by Sam Austin
Some of the anger drains out of her. She wishes it didn't. She feels weak and shaky without it. "And the children. Alice showed me the way to the fountain. How long have you known about them?"
"Since after Ness got hurt. Claudia came to me disguised as the head druid. She told me about them. I didn't believe her at first, so she told me to talk to Alice. Alice knew all about it. That's why her father sent her away. They had this plan, and wanted me to help. Alice stole a crystal from the druid, and Claudia used it to heal Ness."
Ness rubs a hand along his stomach, where the wound had been. "You never should've let that witch use me against you."
Neven shakes his head. "It wasn't like that. What happened to Timon changed her. It took her whole house to bring him back partway. She realised how poorly she acted. She offered to help you."
"Because she knew you had a soft heart, and would feel like you had to pay her back." Ness paces the room, kicking at the rubble left from her cabinet.
"I know what you think of me." Neven sits forward, most of his colour recovered. "That I'm weak. I heard you that day. Saying I'm not cut out to be a soldier, or a farmer. I may not be as strong as you, or brave like Boone, but I can do things. That's why I didn't tell you. Boone had too much to lose. And I thought if we did it right, we could fix it so you wouldn't have to risk yourselves. And you'd know I wasn't as weak as you thought."
Boone suddenly needs to lean against the wall. "Gods, Neven."
Ness takes up the passage of thought, expression horrified. "We didn't mean it like that."
"You shouldn't be a farmer or a soldier."
"Because you're better than that. You're something special. That mind of yours."
"It's terrifying, but also brilliant. So you should do something brilliant with it."
"Or else it'll go to waste. And I never ever want that to happen."
Boone digs for a laugh and comes up with a half-smile. "To think I was convinced you were avoiding me because the King chose to pair Alice with me instead of you."
Neven looks up at her, seeming more at ease than before. His face is tinged pink. "I was glad about that. You're the better match."
"I 'm the wrong..." She gestures at her body.
"I don't think that matters as much as we think it does. Claudia was talking about before King Robin brought in that 'women must be protected' creed, and before they got so many Roman slaves and their culture kind of took over, that kind of thing was normal. Men could be with men, and women with women. Why should it be so important now, when it wasn't back then?"
Ness clears his throat, scuffing his boot on the marble floor. His face is flushed. "Can we get back to the part where we actually communicate instead of team up with shady people and make rash decisions?"
"Right." Boone starts them off by telling them the things she's found out so far. Important, unimportant, she tells it all. From Julius's involvement with her father's death, to her mother's dresses used as markers, to the conversations she'd overheard between the druid and the King, and the druid's pictures with the many different page boys.
Neven gasps when she gets to the part about his father being in several of the druid's pictures. "I guessed my mother worked in the palace from her note, but I thought my father was only a soldier."
Ness perches on the edge of her bathtub. "I can't really add much, except it's true that children are going missing from the cellars. The biggest topic in the barracks is where they've gone to. Some think they're being fed to the dragon."
"I think from what we know, it's more likely they're being sacrificed by the druid for magical energy." Neven shrugs. "My guess is the boys in the pictures had the same fate. Only, what my father is doing there I don't know."
Boone pushes herself away from the wall. "So, we find out."
"And what?" Ness asks. "What about the sacrifices?"
Boone crosses her arms across her chest. "We stop them."
Ness chuckles dryly. "Got a big opinion of yourself, don't you Boone?"
Boone's about to answer when the door swings open with such force it almost hits her. She sidesteps just in time. "Hey! Careful."
Angus steps into the room with two soldiers behind him. He scans the chambers, eyes settling on the broken cabinet, and then each of them in turn. They stop on Boone, take her in as if he's never seen her before. He seems, nervous, conflicted. It's a strange expression on his usually glowering face.
"Come with me. The King needs to see you."
She takes a step forward, stops. There's something about his manner she doesn't like, and why would be need two soldiers just to tell her that.
Ness finds his voice first. "What is this about?"
"You need to come with me, or I'll have to take you by force." Angus adopts a stern expression, but it's a mask. Behind it she can see bewilderment. Something happened.
She softens her face, attempts to make her voice reasonable. They may not see eye to eye, but if Julius considers him a friend, he can't be all bad. "Angus. Come on. Tell me."
He meets her eyes. "Drust is accusing you of being a woman."
Part 4
Chapter 33
The throne room, where she'd first met the King. It seems fitting that the place these men greeted her as a male, is the same place they'd strip that identity from her.
"And she said no. Turned back and stared at me with so much anger. It was then I realised I'd seen that look before. A girl I was supposed to marry. A stubborn thing. Her hair is shorter, and she's masquerading in boy's clothes, but mark my words. It's the exact same look." Drust finishes his speech, sitting down on one of the benches set outside the inner circle.
Boone stands in the inner circle, schooling her face as she keeps her eyes on the King in front of her. Julius sits beside the King, looking pained. Angus, next to him, doesn't look much better. The head druid sits silently on the King's other side, whole body rigid with tension.
Julius pushes himself to his feet, the pain dropping from his face in favour of a sleek calm more often seen on large predatory cats. "Anyone can see Drust is mistaken. I chose this boy as my own squire. I've never seen a better swordsman for his age. And his hold over that dragon? Can you really say a woman would be capable of that?"
"Women can be capable of surprising acts of power," the King says quietly, not taking his green eyes from Boone's form. "And almost always hurt themselves greatly with it. But to keep up this farce so long seems unlikely. Is there any further evidence against the boy?"
An old man sitting to Drust's left gets to his feet. It's a struggle. His hands are covered in bandages, and his eyes stare unseeingly ahead. The old medic who attacked her. "This child is full of treachery. He left me to die after I aided one of his friends. Because of him I am worthless to any trade." He brandishes his bandage wrapped remains of fingers.
"The point old man." Angus says, no sympathy in his voice. "Do you have any evidence to back up these claims?"
"I've been a medic many long years, and blind the past ten." He says stiffly. "I see with my hands. When I pushed the boy, I felt something through his clothing that no boy has. I believe Drust's claims to be true."
"Through a leather vest?" Angus asks in an unbelieving tone.
"I know the human body, and I know what my hands saw."
"You have no hands to see." Boone stands as straight and proud as she can. The only way to get out of this is by bluffing. "You're nothing but a desperate old man who'll do whatever he can not to die. My King, he as much as said that whilst treating my arm. He sees his death coming, and is angry I have no magic to give him to delay it."
Drust smoothes his palms over his trousers, exuding a silent anger that contrasts with the medic's passionate words. "Then how do you explain your friend's presence? He was there the day you were presented to me."
It's an effort not to turn around when Neven starts speaking. The boys sit behind her, silently lending support, but she has to act like she doesn't need the support. It's the only wa
y to convince the King that Drust's words are false.
"Bonnie was my foster sister. But Boone is my foster brother. They look alike, but they are very different. I'm afraid I don't know the fate of Bonnie. I haven't seen her in a long time." Neven's words are calm and calculated. Very different from the stuttering boy who had met the King not long ago.
"Then it's explained." Angus sits back on his bench, looking relieved. "Let's move on. Our King has much more important matters."
"You can't just-" The medic howls.
Drust cuts him off. "Why doesn't the 'boy' take off his clothing? That will end this discussion once and for all."
Julius springs back to his feet. "Perhaps somewhere more private? I'll conduct the examination myself."
Angus barks a laugh. "It's a shirt. By gods, in this heat most of the men are half naked whenever they get the chance. Let's get it over with."
Boone swallows. Her heart slams against her chest. Outwardly she tries to stay calm. If she goes with Julius, he'll cover for her. "I'd prefer to do this more privately."
"Why?" Angus frowns, looking uneasily at her shirt and vest. Maybe he's finally wondering why she is wearing thick leather so often in the height of summer. "You don't have anything to hide. Do you?"
Silently she curses her decision to wear the thick leather. It had seemed to do the job better than binding, and it doubled as armour for when the barbarians attack. The stiff leather was safer, no doubt, but tight binding under a loose shirt might've drawn less attention.
"The curse on my arm has given my chest an odd appearance," she says, grasping at straws. Once the words are out she has to fight the urge to hurt herself. No man would worry about a thing like that.
The King's eyes narrow. "By all means, drop your trousers instead. But you will prove your gender Boone. Or I'll be forced to order Angus to strip you and prove your gender."
This is one thing she can't think her way around, and neither from the silence can Neven. If it were two years ago, her chest would be flat and there'd be no problem. As it is, a glimpse at her top or bottom halves would show her to be a girl.
A flat resolve settles in her stomach. "Drust is right. I was once Bonnie, a girl. But I'm also brave. I can beat any one of you with a sword, except Julius, I'm still working on him. I'd be a better knight than anyone you call a man."
Julius looks at her with grim warmth, as if trying to convey both support and sorrow. Beside him Angus shakes his head in bewilderment.
"You'll be burned as a witch." The King's expression shows no emotion. "The law is clear in this matter."
"Then the law is wrong," she growls, itching to go for her sword, but it and the knife had already been taken from her. "You kill everything that doesn't fit into your tidy boxes. You're afraid of anything that's different. And you're afraid to even think about your prejudgements in case they might be wrong."
"That's enough!" The shout makes her jump. Not because it's directed at her, but because the speaker is Ness. He walks into her view with his eyes flashing dangerously.
"I took you for a hero! So did my fellow soldiers. To think, you were fooling us all along."
There's spite in his words. If she didn't know he couldn't mean them, she'd think he hated her. Part of her is still a little unsure.
He turns to face the King. "My King a request for my fellow men?"
King Robin gestures for the boy to continue. His face still has that expressionless mask to it.
"Me and my fellow soldiers worshipped this boy and his dragon." Ness's voice holds the perfect mix of anger and deference. "I beg you to postpone the execution until tomorrow when the soldiers dispatched to clear up the barbarians return. They have been betrayed in this matter as much as everyone else. They will want to see justice done with their own eyes."
King Robin nods his head. "A day is no great loss. Have the child confined to a cell for now."
It's only being led away by Angus that she realises what Ness has done for her. He's bought her some time. One day in which to find a way to save her life. She hopes it's enough.
***
It's not a surprise when the King comes to see her.
The cells are windowless, but she guesses it's sometime at night. She's attempting a fitful sleep to sharpen her brain, when her body pushes itself up into a sitting position. Her eyes blink a few times before they register who it is.
Leaning forward on the straw filled mattress, she watches him. He sets himself on a small wooden stool outside the bars. He watches her back.
"You here to tell me to take back my words?" She wipes the dust from her face. The cells aren't in bad condition, but she doesn't think they've been used for a while. "That you aren't prejudiced. That you aren't killing me for things you'd shake a man's hand for doing?"
"On the contrary." He looks around at the rows of dusty cells, each separated from the other by stone. "It's that you're a woman that makes your behaviour so dangerous."
She huffs, sitting back on the mattress. A cloud of dust threatens to choke her. "Why?"
"Women need protection."
"And this is protection?" She gestures at the length of iron bars that separate them.
"I was told Claudia told you to ask me about my mother. Would you like to hear the tale?" He's not the expressionless man who passed sentence on her, and not the friendly King who pledged her the kingdom if she could help save it. He's some strange middle ground that she doesn't trust.
Still she has nothing else to do. Escape from a prison cell is more difficult than she'd thought. She gives a shrug, noncommittal.
"She was beautiful and loving. My father was loving too in his own way, but not like her. There were a lot of mothers in the place I grew up, and a few other children like me. Most were girls, but back then we didn't see gender. We played together without thought for things like that.
"I believed my mother to be the best mother that ever lived, as every child does. But unknown to me she was in turmoil. I had many sisters, but none lived long. Then my mother had another son, strong and healthy. We doted on him. When my father asked for him, she wept so much I was sure she would never stop. She told me she loved me, and went away with my brother. She didn't come back."
He looks at her, green eyes flickering under the torchlight. "My father used women to cast spells. They were always strong spells, because they used the thing they loved most: their children. Only this time she didn't cast the spell he asked her to. She cast a different one.
"He asked for enough power to destroy my father, and with the payment she gave, she was given that and more. She turned into a dragon. My father was killed straight away, but afterwards it was the kingdom that suffered most. She destroyed everything. There seemed no end to her rage. So one day, me and the ones left who knew magic joined together, and I killed her."
"And you used her to make the barriers," she says, thinking of the dragon blood used to break the wall.
"Yes." He looks surprised. "Invaders came from everywhere upon hearing of my father's death. The dragon kept them away for a while, but soon there was need of a barrier." He sounds so calm, not at all like someone who had killed their mother should sound.
He must read the disgust on her face because he continues. "Of course I loved her very much, but the beast she became wasn't her anymore. That is what power does. It corrupts. It turns kind women into monstrous things. Why, think of Claudia. Such a quiet, shy girl when I knew her."
"Power turns men into monstrous things too," Boone says. "She wouldn't have done any of that if you hadn't killed Timon. And your mother, maybe if your father hadn't forced her to kill her children, she wouldn't have killed him."
"Women are delicate. They feel so much. That's why my father chose to use them."
"Your father chose to use them because he was power hungry, and they were convenient. Men would've worked just as well, except he had to house women anyway to produce the children. You're basing all these absurd conclusions on one woman brave enough to
do the right thing, the only way she knew how. What about the man who set up this breeding farm?"
"He had his faults, but he was a good man. Strong. He protected his kingdom well."
"But he didn't protect her," she presses.
"It was my job to protect her!" He flinches, composing himself. "If I had protected her, she wouldn't have felt the need to destroy herself to protect me. I was young and weak, so she felt she couldn't burden me. So you see. That is why. We need to protect women so they aren't driven to such pain, and such dangerous measures."
“So you let women be treated like property. You use another’s hand to kill their children. You take away any power they have, and that’s supposed to stop them feeling pain?” She shakes her head, all the admiration she’d had for the King crashing to the ground. This is who she’d been fighting for? “You use different justifications, but you’ve set up a system exactly like your father’s.”
He gestures angrily at her. “See. You lash out. If you accepted your role as a woman you wouldn’t be so angry.”
“Just because someone is too afraid to speak up doesn’t mean they’re not screaming inside.” She gets up, walks toward the bars. “This oppression of yours is not protection.”
He sits back on the stool, lip curling into an expression of distaste beneath his beard. “We’ll have to agree to disagree.”
Boone fixes her eyes on his, doesn’t let herself look away. He looks the same as he always did. Tall, with a thick beard, bright green eyes, and bright crown as spotless as his purple clothes. Yet to her he looks so different she can hardly believe it’s the same person. “Why are you here?”
“An offer. One you should take if you want to live past tomorrow.”
Her heart stills in her chest. When she’d considered escape, she hadn’t imagined it would be offered to her. Why would he do that? What would he gain from letting her live? It’s not a hard question. “You need Gelert.”