The Secrets of Solace

by Jaleigh Johnson

  Except that King Easmon’s plot didn’t end there.

  Just before his death, he dispatched a message to the commander of the troops mustering in the west near the archivists’ border. In it were orders for the army to attack Kalmora, the largest city in the area, and burn it to the ground. The army was then instructed to sweep a path of destruction through the western portion of the Dragonfly territories all the way to the iron mines, wiping out the cities in their wake. It was a bold but risky strategy. Easmon had been sending thousands of his troops west, leaving his other armies vulnerable, but if he succeeded in his push, he would cripple the Dragonfly territories and cut off their access to the iron mines. Yet if King Aron managed to hold out against the attacking force, Easmon would lose half his army. Whoever won the battle would win the Iron War.

  When Nirean had finished telling Lina and Zara the story, the room again fell silent, but not for long.

  Zara spoke first. “Do either the assassin or Vargis know when the attack will start?” she asked.

  “As soon as the troops are in place—a day, maybe two if we’re very lucky,” Nirean said.

  Zara nodded. Worry was etched in every line of her features, but she kept her tone matter-of-fact. “Is your sister still in command of the Merrow armies?”

  “Yes,” Ozben said, finding his voice at last, “but Elinore doesn’t know about the attack. Grandfather knew she would never carry out orders like that—she’s a soldier, but she doesn’t burn cities or kill innocent people—so he’d been keeping her away from the army gathered in the west, even though it’s the larger force.”

  “He’s right,” Nirean said. “King Easmon’s kept her back from the front lines, overseeing their outposts under the pretense that she’s too important to lose. The orders for the attack were dispatched to Commander Cartwell. He’s the one who’s really in command in the west.”

  “I heard his name when I eavesdropped on the council meeting,” Lina spoke up. She looked at Zara. “I also heard he’s a cruel man.”

  “He is,” Ozben said grimly. “He’s exactly the type of person Grandfather would choose for this attack.”

  “But if King Easmon is dead, then Commander Cartwell has to follow the new king’s orders, doesn’t he?” Lina asked. “Ozben’s father just needs to get a message to Cartwell to stop the battle.”

  “There isn’t time,” Nirean said. “It would take several days for the fastest courier to reach the army with the king’s message. The battle will begin long before that. King Easmon planned well in his final days,” she said, anger thick in her voice.

  His grandfather had planned things well but not flawlessly, Ozben thought, as an idea suddenly occurred to him. He should have realized it sooner, but he’d been too upset. “We don’t have to get a message from Father to the front lines,” he said excitedly. “All we have to do is get my sister to retract the order.” He turned to Lina. “Nirean’s scouts told her they saw Elinore moving between some of the smaller outposts a few days ago, trying to boost morale, so she must be close enough to where the troops are mustering to get there in time.” Ozben looked to Zara for confirmation. “She’s the supreme commander of all Merrow’s armies, even if she doesn’t fight on the front lines. Only Father’s and Mother’s word overrides hers. She can stop the battle before it starts.”

  Zara looked away, exchanging a quick glance with Nirean. Ozben saw the look that passed between them, and a fresh wave of fear crashed over him. “What is it?” he said. “Elinore is nearby, right?”

  “She was,” Nirean said, “but there’s a problem.”

  “How many more problems can there be!” Lina exclaimed, throwing up her hands. “Where is Ozben’s sister?”

  “The winter storms,” Zara said. “In the last twelve hours, they’ve gotten much worse. About five miles west of where the Merrow armies are mustering is a place called Hawthorn Pass. It’s a narrow, snow-filled valley that begins in the Merrow Kingdom and ends in the archivist nation. Up until now, refugees from the Merrow Kingdom have been using it to get to our strongholds. But the storms have cut off the pass, trapping a couple dozen refugees. Princess Elinore was at an outpost about two miles away when the storms hit. Word reached her about the refugees trapped in the pass, so she took a small group of soldiers to try to free them.”

  “But why would she go on a mission like that herself?” Lina asked. “Like you said, she’s too valuable to lose.”

  Ozben sighed in exasperation. “Actually, that sounds just like something Elinore would do,” he said. “If she couldn’t be on the front lines fighting with her soldiers, she’d be doing everything she could to protect her people, even if it meant risking herself for a group of refugees.”

  Zara nodded. “This all took place yesterday, and we’ve had no word from Nirean’s scouts about where the princess is now,” she said. “We think she might have gotten trapped in the pass with the refugees.”

  “The storm is showing no signs of letting up anytime soon,” Nirean said. “I’ve had every chamelin I can spare trying to fly into Hawthorn Pass, but after a certain point, there’s a complete whiteout. We can’t see to get to the refugees, and we risk more people getting lost.”

  “So what do we do?” Lina demanded. “We can’t just sit and wait for the storm to pass. The battle will have started, and there won’t be any stopping it.”

  Thousands of people were going to die, Ozben realized, maybe tens of thousands. And all because his grandfather had been a cruel, power-hungry old man. The war would end, one way or another, but the price of victory would be horrible.

  Zara looked pale and grave, her head bowed in deep thought. She paced the chamber, then looked up at Nirean. “I have to call an emergency council session,” she said. “Nirean, come with me. We don’t have much time, but there has to be something we can do to break through the storm.” Zara followed the chamelin to the door, and then turned and looked meaningfully at Lina and Ozben. “The two of you stay here for now.” She raised a hand when Ozben started to protest. “We’ll be back soon, but in the meantime, rest and get your strength back. You hear me?” she said, addressing Lina specifically. “Remember what we talked about and what you decided to do.”

  Lina didn’t answer her teacher. She just nodded and gripped the folds of her nightdress. Ozben was shocked that she didn’t argue or get angry about being left out. What was she thinking? Was she planning something?

  When Zara and Nirean left, closing the door behind them, he turned to her. “I need to know what they’re planning,” he said. “We’ll listen in on the meeting, just like you did, and then—”

  But Lina cut him off. “We don’t need to,” she said. “The meeting won’t help. There’s no way for the chamelins to get through the storm into Hawthorn Pass, and I think Zara knows it.”

  Ozben clenched his fists in frustration. “There has to be a way!”

  “There is,” Lina said quietly. “I think Zara was thinking the same thing. That’s why she left us alone here.” She looked at Ozben, her expression serious. “We can ask the Merlin for help.”

  —

  “Lina, are you sure?” Ozben asked.

  No, she wasn’t sure at all. Lina thought of the obstacles that lay between them and getting the ship into Hawthorn Pass. They had to reconnect its power source and hope that all those years spent lying dormant had recharged it, fix the door mechanism at the back of the cavern to get the ship outside, and then somehow fly it to Hawthorn Pass to rescue the refugees and Ozben’s sister, all in the space of a day. And that wasn’t even the hardest part.

  “I have to think,” she said. She shivered and walked over to stand in front of the fire. She stared into the flames, going over the events of the past few days. “This is all happening so fast.”

  “Tell me about it,” Ozben said. He came to stand beside her at the fire.

  Lina was comforted to have her friend with her. Ozben’s whole world had been shaken, but he stood beside her calmly, trusting her to
come up with a plan. Lina’s heart warmed, but she was so conflicted.

  She’d sworn to help the Merlin, no matter what.

  “We have to get the Merlin outside the mountain,” Lina said. “The ship is so lonely. It just wants to go home. But if we take it to Hawthorn Pass, the ship will be seen. How can we ask it to risk getting itself captured again?”

  “I know we don’t have any right to ask,” Ozben said, “but this is so much bigger than us now. The refugees could die in that storm, and all those soldiers—there are thousands of them waiting to start the fight of the century. Whatever we do—or don’t do—in the next twenty-four hours could decide the outcome of the war. The one thing I know for sure is that my sister is the only one who can stop the battle that’s coming.”

  “And if she can stop this one battle, your father might be able to stop the war,” Lina said. Her mind raced with the possibilities. She’d told Ozben there were a hundred different ways his plan for flying the ship to the Merrow Kingdom could go wrong. By her calculation, there were closer to a thousand things that could wreck this plan. But they had to try. There was no other way. “It has to be the ship’s choice,” she said. “We can’t force it to help us.”

  “Agreed,” Ozben said. “If it wants to go home, we have to let it.”

  “Let’s go, then,” Lina said. “We don’t have time to waste.”

  “Wait,” Ozben said, laying a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t like that look in your eyes.”

  Lina bit her lip. A big part of her worried that their plan would fail before it began. “You said the ship and I understand each other, but what if we’re too much alike? How can we get it to trust us when it’s been used before?”

  Ozben hesitated, seeming to think it over. “I think it’s already trusted us a little bit. It reached out to you and told you its story. It let you feel how lonely it is and asked for your help. And remember when you told me about the cave-in and how the ship’s wings deployed over your head? That wasn’t an accident. It knows you, Lina. You’re its best hope.”

  And it’s our best hope, Lina thought. But would their connection be enough to convince the ship that they could save each other?

  Slowly, she shook her head. “No, it’s not enough,” she said. “You’re right. The Merlin let me see its memories so I could understand what it was going through. That’s why you have to connect to the ship too,” she told Ozben. “You have to let it see what we’re trying to protect.”

  “I don’t think I’m the one for that,” Ozben said doubtfully. “If my father was here, he’d be perfect.”

  “That’s not true!” Lina blurted out, and Ozben looked at her in surprise. But she had to make him understand. “You say that you’re not a soldier like Elinore or a great strategist like your parents, but so what? I’ll tell you one thing: you’re the bravest person I’ve ever met. You want to protect people. That’s what a leader does, right? He puts himself between danger and the people he cares about. Without even blinking, you put yourself between me and a knife-wielding assassin, because that’s just who you are.” Her voice caught. “I love Ortana, but it’s not the whole of Solace. The Merlin came over the mountains because it wanted to explore, to see what else was out there in the world. Ozben, you have to show it who we are.”

  Ozben was quiet. He stared at the fire for a long time, the flames reflecting in his eyes. When he finally turned to face her, he looked scared but determined. “I’ll try,” he said, and he leaned over and wrapped Lina in a tight hug. “Thanks for saying that.”

  Lina returned the hug, and when she pulled back, she smiled at him. Then her expression turned serious. “We need to get going,” she said.

  Ozben nodded. “I think I have a plan, or at least a place to start. We should split up. You go to the Special Collections wing and get the Merlin’s power source. In the meantime, I’ll go back to the workshop, check on Aethon and the ship, and work on opening that door.”

  “Sounds like a solid plan to me,” Lina said.

  She just hoped they would be able to make it in time.

  It turned out to be easier than Lina had thought to get the Merlin’s heart from the museum. Word had spread quickly through Ortana about the refugees trapped in the pass and the approaching battle, and most of the archivists had gathered in the council building to listen to the emergency session. While the council debated what was best to be done, Lina sneaked into the empty museum and removed the Sun Sphere from its alcove on the stairway.

  As she made her way back to her workshop Lina thought about the energy contained within the sphere. She’d always thought it was a simple, inextinguishable flame, but now she knew it was so much more than that. It was an energy source of unknowable power. Lina carried it as if it were a sphere of delicate glass, but still her hands trembled.

  She exited the museum and closed the gates behind her, cradling the sphere in one hand. When the gates were secure, she turned and almost jumped out of her skin. Simon stood in front of her, blocking her path.

  “Simon!” she squeaked. “Wow, you can move like a cat when you want to. That’s a good talent to have, sneaking—helpful in catching people doing nefarious things.” There was no point in trying to hide the Sun Sphere. He’d already seen it. Her best bet now was to not look too guilty. “I’m glad you’re here, actually,” she said, trying to twist her expression into something that would indicate that Simon wasn’t the last person in Ortana she’d wanted to encounter. “Councilwoman Zara asked me to retrieve this from Special Collections to take it to her office, and—”

  “Don’t even bother,” he said, cutting her off, a scowl pinching his already unpleasant features. “Winterbock, has anyone ever told you that you’re about the worst liar in the history of the world?”

  Lina sighed. She did not have time for this. “Oh, come on, there must be a few people out there that are worse than me,” she said. “All right, you want the truth—fine. Simon, the truth is, this sphere is actually the energy source for an ancient airship from the uncharted lands. It’s hidden in a secret cavern deep in this very stronghold, and I’m going there now to restore the ship’s power, fly it to Hawthorn Pass in the hopes of rescuing the refugees and ending the Iron War, and then let the ship go back to where it came from.” She held up the sphere in one hand and rested her other hand on her hip. “Satisfied?”

  Simon’s scowl deepened. “If you’re going to lie, keep things simple. The more elaborate you get, the less people will believe you.”

  “Good advice,” Lina said dryly. “I have to go now.” She started to walk around him.

  He stepped in front of her, blocking her path. “You’re not going anywhere with that. It could be as dangerous as the flaming cat,” he sneered. “You already caused enough trouble during that mess.”

  Lina gritted her teeth in anger. After their confrontation over Aethon and Simon’s near-apology, she had thought the senior apprentice might actually have it in him to be reasonable. Obviously, she’d been wrong. “All right, I get it!” Lina practically yelled. “You hate me. Your teacher hates me. Yes, he has his reasons for being angry. I did grow purple fungus all over his favorite room. That was a bad idea. I eavesdropped on a private council meeting. That was worse.” She narrowed her eyes at Simon. “What I don’t get is your reason for hating me so much. What did I ever do to you?”

  The question seemed to catch him off guard. He even took a step back, ducking his head so he wasn’t looking her in the eye. “It doesn’t matter,” he mumbled. “Just put the sphere back, and I won’t tell Councilman Tolwin you took it.”

  Now it was Lina who was caught off guard. Simon should have relished turning her in for a crime like this. “I can’t do that, Simon,” she said more calmly. “I really do need the sphere. It’s important.”

  Simon’s face reddened. “Why, so you can take it to your secret hiding place back there?” he asked angrily, pointing down the passage toward the curtain of deepa ivy. “Don’t bother lying about that either
,” he said when Lina’s mouth fell open in shock. “I’ve seen you coming and going from there. You didn’t know I was watching, but I was.” He sounded proud.

  Lina couldn’t believe it. She had always thought she was so careful to keep her workshop hidden. And that it was Simon who had found it was the worst of all possible circumstances. Yet he obviously hadn’t told Tolwin about it, or the councilman would have had the tunnel sealed up long ago. What was going on in Simon’s head?

  “If you knew where I was all this time, why didn’t you turn me in?” Lina asked suspiciously. “You had to have known it would make me miserable, so why didn’t you take advantage of that?”

  “I said it doesn’t matter!” Simon snapped. He was more angry and flustered than ever. “Just give me the sphere and get out of here.” Simon took a step forward as if to snatch it from her, but Lina jumped out of his reach and put the sphere behind her back, mindful of its tiny flame.

  “Tell me why,” she insisted. “Were you saving it for the right moment? One day when you were bored, you’d say, ‘Oh, I know, I’ll go ruin Lina’s life today. That’ll be hilarious.’ Is that what you were waiting for?”

  “You don’t know anything!” Simon shouted, so loud that Lina looked around anxiously to make sure no one had overheard him. His face was beet red to the tips of his ears, and he still wouldn’t look her in the eye. “I never hated you, you idiot. I wanted to go with you to your hiding place!”

  Lina’s mouth worked, but at first, no words came out. She was too stunned. “You mean you wanted…to follow me?” she asked at last.

  “I wanted to see where you went all the time,” Simon said, more subdued now. “I tried to go after you a couple of times, but I couldn’t fit through the tunnel.”

  The Hourglass. Of course. At fifteen, Simon already had the broad shoulders and thick chest of some adults twice his age. He would never fit through the passage.

  “It wasn’t just that, though,” Simon went on, his voice tight. “You’re always getting away with things. Zara never piles work on you, never shouts at you in front of people, like Tolwin does with me when I mess up. And she never threatens to tell your parents when you’re not ‘performing adequately.’ ”