“Let me go too,” Basil said to Tenger. “That’s my betrothed in there.”
“Ex-betrothed,” I said sharply.
Basil licked his lips, then said, “I want her back safely, as much as you do.”
“Fine, but don’t get in the way.” Tenger looked around the group. “Everyone ready? The faster we get in and out, the better our chances. Go fast, hit hard, and let’s rescue our people.”
I pulled my knife from its sheath and kept my other hand on my sword, silently counting down from five, then said, “Go!”
Even knowing that Gabe had only taken the leaf to appear dead, he appeared so close to it that I worried he’d accidentally given himself too much. He was slumped against the side of the prison wagon with his head tilted forward, his hands at his side, and his eyes closed.
That’s how he was when the prison wagon stopped and we were surrounded by Ironhearts.
“What happened to him?” one man growled, frightening me enough that I backed against the far side of the wagon.
“He never recovered from whatever you did.” Mustering as much courage as possible, I added, “I think he’s dead.” As soon as the words spilled from my mouth, I felt the pinch again in my chest. Endrick sensed I was lying.
The wagon door opened and lever blades were aimed at me while two soldiers dragged Gabe’s body to the ground. The weapons were ridiculous. Did they think I would fight them with my bare hands, that I could? Gabe was examined by one of the men for any sign of a pulse. He looked up at his companion and shook his head.
“Toss his body,” the second soldier ordered.
I wanted to ask where, and for what purpose. Was it to be tossed into a fire or into a pit for burial? If so, I needed to intervene. But if I did, if I showed any concern for what happened to him now, it would suggest that maybe this was a trick.
Instead, I focused on my plan, to offer enough of a distraction that they would forget about Gabe. I surely could not do this.
“I am Kestra Dallisor,” I said, with as much boldness as I could muster. “Sir Henry Dallisor is—”
“Your father is here,” a soldier told me, offering his hand to help me from the wagon. “We came for you on his orders.”
“With a prison wagon?” I was genuinely insulted by that. If they were going to transport me like a prisoner, I ought to be a prisoner.
“For your protection, my lady, from any further abductions. You seem to be a popular target for that particular crime.”
Simon had captured me once, and Trina. And sometime when I was younger, the Halderians had taken me, I vaguely remembered that now. What would the Halderians have wanted with me? What had they wanted two days ago when they attacked the Lonetree Camp?
“Your father has asked to see you.” He escorted me to a round tent surrounded by eight guards. This is not your father, I reminded myself.
Sir Henry was at a writing desk in the center of the room with a warmed clearstone in the upper corner and a Dominion tablet in front of him. He looked up with a smile that didn’t strike me as entirely sincere. Of course it wasn’t. That smile was ordered onto his face by Lord Endrick. So were the bland words he spoke.
“You’re safe, what a relief.” Henry gestured to a chair in front of his desk. “Please be seated.”
Where was the talk of punishment, of consequences for my refusal to carry out any orders against Simon? Did Sir Henry know I’d defied those orders?
I obeyed and tried not to appear as nervous as I was. If he knew that my heart was racing, that I was unsteady on my feet, then he’d also know that my memories were returning. Including the truth about who Sir Henry was to me: a stranger and nothing more.
No, not a stranger. Another memory carried through me like a wave. I had told him once that I would never call him father again.
“I never wanted you to call me father in the first place,” he had said.
My eyes moistened. Gabe had advised me to address this man as my father, but I couldn’t. Darrow was my father. Darrow had loved me, and the man facing me now had been involved in my true father’s terrible fate.
Finally, he completed his writing and looked up. “Are you well? Those savages didn’t injure you?”
“No … sir.”
“Basil disappeared the same night as you did. Was he captured too?”
My breathing quickened. I hadn’t expected to be discussing Basil; I hadn’t thought about him at all. But I needed to lie, or risk exposing Reddengrad to Lord Endrick’s revenge.
“He was. They still have him.”
“Filling his head with all sorts of lies, no doubt. These people are liars, I hope you know that, Kestra.”
What he truly hoped was that I didn’t know half of what I already did.
That single thought consumed my mind. I didn’t even realize I hadn’t spoken until my father continued, “You must tell me everything they said to you. With your recent accident, you might have become confused.”
“I’m not confused,” I said, staring him in the eye. Staring at a man who only pretended to be my father because he was under orders to do so. “I know who I am, and I know why Lord Endrick attacked my memories. If he ever wants to find the Olden Blade again, then he had better restore my heart to its original condition.”
Had I slapped Sir Henry, I could not have gotten a more visceral reaction of rage. He stood, throwing back his chair and shoving his writing table forward. I was startled out of my seat and stumbled back until I was at the door to the tent. I turned to run through it, but a soldier appeared there, wrapping his arms around me and carrying me back inside, dropping me to the floor at Henry’s feet.
“How dare you issue demands of your king?” he snarled. “I was ordered here to carry out your execution, Kestra, which I can do simply by removing that necklace you wear.”
I clutched the clasp to protect it. “What is this necklace?”
Any warmth remaining in him turned to ice. “It was a gift from your king, and will be a gift to your king when I return it to him.”
“If you take this, I will die. And by morning, the Coracks will have a new Infidante ready to avenge my death and all of this starts again. But if Endrick returns my memories, then I can be of use to him.”
Then I can be a threat to him. That was my real purpose.
“It sounds as if you already have your memories. How is that possible?”
“I will explain that to Lord Endrick, and no one else.”
Sir Henry continued, “You demand an audience with the king, after refusing his orders? Do you think Lord Endrick will show you any mercy now?”
I’d never expected him to show me mercy. I doubted that Lord Endrick even knew such a concept existed.
In the face of my silence, Sir Henry said to the soldier behind me, “Take her. Find out everything she knows, and when you are finished, return the necklace to me.”
I tried to squirm free, but I barely got two words out before the soldier clamped a hand over my mouth.
“Enough!” My father shouted so loud that the whole camp must know our business. He crouched down until our eyes were level. “Here’s the only thing you have any right to know: I am not your true father, which means that I will gladly carry out my orders from Lord Endrick.” To the soldier, he added, “You know what to do.”
With my arms still tied in front of me, I was yanked to my feet and shoved out of the tent. The soldier’s grip on my arm was unforgiving and he was walking faster than I could keep up.
“Lord Endrick took my memories,” I said. “You’ll get nothing from me that he didn’t plant there.”
“We’ll see.”
“Let me escape, and I will find Endrick. When the Olden Blade is in my hands again—”
Now he laughed. “In your hands? By the time we’re finished, your pretty hands won’t be holding anything.”
“And you’ll lose more than your hands if you don’t release her to us now,” a voice said.
The Ironheart sti
ffened and let go of me. I stepped back and saw Wynnow immediately behind him, with a knife at his back. Basil was with her and heaved a sigh of relief to see me. He took my arm and said, “Let’s go.”
“Where’s Simon?” I asked. No one else could have told the Coracks where I was.
Basil frowned as he hurried me away. “He couldn’t … Kestra, he just couldn’t come.”
Behind us, the Ironheart yelled, “She’s escaping!”
Wynnow had been running to catch up with us, but twisted around with her disk blade and shot him, and then a few others who had noticed us. Ahead, more soldiers were already gathering. Basil put me behind him and raised his halberd. I hoped he could use it well.
“Come this way!” Wynnow grabbed my hand, but we didn’t get far before we were surrounded. “Get down,” she yelled. “I’ve got a plan.”
I crouched down, instinctively covering my head with my hands. One of the soldiers around us must have noticed my necklace, because I felt a tug on it. As soon as it snapped loose, my throat began to close up, constricting just as my heart had done, making me labor for each breath.
In nearly the same moment, Wynnow set off a charge that threw every person who had been surrounding us backward into the air. That must have included the person who had grabbed my necklace because suddenly it was gone.
I collapsed on the ground, stricken with pain, desperately feeling around for a necklace I knew wasn’t anywhere within reach. A series of explosions came from the far end of camp, drawing Ironhearts and officers that way, some of them right past us in the darkness. None of it mattered. I was choking on my own breath and struggling to keep myself oriented to the chaos around me.
Basil picked me up and began running with me in his arms. “Hold on,” he said. “We’re getting you out of here.”
When we came to a quieter area of camp, I called Simon’s name again, but it was almost too soft for my own ears.
“Simon!” Basil repeated, lowering me to the ground.
Within seconds, Simon was hovering over me. I couldn’t see him well, but what I did see broke what remained of my heart. Grief was etched into every curve of his face. Heavy bags of exhaustion were under his reddened eyes, and his shoulders bore an unseen weight.
“Where’s her necklace?”
“Someone pulled it off. We were surrounded.” That sounded like Basil’s voice.
I tried telling them about Gabe, and that I needed the necklace back, and that Sir Henry was here. I tried saying anything at all, but I couldn’t make myself speak.
Simon cursed. “We need to get her to Loelle. She’s dying.”
“I’m the fastest rider.” That was Wynnow’s voice, maybe.
My eyes were closing, and I was trying not to die, but I couldn’t see why fighting Endrick mattered anymore. The end was inevitable. He always won.
Basil picked me up again and laid me on a horse that I barely felt beneath me. I was draped over it, utterly helpless, certain each shallow breath I drew would be my last.
“Huge still hasn’t returned with Gabe,” Simon said. “You keep her alive until she gets to Loelle.”
“I promise that I will,” Wynnow said.
“No,” I mumbled. No, I didn’t want Simon to risk himself by going into that camp to find Gabe. But no one heard me.
And maybe none of it mattered. I wouldn’t be alive to see what happened next anyway.
Even in her semiconscious state, seeing me had clearly hurt Kestra, and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit it hurt me too. I couldn’t look at her without hearing the cries of my mother. And maybe the same was true when she looked at me. Had I seen guilt in her eyes, or the reflection of guilt in mine? Any choice I might’ve made behind Rutherhouse would have been the wrong one.
I watched Wynnow ride off with Kestra’s nearly lifeless body and prayed she would make it to Loelle in time. I really didn’t know if she would, or if Loelle could save her against such powerful magic.
But once they’d left, Basil handed me the reins to my horse. “We’ve done all we can here.” When I didn’t move, he added, “I’m worried about Kestra too, but we have a job to do.”
Without replying, I climbed on one horse and he took another. Two horses were left behind for Huge and Gabe, if both returned here. Considering what the Ironhearts had done to Kestra in such a short time, I doubted there was much chance for Gabe.
The explosions had long ago ended when we rode into camp, but that didn’t mean the camp was in any better order. Senior officers shouted at junior ones, several of whom found places to hide from their orders and insults, which was convenient for us when we attacked two of them behind a quiet tent. The uniform I stole fit perfectly, but Basil’s was a little small. In any other circumstance, I would have laughed at him, but tonight it required all my concentration just to take the next step forward.
Basil had explained he lost his halberd when he carried Kestra from the camp earlier. Now he fixed the Ironheart’s sword at his side. “I’m not trained with this weapon,” he explained.
“They’re simple,” I said wryly. “The pointy end goes in first.”
We returned to our horses, grateful that with the uniforms and this dark night, we would pass for Ironhearts. I even rode directly past Sir Henry and he never looked my way.
I certainly saw him, though, and heard him. “Heads will roll for this,” he yelled. “I’ve already sent a messenger to notify Lord Endrick. We will have our revenge in Reddengrad!”
Basil eyed me. That was confirmation of where the Dominion was headed next.
Most of those around Sir Henry took a noticeable step back. He saw it too and ordered his officers to round up anyone who had behaved cowardly during this attack. Then he added, “I want to know how many Coracks there were. Fifty? A hundred?”
Twelve. And four of us weren’t attacking. This was a temporary Dominion camp, hastily set up, the soldiers unfamiliar with their own area and poorly prepared with defenses. But this would still be seen as an embarrassment to the Dominion. If retribution was coming, then I intended to be there for it. I had a personal score to settle with the Dominion, and now Kestra to avenge along with my mother and possibly Gabe.
When the other soldiers were excused to search for us, we left with them, but turned off at our first opportunity. Basil caught up to me and said, “Gabe could be anywhere. We’ll never find him in all this confusion.”
“Then let’s cause as much damage as we can while we’re here,” I said.
Basil surveyed the area. “What do we do?”
I tossed him the fire starter kit that Kestra had packed into the saddlebags, then pulled out my own kit.
“Make sure to leave us a way out,” I said. “We burn one tent, then ride to another part of the camp, keep them confused.”
We started at the tent nearest to us, without any idea of what was inside. Basil lit one corner and I took the other, then we leapt onto our horses again, riding away to shouts of alarm behind us. Three rows down, we did the same, but this time, didn’t get far before something inside that tent exploded, startling our horses who bolted away, leaving us on foot in the midst of the damage. It wouldn’t be hard for anyone to figure out that we were responsible.
“Stop!” a voice ordered. We turned and saw a young, inexperienced looking boy with a lever blade as long as his arm and shaking in his grip. He could threaten us with it, but I doubted he had the courage to use it.
“Lower that and we’ll let you live,” I said, a fair warning.
“If I lower it, Lord Endrick will kill me. I’m an Ironheart.”
Kestra’s nearly lifeless face flashed in my mind. Endrick knew she had disobeyed his orders—an order that had probably involved me—and she was paying for that now. I said to the boy, “Come with us, and help us fight against him.”
He licked his lips, considering my offer, which I hadn’t expected, then said, “I have to hand you over to my superiors.”
“No, you don’t.” From behind, Hug
e wrapped a massive arm around the boy’s neck, who quickly passed out. “Sleep well,” he whispered, then motioned us toward him.
We followed Huge up a hill where Gabe was tucked beneath some bushes, barely conscious. His body bore the marks of having been badly beaten at Rutherhouse, and maybe here as well. We had to get him out.
Huge already had two horses ready. He lifted Gabe onto one, then said, “I’ll escape just fine. But Gabe is running out of time.”
While Basil rode with Gabe, I pulled out my sword and took the lead, fighting off anyone who got in our path. True to his promise, Huge ran behind us, easily knocking down anyone who was foolish enough to challenge him. Within minutes, we were back at the abandoned home where the two horses we’d left behind still remained. Huge mounted the largest one and then took the reins of the other horse to ride alongside him.
I looked at Basil, almost incredulous that I was putting my trust in him again. “Can you get us to Loelle?”
Basil nodded. “I can. We’re going to save your friend’s life.”
I followed after him with the strangest thought in my mind. That in the most unlikely of ways, Basil had become my friend too.
Trina was waiting for us alone when we arrived, at the bottom of a gulch with a shallow cave for shelter. The sun was finally beginning to rise, a welcome end to a night that had cored me from within. I slid off my horse and looked around for the rest of our group. “Where is everyone?”
Trina bit her lip. “I volunteered to stay back until the rest of you came.”
“Kestra?” Trina stared back with a blank expression and a wave of panic shot through me. I stepped closer to her and raised my voice. “How is she?”
Her eyes darted to Basil and Huge, then she held out a note. “I didn’t write this. Remember that.”
I took the note and backed away from the group before opening it. From the very first words, my gut began to twist.
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