I couldn’t have said why, but a thick sense of dread settled into my stomach.
I grabbed the attention of one of the men rushing by. “What’s going on?” I asked.
“A guard was killed in the keep!” he cried, his eyes wide with excitement. “They caught whoever’s responsible. There’s going to be a hanging.”
The man ran away. Blood roared in my ears as the sound of the world around me faded to silence, a dull ringing all that remained. I looked around. Calvin’s face was a sheet. Raven’s eyes were wide, and she was blinking hard and often. Darren and Samuel had gone ashen, and Barius’ face was grim.
Ignoring the sudden cries of the others, I followed the crowd and ran through the city.
BLADE
THE CROWDS WOVE IN AND out among the streets and buildings of Faya. I followed them into the northern part of the city. The others scrambled to keep up. At first they tried to talk to me, to catch my attention and pull me aside so we could form a plan. I flung their hands away when they touched me. I ignored their cries and pleas to stop. So eventually we all just ran, trying to outpace the crowd, racing and running toward…toward…what?
We burst into a town square where all the crowds were heading, and where an assembly had already gathered. In the center of the town square was a gallows. It was a black, ugly thing. Its platform was eight feet high, and the whole thing was fashioned from crude, twisted iron. Shadows stood at either end of it, hands on the hilts of their wicked blades. A single noose was dangling from the crossbeam.
And standing on the platform, the noose already around his neck, was Greystone.
The image barely registered in my brain before I was fighting my way through the crowd, shoving people aside as I fought to make my way to the center of the square so I could climb up there and free him. Only a tiny, screaming voice in the back of my mind urging reason prevented me from unleashing a wave of fire that would scour all of these staring, gaping, grasping wretches out of my way.
“ — for the crime of espionage and collusion with the enemy,” a man in black was reading. “Therefore, the city of Faya sees fit to hang you from the neck until you are dead.”
“Blade!”
A hand came from nowhere, seizing my shoulder and spinning me around. I wheeled, ready to shove Samuel off me and keep fighting through the crowd.
But it wasn’t Samuel. It was Cara.
The sight of her face was just enough to stop me, just enough to shock me into sudden stillness. I looked over her shoulder. Sarah, Miles and Tess were there. So were Melaine and Nora. The rest of my group was standing beside them, all of them staring at me uneasily, all of them seemingly unsure of what to do.
“What…what happened?” I choked out.
Sarah grabbed my sleeve, not ungently, and led me away from the crowd. We clustered off to the side, the Runegard standing uneasily around us and looking around at the crowd.
“We were searching the north side,” Sarah said in a low voice. “We couldn’t find anything, so we decided to search the city’s barracks. It was the biggest building around, and we thought the tomb might be below it.”
She ran a hand across her face as if she was trying to scrub away the memory. “We were in a guardroom, looking for an entrance to the basement, when we heard men approaching. There were a lot of them — twenty at least. Greystone shoved us all into a closet. He told us to keep our mouths shut. Then he just surrendered to the guards. They started questioning him right there. He pretended to be an idiot old man, and I thought they were going to let him go.
“Just then, the town bells started ringing. Someone ran into the room, and they said something about spies in the city. They said they’d found a dead guard in the city keep, and they were on the hunt for intruders.”
I felt like someone had punched me in the gut, knocking the wind from my lungs. I looked over at Samuel. He was wearing the same pained, sick look I knew I had on my face.
Sarah saw it. “What?” she asked. “What is it?”
“It was us,” I said. “We killed the guard. He surprised us, and before we knew what was happening…”
My words trailed off as I found it suddenly hard to breathe. Samuel bowed his head. I saw Miles’ eyes begin to grow wet, and he turned away quickly.
Sarah shook her head. “It’s okay,” she said. “You couldn’t have known. And we wouldn’t have gotten caught if we hadn’t been so stupid…”
A troop of guards passed by, laughing and joking, and she fell suddenly silent.
“He spoke to me as they were taking him away,” she said after they left. She tapped her temple. “In here. He told me that it was imperative that we stay hidden, and leave the city as soon as we’d gotten what we came here for.” She shook her head. “Which we still haven’t managed to do.”
“We found it,” I said simply. I showed her the ring. “That’s it. That’s what was in the tomb.”
Sarah’s eyes went wide. “You did it!” she whispered. She turned to the others. “Okay. That means we need to figure out how to rescue Greystone. Any ideas?”
Cara looked at her uneasily. “Lady Sarah,” she began, “I am not sure if that is possible.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, hearing the edge creep into my voice and not caring. “We’re not just going to leave him.”
“Look around,” Cara said heavily. “We are utterly surrounded. Stealth is not an option. And if we were to make a spectacle of it, we could never escape the city. Not with the guards everywhere, and Shadows standing on every corner besides.”
“So, what?” I asked angrily. “We just let him die?”
Cara looked at Sarah, her face grim. “I serve at your pleasure, my Lady. But we cannot save him.”
Sarah shook her head. “I’m not leaving him. I’m not going to — ”
Blade.
The voice in my head startled me away from the conversation, Sarah’s voice fading to nothing in my ears. I whirled, looking for the source.
Stop gawking, you nitwit. You look like a owl with your head swiveling about.
I stopped, staring at the old grey figure on the gallows. Even from this distance, I could feel his pale blue eyes focused on mine. As soon as he saw me notice him, his gaze wandered, scanning the crowd.
Greystone?
Of course, you fool, he snapped. Who did you think it was? Tess?
We’re figuring out a plan to save you, I said. Just hold on.
No, you’re not, you nincompoop, he said, exasperated. The last thing I need at this moment is saving. Tell me: did you find it?
“Blade!” Sarah’s hand was on my shoulder. “What are you looking at?”
I waved her off. Yes. We found it. We found the tomb. I have the artifact. It’s a ring.
Greystone nodded. Excellent. Then you must leave. Immediately.
Not a chance, I thought firmly. Not without you.
I told you, I do not need saving! His words were a shout in my mind. I have the situation entirely within my control. But my plan is entirely contingent on all of you leaving. Immediately.
That pulled me up short. A faint glimmer of hope seemed to beckon.
“Blade, what is going on?” Sarah demanded, shaking my shoulder.
I turned to her. “You didn’t hear him?”
“Hear who?” she almost shouted.
“Greystone,” I said. “He spoke to me.”
“He can only maintain contact with one at a time,” Cara interjected. “What did he say?”
“He says he’s got a plan, but we need to go,” I said quickly. “He can only do what he needs to do if we’re out of here.”
Sarah balked. “What?” she asked doubtfully. “Are you sure? What’s he going to do?”
“I don’t know,” I said, shrugging. “Probably set this whole damn place on fire. Who knows? Who cares? If he says we’ve got to go, we’ve got to go. Ask him yourself, if you want.”
Sarah turned to look at Greystone on the gallows. She was silen
t for a long moment, shaking her head at one point as though they were speaking face to face.
She turned to the rest of us, doubt still plain on her face. “Okay,” she said. “He’s right. Let’s head for the horses.”
She set off, the rest falling into line. Calvin looked at me one last time for confirmation. I nodded, and he fell into step behind the others.
But I couldn’t help myself. I lagged behind at the back of the group, Samuel in step with me. As we passed from the town square, I paused.
Samuel turned to me, shaking his head. “You’re not seriously going to do this, are you?”
“Just for a second,” I reassured him. “I just want to see. Just in case something goes wrong and he needs an extra hand. You don’t have to stay.”
“You truly don’t understand the word ‘oath,’ do you?” Samuel growled in exasperation. “Fine. Let’s just get this over with.”
The others continued on, unawares, and we doubled back to stand at the entrance to the square. Greystone still stood there, hands still bound behind his back. I could see him fidgeting with something.
“What’s that behind his back?” I asked. “Is he cutting the rope?”
Samuel didn’t say anything.
The executioner double-checked the noose around Greystone’s neck. Greystone stood passively and let him do it. No flash of light, no ball of fire.
“Come on, now,” I muttered. “Do your stuff, grandpa.”
The murmur of the crowd was slowly becoming a roar. Catcalls drifted from a few hateful mouths. A tomato flew through the air, missing Greystone by a good few feet.
The executioner stepped away from him and stepped to the lever mechanism for the gallows.
“Here we go,” I muttered, waiting for it.
Then, at the last second, I realized what was going on.
My sudden cry of “No!” was drowned out in the roar of the crowd as the executioner pulled the lever and the floor dropped away. Greystone fell, the rope suddenly snapping tight as a sickening crack filled the square.
I raised my hands, ready to unleash fire and death, but a great weight struck my back and I toppled to the street. My concentration was broken, and I didn’t make so much as a spark. Samuel lay on top of me until my struggles to break free grew frantic. Then he let me roll over, but he held my wrists firmly, pinching the nerves to stop me from mustering my concentration.
“Stop it,” he hissed. “Stop it now, before you draw attention.”
“That bastard!” I screamed. The words were still muffled by the roaring crowd. “He lied! He lied so we would leave!”
“Of course he did,” Samuel said. “Otherwise you all would have gotten yourself killed trying to rescue him.”
“You knew?” I said.
“Me, Cara, Barius, Melaine. Probably Nora, maybe Darren. All of us with a lick of sense, or who have ever fought in a real battle before. People die. It’s not pretty, but there it is.”
My vision had gone blurry, and I was stunned to find I was crying. “He wasn’t people,” I whispered. “He was Greystone.”
Samuel sighed. “I’m going to let you up. You promise not to do anything stupid? It’s done now. You can’t fireball him back to life.”
I nodded shakily. Samuel climbed to his feet, then grabbed my wrist and propelled me up.
We wound our way through the city’s streets to where we’d tethered the horses, a few blocks away from the city gates. By the time we got there, I had myself under control again. When we got there, Sarah and the others were looking frantically around for us. The relief on their faces was touching. Or it would have been, if I didn’t feel like there was a hole in my chest.
“Where the heck did you go?” Sarah hissed.
“We got turned around,” Samuel said. I saw him share a significant look with Cara, but the others missed it. “Sorry.”
Sarah breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay. Let’s just get out of here so we can find a safe place to wait for Greystone to meet up with us.”
I gave a choking gasp.
Tess looked up at me. She saw the look on my face and stepped closer, brushing the hair back from her right eye. She stared into my eyes, searching.
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “They killed him?”
Sarah’s face whipped to look at us. I turned away, starting to lose it again.
“What?” Sarah demanded. “What are you talking about, Tess?”
Tess looked back and forth between us. “They killed him. Greystone is dead.”
“What, did you read my mind?” I asked. It came out nastier than I’d meant it to, halfway to a snarl.
Tess shook her head. “No.” Tears started down Tess’ cheeks. “It’s in your face.”
Sarah took a step back. “Is it true?” she said, her voice a whisper.
I nodded. My head hung, and the tears came despite everything I could do to stop them.
I don’t remember leaving Faya. I remember retrieving the white hoods from Greystone’s horse. Then we left it tethered there, because there was no one to ride it.
We left Faya smoking and dirty behind us. Then it was a long, long ride back to Linsfell. Most of that first day, I think we just cried. We found the same clearing by the road to camp for the night. We sat there as the sun lowered in the sky, each of us lost in our thoughts. Calvin was crying like a little girl. I almost made a joke about it, but I didn’t have the heart.
None of the Runegard wept, at least not where we could see. But all of them spent a lot of time staring off into the distance. Nora sang a little song about Greystone. I think she changed the words from a song she already knew, because the tune was catchy and Barius joined in on the chorus. When they were done, we all fell silent again.
“What happens now?” Miles asked after a long while. I didn’t know who he was talking to. Maybe no one. “Who becomes the Watcher? How does it even work?”
There was a long silence before Cara shrugged. “I do not know,” she said stiffly. “There has not been a new Watcher in almost a milennium. If there are tomes that tell of such a thing, I do not know of them.”
“We should probably figure out a plan for that,” Miles said. “What if the new Watcher shows up in the circle of the stones, like we did?”
Sarah nodded. But no one made plans. In fact, no one said anything for the rest of the night.
Our three-day trip back to Linsfell seemed to us to take five, since we had to suffer through another day on True Earth for every heartbreaking day we spent in Midrealm. I just straight-up ditched school. I dropped Calvin off every morning as a favor to Mrs. Wells. Then I drove around or just parked my car and sat there, thinking. I’d sneak into school for lunch, where I’d eat with Tess. Neither of us said anything. We just ate. After we were done, I left again.
We did speak briefly on our second day in Midrealm. We had to steer clear of the inn where we’d stayed on our outbound trip. Greystone wasn’t there to pay the innkeeper his three gold marks, and the Runegard weren’t carrying much money. So we found a spot in the nearby woods and put up our tents again.
I left the group, walking into the trees till I was almost out of sight of the fire. I sat with my back against a tree and looked up at the stars twinkling into view in the dusky sky. They were bright, brighter than anything you could see on Earth. I let my thoughts drift among them for a while.
As I sat and thought, my hand idly twirled the ruby ring around the forefinger of my right hand. I twisted it back and forth, round and round. It had kept the exact same temperature, neither absorbing my body heat nor cooling to match the chilly outside air.
I wanted to be apart from the others in case I started crying again, but I couldn’t remember if I did or not before Tess came out to join me.
She stepped out from behind a tree without a sound. It startled me, but I settled back down immediately. She stepped around the tree, sitting against it a good ten feet away from me. She looked into my face as I stared up and studied the stars some more
.
“I think everyone else is surprised how much you miss him,” she finally said, her voice soft as silk dragged across skin.
I gave a little huff that was supposed to be a laugh. “I guess I’m not surprised. We were always giving each other a hard time. But I really liked him. He was a cool old dude.”
“Oh, I know you did,” Tess said quickly. “I meant the others. They thought you two were always fighting. But I knew.”
I nodded.
“And I think Greystone did, too,” she whispered.
I blinked hard. I was here to be alone in case the tears had to spill, but it looked like I didn’t get that luxury.
“I miss him,” said Tess. Most of her face was hidden behind hair, but I heard the sob in her voice. So we stayed out there together for a good long time, until both of us were ready to go back.
On the third day in Midrealm since we left Faya, the fifth day we’d lived since the noose had snapped tight around Greystone’s neck, we approached Linsfell’s city gate. The guards hailed us. The gate swung open. We made our slow, winding way through the city to Linsfell’s Runehold. The front doors were already open and waiting for us. We got off our horses and filed in, Sarah leading the way and me bringing up the rear. Exhausted both physically and emotionally, we stumbled into the great hall.
Which is where we found Greystone sitting at the head of the table, waiting for us and smoking his pipe.
We stopped. He puffed some smoke. We gawked. He tapped the pipe against his chair’s arm. We tried to speak. He gave a loud sniff.
“What?” he grumbled.
“What the frack?” Calvin screamed.
“What…what?” said Sarah. “Greystone, what happened?”
Greystone shrugged and rolled his eyes. “Oh, you mean that business back at Faya. Yes, well, I certainly couldn’t let them hang me, could I? Do you honestly think I would have left the six of you to your own devices? You’re not all so self-sufficient as all that, you know. You wouldn’t have lasted a week.”
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