Phoenix Heart: Episode Two: Secret Keeper

by Sarah K. L. Wilson

  I clenched my bound hands together and tried not to think all the questions that kept flooding over me. They came anyway, unbidden. I wished I could voice them aloud, if only to dispel them from my heart.

  Would they wait to kill the ai’sletta or do it right away?

  Would they wait until after dark? And if they did, could Kazmerev help me escape?

  “Can’t you get us free?” Mally whispered to Judicus when our guard was occupied with orders from their leader. “You killed so many of them back at Landsfall.”

  Judicus snorted. “Could I kill everyone on this boat? Maybe. And then I’d pass out for the next few days because I’m out of energy. I might even die. That effort in the town nearly sapped me of life and I’m still injured. Why do you think I keep slipping out of consciousness? If I did that, I’d leave you here still surrounded by the rest of our enemies and now with the added burden of my unconscious body. And that’s assuming you would worry about me at all.”

  I gave him a reproving look.

  “Not you, Sersha,” he said mollifying me. “But Mally has shown she has an ... adaptable ... conscience.”

  “I’m practical,” Mally said, jaw thrust out again. But that glassy look in her eyes was tears. I knew the signs. She was afraid. And she didn’t want to be alone without us.

  I put a hand on her shoulder, and she shook it off irritably – but I knew her. She hated being vulnerable. She hated pity. But she wouldn’t be so prickly if she wasn’t scared for her life. I didn’t blame her. I was scared, too.

  “We bide our time,” Judicus whispered. “And if things get truly bad, then I’ll act as best as I can and pay the price.”

  I clenched my jaw. If he did that, he’d be a dead man and we wouldn’t be far behind him. I was practical enough to understand that. What would be better would be if he and I could come up with a plan to work together, but I feared trying to plan under the eyes of our guards. That would require Mally translating between us and it would be harder to keep our communications secret with my wide hand gestures to alert the guards. I would also have to bide my time.

  I’d learned patience over the years. Both people and ideas needed patience like young plants needed sunshine. They’d sprout when they were ready.

  Even so, I missed Kazmerev. Having someone to talk to was like a spring of fresh clear water on a long hot day. Losing it felt like having that same water ripped from your hands. If he died with the dawn, then I died, too. I wasn’t fully alive when he wasn’t here.

  I stole a glance at the sun as if I could will it to move more quickly across the sky, but it stood stubbornly still. I’d need to be patient with that, too.

  Eventually, our boat tied up along a long crude pier. How long had the raiders been here? Long enough to create this, unless it had been here before them.

  That worried me. The attack two nights ago had been our first warning of raiders – but there were enough here to overwhelm Landsfall. Why hadn’t all of them come? Had they been spread out and scattered to other towns? Or were the rest of them newly arrived? When had they had time to construct this docking place for their boats?

  I didn’t know a lot about boats, but these ones were small, holding maybe a dozen people and limited supplies. It was hard to believe that they’d traveled very far in these – certainly not from across the sea – but I’d always been told the raiders lived in a land across the water. None of this was making much sense to me.

  I noticed Judicus watching it all, too, his face pale and slightly green. That might be from his wound. Or it might be that he was drawing the same conclusion I was – that we’d stumbled into something bigger than a small random raiding party and we were in big trouble now.

  Mally, for her part, was surprisingly quiet, her large green eyes flicking over the other boats as ours was tied up to the dock and a rough plank was extended to the boat. The raiders began to disembark, and we were urged to our feet and guided to the plank.

  I offered my arm to Judicus for support. He leaned heavily on me, his steps slow and pained. He ought to be in bed for a week and kept on clear broth and herb teas. He absolutely should not be stumbling his way across a rocking plank with only a bound prisoner for support.

  I bit my lip and was thankful yet again for my voicelessness. If I’d had a voice, I would have had to decide how to use it, and speaking up – or not speaking up – was a terrible responsibility.

  People forgot the power of words. Or they misused them. Or they didn’t use them when they should. I only had actions to show my intent or to help or hinder. Perhaps it was better to start there, where the harm or help was more obvious and less like a snake twisting in your hand.

  The raiders might as well have been voiceless, too, for all they were saying to us. They led us into their tent village, their eyes forward and mouths shut. To my surprise, no one called a greeting or ran to meet them. Though some paused in their work to watch.

  That, to me, was not a good sign. People didn’t stand around staring owlishly at anything good. Were they planning to execute us immediately? A trickle of sweat worked its way between my shoulder blades.

  Their camp was tidy and well ordered. I’d expected it to look and smell foreign and I was almost disappointed by how familiar it looked. Rough canvas tents, fish cooking on the fires, basic tools, the smell of wet wool, and chaffaray plant. All sights and smells you could find in our village. If we took down their masks, would they look just like us?

  We were brought up to the largest tent in the encampment. It was plain and rough as the rest, but two people stood outside the tent, faces uncovered, hands on long spears with tufts of feathers up at the tips. Their hard faces were no more comfort than the masks and I flinched away from their sharp glares.

  The lead raider approached the closed tent flap as the others pulled us into a rough line facing the tent.

  After a moment, the tent flap opened with the sound of wind-snapped cloth and a dark figure stepped forward. Her face was bare, and her blonde curls tumbled down her back.

  I almost gasped. She was barely older than I was.

  Her eyes narrowed on us and her smile was just beginning to turn her lips up in one corner when Judicus finally raised his tired head. His gasp echoed loudly in the silence. He sounded like someone hit him and I looked over quickly, prepared to catch him, but it was only shock etched on his expression.

  “Cassanetta Lightland?” he asked.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Judicus Franzer Irault,” she said, and her close-lipped smile was cat-like. “I told you I would win this year.”

  “Win?” Mally said, and I heard that note of threat in her voice.

  “Didn’t the son of the Lord of Chaos tell you it’s a little competition with us to find the ai’sletta? He didn’t steal away with the pair of you in the dark of night out of goodwill. Goodwill isn’t something that rope workers know anything about, do they Judicus?”

  “Are you in league with the Hand of Rats now, Lady Lightland?” Judicus asked warily.

  “Our interests align,” she agreed, looking to the raider leader. “I’d like to speak to our guests if that can be arranged, Horacen.”

  I made note of his name – Horacen. It seemed familiar somehow.

  “Wolf?” Judicus asked, looking at the leader. “Is that what the name means?”

  “All their leaders are known as Horacen,” Lady Lightland said. “They don’t show their names to strangers any more than their faces, do you Horacen?”

  The raider seemed unimpressed. I thought maybe he was frowning under his mask.

  He didn’t reply, simply turning and walking away, snapping his fingers as he left. At that motion, his raiders gathered around the prisoners, giving Lady Lightland what she’d requested, even if Horacen wouldn’t acknowledge her condescending tone.

  “I see you’ve made friends, as always,” Judicus said, his smile turning mocking.

  “Everyone is the friend of a woman with gold to spend,” Lady Lightla
nd said, but her eyes were hard. “And none is the friend of a rope worker with a dark past. But this is not the place to discuss this. Bring them into my tent.”

  She turned, striding through the door of the tent as the raiders nudged us forward.

  Her quarters weren’t empty. Four men in maroon and silver livery stood just inside the door and four more ringed the large white tent. They carried bronze-tipped spears like the men guarding outside the tent door. How interesting. Why did she need all these guards if she were among friends?

  Inside, sprawled across camp chairs, were an assortment of young people in fine clothing, their hair styled in ways I was unfamiliar with. One had a braid dangling down one side of her pale head, the other side shaved to the skin. Another man had bright medallions strung between locks of hair. Friends of hers, perhaps?

  Or maybe this was her coterie. My eyes narrowed. If she was Judicus’s rival in a “game” and if Judicus had a coterie of skilled people – though his currently only contained Kazmerev and me – then perhaps these people were Lady Lightland’s coterie. One of them turned a palm up and let a few dark threads spiral over it as if to show us he was a ropeworker. But what skilled rope worker needed to brag about it?

  My eyes narrowed further. I didn’t trust this coterie.

  Lady Lightland spun, her eyes gleaming for a moment, and then she smiled again. I was starting to hate her smiles.

  “Do you know Galen Floren Topocos?” she asked lightly. “You aren’t the only rope worker seeking glory, Judcus Franzer Irault. I have one of my own.”

  Like he was a pet. Or a milk cow.

  I felt my eyes growing larger, but Mally had a considering look on her face. I tried to imagine how this would appear to her. Maybe like a negotiation? After all, she bore Judicus no loyalty. Maybe she’d see this as a way to increase her value.

  I hoped for better, but I knew my cousin. And though I enjoyed her intelligence and wit, I knew perfectly well that her loyalty was to herself alone. She’d easily slide away from any entanglements meant to hold her in one place. One look at how she’d ended things with Tyndale was enough evidence of that.

  I needed to think of a way to remind her that it was better to stick with those you trust.

  “And you have no Flame Rider now that dear Veela is gone. No coterie. No one but these village girls.”

  Mally opened her mouth and I stepped on her foot, ignoring the angry look she shot me. Now was not the time to argue and certainly not the time to reveal our one hidden trick – Kazmerev. We’d need him to help us escape this, but secrecy would be his best chance to help.

  “You wouldn’t know, Lady Lightland,” Judicus said, and his tone might have seemed light to a stranger but to me, it sounded very dangerous, like a trap not yet sprung. “After all, you’re the one who attacked Veela and me, aren’t you?”

  “Did you see who stabbed you?” Her tone was light, but I heard the real worry behind it.

  “I know that I didn’t tell you I’d been stabbed – and yet here you are knowing all about it.” His face had gone paler. Maybe he hadn’t been sure until right now. Maybe the first he really knew of it were those voices on the beach.

  Her lips compressed firmly together. “Well. We don’t need extra people running around claiming they know who or where the ai’sletta is. We don’t even need you and your research anymore, Judicus. Three of you have come into this tent, but we only need one to leave with us.”

  I wanted to ask her what she expected the rest of us to do – vanish? Even if she killed us, she’d have to take us out of this tent eventually. Fortunately, running my mouth wasn’t an option. I would only make things worse, and I could already feel the sweat making a line between my shoulder blades.

  If she could just decide to let us live until Kazmerev was reborn. It was an hour at most. I clenched my jaw, thinking as fast as I could. If she didn’t know which of us was the ai’sletta – and she must not know – then we could string her along and stall by refusing to say which of us it was. She’d need Judicus to confirm the truth and she wouldn’t risk killing the wrong one.

  We just had to keep our mouths shut for a few hours and Kazmerev would come and save us.

  Which was apparently too much to ask.

  “Me,” Mally said, suddenly, like it was a race. “I’m the ai’sletta.”

  If I could have groaned – I would have.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Well, that was easy enough,” Lady Lightland said, and her smile was cold as a snake in winter. “Come here, child.”

  What a ridiculous thing to say. Mally was almost the same age as the blonde woman – dressed more simply, certainly. Bound with ropes, sure, but not a child.

  Mally grimaced. But she obeyed.

  My cousin was no fool.

  She held her wrists out with a raised eyebrow and quick as the flip of a coin, Lady Lightland had a dagger out and had cut through the rope.

  Interesting. She was skilled with the blade. The way she flipped it in her grip and put it back in the sheath spoke of years of practice and training. I felt my mouth go dry at that. Whatever she was up to next wouldn’t be good.

  “Give these others to the Hand of the Rat and let the raiders deal with them as they please,” she said to the men in livery near the tent door.

  One of them was already moving toward us when Judicus spoke up. “So trusting, Cassanetta. Where’s the schemer I’ve grown so fond of? Where’s the girl who hunted and chased me from village to village and eventually stole all my research out from under my nose?”

  “I would have stolen your soul, too, if it wasn’t for that dreadful elven and her flame creature,” Lady Lightland said, her lips twisting. “But as much as I’d love to reminisce and pull out that research of yours to show you how I corrected your commas, I’m afraid I have more important things to do. Like reading the heart of the ai’sletta. And arranging for your quick interment.”

  “No need to bury the living,” Judicus said, holding his hands up. The guard nearest him grunted and pulled him to his feet.

  I didn’t wait for the one next to me to tug. I found my feet on my own, head down, the picture of submission. If we fought, they’d fight and we’d be unconscious when Kazmerev came to save us. I needed my wits about me and a body ready to flee.

  “But perhaps you’d like to double-check this work, too,” Judicus said, his smile turning sly. “I found the ai’sletta – oh I certainly did, but why would I bring a voiceless girl with her, do you think?”

  Lady Lightland frowned as if he had made a good point.

  “Wouldn’t it make more sense,” he asked, “that I would bring the ai’sletta and her interpreter.”

  I kept my face carefully blank. The longer he could pull off this ruse, the better.

  “And are you the ai’sletta, girl?” she asked me.

  I shrugged. It seemed safer than a definitive statement.

  She watched us both for a long moment and then shook her head. “No. The Judicus Franzer Irault I know wouldn’t put the real ai’sletta in danger. The voiceless one is a fraud, and the girl who spoke first is the true ai’sletta. Take them out and kill them. Oh, and do it before it gets dark. Just in case one of them can contact that elven woman’s fire bird. We don’t want to deal with it on top of everything else.”

  Judicus opened his mouth and then shut it again with a snap. He was probably hoping what I was hoping – that we could just get out of here without being killed. There was no point arguing about it – we’d already tried that, and it hadn’t worked. Now, we just needed to do.

  Her armsmen – or whatever the men in livery were – dragged us out of the tent and then threw us to the ground. I fell awkwardly on the stony earth, twisting a wrist. My arm burned from where it had been stabbed and I was worried the injury had opened. Beside me, Judicus lay on the stones, pale and gasping. Being thrown right onto his injury had stolen his breath. I scrambled to my feet and stood over him as he recovered himself.

 
Carefully, I offered my bound hands and helped him up as a pair of dark-clad raiders drew near, swords raised. They kept us there, blades to our necks until their leader sauntered over. He was eating some kind of spiced meat, carefully slipping tidbits under the folds of his thick covering.

  “And so, you are returned to me,” he said and I was certain there was a smile on his covered face. “And we are moving inland. I’m told the lady wants you killed. And before dark, no less. But your lifeless bodies will be sent before my people to terrify the villages to the east of here. What do you think, will it work?”

  I thought it would, though I wouldn’t have said so even if I could. I was waiting. Eventually, Judicus had to realize he needed to use his magic, right? Because even if he was waiting to use it as the very last of last resorts, this seemed like the time.

  I clenched my jaw hard and tried to support his weight as Horacen finished his meat.

  “What do you think, boy?” he asked Judicus, grabbing his head by the hair and jerking his face up to look the raider in the eyes.

  “Do you think it will tell them to surrender?”

  “Perhaps,” Judicus agreed.

  Horacen smiled. “But I won’t be dictated to. Not even by the one who pays the gold coins for this endeavor.”

  Well, that explained what relationship he had with Lady Lightland.

  “Take these two to the edge of camp. Feed and clean them,” he told his men. “I’ll kill them when I am ready and not before then.”

  “We’ve slipped from the fire,” Judicus whispered gratefully, as the raiders dragged us after them. I wasn’t so sure about that. We seemed to have slipped out of the fire and directly into the melting pot.

  Chapter Fourteen

  We ate raider food in silence. It was surprisingly good – fish wrapped in flatbread. I’d misjudged these people based only on the fact of harsh accents, hidden visages, and the fact that they’d killed my parents without mercy. It turned out that didn’t mean that their food was terrible. I’d been wrong about that. I’d been wrong about a lot of things.