Vow of Thieves (Dance of Thieves)

by Mary E. Pearson

  I’m not sure it will help.

  She has to walk out there on her own.

  A hand roughly patted my face.

  Wake up, soldier. On your feet.

  More liquid was pressed to my lips. I gagged.

  Drink it.

  I don’t think she can hear you.

  She’s half dead already. She’s not going to make it to the gallows.

  The crowds are waiting. She has to make it.

  More cold liquid. More coughing, choking, but the shaking stops. Blurry shapes become people. The same people.

  “This is your last chance to save yourself, soldier. Give them over to us. The Ballengers have only betrayed you. We know there’s another entrance. That’s where you were going when you were caught. Tell us where it is.”

  “The temple. The stables. The arena. The—”

  Montegue grabbed my arms and shook me. “Why? What makes this worth your life?”

  “A vow. Jase.”

  “Jase is dead.”

  “Only to you,” I said.

  “Her mind is gone!” Banques snapped. “Let’s get on with this.”

  * * *

  A door slammed shut. I was in some kind of cart. The wood planks beneath my hands were damp. No matter how hard I tried to focus, I felt myself slipping, losing my hold on the world.

  You are going to die with nothing. Be nothing.

  Montegue was mistaken.

  Maybe sometimes life and fantasies and family did all go completely wrong. But I had loved and been loved deeply and completely, not once but twice in my life. I would not trade that for all the riches that Montegue had to offer.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

  JASE

  I tugged on my gloves and squeezed my fingers. They needed to be warm, ready.

  We had been waiting all night for dawn to come.

  Besides my own, I had replayed everyone’s role in my head at least a dozen times, though it was too late to change anything now.

  It would begin with Mason, Synové, and the icehouse that was three avenues away from the plaza, behind the cooperage. The roar of the crowd would be their signal.

  Most of the icehouse was belowground. That’s where the munitions would be. All Mason had to do was blow the roof off of it. Synové would follow with a volley of fire arrows.

  And that would lead to my turn.

  The crowds were already thick, nearly all of them in gray and black cloaks. Soldiers with shields arrived, lining the stairs to the platform. Zane arrived. Garvin arrived. Garvin with the eyes of a hawk. But like the soldiers on the roofs, he would be looking down.

  I had never seen Banques. I kept looking to Paxton to see if he had arrived. That would mean the execution was imminent. Paxton shook his head. Not yet.

  I couldn’t see Priya, Wren, or Titus. They had taken positions in other trees that gave them clear shots of plaza rooftops. I could barely see Gunner or Paxton, who stood on the same limb as me, their dark cloaks turned inside out with the dawn, now part of the shifting tembris canopy.

  My chest pounded with the waiting, and then Paxton nudged me. There.

  A man had emerged from a carriage. He wore a black uniform, and a wide gold braid swept across his chest. He walked briskly up the stairs, his cape rippling behind him. His thick black hair was slicked back and glimmered almost as much as his gold chest braid. A magistrate turned general. He was younger than I expected.

  He took a place on the platform. There was still no sign of Kazi or Montegue. Were they both still in the carriage? Paxton held his hand out in a calming sign. Wait.

  Banques addressed the crowd and began reading the crimes against Kazi. Theft. Attempted regicide. Spy for the Kingdom of Venda. “And maybe worst of all, an attack on innocent children. Lydia and Nash Ballenger are recovering from the assault, thanks to the king’s quick action to protect them.” A murmur ran through the crowd, and Banques nodded approval. There was still no sign of Kazi. Where was she? Why were they waiting to bring her out? I looked at Paxton. He shook his head. This was not normal. “For her crimes against Eislandia she is sentenced to hang by the neck until dead before these witnesses today. Let it be known to all the kingdoms that Eislandia will not tolerate interference by foreign nations, nor attacks on its citizens. The king is committed to protecting his subjects by any and all means.”

  He lifted a hand to the guards still standing by the carriage. They opened the door, and the king stepped out. Montegue. A hush ran through the crowd. Even from high in the tembris I could see the long slash across his face. The evidence of attempted regicide. But what I noticed more than his scar was another kind of transformation, all the way down to the way he walked. He was taller, stronger—even his shoulders seemed wider. His chest puffed out with power. This was not the incompetent farmer I had known. He ascended the stairs with confidence, looking older than he had just a few months ago. He raised his hand to the waiting crowd, and there was a shower of cheers. He paused midway on the stairs and seemed to take it in, his head turning as he skimmed the crowd. For a spare minute, he was wide out in the open, an easy shot for Synové, maybe even for Priya, but we still didn’t know where Kazi was. I swallowed the burning temptation to sweep down and kill him now.

  He stepped up beside Banques, guards with shields taking positions all around them. Sweat trickled down the side of my face. Just bring her out. I need to see her.

  Gunner reached out and put a hand on my arm. I nodded. I was all right.

  Montegue repeated some of the charges and piled on more, not giving any more details than Banques had, but then added, “The prisoner was given the opportunity to confess her treachery and receive the king’s mercy, but she refused, and for that this soldier and spy has sealed her fate.” He signaled guards standing by an enclosed cart. “Bring the prisoner forward. Let her meet justice.”

  They opened the small door, and one soldier crawled halfway inside. It looked like he was struggling. Was Kazi resisting? And then he pulled her out. I got my first glimpse of my wife in weeks, and I knew immediately something was wrong.

  She stumbled forward, and the guard caught her arm to keep her from falling.

  Her hands weren’t tied. A Rahtan soldier being led to execution without being bound?

  Guards on either side of her helped her up the steps. From my vantage point, I couldn’t see her face well, but she didn’t appear to be injured, though she was thin. Her cheekbones were more prominent. Had they been starving her? I looked at Paxton and Gunner. They nodded, ready.

  Montegue stepped close to Kazi, whispering something, and then he lifted her face roughly. I couldn’t tell if her lips were moving or not, but Montegue jerked away angrily and ordered the two guards to take her across the skywalk to where the noose waited.

  One of the guards centered her on the platform while the other reached over the rail and pulled a guideline to draw the noose near. It was time.

  “Hang!” A voice called from the crowd, which served to make everyone in the plaza cheer in chorus. “Hang!” It echoed through the plaza and beyond—to at least three streets away, where Mason and Synové waited.

  I readied myself, my boot firmly in the loop of the rope.

  A blast sounded. There was no mistaking it was a launcher.

  The king and Banques ducked low, soldiers covering them with their shields, while the soldiers on rooftops edged closer with their launchers raised, searching the streets. Soldiers on the streets turned, looking in all directions, and then right on the heels of the blast, before they could regroup or make sense of what was happening, an ear-shattering explosion shook the ground. Buildings rattled, and an enormous black plume spiraled into the sky just past the plaza. Debris rained down. There were screams and pandemonium. Citizens ran, and soldiers sprinted everywhere. An attack seemed imminent, and Kazi was temporarily forgotten.

  And that was when I jumped.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

  KAZI

  The world floated in a blur around m
e, but I heard the sounds, the creak of the cart door opening, the order of the guard for me to come forward, the thunk as I stumbled against the floor, and then hands clamped around my arms. Twist, lift, kick. My mind was willing, but my arms and legs wouldn’t listen.

  And then I heard Montegue’s voice again, felt his warmth as he pressed close to me. “Did you hear that? The crowd? They love me. I am not a nothing king. I am a great one.”

  My lips moved, but I wasn’t sure if I said the words aloud. Fool. You’re a fool, Montegue. Truly great leaders don’t have to chase love. It finds them.

  He clutched my face in one hand, his fingers digging in, and jerked my head up so I had to look at him. His dark eyes swam in and out of view. His lips were a blurred, angry smear in front of me.

  “I lied to you,” he whispered. “I did kill my father. And it was the most satisfying thing I have ever done—until now. Watching you hang today will eclipse that.”

  He had heard my words. I had managed that much. It was perhaps my last small victory. I smiled.

  He pushed me away, and I felt myself being guided forward once again.

  “Stand here,” a guard whispered. Stand. The medicine was wearing off. I already felt the fiery pain crawling up my scalp, my knees burning, crumbling, and then a sound split the world in half. My head tilted back and I saw a winged shadow swoop down from above, and I guessed that Death’s angel had finally come to get me.

  Make it one more day, Kazi.

  I tried to resist, but I was too weak and his grip was too strong.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

  JASE

  The whir of the rope in the pulley buzzed in my ears. My cloak, my hair, everything flew upward as I flew down. The skywalk shook when I landed, and Kazi fell into my arms. “Hold on to me, Kazi! Put your foot in the loop.”

  But she didn’t. Her legs didn’t move, and her arms hung limp at her sides. I wrapped my arms around her waist, squeezing her to me, and sent a piercing whistle through my teeth—the signal that I had her and to bring me up. I wasn’t there more than three seconds, a shadow, a trick of the eyes, and then we were flying upward again, and halfway up, the ballast that Gunner and Paxton had shoved from the tembris passed by us—three bound soldiers’ bodies that more than countered our weight.

  “Take her!” I said when we reached the top, and Paxton and Gunner hoisted Kazi over onto the limb, then pulled me over too. “They must have drugged her so she wouldn’t struggle,” I said. “I’ll have to carry her.”

  The tembris limbs were wide enough for us to run mostly unseen from below, but with Kazi in my arms, I couldn’t jump the gaps and had to carefully navigate them instead. It slowed us all down, sometimes having to hand her over between Gunner, Titus, and myself to cross safely from one limb to the next. Order was already returning below, and a carefully orchestrated theater of citizens directed by Aleski shifted, moved, and absorbed Mason, Synové, Aram, Samuel, and Hawthorne so they would become lost in the crowds. Appropriate horrified screams were offered up for soldiers who had fallen from rooftops, so the king and Banques would know that the citizens were taken as much by surprise as they were. By now the dead ballast we had thrown over was leading some eyes up into the canopy.

  “Kazi,” I whispered as we ran. “Kazi!” Her lids were heavy trying to focus on me. I pressed my lips to her cheek. Her skin was burning up. And then she began shaking. What was wrong? This wasn’t just a drug to sedate her.

  Up ahead, we met up with Priya, Wren, and Titus. “How many did you shoot down?” Gunner asked.

  “Three.”

  “Three.”

  “Four. But one of them fell without his launcher, the devil.”

  And then panic flooded Wren’s face when she spotted me just behind Gunner and Paxton. She leapt between limbs until she was at my side. “What’s wrong?” she asked, her fingers searching for wounds. “Kazi,” she hissed. Kazi’s head barely turned.

  “I don’t know,” I answered, “but we have to keep going. We need to get to the horses before they do.”

  * * *

  I held Kazi tight in my arms as they lowered us to the base of Kalliope. Imara was waiting with the horses. One had been meant for Kazi, but now she would have to ride with me. Titus and Aram had staked out a ruin for us to hide in until nightfall.

  I laid Kazi on the ground to do a more careful search for wounds.

  “You don’t have time!” Imara warned.

  But Wren and I pulled away her shirt, and that’s when I saw it—fine, spidering lines crawling up her chest like lace. Poison?

  Then I felt the fullness of a bandage beneath her trouser leg. I cut open the fabric and found the first wound. Wren found the other on her arm. Bites. Dog bites. Disbelief flooded through me.

  “She’s been bitten by ashti,” I said.

  Everyone had circled around us and was looking down at her.

  “She won’t make it through the night at the ruin,” Gunner said.

  Priya groaned. “She’s going to need the antidote. Fast.”

  “Half their army is already chasing us down,” Titus said. “If we don’t hide out in the ruin until nightfall—” He left the sentence hanging, then cursed.

  The only antidote I knew of was in the healer’s bag—in the vault—halfway up the mountain. We’d have to make a run for it in broad daylight.

  A decision didn’t have to be made. I began gathering Kazi up in my arms, and Gunner began giving orders. Priya and Paxton would ride forward, he and Wren behind, with me and Kazi in the middle, since it would be hard for me to fend off attacks with her in my arms. Titus would go to the ruin to wait for Mason, Synové, and the others, and tell them what had happened. They would head back after nightfall as planned. He asked Imara to return to town and spread the rumor that riders had been seen on the opposite side of town, heading in the other direction, then he altered our planned route. It would mean crossing two roads, but it would shave an hour off our ride.

  Mije stamped as if he knew his mistress was in distress.

  Paxton held Kazi in his arms as I climbed up in Mije’s saddle, and once he had lifted her up to me and everyone had mounted, I yelled, “Baricha!” and Mije flew like a winged demon, kicking up the soft dirt in his wake.

  * * *

  Under the best of conditions, it was a three-hour ride from town to the hidden entrance. In some places, a horse couldn’t go any faster than someone on foot. Every time we had to slow, my breath backed up in my chest. How long ago had she been bitten? I had never known anyone who had actually died from an ashti bite before. But my father had. When I was eight and he was teaching me commands and a healthy respect for the dogs, he told me that a friend of his had died from a bite. They were snowed in at a station high above the lumber camp and couldn’t make it down the mountain for the antidote. It’s not something you ever want to see, boy. I wish I could erase it from my memory. His friend died after six days.

  This was no accident. Montegue had done this to her. Why? If he had already sentenced her to hang, why would he do this too?

  Because she knew where Lydia and Nash were. She knew where the entrance was.

  She had information that could destroy my family, and she wouldn’t give it up to him.

  Because she had betrayed him and he wanted her to suffer. I kept the anger at a distance for now. I knew it would consume me. For now Kazi was all that mattered. But I knew the rage would come, and then even the gods couldn’t keep me from Montegue.

  * * *

  I pressed my hand to Kazi’s mouth, forcing back her groans.

  I’m sorry, Kazi. I’m sorry. Just a few more minutes.

  We hid in the trees and undergrowth as a platoon passed on the road that led from the arena. About half of them were on foot, the other half on horses. Two wagons loaded with hay traveled in the middle of the caravan.

  “Shhh, my love,” I whispered softly into her ear, trying to soothe her. “Shhh.”

  At the same time, I stroked Mije’s
neck, willing him not to stamp or whicker. Sound from him might be mistaken for one of their horses, but we couldn’t take a chance.

  When they passed out of sight around the bend, we slowly and quietly crossed the road, not wanting even the barest vibration to alert them, and once back in the cover of the forest on the other side, we flew into a gallop.

  * * *

  We made it across the second road that led up to the back side of Tor’s Watch without encountering anyone, but now we were traveling along a narrow ridge single file, and our progress was painstakingly slow. Kazi shook, another spasm squeezing the life from her, her jaw and fists clenching, her moans growing louder, and then she went limp and quiet, which frightened me even more. I checked her pulse. It was faint, like her body was giving out.

  “Stay with me, Kazi,” I said to her over and over again. “Stay with me. We’re almost there.” But we weren’t.

  Priya was leading and called back, “How is she?”

  “Not good.”

  Most of the time we didn’t talk for fear of alerting a patrol, but on this sheer, rocky side of the mountain, there was no one near to hear.

  I talked to Kazi, unsure if she could hear anything, but hoping it would keep her from slipping away from me. “Besides eating a mountain of feastcake, we’re going to have to dance that jig I taught you. In front of everyone. That means we’ll need to practice. Maybe we’ll teach Wren and Synové too. They’re here with me, Kazi. They’re here for you. We’re all here for you. Stay with us.” I pressed my lips to her temple. “Stay.”

  “Or we can dance to this one.” I began humming “Wolf Moon.” I knew it was a tune she liked. “It doesn’t have to be a jig. Anything you want, Ambassador Brightmist. Including that apartment on the upper level. I’ll make sure it’s always stocked with bowls of oranges.”

  Summer and winter. Anything.