“After that night, I pieced together what the plague was doing, where I had seen a harbinger before. That’s when I began hunting my family. Risers are mindless, beyond salvation, and they deserve peace they will never know while a harbinger pulls their strings. Those first nights were the worst. I took beatings, endured scratching and clawing, all while I tried in vain to communicate with stout bodies that had no scraps of souls left in them.” My throat tightened. “When I find my family, I’ll have to…”
Murdoch tilted his head back and inhaled. “Someone’s coming.”
I sniffed, but forest and male were all I detected.
“Can you climb?” He darted from tree to tree, studying their structure.
“Trees?” I began measuring the distance between the lowest limbs. “I suppose.”
“Pick one and go high as you can.” He drew his sword. “I’ll lead them away.”
“The mountains are closer,” I protested. “We can run for them—”
“No.” His nostrils flared. “We won’t make it.” He pointed at the nearest tree. “Climb.”
And climb I did.
Ensconced high above the forest in my piney tower, I scanned for signs of Murdoch. He’d fled after boosting me onto the tallest branch we could find. I took care to sit above a thick limb fat with needles to better my chances of going undiscovered should anyone walk below and look up.
I kept a limp arm looped around the tree’s trunk. Climbing took more muscle than I recalled. I had been too long on flatlands. I had forgotten the pleasant burn, the fearsome view, of a climb.
Not long after boredom set in and I began fidgeting, I heard voices.
“…headed for the mountains…”
“…your nose works as well as your soap. His scent leads this way…”
Holding still as possible, I kept my eyes downcast while four males lumbered past my perch.
“We’ve got until sundown,” the tallest male said. “That’s when Paladin Hishima arrives.”
“Fat chance of making that,” another said. “Think how far we’ve tracked them.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. As far as they knew, Hishima was still heading straight for Cathis.
“Smells like him,” the third observed. “Murdoch came through here all right.”
“How can you tell?” The second chuckled. “Didn’t know you two were— Damn it.”
“Say it again,” the third snarled. “I need an excuse to buy new boots. I’ll shove these up—”
“Shut up the both of you,” the first ordered. He nodded to the fourth. “What do you say?”
“He’ll head for the mountains,” a familiar voice said. “It’s what I’d do.”
“Figured you’d say that.” He adjusted his pack with a grunt. “Come on then.”
Grumbling among themselves, they settled on a course and ambled in the same direction we had intended to take. Unsure what that meant for Murdoch and me, I missed the first prickling of awareness that I was being watched. I glanced down and found Bram staring up at me. He smiled and dropped the pack he carried at the base of my tree. When I frowned down at him, he winked.
Then he was gone, but I was too wary to crawl down and risk them springing a trap on me.
Instead, I sat on my hard branch until my bottom went numb and prayed Murdoch was holed up and safe. When not worrying for him, I stared at the pack Bram had dropped. Curiosity nibbled at me. What did he want me to have? Did he pity me? Had he left me food, water, coin?
Strained as the pack was, I saw that a long, slender item stretched it out of shape. But what?
I spent the next few hours playing a game. Study the pack. Guess its contents. Try again.
About the time I convinced myself the relief of knowing for certain was worth the risk of the climb down, a whistle snapped me out of it. Peering between my crossed legs, I spotted Murdoch leaning against the tree trunk. His chest was heaving, his lip bloodied, and I was at his side in two quick minutes. I ran hands over him, but he seemed unharmed on the whole. “What happened?”
He touched his mouth. “A poorly placed sapling.”
I wiped him clean with my thumb, then rubbed my hand on my pants. “I had company.”
“So I see.” He nudged the pack. “Smells like Bram.”
“It’s amazing how you know that.” I shook my head. “It was him. He saw me and left this.”
“When Bram was chosen as one of your guards, I lent him cloth with your blood on it so he could learn your scent.” He grumbled, “His nose is poor. I wish now I had left him scent-blind.”
“He didn’t tell the others I was here.” I bent to retrieve the pack.
He beat me to it, opening the front pocket. “If Bram wanted to lure you to him, he’d hardly let you watch as he told them he found you. He might have hidden to give his bait time to work.”
“Do you really think that?” I doubted it since he had come back for me and revealed us both.
“No.” He lifted a piece of rolled parchment. “But you should have.”
Properly chastised, I turned my attention to the paper. “What do you think it is?”
“It’s Isolde’s seal.” He sighed. “Gods only know what she sent.”
“Should we open it?” My fingers itched to see what she’d written.
“Bram wouldn’t have left it here if he intended otherwise.” He passed me the paper.
I flicked the wax seal open and unrolled the paper, reading it aloud, “Enjoy your trip.”
Murdoch snatched the scroll from me. “You can’t be serious.” He flipped it front to back, let sunlight stream through it testing for messages hidden in the material. He must have found none.
Plucking her note from his fingers, I peered at the pack. “What else did she send?”
He reached inside and produced my spade. Once I accepted it, he dug inside again and returned to me the crystal necklace I’d mourned leaving with Mana. Its clasp had been repaired, and I pulled it over my head, relishing the familiar weight about my neck. “Is that all? No supplies? No…anything?”
“She’s gone mad.” He discovered a second pocket and withdrew a length of black silk rope. Holding it aloft, he murmured, “Or perhaps not.” He glanced at me. “I believe this is her attempt at giving us her blessing. We can’t let Vaughn discover she did this. Being his mother won’t save her if she’s aiding us instead of him. He knows she has taken the loss of her station hard, but she is courting treason. What’s worse is she talked Bram into helping her. He ought to know better.”
“You really do care for her, don’t you?” I marveled.
“I swore allegiance to Brynmor, and to her. She treated me well when she had no reason to. I respect her. I won’t see her harmed.” He added the rope to his supplies. “She is still my maven.”
“I won’t breathe a word of this.” To prove it, I tore the parchment into tiny pieces and let the wind scatter them. For the sake of convenience, I shoved the spade into the pack and shrugged it into place. Bram’s knife went on my belt, and my necklace got dropped down the front of my shirt.
“The others are heading for the mountains,” I told him. “What will we do now?”
“The same.” His expression tightened. “We’ll follow them. Unless you have a better idea.”
“No.” The mountain pass was the fastest way to Titania, and that was the way we should go. “Bram must have realized we would continue as planned. He might have staged the conversation so that we learned that was their intent as well and could negotiate around them.” After saying it aloud, I found I believed myself. “I think we can trust him to keep his group separate from ours.”
“At least this way he’s given us a measure of protection. If Hishima has guards placed near the pass, they’ll encounter Bram and the others first. We can use them as a distraction if we need one.” Murdoch inhaled, pinpointing the direction they had gone. “They have a good lead on us.”
While he stood debating, I began walking. Say what you
will about Isolde, but she was sly. I had theories about why she had risked so much to help us, but most were grim thoughts best kept for later consideration. What mattered now was we had a powerful ally, if an unpredictable one. I hoped that meant, despite Murdoch’s concerns, if Isolde spoke on our behalf that Vaughn would be obligated to at least hear her out. If we managed the unthinkable and we actually captured the harbinger, then words would be unnecessary. We would have proof. We would also be punished, I was sure. But a month in a grotto cell sounded far more pleasant to my ears than a noose fitting.
“They’ll know all the best spots for fresh water and camping.” He was catching up to me. “I know a few spots that are harder to reach. Most travelers are too weary to climb to them, but it’ll put us higher than Bram and his men, and higher means we’ll hold the advantage if things sour.”
“I trust you to do what’s best for us.” Even if it meant I climbed until my muscles gave way.
“I’ll ask you to remember that once you see the place I have in mind.” His smile was slight.
For whatever reason, Murdoch let me lead. He would correct my course once in while if his nose told him one direction was better or that an unsavory obstacle lay ahead. I remembered the times I’d stumbled into trouble while traveling alone and was grateful for Murdoch and his nose.
The only heightened sense I possessed was my hearing, and I was tuned into a range so high it was useless outside my work. Aural crystaliers, such as myself, possessed a specific talent. We taught crystal to sing. Or we sold ourselves that way. Ours was a precision trade, and those of my line had an ear for it. Even more delicate than song was the ability to amplify sound, or a specific sound. Consider this. Later in life, your hearing wanes. What if wearing a custom pair of earrings amplified sound to make hearing possible again? What price was too high to restore a lost sense?
Granted that concept had not yet been perfected…
A pang of longing swept through me. That had been a different dream for a different life.
No use dwelling on what might have beens when what will bes always prevail.
Our journey into the foothills was uneventful. Bram and his band of guards seemed to be the only ones set on our trail, which suited me fine. Briefly I worried we might be penned in the pass if a secondary unit arrived. But keen as Murdoch’s nose was, I trusted he could scent such a trap.
For my part, I kept an ear cocked for the hum of the harbingers.
One could never be too careful.
“See that ledge?” Murdoch indicated a sliver of rock cloaked in shadow.
It was three times his height from here to there. “It’s rather high.”
“I trust Bram and his comrades felt the same.” He backed up to me. “Can you manage?”
As long as I ignored the churning in my stomach. “Yes.”
“Good.” His fingers dug his first handhold. “I thought after your reaction to the window…”
He grunted and began his ascent. I achieved my first rung with more of a whimper, really.
“Has no one ever told you to face your fears so that you might conquer them?” I waited for a nod from him before saying, “They’re dirty, rotten liars. I have climbed rock, though usually not more than twice my height, since I was a child, helping my mother and father harvest promising crystals for their work. It made me sick each time my feet left the ground. It still does. But when it’s the difference between reaching the stone that might pay for your food for a month and being too cowardly to outstretch your arm, you must decide which will best you—your hunger or fear.”
“That explains one thing at least.” He sounded much relieved. “Why you dared an attempt to escape through that bloody high window. It seemed such a fool thing to do. I thought it was more proof of madness. That you didn’t care whether you reached the ground or died in the attempt.”
I bit my tongue to keep from pointing out the distance from the window ledge to the ground had been several times my height. I was fool enough to try it. I was a competent climber in short distances. There was a chance I might have reached the ground on my own, safely, in one piece.
Though sick as our descent had made me, I would have bet on Murdoch finding me lying on the grass in a jumble of limbs and hair, freed from my prison in a way neither of us had expected.
Chapter 11
Days and nights blurred in the mountains. Five days into our journey, mists rolled in and we resorted to tying ourselves with rope to ensure we weren’t separated. Spotting Bram’s camp was a simple matter. They dared to build fires and roast game while our frost-kissed fingers trembled.
If ever the others despaired of finding us, we saw no evidence of dissent among them.
Often Murdoch chose the higher trails so we could lie in wait for their passing below us. There we caught snippets of conversation. We heard little, but what gossip they shared heartened us.
Though Murdoch had warned me against it, I peered over the edge to watch the others reach the spot where he and I had been resting for a half hour. After a while, even Murdoch acquiesced and lay on the rocky outcropping beside me. He was a warm presence at my elbow, and where we touched, contentment blossomed. I leaned against him, and together we watched their procession.
“I heard the wing was so large it wouldn’t fit through the door to the council chambers.”
“Think about that.” A sigh. “If it couldn’t fit through the door, how’d Isolde get it in there?”
“Well, I heard that wing’s not the first. There’s one in Beltania that anyone can ask to see.”
“Huh.” A thoughtful pause. “Might be worth the trip if that’s true.”
“It is true,” Bram said with authority. “I’ve seen it. Both of them, actually.”
From there, interested murmurs erupted. Bram fielded their questions and kept them moving forward. If he knew we rested above him, he gave no indication. The others were likewise blind.
In the stillness of their departure, Murdoch kissed my forehead. “Time to go.”
“Do you think we can beat them to the pass?” I had been considering it for a day or so.
He stood and stretched. “A lame ursus could hobble faster than they’re walking.”
“I worry if they go first and realize we haven’t arrived yet, they’ll guard the pass against us.”
“It’s possible.” He shrugged. “I still say it’s worth the risk in case there are guards posted.”
“I’ve been thinking about that. I don’t recall anyone showing particular interest to that area, but that might be because our Theridiidae guards held our city so well. Now I’m not sure. If they have been dismissed as Vaughn says, and my clan has no warriors, I can’t imagine finding much resistance for us there. Even the Mimetidae warriors on loan should ignore the foothills since the pass is deep inside the Segestriidae land and they were charged only with guarding the borders.”
“What’s changed?” He helped me stand. “We had already agreed on a course of action.”
“It’s a feeling.” I couldn’t put into words. “It’s like the closer we get, the faster I must go.”
“I’ve noticed.” He rubbed his still-mottled jaw. “Your earring… It’s not humming, is it?”
“No.” I touched it out of habit. “I would tell you if it was.”
“The night we faced the harbinger, the nearer I came to her, the more compelled I was to get closer. I shook the compulsion off, and Lleu claims she didn’t affect him at all. What about you?”
It worried me that my first impulse was to lie and say I was unaffected too. For that reason, I did the opposite and told him the absolute truth. “Her song calls to me. It gets worse the longer I hear it. That’s why, after tracking a few harbingers, I gave it up to do more…preventative work.”
“We’re a ways from Titania yet. Do you think the harbinger’s call is what has you on edge?”
“I’m not sure.” It was the best answer I could give him. “I don’t think so. My earring would p
ick up the sound of her wings if that was the case. It’s not a flawless system, but it hasn’t failed me yet.” Resting a hand over my stomach, I considered another cause. “This will be the first time I’ve been home since I escaped Hishima. It will be the first time I’ve seen the empty streets I’ve walked in other cities. I fear it might be the first time that the crystal city does not shine for me.”
His arms were around me before I felt the wetness dribbling down my chin.
“I didn’t think.” He buried his face against my neck. “I’m sorry I asked you to do this.”
“It has to be done.” I kissed his cheek, then pushed him aside to wipe my face.
“If you’d rather, we can push through the night and beat the others through the pass.”
“No.” Fear of the harbinger’s influence had been planted, and now it worried me. “We’ll do as we planned. Reaching the city faster won’t help anyone there. Because it feels fresh to me, I forget it’s been months for everyone else. I’m being impatient, and I’ll no doubt regret it soon.”
With an understanding nod, Murdoch fell into the plodding gait we maintained to keep Bram at a distance. More bodies required more time to move, but they seemed to go painfully slow for guards on the hunt for an escaped prisoner. I snorted, I meant guest.
Again niggling doubts made me consider our situation from another angle. Say the harbinger was calling me. Say that was the case, then couldn’t she also be repelling them? They had never heard her song to crave it as I did.
Again and again my thoughts circled the same weary path. “Murdoch…”
He turned the corner, and his steps faltered. “Gods above and below.”
“What is it?” I hurried to his side.
Here the path narrowed dangerously, and the sheer drop fed into a small valley in the center of the foothills. I had picked flowers there as a child. There was a small stream, spring fed, but it was marshy and no one had ever lived there. In the months of my absence, that had changed. The narrow valley was now littered with tents. No one milled about, and not a single noise was heard.
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