by Ellie Cypher
“Jorie, I—I don’t think that is such a good idea.” Cody tugged at my sleeve.
“I weren’t going anywhere. I ain’t stupid.”
“Jorie, that’s not…”
Nostrils flaring, I spun back round on Cody, only Cody—he weren’t looking at me.
CHAPTER 21 The Color of Death
It were a man.
Covered all in gray furs, the hooded figure were like a ghost made real. A specter of dawn rode astride a sled, calling out a rhythm to the team pulling it. The largest pack I’d ever seen.
Rough winter-coated beasts—black and white and burnt-forest red—three times the size of normal dogs, they tore across the horizon, lean bodies catching in the low morning light. The pack ate up the sky in front of ’em with every stride, one for every three my pack could have taken. A shiver ran through me.
“Please tell me you are seeing what I’m seeing?” Cody asked.
“Sure am,” I said, tracking the huge canines over the snow. But that were a lie. I knew what they were.
Though I had denied it when the Rover and his beast had stolen Bren, there were no mistaking it now. Tracers. That were a whole team of Tracers.
Boundless northern beasts of legend, they were supposed to be wolves twisted by the wilds of the ice and snow. Wolves that had been formed into something more. Something strange, unreal. Some said unnatural. And big. Wolves that thrived where nothing else survived. Wolves that lived with Warders.
A gust of wind tore across the Flats, filling the entire world with a blinding white. Disappearing the wolves and the man, as if they were naught but spirits in the snow.
“Are they gone?” Cody asked.
“I ain’t never been that lucky,” I said. “Look.” Like running shadows, gray bodies formed out of the snow. They were heading right at us.
I pulled us back, forcing Cody behind me. Tucking us into the shadow of the rock face. Against the wind, the driver snapped the reins. The lead animal let out a mammoth growl, massive claws tearing into the ice, straining at the pull. My heart lurched as the gray hood fell, revealing the driver’s profile. Cause I were wrong. It weren’t a man.
Behind me, Cody whistled in a breath as the woman’s halo of golden hair whipped about her head. They were coming closer, closer. I forced us back into the shadow of the rock. Deeper and deeper. But the driver, if she saw us, gave no cry.
The team made an abrupt turn. They passed within fifty yards of where we stood. Without even a glance our direction, the woman pulled rough at her coat, whipping her furs over her head, and pushed on.
And then they were gone. Like a storm kestrel skimming the ocean. Testing the waters. Seeing what lay beneath.
Hairs stood up all over my skin. My hands fell to my sides. This was no man’s land and I’d be stupid not to be mighty curious what she were doing out here. More to the point, where she were going in such a hurry. With Tracers. Cause in my experience, there were only two reasons to run like that. Either you were running from something or you were running to something.
“Cody, I got an idea.”
“On it.” Before I could say nothing more, he were already moving, gathering up the dogs. On the tiny piece of what had once been our sled I put all our pitiful goods. They weren’t enough. Two more nights like we’d just had, it wouldn’t matter what was living and dead out here on the Flats.
I took up the litter and I smiled. Cody’s face practically burned with determination. Now that was a kind of stubborn I could work with. This was worth a shot. Stars, it was worth all the shots. If it meant we lived long enough to make it to Nocna Mora.
Gloved fingers gripping tight against the leathers of the litter, I pulled us into a run. Those animals may have specters straight out of nightmare, but the woman? She had been real enough. And for good or bad, people meant food. And shelter. And maybe, just maybe, the chance to hear about a girl and a Rover.
The day wore on and the trail began to fill, disappearing as flakes of snow slipped into the ridges, washing them out. Dusk began to hum along the horizon. A new night chill spiked the air. And still we marched on and on.
Until a shift in the wind brought the thick aroma of coal fires and ash. Ahead of us a long line of smoke, like the curl of an eel’s tail, swirled into the sky ahead. The smell were barely strong enough to cover the heavy foulness of human and animal waste that also came as we got closer. The dogs began to whine. I suppressed a cough. We had certain found something. What that meant, I didn’t yet right know.
“There aren’t supposed to be any towns left out here, except Nocna Mora,” Cody whispered, coming up next to me.
“There ain’t.” We stalked closer, keeping low as we could.
Thick green rusted metal wire wound between a series of silver spikes set at perfect intervals around the perimeter. Beyond which sat a maze of tents. Well-worn paths wound haphazard between them. The biggest were at the center, with smaller, clear rougher looking ones ringing around them. The sets closest to us looked nearly deserted.
Thin folds of unmoored flaps snapped in the wind, no hint of movement within. Here and there strange pockets of color could be seen, but try as I might I couldn’t tell what they were. A flash of gold or blue. A line of some kind ran along the side of the one of the low white tents. On it, like a chain of broken teeth, dead black birds swayed.
“Don’t like it, Cody.” I crouched lower to the snow.
“Me neither. There is something very”—he paused, looking around—“dreamlike about it, as if I’ve seen it before. Or that I should have.” He furrowed his brow. On the far side of the encampment red sparks danced in the smoke, until glowing flames licked high above the tents. The sickening smell of burning fur filled the air. My stomach lurched.
“Nightmarish is more like it.”
“True.” Cody said. “There is something about it though, almost as if… what’s that?”
The fires sputtered. A flash of darkness against the horizon. A sharp cry.
“I need to get closer. Stay here.”
“Jorie, is that such a great idea?”
“No, it ain’t. But I’d rather know what’s out there before we turn our backs on it than after.”
Cody swallowed.
I stood and striding no more than a few yards stopped. I kicked at the snow at my feet. “What the stars?”
“What’s wrong?” Cody asked, rising quick to my side. Looking down at the snow, not seeing the trouble. But I did. Stars I were a fool.
“The tracks, Cody, the tracks. They aren’t right.”
He eyed me, confused for a long moment. “The tracks?”
I brushed my foot out over the snow. “How many sets do you see?”
He blinked. “I don’t see any, what’s that—?” Realization snapped into place. “There aren’t any.”
I nodded. “We followed that woman right to this very entrance. I don’t think we were as unseen as we thought we—” I spun around. And cursed. Four fur-cloaked men strode out of the camp. Straight at us. Guns glinting at their sides.
Reflexive, I took a step back. And stopped. Show no fear. I stepped back to where I had been. Even if we’d been inclined to it, it were far too late to run. It had been since the moment the woman had passed us by the rock. There weren’t no coincidences out on the Flats, only trouble.
“She wanted us to follow,” Cody said, coming to a rest at my side. His own back straight, his hands balled at his sides.
“We may have taken the bait. But we ain’t the kind of prey they’re looking for.”
“Definitely not.” A wry twitch at the edge of his lips. His hand wavered toward me ever so slight. Touching, but not touching.
A head taller than the others, one leading figure raised a fist. Those behind her fell back, eager fingers straying to their sides. I let out a little growl.
A flick of motion and the woman’s gray hood fell. A blink later and she were in front of us. The fires raged out behind her. A smile quick and sharp.
Tossed face-first in the snow, I sputtered. Flakes catching in my teeth. Pain shot through my back as my arms were curled behind me. Ropes wrapped my wrists. I couldn’t move.
A second later, Cody were thrust down next me, red pooling at his temple. Eyes fluttering, a low groan pressing from his lips. Alive. But not conscious. My heart gave a sideways lurch. I fought down a surge of panic. Not again. Not again.
I thrust my elbow out hard as I could. There were little give to the ropes. Not enough. I connected. The man holding me bare grunted. Growling, he grabbed my arm, rolling me to my side in the snow. He pulled a long piece of cloth from his coat.
“How dare—” The gag were shoved into my mouth. I bit down. It tasted of smoke and the damp. I cursed out every swear I’d ever learned. Little good it did. He dragged me to my knees. My head swam. I forced myself to focus, counted the long pulls of breath through my nose, anger and air welling inside in equal measure. How dare they. More men, Tracers at their sides, appeared. And before I could reason, fast as adders, they ran past us. I whipped my head round. Cries filled the air.
“Fen!” I screamed, but the word lost to the rotting fabric in my mouth. Man holding me chuckled mean, as one by one the others began chasing down my pack.
They pinned my dogs to the snow and snapped collars around their throats, muzzles over their snouts.
Anger hot and boiling split through my veins. Cause if these bastards so much as damaged one hair on my pack’s heads, they were dead. All of them. A growl came from Fen. A moment later she broke free of her captors, man cursing and holding his bleeding hands.
Good girl Run. I wanted to scream it. I lurched on my knees. Only to be jerked back. With a sickening laugh a rough woven bag came down over my head.
The whole world went dark.
CHAPTER 22 So Brings the Dawn
With a massive heave, the man repositioned me over his shoulders. There came another set of footfalls. Heavier than the man’s who were carrying me.
“Reckon they’re worth something?” the man carrying me asked, a heavy hand falling on the back of my knees. Hard enough that a fresh bruise were already blooming.
“Well, they gotta be worth more than the dogs.”
“But dogs eat less.” Both men let our rough laughs. Hard laughs. The kind of laugh a girl weren’t too keen on hearing if she wanted to make it out alive.
I choked back saliva as I ground my teeth and kicked. The man holding me let out a grunt of pain as heel met rib cage. The man’s grip tightened.
After a few minutes, our abductors once again began bantering back and forth. If I hadn’t been so angry, I would have been red-faced. Stars above, is this what men talk about?
In the darkness of the hood, I tried to tune them out and instead strained for any sign of Cody. And were rewarded by a low, breathy moan from beside me. Just one. But it were him. He were alive.
The scuffing of leather against wood marked a sudden transition from cold to warmth across my skin. My body prickled with the newborn heat.
Then without warning I found myself dropping through the air, ass first.
I gave an involuntary grunt as I hit the frozen ground. Gasping for breath under my hood only swirled my head with the unwelcome taste of dirty smoke. I spluttered, coughing. A second later, Cody were tossed down next to me. His breathing labored. He slumped against my shoulder, shivering against me, the ragged pulse of his heart beating against my side. He murmured something I couldn’t understand.
“Be okay. Please be okay,” I whispered. He didn’t reply. Pain flashed through me that had little to do with where we were. Echo of words I’d whispered into my sister’s ear not so long ago, it weren’t lost on me.
I tried to roll, to move enough to maybe see him under the edge of my hood, but unbalanced, fell instead. Hissing through my teeth against the pain that shot up my shoulder. Heavy-booted feet came to stop in front of me, the slit of vision I had under the edge of hood just enough to see a set of leather shoes. Bloodred, they stood heavy in dirty slush. I took store of all the shoes, keeping their sight to memory. Just in case I ever got the chance to repay them.
“Enough of that,” the man grunted. Amused. And hit me. I bit back my cry. I’d not give him the satisfaction of my pain. Grunting his clear disappointment, the man strode away.
The trail of conversation ebbed as the men left the tent, and with them went near all my strength. I puddled to the floor. It were as if someone had let out the plug. Every ache, bruise, welt came flooding into my body. All at once. Fighting against the tide of pain and exhaustion were like fighting the break of an avalanche. But there were Cody and the dogs. I needed to stay awake. To stay alert, to stay—
Snow-burned hands grabbed at my shoulders, yanking me to my knees. The hood ripped from my head none too gentle.
I blinked hard against the sudden light. A second later the tent flap opened and three people strode in. Like three huge gray wolves prowling toward us in the snow. The two behind quickly thrust weapons to their sides, locking the barrels close to their chests. Closing the flap, they stood sentinel at the entrance.
The one in front lowered her hood; this close, the tops of tattoos peeking out from under her collar were clear. But more eye-catching was the wicked scar that ran, ropy and red, from one side of the neck to the other, just over the jugular vein. A killing cut, like a memory of a promise left undone. A twisted echo to my own. Unyielding. Cold. Determined. Just like me.
Like everything I’d ever taught myself to be. Everything I’d ever made myself be. Stars, what I wanted to be. And yet… despite my best efforts to the contrary, I couldn’t shake the basic fact that I cared about people. My family, Cody, Fen and Boz and all the pack—I cared about them. More than I cared about me. And this woman, whoever she were, I didn’t think she cared about nothing more than her own skin. Whatever I were, I weren’t like her. I burned with that certainty.
The woman studied me, tilting her head as a smile, wide and feral, split her face. I stared right the stars back. And her answering expression left no doubt why she could command a pack of Tracers. She barked out an order and turned from me. As she did, a single ruby pendant on a long silver chain slipped out from under her collar. Just like the Rover’s. Just like the one Della had seen.
The woman, either not caring I were there or not even noticing she were doing it, ran it along her cheek, slow and steady as all around her the men scrambled.
From somewhere they produced a rich-looking table and solitary chair. When the men bowed back, the woman moved—stalked—toward it, tossing her coat over the back of the slatted wooden chair.
Time slowed as she sat, running black-tipped fingers slowly across the surface of the table, nails catching in the flaking yellow grains, tracing but not touching the deep insets of silver scrollwork that flooded the wooden surface. Deliberate, as if she didn’t care one way or the other, the woman turned her notice to Cody and me.
I went stock-still. Her eyes. Gold-flecked cotton gray, they was sharper than any steel. Without meaning to, I pressed my palm to my chest. The stone beneath shocking cold.
With a quickness that weren’t natural, the woman’s stare snapped to my hand. A look of calculating hunger flashing cross her face. Startled, I dropped my hand.
“Now, exactly what would a good God-fearing Northerly girl and a weakling Southern boy be doing out all the way out here all by their lonesome? I do wonder what could lure them oh so far from home.” Her nails scrapped hard across the table. “Not lost are you, pigeon?”
I glared. The blond’s eyes flickered with amusement.
“You never would’ve made it. Scrawny things like you—they never do. Little pigeon, you’d be dead by dinne
rtime.” Whip quick, the blond let out a low, deep-chested laugh. Her body shifting as she did, exposing the flash of three guns strapped tight to her side.
“Doing you a right honest favor. The emptiness out there, that really ain’t a pretty way to go.” Her glance darted between Cody and me, calculating. Of what, I weren’t exact sure. Nothing good. “Yet somehow, I don’t think I need to tell you that, do I?”
She certain did not. But for the first time, I wondered. If these people lived out here, maybe not all those I drug home had died from the beasts or the cold.
“Not many reasons to find you out this far north that don’t keep most honest folk awake at night. And we here don’t take too kindly to stupid or to thieves. Which one are you, I wonder?” She tilted her head expectantly.
I bit out a string of curses against the rag in my mouth. The men in the tent let out a long, raucous chorus of laughter. Only the blond weren’t laughing.
I exchanged a glance with Cody, who were clear as anxious as I should’ve been. Only I weren’t. I were mad. Real mad. We’d bare had enough to keep us alive, bare made it wherever this were—and here were some woman trying to bait us? I snarled, anger reverberating against the back of my teeth. We were poor game for anyone’s catch. And if this woman thought otherwise, I would make her regret it. Even the weakest animal out on the ice still had teeth.
The woman growled something to the man at her side, who scurried out of the tent. Turning, she fixed me with a considering gaze.
“Now, don’t you go thinking on it girly, I’ve seen that look plenty times before. Even the hard ones give to begging in the end.” The drumming of her fingers against the table her only outward sign of tension. I narrowed my eyes. There was nothing for her to be worried about. Though if she untied us, I could certain give her one.
“Last traitor we found round here is buried three feet deep in snow. Well, least his bones are. The ones the wild wolves didn’t see fit to carry away for the marrow.” She said it so calm, like we was talking friendly. A pleasant chat over drinks. “And that ain’t the way you want to go, now is it?”