With the afternoon sun warming his cheeks, he set off, walking south with the intention of returning to Gideon. During his day’s march, he began pondering his current situation. He was freed, yet still a prisoner. He thought he should be glad to have been reunited with Roy and Harvey, but his nerves still stirred. He knew that his angst surrounded young Cleo, the serving-girl-turned-apprentice who nuzzled her way into his heart. He felt an unjustifiably parental fear wracking his insides with worry, though he knew she could fend for herself.
From that moment forward, Gnochi felt the cold in a way that seemed leave shivers rippling through his soul. It was a psychological chill, like standing alone before the grave of someone recently deceased. He shook his head to clear his mind of its memories. His skin prickled with every swath of movement. To combat his systemic shivering, he rubbed his coarse hands together, though the tenderness of his skin reacted to the heat from the repeated action with pain. And what little warmth generated was faint and quickly dissipated into the chilled air. Sometime after leaving the library, he had lost his gloves, though he could not rationalize their loss or remember exactly where or why he had disposed of them.
After placing several hours of distance between himself and the library, the bard spotted a felled tree stump and decided to sit for a spell. His stomach growled. When had he last eaten? A quick check through his pack revealed no further provisions, just a canteen of chilled water that burned as it spilled down his throat.
Somehow, he ended up on the ground, snow compressed under his light form. He relaxed his head against the stump, gazing up. His eyes found a moment between swimming in his skull to provide him with a view of the sky. He could not remember the last time he had seen anything as beautiful as the heavens above. Wow, he mouthed. Pockets of pale blue peeked through striped ribbons of overcast clouds. The moon was visible, however timidly so. It looked faded, like a pence that has seen its value tarnish over time. He thought back to his strange encounter with Freki and wondered what the wolf would say to him now. Had he kept Cleo comfortable? That was the bargain as Gnochi remembered it.
In the last breath of the blue sky, he saw a series of orange flashes streak through the small gaps between the clouds. There were stories of shooting stars and wishes itching at his mind, but he was too tired to scratch them. Instead, he watched the clouds race to quell the rebellion of blue and hide anything out of the norm. He closed his eyes, not wanting to witness the moment the free sky lost its battle.
Chapter 37
“Pallius?” Cleo’s voice reflected the confusion she felt.
“As I live and breathe, I did not imagine that Gideon’s orders were about you,” the general admitted. He looked much the same as Cleo remembered, though he had filled in. A smudge of skin bulged under his chin.
“My father is here?” Cleo asked, her voice retreating behind her abandoned bravado.
“Not here, of course. But he is in Lyrinth. Very close to where we stand. Your father is reclaiming lost assets.”
“Huh?”
Pallius sucked on his teeth. “Silentore and Oceanmane: the two of his arms that mutinied. Your father is here to see their leaders’ heads and their original assignments completed. As far as I knew, he wasn’t coming here to find you.” His face contorted as if he was going to sneeze. “Something clearly changed. He wants to see you. That’s why I was redirected to apprehend you.”
“What makes him think that I’d want to see him? I know about the pendant. And sending Bollo after me with that smut-for-a-man.”
“Gideon admitted that Bollo was a mistake, though you certainly took care of him well enough. You and Gnochi.” Pallius’s voice curdled as it pronounced the bard’s name. “Though the pendant was merely an insurance policy. Gideon did not expect you to give away his tracker to a simpleton tanner.”
“Tracker?”
“How else would he keep tabs on you? Of course he had the pendant equipped for monitoring.”
“But, Oslow said that the gem was valuable.”
“Oh, it is. The gem holds immense value. Not that you seemed to have cared.”
Cleo sat in silence for a minute, then whispered, “I won’t go with you.”
“I have a note from your father. Sealed.” He seemed to be waiting for a response, though when none came, he cleared his throat and read the letter.
“My dearest Cleobelle,
By now you’ve no doubt been reunited with Pallius. I fear that your response to our being here in Lyrinth, may be negative. I implore you to come willingly.
You very nearly gave me a heart attack when you took off without supervision. I miss you ever so much. Please allow me to explain things. Everything. Please come to me.
And if you will not come on my behalf, then come for your friends. Unharmed and unimpeded here you will find one Roy, one Harvey. Oh, and there’s this fellow here named Gnochi that I believe you have made acquaintance with. Come for him.
Regards,
Gideon Melloue II’”
“Dad has Gnochi?”
“You heard the same letter I did.”
“He could be lying.”
“How would he know to use the man’s name?”
“You said he was spying on me. He could’ve found the name out anytime.”
“Very well. You have me there. If you will not come willingly, though, I have the authority to take you in. And while I’d rather not dirty my hands, I’d also relish the opportunity to wipe that smirk from your face.”
Ducking under the relaxed swords, Cleo snatched her staff from where she had dropped it in the confusion. She leapt over the fire, closing the gap between her and Pallius in a moment’s time. She pressed the staff to his neck, so the lead-weighted cap pushed into his skin, forcing him to backtrack on his toes to keep his airway open. In his rash movement, he tripped on a log and landed in a hard pile of snow.
Three of the guards ripped the staff from her hands and pinned her arms behind her back, securing them with twine. Pallius rebounded, fuming from embarrassment. He reared his hand back, ready to strike.
“Go ahead,” Cleo said, grinning. “I’m sure father will understand why you, with a dozen armed guards, felt threatened enough to strike me while I was unarmed and restrained. Oh, but I think he’d believe me. I am awfully persuasive. I don’t know if he told you.”
“Where is the other echoer with you?” Pallius regained his composure, dusting snow from his shoulders. “I was told you’d be with a powerful teen echoer. Answer me!”
“He’s dead.”
◆◆◆
Cleo could not believe the force her father had lugged across the ocean. “All on these boats?” She asked Pallius. She still could not understand why her father had gone to such lengths to bring his armies across the ocean.
“Gideon is not a man people want to disfavor,” Pallius said. “He sees this betrayal as a personal stab in the back.”
Cleo did not know if he was referring to Jackal’s betrayal or her own.
He dismissed his guards and led Cleo to the central tent. Once inside, he cut her bindings and brought her to her father’s chambers.
Presently, Gideon sat at a table mingling with a dozen advisors. He looked as she remembered, though thinning hair and deeper wrinkles creasing his forehead added a decade to his age. He wore, as always, plain yet practical attire. Cleo’s father failed to notice them enter, his attention tuned into the map his advisor was pointing to.
Pallius cleared his throat. “My Lord, Gideon,” he annunciated. “I have secured Cleo, as you requested.”
Gideon looked up sharply at Pallius’s intrusion. His eyes snaked over a pair of quaint glasses. They first looked with a flaying anger at his general, then rested comfortably on Cleo’s face. She shivered under his scrutiny.
Gideon frowned, then shifted his gaze back to Pallius. “I believe my request was for Cleobelle and another echoer. Aarez was it? Is that not so?”
“Aarez is dead,” Cleo admitted, still sho
cked at how the words sounded on her lips.
Gideon reacted as if Cleo had slapped him. He stood so abruptly that his chair tipped back and crashed to the floor. “All of you, leave us,” he said to the group. “Someone, send in the young men from Lyrinth.” The advisors all shuffled out in haste. Gideon approached and placed a hand on her cheek.
Cleo flinched under his touch.
Gideon frowned. “You have grown much this past year. Why, I believe you’ll overtake your old man in height soon. Have you been keeping safe?”
“You should know,” Cleo said. “Apparently, you never left my side.”
“That was for your—”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Cleo said, cutting him off. “Was withholding my parentage for my protection too? I’m lucky that I wasn’t crippled, considering how you tried to suppress my echo.”
“Look at it from my angle, Cleobelle.”
“It’s just Cleo. And you can save your breath because I’m not going home with you.” At that instant, Roy and Harvey entered the chambers.
“This discussion is not over,” he hissed to Cleo. “Gentlemen, please join us.”
Cleo rushed over and threw her arms around Harvey’s neck. She broke the embrace, then quickly hugged Roy before retreating from the pair, feeling her father’s gaze piercing her back.
“Where’s Aarez?” Harvey asked.
“The first day when we entered the tundra, when that storm broke out, Aarez and I made quick shelter, waiting it out.” She paused, taking slow breaths. Fresh tears felt heavy on her eyes. “They came out of nowhere. Three brutish people. Restrained us and brought us back into their camp in the swamp.” She saw Harvey wince. Roy took his hand in silent understanding. “I don’t remember much of anything that happened there. I think they gave me a poison.”
“Did they defile you?” Gideon’s voice sounded harsh.
“No. Like you should care,” Cleo said. “It’s the brother you sent to ‘look after’ me who ran with a scamp of a man much worse than any of those three.” The remark silenced her father. “When I woke…” Her voice gave out. “Aarez was already dead. I believe he sacrificed himself to save me.”
“Please,” Pallius whined. “This isn’t one of your fairy-tales. It was his time to die, not yours.”
Cleo glared at the general.
“If only we hadn’t split up,” Harvey admitted. “He might still be alive now.”
“No. I wasn’t going to try to stop you from finding Kiren. Wait, did you find Kiren?”
“She’s not here,” Roy said. “And she’s not with Dorothea’s army.”
“The king and I are working cooperatively to rid Lyrinth of Jackal and his ilk,” Gideon said.
Cleo grimaced at the thought of her father and Dorothea on the same side of this conflict. “So, if Kiren isn’t here or with Dorothea—”
“Then she’s either been captured by Jackal and is being held in his fortress,” Gideon said.
“Or she never left the swamp,” Roy said, wincing at the look his interruption garnered from the easterner.
“But that wouldn’t make sense,” Harvey said. “She was supposed to be following Gnochi. Why would she go somewhere other than north? Why just stop following him?”
“Unless there were more people in the swamp who stopped her,” Roy said.
Cleo stopped listening as the three men talked about options and scenarios. She realized that she was missing something. Her heart squeezed in a rapid beat. “Where is Gnochi?” She watched them share a concerned expression. “Where is he?” she asked, repeating her thought.
“It seems he took off, my sweet.” Gideon said.
“Took off? Where? By himself? You didn’t try to stop him? What did he say about—”
“He left on his own accord. I certainly wasn’t holding him prisoner.” Gideon raised his hands in mock defense.
“He took Fester,” Harvey said, pacifying Cleo. “Left with no indication of where he was going. You should know, Cleo, that Gnochi—”
“Misses you dearly,” Roy said, interrupting Harvey with an elbow to his ribs. “And he counts down the moments until he can see you again.”
Cleo saw him look past his friend’s scowl. She wondered what they were hiding.
“He did say he’d be back before the week was done,” Harvey said, “so we should see him soon.”
A messenger burst into the chambers. He huffed, supporting his arms on his knees as he doubled over in exhaustion. “I was the messenger assigned to correspond with Dorothea and the Lyrinthians,” he managed to say between breaths.
“You won’t be, lest you start talking.” Gideon tapped his foot.
“Dorothea got a message. From Jackal. It seems that he had picked up one of Lyrinth’s prisoners. Gnollio, I think Dorothea said his name was.”
“Gnochi?” Cleo failed to check the emotion in her outburst.
“Yes, Gnochi!” the messenger said. “Jackal said that he has Gnochi. You can imagine Dorothea’s response. He thinks that you released Gnochi as a prisoner to Jackal and that you’re working with Jackal to overthrow him. He’s threatening to run both of your armies into the tundra.” The messenger paused to collect his thoughts. “He said that the only way for you to make amends now is to make the first attack on the fortress. You have two sunrises to attack before all deals are off.”
For his part, Gideon accepted the news with some cool grace. He looked over the messenger with something akin to pity. “Please inform the sovereign Dorothea that we will soon commence attack on the fortress.”
Gideon redirected his attention on his general as the messenger left. “Meet with all the advisors, generals, and anyone who commands more than ten sword. Ramp up production on siege ladders and the covered ram.”
“You can’t attack now with Gnochi in there,” Cleo pleaded. “They’ll kill him.”
“Are you sure he simply didn’t just return to his former master?” Pallius asked, smiling.
“It wasn’t like that,” Cleo said. “He didn’t work willingly for them. They are holding his family captive. Wait! They must be in the fortress with Gnochi. You can’t attack until they’re rescued.”
“While touching, Cleo, I don’t have the luxury of waiting,” her father said. “If I’m not sieging this fortress in two days, I won’t have an army the size I need to take it.”
“Why?” Roy asked. “The fortress doesn’t seem that big. How many people can Jackal have in there?”
“It matters not how little he has, but how armed they are. I have no doubt that you could kill endless people who charged at you with a stick while you hold a sword.”
Roy nodded at Gideon’s observation.
“So, you won’t even try to rescue him?” Cleo asked.
“After we breach the castle and have routed the traitor and his ilk, my people will look for Gnochi and his family,” Gideon said. “We will not risk a mission to breach until we are ready to storm with every sword.”
Chapter 38
“Can someone explain to me why we snuck out of the safety of camp in the waning light?” Roy asked.
“We’re scouting,” Cleo said. She hoped the tone in her voice would dissuade further conversation.
“Doesn’t your dad have soldiers for this? I’m not sure he’d be happy to learn of—”
“He has no right to the name father.” Cleo spat into the snow. “And I couldn’t care less what he thinks. He doesn’t own me. He doesn’t dictate where I can and can’t go.”
“Okay, but—”
“Roy, less talking and more scouting,” Harvey said.
“But what am I scouting for? It’d help if I had some clue.”
“We’re looking for an entrance to the fortress,” Cleo said. She heard Roy stop moving and saw him look across the mile of sand and snow to where the imposing structure stood.
“Wouldn’t we see it?”
“Not if it’s a tunnel underground,” Harvey said. “Any one of these sand dunes could b
e obscuring a passage.”
“What if we find it?” Roy formed a box in the air with his hands. “At most, how many can exit through it at a time? Two or three? It’s a choke-point. A bottleneck that Jackal could easily defend.”
Cleo stopped moving. She looked to Roy and saw confusion plain on his face. “We won’t be attacking through it. In fact, we won’t even tell him about it.” In her mind, her reasoning was sound. She smiled as he realized her plan.
“Then you’d need a distraction.” Roy paused. “No, that is not a good idea at all.” His voice cracked.
“Roy, let me tell you a story,” Cleo said, picking her way over another snow-riddled dune. “There once was a castle, strong as it was mighty. The architecture surpassed any of its kind. And inside the castle resided the most intelligent king. He knew that the secret to longevity in a monarchy was a content populous, so this king shared his wealth and assured that even the poorest vagrant was warm and fed.
“Word of his successes spread to other, more powerful lords. Soon, this castle was besieged by an army many times the size of the castle’s guard. This siege came at the beginning of a long winter. With neither side willing to attack, the castle stood to go hungry after a month.
“This smart king had a plan though. He knew that the only way his oppressors could camp through the winter before his castle would be with stores of supplies they had looted. His plan involved a secret tunnel leading out of the castle. This tunnel was known only to him, as the diggers and engineers of said tunnel were sacrificed to the secret they crafted.
“So, out of the tunnel went one of the king’s most trusted guards. It opened well beyond the farthest of the besieger’s camps. Over the course of several days, this guard made note of patrols and scouts. He found their stockpile of food and supplies.
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