He'd received disturbing news from the capital. King Aeric was up to something, he was sure of it. To make matters worse, his spies had told him about a woman with raven dark hair and an aura as evil as the Dark One himself close to the White City. There was only one person it could be, but he didn’t want to worry the lad. Maker knew the boy had enough to worry about already, and if he was correct... Well, if he was, then the Maker help them all.
Cale had his own spies all over the White City. If Aeron really were nearby someone would have spotted her days ago. There was no point in telling the lad something he already knew.
Satisfied that he had packed everything he needed—a sword, his axe, medicinal herbs, bandages and some spices for cooking—he closed the door to his house with a grunt, tempted to throw the key away. He had a feeling he would not be returning to see the leaves change colour again.
After saddling his horse, he mounted the great beast with ease, comforting its complaints by scratching its right ear. Even his animal knew that something was wrong. It was clever like that—a trait Arlo had counted on many times over the years. It was an old horse now, nearly as old in horse years as Arlo was himself, but he still trusted its instincts.
He hoped they still had time. If his gut was right then things would be heating up in the city soon, and he didn’t want to be away from the lad or the Sparrows when it happened. He’d be able to gather information along the way, and information was not something to be dismissed easily. It could turn the tide of a losing battle, he knew. He had seen it before, and he didn’t want to rob them of that chance now. It would cost him several days, but it was too important not to take the chance.
Arlo grunted, a command his horse understood well after many years together. Without another complaint the beast turned around smoothly, and began its long journey to the White City.
Arlo thought about his house and everything he was leaving behind. His chest ached. Would the critters be well without him? Would the wolves have the rabbits for supper now that he was gone?
“Look at me, growing soft at my old age.” His horse whinnied at his mumbling. “Are you up for one last battle, old friend?” Louder this time his strong beast agreed, standing on its hind legs briefly before falling into a fast trot.
“What can I gecha, sugar?”
Apologetically, Cephy shook her head. “Nothing, thank you.”
The waitress scowled. “Are ya sure? Ya look frozen right to the bone, ya do!”
That she was, but it didn’t change the facts—she had nothing of value, no way to pay for food or a room, and she wasn’t going to steal from anyone. “I have no money.”
Again, the girl scowled, clearly displeased at losing a seat without gaining profit. “Suit yaself.” She was about to dance off to take the order of a wealthier patron, when Cephy remembered the reason she had come.
“I'm looking for someone.”
“Aren't we all, sugar.” The waitress didn’t even turn around to reply. She was busy flirting with a man twice her age, who was shaking a heavy-looking money bag at her.
“Please, I was told that she came this way. She's got dark hair, dark eyes, and—” She stopped herself just in time. How could she describe to someone who had never met Aeron the way the woman made people feel? She didn’t dare mention her gift.
Annoyed, the waitress turned around. “Who's she to ya? Lost ya mother or something?”
Relieved at the implications, Cephy nodded. “We got separated yesterday. I've been looking for her ever since.”
“Well, sugar, if ya mother isn't looking for ya then maybe she doesn't want—” Her wealthy customer gave her a pat on the back.
“Come now, Lin, the girl is looking for her Mum! Be nice to her, will ya? And get her a pie on me. She looks like she hasn't eaten in weeks!”
“Fine. But I ain't seen ya mother, girl. Don't forget to thank Thomas here.” With a sour scowl Lin turned around and hurried off to the kitchen.
“Don't take her personally, eh, girl? Lin's job's a hard one, it is.”
Cephy nodded, grateful he interfered. “Thank you, sir, for the pie. I appreciate it.” She hadn’t seen her parents in a long time, but she hadn’t forgotten the manners her mother had taught her, either. Always be kind to the people who are kind to you, she used to say. Cephy was not about to forget it.
Sudden guilt washed over and her she looked the other way, pretending to see whether her pie was on its way yet. Rachael and Cale and Ailis had been real kind to her, and she had repaid them by running away—to Aeron, no less. Knowing Rachael she was likely worried real sick for her. But it couldn’t be helped. She hadn’t been learning anything with them. Aeron was not a kind person, like Rachael, but at least she would be able to learn a thing or two with her. And she was not planning on staying away forever. She would learn everything Aeron could teach her, maybe stay a month—or two, at the most—and then she would go back. Maybe she would even be able to help in the war. If she could do that, she would be real happy that she had repaid Rachael and Cale and Ailis. And Arlo, too—kind Arlo who had fixed her hands for her.
Feeling her throat tighten, she wiped her eyes dry and swallowed. She couldn’t be seen crying in a place like this. Her mother had often warned her about places like these—taverns and bars and worse. She knew what the men in these places were like. Thomas had bought her a pie, but she didn’t believe that he wanted nothing in return. Rachael had taught her that people always wanted something in return, and Cephy trusted her with her life.
“Everythin' alright, girl?” She turned around to see Thomas watching her.
“Yes. I'm just missing my mother, is all.” It was close enough to the truth, she thought, and fit the story she had told them.
“Say, what did ya say she looked like?”
Hopeful, Cephy repeated herself. “She has long dark hair, dark eyes.”
Thomas frowned. “And a personality to freeze ya to ya core?”
“That's her! Have you seen her? Is she here?”
“I've seen her, all right. I know where she's gone off to, but why you would want to go back to someone like that- Well, I suppose it's ya mother, after all.”
“Where is she?”
“She rode North, only five hours ago. She left just as I arrived. Gave me a right cold stare, she did! Thought she'd kill me where I was standin'!”
Her heart sank. North could mean any number of places. Aeron's house was that way, but so were two busy main roads and several towns.
“Did she say anything?”
Thomas laughed. “Say anything? No, girl, that she didn't! Had no reason to, did she? She doesn't know me, and I ain't knowing her, despite how she glared at me. Sorry, girl, that's all I know. Ya mother went north 'bout five hours ago. But listen. Lin o'er there is right—your mother ain't looking for ya. You din't get separated—she left ya. May be that it's better to stay here, start over, rather than chase after her.”
No longer listening, Cephy got up and tied her coat around her until it wouldn’t go any tighter. It wasn’t much, but it was better than what she used to have. In this cold she was grateful to have it.
“Ya pie, miss. On Thomas, as promised.” She didn’t turn to see the disapproving scowl on the waitress' face. Satisfied that she had what little she had taken with her, she turned on her heels and headed for the door.
“Ungrateful little bitch! Well, Lin, if she won't have it I'll have it. Paid for it already, haven't I?”
Cephy was too busy planning her next move to pay any attention to them. The laughter and voices from inside the tavern filled the night around her, but she was alone again.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Two weeks had passed since Cephy had left Rachael. Cale had given up his search after the first, and she knew there was nothing more they could do. Knowing it and accepting it, however, were two separate things, and Rachael struggled to understand why Cephy had run away. Just where did she think she could
run to? Her parents had cast her out, and Arlo likely had better things to do. Aeron wasn’t an option, the way she had treated her. Cephy had nowhere to go. So where was she off to? The question bugged Rachael more every day that she was gone.
“Rachael?” Ailis' voice pulled her back from her thoughts. Cale’s sister sat opposite her on the floor in her room, trying her best to help Rachael find the source of her magic inside her. Rachael hadn’t felt as much as a tiny spark.
“I'm sorry. Let's start again.”
Ailis sighed. “No, Rachael, you need a break. You've been pushing yourself since... since you met the Sparrows.”
“And it's done me no good, has it? I'm not doing enough, I'm still of no use to any of you!” Least of all to Cephy, but she wasn’t about to say it. Ailis was doing her best not to bring it up, and neither would Rachael. There was nothing she could do about it now. Her lessons were the only thing she could focus on.
“That's not true. Who's to say that you'll even need magic to defeat King Aeric? All these lessons might be unnecessary.” Hollow words, Rachael was sure. How else was she supposed to reach the best guarded man in this country? His guards were not about to just let her walk right up to him and wait as she killed him. Even if they did, he would know how to defend himself. Getting close enough to try was one issue, but actually defeating him was another problem.
“You know that's not true.” People kept lying to her, telling her she wasn’t useless, promising they wouldn’t leave while she made no progress and Cephy was still missing. Just once she wanted them to be honest with her.
“I know that prophecy is rarely specific. It only named you as the one to kill the King. It didn’t say how you would accomplish that.”
Rachael sighed. Ailis had a point, but try as she might she couldn’t picture his defeat without magic.
“Is Cale outside?”
Ailis hesitated. “He went into the White City about an hour ago to buy supplies. Why do you ask?”
Rachael got up, desperate for fresh air. “Because I want to be alone for a while.”
With long rushed steps Rachael walked away from the house. Living with Cale and Ailis had been great at first, but now their house was nothing but a reminder of everything that she wasn't. She wasn't good enough for the Sparrows or their belief in her, she hadn't been good enough for Cephy to stay, and she definitely wasn't good enough to go through with their crazy plan. Even Ailis had given up on her learning magic. Why else would she say that the lessons might be unnecessary? Rachael was no closer now to finding the source of magic within herself than she had been as a new-born baby. She wasn't going to find it tomorrow, either, or any time soon. Why continue the lessons at all?
She wanted to help the Sparrows, make their sacrifices mean something, but she couldn’t see how she was supposed to do that. Defending herself against robbers and rapists was easy. How could she hope to defend herself against a Mist Woman and a well-protected king?
The night Cephy had run away Rachael had hoped that she had merely stepped out for a bit, maybe had gone to the nearby lake. However, two weeks later, Rachael couldn’t pretend that this was what had happened any more. Cephy had left her, her reasons her own.
Rachael scowled. The reasons didn't matter. Cephy had promised she wouldn't leave Rachael – the one person she had trusted – and now she had done it after all. And if she couldn’t trust her, she certainly couldn’t trust Cale and Ailis. Better to expect the inescapable, than to spend her life hoping for something that would never happen.
Rachael fell onto the grass by the lake, ignoring the pain it caused when her body hit the ground. Spring had come early this year. Its heavy downpours had washed away the last remains of the snow and the sun was beginning to gain in strength, but it was still cold outside and the ground hadn’t thawed all the way yet. Disappointed and frustrated, she looked around. Cephy had been able to sense nearby animals. All Rachael could do was see the birds sitting in the nearby tree, and watch the rabbit on the other side of the lake drinking the chilled water. Without her sight she wouldn’t have known they were there.
Cephy had known, her eyes opened or not.
She picked up a nearby rock and threw it as far as she could into the water, watching it sink as small ripples spread over the smooth surface. Cale should have picked Cephy. The girl was much better suited to this role, regardless of what prophecy said. Although she hated to admit it, part of it had come true already—Cephy had betrayed her by leaving. Maybe what Cale had said held some truth, after all. Maybe Cephy was the Fox his Sparrows were so scared of.
She relaxed into the cold grass, shielding her eyes from the sun shining through the otherwise thick leaves overhead. The Sparrows didn’t have to worry about Cephy anymore. Wherever she was, she didn’t care what happened here.
“Rachael?” She jumped up at the sudden intrusion. Behind her stood Cale, his eyes clouding over as his frown deepened.
“Cale! Can't you—” She couldn’t ask him to knock since she was outside, but she felt like he should have said something. Something gentle, so she wouldn't jump.
He smiled apologetically, walking closer now that she knew he was here. “Ailis said you had gone out for a bit, to clear your head.”
“I was.” She frowned, wishing he would leave again so she could get back to pitying herself.
“Look, if you need to talk to someone, I can—”
“If you wanted to talk, Cale, you should have talked to Cephy.” Her words were sharper than she had intended, but they were out now and she wasn’t going to take them back. It was her fault Cephy was gone, but Cale and Ailis hadn’t helped.
She was surprised to see him look defeated. His shoulders slumped forward as he slowly sank to the ground. “I'm sorry” he said, moving into a more comfortable position. “I know we weren't fair on her.”
“Being sorry now won't bring her back.”
“I know. I tried to find her, Rachael—you’ve got to believe me. Once someone leaves the White City it can be hard to track them. There are so many different roads she could have taken, all of which split into even more roads. Unless someone followed in the shadows as she was leaving it's next to impossible to track her down.”
She closed her eyes, feeling defeated. He'd explained this so often to her over the past two weeks, but it didn’t help. She no longer believed the words. She never really had.
“Are you sure that's why you haven't found her?” she asked with sudden realisation.
“Of course that's why. What other reason would there be?”
“That prophecy! That stupid thing naming her as the Fox! You said yourself the other Sparrows wouldn’t trust her if they knew who she is! How can I know that you trusted her? Are you relieved she's gone, Cale, so she can't interfere in this ridiculous plot of yours?”
“Rachael, I would never—”
“Wouldn't you? I don't even know you! Or Ailis! Or Arlo! All of you are strangers to me! Cephy was all I had, and now she's gone and left me and you're happy that she's gone!” No longer able to stop herself, Rachael started crying. The tears she had held back for so long finally fell freely, blurring her vision. She barely made out Cale's silhouette coming closer until his arms wrapped around her, holding her close as she cried.
“Let me go!” Struggling to break free against his stronghold she pulled and scratched his skin and punched his chest, but it was no use. Cale was much stronger than her and refused to humour her so she could run off, too.
She thought she might have tried, had she been able to move without his permission.
Cale didn’t say a word. He simply held her until her struggle ended and she sank into his arms, crying until there were no tears left.
Life had tried hard to get her to this point but now, after years of trying, it had finally succeeded in breaking her.
“You're wrong” Cale said, not waiting for a reply before continuing. “Cephy was not all you had. You have me, and yo
u have Ailis. I know Arlo is far away right now but you should know that you'll always find refuge in his home should you need it. None of us would turn you away if only you asked for help.”
She wanted to hate him—how she wanted to punch him and make him stop!—but she couldn't. All his words did was make her hurt a little more. The fight had drained out of her, leaving her hanging limp in his arms.
“I know there's nothing I can say to change your mind, but let me show you that I'm not lying.”
“How?” He made it sound so easy. As if someone like her could just ask a stranger for help and receive it, too; as if there was anything he could do—anything at all—and she'd believe him. Was life really so simple for some people? She doubted kindness like that truly existed, for people like her. People with magic. Homeless, orphaned people with magic, who had grown up in the dirt and had to hope for other people's leftovers just to live another day.
“I don't know. I would put down my life to save yours, but I would prefer not to get you into such a situation in the first place. Just look at where you are. You are right outside the White City. King Aeric is not far inside those walls, and his guards are stationed all over the city. If I wanted to betray you I could have turned you in when we first arrived here. King Aeric would pay a lot of gold just for a hint about your location. Just imagine what he would pay me if I handed you over!”
“You wouldn't. I know where the Sparrows are hiding.” She was sick of his excuses. How had she been fooled by his lies for so long?
“My Sparrows have more than one hideout, Rachael. Not all of them are here, in the capital. If I wanted to turn you in I would ask them to move out first. Your information would gain King Aeric nothing.”
Her legs shaking she sank deeper into his strong embrace, hating herself for not being able to break free. How was she supposed to assassinate the best protected man in the country? She couldn’t even escape one man's arms.
Rise of the Sparrows Page 16