Mariah could see Xae’s head nodding up and down in agreement. He looked back once, the relief on his face clear when he saw that she was following, Ruby close at her side. He smiled and turned back, keeping pace with the dark-haired innkeepers’ daughter.
* * *
After they arrived back at the campsite, they spent the whole day discussing what they had learned the day before and planning what they would do next. Mariah refused to say anything further about what had happened with the owl, only that they had fought and she was sure that he wouldn’t be back to bother them. If she focused on what had happened, she wasn’t sure she would be able to move forward with their plans. She kept reminding herself that Xae’s family was at stake.
Xae hadn’t found much on his own scouting mission. On the south side of the city, there were only farms. He had spotted the edge of the army training grounds because, as they had planned, their routes had slightly overlapped.
Shira and Ruby’s walk into the city had been slightly more fruitful in that they had obtained the goods that Shira wanted to bring back to the Hideaway and had overheard some news that might be helpful to them.
“It seems that his majesty is making another push into Adis Ador. According to rumors around the market, he’s pullin’ every fighter he’s got from Varidian, even ones not done with trainin’. They said that the way he’s going, in a week’s time, only a few will be left in the city or at the trainin’ grounds. If Mariah here found your sisters and you can wait, boy, that could give us a better chance of getting ‘em out. The children won’t do the king much good in a military push like that.”
Mariah nodded. “I found them.” She pulled up her knees to her chest. “They were easy to spot, Xae. They look just like you, only with longer hair.”
“They’re alive?” His voice was so soft it was almost a squeak.
“Yes.” She refused to say more, to elaborate on their condition. She needed Xae to stay calm, to stay with them and not go haring off until they had a solid plan. “There were guards at the camp that would take groups of children out, to work the farms, I think. There were others at the camp. Cam was right, Shira. There were a few people there too old to be soldiers.” Too ragged, too beaten down. “They wore the Ceo San cuffs on their arms but not the armor. And there were others without the cuffs. They seemed to be in charge of things like cooking.” Cleaning the latrines. Distracting the soldiers.
“Citizens?” Shira asked.
Mariah shook her head. “I don’t think so. A couple of times, I heard the children call for them.” Mommy! It’s okay. I won’t let them hurt you. I promise. I’ll do everything they say. “I think they were loved ones, there to keep the children in line.”
“What do you mean?”
“Xae, I watched for hours, looking for some sign of your sisters. They returned to the camp late in the afternoon—that’s why I flew back so late. When they returned, they were led to a tent. A woman was waiting for them. They … they hugged her. She was older than me by ten summers or so and not much taller than you with long, wheat-colored hair.”
“My mother?” He confirmed her suspicions. “She’s alive?”
Mariah nodded. “I believe they are holding parents and maybe other loved ones there to keep the Ceo San children from running, or flying, away.”
The discussion continued from there and quickly turned into an argument. Xae wanted to leave first thing in the morning and rush headlong into a rescue. Mariah and Shira both argued for waiting. The fewer soldiers that were available anywhere nearby, the less chance that they would encounter significant resistance.
As much as she didn’t want to, in the end, Mariah had to point out that if there were fewer soldiers nearby, there was more of a chance that everyone, his mother and sisters included, would survive and actually escape to live another day.
“It will do us no good if we go in there and get ourselves killed. Your family, if they survive, will be condemned to lives as slaves. What life will that be like for your sisters? How can a raven serve a king? As a spy? As a death omen? They will be constantly risking death or living in the presence of it. Is that what you want for them?”
Xae stared hard at her, his black eyes furious. “How could you say that?”
“Because it’s true, Xae. This is no small thing we’re attempting. A few small people against a whole camp protected by the king’s faithful? A few small people who are wanted themselves by the king simply because of what we are? We must take what advantages we can if we’re to have even a sliver of a chance at success.”
The memory of the owl man’s cuff—it had scars around it like the ones of the man in the marketplace, as if it had been melted onto his skin—rose in her memory. She didn’t want that life for herself, but she wanted it for her friends even less. The chances of retrieving Xae’s family and living to tell the tale were slim. She clamped her jaw shut on the sudden desire to try to convince them that it was hopeless, that they should just try to save themselves and go home, back to Cillian.
But Cillian was not Xae’s home. His home was where his family was, and his family was here and in grave danger.
Xae looked away from her and was silent for a long time. He kicked at the ground and paced around, picking up several flat rocks and throwing them, one at a time, out over the lake.
“Did you see my uncle?” Ruby’s question interrupted Mariah’s quiet observation of the boy.
She looked at the young woman and shook her head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t, but I couldn’t see the whole camp from my vantage point. We’ll find a way to check again when we go back. If he’s not there …”
“We’ll get the children to safety first. Then, we can resume the search.”
Mariah nodded in relief as Xae returned.
“Okay. We wait. Do we stay here the whole time?” He looked around at the little clearing, with the stream on one side and the lake on the other.
“No, we need to keep moving.” The possibility that the owl man’s master would come looking for him kept nagging at Mariah. “But I have an idea.”
Mariah suggested that they move a little every day, in a wide arc until they came to the small forest that bordered the drudge camp on the seventh or eighth day. She reasoned that Shira and Ruby would have to walk the whole way anyway, so if they kept moving, they could stay together
* * *
Over the next week, they walked, they hunted and fished when they could, mostly in animal form, and Shira and Xae grilled Mariah over and over about what she had seen at the camp. She was sure that with all of their questions, they had pulled out every detail that she might have forgotten.
There were long periods of silence. Mariah felt exposed when Laikos finally gave up its grip on the land and they walked over the hills that bordered the Highlands. After their experience with the owl, they kept an eye overhead for spies. Sometimes one of them, Mariah or Xae, would transform and scout ahead, keeping a lookout and finding the path ahead that was the least populated. Their goal was to be seen by as few people as possible on their way to their destination. If no one saw them, then no one had anything to be suspicious of. They were largely successful. The land felt abandoned with only occasional evidence of habitation. They spent one night in the shelter of an abandoned barn, whose roof provided only minimal protection from a sudden downpour. Mostly, they continued to sleep outdoors, finding whatever refuge they could in ravines and in the shadows of boulders and trees.
As Mariah had planned, they arrived at the far northeast corner of the little wood on the afternoon of the eighth day out from the mouth of the lake.
CHAPTER 28
DARK UNDERTAKING
Night had fallen hours before, and the drudge camp was dark and quiet except for the occasional sound of a guard walking the perimeter, his armor creaking and clinking as he walked. As far as they had been able to tell, only two guards were on duty, although there was one more at the front gate, facing the farms, and
half a dozen more most likely sleeping in one of the larger tents toward the middle.
There was a smaller gate near the back of the circular barricade. As the little group had silently observed over the last day and a half, guards or their charges sometimes used the little gate to enter the forest to gather wood or berries or get water from the little stream nearby. Between this experience and her day of watching the week before, Mariah had noted that children left the camp only in the company of guards. The other adults left the camp only by themselves, one at a time.
Xae and Mariah watched the camp from the branches above, their bird forms hidden well by the branches and green leaves. On his single pass over the camp, the boy had spotted a group of animal cages along the inside of the wall they now faced.
Shira and Ruby had transformed as well, but they spent most of the daylight hours hidden in a small rocky cave about a half mile away. Brown bears were not common in this part of Varidian, although wolves were not unheard of, but none of them wanted to draw attention to themselves. Before they arrived near the children’s camp, they had agreed that Shira should stay in animal form as much as possible. If no one ever caught sight of her human form, they wouldn’t be able to trace her back to her family or her home in Grof. Well, Mariah and Xae had agreed and had basically bullied Shira into it. Ruby had refused to be a part of it. It was simply that Mariah did not want to repay her new friend’s kindness with the pain of being hunted for the rest of her life. If anyone found out what had happened outside Kannuk, it might already be too late.
Earlier that afternoon, as Mariah had hoped she would, Xae’s mother had emerged from the back gate, basket in hand. Simone Tamsin, her blond hair tied back from her face and her sleeves pushed far up her arms, had walked far into the woods to the south, a good hour from the camp. Flying as quietly as they could, Xae and Mariah had followed. Along the edge of the woods, Simone had started gathering wild blueberries from the low-growing bushes that bordered them.
It wasn’t until Simone had settled down on her knees in the patch of bushes and began picking that Mariah clicked her beak at Xae and nodded. They had agreed that their bird cries carried too far to risk using them this close to the camp. Mariah watched as the raven flew down and circled his mother in a small arc before landing on a branch about ten feet in front of her. She must have heard the fluttering of his wings because she looked up immediately, her back to Mariah.
From her viewpoint in a tree close by, Mariah saw Simone’s body go rigid as she stared at the bird before her. In a series of movements that seemed like an old remembered ritual, Xae hopped down from the branch to the ground and walked toward his mother. When he stood directly before her, he spread his wings out to the side, tips to the ground, and bowed his head.
Simone’s hand flew to her mouth, but Mariah heard the sob escape anyway before Simone caught her breath and began speaking in a harsh whisper. Her voice shook. “You shouldn’t have come. Xae, you must leave. You must. They’ll catch you. It’s bad, so much worse than we ever imagined. You must go.”
In an instant, Xae transformed, and he looked more like a little boy than Mariah had ever seen. “Mother! Please. Don’t make me go!”
Simone immediately gathered him into her arms, the basket falling aside, fat blueberries rolling out onto the dirt.
“I’m not alone, Mother,” Xae said into her ear as she held him tightly. “I have friends.” His eyes traveled up to Mariah. “We’ve come to get you and the girls out of here, to take you somewhere safe. I found somewhere safe, Mother, across the sea.”
Simone took her son by the shoulders and pushed him back. “They’ll catch you, Xae. I couldn’t bear it if another one of my children became a slave.”
His lips compressed into a thin line, and he laid his hands over his mother’s. “I would rather become a slave or even die than be separated from you or the girls again. With or without your help, we will try.”
She was silent for a long time, and Mariah wondered if the tears on Xae’s face were reflected on his mother’s.
Finally, Simone nodded and whispered, “I will help,” and Xae started to tell her about his friends and what they had planned.
* * *
They had waited until night had fallen and the camp had quieted. Now it was time.
Shira knew it, too. She waited with Ruby at the bottom of the tree. She had been acting antsy all afternoon, ever since she had learned through Simone about the cages where the guards kept uncontrolled Ceo San, ones who were periodically rounded up and taken to Glenley. Xae’s mother, like the other prisoners, hadn’t been allowed near them, but she had heard growls that could have belonged to a wolf.
As soon as Mariah had told her, Shira had insisted that they check those cages first, free Faylan if he was there. Her eyes had glazed over, and she had begun to scratch at her arm.
“It’s the binding,” Ruby said in a quiet voice.
“Why don’t I feel it?” Mariah asked.
“I don’t know,” the young woman responded simply, “but I will take care of your friend.” She took a deep breath and spoke in an odd voice. Mariah got the feeling that she wasn’t used to speaking sternly. “You have done your duty and have found my kin. Your job now is to help free the children so that I can help my uncle.” She had needed to repeat it several times before Shira had calmed and started looking like herself again.
The whole thing had disturbed Mariah then, and now that they were about to go into the camp, she worried about whether Ruby’s commands would hold.
Shira struck a short rhythm of three beats on the trunk with her huge paw, and the movement vibrated up the tree. By the time Mariah registered it, Xae was already gone.
She waited, picking up her talons and resettling herself on her branch every few moments just to do something with her nervous energy. Simone had told Xae that during the day the gates were left open, but at night, they were locked. It was too dangerous to make a rescue attempt while it was still light and everyone was awake and milling about anyway, but most residents of the camp slept at night. They kept the gate keys on a table inside their tent, which was the largest one and was situated in the middle of the camp. Xae’s job was to retrieve the keys and bring them to Mariah. Simone would wait and make sure her daughters were ready.
An eternity seemed to pass while Mariah stood on her branch. Shira rumbled softly at the bottom of the tree, and Mariah clicked her beak at her, willing her to be quiet. The bear fell silent after blowing out air in a brief huff. The next breeze brought with it the flutter of wings and a small jingling sound. Xae landed next to Mariah, long black keys on a ring cradled in one claw.
Mariah carefully took them from him. After a deep breath, she swooped down through the trees until she was only about six feet from the gate. In the deep darkness next to the shadow of a tall oak, she changed. Wings flapped overhead. Xae was keeping watch and would let her know when the guard walking the perimeter had reached the far side of the wall, where he was less likely to notice her.
After a few minutes, sharp claws dug into her shoulder. She stifled a gasp before nodding to Xae. He took off again, this time perching on one of the sharpened logs that made up the wall of the drudge camp. His inky body blended with the night sky, almost disappearing into it. Mariah moved to the gate. The darkness on this side of the barricade was nearly complete, and she had to use one hand to feel for the hole in the lock and the other to slip the key inside.
The gate was made of the same tall logs as the walls themselves, but they were cut to a height just greater than that of an average man. The sweat that slicked the inside of Mariah’s hands made it exceedingly difficult to maintain her grip on the key and turn it properly. And why did it have to creak like the floorboards in her old house? Visions of Magnus floated through her mind. Magnus well and working with her and then injured. She could have sworn she smelled his burned flesh on the wind. Her heart was in her throat, and her knuckles hurt as she took a deep, sh
aky breath and shoved the key to the left, finally unlocking the gate.
As soon as the door was open, Mariah waved at Xae, who was watching her intently, his head unnaturally still.
He looked at her a moment more before he flew off. Then, Mariah pulled the gate open, holding it for Shira and Ruby. The bear looked up at her and nudged her snout under the hand that hung at Mariah’s side. “I’m okay,” she lied in a whisper. “Just hurry.”
Shira huffed softly and then lumbered through the opening, her flanks pushing against the sides of it as she passed. Mariah opened her hand, letting Ruby take the key with her teeth, stepped through, and immediately transformed. She flew up and landed on Shira’s broad shoulders. She felt safe there, the phantom smell of her father’s burns seeming to have dispersed. They had agreed to get the children out first, but Mariah’s gaze kept straying toward the spot where the cages were, hoping Shira—or rather the binding Loleon had placed on her—didn’t change her mind.
She forced her gaze back to the center of the camp. Torches on stands near the middle of the camp cast irregular light and shadows through the rows of tents. Mariah kept her gaze on the right side of the nearest row for movement as she listened for sounds of the guard returning.
After no more than two minutes had passed, Mariah thought she heard the whooshing sound of a tent flap and then low murmurs. Stepping from foot to foot, she hoped fervently that she was right about how much better her hearing was than that of the average human. Shira shook her body slightly, reminding Mariah that her sharp claws could get through her layers of fur to the sensitive skin beneath. She stilled and listened again.
Soft steps headed their way before Mariah spotted three forms emerging from between two rows of tents toward the wall of the camp. Her sight was much less acute than her hearing in the dark, but Mariah could tell by the shadows that two of the forms were smaller than the other by about a foot.
Whispers reached her ears in the darkness. “See? Xae’s friends will protect me. We’re not alone anymore. You must change. Go with your brother. Now!” The last word was muttered in the firm voice that only a parent was capable of, one she had heard Bria use so many times on Lia and Levin. She hoped she would be there to hear it again, but she pushed the thought away as soon as it formed. Her muscles twitched. The tension was too much. She lifted off Shira’s back to perch on top of the gate. Ruby paced tightly, her eyes scanning the darkness in every direction.
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