by JA Andrews
“Lukas has spent time in Coastal Baylon,” Will said. “Tales of the warlords of the moors are popular in there. If Naj was a well-known chief on the moors, there’s a good chance his story is known by the Baylonese.” He spun one of the beads in his beard. “I’m inclined to believe Sini is right. There’s too strong a connection for this to be coincidence. I wonder how Naj’s sword got from the Shield to Flibbet the Peddler.”
A dwarf woman set down a bowl of soup with a thick chunk of bread in front of Sini, and Sini gratefully began to eat.
“If this is talking about my sword,” Killien interrupted them, “and it really was the same Flibbet the Peddler who’s been around for hundreds of years who gave it to my father, then why did he tell my father the sword was intended to “help mend the torn?” A sword isn’t particularly good at mending anything, but this one sounds particularly ill-suited.”
Alaric shook his head. “I don’t know. Douglon agrees that it’s time we head back to Queenstown. We can leave tomorrow. Maybe there’s something there in the library.”
“I’ll send word to the Stronghold,” Will said. “Knowing this about Chesavia gives the Shield a good place to start researching this sword. Maybe the Wellstone can tell him something”
Alaric nodded. “Douglon and I have decided we are going back to the Elder Grove to see Rass and check on the elves. I think the rest of you should go straight to Queenstown. I’ll have the dwarves send ravens ahead to the queen and to the Stronghold, telling them what we’ve learned.”
Sini mopped up the end of her soup with her bread before following the others.
She’d packed and was walking back to the tavern with Pest when the bells began. If their somber tone didn’t convey their meaning, the reactions of the dwarves around her did.
Horgoth was dead.
Douglon arrived not long after. “The horses are supplied and ready.”
“Don’t you have to stay for some sort of crowning ceremony?” Sini asked him.
“That’ll take months to plan,” Douglon muttered. “I’ve made sure everything is set for me to leave. I’m going before anyone tries to stop me. Killing a dwarf would be a poor beginning to my illustrious reign.”
One of Douglon’s cousins offered to take Killien to an exit from Duncave near where his family hid. Sora, on the other hand, agreed to go with Will to Queensland, which made him happier than Sini had ever seen him. Alaric and Douglon immediately headed south, toward the Elder Grove, while Patlon led the rest of them as far as the nearest exit to the east. With Patlon on foot, they led the horses until they came out from behind a boulder on a bright mountainside.
Sini tensed as the full strength of the sunfire fell on her cheeks, but it was gentle and warm. The air was chilly after the warmth of the caves. She drew a little sunfire in to warm her hands but balked at bringing enough in to warm the rest of her.
There were still several hours of light and they hurried toward Queenstown.
They reached a small town with an inn long after dark. Sini was relieved to find that the common room was empty, and they went straight up to their sleeping quarters. Despite the fact that the mattress was straw, Sini fell asleep almost immediately.
Early the next morning, she woke to voices outside her window and a sharp tap on her door. The sky was still dark, and she groaned and shifted on the lumpy bed.
“Sini,” Roan’s voice came quietly from the hall. “We need to leave.”
One of the voices outside called out something angry. She sat up and looked out the window over her bed, reaching her ring toward the candle wick. A dozen people were gathered in front of the inn, holding lanterns. Sini caught a flash of something metal and her hand paused.
Roan knocked again. “Quickly, Sini!”
Sini dressed in the dark and grabbed her bag. The others were converging in the tight hall. The innkeeper wrung his hands at the end of the hall, apologizing.
“There are townspeople outside who aren’t pleased that there’s a Keeper in town,” Roan said. “We are leaving out the back. Pest and I moved the horses when the first unhappy guest appeared. He has them in the trees out back. We should go before it gets any brighter.”
“Yes,” the innkeeper agreed. “Follow me. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what’s gotten into folks. They’re saying terrible things ‘bout Keepers out there.”
“Wait.” Sini ducked back into her room. She slipped to her window looking through the crowd for anything with trails of vitalle. Sora appeared silently at her shoulder. As far as Sini could see, there were no lights beyond the lanterns, but she heard the word Keeper being tossed about in a decidedly unfriendly way.
“Do you see anything…unusual?” Sini asked Sora. The ranger shook her head.
Sini went back to the hallway. “I don’t see any sign of a compulsion stone, but I can’t see the whole group well. And it could be under someone’s clothes.”
Will shook his head. “They might not need one any more. Once rumors begin like these, they have a life of their own.”
“You led me to believe that you were something of a hero here,” Sora said to Will, her voice lighter than Sini felt. “But this is exactly how they’d treat you on the Sweep.”
“Let’s hope it’s not that bad yet.” Will shrugged out of his Keeper’s Robe. “But I should probably tuck this away for a bit.”
Roan nodded and motioned for the others to follow. They passed down the stairs and through the common room, heading back into the kitchen. The crowd was louder, and someone pounded on the front door. The sound made Sini jump.
“Give us enough time to get into the trees,” Will told the inn keeper, “and then let them in. We don’t want them harming your inn.” He handed the man a handful of coins. “I’m sorry if we caused you any trouble, and I hope no one is hurt through all this.”
The inn keeper clasped Will’s hand and hurried them through the kitchen and out into the chilly night. Sini ran to the nearby trees. The first hints of dawn were lightening the sky and Sini could feel the first tickles of sunfire.
“Should we try to talk to them?” Sini asked Will as they mounted their horses.
“Probably,” answered Will, “but there are a lot of them, armed, and I’m not interested in having another battle where I have to fight people we’re supposed to protect. There are better ways to fight rumors than with weapons.” He glanced back at the inn. “The inn keeper met us and can attest to the fact that we weren’t monsters.
They rode quickly away from the town, heading southeast. The roads they followed toward the capital were small and little used. The sun rose into a clear sky, and the sunfire on Sini’s cheeks was a welcome warmth. Without Will’s Keeper robe or the Baron’s military uniforms, they didn’t garner much attention.
Pest had disappeared up the road to scout and Roan rode beside Sini. Ahead of them Will and Sora rode together, and Sini thought she’d never seen Will so happy. Or Sora, for that matter. Roan watched the two of them with a narrow expression.
“Stop frowning,” she told him. “It’s good that they’ve found each other.”
Roan gave a noncommittal grunt.
“I like Sora, and if you make any effort to get to know her, you will too. She’s exactly the sort of person a guard would rely on. She’s competent and resourceful and independent. Will’s been lonely for years now. I don’t see how this is bad, unless you’re against the fact that she’s foreign.”
“It’s not that she’s foreign.” He frowned. “Not completely. It’s the fact that she distracts him from more important things.”
“Some people would say that love is the most important thing. And being loved makes people better. Maybe even helps them to do all the other things well.”
“Who says that?”
“Poets, probably,” she said offhand. “You put no stock at all in love, Lord Consort?”
“There’s never been any chance I would marry for love,” Roan said matter-of-factly. “I never expected to marry the h
eir to the throne, but I’ve always known my marriage, like the rest of my life, would serve Greentree more than myself.”
“There’s never been any girl you’ve loved?”
He rubbed his thumb over the saddle horn thoughtfully. “I know you don’t put much stock in the nobility’s formal education, but I’ve been kept busy with it for… ever. Even before I joined the guard, I never had time for chasing girls.” He brushed off the top of the horn with a flick. “And I can’t think of anything my father would have liked less.”
“They would have distracted you from more important things?”
He let out a long, annoyed sound and closed his eyes. “I’m turning into my father.”
“If you want to counter that,” Sini offered, trying not to laugh at him, “you can begin by being happy for Will.”
Roan snorted and she was struck again with how relaxed he was on the road. She’d caught him staring into the distance ahead several times this morning with a tight expression, as though he were waiting for Queenstown to pop over a hill and capture him. Suddenly she felt a pang of pity.
She was reluctant to say the next thing, but she forced herself to before analyzing why. “It’s not unreasonable to think you and Madeleine may end up happy.”
His hand tightened on his reins. “It’s possible. I admire her, which feels like a better start than many I’d imagined.” He glanced at Sini. “I know you’re not fond of her.”
Sini tried to keep a grimace off her face. “You and Will and Alaric all admire her. If I had never met her, your opinions would have been enough. So I suppose I should realize that the problem is my attitude, not her.”
He looked earnestly at Sini. “Give her time to grow used to her new role. Once she is more comfortable and knows you better, she will feel less threatened.”
Sini stared at him. “Threatened? By me? I’ve only met her twice and both times I was dressed in traveling clothes. I didn’t even have my hair combed.”
“It has nothing to do with your hair.” He looked at her thoughtfully. “Although, your lack of concern for the formality of court may be part of what is throwing her off. Someday, assuming we all survive Lukas and his dragon, I imagine you and she will work closely together.” A smile quirked his mouth. “Knowing you both even a little, I rue anyone who tries to stand against you.”
Sini sighed. “I don’t know which is worse. You thinking I’m too young and stupid to do anything, or you thinking I’m more impressive than I am.” She spun her ring. When had what Roan thought begun to matter at all?
Roan laughed. “Just preparing you for palace life, where you’re bound to be disappointing half the court’s expectations at any given moment.”
Grey clouds moved in from the west, and before they’d gone far, the sun was covered and a thin, chill drizzle began. Sini pulled up the hood to her cloak and hunched forward in the saddle, her hands cold on the reins. Pest took a break from scouting ahead, and Roan spurred his horse forward out of sight.
Pest fell in beside Sini, seemingly unbothered by the rain but as quiet as ever. The chill and wet bogged down Sini’s thoughts until they swirled slowly inside her head, finding no good places to settle.
Lukas had raised a Roven army, and two more from Coastal Baylon and Napon. He was looking for a sword that could give him horrible powers, and he’d killed hundreds, maybe thousands, of people in Gulfind for their gold. The people of southern Queensland were worn out and disheartened by all the things Lukas had done to them. The people in the west were nursing a growing hatred for Keepers.
Sini watched Will’s back ahead of her. There were no towns between them and the capital, and he’d donned his Keeper’s robe to ward off the rain. It was comforting to see him in it. For the first time, Sini felt a pang of regret that she had shunned wearing one for so long. It wasn’t a grey slave’s tunic. It didn’t constrain. It was a symbol of what Will aligned himself with. And Alaric. And the Keepers at the Stronghold. Every Keeper throughout history.
The people in the towns around here were wrong about the Keepers, and Sini wished she had a robe of her own to wear in a silent declaration—not that the Keepers owned her, but that she stood with them.
When they reached the palace, it would be time to throw off the lingering trappings of her old life and declare where she stood in her new one. It seemed to have taken an inordinately long time to reach that decision, but it finally felt right.
Sini glanced at Pest. Tiny drops of water beaded on his grey hair. “Did you always dream of being a knife thrower?” She tried to keep her tone light but wasn’t sure she succeeded.
Pest considered the question. “I always dreamed of surviving.” He cast a quick sidelong glance at her. “I grew up in the shadow of the ironworks.”
Sini straightened. “In the Lees?”
He nodded. “Next time you decide to venture in there, take me, not Roan.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“You grew up in the Lees? How did you…? When did…?” Sini pulled her cold hands into her sleeves and searched for the question she really wanted. “No one from the Lees joins the city guard.”
“I’m not exactly in the city guard.”
“But the queen trusts you with something like this.” Sini waved at the group around them. “And Roan obviously has a great deal of faith in you. How did you get where you are?”
Pest was quiet for a long time. The rain continued to cast flecks of chilliness onto her cheeks, no matter how far forward she pulled her hood. She couldn’t see Pest’s face well, and regretted turning the conversation so personal.
“My younger sister and I were raised by our uncle near the ironworks,” he said finally. “If you can call what he did raising. My sister only ate what I could steal. When I was seventeen, I stole from the wrong man.” He smiled wryly. “He was a captain in the queen’s guard, and he tracked me home. Seeing where we lived, he offered me an alternative to being arrested. I could clean the barracks for a year at a small wage. I figured I could find some good things to steal from there, so I accepted. He was smarter than that, though, and I wasn’t allowed even a moment’s privacy. I had no intention of keeping at the job, but it was the first time I had earned regular money, and the first time my sister had eaten regular meals. And so, to my great surprise, I continued cleaning. It wasn’t long before I also helped with training exercises.” He shrugged. “Somewhere along the line I joined the guard.”
“What about your sister?” Sini asked. “Has she found a better place than the Lees?”
Pest nodded. “Not somewhere I’m pleased with, but this current job pays well, and soon I will get her somewhere better.”
“Good.” Sini shifted in her saddle. “I don’t know if I have any power to do…anything, at court. But if you need…anything…” She laughed at the vagueness of it all. “Just ask and I’ll do my best.”
Pest’s attention fixed on Roan riding quickly down the road toward them. He tensed in his saddle until Roan waved.
“Queenstown,” Roan called. “No more than an hour ahead.”
They reached the palace without incident, their party receiving barely any notice at all in the busy streets of the capital. While Will stopped to talk with a steward about a room for Sora, Sini hurried to her own room, desperate to find some warm clothes. Captain Liam once again guarded her door.
“Nice to see you, Daisy,” she greeted him.
“And you, Keeper.”
She found the maid Dalia pouring hot water into a huge basin by the fire. “A hot bath for you, Keeper.” She bobbed off a quick curtsey. “If you’re interested. I thought you must be shiverin’ from this weather.”
“I am very interested.” Sini pulled off her wet boots. “And please just call me Sini.”
“The steward wouldn’t let me keep my job if I did.” Dalia helped Sini off with her wet cloak and began gathering the rest of the damp, dirty traveling clothes.
The heat stung Sini’s skin, but she sank down until her entir
e body was surrounded by the warmth. Dalia stoked the fire and Sini let the heat sink all the way into her bones.
“Have there been any more signs of the intruder?” Sini asked.
“It’s been perfectly quiet. All the extra guards must have scared the fellow off.”
“Good.” Sini rested her head back on the side of the tub. Her eyelids drooped and she let her hands float weightless in the water.
A sharp knock at the door jolted her eyes open. Dalia cracked the door and returned with the message that Sini was expected in the queen’s council. Taking the maid’s offered towel, Sini reluctantly climbed out of the tub. Dalia rummaged in the wardrobe and held up two dresses, one a silvery grey, the other green.
“Green,” Sini said without hesitation.
With Dalia’s help she dressed quickly, and then accepted the maid’s offer to fix her hair. Dalia plaited three thin braids over the top of Sini’s head like a band, holding her hair out of her face, and wound green ribbon between the plaits. The effect was much neater, and much more elegant than anything Sini ever managed. The woman looking back at her from the looking glass still didn’t look refined enough for court, but her dress was tasteful, and her blonde hair curled out in an almost organized fashion around her head.
Sini straightened her shoulders. She went to her wardrobe and pulled out one of three black Keeper’s robes. The fabric felt heavy in her hands. Dalia held it open for her. Before she could change her mind, Sini slipped her arms inside and let the maid settle it on her shoulders.
“Your light hair looks striking against the black,” Dalia said with an encouraging smile.
Closed, the robe was too dark, but Sini left the front open and with the green dress beneath it, it felt…right.
Dalia gave an approving nod. “It suits you.”
Sini smiled at her through the mirror. “More than I ever expected it to.”
One of the handful of guards in the sitting area escorted Sini to the queen’s council. Raised voices came through the door as the guard opened it, and Sini straightened her shoulders before stepping into the room.