by A. G. Henley
I cast my senses ahead. The air is a moist, cool blanket; my boots grow damp with the dew. The dawn chorus of the birds pricks my ears. The shrill shriek of blackbirds and the sweet song of wrens join the trilling, tweeting masses.
The two other groups move noisily through the forest, at least noisily to me. I march forward as quickly as I can, pulling Frost and the guard farther and farther away from the sounds of the others, deep into the forest. Branches scrape my arms and the odd bush trips me up, but we have to put some distance between the Cloister, the other groups, and us. If one of the men is out here, we need to be relatively alone to talk to him. As it is, we may have to disable our guard somehow.
We were lucky to only have one guard assigned to us; the others have two or three. After all, Frost’s pregnant and I’m Sightless—how much trouble could we be?
“Where are you going?” the Sister finally says. She sounds annoyed. I’ve been listening to her tear through the vegetation with difficulty, cursing under her breath.
“I think I smell ransoms. This way.”
The truth is I do, but the scent is strong enough that it could really be in any direction. There must be a large patch of the pungent plants around. I lead us one way and then another, but I can’t get a fix on it.
“I smell them all over this area. Do you see any?” I ask Frost.
“We didn’t grow anything called that,” she whispers. “I don’t know what they look like.”
“Um, neither do I,” I joke back.
We both giggle, but a moment later, I hear something that strangles my laughter—the rooting and snuffling of what sounds like a large animal. The hair all over my body shoots up.
“What is it?” Frost asks when I go silent.
“A boar,” the guard says from behind us. “Back up, both of you, toward me.”
We do as she says, moving as quietly as possible. Although a coveted source of meat at home, wild boars are terribly dangerous. My palms begin to sweat.
“I’ve never seen one up close.” Frost’s voice reels and trembles.
I’m sure she hasn’t. Not many boars threaten the Lofty treetops.
“Stand behind me,” the guard says. Frost drags me around the woman, putting her between the boar and us. “It is coming this way. Keep backing up.”
The animal grunts—a deep, throaty sound that chills me. Frost whimpers. The guard’s feet move through the underbrush, coming with us.
“Can you kill it?” I ask her.
“I have only a spear and a knife.”
Bear’s stories of boar hunts come to me in vivid detail. They used spears, but they always hunted in groups, for protection. If the boar charges, and the Sister misses with her spear, we have little chance. She’ll have to hold on to the weapon until she’s sure of her aim, and then she can finish the animal with the knife. I’m suddenly very grateful she’s with us.
“If it comes at us, run as fast as you can and yell for the others,” I whisper in Frost’s ear. “Don’t try to take me with you. Just go.”
The boar squeals, paws the ground again. And then it charges.
I feel the pounding of its hooves through my feet. The Sister stays put, sucking in a measured breath.
“Go!” I push Frost in the opposite direction of the animal. She runs, yelling for Grimma.
The Sister lets loose one of their harrowing battle cries; the boar shrieks back. I can’t help her in this fight, so I run, too, arms out. Almost immediately, I go face-first into low-hanging branches and ram my shoulder into a tree trunk, but I keep moving, slipping and sliding across the still-wet forest floor.
When I feel I’m a safe distance away, I slow to a walk. Only as I do, the slick ground dips, and my feet shoot out from under me. I go down hard into what feels like a patch of mud, the jolt jarring the wound in my neck. Wincing, I reach up to touch the bandage.
And something—make that someone—jumps on top of me, squashing me back down into the mud.
Chapter Twenty-Six
I scream—loud.
“Shh, Fennel, it’s me!”
Peree. Suddenly immune to all pain, I throw my arms and legs around his body and find every surface of his face to kiss. His scruffy beard rasps my skin. As he whispers my name over and over, I could sing with joy.
My hands dart from his face to his neck and chest, his hips and legs, assuring myself he’s alive and whole. He seems disheveled, he doesn’t smell terribly good, and I couldn’t care less.
Peree is here.
I cling to him, feeling a little hysterical.
He pushes up to his knees. “Fenn, we can’t stay. The Sister’s bound to come looking for you when she finishes with that boar. Come with me and stay low!”
He pulls me to my feet and leads me quickly through the forest. I clutch his hand, afraid if I let go, he’ll disappear.
“There’s a hollow in the base of this greenheart. We can both fit inside, but watch your head.” He moves as he speaks, bending and tugging me after him. I feel the rough outside of the trunk briefly before the light dims and we’re inside.
It’s gloomy in here. It smells of decaying leaves, my backside is soaked by whatever detritus I’m sitting on—and it’s all heavenly, because my arms are around him.
“Are you alright? Where have you—?”
“…happened to your neck?”
“Where are the other men? Are… okay?”
“What’s going on in the Cloister? Have you seen the chil—?”
Our whispered questions wing past each other unanswered.
“We don’t have much time,” I whisper.
“I know.” But he kisses me, and I kiss him back. After a few frantic seconds, I press my hand against his chest.
“Peree, stop. We need to talk.”
“I’ve been outside the walls every day and most nights, too, watching for you,” he breathes. “I was in the treetops when the gate opened, and you all came out. Frost, too. Couldn’t believe it after no sign of you all these days. I tracked you, keeping my distance… until I heard the boar charging.”
“Are you all okay?” I ask.
“We’re fine. Don’t worry about us.”
He’s trying to reassure me, but there’s a false note in his voice. Not everything is fine; how could it be? They’re stuck in the woods, trying to avoid the Sisters, the ants, and the sick ones, waiting for us to do something.
“What about you?” he asks. “I’ve been going crazy worrying about you. How are the Sisters treating you? How are the children? And what the hell happened to your neck?”
I put my fingers against his lips. I don’t have time to tell him everything.
“It’s not that bad, really. The Sisters take care of us, because we told them we want to join them.” And they might have begun to believe us—until last night. “But they won’t let the children go. Peree, they’ll keep the girls, but they’re going to trade Thrush and Darel to some people they call the ants. I think it was the group who attacked us. They live underground, by the river.”
“Yeah, we’ve seen them. We’ve been moving around, not staying in one place longer than a night. Damn. When’s the trade happening, do you know?”
“Soon, I think.”
“If the Sisters bring the boys out, we’ll do whatever we can to stop them.”
“Be careful, Peree. They’re really amazing fighters. They all train every day… and they have the sting.”
My jaw clenches as the first shouting voices reach my ears. Frost must have brought help from the other groups, but they’re still far enough away to ignore.
He touches the bandage on my neck. “What happened?”
“A sick one bit me when they broke into the Cloister.”
He curses again. “Really?”
I wave my hand, brushing it off. “It’s not a big deal.”
The voices come closer.
“I have to go soon, so please listen,” I whisper. “We’ll do… something… tonight. I’m not sure what
yet. But we’ll draw the guards toward the gate.” I lean closer, speaking quickly. “You know that section of wall they’re repairing on the other end, next to the mountain? That’s where the sick ones got in. Be outside there tonight after dark. Some of the rocks at the top of the wall were torn down when the sick ones came through, and I doubt the Sisters have had time to replace and mortar them. You’ll have to climb through there, but hopefully, there will be fewer guards to contend with. We’ll be waiting for you on the other side. Once you’re in, we’ll all go to the children’s compound and…”
“Fight our way out?”
I raise my hands, helpless. “I can’t think of another way.”
“You’ve been in there for days. If you haven’t found a clean way out by now, there probably isn’t one. You’ve done what you can.”
His confidence is heartwarming, but terrifying. This course of action is almost certain to get any one of us hurt or killed. Possibly all of us, including Kora and the rest of the children. Should we do this? What if there’s another choice? I chew my lip and shiver.
Peree’s arms tighten around me. “We want the children. The Sisters don’t want to give them up. We’ll have to try to take them, and they’ll have to try to stop us. Some conflicts can’t be talked around.”
I hear the guard yelling my name. Time is up.
“Mirii? Are you here?” Amarina’s whisper ghosts through the forest from somewhere nearby.
Peree takes my face in his hands, desperately kissing me. When he touches the bird carving at my neck, I trap his hand against my chest.
“I love you, Peree. So much.”
“I love you, too. A future with you is the only thing I want.” That familiar, simple sincerity rings in his voice, bringing tears to my eyes.
I edge myself toward the hole in the trunk. He keeps hold of my hand, kissing it, and then lets me go.
“Be careful, Fenn. I’ll see you tonight.”
I slip out, and tiptoe in the direction I heard Amarina. When I’m pretty sure it won’t be obvious where I was hiding, I call out to her.
She throws her arms around me. “I was so worried! And… Grimma was, too.” Her words are careful, a warning—and they’re just in time. I was about to spill that I saw Peree.
“Where have you been, girl?” Our trainer lays a hand on my shoulder a few moments later. “Are you all right?”
The genuine concern in her voice stabs me with guilt. I hope she stays far away from the fighting tonight. Right, as if she would. We’re her responsibility. She’ll be in the thick of it. I don’t want the Sisters to be hurt or killed any more than us. Maybe Moray’s right, and I care too much.
“Fennel!” Frost’s feet rustle through the undergrowth toward us, and she hugs me, too.
“I hid until I could hear you all calling,” I tell them. “Is the Sister who was with Frost and me okay? Did she kill the boar?”
“We’ll have pig and potatoes tonight,” Grimma says with satisfaction. “But you’ve had your adventure outside the walls; we’re going back now. My Sisters will finish collecting the plants and bring the boar in.”
Now that I had the chance to talk to Peree, I don’t mind going back. It felt so good to be with him again, no matter how short lived.
Amarina keeps her arm in mine as we follow Grimma away.
“Did you discover any interesting… plants?” she whispers.
“A tall, persistent weed that I adore. I’ll tell you about it later. I should run into it again—tonight.”
“Tonight,” she says. Relief and worry mingle in her voice, mirroring my own feelings.
If the plan comes off, we’ll free the children and ourselves from the Cloister tonight.
And if it doesn’t? Well. No point in dwelling on that. The Sisters have left us no choice.
The Sisters tease Frost and me for being boar-bait as we take plates of the sizzling roast and walk on to our table.
“You should take the Initiates collecting more often, Grimma,” one woman yells across the great hall. “They go out for plants and come back with a feast!”
The room erupts with laughter and high spirits as platters empty and bellies fill. It brings to mind the general good cheer of my own people when a successful hunting party returns home. People everywhere take pleasure in not being hungry.
We aren’t so different from the Sisters. I wish I’d had the time to establish our common ground with them before it became too late.
I do my best to smile and join in the merriment, but I have to force myself to eat. By the time Grimma delivers us back to our quarters and bids us a jovial goodnight, I’m stiff with fear. As soon as the front door shuts behind her, the four of us hurry into the bedroom and huddle together on Amarina’s bed. Even Kai.
“You saw Peree?” she whispers.
Not exactly, but I don’t bother to correct her. “Yes.”
“How is he?”
The anxiety in her voice makes me hurt for her. She really cares about him.
“Fine—I think. We didn’t have much time to talk. They’ve had trouble with the ants, and the sick ones were hard on them.”
“I’ve been trying to tell you,” Frost’s words fly out, “I overheard a Sister at dinner say she was going to the Colony in the morning—with the trading group.”
My resolve hardens. “That’s it then. Tonight’s the night. We’re getting out of here.”
“Good.” Amarina sounds worried, but relieved, too.
“How?” Frost asks.
I cough, something we’ve all been doing more of thanks to the Sisters and their Eternal Flames. After tonight, one way or another, we’ll be free of them.
“By starting a fire.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Are you ready, Frost?” I whisper from behind the closed door to our quarters. Kai stands beside me, waiting. My breath and my pulse both gallop away from me.
“I think so,” she hisses from the bedroom. Her voice quakes.
“Good fortune,” Amarina says in a quiet voice. She’s with Frost.
“You, too,” I answer.
Frost moans—extra loud.
Here we go. I throw the front door of our quarters open and step outside.
“Come quick!” I say. “Frost—the pregnant Initiate—she’s bleeding! Please hurry!”
I don’t shout. We want one or two guards to come, not a whole thundercloud of them to rain down on us. When only two sets of footsteps run up the front steps, I’m relieved.
“What’s happening?” I recognize the voice of the guard who challenged Kai the other night—the one Alev sent away.
“Frost is losing the baby. Go get Nuria!”
One of the Sisters crashes back down the steps. The other runs past me inside and back toward the bedroom. As soon as she goes by, Kai and I slip onto the darkened porch. We have to be cautious: once we go down these steps, there’s no coming back. It’s full night now, inky and moonless. Clouds came through during the afternoon, riding on the back of an icy wind blowing in from the Shivering Sea.
“No guards I can see. Let’s go,” Kai says. If she’s scared by what we’re about to do, I don’t pick it up in her voice. Personally, I’m in a cold sweat.
We bolt down the stairs, running away from our quarters. Kai holds my elbow, leading me, as I asked her to. There’s zero time for me to fall or wander off.
We start down the hill toward the Eternal Flames. The slope is dirt-covered and mostly even under my feet, but the descent is steep. Small rocks skitter noisily away from us as we run, and patches of what feels like stiff grasses threaten to trip me. Kai moves fast; I keep up as best I can. We’re lucky no alarm’s been raised yet.
We’re headed toward the midpoint of the Eternal Flames, between the eastern and western walls of the Cloister. When we discussed the details of the plan, Amarina said she’d noticed the guards seemed to watch this area the least. They probably believe they don’t need to. No one is getting in or out through a wall of fir
e.
Smoke chokes me as I run, and the light grows dangerously bright in front of us. We might be able to be seen by guards on the wall now. But the first part of the plan is underway—Kai and I are free of our quarters and our watchful guards for the moment.
Before we left, we pried the hefty, wooden legs off the chairs in the front room. A leg for Amarina and a leg for Frost. Legs for Kai and me. I carry two of them now, one with cloth wrapped tightly around the end as a makeshift torch. It’s not lit. Yet.
Hopefully, when the unsuspecting guard leans in to get a look at Frost, curled in her bed, crying with fake pain, Amarina will knock her out with her chair leg, freeing them to be on their way to the damaged section of the wall to meet the men before the second guard returns with Nuria. But the guard that ran into our quarters could have already gotten the better of them, or they could have crossed paths with any number of Sisters. Or—
Stop. That kind of thinking won’t help.
Kai and I run almost to the base of the looming wall of fire. The heat blisters; the Flames hiss and crack, exhaling smoke like a horrid fiery beast. The intense light it produces is painful, even to me.
When we’re so close I’m sweating, Kai pulls me to the left several paces and pushes me to a warm stone wall. This was our goal: the roofless, abandoned shelter the others said was the only thing at the bottom of the hill near the perpetual fire.
I crouch down, my back to the wall. The Eternal Flames are maybe twenty paces away—plenty close enough to feel the heat. I gulp the nasty, sulfurous air, trying to catch my breath from the run.
We need wait here for as long as we can to give Amarina and Frost time to get to the western wall. The guard will return with Nuria, find out we’re gone, sound the alarm, and Kai and I will make our move.
She squats down beside me; she’s panting, too. To keep my mind off what we’re about to do, I decide to do something only slightly less scary. Confess.