Haven (War of the Princes)

by A. R. Ivanovich

  “He’s amazing,” I said honestly. I’d never dreamed of seeing a creature so perfect, let alone being given one.

  By way of introduction, I let Florian snuff my hand and take in my scent before I attempted to pat him on the neck.

  “He’s silver, like your eyes,” Dylan grinned.

  I should have known that was his reason for picking this particular animal.

  “You don’t quit do you?” I asked in astonishment of his brazen flirtations.

  “Not until I win,” he told me. I believed him.

  “And what do you think you’ll be winning?” I demanded. To compound my statement, I hoisted myself up into the saddle and looked down at him.

  He kept hold of my reins. “Maybe satisfaction. Maybe you.” He swung up into his saddle and flashed me another charming grin.

  He didn’t give me my reins until we had ridden down to an area of the shore that was blocked on all sides by buildings, some of which sat half on land and half in the bay. He picked a narrow path that led to a long stretch of beach. Out on the water, one side of Breakwater Keep faced us. I remembered seeing the opposite view from the medical waiting room.

  It was easy to comprehend why he chose this beach. It was long, blocked in, and beautiful. If I rode to escape, I’d be forced to slow down on the trail back into town where he could easily overtake me.

  I spent a moment enjoying the sight of the ocean and breathing in the salty air. Little fishing boats dotted the calm bay water, with a few larger steam vessels maneuvering toward the main harbor for docking. The warmth of the sun and the coolness of the sea breeze were a perfect complement.

  Florian stamped his hoof impatiently in the sand.

  “What do you think?” Dylan asked, handing me my reins.

  “I think this is a fast horse.”

  “He is.”

  “Faster than yours,” I said, wheeling Florian around Dylan’s mount. The gelding was acutely sensitive to the slightest command. It was a sharp contrast to my dad’s lazy ponies.

  “Not likely,” Dylan grinned. There was a glint in his eye that told me he was ready for the challenge.

  I’m not sure what signaled the race, but something invisible had passed between us and we both laid our heels to our horses and shot down the beach like arrows.

  I almost lost my breath when Florian leaped into action. Each stride was numbingly powerful and I quickly crouched, focusing on balance as I gave him his head and the freedom of a full gallop.

  I’d never moved so fast in my entire life. My hair was blasted back as we ran, with my orange scarf whipping behind like a long flag. The battering wind pounded into my lungs and my heart was alive with the thrill of raw speed. It felt like I was flying, and in a way, we were. For each beat that Florian’s hooves pounded into the sand, they rose again together, leaving us airborne for just a second before they fell again.

  I didn’t realize that I was smiling the entire time until Dylan pulled into the lead, laughing.

  For the span of that race, I forgot where I was, who I was with, and how I got there. All I knew was excitement and exhilaration.

  I only wish things could have remained so simple.

  Chapter 17: One Open Door

  Dylan kept his word. Not only was a pair of night goggles promptly delivered, but my door was left unlocked and mostly unguarded. I could tell that the maids were checking in on me and that the guards only feigned disinterest when I passed them. The moment I was alone and unobserved, I hastily made for the medical wing of Breakwater Keep.

  It was sunset and everything outside was golden. The scent of brine wafted in on the evening breeze, streaming through the keep’s many windows. Most of the doctors would have resigned for the night by now. At the very least, they’d be eating dinner. Young Lord Axton was occupied with meetings about balancing the trade tax with other towns, which he described as “mind-numbingly dull.”

  It was just as well. I was tired of him complaining about my wanting to see Rune.

  Finding the medical corridor was easy, and when I hastily pushed open the doors that led to the central waiting room, it was empty just as I’d hoped. Two voices were muffled by the door of another patient’s room. One was authoritative, clearly a doctor. Lucky for me, the conversation didn’t end.

  Successful in my covert quest, I strode triumphantly forward… until I reached his door. All courage fled me. I faltered and found myself standing there blankly. All of my fears waved their flags at me, vying for my attention. What if Dylan and the others were right? What if he wasn’t who I thought he was?

  In the end, my mind was made up: I couldn’t forget the person I met in the cave. Stories weren’t going to frighten me off. He was my friend and I had precious few of those in the Outside. Before I could talk myself out of it, I marched right into his room.

  The last thing I expected was to physically run into another doctor. I stumbled backward, blurting apologies at the person I had collided with, but when I looked up, it wasn’t one of the doctors I was looking at. It was Rune. He was awake and on his feet.

  The collision wasn’t the only thing that made me lose my breath. I’d forgotten how tall he was, and in the light, I could finally see just how blue his eyes were in contrast with his warm brown skin.

  He wasn’t immune to surprise either. His mouth dropped open ever so slightly and, sounding as though he didn’t believe what he was seeing, he said one word.

  “Katelyn…”

  “Hi,” I returned, awkwardly.

  He looked worlds better than before, but still wore his arm in a bandaged sling. Now that his strength had returned, there was a sharp, alert quality in him that wasn’t there before. The powerful surge of relief I felt at seeing him awake and well was stronger than I thought it’d be.

  “I thought I dreamed you,” Rune said. I could see the puzzlement plain on his face.

  His words struck a familiar chord. “First I’m a ghost and now I’m a dream? When is it going to sink in that I’m a tangible human being?” I grabbed his good arm for emphasis.

  When he didn’t respond, I let go, feeling strange for having made physical contact. Playfulness faded from me. He wasn’t even smiling.

  “What have I done?” he wondered aloud, eyes going distant.

  “You didn’t do anything,” I said automatically.

  His focus returned sharply to me. “I told you to run. Why didn’t you?” he demanded.

  “I-I didn’t want to leave you alone there,” I blurted out, taken aback by the grave severity in his voice. “I tried to go, but there was this thing in the dark. It stared at me. Its face didn’t match its body. It was like an eel.”

  “Lurcher,” he confirmed.

  My skin prickled. I had been that close to whatever had nearly killed Rune.

  “The militia found me with you. They put me in a cell at first, but Dylan gave me a room and I’m allowed to go almost anywhere I want as long as I don’t leave the keep,” I explained.

  “Dylan Axton,” he said, more as a statement than a question.

  “Yes.”

  His expression was unreadable. He moved to face the broad window that overlooked the beach where Dylan and I had ridden just that morning.

  “You need to leave,” he said lowly.

  “I know,” I said emphatically. “That’s why I came to you. I was hoping you could help me. I’ve been trying to plan to get away somehow, and I don’t want to try it just to get caught. It would make it twice as hard to escape later if that happened.”

  “No,” he interrupted, facing me. “You have to leave this room. Now.”

  I felt my blood turn cold.

  “But- Rune,” I stammered, afraid of what he was saying. “You’re the only person I can trust. You’re my only friend.”

  “I’m not your friend,” he said, empty of emotion. “Friendship is a luxury that I cannot accept.”

  “I know,” I said, stubbornly. “Dylan told me everything. But it doesn’t have to be like t
hat. Not with me.”

  “Dylan told you everything?” he said sharply, the intensity in his eyes warning me that Dylan could not have told me what he didn’t know. “Everything is a lot, Katelyn. And there are too few words to describe it. There’s the door. Use it.”

  My heart was racing, and to me, it sounded louder than the waves crashing against the keep, spraying the outside balcony.

  “No,” I said, crossing my arms.

  “Leave,” he said again.

  “No,” I repeated firmly, stepping further into the room.

  He turned, following me. “If you don’t leave, I’ll carry you out.”

  “I’d like to see you try,” I said venomously and planted myself on his bed, as far away from the door as I could be. In front of me was the painting of the brilliant, leafless white tree, growing from a stone on the deep, dark, stormy ocean. I stared at it stubbornly, steeling myself for the moment he’d try to scoop me up.

  “Have it your way,” he said threateningly.

  “I saved your life,” I said quietly, stopping him in his tracks.

  There was a long silence. I sat with my arms crossed around my middle, refusing to look at him, and stared at the lonely, beautiful painting. It was a compelling piece and I let myself be drawn in. To be honest, I’d have taken any distraction to save me from that moment. I studied the canvas, feeling an affinity certain for the masterful brushstrokes; there was a bright optimism in the white tree, despite the maelstrom that surrounded it. The thunderous sky and hungry sea, no matter how threatening, weren’t a match for the strength of the triumphant tree. It gave me heart. In the bottom corner I noticed a pair of initials: R.T.

  Rune Thayer. I should have known. He told me he had painted before he had been taken away to be a Dragoon. Why did my every thought have to lead back to him?

  “Sometimes I wish you hadn’t,” he said under his breath.

  Even though I was just starting to understand how miserable life could be in the Outside World, to hear a person sound so wholly and honestly defeated was a shock to me. To go so far as to imply that he wished he’d died was like an insult to my sacrifice. I knew in my core that no matter what happened to me, I’d never give up on living.

  “Coward,” I said fiercely. He wasn’t only giving up on himself. He was giving up on me.

  I didn’t look at him. I didn’t need to. The room was thick with tension. I’d baited him and waited for the consequences.

  His response was calmer than I’d expected. “Don’t talk of things you know nothing about.”

  “Then enlighten me. It’s your fault I’m here,” I countered.

  “Take responsibility for your actions. You’re here as a result of a series of decisions that you, yourself made,” he said, not sounding anything like the person I’d met in the cave.

  I stood up and whirled around to face him. “So you can stand here and tell me that you don’t feel any connection to my being here?”

  “No connection,” he said, hurting me more than he knew. I really was alone in this strange unknown land, and in more trouble than I ever could have imagined.

  My hands trembled with emotion. I balled them into fists and met his blue eyes with my own.

  “And if something horrible happened to me? How would you feel?” I asked.

  “It can’t matter to me,” he said mechanically.

  “I didn’t ask if it could or not. I asked how you would feel. When we were back there and you were injured, you told me I was your friend,” I said trying to keep my voice level.

  “I had a fever,” he said dismissively.

  “You said that you wished for me,” I said stubbornly. “You told me how much you hate all of this. It was your dying wish to have a friend by your side. Someone you could talk to; be normal with. I’m still that person.”

  “This is the way things are,” Rune said, denying me again.

  “I was your wish and I’m still here,” I persisted.

  “Katelyn.”

  “I’m your friend, Rune, and I need your help,” I all but begged.

  “I’m sorry,” he said gently and I could finally see a shadow of regret in his eyes. “Please leave.”

  I gritted my teeth, staring up at him, hoping with all of my might to see him change his mind. He looked tired but unyielding.

  “I’m still here,” I said weakly and fled the room before he could see the tears spill down my cheeks.

  Chapter 18: Resolve

  No one in my life ever accused me of being fragile, except for Kyle when he was looking for a punch in the arm. It wasn’t often that I cried, and when I did, I hated letting anyone see it. Conditional freedom or not, I remained alone in my room for the rest of the night.

  The door to the narrow balcony was open and chill night air gusted in, ruffling the curtains and corners of my bed sheets. The wide moon hung low in the sky, its splintered reflection dancing on the dark ocean. The stars were dim in its presence, but I could still see them. Tiny dots of light bobbed from the prows of distant steamboats, vaguely illuminating their decks.

  I sat in the balcony doorway with a thin blanket to shield me from the intruding cold.

  Anger made sense. I should have felt that way about Rune, but I pitied him. He was right, I had no idea about the depth of the situation in Breakwater and the rest of the Outer World. He deserved a life, but instead he was a servant to an inhuman Overlord, cut off from his family and his loved ones. No companionship, no comfort. What could that kind of isolation do to a person?

  The sea was a vast shadow without the help of my new night goggles, even despite the moonlight, but the sound of the churning surf was ever present. I imagined that the leafless white tree from Rune’s painting reached out of the water.

  Strange though it seemed, he was more of a prisoner than I was.

  That didn’t change the one thing I understood with new clarity: I had to escape and I had to do it alone. Playing it safe had allowed me to learn about my surroundings. It was time to take action. I was afraid, but my resolve dried my tears. In a day or two, when the time was right, I was leaving and I knew I’d find my way home.

  Chapter 19: Ships On The Horizon

  Morning didn’t just bring the warmth of dawn light and the cries of sea birds. Five enormous black ships were settled over the water just outside Breakwater Bay. I discovered that my night goggles had a zoom feature and I used them to study the huge machines. Each hull was a patchwork of dark, rusted metal, stacked with massive gears, wheels, pumps and billows. The result was a grim set of ships that didn’t sit upon the water’s surface, but floated just above it. It seemed impossible that something so large and ungainly could hover over the sea.

  I watched them for most of the earliest morning hours, until they began to move. Four of them continued out on the water, never shifting their elevation over the surface. The fifth stayed where it was at the mouth of the bay. Though only one remained, it was still an ominous sight.

  There was no way I was going to wait around and find out what its presence signified. I dressed so quickly that I zapped myself twice with static electricity. When my good boots were on and my goggles settled on top of my head, I looked over my room for any possessions I might bring away with me. My eyes lingered on Dylan’s gift: the extravagant sapphire necklace. I turned away from it, picking up the knit orange scarf from my bed and slinging it around my neck. It would remind me, more than any other souvenir, what the outside world was really like.

  When I left my room, planning to slip into the kitchens for a quick snack before my attempted escape, I figured I wouldn’t see Dylan so early in the morning. I was wrong.

  The sound of his voice brought me up short just outside the private mess hall for guards and soldiers.

  “-many dead?” I could hear Dylan asking someone. He wasn’t speaking loudly, but in the quiet of dawn, it carried enough for me to hear.

  “Seven militia, two Dragoons,” a tired, rough voice answered.

  “Woun
ded?”

  “Nearly everyone. The Dragoons had a healer out, so we were able to keep the minor wounds under control. Davin’s was the worst case. He had the venom fever badly and lost a good deal of blood. My horse was fresh so they sent me ahead to bring him in while there was still hope for him. He’s in the medical wing in surgery now,” the other voice reported.

  “And my brother?”

  “Hale and healthy when last I saw him. He gave me a message for you: Expect him soon.”

  “Independence never lasts,” Dylan sighed with resignation. “How many Lurchers were slain?”

  “One,” he responded.

  What I heard frightened me. So many soldiers killed and wounded, even the Dragoons with their abilities, and only one Lurcher was brought down. What would I be facing on my way back to the cave?

  “When I left them they were on the heels of the second, driving it this way. But the big one with the scars, it was still out there, pursuing us.”

  “Did Senior Commander find any Lodestones up there?” Dylan asked in a familiar, sardonic tone.

  “No, sir,” the man answered.

  “I don’t know why they still bother wasting time on that kind of mythology. It’s a misuse of manpower while there are still Lurchers so close to our city,” Dylan complained.

  I didn’t know what a Lodestone was, but I’d overheard plenty and didn’t want to risk dealing with Dylan before my escape.

  My visit to the kitchen was brief. I only stayed long enough to stuff my face with as many deviled eggs as I could before the cook came back.

  Attempting to be both stealthy and inconspicuous, I hurried back down the hall, passing bleary-eyed workers preparing to bring the keep to life for the day.

  My stomach was in knots. I really didn’t know how I was going to make it out, but I was determined to find a way.

  I needed to think of something, fast.

  The only thing that came to mind was Rune… over and over. The thought of never seeing him again began to overshadow my longing for home. I wasn’t sure I was interested in him romantically, but there he was, prominent in my mind. Like the day I first encountered him, I couldn’t just walk away, I had to see him again.