Deny (The Blades of Acktar Book 2)

by Tricia Mingerink

  While Daas fell to the floor, stunned, Leith sprinted up the stairs, using the newel post at the top to swing to his right without slowing his momentum. Daas thumped up the stairs after him.

  Slowing, Leith ducked into the room that had been Renna’s when she’d first moved to Walden several months ago. He shut the door and clicked the lock shut. The door wouldn’t stop Daas for long, but hopefully it’d be enough.

  Leith dashed across the room and swung out the window. His feet landed on the stone ledge that ran around the manor at the base of the second floor.

  Leith had nearly fallen to his death trying to get on this ledge last time. Only his knife’s firm grip on the stone had saved his life.

  Dropping to his hands and knees, Leith felt under the ledge. His hand encountered a metal object still sticking from the brick wall. He tested it. After all this time, the dagger remained imbedded in the crack between the bricks. Taking a deep breath, he extended his feet over the edge and felt for toeholds. Above him, something clicked as Daas picked the lock.

  His feet found a crack between bricks. He wiggled his toes into the crack, gripped the dagger with one hand, and dropped below the edge. Heart pounding, he scrambled down the wall and swung into the open window to Lord Alistair’s study. Lord Alistair glanced up from his desk as Leith slammed the windows closed and bolted the locks.

  No time to explain. He raced across the room, down the hallway, and skidded into his room. Locking the door behind him, he shucked his black clothes and yanked his homespun on.

  After stuffing his Blade outfit and weapons into their hiding place, he leaned against the wall and gasped several deep breaths. His heart pounded in his ears. He swiped at the sweat coating his face.

  When his breathing steadied, he opened the door and stepped from the room as the Seventh Blade slid down the stairs.

  Leith met Daas at the bottom, collared him, and dragged him into one of the linen closets lining the hallway. Leith slammed him against the wall. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  Daas squirmed in Leith’s grip. “I was following Vane. I nearly had him.”

  “Fool! He knows this manor far better than you do. You weren’t about to catch him.” Leith sharpened his words with a growl. He had to convince Daas not to try again. “Your stunt might’ve ruined everything. If everyone hadn’t been outside working on the fortifications, you might’ve been caught by Lord Alistair’s soldiers.”

  “I didn’t see you trying to catch him.”

  Leith pressed his face closer, lowering his voice. “Harrison Vane has a secret hiding place somewhere in this manor. We won’t find it by chasing him, only by being sneakier than he is. I’ve been watching him every day from inside the manor, tracking his movements from the moment he enters. I’ve been getting close to finding his hiding spot, but I won’t find it if you chase him off.”

  Daas hung his head. “I see.”

  “Do you?” Leith stared at the Blade until he met Leith’s gaze. “If we fail to catch Harrison Vane, the king will count it my failure. I don’t like to fail.”

  Daas flinched. When Vane had said things like that when he’d been the First Blade, it had been a threat. The others might not suffer Respen’s wrath, but Vane’s beatings had been as just as bad.

  Leith let go of the Blade’s collar and stepped back. “Now get out of Walden before you draw any more attention to yourself.”

  Daas nodded and hurried towards the back kitchen door. Leith sighed. The Blade had had the sense to wear a tan shirt and trousers smeared with dirt, but he still stuck out. Hopefully he didn’t cause too much chaos sneaking in and out.

  After he was sure Daas had left, Leith strode toward Lord Alistair’s study. He stepped into a milling crowd of soldiers, all jabbering about the Blade they’d seen climb down the manor wall. Leith winced. So much for not causing chaos.

  Lord Alistair’s gaze snagged on Leith. “Everybody out. As Shadrach has explained, it was only our ally. I thank you for your alertness. Now please return to your posts.”

  The men shuffled from the study until only Leith, Shad, and Lord Alistair remained in the room.

  Lord Alistair waved Leith farther into the room. “I wondered how long it would take you to report. What happened?”

  Leith sagged into one of the chairs. “Sorry about the lack of explanations earlier. The Seventh Blade decided to ignore orders and explore Walden on his own. He never came close to catching me, but I won’t have it so easy next time.”

  “There’ll be a next time?” Lord Alistair steepled his fingers and leaned back in his chair. The sunlight peeking through the curtains glinted on the strands of silver at his temple.

  Leith crossed his arms. “The Seventh Blade had the nerve to question me about my whereabouts, even hinting I wasn’t doing my best to find Vane. I threatened him, but I’m not sure it’ll be enough. If it had been Eleventh Blade Harding, maybe, but Daas has been prickly ever since I became First Blade.”

  Shad flexed his fingers on his sword’s hilt. “You can’t keep this up. We’ll have to stop this ruse.”

  The lines on Lord Alistair’s face deepened. “More than that, we’re running out of time. I received word this morning that Uster has fallen. The survivors are falling back to here. Respen’s army isn’t far behind them. They’ll be here before the week is out.”

  Leith leaned his head into his hands. Only a week until the war arrived on Walden’s doorstep.

  Shad’s whole body sagged. “We have to get Mother, Jolene, and Lydia out of here. They can’t stay any longer.”

  “I would if I could.” Lord Alistair rubbed his temples. “But there are two Blades watching this manor. If anyone tries to leave, they’ll be attacked. Respen’s army will arrive before the Blades leave for the next Meeting.”

  Their own ruse had turned on them. Leith closed his eyes and let his head hang. They’d trapped Lady Lorraine, Lady Alistair, Lydia, Jolene, and everyone else who’d decided to remain at Walden to help build the fortifications.

  “What if we kept the Blades occupied one night so everyone can slip past them?”

  Leith raised his head and stared at Shad. “What could possibly keep both Blades busy that long?”

  A grin broke the grim lines around Shad’s mouth. “We kill Harrison Vane. Well, we let all of you Blades kill him. It won’t matter if we kill him off now, because after you rescue Renna and Brandi, Respen will know the truth anyway.”

  Leith gaped at him. “How am I going to kill myself while the Blades are watching without actually dying?”

  Shad’s grin widened. “I’ll be Harrison Vane for a night. We make the other Blades think you killed me. That way, you can return to Nalgar Castle looking successful, and we can get everyone out of Walden who wants to leave without the Blades noticing.”

  “You look nothing like Vane.” Leith toyed with the hilt of Martyn’s knife stuck in his belt. “You’re several inches taller, and much broader.”

  “It’s only two Blades we have to fool.” Shad crossed his arms. “How well did they really know Vane? Enough to see those differences at night after they haven’t seen Vane up close for nearly two months? Especially if their First Blade, who they have no reason to distrust, tells them it’s Vane?”

  Leith leaned his head back against the chair. Vane had mostly avoided the younger Blades except to berate them. Would that make Vane seem bigger to them than he really was? Leith had trained Harding himself, so Vane hadn’t spent a lot of time close to him. And Daas? He so desperately wanted the glory of capturing Vane himself that he’d disobeyed his current First Blade’s orders to enter Walden. Would his eagerness deceive him into thinking he was seeing Vane?

  “It’s possible it might work. The mind has a way of seeing what it wants to see.” Leith stood. “It’s complicated. A lot of things can go wrong.”

  Lord Alistair steepled his fingers. “Our situation is complicated.” He glanced at Shad. “You’ll be facing two Blades. You could be killed.”
r />   “Three Blades. And one Blade trainee. I won’t be able to help him much without giving myself away.”

  Shad shrugged. “It won’t be for long. I’ll just have to die before they have a chance to kill me.”

  Leith shook his head. When had life gotten so muddled? It used to be that when people were dead, they were dead. Now, Leith could barely remember who was actually dead but supposedly alive and who was actually alive but supposedly dead. “I still don’t like it. Our plan to pretend Renna and Brandi were killed didn’t turn out.”

  Shad shook his head. “That wasn’t a problem with our plan. The problem happened afterwards.”

  “I wish I could take your place.”

  Shad fingered the knives belted to his waist. “You need to be with the Blades tracking Vane. And I’m the only one who can throw knives well enough to pass as Vane. We all know you can’t throw a knife to save your life.”

  Shad was right. Leith ground his teeth. If only there was another way. But they’d backed themselves into a box canyon, and the only way out was more deception.

  38

  Renna leaned against the stone wall, breathing shallow breathes. Brandi rested her head on her shoulder. They’d barely moved, rarely spoken, for the past few days.

  King Respen’s soldiers would’ve attacked Stetterly by now. No matter how hard Renna tried, she couldn’t banish the image of a horde of soldiers descending on Stetterly. She heard the screams of the townspeople, echoing her mother’s screams from four years ago. If she closed her eyes, she could see Aunt Mara falling to the floor exactly like Renna’s mother had, blood running down the front of her dress.

  Renna pressed a kiss into the top of her sister’s head, but Brandi didn’t stir. The fire in Brandi’s eyes had flickered out. How could Renna restore Brandi’s hope when she had no hope of her own?

  Her stomach churned. She’d nearly denied her faith. If Brandi hadn’t interrupted, she would’ve done it. She’d tried to tell herself that it would’ve only been a lie to appease King Respen, but that wasn’t the truth. She’d denied her faith in so many ways already. The words would’ve only made it official.

  Blinking at tears, she curled her legs tighter to her body, wincing as she jarred her injured leg. Her faith had been as tenuous as the first blossoms of spring, ready to shrivel up and die at the first sign of frost. Renna had survived by letting Brandi’s faith, and eventually Leith’s faith, be strong for her.

  But Brandi’s faith had been shaken. Leith wasn’t here. How did Renna reverse the roles now? How could she be the strong one? She touched the silver cross dangling from her necklace. Do not be afraid, only believe. Her mother’s favorite verse. How could Renna face fear when she couldn’t even believe?

  Renna couldn’t let Brandi stay like this. She had to do something. Stroking Brandi’s hair, she leaned her head against the stone.

  Brandi had touched Leith’s heart with stories. Perhaps Renna could reach Brandi the same way. She touched Brandi’s forehead. “There are a lot of Bible stories about people in prison. Daniel was captured as a young boy. Joseph spent years in prison. The apostle Peter was locked in jail.”

  “He was let out by an angel.” Brandi didn’t move.

  “And we don’t want to forget Paul and Silas. They sang while locked in prison.” She bit her lip. Brandi had better pay attention soon. Renna was running out of Bibles stories.

  “As they sang, there was a big earthquake, and all the prison doors opened, and all their chains fell off.” Brandi heaved a big sigh but didn’t raise her head.

  “Do you want to try it? Singing, I mean.” Renna held her breath. If Brandi didn’t respond to that, she didn’t know what else to try.

  Brandi inched upright and shoved her hair out of her face. “I guess. What song do you want to sing?”

  Renna frowned. What song? Why hadn’t she thought of a song before starting this? She couldn’t remember the words to a single psalm. Closing her eyes, she pictured her songbook and tried to flip through the pages. The words of one song stuck out to her. She hummed the tune, then sang the words. “In God will I trust, though my counselors say, O flee as a bird to your mountain away.”

  Renna faltered. Her counselors had advised her to flee to the mountains to escape King Respen. Had she ever trusted God with her safety? Or had she placed her trust in Leith’s strength and Lord Alistair’s cunning?

  Brandi drew in a breath and sang the next line. “The wicked are strong and the righteous are weak.”

  “Foundations are shaken, yet God will I seek.” Renna touched the silver cross again. Her faith’s foundations had been shaken. Instead of seeking God, she’d given in to despair. How did she even begin to change that?

  Brandi slumped against Renna. “Nothing happened.”

  Renna hugged her. Perhaps the walls hadn’t come tumbling down and the bars hadn’t broken, but at least Brandi was talking.

  39

  Leith unwrapped the cowl after his final appearance as Vane. Jamie eyed him, his back pressed to the door to listen for anyone loitering on the other side in case the other Blades should have any more ideas about tracking Vane inside Walden.

  Leith dropped the cowl onto his cot and sat next to it. “Jamie, when I return to Nalgar, you don’t have—”

  “No, don’t say it.” Jamie crossed his arms, his blue eyes narrowed. “I’m going back to Nalgar Castle with you.”

  When had Jamie become so determined? “It’ll be dangerous.”

  “I know.” Jamie pointed at Leith’s belt. “Third Blade Hamish left one of his knives behind when he took Brandi. He knows you were the one to get them out of Walden, doesn’t he?”

  Trust Jamie to notice the initials when no one else had. “Yes, he must know some of it. I don’t know why he hasn’t turned me in yet. That’s why you shouldn’t come with me.”

  “No, that’s exactly why I have to go with you.” Jamie faced him with a boldness Leith had never seen in the trainee before. “I can help you get Renna and Brandi out, and we can’t leave the other trainees there.”

  If Leith had had half of Jamie’s courage when he’d been thirteen, he never would’ve become a Blade. “All right. The rescue will be easier with two of us inside the castle.” He eyed Jamie. “I reported to Respen that you killed a servant girl. Do you understand what that means?”

  The muscles at the corners of Jamie’s jaw knotted. “It means that in Respen’s eyes, I’ve done my first kill.”

  “He’ll give you your first mark and make you a Blade at the Meeting.” Leith pressed his hand against his leg to stop himself from rubbing his own first mark. “We should be able to rescue the girls and leave the castle before the Meeting, but if something goes wrong, you’re going to become a Blade. You’ll carry that mark the rest of your life.”

  Jamie touched his right shoulder. “I know. But it’s not like I actually killed for it, and one scar isn’t going to look like a Blade mark if someone else sees it. It’ll be worth it to rescue Brandi and her sister.”

  Leith rested a hand on Jamie’s shoulder. Hopefully when this was all over, he could get Jamie to safety at Eagle Heights. Until then, Jamie would have to step up and do a man’s job.

  After he changed, Leith stepped into the hallway. Before he’d gone a few steps, Shad caught his arm. “Lord Segon from Uster arrived while we were drilling the men. The news isn’t good.”

  “What happened?” Leith’s stomach knotted at the white tinge to Shad’s face.

  “Respen’s army attacked Stetterly.”

  “What?” Leith sagged against the wall. “When?”

  “When he retreated from Uster, Lord Segon and his men ran into a few survivors from Stetterly. They said Stetterly Manor was attacked last Sunday while almost everyone was gathered for the church service.” Shad’s voice lowered. “Both the town and the manor were burned to the ground.”

  Leith jerked at the words. Stetterly burned? The kitchen where Renna had tended him, the blue room with the chipped paint
at the end of the hall where he’d recovered, the ballroom-turned-church with its balcony where God’s Word had so stabbed at his heart…all gone. Burned to ashes. “The people? Renna’s aunt and uncle?”

  “Most of the people in the town managed to hide in the Spires Canyon along with a few from the manor. The rest were either captured or killed.” Shad pressed a hand to the wall. “The Lachlans weren’t among the survivors that arrived here with Lord Segon.”

  Leith closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall. Those words ached more than he’d expected. Abel and Mara Lachlan were the closest thing he’d had to family, and they’d known his mother. They couldn’t be dead. “What happened to those who were captured?”

  “Last the survivors saw, they were being marched towards Nalgar Castle.”

  Leith pushed himself upright. “Looks like I’ll have to rescue all of them too.”

  Shad raised his eyebrows, but he thankfully didn’t tell Leith how impossible that was.

  Leith didn’t care. Somehow, he had to get all of them out. He couldn’t let his family die again.

  Leith dropped onto a log next to the small campfire the other Blades had built in the hollow. Eleventh Blade Harding took one look at him and shifted farther away from him. Even Seventh Blade Daas eyed him warily. Leith could only imagine how grim his face looked. “I learned today that Vane plans to return to Eagle Heights tomorrow night.”

  Seventh Blade Daas pulled out one of his knives and inspected it. “We can catch him on the prairie.”

  That was the last thing Leith could let happen. “We can’t attack him while he’s crossing the prairie. Have you forgotten his skill with knives? He’d see us coming and either bolt for Walden or make a stand and take us out with his knives before we got close enough to harm him.”