“Feldwon,” she called, hurrying over to the archivist just as he was finishing giving instructions to an apprentice. “I know what we can do with the cat,” she said. “Please, will you let me speak to Councilwoman Zara?”
—
Ozben landed hard on his stomach and rolled until he banged against the bookshelf. He flopped onto his back, staring up at the underside of the library table. Instinctively, he looked down at himself, running his hands frantically over his chest, arms, and legs, making sure that no crossbow bolts were sticking out of him. It took him a full minute to realize he was fine. The assassin had missed him.
When his breathing steadied and he could start to think clearly again, Ozben shifted onto his side, careful to stay under the protection of the table. He listened for the sound of approaching footsteps. Was he trapped? Would the assassin come down to hunt for him? There was only one way to know.
Ozben leaned forward and cautiously peeked out from under the edge of the table. His heart stuttered in his chest. A crossbow bolt was stuck in the wooden bookshelf nearest the bridge where he’d been standing only seconds ago. If he hadn’t turned around and seen the assassin when he did, the bolt would be protruding from his chest right now.
His mind raced even as he tried to quell the panic that rose inside him. How could this be happening? He’d been so sure he was safe here. His parents and the archivists had been so careful to keep his identity a secret, giving him a disguise and hiding him away in the last place anyone in Solace should have ever thought to look for him. Yet here he was, hunkered down under a table, a hairsbreadth from a crossbow bolt skewering him.
The assassin had not only seen through his disguise; he’d known exactly where Ozben would be—in the library. That meant he’d probably been watching him for some time, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. And what better moment than in the midst of a crisis that had all the archivists running around distracted? As frightened as he was by these revelations, the question remained: how had the assassin found him, and what was Ozben going to do now?
He couldn’t stay under this table; that much was certain. He had to find some better cover or a place to hide in case the assassin tried to come down to finish the job. But when he risked another glance out from under the table and toward the upper levels, Ozben saw that the man in black was gone. The assassin had disappeared.
“We’re all clear!” called a voice from the doorway. “The cat’s contained. They got him back to the Menagerie. The danger’s past.”
Ozben crawled to the other side of the table and looked down toward the library entrance. Some of the archivists were taking down the barricade while others clustered in the foyer, talking excitedly about what had just happened in the hallway. From what Ozben could tell, it involved Lina, one of the carnelian cats—and the Sun Sphere.
At least it meant Lina was safe. He had to find her, tell her she was right all along about the assassin, and find out what was going on. But first he had to go to Councilwoman Zara and Nirean. They needed to know that an assassin had invaded their home, and no one was safe.
Ozben crawled to the edge of the table and checked the upper bridges again. The shadows there were just shadows. No crossbow bolts pointed at him. Still, Ozben couldn’t calm his racing heart. He told himself the assassin probably wouldn’t risk trying to kill him a second time today, not when things were starting to settle downstairs. One of the archivists might see, and the chances he’d be caught were much greater.
No, the assassin—or assassins, if more than one had infiltrated the stronghold—had learned from the attack on the palace. He would be patient and bide his time until Ozben was alone again.
With that grim thought, the sense of safety Ozben had felt within the stronghold’s cavernous halls vanished. He was terrified and furious at the same time. Assassins had threatened his family, chased him from his home, and now they’d destroyed the small bit of happiness he had carved out for himself in Lina’s world.
Lina. Just by being near him, she was in danger too. All the more reason for him to leave the stronghold as soon as possible. They had to carry out Lina’s plan to get inside the Merlin. Somehow, he would find a way to use the ship to get home.
Galvanized, Ozben scurried out from under the table, pausing only long enough to retrieve the assassin’s crossbow bolt from the bookshelf so he could show it to Zara and Nirean. A shudder coursed through him when he closed his fingers around the bolt’s shaft. He didn’t want to think about how close he’d come to having it sticking out of him.
Making his way down the stairs, Ozben joined a crowd of archivists waiting to get out of the library. He heard the people standing closest to him murmuring that some of the tapestries hanging in the corridors had caught fire. The archivists wanted to make sure they were out before they let people back into the halls.
For fifteen agonizing minutes, Ozben waited at the back of the crowd and kept watch for any sign of the assassin. He didn’t want to draw attention to himself by getting impatient, but he wished they’d hurry up. Sweat ran rivers down his back. Every second he was exposed in the large, open room he expected to feel a crossbow bolt bury itself in his back.
Finally, one of the librarians, a middle-aged man with a thick gray beard and reading glasses sliding down his nose, made the announcement that all was well. People could return to their workshops and dormitories whenever they wished.
Ozben forced himself not to run as he exited the library and moved along the corridor in the direction of Councilwoman Zara’s office. The whole way, he clutched the crossbow bolt in front of him as if it were a poisonous snake, and watched the shadows for hidden enemies.
“You have to let me do this,” Lina insisted. “I know I can take care of him.”
Zara stood behind her large oak desk, holding a stack of papers in her hand. Her office was sparsely furnished, containing just the desk, a white stone fireplace in the corner, and bookshelves flanking the door. The whole room smelled of wood smoke and old paper.
“Mucking out the stalls in the Menagerie doesn’t qualify you to care for a dangerous animal,” Zara said.
Lina had expected to meet with resistance when she told her teacher her plan to care for the carnelian cat herself, especially when she left out a key detail. She hadn’t wanted to tell Zara about her workshop, so she’d been vague about where exactly she’d be keeping the cat, only that it was someplace safe and fireproof. She hadn’t counted on Zara being quite so immovable.
“He’s a cat,” Lina said, as if it weren’t obvious. “He’d never intentionally hurt anyone.”
“Intent doesn’t matter when you can turn into a fireball,” Zara said. “What if he gets away from you? He could destroy the stronghold.” She laid aside the stack of papers and sat down. “Speaking of fireballs,” she said, folding her hands on the desk, “what possessed you to take the Sun Sphere from the Special Collections wing? I’ve already had Edlind in here screaming at me that you tore up his whole department.”
“He’s exaggerating,” Lina said indignantly. “And I would have asked to borrow it, but there wasn’t time. I had to get back before the cat reached the library—and before Simon got to him,” she added. She was still angry with Simon for trying to kill the cat.
“And it never occurred to you that it might be extremely dangerous to bring the cat into contact with an artifact we don’t fully understand?” Zara asked sternly. “That’s why we keep them separate from the rest of the museum.”
“I’m sorry, but I told you, I didn’t have time to come up with a better plan. And those artifacts have been tested a hundred different ways,” Lina argued. “There’s nothing dangerous about them.”
Zara shook her head, still wearing that implacable expression. “Learning respect and care for the things we don’t understand is at the core of our principles. You’ll never become a proper archivist until you understand that.”
As her teacher lectured, Lina couldn’t help remembering what Ozbe
n had said the night she’d shown him the Sun Sphere, the changing storybook, and the memory jar. How could she really know that those artifacts were harmless, he’d asked her. He’d been right, of course. She couldn’t know. Just as she hadn’t known that the carnelian cat was a potential threat to the stronghold. In her ignorance, she’d inadvertently put him and the whole of her community in danger.
Mistake after mistake—they were piling up in a great heap of misery inside Lina. She didn’t know what she was doing anymore.
“Is that why you stopped teaching me?” she asked abruptly, her face turning red with shame. “Because I’m reckless, and you think I won’t make a proper archivist?” It was the question she’d been secretly wanting to ask Zara for a while but hadn’t had the courage to. She stared at the wood whorls in Zara’s desk, unable to meet the older woman’s eyes.
Zara made a noise of surprise. “Of course not. I’ve never thought that. Well,” she amended, “reckless, yes—I’ve thought that on many occasions. But I’ve always believed you’d make a wonderful archivist.”
She said it so firmly that Lina almost thought she was telling the truth, but doubt still nibbled at the back of her mind. Then why had Zara stopped her lessons and pulled away from Lina? She still didn’t believe it was all because of the war.
Lost in thought, Lina jumped when the door to Zara’s office banged open. She turned in time to see Ozben burst into the room and hastily shut the door behind him. He leaned against the wood, chest rising and falling rapidly. Even with the bandages covering parts of his face, Lina could see that he was in a panic.
Before either Lina or Zara could react, Ozben spoke. “Sorry,” he said. “The door was unlocked, and I needed—” He stopped when he caught sight of Lina, and surprise registered on his face.
“It’s all right,” Zara said quickly. “Lina, we’ll discuss this later. For now, I want you to go back to your room. Lina, do you hear me?”
But Lina wasn’t paying attention to Zara anymore. Her gaze flicked from the crossbow bolt clutched in Ozben’s hand to her friend’s face. A knot of cold dread formed in her stomach. “What is it?” she demanded. “What happened?”
“Lina.” Now there was a note of warning in Zara’s voice. “I told you to leave.”
Ozben tried to summon a grin, but it wavered and fell away. “I had some trouble in the library,” he began. “There was someone—” He paused, swallowed, and tried again. “An assassin came after me.”
“No!” Lina crossed the room to Ozben and put a hand on his shoulder. “You were alone,” she said in a choked voice. “I didn’t even think about someone trying to attack you.” She blinked back tears. Goddess. Mistake after mistake.
“I’m all right,” Ozben assured her, again trying to summon a grin, this time with a little more success. “I should have listened to you about the assassin, though—to all of you,” he added, looking at Zara.
With a jolt, Lina realized that Zara was now aware that Lina knew Ozben’s identity. But right now she didn’t care. She was more worried about her friend.
For her part, Zara seemed momentarily stunned. She stared at Ozben, Lina, and the crossbow bolt. Shock and disbelief spread across her face, but she quickly gathered herself and came out from behind her desk, striding over to where they stood. She took the crossbow bolt from Ozben.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” she asked. “You’re not injured?” Without waiting for Ozben to reply, Zara took him by the shoulder and turned him, examining the back of his head and neck, as if she expected to find some hidden wound.
“Really, I’m fine,” he said. “He only fired at me once, and he disappeared right afterward.”
“Where?” Zara said sharply. “Where did this happen?”
“The library,” Ozben said. “I think he knew I’d be there.”
“He must have been watching you these past few weeks,” Zara said, her eyes narrowed. “He knows that’s where you’ve been going. Both of you stay put.” She walked over to the door and opened it, looking up and down the hallway before calling out to someone they couldn’t see. “Apprentice, a moment,” she said, beckoning with her hand. “I need you to go find Nirean and bring her here immediately. Hurry, now!”
Lina heard a muffled reply and then footsteps running off down the corridor. Zara shut the door, locking it from the inside.
“What are you going to do?” Lina asked.
Zara looked up at her absently, as if she’d forgotten Lina was still in the room. Then her gaze sharpened. “How much do you know?” she asked. “Don’t lie to me, Lina. Not now.”
“Everything,” Lina said, glancing at Ozben. “I know who he is and what he’s doing here.”
“I suppose I don’t need to ask how.” Zara sighed. “Eavesdropping again, were you?”
“It was my fault,” Ozben said, coming to Lina’s defense. “I said my name and—”
“But you didn’t know I was listening in,” Lina interrupted. She faced her teacher and braced for a storm. “I’m sorry. I did exactly what you told me not to.”
“We’ll address that later,” Zara said. “What I want to know right now is: did you tell anyone?”
Surprise and hurt heated Lina’s cheeks. “Of course not!” she said. How could Zara think that? “I shouldn’t have eavesdropped, but I’m not sorry I met Ozben. He’s my friend, and I would never betray his secret.”
“She’s right. And I don’t regret it either,” Ozben said. He smiled at Lina, and she felt a bit of her misery slip away.
“All right. That’s good.” Zara nodded. She turned to Ozben. “Your Highness, I apologize. We were complacent, and you almost lost your life because of it. That won’t happen again. We’re going to put more guards with you, which means we’ll have to tell more of the chamelins your secret.” She scowled. “We’ll have to bring some of them back from their scouting patrols. Goddess, this couldn’t have come at a worse time.”
“Why?” Lina asked, suddenly worried. “What are the chamelins out scouting for? Are the Merrow Kingdom’s armies getting closer?”
“They are, but that’s not what the chamelins are looking for. The weather’s taken a turn for the worse,” Zara explained. “We’ve had more snowfall and storms in the last week than we’ve seen all year. It’s making it difficult for the refugees to reach us. If they can’t find the bridges to get to our gates, more often than not they end up lost in the mountain passes, and that’s no place to be during a blizzard. The chamelins are out looking for the lost ones to guide them to us.”
Ozben’s brow furrowed with worry. “If the weather’s that bad, you can’t bring the chamelins back here just to protect me. I’m only one person, and there are hundreds of refugees out there. They could freeze to death if they get lost.”
Zara shook her head. “Don’t worry, we won’t bring all the scouts back, just enough to cover you. You’ll need to stay in your room from now on so we can ensure your safety.”
“What?” Ozben cried. “But—”
“It will be fine,” Zara cut him off. “We’ll move you to a more secure area, and Nirean or one of the other chamelins will be with you all the time. No assassins will be able to get near you, I promise.”
Ozben looked at Lina helplessly. She knew what he was thinking. They would never be able to open the airship if the chamelins were with Ozben day and night. The risks they’d taken, and that pile of mistakes—it had all been for nothing in the end. Lina wanted to protest, but Zara was right. They had to keep Ozben safe.
But was Zara right about surrounding him with guards? Lina had lived in the mountains all her life, and she knew they were an unforgiving place in a storm. The fewer eyes there were out looking for the refugees, the greater the risk that the people trying to reach the stronghold would be lost and freeze to death in the cold. Besides that, would the extra guards do any good against the assassins? She remembered what Ozben told her about the night they’d broken into the palace in Ardra. There had been plenty of gu
ards then, and it hadn’t stopped the assassins. Would the chamelins really be able to protect Ozben, or was there another way?
“Zara, wait,” Lina said as an idea formed in her mind. “I think I may have a better plan to protect Ozben.”
But Zara wasn’t listening. “When Nirean gets here, she can escort you to your new room,” she said to Ozben. She walked back to her desk, examining the crossbow bolt in her hands. “I’ll study this bolt myself. It might lead us to the assassin.”
“Zara,” Lina repeated, louder this time. “You have to listen to me.”
“Lina, I don’t have time right now,” Zara said tersely. “Didn’t I tell you to go back to your room?”
Lina shook her head stubbornly. “If you put Ozben in a room and stack guards outside his door, the assassin’s going to know exactly where he is,” she said. “He won’t be safe at all.”
Zara was still examining the crossbow bolt, her lip curled in disgust as she touched its wicked point. “It doesn’t matter if he knows where Ozben is,” she said. “The best assassin in the world will think twice before taking on a group of chamelins while they’re shape-shifted.”
“Oh, really?” Lina looked at Ozben. “Weren’t you surrounded by skilled fighters at your palace? And people still got killed.”
“It’s true,” Ozben said. His voice dropped. “I don’t want anyone else to die, Zara—not Nirean or any of the other chamelins.”
“I understand, and your concern does you credit, Your Highness, but you’re our responsibility,” Zara said. “The archivists promised your parents we would keep you safe.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” Lina insisted. “All I’m asking is that you listen.”
“All right, all right.” Zara sighed loudly and raised her hands in surrender. She laid the crossbow bolt on her desk. “What are you proposing?” she asked, sounding reluctant.
“That we hide Ozben,” Lina said, “with me.” She fidgeted, clasping and unclasping her hands as she spoke. Explaining the plan was going to be the tricky part. She didn’t want to reveal too much to Zara. “I know a place,” she continued, “somewhere the assassin won’t be able to go.”
The Secrets of Solace Page 13