Choosing to ignore the obvious irony, Cressi smoothed back the fringe of hair plastered to Nate’s forehead. “I’ve already given him something for the fever. He should come around soon.”
“We’ll leave him to rest then. You and I need to get to know each other better.”
As Doone pulled the covers up closer to Nate’s face, Cressi winced at the nauseating funk of fever filling the air.
“I need to stay until he’s well,” she said, masking her revulsion behind a smile.
“Devoted, aren’t you?” Doone ran his hands along his shirtsleeves before clasping them together at his chest. “A worthy attribute. I like it. We’ll find Crafty and have him keep an eye. They could use some time together.”
“I’ll wait for his arrival then.” Though half Doone’s size, Cressi refused to budge.
It was a dangerous play. She could see the anger sparking inside him, a bonfire on the edge of combusting. He might just as soon cut her down where she stood than let her live another minute. But he needed her, that much was clear. Even though he had her brews strapped to his back, if he was half as smart as he thought he was, he’d know they were useless without her. As long as she didn’t overplay her hand, she might be able to run the board.
“All right, charmer,” Doone relented. “You wait here. I’ll be back shortly, Crafty in tow.”
As soon as he’d gone, Cressi peeled back the two blankets covering Nate. She smelled the quilt first. Other than must and a bit of mold, it was without secrets. But one whiff of the wool blanket was all it took to recognize that it was riddled with disease, as if the fever had been woven into the very fibers.
No wonder the charm hadn’t yet begun to work.
Were the fire still lit Cressi would’ve burned the vile thing, but with no other choice she dropped the infested blanket in the farthest corner of the room.
She turned to go back to Nate’s side, but something about the blanket was bothering her. Why? There was nothing particularly special about it. Every guard in the Land had been issued the same one. Cressi remembered when the shipment arrived at the Manor, it was right after she’d been put into service. The guards lauded it over the other servants that they’d be warm at night while the others would be left shivering under thin tattered coverings.
New blankets that only the guards received.
The same guards who were falling to the fever.
Cressi burst with hope at the revelation. Not only had she found a cure, but she’d very well found the source of the fever and who was behind it!
A short time later, Nate awoke.
“Is it really you?” he whispered.
“Fully and completely,” Cressi said, relief raising goosebumps on her skin.
“You got tired of wiping the heir’s chin, did you?” Nate pulled himself up. “Finally realized I’ve been right all this time. Did you bring any others with you? Pervis?”
“Just me.”
“That’s all right. We’re going to free them. All of them. Doone asked me to help with the plans. He has these amazing things called grenades. You’ve got to see them, they’re magic!”
Cressi could see the color returning to his cheeks as he spoke. “I can’t believe you’re here. That rat was actually right about you.”
“Who was right about me?”
“No one you need to know,” Nate grumbled. “Just a lying ground-snipe who tried to tell me Doone wasn’t who I thought he was. He’s the one who wasn’t who I thought he was. I bet he’s not even the cordwainer’s apprentice.”
So Crafty, the lying ground-snipe, was Beau. Cressi thought about playing the innocent, not letting on the truth. But there was no time for that.
“You’re right,” she said. “He wasn’t who you thought he was.”
“I knew it!” Nate crowed. “Wait . . . how do you know?”
“Because . . .” Cressi shifted in her seat. “He’s the heir, Nate.”
“What?” Nate turned bright red, his lips curling and eyes narrowing. He tried to lever himself out of bed but was still too weak. “Where is he? I’ll run him throu—”
“Listen to me. You’ve got it all wrong.” Cressi gently pushed Nate back into his pillows. “I did too. Believe me, he’s not his father. He’s honest to a fault, and the best chance we have.”
Nate recoiled from her touch as if she were a viper winding up to strike. “Do you even hear yourself? Defending that lying sack. Doone is our only future, Cressi!”
“He is not.” Cressi fought to hold his gaze. “We are. You, me, Beau, the people of this Land. With our support, Beau can make change possible. If I didn’t believe it with all I have, I wouldn’t have convinced Barger to let me try to bring you both back.”
Nate went from red to white and back to red. “You told them I’d run?”
“I had to. It was the only way Barger would let me come find you. Here, I’ll show you.” Cressi pulled the pawn from her pocket and held it out to Nate. “This pawn tells me where Beau is. It’s some kind of connection to him. It’s been helping me, guiding me. Look, take it, maybe you’ll feel it too.”
Nate looked from the pawn back to Cressi. With his hair plastered to his forehead with sweat and his eyes still glazed and bleary, he remained still for a number of very uncomfortable moments.
“You . . . you sold me out for him,” he finally said, the words sticking in his throat.
“Never would I.” Cressi reached for Nate’s forehead. “Are you still fevered?”
Nate shook off her hold as he pulled himself up to sitting. “I’ll give you twenty minutes before I tell Doone you’ve run. That’ll give you time to get up into the woods.” His voice was cool and even, no emotion at all. “After that you’re on your own.”
“What’s happened to you?” Cressi reached for him again, but he pushed her away, his strength clearly returning.
“I’ve found what I’ve been looking for! You’ve never understood, never saw it.” Nate shook his head in pity. “You’re just like him, aren’t you? Too blind to see the future for what it is.”
“I’m blind?” Cressi laughed.
“You’re on the losing side. A choice that you’ll pay for with all you have.” Nate drilled each word deep into her core. “Don’t say I didn’t try to warn you.”
If she didn’t know better Cressi might’ve thought Nate had been charmed, but the only magic at play was blind loyalty. And pride. He’d spent his entire life believing one day Doone would save them all. Of course he couldn’t see the monster hiding in plain sight. That would mean he’d have to admit everything he’d built his life on was wrong.
Serving Doone was the only thing Nate had ever wanted, maybe it was time to let him be. Leave him to learn the truth for himself.
“I’ll take the twenty minutes.” Cressi gathered her wrap around her shoulders. “I hope you’re still good for your word.”
“I’m not the one who ratted out a friend to Barger,” Nate shot back. “Now go, before I change my mind!”
Chapter Thirty-Two
The Arrival
Beau fought to throw the dark off, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t summon the strength to resist its stifling pull.
And yet, even as he was immobilized, gone was the searing pain, the heat, the burn. The ground, which had been so hot, was cooler now. Even the stink of the sand somehow smelled more like jasmine and honey. Shadows and light played against his closed lids, teasing him with the promise of safety waiting for him somewhere above the surface. If only he could reach it.
Then came the sound. A whine? A call?
Puzzle?
He tried to call her, but his tongue lay heavy in his mouth. Trying to piece his thoughts together was like doing one of those riddle games he had when he was young. Nothing fit. No matter how hard he’d tried, a square peg would never fit inside a round hole.
Unless, as Fledge once suggested, Beau shaved off the sides. Changed the rules.
With that thought, an anger as
hot as the sand began to rise from deep inside Beau. No matter how heavy or murky or unyielding the dark, he wasn’t ready to stop fighting. Not when there was so much at stake, so many other lives at risk—Cressi, the children of Mastery House, the people of the Land. Let it try to swallow him whole; he wouldn’t surrender.
Pushing, pulling, testing, Beau fought to lift his lids. At first all was a blur. Shapes were formless, shadows everywhere. But slowly, slowly the fog began to dissipate. Lines began to come into focus; colors bled in through the gray.
“He’s waking,” came a voice.
“About time,” another replied.
“Beau.” The first voice returned. “Can you see me?”
Several more blinks to clear the fog and a face came into view. A halo of brown hair framing heavy-lidded green eyes hovered inches above his own.
Cressi?
Beau stared at the face in front of him. So much about it was familiar, the shape of the nose, the cut of the jaw. And yet if it was Cressi, she wasn’t as he’d remembered. This girl’s hair was lighter, and she was smaller. More angular.
“Sit him up. Maybe that will help.”
Beau felt a pair of strong hands pull him, snapping the world into focus. A rough-hewn cabin. A bed. His right leg wrapped in a linen cloth.
He looked at the girl again. She definitely wasn’t Cressi, although she looked similar. But before he could ask who she was, a new face entered the frame. Long braids flanking sun-worn cheeks. It wasn’t an old face, but there was nothing youthful about it either. The lines etched into the forehead carried the weight of the world. The eyes had the look of having seen too much.
“Told you,” the world-worn woman said. “Get him up and walking.”
The girl who wasn’t Cressi hesitated. “I think he needs a few minutes to get his bearings.”
She tipped a cup of cool, sweet liquid into Beau’s mouth, freeing him to unleash a barrage of questions.
“Who are you?” Beau’s voice was tender and cracking. “Where am I? What happened? Where’s Puzzle?”
The woman grimaced as if his questions were a burden she was too tired to bear. “I’m Gerta, this is Lula, you’re here with us. And the horse is fine. She was smart enough to stay out of the sand. Unlike you.”
“I didn’t go in on purpose,” Beau countered. “It was an accident.”
Gerta tipped her chin to Lula and retreated to the hearth. “The brew has done its work. Go now, send him in.”
Beau stiffened. Which him? But before his body could respond to the instinct to flee someone new walked into the cabin. Beau checked his eyes and shook his head to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.
Fledge!
“Well, you look awful.” Fledge laughed as he perched on the bed next to Beau. “And oddly taller. Could you have grown in these few short days?”
“Is that really you?” Beau asked. “How did you . . . Where did you come from?”
“It is absolutely me. I took a detour away from the North Hills as soon as I could. Most of Himself’s private reserves have fallen to the fever. I left under the pretense of finding help for them. I stopped at the Lower Middlelands barracks first, then came straight here.” Fledge gathered Beau in a hug. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am to see you.”
Everything Beau had been feeling and seeing and doing since leaving the Manor bubbled up in a great big tangle of emotion. Safe in Fledge’s embrace he let himself run the gamut from relief to joy to surprise to gratitude. Then another emotion arose, strong enough to push the others aside.
Bitter resentment.
Beau shoved Fledge away.
“Why couldn’t you have just told me what to do?” he shouted. “Where to go. Who to find to save Cressi! Or about Mastery House! You let me remain oblivious to truth, to all that pain! Why?”
“I wanted to tell you everything, believe me,” Fledge vowed. “But I’d promised to wait until the time was right. I didn’t think it had come quite yet. I was wrong. I’m sorry.”
Beau couldn’t decide if he should laugh or cry. “I don’t even know what that means.”
“It means he was following orders,” Gerta grumbled from her perch by the hearth. “He only knew part of the story That’s all any of us know. Putting it all together, that’s your job.”
Beau really wanted to dislike Gerta. She was sharp, cold, and exceedingly blunt. And she certainly seemed to care little for him. But she was also absolutely honest, an attribute that was far too rare in the Land.
“But I didn’t, still haven’t,” Beau said. “You sent me to find my ace, so I went. I thought I figured it out, knew who it was. Thought I was lucky to find him, only to realize that he is exactly the enemy I’ve been warned about all my life.”
“Doone?” Fledge swallowed back a laugh. “You thought he was your ace?”
“Don’t say it like that.” Beau already felt stupid enough. “The way Nate talked about him, I thought he had to be the ace. Since everything else I’d ever been told turned out to be lies, I figured the stories about Doone probably were too. I had nothing to go on.”
“You had everything to go on. Why do you think I’d been teaching you Fist all these years?”
“So you had someone to beat at a stupid game?”
Even Gerta cracked a small smile at that.
“Well, sure.” Fledge raised a brow. “But more than that. To train you to think strategically. Fist is more than a game, it’s an allegory, directions, coded instructions on how to raise a rebellion. Still, it’s my fault. I thought I’d have more time with all of you. Cressi especially. I never thought her powers would come in so quickly. I failed us all, and for that I am beyond sorry. But you didn’t need me, that’s the point, Beau. You found your mage on your own, as you needed to. And your ace—”
“But that’s just it! There is no ace! And if I were any kind of Fist player, I’d never have let Barger take her away. What kind of idiot gets their mage captured by the enemy? And now I’ve wasted so much time trying to get back to her. For all I know Barger already had her executed.”
“Executed?” Gerta scoffed. “Who do you think made the brew that healed your burns? Last I saw her she was more than alive.”
“You saw her?” Beau pulled himself up. “When? Where is she?”
“Out looking for you,” Gerta said. “Hugo took her to Doone’s. Left her there before morning light.”
“No!” Beau tried to get to his feet, but he was still too woozy to stand. “She can’t go there. He means to use her to gain control of me so he can rule in my stead!”
“Good luck to anyone who tries to use that girl,” Gerta quipped.
“It’s true,” Fledge added. “If Cressi could get around Barger the way she did, she can handle Doone.”
“What do you mean ‘get around Barger’?” Beau asked.
Fledge told Beau about Anka, that he’d stopped to see her, and all that she’d told him about Cressi’s journey to the Bottom. What a strong charmer she’d become in a few short days.
“She’s been growing more powerful than I ever thought possible,” Fledge said. “She’s too smart for Doone to outwit her. You both are.”
Beau looked down at his salve-covered legs.
“That’s not what I mean,” Fledge said. “The bond you share, the connection is powerful. You’re like the sides of a triangle, supporting each other, making the others stronger.”
“First off, Cressi can barely stand the sight of me. She probably came to find me so she could kill me herself,” Beau said. “And second, triangles have three sides, not two.”
“Thank you for the math lesson, but I know that.” Fledge smiled. “The third side is your ace.”
“Well, then we’re bound to topple over.”
“That’s it.” Gerta pushed off from her perch, retrieved Beau’s boots. “I’ve heard enough of this. You’re healed. Time for you to go. Get back to Doone’s, collect your mage and your ace, and go do what you have to do. But me and my people
have played our part. It’s time you leave here.”
“What Gerta means is—” Fledge began when she cut him off.
“Exactly what I said.” Gerta dropped Beau’s boots on the bed and left the cabin.
“Guess we’ve overstayed our welcome,” Fledge said.
After Fledge helped Beau to get up and dressed, and then made certain he ate and drank his fill, Beau began to feel more like himself.
“So how do we do this?” Beau asked. “Wait until dark, steal Cressi away from there?”
“We?” Fledge repeated. “No, that’s for you to do. I need to ride north. Himself and what’s left of his regiment are due back at the Manor by morning. I need to try to find a way to turn Torin and his men back before they reach our borders.”
Fledge threw this information out as if it were old news, but it hit Beau like a gale-force wind.
“So the rumors are true. My father is truly willing to unleash them on the Land again. How can he do that?”
“Desperation.”
Beau pushed back the instinct to look to someone else for help, to follow rather than lead. Instead he pulled himself up, steeling his jaw. “Then we have to stop them.”
“I’m working to foil their approach. See if I can’t offer them a better deal. We’ve got some allies in the east that are ready to help, and Gerta’s sending some of her best scouts with me. But she’s refusing to help you. You’re going to have to change that, for even if we foil Himself now and spare the Land Torin’s assault, we’ll be no better off. The problem is much larger and far older. The pain in the Land will only end when the Manor’s rule ends.”
“That’s what my mother tried to do, wasn’t it?” Beau said. “By leaving an heir to both sides.”
Fledge looked at once both surprised and pleased. “That’s an interesting idea, but no. She was trying to do nothing short of bringing the entire Manor system down from the inside. But she misjudged who her ace was. She was certain it was your father. No one could convince her otherwise. Not even Gerta.”
“So who was it?” Beau pressed.
“I have my ideas . . . It doesn’t matter anymore. She realized she wasn’t the right player. You are. That’s why she charmed the pawn, to make certain it led its protectors to each other. She didn’t want you to make the same mistakes she did.”
The Verdigris Pawn Page 20