Be strong, Ivy. You trained for this Mission. Hold fast…
Hatred for the humans soured my stomach like bad meat. They were what nightmares were made of. They killed and injured without question or remorse. And I no longer wanted to be one of them. I didn’t want the human blood that flowed through me.
“Stop this!” my aunt screamed, pushing through the crowd. “She’s my niece. You cannot do this to her. She’s one of us.”
“She is nothing like us,” Uncle John spat. “Our sister was a fool to fall for such an abomination.”
“You best quiet yourself, Margaret Weathers, or the village might see you punished alongside them,” the earl said.
Margaret looked helpless. Nothing she said deterred the onslaught of violence. The crowds closed in to have a closer look. My head pounded with agony, blood trickling from my hairline as kids threw stones at me. Rotten fruit ran into my eyes as others tossed food at us. Adults came close enough to spit and curse. With each person that came by, the humiliation and hatred grew.
And as the sun dropped in the sky, the earl had us moved to a cage outside so everyone could continue to torment us through the night. The only thing that kept me going was the sweet thought of revenge.
“Dorian?” I whispered, sitting on the hay floor next to him.
“I—I’m okay.” He opened a swollen eye to glance at me. “Tomorrow, no matter what happens during the hunt, I want you to make a break for the woods and don’t look back. I’ll find a way to keep them off your trail.”
I stiffened. “No. I’m not going home without you.”
“Ivy, this isn’t negotiable. You’re my sister, and I will protect you.”
With the back of my hand, I moved to wipe my eyes. It couldn’t end this way. It couldn’t.
“You’re not trying to go to sleep, are you?” A guard poked Dorian in the side with a large stick.
I cringed with pain but managed to stand. “Sure, you arse, does it look like he can sleep with you jabbing that damn thing at him every few minutes? Back off.”
He growled. “And what are you going to do about it?”
My lips twisted into a wicked smile. “Are you sure you want to know? Because goblins have ways of getting inside a human’s head. A way of chomping up their bones and making them beg for mercy.”
The guard backed up, his eyes wide as if he wasn’t sure if he should believe me or not. At last, he moved away from the cage and stood watch closer to the castle wall.
“That probably wasn’t a good idea,” Dorian said.
I laughed. “What are they going to do, kill me?”
“That’s not funny.” He touched my ankle.
A swish of skirts sounded, and I glanced up to see Margaret hurrying across the yard, followed closely by Pudge and Grr.
“What are you doing here?” I dropped to my knees, holding tight to the bars.
“The earl said I can bring you a last meal later tonight. I told him goblin or not, you’re still my relative and you deserve at least that much.” Margaret’s eyes welled with tears. “So tell me what you need me to do, child.”
“Have you heard from the others?” I asked Pudge.
“No—I’ve sent three messages.”
“Shit. Maybe something happened. Listen, Pudge, you and my aunt need to get as far away from here as possible, and don’t turn back.” I touched my aunt’s frail arm.
“You’re all that’s left of my sister,” she said. “I won’t desert you.”
“Neither will I.” Pudge stared at me. “You’re my best friend, Ivy.”
Our eyes met, and for a moment, I imagined what my life with Pudge could’ve been like. Sitting in front of a fire, eating stew, Grr curled up at our feet. I thought about the pranks we could still play back home and about hunting together in the woods. About our kiss, the one that made me feel things that I didn’t think were possible. How could I say goodbye to that? To him?
“I need for you to be safe.” I grasped the sleeve of his tunic. “You mean the world to me.”
A strange look crossed his features, and he smiled. “You’re stubborn as a dragon. I snuck out after curfew for you. I helped you break into the Archives. I’ve jumped into fights for you. Do you really think I’m going to leave you behind?”
“If you were smart, you would.”
“You know I’m not.” He entwined his fingers through mine.
That’s where he was wrong. He was smart. Strong. Perfect. The one person I couldn’t live without. If nothing else, the Mission opened my eyes. And it proved that I loved him. I loved Pudge. He’d been my rock. My friend. My everything. We’d been inseparable since infancy. I hadn’t recognized the signs until now. How could it end like this? After tomorrow, we’d be parted forever. Tears streamed down my cheeks, the ache in my chest unbearable. Now, I think I understood more of what my father went through when he lost my mother.
“We’ll be back tonight with your meal,” Margaret said. She caught Pudge’s arm and led him away.
I hoped she knew what she was getting herself into. If there was one thing I owed her before I left, it was my uncle’s head on a stake. And I planned on delivering it.
Chapter Thirty-Two
The air turned crisp, the moon lighting the sky like a large lantern. Already, I felt my strength returning. Laughter and music came from the tents surrounding the castle, knights and squires readying for the tournament, which would finish up the next day.
The scents of campfires and tobacco wafted around us, and I coughed, trying not to disturb Dorian. He lay with his head cradled in my lap. I wished he’d quit shivering. But I had no blanket or coat to throw over him, only my skirts.
“Please, hang in there,” I said. “We’ll get out of here soon.”
He shifted, groaning from the slight movement. Then I saw Pudge glamoured as a guard, heading toward the cage.
“Captain Markson said I’m to relieve you,” Pudge said to the guard with us, his voice like gravel. “He wants you posted at the dungeon instead. I’ll need the keys for the cage in case Earl Hamden wants it opened ahead of the hunt tomorrow.”
The other guard grabbed his flask and weapon, handing the keys over to Pudge. “Have fun. It’s colder than a January snowstorm out here, and staring at those monsters doesn’t help any.”
Once the guard disappeared from sight, Grr trotted out of the shadows, and I slid from under Dorian’s head and stood.
“Hold on.” Pudge unlocked the cage, handing me my sword. “Your aunt has one of her carriages waiting just around the corner. We need to get Dorian and go.”
Sheathing my sword at my side, I bent down and caught Dorian beneath one of his arms while Pudge came around to the other side to help him up.
“Can you walk?” I asked my brother.
“I’ll manage.” His legs wobbled as we aided him across the yard.
“Hey, where are you taking them?” a familiar voice sounded from behind us.
I went still, catching Pudge’s glance. Great—how were we going to get rid of Frederik?
“Answer me, guard. Who ordered the prisoners to be moved?” He walked to block our path.
Pudge’s glamour shimmered, but of course Frederik didn’t notice. All he saw was what we wanted him to.
“Milord, I was told to move them back to the dungeon. Earl Hamden wanted to make sure they were alive for the hunt tomorrow,” Pudge said.
Frederik’s eyes narrowed. “I just came from my father’s study. He made no mention of moving the prisoners.” He reached for his sword.
Releasing Dorian, I unsheathed my weapon and knocked Frederik’s blade from his hand, the Sword of Avarik pressed against his throat.
“You won’t get away,” he snarled.
I chuckled. “Just so you know, I’m not the damsel I pretended to be.”
He cupp
ed his hands to his mouth, ready to scream. But I was too quick. With the pommel of my sword, I struck the side of his head, and he dropped to the ground, knocked out.
“Quick, we need to move him before someone else sees us.” I hefted his legs up while Pudge set my brother on the ground and took the other end of Frederik. Together, we carried him to the cage and locked him in.
We were running out of time. Soon someone would notice the earl’s son missing. Hurrying back to Dorian, we helped him to his feet and headed out to Margaret.
Right when we got to the gate, a cloaked figure stepped from behind the shadows. I gripped tight to my sword. “Milady, I think I owe you a debt of gratitude for the information about my brother,” Lord Victor said. “We were able to rescue him while you were in the courtyard.”
“Then why are you still here?”
“To make sure you can escape. Contrary to what the Hamdens say, my family is honorable. Now, go; we’ll blockade the drawbridge so they can’t follow—at least not right away.”
“Thank you.” I started to move with Dorian again, then stopped. “You know that I’m a goblin, right?”
He shoved his hood back and smiled. “Yes. Quickly, you must go.”
Lord Victor was joined by several men, all dressed in black cloaks, heading for the drawbridge. Maybe all humans weren’t bad after all.
My aunt waited for us by the stone wall, the hood of her cloak drawn over her head. She held a basket with food in it, and parked next to her were two carriages.
We managed to get Dorian into the backseat, and then I turned to Margaret. “Thank you for taking me in and helping me get my brother back.”
Setting the basket down, she hugged me. “I’m sorry things turned out this way. I’d have liked more time with you.” She rubbed my hair out of my face. “Ivy, I know your experience here probably wasn’t what you thought it would be. But I hope you will not judge all humans by this.”
I closed my eyes, inhaling her rose perfume. This was what I imagined hugging my mother would be like.
I nodded. She was right—I couldn’t judge them all, because she was human and my mother had been, too. “I love you,” I said. “And hope I wasn’t a disappointment.”
She smiled, eyes glistening. “You will never be a disappointment.” Her glance shifted to the castle. “My driver will see you to the outskirts of the Hamden estate and beyond mine, then it’ll be up to you to go on foot.”
“Before I go,” I said, “I need to take care of John.”
“No. I won’t let you bloody your hands.” She tilted my chin with her finger. “You’re better than that. He’ll get his in the end.”
She stepped back, ushering me toward the carriage, where Pudge, Grr, and Dorian awaited me.
“You could come with us, you know,” I said.
Margaret smiled but shook her head. “I belong here, Ivy. And I’ve got a last supper to deliver. Someone has to see me coming in with the basket so they don’t implicate me. Now get going.” She helped secure the door, giving me a wave. “Oh, I’ve sent a few things with you. They’re in your pack.”
I peeked out the window, watching my aunt climb into the other carriage. It circled around to the front of the castle as if she just arrived. My heart hammered in my ears as we drove away from the Hamden estate.
“Here, I brought you these to change into.” Pudge held up a tunic, breeches, and a pair of boots.
“Thank you.” I grinned, taking the clothes. “Mind turning around while I change?”
He kept his gaze on Grr as I struggled to get the dress over my head. The fabric stuck to some of my wounds. A cry fell from my lips, and I stopped tugging.
“Here, let me help.” Pudge moved to the seat beside me. “Your aunt sent salve along to put on both you and Dorian. She said it’d help keep the infection out.”
He counted to three, then carefully pulled me free from the gown. Bending at the waist, I covered my bare chest with the tunic and slipped my hair over my shoulder, out of the way of his fingers, as he layered salve on the gashes. It stung so bad that I bit down on my wadded-up tunic to keep from crying out.
“Sorry,” he said, his fingers tracing gently over my wounds.
“I know.”
Once he finished, I wriggled into my change of clothes, then moved to get Dorian changed and fixed up. Seeing his condition made me ill. Scarred, scabbed, and cut, there wasn’t a part of him that wasn’t bruised and swollen. And I wondered how he’d survived. With trembling hands, I used an old tunic of mine from my pack as a rag and dumped water on it to clean him.
My hands worked nimbly. When he tensed, I stopped patching him up until he relaxed again.
“Do you have any food we can give him?” I asked.
Pudge rummaged through his pack, pulling out some salted pork and a hunk of bread. “He can have this.”
Between the two of us, we managed to sit Dorian upright. He took the food and tore into it like he hadn’t eaten in weeks. My gut twisted again. Hag, they’d hurt him so bad.
“You have to slow down, Dorian.” I clamped my hand over his as he attempted to shovel a handful of crumbled bread in his mouth. “You’ll get sick.” I undid the top on my water skin and helped him take a sip.
“Sorry,” he said. “All they gave me down there was a chunk of moldy bread every couple of days.”
Pudge met my gaze, horror evident in his eyes. He shook his head as if he didn’t believe this happened.
Soon the carriage rolled to a stop on the hillside overlooking the valley beyond Weathers Castle.
“Godspeed,” the driver said, and we disembarked, packs slung over our shoulders.
“Thank you,” I said. “Please tell my aunt I wish her well. And not to worry.”
He nodded, then slapped the reins against the horses, and the carriage jostled into motion. My eyes followed it for a moment before I turned to Pudge, Dorian, and Grr.
“We better get moving. I don’t think it’ll take long for the earl to realize we’re gone,” I said. Even with Victor aiding us, I wasn’t sure how long they’d be able to keep everyone barricaded inside.
“Foolish monster, did you honestly think you would escape unnoticed?” Uncle John stepped out from behind a tree. “I knew your aunt would try to rescue you, just as she did last time.”
I reached for my sword. “Pudge, take Dorian and go. Now.”
“Ivy,” Pudge said.
John held up a crossbow, pointing it right at my head. “Don’t move, or I’ll pull the trigger.”
“Pudge, he’s going to shoot anyway. Go!”
I met his gaze. Hag, I hope he trusted me. Pudge gripped Dorian’s arm and ran.
My body ached, but I used the distraction and rolled on the ground, hopping up on my feet next to my uncle. With a quick flip of my wrist, I used my weapon to dislodge the crossbow from his hands.
“No!” He dove toward it, but I raised my blade, plunging it through his midsection. Eyes wide, he stared at me, then down at the blood seeping from his wound. He fell to his knees, clutching his chest.
“That is for my mother.” I bent down so our faces were even. “And for everything you put my aunt through. You better pray your god has more mercy than me.”
With that, I slid the sword out of him and wiped it off on my cloak, then hurried to catch back up to Pudge. I would not allow myself to feel bad for what I did. It was either him or us.
Pudge gave me a relieved look when I rejoined them. “Don’t ever make me choose like that again.”
“Sorry, but I needed the distraction.”
He nodded. “I know.”
Dorian walked between Pudge and me, Grr loping along behind us. I wanted to run to the border but doubted my brother’s ability to handle it. Instead, we snuck quietly through the shadows of night. Trees billowed around us when the wind picked up.
I stared at the clouded sky.
Boom! A clap of thunder shook the ground beneath our feet. Sheets of rain pelted our skin, soaking into the fabric of our clothes. Though the weather didn’t help Dorian, I knew the downpour swept our tracks away, leaving no trace for the earl to follow.
Water puddled on the trail, splashing onto my breeches. Dorian stumbled, and Pudge reached out to steady him.
“Can you take my pack?” Pudge asked. “I think he might need a hand.”
We stopped long enough for me to take on the extra load, and then Pudge turned to Dorian.
“Sorry, this might be uncomfortable.” He hefted Dorian up over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, then started walking.
Dorian groaned. “I’m holding you two back.”
“No, you’re not,” I said. “We came here for you, and we’re not leaving without you.” Then I saw them.
Beaurick and Perci lying faceup, their throats cut. I covered my mouth to keep from crying out. No wonder they hadn’t responded. But where was Cray?
“Pudge?”
“Shit cakes.” He set Dorian down, dropping to his knees beside Beaurick. “Who did this?”
“I don’t know. But I doubt it was the humans; they would’ve taken their heads as trophies.” If it wasn’t them, then who was it? “D-do you see Cray’s body?” My voice broke.
“No. Maybe he got away.”
In the distance, I heard the sound of hounds. Were they Uncle John’s? I doubted Earl Hamden could’ve gotten through just yet.
“We have to go, Ivy.”
“What about the bodies?” My eyes welled. Shit. They didn’t deserve this. These were Dorian’s friends. My classmates.
“There’s no time to bury them. We need to move.” Pudge hefted Dorian up again.
I knew he was right. So I bent down and shut their eyes with my hand. “Rest well, my friends.” Then I tore their family insignias from their tunics and put them in my pack. It was the only thing I’d be able to return home to their loved ones.
Where There Be Humans Page 25