Rune whistled tunelessly and dabbed his brush on the small board canvas he'd found. I looked down at the sketches scattered around him. I saw the profile of my own face, and Kyle's, Carmine's, even Dylan's, scratched onto papers with pencil. There was even one of Sadie, sitting like a dog at attention. He may have been terrible at the new skills he attempted, but he was a brilliant artist.
“These are amazing,” I told him, pushing the scattered papers with a finger.
“I have one for you,” he said without looking up from his small rectangular canvas. “But it's incomplete.”
A painting for me? What would it be of?
“I want to see it,” I smiled with excitement and curiosity.
“Not until it's finished.”
“What are you doing now?”
“Nothing,” he said in a terrible attempt to lie. I poked him in the chest, and he sighed with resignation. “I just keep seeing this image in my head. The Monarch. One word, three meanings. Insect, ruler, war machine. They used to paint this symbol upside down on the hull of the Monarch war machine so that none would forget the name. I've seen it in storybooks, history books too. The devastation that a single one of these machines created has lived in infamy for hundreds of years. If Raserion reaches Haven with thirteen Monarchs at his disposal, this symbol will represent the greatest massacre in recorded history. I've been fighting in this war for years, and I never once imagined that it would end in my lifetime. What happens if Raserion wins?”
My frown was deep. I knew what it would mean for my people. “What happens if Varion does?”
Rune dipped his brush and wiped it on a piece of scrap paper. “He'd hunt and kill every last soldier. Every Dragoon. Northerners show no mercy.”
“There must be another way.”
“There will be.” He nudged me with his shoulder. “We'll make another way.”
Somehow, even though I knew that it seemed impossible, I believed him.
On the floor, Sadie began to growl in her sleep.
“Is something bothering you?” he asked, looking at me differently.
I blinked, unsure what he meant. I may have been bothered for all of the usual reasons, but I believed in us. I couldn't concede to living in a world where there was no hope. “No.”
“Then why are you pinching me so hard?” he asked, his eyebrows lowering sharply.
Sadie's head rolled up from the ground, and she snarled, baring her fine pointed teeth. She hadn't been sleeping after all.
I held my hands up where he could see them. “I didn't pinch you.”
Very clever, Rune, what are you planning on tricking me with this time?
As he looked from my hands to my eyes, I could see the danger dawning upon him and it was real enough to stop my beating heart. Sadie growled, flipping from her side onto her feet, and Florian kicked at his stall. This was no prank. Something was very wrong.
There was only time for wordless mutual understanding, and then Rune was ripped away from me and dragged across the floor.
Chapter 26: Spilled Paint
Rune kicked and thrashed, tipping the open bottles of paint as he was pulled violently across the floor by an unseen enemy. Red, yellow, and blue bled together, soaking the knees of my pants before I had time to react.
“Rune!” I cried, scrambling on hands and feet, slipping in the slick blend of colors. “Help him, Sadie! Go!”
The Lurcher launched past me, charging toward the darkest corner of the cargo hold as I half crawled, half ran after them. My boots were covered in paint and it made sprinting extremely difficult, but after a few steps, most of the stuff had smudged off on the floor.
The Spark was with me in an instant, coating both of my arms with gauntlets and pointed elbow blades made of ferocious light. Illumination touched the farthest reaches of the cargo hold, and I could see Rune there, pinned against the wall, feet scraping helplessly against the floor, in the grip of the Gateling.
Holding him up by the throat and shoulder, Raserion's underling was stretching and warping, spreading out its very mass to cover him. Already his hands had been consumed.
Rune roared and burst into flames. Blue fire began to burn through his clothes, lapping up over his face. When he pushed the fire to the Gateling, it didn't flinch or recoil. It accepted the flames, and as they rolled over its dark form, they changed shape. Spines of fire stretched from the Gateling's back, and horns burst from its head. It had taken away Rune's fire as a Shadow Chaser would.
Sadie reached them first, and her terrible baying was almost human. She dove at the Gateling, gnashing her fangs, and opening her jaws wide to maul the shadow creature. She caught hold of it, but it didn't show pain, and the fire lapped at her eyes. Screaming, she bit again.
Why wasn't his fire hurting it the way my lightning had stunned the Voice of the Prince? Why wasn't the Gateling afraid of him the way it had been afraid of me in the halls?
Lodestone.
It was a battle of energy versus energy. I was more powerful than Rune. My electricity was more potent, more compounded than his blue fire.
Rune gasped for breath. The Gateling poured over him, swallowing everything beneath his neck.
Not caring about the fire or my safety, I lunged in. “Let go of him!” I screamed at it.
Like a deformed owl, its head swiveled around to look at me. Those empty white eyes shone through the orange-tipped blaze. This creature was of Raserion's making. Did it remember me? Could it really feel fear? I'd give it reason to.
Sadie hissed and rolled away from the fire just as I stormed in. Thunder boomed somewhere in the distance, my arms crackled, and I slammed a fist into the Gateling's back. Rune's eyes grew wide as the Gateling covered his mouth. My lightning blended with the fire on the creature's back. If I wasn't careful, the shock would spread through the Gateling and into Rune. Like grasping the strings of floating balloons, I caught on to the lightning before it could drift away. With an effective leash on my Ability, I intensified the power.
The Gateling didn't make a sound but cringed, and dropped Rune heavily to the floor. The flames that had covered them both died away, and the Gateling scrambled for the nearest shadow. I let it go, but Sadie was on its heels, snapping at its misshapen legs as it poured itself into the darkness and returned to Shadows within Shadows.
Arms still burning with light, I walked over to where it had disappeared. Kicking my boot against the corner where the wall met the floor, I didn't see a single trace of the creature.
Rune was coughing and gasping, but he was already on his feet and searching for the Gateling with me. “If I'm not mistaken, I'd guess that Prince Raserion would like very much to speak with me.” His voice was raw and heavy.
The understatement struck a chord. Was the Gateling trying all this time to smother Rune? Had there never been an opportunity? Was it so desperate that it would attack him in front of me to get the job done? “Are you alright?” I asked, breathing hard and feeling the adrenalin trickle out of my blood.
“I'm fine,” he said, glaring down at the ground. “Not a trace. It can't come back without its symbol being drawn. It's gone for good this time.”
“Raserion isn't making me feel very sympathetic to his cause right now,” I growled.
“He doesn't need your sympathy. First he gave us the carrot, now he's giving the whip. I wonder what he would have said to me.” Rune exhaled slowly through his nose and rubbed his throat and shoulder.
What would he have said to the Dragoon who caused a rebellion and escaped? “It doesn't matter. We might be forced to play his game, but that doesn't mean we need to follow the rules.”
Rune put a hand on my shoulder. “Katelyn.”
“Yeah?”
He grinned. “You've got a little something on your face.”
Chapter 27: Then and Now
At the head of the two-hundred-foot-long Flying Fish, Carmine, Kyle and Dylan hadn't heard our battle. The drunken music that poured out of a nearby pole-house and
the raucous shouts and laughter that accompanied it successfully drowned out any sounds that might have carried.
We wouldn't have the time or opportunity to tell them either. A ten-man escort had arrived aboard our ship that very evening. We'd barely had the time to wipe the paint from our faces before we were called to meet them.
The leader of the guards was a tall brawny man with a cleft chin and a glass eye. Like the other guards, he wore a uniform of green stained leather and bronze trappings. “High Steward Winton Headly has received your case and wishes to grant you audience on behalf of His Excellency the true King of Lastland, Prince Varion. Ready yourself. Gather your effects. You have fifteen minutes and we will depart.”
Heavily armed as they all were, four of them looked different. These others wore bronze and black armor and carried a single weapon: a metal spear. Each spear and set of armor was inlaid with a unique set of carvings. Individualism was embedded in every uniform, every weapon. These four were Hussars, and they stared at us through brave and cunning eyes.
I couldn't get away from them fast enough. In the close confines of the bunkrooms, I felt claustrophobic, but safer than I did outside. If only I could have stayed there forever. I didn't have time to pity myself or make any delays. This was our chance to save Brendon. It might even be our chance to end the war.
What I chose to wear mattered a great deal. I was going to meet an immortal prince in a foreign land. First impressions were important, and mine would be honest. I wouldn't wear a shining ball gown, or pin my hair in some elaborate fashion. I would be myself– a girl from Haven. Digging into my things, I found a set of clothes that I'd brought from Rivermarch and stowed away when I masqueraded as a Historian.
My dull olive green pants had traveled with me as I'd hitched on wagon carts and stowed away on trains from Rivermarch all the way to Pinebrook. The brown leather woven belt that I slid around my waist had been a gift from my father for earning honors in geography. How quaint those classes seemed now, when I faced a world larger than my imaginings. The light gray fitted shirt I wore was of soft, thin material. The sleeves were long, reaching all the way to the knuckles of each hand. Pale strips of lace accented the insides of the cuffs and the hem at my waist. It reminded me of Ruby, which shouldn't be surprising, considering I'd stolen it from her closet two years back. She was the nearest thing to a sister I'd ever had.
“I'll give it back,” I promised her, staring at my reflection. They were the same words we always said to each other when we'd borrow clothes. “And I won't stain it.” The oath was so ridiculous, a single laugh slipped free.
Looking at myself in the long mirror, I realized that the deep scooping neckline of the shirt did nothing to hide the circle of scars on my chest. In my final year of school, the ring of smooth markings had earned me pity, disgust, and uncomfortable glances. I'd been ashamed of them, then.
Let them show. This is who I am now. I will survive this too.
I slipped on a dark gray hooded jacket, its design too smooth and clean to have been made here in the Outside World, and slung my battered orange scarf over my neck. I wouldn't tie or wrap it around me to hide my scars this time, but I wouldn't leave it behind either.
My long black hair, wild and unbound, flowed down my back. I hadn't the time to brush it, and after the Gateling's attack, I hardly cared about such details. Once I'd strapped a pair of goggles to my belt and dropped Raserion's silver amulet in my pocket, I took in a deep breath, straightened my shoulders, and met with the others in the hall.
“I'm going now.” They were all there, staring at me. “Wait here for me. I'll be back.” Did my voice sound tight? I tried to keep it neutral.
Kyle was the first one to intercept me. “We– Hold on! Is that my jacket?”
I grinned at him sheepishly. “I promise not to stain it.”
He blinked and shook the errant thoughts out of his head. “We're in this together. I'm going with you.”
I looked at him, surprised. He'd been so afraid in Cape Hill, so terrified on the Fish the whole way here. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I am. Haven is my home too. I wasn’t with you when Sterling...” A lump caught in his throat.
Carmine reached out to run a hand down Kyle’s arm. “You should stay, Kyle. If things go poorly for Katelyn...”
Thanks for the support.
“No,” he told her. I knew that face. Though Kyle's outward features hadn't changed much, I could read his subtle body language, the slight hardening of his expression. No one, not even Carmine could persuade him now. “I'm going. But we'll be back, safe and sound.”
“I'll make sure of that much,” Rune said, stepping forward. Before I could say a word, he took the lead. “The three of us will leave now. Lord Axton and Pilot Rousseau will remain here. When negotiations succeed, we'll send for you both. Be sure to keep the ship fueled and ready to depart at a moment's notice. Even if the proceedings go well, we might be taken with a fleet to Breakwater. I don't need to tell you why to be ready if our request is badly received.”
Rune, that unreasonable idiot. He was the last person who should be accompanying us. Of course, I felt more comfortable having him there with me, especially after the Gateling's attack. But if they found out who he was...
Carmine blinked, staring at Rune. Was that respect I saw in her eyes? “Sounds reasonable.”
There wasn't time for me to argue with him. He knew it, and he knew that I knew it. Garbled as that might sound, it was the truth. I could tell by the way he avoided meeting my eyes.
Rune turned to the young lord. “Prepare yourself, Axton. You could be called upon at any time.”
Dylan was fidgeting. He couldn't seem to hold still. Tugging at the ends of his immaculate navy coat, he took three slow steps backwards and began to shake his head. “I... I can't do this,” he muttered.
Gravity, he was scared. The whites of his eyes flashed, and he didn't stop moving until his back hit the wall behind him.
“You can,” I said gently.
“I can't do this!” he said louder. “They're going to kill me. They're going to kill all of you! Why did Brendan think this would work? Varion's soldiers make flags of human skin– human skin! No one told the two of you that did they?” he cried out at me and Kyle. “They flay their enemies! The Princes are monsters, the both of them, and we're just people! We have no right to walk among them and expect to live. You're going to leave me here, with this wanton wretch, while you lead us to an execution. I do not wish to spend my last hour with her. I don't want to die.”
“Axton.” Rune took a deep breath, and a measured step forward. “Breathe. Just breathe, in and out. There's nothing to fear. You're a Commander.”
Redness rimmed Dylan's eyes. “Well I didn't ask to be!” Lungs heaving, hands rattling, he was falling apart. “If we fail, we die. If we don't fail, you leave me here. If they find out what I am, I die. How many of them could I fight off? How many?”
As much as I'd hated Dylan at times, I pitied him too. He could be a cruel, self-absorbed coward, but hadn't he gotten me out of that trench at Rocktree Camp? In the end, hadn't he come back for us, smashing Hest and her Dragoons in a single massive display of Ability? I knew he resented us, it was an infectious feeling, but didn't I owe him something for that?
His parents had sent him away, and now Brendon was doing the same. I didn't doubt he had reason to be this afraid of the North. I knew that I should take his reaction as a warning, but I was finished with fear.
“It's going to be okay,” I said gently. “We won't leave without you.”
As soon as the words came out, I knew I'd made another promise I had to keep. I wouldn't give Dylan another reason to hate me.
His hazel eyes found mine, and I could tell that he was scrutinizing me, attempting to tell if I was lying. He ran a trembling hand over his face and raked his hair away from his brow.
Rune leaned against the wall beside him. “Dylan,” he said, “Do you remember the time Terrin
Bilke came after you for kissing his sister? Brought all of his friends and pummeled you into the dirt?”
Dylan flinched, looking at his feet. His breathing began to slow and his head reluctantly bobbed. “I was seven years old. Steffen showed up and punched him in the jaw so hard, he broke his finger.”
Rune nodded and a crack of a smile pulled up the corner of his mouth. “And me and Bren got matching black eyes.”
The memory nearly softened Dylan, but there was a grating awkwardness to the conversation. Rune's childhood was supposed to have been forgotten along with his hopes, dreams, and desires. Dylan sniffed. “What's your point? We lost that fight. Rich Chandler broke your nose and I could barely walk for a week. Even Brendon had his arm in a splint for a month.”
Kyle said exactly what I'd been thinking. “You guys fought like that when you were kids?”
Rune pushed off of the wall and gave Dylan a hard look. “We didn't leave you behind then. We won't do it now.”
Chapter 28: The Keep That Swallowed a City
We rode through Caraway City on horseback, and I had to fight to keep Florian from barreling down the narrow street. Clenching my teeth, I kept a tight rein, and wished he'd behave long enough for me to focus on being mad at Rune.
Dylan had made a valid point back on the Flying Fish. If these people found either of them out, they'd be as good as dead. I couldn't imagine Prince Varion would be excited to entertain a Dragoon and a Commander in his capital. All it'd take would be to roll up one of Rune's sleeves. Dylan may have been terrified out of his mind, but at least he'd had the sense to stay back on the ship.
I glared at Rune, riding beside me on a bay mare. He whistled airily, not seeming to mind that we were surrounded by a small group of soldiers and four Hussars. Even their horses wore armor, and the trappings matched the patterns carved on the gear of their riders. They protected their mounts as well as they protected themselves. With Dragoons on the backs of shadowy warhorses, I couldn't exactly blame them for taking such precautions.
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