by Dawn Peers
Eden stood, ignoring everyone else. No, he would not be forced to attend the execution. He would be getting Quinn out. It wasn’t her fault. None of this. Eden would not stand by and let her be butchered.
17
Rall sat on the edge of the well in the healer’s residence. There were students all around him. Most were sleeping, though others were reading. All of them were so talented. Many, Rall had had the pleasure of teaching personally. The most troubling of all those students was the one he focused on now.
Maertn was frail. He had been asleep now for a full day. His breathing was shallow. He wasn’t going to die, though he was near to death. Rall had instructed Maertn to stop using his ability. The boy was hard to control. Keeping him here, in company amongst the other boys, was the only way to stop him. After healing Quinn, as he claimed to have done, he had fallen asleep. He hadn’t woken up since.
They needed Maertn. Rall needed Maertn to stay alive. If Quinn was alive, then they would need this boy to control her. They were meant to be together. He should have told Pax that these two should never have been separated.
Rall sipped from a glass of water. A passing journeyman nodded. Rall returned the gesture. Other men were taking the lessons, for now. Rall wasn’t going anywhere until he knew Maertn was past the worst.
* * *
Eden had hoped that, in the dead of night, Sevenspells might rest. He had been wrong. Eden was now seeing how his father operated under conditions of war, and the Shiver he was seeing now was very different from the man he had grown up loathing. Armed men were patrolling everywhere. Not because Shiver expected a threat from within, but because he was conditioning them to be alert at all times. Because he was from the royal household, Eden wasn’t questioned as he moved around, but meeting the wrong person would send immediate word back to his father that he was out of his rooms.
Getting past his guard had been easy. It had been a poorly-chosen cluster of men he had grown up with and trained alongside before taking over from Harn as the guard captain. Eden had explained he had arranged a tryst with a maid from the kitchen. All young men, they had been eager to let him out and on his way.
Eden picked his way carefully through the hallways. At the back of his mind he kept Tarik and Under, their skills and Under’s lessons especially keeping his feet light. Under had loved training in the quiet of night, and it was in the darkness that Eden ironically felt most comfortable. Once he made it to the cells, he was confident that no one else would challenge him: he just had to get into them first. He had one chance to do this right. Once he got through to Quinn, Shiver would be alerted as soon as he was awake. If Harn found out, Eden suspected he’d wake the king just to deliver the news. He reached the bottom stairwell, leading to the row of empty cells—Quinn would be in one, isolated, right at the end. Eden hated the thought of her sitting there in the dark, alone, angry, and hurt. A pair of guards stood watch. They looked bored, sloughed in their spots and chattering with each other. Taking a deep breath, Eden straightened his back and strode straight up to them, looking for all the world like he belonged in that place at that moment.
“Your highness, we weren’t…”
“You weren’t paying attention, you weren’t standing correctly, you weren’t holding your weapons correctly…which one of these was going to be your answer, guardsman?”
Both men stuttered for an answer. Eden didn’t give then the time to think, to form one. “Enough. I was sent down here to check how well you’re guarding this empath, and here I see you’ve been doing a useless job. You’re relieved. Go back to the barracks, get two more capable men to take over, and report to Harn in the morning for less important duties.” They hesitated, so Eden roared at them. “Now!”
At that, they took off. Eden guessed he’d have around fifteen, perhaps twenty minutes at most, to get Quinn clear of here before he had to be back waiting here for the relief guard. The men could spend the rest of the night guarding nothing, before Harn was updated in the morning and inevitably found Quinn gone. Eden would take any punishment his father chose to mete out—he didn’t fear for his neck. Rushing down the thin corridor, he didn’t bother checking in any of the rooms, not until he got right to the end. Seeing Quinn huddled in the back of the farthest room, he fumbled at his belt for his keys, thanking every spirit he knew that his father hadn’t taken them from his rooms. Many of Shiver’s senior retinue had keys for the majority of rooms in the castle. Eden had been one of those when he was made captain of the guard. Shiver had just forgotten to take those keys back.
The door made a horrendous noise as Eden threw it open. Quinn rose, and seeing Eden, squealed in surprise. He scrambled over to her, sweeping her up. She hugged him, but he didn’t let her hold it for long. “We haven’t got long, Quinn, we have to go.”
Eden took off his cloak, wrapping it around her and covering her head with its hood. “What’s happening?”
“You’re leaving.”
“What? How?”
“I’ve got no time to explain, Quinn. I need you to get out of the city, as quickly as you can. There’s already a horse waiting for you in the courtyard, and if I do this right, you’ll have until dawn before they start chasing you down. Hopefully you’ll be through Lancing by then. Trust me, it’s easier to get down the cliff than it is to get up.”
“Eden, you’re going too quickly. Slow down, I don’t understand.”
“They’re going to kill you, Quinn. My father, he’s decided you’re too dangerous. He’s going to have you executed, soon. I’m not going to let him do it.”
A heavy moment stretched between them before Quinn nodded. “Okay. I…I’m not a good rider, Eden. I don’t know if I can get to the bottom before the night is out.”
“You could walk the horse down before the night is over, Quinn. It’s my own mount—a confident horse. Trust him, and let him lead the way. You’ll be fine. Get to Port Kahnel. Go back to Sha’sek. It’s the only place you’ll be safe, now.”
“But Pax…”
“No, not Farn. Don’t go back across the Sighs. Go to any other island, Quinn. Just…go.”
Eden tied the cloak shut and pulled her along. The corridors were still empty directly outside the cells. As Eden led Quinn to the courtyard, they had to duck into side rooms to avoid guards—this time Eden wouldn’t be able to talk away his presence. Out in the courtyard, in the shadow of a wall, his steed had already been prepared to ride. Saddlebags contained water skeins, bread, and a small amount of silver—enough to keep Quinn going to Kahnel and over to Sha’sek. She stopped short of the horse. Eden cupped his hand to help her mount. “I can’t do this, Eden.”
“You have to, Quinn. I’m sorry, there’s no other way.”
“But what about you?”
“I’ll deal with things here.”
“Your father…he’ll kill you for this.”
Eden gave her a lopsided smile. “He won’t, Quinn.” He pecked her on the cheek. There wasn’t time for emotional goodbyes. “Go.”
He helped her up on the horse and led it to the gates. There was another set of guards here, already standing stiffly to attention. “Hold.”
“Eden, on the king’s business. I have an urgent messenger for Kahnel, to follow Prince River.”
Eden went to pass over a hastily forged parchment. The guard waved him away. “No need, your highness.” The guard waved behind him, and two men tugged one of the huge gate mechanisms. One door swung open enough to let a single rider through. Quinn didn’t look back. Eden swallowed the lump in his throat. She was free.
18
Eden’s tongue searched around his mouth, and he spat a glob of blood and bile to the ground. Two of his teeth were loose, another one broken, and he didn’t want to know what his nose looked like. He had never seen his father so furious. Harn had hauled him back, fearing the king might accidentally kill him in his rage.
“How could you do this to me? Do you have any idea how foolish you’ve made me look? I should kill
you in her place!”
“She didn’t deserve to die!”
“They all deserve to die, Eden! They’re abominations, every single one of them! All you’ve done is stay the inevitable. I’ve already got riders chasing down all the main roads. You won’t tell me where she’s gone? Fine. I’ll send soldiers to every city. I know you sent a rider to Kahnel. They won’t stop until they’ve got her, and they’ll bring her head back to me on a spike. It can take the place of honour behind your chair at your wedding, to show people just how loyal to Sevenspells you are!”
Ride. Eden whispered to himself. Ride like the wind, and take the first boat you find.
“Take my son to his rooms and send up a healer. Clean this mess up.” Shiver shook his hand, turning his back on Eden. “Don’t let him out until his wedding day.”
* * *
Eden should have warned her to stay off the roads. Luckily, Quinn had sensed them coming before she could even see them. Her abilities were getting stronger. Now, more than ever, she needed them. Physically, she felt weak, her body stretched. Mentally, she felt like she could go on forever. Their urgency had tugged first, followed by their concentration, and their panic. They were searching for her, and they weren’t happy that that hadn’t found her yet. Keep trying, Quinn thought as she guided her horse off the main road, dismounting and finding covering nearby. The horse was huge, and twice now she’d almost panicked, not knowing where she could hide. She’d made it to a copse of trees just in time. They weren’t expecting her to have the common sense to evade them, apparently.
Using a tree stump to remount the gigantic horse, Quinn munched on some bread before walking gently back to the main road. In the distance, the group of men carried on, kicking up dust. Quinn had camped on the road, avoiding people, staying out of even the smallest hamlet. She had been spotted, so they were aware she was out here somewhere. They wouldn’t find her before she reached Kahnel.
What then?
Quinn did not want to go back to Sha’sek, despite the fact it was the best of her bad options. Pax would find out about her escape. No one knew what she looked like, bar a few of the masters and the council. She would have a slim chance at living her life in peace. Sammah, Everfell, and all of the men within it, could go rot.
“They’ll find you eventually, you know.”
Quinn yelped out in fright. Her horse reared. In her panic, she fell. A boy rushed out from the edge of the copse skillfully grabbing the flapping reins and coaxing the horse down. Quinn clung desperately to the beast’s mane, her eyes clenched shut, and whispering prayers to the spirits that she didn’t fall. She had horrible visions of falling under the dancing hooves.
“You can open your eyes now.”
The movement had stopped. Quinn slid one eye open. A teenage boy was looking up at her, one hand on his hip and the other holding the reins in a loose grip.
“Who are you?”
“Those men are looking for you as well, aren’t they? What did you do?”
“How did you know they…where did you come from?”
The boy grinned. “I’ve been here for ages. You just didn’t see me. The men have been looking for me, too. Don’t worry, I won’t tell them about you.”
“How did you hide?”
“I don’t have to hide like normal people do. If I don’t want people to see me, then they can’t.”
The boy cast his eyes down, as if he was ashamed of this fact. And he was being chased? Not by Shiver, though. “The men that are chasing you—they can’t talk, can they?”
The boy shook his head. “How did you know that?”
“Because they’ve chased me before, too.”
The boy gaped at her in wonder. “How did you escape them?”
“I killed them.”
Quinn had expected him to be impressed. She pouted when he giggled at her. “You can’t even control your own horse. You didn’t kill anyone.”
“I didn’t want to, but I did. How long have you known Baron Sammah?”
“How did you know that?”
“We’re the same. I’m an orphan, too. I grew up in Everfell. Where are you from? What’s your name?”
“I’m Maskell. I’m from Port Kahnel. I lived there with three brothers and two sisters, but a couple of weeks ago the quiet men came and tried to kill us all.”
“Oh Maskell, I’m sorry.”
Maskell shrugged. “Why? What could you have done about it? I hid. My brothers and sisters, they couldn’t hide. The men killed them.”
So, Sammah was killing his other children, now—the ones that were no use to him, anyway. Quinn pitied this boy. How must it have felt, to watch your siblings be slaughtered. “Sammah wants to kill me, too.”
Maskell nodded, as if this was perfectly normal. “I guessed that’s why those men were chasing you?”
Quinn shook her head. “No, they’re Shiver’s men. They want to kill me, too.”
“Wow. You must really be dangerous. Did you actually kill the silent men?”
“I killed one of them. My friends killed the others.”
“Where are your friends now?”
“They’re both prisoners. One is in Sevenspells. The other is in Farn.”
“Where is Farn?”
“Sha’sek, where we come from.”
Maskell looked down at the reins. “It’s been lonely. Will you eat with me? We’ll be safe.”
“I need to get to Kahnel. I have to get on a boat, and get back to Farn.”
“Those men are everywhere. The silent men, not the other ones. I don’t think you’ll find it easy, getting to the boats. Why don’t you rest with me? You look tired. I can guard you. Then you can make a plan.”
Quinn didn’t sense any malice in the boy. This was an open gesture from a lonely orphan on the road. Quinn knew exactly how Maskell was feeling, though she didn’t know if she had either the time or the patience to rest with him. If he was right, and Farn was crawling with guardsmen, then she’d have a difficult time getting safe passage on a boat. She hadn’t planned this ahead. Much like everything else that had happened to her, it had been a rush, a situation Quinn had been forced into.
“If I rest with you, could you help me get to the boats?”
If people couldn’t see this boy, then perhaps he could find her a vessel. Quinn could give him the money for her passage and get him to negotiate a place for her. When the time to board came, Quinn could rush through Kahnel and straight onto a ship. The guardsmen wouldn’t have the time to stop her. If they did…well, Quinn did have an ability that she could test at the edges.
“Okay. Thank you. Can you help me off this horse? I’ll just fall off otherwise.”
* * *
Quinn decided very quickly that she liked Maskell. He was straightforward, not mincing his words and treated Quinn like he’d known her forever. Maskell knew about her—this was a surprise. Sammah had visited the other cities from time to time, and had made his other children aware of the empath and healer sitting in Everfell and the hopes he had for their futures. She wanted to ask him about the killings, but wasn’t brave enough to broach such a sensitive topic. Maskell wasn’t struggling for supplies. It was a useful thing, and Quinn had no idea how his ability worked. That was a subject she was happy enough to ask him about.
“How do you make yourself invisible?”
Maskell smiled, swallowing his soup. “I don’t disappear. That’s impossible—at least I think so. I just make people forget about me. If they are searching for me they can’t see me; if they are talking about me they stop. I just concentrate really hard, and it happens.”
“Wow. That must have been helpful.”
“More than. I wish I could have helped the others.”
Maskell sounded sad, but did not cry. Had he spent all of his tears already, in his lonely nights in this glade?
“What happened?”
“They came for us at night. It was a slaughter. We had no chance. They killed my little brother first. He
was able to fight well, so I suppose they thought if any of us would be a threat, it would be him. He woke the rest of us up. As soon as I saw what was happening, I disappeared. I… didn’t even try to save them. I ran away.”
Maskell was ashamed. That made sense. He knew that he could make himself safe, and when the chance came for him to potentially save his family, he didn’t take it. Quinn felt an overwhelming wave of pity for this boy. If he’d tried, could he really have saved them?
“Are you a fighter, Maskell?”
The boy had massive arms and shoulders—Quinn wondered what work Sammah had him doing for that. A farrier, probably, given his way with her horse. With his timid nature though, Quinn suspected what his answer might be.
“No. I hate fighting.”
“Have you ever hurt someone?”
“No, not intentionally.”
“Do you think that if you’d stayed, you’d have been able to stop any of those men? Men hired and trained to kill?”
“I…no.”
“Then I don’t think there was a single thing you could have done to save their lives.”
“But I didn’t even try, Quinn. I could have done something—at least got one of them out of there, you know? We might not have been able to fight back, but we could have run. I just let them die!”
“They couldn’t hide like you, Maskell. How far could you have run before they’d have just found you? Then the end result would be the same.”
“We don’t know that, though, do we? And now I’ll never find out, because I was a coward.” Maskell threw down his empty bowl, disgusted with himself. “You wouldn’t have run away, I bet. You’ve killed these men. You could have saved them all.”
Quinn didn’t know if that was true. “I’ve run from enough people, Maskell. I’m not as brave as you think I am.”