Briar wished she sounded more convincing. “If he didn’t trust us, he would be more likely to deal with us himself.” After all, who would stand a chance against a magician as powerful as he was?
The group of soldiers settled themselves at an empty table near to where Briar and her friends now sat. They were far enough away that Briar couldn’t quite catch their words over the babble from the rest of the room, but were still far too close for comfort. One of the soldiers waved to a young serving boy, who scampered over, clasping his hands behind his back as the man gave him some direction, probably about bringing over some drinks. As the soldier turned back to his friends, his eyes passed over Briar’s table, lingering for longer than comfortable. Briar ducked her head away, watching him out of the corner of her eye until his gaze passed on.
“This is a complication.” Kade kept his voice low.
“I don’t think they’re looking for us,” Briar offered.
“Not until a member of the song council shows up in the middle of an inn, where he has no place being and starts talking to the people hidden away in a dark corner.” Lara pursed her lips. “Then we’ll see how much attention we draw. Though, I wouldn’t put it past Talor not to show up at all.
“I highly doubt that,” Kade said. “Seeing as he’s here.”
Briar’s eyes snapped to the door in time to see Master Talor step inside. He’d thrown a cloak over his familiar grey habit, which served to make him look a little less out of place, but the lamplight still glinted off the silver medallion that hung in the centre of his chest. He paused in the entrance, surveying the room. Kade shifted further back into the shadows, tugging his hood down, though Briar doubted anyone would recognise his face in the dim light.
“I don’t think he should know who I am, not immediately,” Kade said to Lara’s questioning look. “We don’t know his opinion on the prince yet. I don’t want to antagonis
e him before we know where he stands.”
Master Talor’s eyes passed over the room several times without him making a move. Briar hesitated, then raised her hand, giving him a tentative half-wave. His eyes snapped to her, and he moved through the tables towards them.
“You don’t make yourselves easy to find,” Master Talor said as he reached their table. He slid easily into a chair.
“It’s safer this way.” Briar licked her lips, her mouth suddenly dry and her heart thumping painfully now he was here. “Thank you for meeting with us. I know this probably isn’t a good place for you.”
“Is anywhere a good place to discuss treason?”
Lara caught Briar’s eye, and they exchanged a cautious glance. None of them dared to speak as openly as the master did, no matter how low his voice might be. His eyes didn’t check the room to see who might overhear, as theirs did. His shoulders didn’t hunch to avoid people’s curious gazes. He didn’t know yet what it was like to be hunted because you fought in the name of truth.
Briar glanced at the soldiers, as if, by some miracle, they could sense when someone spoke treason in their presence. But for now, the chatter of the other patrons covered their voices, and the guards seemed more interested in the drinks the serving boy laid out on the table, than anyone talking peacefully in the corner.
“So,” Master Talor said, after a long moment. “These are the friends you spoke of.”
There was a moment of silence as the four sized each other up. Lara tipped her head to one side, regarding the master with an air of suspicion, despite Briar’s earlier reassurances. Kade sat well back, little more than a dark shape in the shadows. For his part, Master Talor’s eyes passed from Briar to Kade, then narrowed as they landed on Lara’s face.
“Lady Lara of Brockhurst?”
“Yes?” There was a tone of challenge in Lara’s voice, a little too defensive.
Master Talor’s eyebrows arched. “You’re wanted for treason.”
“I’m well aware of that fact, thank you. Is that going to be a concern for you?” Lara crossed her arms over her chest, her chin jutting out.