Iron Breakers: The Floodgates (Iron Breakers Book 3)

by Zaya Feli

  “We'll get you a good sword. Lowlandish, better than the Skarlan crap.”

  Ren laughed. “I'd appreciate that.” He gazed at Anik. He looked tired, but there was a softness to his features too, one Ren had only seen once before: when they had been alone in the guest room in Llyne. It was a lowering of defences, of the hard exterior that Anik showed the world. He looked younger without the frown between his brows and the hardness in his eyes. His jaw wasn't so tight and his lips were slightly parted. Soft. It didn't do anything to slow the racing of Ren's heart.

  “So, are you going to keep looking at me like that, or are you going to kiss me?”

  Anik's words made Ren freeze and he raised his gaze to his eyes. Anik watched him easily.

  “I suppose I owe you that after you've saved my life so many times,” Ren said. He swallowed. He had kissed people hundreds of times, more times than he could count, yet kissing Anik seemed infinitely more important. It required his focus, his attention. It felt like something that should be done just right.

  Leaning forward, Ren raised a hand to Anik's jaw and felt the slight rasp of stubble against his palm. With bated breath, he pressed his lips to Anik's. This time, Anik didn't keep still, but tilted his head into it. Anik's hand found Ren's elbow and wrapped loosely around it. Ren opened himself to Anik. Anik's approach was as soft as his lips. He didn't claim the kiss, but coaxed it gently deeper. It felt like a continuation of their first kiss, like nothing had happened in the interim. In that moment, Ren would have let Anik do anything to him, but then they parted and the daze was broken.

  Ren blinked and licked his lips. The cold and the wetness of his clothes hardly bothered him. He looked down. “Will you get a new tattoo when we kill Halvard?”

  Anik tilted his head, seeming to consider it. “Probably.”

  “King killer,” Ren whispered, stroking his hand along the width of the new ink on Anik's arm once more to familiarise himself with it. “It'd look good above this one.”

  “It would,” Anik said, just as softly.

  Ren looked back up, determination colouring his words. “You promised me you'd see this through. To the end.”

  Anik nodded. “The promise still stands.”

  “Then I promise you then when the time comes, I'll make sure you get to be the one to run your sword through his heart.”

  Anik blinked, lips parting, but it took him a while to find the words. “Are you sure?”

  Ren nodded once. “I'm sure. And I'll make it happen, no matter what.”

  Anik covered Ren's hand with his own.

  * * *

  Ren woke at the break of day with the rest of the camp, feeling lighter than he had in years.

  Anik had left his tent the previous night and returned to his men because there was no extra cot in Ren's tent, but the Lowlanders always had room for more. Likewise, Evalyne hadn't come to them after their daring battle in the darkness. They all needed to be alert during the daytime to pour as much attention into efficient travel as they could. They couldn't spend long in enemy territory.

  When Ren sat up, the ground was still wet, but not the puddle it had been the night before. There was nothing to be done about his boots, which would take ages to dry, but his clothes were only faintly damp. He yawned, laying his boots across his lap to brush caked mud off the sides of the soles with his pair of discarded trousers. There was no sense in putting those on, after all.

  The storm seemed to have moved on for good. The tent canvas lay smooth and unmoving above his head, and there was no howling wind to steal away the noises of the waking camp. Ren could hear men and women talking and the dull sound of hooves against grass. Despite everything, it was soothing.

  Ren didn't eat breakfast in his tent, but left it to find company at one of the countless fires. Since it had started to get colder, the soldiers would light fires in the morning to soften stiff muscles, instead of at night where the chance of the light being spotted in the darkness might alert nearby scouts.

  Ren paused briefly at Thais' tent. The flap was still down and he considered waking Thais so they could share a meal, but discarded the idea. Thais would prefer the chance to sleep in over an early breakfast.

  Ren crossed the camp, rubbing some heat into his arms. He steered towards the little group of Frayneans in white and gold, but a sharp whistle made him spin around. Anik stood between the tents and waved him closer. In the light of day, Ren took note of the clothes he wore. They were dark black and brown, with large, even stitching and a collar fringed with what looked like wolf fur. Ren had never seen Lowlander clothing before and had no idea of its style. The thought took him aback and he gave Anik a once-over as he crossed the open ground towards him. “You look good.”

  “It's warm. This place is almost as cold as Stag's Run,” Anik said.

  Ren chuckled. “Not nearly.”

  “Have you eaten?”

  Ren shook his head.

  “Then come with me.”

  They walked side by side towards the eastern edge of the camp. Ren shot Anik sidelong glances. After a night's rest, Anik seemed to glow, a new light in his eyes. It was strange to walk alongside him like this, as if the past week hadn't happened. Part of Ren was still reeling from it, but another part felt more comfortable than he had in weeks.

  “I was checking on my horse. He's doing well,” Anik said, hands in his pockets.

  Ren smiled. “You really should give him a name.”

  Anik was about to answer when a squeak interrupted them.

  A pale hand waved in the air and Ilias came leaping towards them, skidding to a stop in the slippery mud. “It's so good to see you two together again!”

  Ren's smile widened, and despite himself, he felt his cheeks flush. Behind Ilias, several dozen heads raised to track the sound before the Lowlanders turned their attention back to feeding the fire.

  “You're staying here now?” Ren asked, following Ilias, who supplied them both with empty crates to sit on.

  The youth nodded and took a seat. Despite the rain and the mud, he looked practically pristine, as if the weather didn't dare soil him. “I go back and forth.”

  Ren took a seat next to Anik. On Ren's other side, one of Valkon's men caught his eyes and gave him a nod in greeting. Ren had to control the startled look on his face before nodding back. Seemingly, their teamwork with the fallen wagon the night before had gained him a new respect amongst the Lowlanders.

  “How's Sikyn?” Ren asked. He didn't miss the way Anik turned his head in his direction, listening in, but Ren pretended not to notice.

  “Your doc says he has a few cracked ribs and a sprained knee but that he should be fine to ride. He patched up that cut on Sikyn's side pretty well.” The Lowlander offered Ren a slight smile.

  “Glad to hear it,” Ren said, taking the cup of tea and the bowl of wheat porridge that Ilias handed him.

  Anik met his eyes and raised a questioning eyebrow, but Ren just gave him a smile. Anik rolled up his sleeves in the heat from the fire, displaying the new ink on his arm. Ren's gaze lingered there. Despite its meaning, Anik wasn't shy about showing it off. Ren raised the tea to his lips and watched the others around the fire. They cast glances at the dark lines on Anik's skin, but if they had a reaction, they didn't show it on their faces.

  After the Lowlanders' initial discomfort of being in the presence of Fraynean royalty, they seemed to decide that Ren's behaviour wasn't going to be much different from the night before, and they all fell into pleasant conversation. Ren found himself smiling more and more, sharing laughs with the men around him, as well as Ilias and Anik. It was a welcome break. After weeks of bad luck, Evalyne's arrival had broken the spell. Ren knew it wouldn't last forever, but for now, he would allow himself to soak it in.

  They let the fire die down and Valkon kicked dirt over the last embers as they rose, preparing for the day's ride.

  “I'll get the horses,” Anik said. “I'll meet you at your tent, skahli.” He gave Ren a wave and Ren waved
back. Anik's excitement to be reunited with the dark stallion was endearing. Ren wouldn't be surprised if he had his pockets stuffed with treats for the horse.

  The Lowlanders around Ren wandered off, dissembling their tents from around the fireplace. Ren was about to leave, but paused. A few of the men murmured quietly amongst themselves. They spoke in Lowlandish, but Ren easily recognized Anik's name. One of them shook his head with a sour expression, filling Ren with a sense of unease.

  “Ready to ride?” Ilias asked, coming up and looping his arm through Ren's.

  “You speak Lowlandish, right?” Ren asked, stepping away from the fire.

  Ilias nodded.

  “What are they saying about Anik?” he asked, nodding towards the group of men packing up their tents.

  “Hm? Oh, they're not talking about Anik. They're talking about the storm,” Ilias said, following Ren as Ren led him back towards the centre of the camp.

  “No, I definitely heard them say 'Anik',” Ren said.

  Ilias tilted his head, expression puzzled for a moment before his face split in a grin. “Oh! Anik isn't just a name, it's also a word. It means 'storm.'”

  Ren stopped and Ilias nearly tripped as Ren jolted him to a halt. “What, really?”

  Ilias nodded.

  Ren shook his head slowly. Somehow, it was as if it was something important, something he should have known. Suddenly, curiosity began to fill his mind, and eagerness to learn replaced the momentary surprise of the revelation.

  “Can I ask you something?” Ilias said carefully, raising his eyes to Ren's.

  “Sure.” Ren started to walk again.

  “Does Anik really call you 'skahli?'”

  “Yeah,” Ren said, then spun around to face Ilias. “Wait, you know what it means,” he said, halfway between a question and a statement.

  “He hasn't told you what it means?” Ilias asked, looking even more confused.

  “He always just says it's a term of endearment, whatever I'm supposed to make of that,” Ren said, preparing himself for the insult Ilias was about to reveal to him.

  Ilias flushed, rubbing his cheek with one hand. “Well, it is. It means something like 'handsome' or 'dashing.'”

  Ren blinked, parted his lips and then closed them again. He looked to where Anik had wandered off to see to the horses. The nickname had no doubt started out as sarcasm. Now, Ren wondered when it had begun warping into something else. “I think I need to learn some Lowlandish.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “Your name means 'storm'?”

  Anik looked at Ren from atop his dark stallion, surprise flitting over his face. “Yeah.”

  “You never told me,” Ren said, turning sideways in the saddle.

  Anik shrugged. “You never asked.”

  There had been a change in their riding formation. The Lowlanders and the Fraynean soldiers had been moved forward from the back. Anik and Ren rode together at the front, with Evalyne, Kana and Rafya on their right. Thais rode behind them, swaying in the saddle with half-closed eyes, looking like he hadn't slept at all. Evalyne had slowed their pace a little to go easy on those who had been kept awake by the storm. It was raining again, although thankfully not as forcefully as the night before. It was a quiet drizzle, falling straight down from above with no wind to whip it into their faces.

  They had run out of forest and now rode in the open, but they hadn't come across a living soul since crossing into Skarlan. Unlike Frayne, which was populated evenly from north to south, most of the Skarlan population seemed to be centred in the north, with a wide stretch of empty land in the middle that separated towns and villages from the Lowlands in the south. Evalyne had told Ren that soldiers used to travel these lands frequently, and even patrol the area like a border, but after Halvard's push into Frayne, the Skarlans' attention seemed to be elsewhere. Evalyne's army could cross short stretches of open land without the risk of being spotted. They even passed a crumbling fort, where Evalyne explained that Halvard had ordered his men to take the place apart so the Lowlanders wouldn't use it.

  Ren had talked to Evalyne briefly after saddling up. Now that it was clear neither of them had to worry about Anik's oath, Evalyne had no problem bringing more Lowlanders into their company. Including the group Anik had brought with him the night before, their numbers were close to what they had been before the fight at Llyne. The Lowlanders alone numbered over a hundred. Evalyne had filled Anik in on the plan to go to Iskaal, something that had left Anik with a lingering frown.

  “So tell me more about this plan,” Anik said, fingers playing in the stallion's long mane.

  “We're going to restock in Fenn,” Ren said, repeating what Evalyne had already told him. “Then we'll move to Iskaal. Evalyne wants to send in her assassins to spread the word of our campaign and then wait for people to come to us from the city.”

  “Skarlans,” Anik said.

  “Yeah,” Ren said, looking at him. The frown hadn't changed. “What are you thinking?”

  “I'm thinking there's a powerful untapped resource in Iskaal, and a lot of lost souls.”

  “The Lowlanders?” Ren asked.

  Anik nodded.

  “How many are there?”

  “A thousand. Maybe more,” Anik said. “Slaves, workers in the mills.”

  Ren hummed. It was his turn to frown. “I don't reckon they can just walk out of there.”

  Anik made a bitter sound and shook his head. “They're always kept behind locked gates like prisoners, even the workers who aren't slaves. The biggest working mill is the one that produces weapons and expands the fortifications of Castle Iskaal, and the keys to their freedom are kept inside the castle. Several hundred people stay there at a time.”

  Ren studied his face. “Is that where you worked?” he asked, remembering a conversation they'd had in Endurance. Anik had worked for a year in the city before becoming a slave.

  Anik nodded. His hand stilled on the stallion's mane and instead gripped the reins. He kneed his horse a little closer to Ren so he could speak quietly. “When things got tough at home after my father died, I went to Iskaal to find work. The Skarlan soldiers stationed near our village frequently recruited men and women of working age to the mills in the city with the promise of a substantial pay if they completed a year of service to the king.”

  “Let me guess,” Ren said. “Those gates stay locked until the year is up.”

  Anik didn't answer, confirming Ren's suspicion.

  “If the assassins can get into the city and recruit Skarlan soldiers without being noticed as Evalyne says, they might be able to get their hands on the key to the mill, too,” Ren said.

  “And then what?” Anik asked. There was something new in his eyes, something haunted. “They're not going to follow a Skarlan-bought assassin.”

  They looked at each other for a long time before Ren spoke again. “You want to go in.”

  Ren's words made Anik flinch, but when he spoke, his voice was steady. “They'll listen to me. I've worked with many of them. Fought with some. So have Valkon and Cainon.”

  Ren nodded slowly. What had started as a simple in-and-out plan was turning into something more dangerous. “This is Iskaal we're talking about,” Ren reminded him. “It's going to be well-guarded, even with Halvard and Nathair out of the city. “

  “I know that. Trust me. But the city is weaker than it has ever been,” Anik said, and for a moment, the familiar fire in his eyes replaced the darkness. “There's no telling what Halvard might have instructed his men in Iskaal to do in case of an attack on Frayne. For all we know, he could slaughter every Lowlander in Iskaal the moment I raise a hand against him. I know I can't get everyone out, but...” He released a breath, shoulders sagging.

  Ren swallowed, looking over the flatland as if he could spot Iskaal looming in the distance. “I hadn't thought about that.”

  “I have to go. I have to free them.”

  “Then I'll go with you,” Ren said, tightening his reins until his horse sho
ok its head.

  Anik looked at Ren, expression softening, but then he seemed to draw back into himself. “You're better off staying with Evalyne,” Anik said.

  “And you were better off not taking a lashing for me. You were also better off leaving me behind when we first left Aleria, but you did neither,” Ren said. “You weren't comfortable sending me off to Sekara with Rafya, and I'm not comfortable sending you into Iskaal with him, so I'm going with you.” He wasn't sure why he was arguing. Anik was right. He was far better off staying with Evalyne, but Anik had just returned to him. He couldn't forget the kiss they had shared in the tent. He had been cold and wet, but Anik's lips had been so warm. Ren didn't want to risk losing him so soon. Not if he could help it. There was something else, too, in the way the mention of Iskaal made Anik tense like a skittish horse.

  Anik searched Ren's face with narrowed eyes, then a faint smile tugged on the corners of his lips. “Fine, then. We'll go together.”

  “Should we let Evalyne know about the change in plans?”

  Anik rolled his jaw, then shook his head. “Don't tell her yet. I don't want her to have too much time to consider why going in is a bad idea. We'll tell her when we execute the plan.”

  “Okay,” Ren said.

  Anik didn't look away from him, and after a moment, Ren asked, “What?”

  “So, she's your sister,” Anik said.

  Ren shrugged, glancing past Ren to Evalyne. “Half-sister. All my siblings have been half-siblings.” He frowned at the thought.

  “What's it like? With her, I mean,” Anik said and angled his chin past Ren to where Evalyne was engaged in conversation with Kana.

  Ren shrugged again. “She seems nice. I don't really talk to her about anything personal. She told me a bit about her life, but I guess it's not much of a fun tale. I don't know. She's all right, I suppose. She still doesn't really feel like family.”

  Anik grunted. “Well, at least she wasn't out to kill us all.”

  Ren laughed. “There is that.” He worried his bottom lip between his teeth. “She seems to have high hopes for me.”