I gasp, pointing at the Hunters. Tui laughs. “Don’t you worry about those fellows. We’ve met them already. On the road.” One of the men takes his violet coat off and tosses it onto a log casually. He’s wearing plain commoner’s clothes underneath.
“See?” Tui’s grinning at me, white teeth flashing in the firelight.
“I think so.” Then my mind fits it all together: the men on the road were Treasoners simply dressed as Hunters. They turned us back so we’d find the camp. If they hadn’t, we’d certainly have run into real ones, who have likely been alerted that I am on the move by now.
“Attention, all!” Nile’s voice booms out over the crowd. Voices hush, everyone listens. Nile is standing atop a stump to my left. “May I introduce our special guest, the true heir to the throne of Nadir, Her Majesty, the Woman King of Nuimana, Raven Araroa!” The people burst into cheer, and I am glad it’s dark so they can’t see my fire-red face. I wave at them and give what I hope is a confident smile.
The music starts up. Plates are soon piled with roasted boar meat, potatoes, and carrots. Pear cider flows freely. There is warm berry compote for dessert. Despite my overfull stomach, I dance anyway. With Nile, and Rosie, and even Tui, I join the others in whirling around the fire. In our own little world. It’s nice to feel safe and warm, if only for an evening.
I am awakened the following morning by the buzz of activity outside. I dart up, immediately noticing Rosie’s empty blanket. I peer out past the flap of my tent and see her already running with the other children. The other tents have been disassembled and the clearing is nearly empty except for people packing small carts hitched to the horses. Pango and Pearl are saddled and waiting. I stuff my things into my pack—including the blue skirt I won’t need to wear any longer—and go to find Nile.
I see Tui first, helping to extinguish the fire. “What’s going on, Tui?”
He shrugs. “We’re on the move, I guess. You’d better grab some breakfast while you can.” He points to a basket of flatbreads sitting on the stump not far from us. I grab one of them, still warm.
I look around for Nile; Tui points at the carts. “He’s over there, if you want to have a chat.”
I smile at Tui. As good as reading my mind as ever. “Thanks. Watch those coals there. They look like they’re still hot.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He winks, then goes back to spreading around the glowing embers.
Nile spots me before I reach him. “Good morning, m’lady! I suppose you’re wondering what’s going on?”
“I sure am. Where is everyone going? And why?”
“I’m afraid we’d best move on. In the event my note was intercepted, our location could be compromised. I did not spell out our exact location, of course, but the general direction and distance from the Bastion. We could very well be found here.”
“You may be right about that. So where to, then?”
Nile tugs at his beard before he speaks. “There’s another group of Treasoners; I’ve heard these folks have gathered on the far side of the Zenith Mountains. We could find them, join with them. Pool our resources.”
“How long, do you think? For us to get there?”
“Two weeks, I’d say. More or less.”
Two weeks. With many more to go after that to reach Baldachin. And it might be too late for me, even now. Araroa’s men might nearly be there. Or already are.
Nile has been studying my face, as if he’s reading it. “M’lady. I could send a note to Baldachin. To warn your family that Araroa has sent Hunters their way. Warn them they should leave. Perhaps they could meet up with us.”
“No. Absolutely not. I forbid you to send any written communication from here on out. Look at all the trouble that’s caused Leif and me. I cannot allow it.” I do not know where these words come from. I immediately blush and hope I’ve not overstepped my authority. But I do mean them, all the same. I look down to find my hand has drifted to Fortissima’s hilt.
Nile has noticed too. Our eyes look up and meet. He nods. “Very well, m’lady. You are right. It is too dangerous to communicate that way any longer. We’ll have to find another way.”
“But what about Leif? Should I go back to the Bastion to find him and bring him this way?”
Nile considers this. But then he shrugs, palms up. “You will have to decide that, m’lady. I cannot tell you what to do. We’d like to keep you safe with us—and we will do that—but only you can know if you’ll be able to find Leif and bring the both of you safely back. Or not. That’s up to you as well.”
Not much help at all. But Nile is right. It is all up to me.
“We’re leaving in an hour, m’lady. Your horse will be ready either way.”
“Thank you, Nile. I need to think about this.” As the man goes back to his work, I wander off to the edge of the clearing and duck into the trees to do just that.
I think about what I know for sure and what I don’t. Nile’s note has gone missing—not to mention the messenger. But has it fallen into Araroa’s hands? That I do not know. Perhaps the messenger simply got delayed, and Leif’s on his way to us now …
I jump at a noise behind me and turn around. “Oh, it’s just you,” I say as Tui steps out from behind a tree.
“Just me?” Tui raises an eyebrow. “Sorry to disappoint.” But he returns my grin.
“I don’t know what to do, Tui. Nothing is turning out how we planned. Leif’s not going to have any idea where we are—we’ve got Nile with us, after all. And if we move …” I start to pace back and forth, then stop to look at Tui again. “Maybe we should go back to the Bastion to get him?”
Tui raises one eyebrow. “Really?”
“Yes—otherwise how will he even know Nile is safe, or find us again?”
Tui puts a hand on my shoulder. “Raven, Leif’s an excellent tracker. Look how he found us that first time. He’ll find us again. The last place I think you’d want to be right now is the Bastion. The farther you can get from Araroa, the better.”
I listen to what Tui’s saying. But I can’t help the smidgen of doubt that he’s speaking with full honesty. “You just want to find Catriona. Admit it.”
Tui’s face falls, hurt. “You’re right. I do want to find her. But I know she’s safe, wherever she is. You’re not—anywhere. And I’ll be damned if I can advise you in good faith to return to the place you’d be most in danger—the Bastion.”
“I’m sorry.”
Tui smiles again. “Don’t worry about it. You know me well.”
“I do.” I close the distance between us and hug my friend tightly. Maybe I’m not so alone, after all.
Leif is strong and clever, and he will find me. Baldachin is very much in peril.
I must continue on.
When Nile sees me mount Pearl and join the other waiting riders, he doesn’t hide his pleasure. “Glad to have you with us, m’lady. Don’t worry, Leif will find us. We’ll get a message to him one way or another. But first, we must move.” Once again, his ability to read my face is startling.
I look around for Rosie and spot her playing with the other children. At least for this leg of the journey I’ll have Pearl to myself, and I’m sure Rosie is glad to run free.
It’s slow going, what with all the horses and carts and people walking alongside. Not to mention the various goats and dogs scampering around everything. We weave our way between the trees, always making our way west, toward the mountains. Nile is leading. I have a feeling he knows exactly where we are and how far there is to go.
Sure enough, when we stop that night to make camp, he orders no fire to be built. I merely raise my brows in question, and he explains, “We’re not far from the main road here. The smoke could be noticed. Don’t want that.”
Dried meat and bread is passed around to everyone. There’s not enough room to set up the tents, so we all grab blankets and bedrolls and find spots among the trees to curl up. Rosie’s been walking or riding on the carts with the other children, and this is the first I
’ve gotten to speak with her all day. I tuck her blanket around her small shoulders, then crawl into my own bedroll. As usual, I place Fortissima inside it, right next to me.
“The other children say we’re going to a new camp. Is that true, m’lady?”
“Yes, it is. Hey, maybe we’ll find Callum there. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
I watch Rosie’s head nodding eagerly, curls lit by the rising moon. “Oh yes, it would! I miss him.”
“I bet you do.”
“Do you miss Leif?” Her question sends my heart skittering.
I’ve tried not to think about how much I miss him. How worried I am that he’s not all right. I close my eyes, and there he is, a silly half grin on his face. Smiling green eyes taking me in. He reaches up and smooths down my hair. He pulls me close, into his arms, buries his nose in my hair, breathes me in. I can feel his warm chest. His heart beating against mine. I reluctantly open my eyes to answer Rosie, and being jerked back into the present is a disappointment.
“I do, Rosie. Very, very much.”
I’m not feeling any better when I awake at dawn the following day. And as we travel farther into the forest, I feel worse, in fact, with each passing mile. My mind replays our last days on Nuimana. I know what I should have done now: I should have forbid Leif to leave, refused his wish to return to Nadir in the first place. It was all a sham, besides. Nile has been fine the entire time.
If only Leif knew that now.
My desire to turn around, run back to the Bastion, becomes overwhelming with Pearl’s every step away from it. I want to feel Leif wrapping his arms around me so badly my chest hurts. I clench onto Pearl’s reins, willing my hands not to pull her around. It takes all the strength I’ve got not to.
It’s a gradual, slow climb upward toward the mountain. The trees have grown enormous. Their branches tower over us, blocking out most of the sunlight. We make our way around their wide trunks. Back and forth. Back and forth. The distance we’re actually covering is agonizingly small.
The air grows colder as we climb over the next few days. What blue sky I could see through the branches above has dissipated into cold gray cloud. The mist seeps down through the branches until everything is damp.
I can’t help but ask Nile how much longer we have to go. He tells me it’s at least a week to the summit but then only a few days to where the next camp is reported to be.
I mentally add up the distance left to go to Baldachin after that: several days down to the plains, then a week across those. Another week to get through what was the bearcats’ forest, then a day more to Baldachin. I hope I’ve got enough time.
It’s pouring rain the next morning. We’ve not started out yet, but we huddle under the trees, managing to stay only somewhat dry. My stale bread grows soggy.
“We could stay here, m’lady,” Nile says, appearing at my side. “There’s enough room to put up the tents and build a fire.” The trees have thinned out a bit—good for tents and fires, bad for any sort of protection from the relentless rain.
It sounds appealing. It really does. To huddle around the warmth of a fire. To wrap myself in blankets inside my tent. To sleep. To pretend like all of this is not happening.
But that would mean even more delay. To Baldachin. Back to Leif.
“No, let’s keep moving. We’ve really got no time to waste,” I tell him.
Nile bows his head. “We’ll pack up and be ready to depart in a half hour’s time, then.”
I pull the blue skirt back on, in the hopes it will help keep my legs somewhat warm and dry. I wish I had an oilskin coat, but very few of us do. It is summer, after all.
Once we’re moving and out from the cover of the trees, the rain pours down onto my head. It trickles down the back of my neck, inside my jacket, soaking my shirt. The children are riding atop the carts, holding tarpaulins over their heads. They are a bit more dry, but they are surely not having much fun.
Pearl’s legs are covered in muck. She flicks her tail, spraying brown droplets across my back. But we’ve got it good compared to the people who are walking. Soaking wet and mud-covered up to their knees.
I watch helplessly as a women near me slips, her hands splayed in the mud. I stop Pearl and jump down to help her up. “Thank you kindly, m’lady,” she says as I hold on to her elbow. Once she’s steadied herself, I offer the folds of my skirt so she can wipe her hands. She shakes her head. “Oh no, I couldn’t.”
“Please do. Don’t worry, I can wash it.” She looks at me for a moment, then gingerly wipes a bit of mud off onto the blue cloth. Her own clothes are sodden, her face and hair dripping rain and muck. I feel terrible for her, and all the rest of our rain-drenched company. “You know what—let’s all dry off,” I tell her. She breathes a deep sigh of relief, and thanks me with a small bow.
I wave Nile over to tell him that we’re going to stop to get everyone dry and cleaned up. All are glad to hear that. Soon, we’ve got a roaring fire going in the center of a handful of trees that afford some cover from the rain as well.
The heat seeps through us, spirits quickly improve. The cooks put a stew on to boil for supper, and as darkness falls, the children’s voices ring out through the trees, singing traveling songs. Soon the adults can’t help but to join in as well.
I should be having a good time, but I’m not. After finishing my stew, which is surprisingly delicious, I crawl into my tent and curl up in the blankets as I’ve wanted to do all day. I listen to the rain dripping on the fabric above me; it perfectly echoes the tears that I can’t stop from falling down my nose and onto my hand.
If we keep traveling at this rate, I’m not going to succeed in helping anyone at all. The entire trip will be pointless—or worse.
Chapter 13
Leif
They are tied together with ropes and chains. Adults and children alike. And it’s my job to do it. I mumble apologies as I tighten the shackles, but the faces do not acknowledge my words. Of course they wouldn’t.
I wipe a bead of sweat from my brow, even though the sun is barely up and it’s still morning cold. It leaves a wet streak on my dirty violet cuff. These had better be the last days I must wear this bloody jacket.
I recognize some of the faces from our patrols over the past week. I am sure they do not recognize mine. I am sure they see only a faceless monster. I want to apologize. I want to tell them that their families will see them again. Before I left, Imogen admitted she has been helping small groups escape the Bastion. She says there are camps of Treasoners hiding out in the forests. That the Hunters do not know about. Yet.
It’s time to move. I am surprised Araroa does not want everyone paraded around down the main streets. But I guess he wants to keep their relatives in the dark. He does not want them to know their loved ones are still alive.
We weave the prisoners through tunnels I didn’t know were there. I will have to tell Imogen about these when I get back.
They lead to the northern gates, which are seldom used. The land is wild up here. I’ve never been, and a thrill of excitement shoots up my spine as I step out beyond the northern Bastion border. Until I remember what I’m doing.
We march north. We are ordered to silence any prisoner who speaks. But not one dares to.
I’m walking with another Hunter my age. I think he’s called Ewan. He keeps trying to be friendly. But that’s the last thing I need.
“You’re lucky you’re not with the Hunters out searching Nadir.” He says this out of the blue as we’re walking. The line of prisoners stretches out in front of us. Shuffling like molasses.
“Why not? It wasn’t so bad before—” Damn. I’ve gone and said too much. Again.
He looks sideways at me but says nothing in response to that. “A couple fellas left yesterday, a new group. They said the Woman King from Nuimana was back. Heading west. A mate of hers too. They’ll have to shoot her on sight when they find her. Him too. Such a shame. I hear she’s a stunner.”
My mouth fills with chalk. Fo
r once, I’m speechless. I look around. Maybe it’s not too late to get away. But there are no trees here. Not even a shrub. It’s wide open, and there’s nowhere to escape to. I wish I had Raven’s knife. I wish I hadn’t left it with Imogen for safekeeping. I didn’t want to draw suspicion—it’s clearly not Bastion made.
I look north, the direction in which we are walking. Papa is up there somewhere. I hope. Otherwise, I’m completely going in the wrong direction. I look west, where Raven is.
No matter which direction I go, somebody is probably going to die.
Chapter 14
By morning, the rain has ceased. We pack up and are on our way before the sun is up. The ground is still muddy, but definitely less so than the day before. As we climb higher, the mud dries and hardens, and we make better time, which is heartening.
After lunch, Rosie asks to ride atop Pearl with me, and I’m happy to oblige. We ride in silence for a time. Every now and then, she turns to look at me, mouth open, like she has something she wants to ask.
Finally, she can’t hold it in any longer. “M’lady, some of the older children were talking about the prisoners—King Araroa’s prisoners. They had family that were taken too. Taken to camps. To be punished.” She looks at me then, eyes big and wet. “Do you think that’s what happened to my mum and papa?”
I’m not sure what to tell her. I assumed she was already aware of what happened to her parents. But clearly she hasn’t been told.
“I’m not sure, Rosie. But from what Imogen said, yes, that’s probably what has happened. We don’t yet know where they are.”
“Do you think Callum is trying to get them out?”
“Perhaps.” I wonder what else the children know. The urchins that have grown up in the Bastion are very good at listening without being noticed. Case in point: Rosie.
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