Osprey stalked through the growing crowds – so thick now that if I didn’t stay directly behind him I lost sight of him almost immediately – like a predator among prey. They parted for him, hitching their wide-legged trousers up nervously. One woman gave him a hopeful, assessing look, her eyes drifting over his broad shoulders and angled face, but when he ignored her, she simply shrugged and went back to work.
He caught more eyes than hers with the way his dark skin gleamed under the light of the seaside sun and the way he moved with purpose, his dark coat a single stain in a sea of whites and lighter sea-going colors. But he ignored everyone, his icy eyes fixed only on our destination.
The docks were already busy, men and women worked hauling canvas-wrapped bundles from ship boats or carting wheelbarrows of fish from boats already returning with their morning catch. Out at anchor a half-dozen larger ships bobbed, their small craft coming and going like water striders on a still pond. The cacophony of rattling wheels, cries of fishmongers, curses of people nearly tripped over, ship gongs and whistles nearly disoriented me until something flashed into the sky over everything – a large golden eagle flaring as it spun in the sky.
That’s where Wing Ivo would be.
I grabbed Osprey’s sleeve to point it out, but he gently removed my hand without looking in my direction.
“We’ll be there in a moment and then you’ll be free to leave with Ivo. This is for the best.”
Irritated, I clenched my jaw and tried to appear to know what I was doing.
The docks seemed to be marked out. The white wood totems along them – while mostly of seabirds – were painted under the birds in patterns of color. One with yellow and white rings was filled with men in loose trousers and vests of the same color, working furiously to unload a pair of fishing vessels. Another totem featuring a kingfisher was painted with blue diamonds under the bird and the longshoremen there had blue diamonds embroidered on the backs of their vests and more blue diamonds on the small sleek white boats they used to bring passengers to and from the ships.
I was so proud of myself for figuring out how it worked that I nearly walked right into Osprey’s back.
He had pulled up short right in front of Wing Ivo. Ivo was red-faced and arguing with a smaller woman. My jaw fell open as I realized it was Wing Xectare. She had survived! Her soft blonde hair was singed around the edges and a nasty burn marred one cheek, but her eyes glittered as she shook a finger at him.
“She was Essana’s apprentice and Essana died. So, I will take the responsibility.”
“It’s the heart that makes the Wing and if you want to find a man with the biggest, savagest, most awe-inspiring heart, then that is me!” Wing Ivo was saying. “Will I take a second apprentice? You can bet I will! I’ll take all the apprentices. And I’ll train them properly. No more of this strict discipline and beating. Oh no, that’s not how you raise a bird. How do you raise a bird, Xectare? You let her fly! She’s got to fly! It’s why she has Wings.”
“Isn’t it enough that you have the bee girl, Wing Ivo?” Xectare asked coolly. “I see she’s arrived, and I see no bird in sight, which suggests that you haven’t cured her of that stupidity. And if you have one poorly trained apprentice, it hardly proves that you can handle another apprentice.”
Zayana stood halfway between them, making the sign of the bird as if she could ward herself from their argument. Behind her, a battered Counsellor Butiez whispered to the crown prince. He was surrounded by six stone-faced Claws, sitting in a folding chair someone had found him and leaning with his hands in his face, swaying side to side as if he could barely sit at all. Someone had given him a dark cloak with a deep hood, disguising his face, but I knew it was him. My bees buzzed in his torso. Beside me, Osprey stumbled slightly. Another wave from his bond with the prince.
What were they waiting for?
And then I heard the blare of a conch shell and the jingle of harnesses and cries from the crowd as they scrambled out of the way. I craned my neck to see what was happening and caught a glimpse of the Swan Banner flapping over the heads of a troop of Swan Claws riding carabaos down to the docks.
He must have been waiting for a proper escort.
I swallowed.
Whatever happened now, wouldn’t be good for me. They would bring him to a healer and he wouldn’t need my bees anymore – and that would be it. Osprey would kill me and any hope I had of saving my family and buying peace for our country would be over.
I glanced at Osprey. His eyes were shut tightly, his fists in tight balls. Maybe he was realizing the same thing I was. Or maybe the pain was finally too much for him, too.
My palms were getting sweaty as I tried to think of what to do next, my bees buzzing louder and louder as the tromp of the carabao hoofs on the boardwalk filled the air.
I needed a plan. I needed to get away right now. But everyone was right here and if I fled, I’d have to pass those carabaos.
“Fine!” Xectare spat. “You want to train a songbird with no potential and a girl with aberrations? Please yourself. I’m here to serve Le Majest as you should be.”
“Indeed.” Juste Montpetit’s quiet word sliced through the noise like a knife even though they were muffled by the cloak. “You all serve at my leisure. You, Wing Ivo, have served as required. Take your new apprentice and go. No, not the bee girl. I will be holding on to her as my property.”
“I’m her Guide, Le Majest, and I have ultimate say over her training.” Wing Ivo didn’t lack courage.
Juste Montpetit raised his head. His face was practically green it was so pale. Sweat ran in rivers down the sides of his face and he breathed slowly as if every breath was a struggle. In the hood of his cloak, just as disguised as he was, I saw the faintest hint of a glowing snake head. Its tongue flickered out as if tasting my nerves. I thought it might like the flavor. My hands began to shake, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him.
“That’s true in every circumstance except in that of property. I own this Hatchling as my personal property.”
He raised a single eyebrow and Ivo swallowed his words, making the sign of the bird instead and grabbing Zayana’s arm to disappear into the crowd. I caught her panicked eye as she left, and we exchanged a momentary look of sympathy. She didn’t want to go with the wild Wing – that was obvious – and I did not want to remain here. I’d trade places with her in a heartbeat – well, maybe not. It would be cruel to put anyone in the place I was in now.
“Get me a healer, Osprey. The best you can find. And bring her to me. I will be claiming the House of Sunsets. Fly with your bird if you must. That’s an order.”
“And the girl?” Osprey asked, gripping my arm.
“Leave her with me.”
A bubble of dread welled up in me as Osprey made the sign of the bird and then his osprey appeared and he leapt onto its back, speeding over the heads of the crowd and leaving me with my worst enemy and all his fury.
Chapter Eighteen
THE BOARDWALK SHIVERED under the hooves of the carabaos as they pulled up in front of Juste Montpetit. The Swan Claw on the lead animal leapt from the saddle, bowing low and making the sign of the bird. Around us, gasps filled the crowd as they scrambled to follow his example.
“Le Majest!”
Juste Montpetit threw off the hood of his cloak, tilting his chin high as if to give the sky a glimpse of his beautiful face. The strain of pretending to be healthy made his expression tight and pained.
Stillness filled the docks as everyone froze mid-action or dropped to their knees. I could almost hear my racing heart.
“It is our great honor to serve, Le Majest,” the captain of the Swan Claws said, kneeling down on his fine trousers, his impeccable blue jacket trimmed with white swan feathers. The cord wrapped around his forehead matched the jacket perfectly. “All is being prepared for you in the House of Sunset.”
Juste Montpetit flicked a finger as the guard stood, offering his carabao with a gesture. At Juste’s sneer, they b
rought forward a carabao with an enclosed chair strapped to its back. Likely, they thought him an arrogant prince. I knew he didn’t have the strength to ride. He was fighting to stand straight and I could feel the pull on my strength as my bees buzzed doubly hard to keep him upright. The cloak hid them from view, but their sound was loud enough that people in the crowd looked nervously around them as if wondering whether they’d disturbed a wasp nest.
The snake – Sephilis – was hidden again. I wondered if it was possible to wring his neck. Zayana’s bird had been damaged. If you could damage a spirit bird, could you kill a spirit snake?
“Better,” the crown prince proclaimed as they brought him the enclosed chair. The guard’s expression showed pure relief.
I started to edge away slowly. In all this confusion, they’d forget about me. This was my chance to escape. Even Osprey was gone.
I ducked behind a totem pole, controlling my breathing, carefully making myself small.
A hand grabbed my sleeve and pulled me out from behind the pole and Counsellor Butiez whispered in my ear, his breath heavy with garlic.
“I’ve been two days in this city already and do you know what I’ve heard? Someone pulled our Claws out of Far Reach. Someone who wrote a missive in my hand and put it on one of my birds. Any ideas who that might be?”
“It’s a mystery,” I choked out.
“I’m given to understand that you are necessary as long as those bees hold my lord together. But Osprey is already on his way to find a healer. And I think that girls who write lies should lose their hands. Don’t you?”
“I think that Counsellors who whisper poison should lose their tongues.”
My mouth was so dry that I barely got the words out, but I refused to give in to him and let him see that he scared me – that his whole awful empire scared me. I needed a way out. And I needed it now.
I clenched my jaw, feeling for my bees. They buzzed in response. They were ready.
So was I.
“Take her!” I heard Butiez telling someone, but my vision vanished as my mind filled with buzzing and I saw Ixtep now on the top of a hill, surrounded by hundreds of his masked people. He was looking down at something below him.
I was looking through my bee’s eyes, I realized. That was why the view was so jittery and hard to see. I fought nausea, straining to see through the eyes of something that flew in mad bursts and arcs. Wait. The city they were looking down on looked very familiar. It had spires. And bronze birds on the spires ... he was watching Karkatua!
My vision cleared and I leaned over, vomiting down the side of the carabao I’d been hoisted onto. The soldier holding me cursed.
“I just polished this tack!”
Cobbles raced under me as we rode the carabao into the city.
But the visions weren’t over. My eyes darkened again, and I saw Ixtap raise his arm and then lower it quickly in a chopping motion. There was a roar. Bodies moving.
And I was vomiting again. Someone cuffed me in the back of the head.
“Would you stop it, you lunatic?”
If only I had the kind of control to do just that. Stomach clenching, I drew my bees to me. There was a scream from the front of the carabao line where Juste’s enclosed chair was positioned. We were inside the city walls, I realized. And we were about to be attacked by his snake buddies.
I barely had time to suck in a deep breath when the conch shells began to blare, and bells began to ring.
“Get the crown prince to safety!” the Swan Claw Captain shouted and then the carabaos were running, screams echoing all around as the crowd tried to part for them in the narrow city street.
The soldier behind me was white-faced, his eyes on the nearest city wall.
This was my chance.
I took it.
I pulled my bees to me, whispering to them, “Please, distract them, distract them.”
I felt a buzz of agreement and then we were surrounded by the cloud of my bees as I wrenched myself from the grip of the screaming Claw who had been holding me only a moment before. My feet hit the cobblestones with a jarring crash, but I didn’t wait to assess injuries, I just ran.
I darted into the nearest alley, not stopping to look behind me, pushing all my speed into my flight. This was my one chance to get away while they were all distracted. And I could do it now. My family was out of harm’s way. Osprey was distracted. Le Majest’s city was under attack. What could they possibly do?
A length of cloth was strung over a clothesline in the alley. A dropcloth for a worker, perhaps, or a bedsheet. It was a dark gray. I snatched it from the line, swathed it around me like a cloak, and kept running. I needed to disguise my fine coat and tight breeches. They’d look for those. If they looked at all.
The horns blared again from the walls. The city was under attack. Would they even have time to look for me?
I shot out of the alley and into a street, hurrying past a frantic street vendor who was trying to pull all his fruit back inside his cart. Screams and shouted orders filled the streets. Desperate eyes darted over mine as families tried to gather frightened children and shops tried to close up to protect their merchandise.
Had this city seen an attack like this before? Possibly. Back when the General with two ravens was here. But that was a long time ago. I darted into another alley, trying to make my way toward the wall. I needed to get out of the city, or I’d be trapped here when they shut the gates. If I was trapped here, then I’d never get away.
I scrambled through the crowds of people, filling even the alleys now as they hurried to shelter in their homes or to man the walls. I’d been close to the walls already. I could see them over the roofs of the houses nearby, but getting through the crowds and the maze of streets was tougher than I would have guessed. Whoever built this city hadn’t thought that gaps between buildings were necessary.
I was almost there. If I could just find my way out of this maze. Someone bumped into me, screaming curses as her basket of spring greens hit the ground and scattered in the mud. A rough man – a tavern bouncer, perhaps – shoved me out of his way and I stumbled against a building, bruising my side. At least there were no Claws here. They had other problems to deal with.
A pair of chickens flew the coop, flying into my face. I batted them away and stumbled past, slipping in something I didn’t want to identify and running headlong into a carabao team. The driver flicked his whip and pain seared across my cheek. I reached up and felt blood.
“Clear the street!” he yelled as I stumbled back.
“Find us the right path,” I whispered to my bees and I felt them hum in harmony with me. They wanted that, too. The best path, the right path, the path for the swarm.
They sped out from me like tiny arrows and I sighed in relief at the feeling of them flying. I hadn’t realized how tense I’d felt when they were in Montpetit’s belly – but it was like knots were being released in my muscles. I could move again.
I followed the bee nearest me and then another joined it and they shifted their direction and still I followed through the chaos of the shrieking crowd.
We stumbled around a corner and there it was. The gate.
I sped from the alley and out into the wide avenue leading to the city gate. The Claws there were shouting at the crowd as they hurried in through the gates.
“Make way! The gates must be closed!”
But there were too many people flooding through for the heavy gates to close easily. They moved an inch at a time as the Claws fought against the river of people. I could still make it out of Karkatua if I hurried.
I fought against the stream of wild-eyed people, ignoring curses and flying elbows as I pushed my way against the tide of their bodies. Their eyes were wide like panicked horses caught in a trap. I swallowed down my own fear. The last thing I wanted was to be a panicked farm animal. I needed to be brave and sure.
Blackness flashed across my vision and I stumbled at a momentary vision of Wing Ivo scrambling with Zayana to
find a place on the walls.
“Not helpful!” I muttered, forcing my feet forward even as my vision was still obscured.
I managed another step and then a second wave of blackness hit me. My bee had found Osprey, wild-eyed, flying an older woman with a basket of vials over the frantic crowd. He was cursing such a stream of vile threats that I thought he must be talking to me. He was looking directly at my bee.
Come on, Aella!
My vision flickered again and now I was seeing Brielle – the Claw I’d just met this morning. She was standing beside a high-ranking Claw on the wall.
“... too fast,” he was saying. “We can’t organize quickly enough for this. They’re going to roll over us like a wave. Who are these people?”
“We can send messengers,” Brielle suggested.
He scoffed. “Unless you know someone who can see what’s happening everywhere in Karkatua at once and report it to me, we can’t respond fast enough. Take a contingent to the Crown Prince. Get him on a ship immediately. All troops are ordered to abandon the city.”
My vision returned, but I froze, staring at the city gate as it slowly closed. If I left through that gate, I’d be abandoning this entire city to its fate, just like that Claw commander. We had people in this city coordinating the rebellion.
Beside me, a child wailed as his mother scooped him up, running with tears streaming down her face.
And what would happen to innocent children like him? I’d seen the thirst for blood and revenge in the hearts of the snakes. They’d slaughter these innocents as easily as Juste Montpetit would abandon them.
I drew in a long breath. There would be no running for me today. I knew what I had to do.
It was all I could do to turn away from my chance of escape, to watch as the way out of the city slowly closed, locking me inside. But I’d made my choice. If you lost your fight, you lost yourself.
Hive Magic (Empire of War & Wings Book 2) Page 11
