by Grace Martin
Oisin spun me around and I came face to face with a man covered in blood.
I screamed.
The music stopped. Oisin pulled me back and, still propelled by the rhythm of the dance, I went. Oisin stepped forward, then stopped. The man wasn’t a threat. He was just standing there, weaving slightly. He was looking at me through swollen eyes that could barely blink. His clothes were ragged and sported new and old bloodstains.
I hurried past Oisin.
‘Come, sit down.’ I led him towards a nearby bench. I raised my voice. ‘Is there a healer among you? Someone, come heal him. Here, sit. What’s your name?’
‘Galeran, Bach Chwaer.’
I nearly dropped him. I knew this man. I hadn’t liked him much. He’d used his position as a guard in Rheged to try and catch a glimpse of me when I was undressed. He wasn’t a nice man.
Sparrow was here, though, and I wanted to be the nice one for a change, so I didn’t drop him.
‘What happened, Galeran?’
He could barely speak. His lip was swollen, bruised and bleeding, and the words stumbled over each other. ‘Ambush. In the forest. Today. So many dead. So many-’
His voice broke and he started to sob. He bent his head forward to cry.
‘Ambush,’ I repeated. Oisin was already getting things moving, sending scouts into the woods, sending others to fly over the forest. Many dead, Galeran had said. But maybe some were still alive. ‘Who ambushed you, Galeran? Do you know?’
‘The White Queen,’ he muttered.
A healer was already at my side, trying to help him. How he had managed to even stumble into the camp, I didn’t know. I was glad that I didn’t have to deal with him anymore. I went over to Rhiannon and Sparrow.
‘Maybe you two should go back to your caravan,’ I suggested. ‘I have an idea that things are going to get ugly here tonight. You don’t need to see this.’
‘And why might that be?’ Sparrow demanded. ‘Do you think we’re weak? I’m Umbra’s heir, the same as you, Emer. I can help.’
‘They have their own healers, their own warriors. Let them do their work.’
‘Like you do? You never leave anything alone. There isn’t a problem in the world that you don’t have to poke a stick at, or we wouldn’t be twenty years in the past right now. You’ve always got to be a hero.’
‘I just want you to be safe!’
‘I don’t care about being safe. Every person who tried to keep me safe ended up keeping me in a cage. I’m not going to let that caravan become a cage. I’m going to help.’
I sighed. ‘Well, I suppose you are the nice one. Okay.’
I wasn’t ready for the slap that rocked my head to the side.
‘Sparrow — what the hell? What did I say?’
She was fuming, so angry she was incandescent with it. ‘Never say that to me again!’ she cried. ‘Those are the kind of words that kept me in a cage my whole life and I won’t stand for it. I’m not the nice one. I’m not a good girl. I’m not weak, either. I’m going to help, and you’re going to get out of my way.’
Rhiannon cast me an apologetic look as she followed Sparrow, pushing past me, and joining the scouts heading into the woods.
Well, into the woods I go, I guess.
I knew it was an ambush. Galeran had said “many dead.” Somehow, in my mind, that hadn’t added up to the devastation we found in the clearing. Many dead. Oh, my God. Many dead.
But there were some alive, and I focussed on them, trying not to get distracted by the mounds of corpses where Camiri refugees from Rheged had died fighting back-to-back.
Aoife had done this. She’d sent her army after me. She’d sent Kiaran to enslave that Draceni man earlier today to attack Am Dien. She’d sent soldiers to harass us there. And at some point, her soldiers had committed this atrocity. As I moved among the wounded, following the advice of the healers, anger built inside me.
She’d done this to get at me. For a moment, early on, when I first realised that I had blood on my hands from a person I’d never even met before, I was sickened by the accusatory thought that this was my fault. Aoife had sent her soldiers here after me. Aoife was here, now, as Saoirse, because of me.
The accusations in my mind soon turned to anger, though. She’d sent these soldiers because she was afraid of me. She knew that I could do her real damage. If she didn’t think that, she wouldn’t have gone to so much trouble to stop me. Her very attack on me was confirmation that I had the power to hurt her.
She wanted to destroy the world.
She knew I could stop her.
And, by God, I would. With every wounded person I tended to, with every corpse I moved aside to help the living, the thought became a prayer and a curse. I would stop her. I would. I would.
Sparrow was across the clearing, in sight, but independent, using her magic to heal people. I cursed the fact that my magic was no good for healing. I wasn’t a healer. I was only good at smashing things. But I would smash the person who had done this.
One of the wounded was also a healer, named Jegu, a man in clothes that had seen better days. He’d directed me more than once and I’d just done as I was told. Hours into the night, what felt like days after we’d come upon the wrecked clearing, Jegu came to me.
‘We’ve done all we can here. We need to move the survivors to a hospital, somewhere there are-’ he looked around the clearing, lit now by witchlights hovering at the edge of the trees. He shook his hands like he was trying to get something off them. ‘Resources. Staff.’ He ran his hands through wolf-grey hair and lifted his face to the dark sky, the moon hidden behind banks of clouds. ‘Somewhere there are beds would be nice. Is there any way to transport these people? It looks like we’re in the middle of nowhere. Kelly, our leader-’ Jegu indicated a corpse, laid out at the head of a row of other corpses, ‘said we were still fifty miles from Ce’Branna.’
I nodded. ‘Yes, that’s true.’
‘Are there any roads nearby? So many of them are still in danger. They won’t survive spending the rest of the night out here in the cold night air, on the ground, without skilled healers to tend them. Some can sit up, some can walk, but many will have to be carried.’
‘I’ll speak to Oisin,’ I promised. ‘I’ll see what we can arrange.’
What I planned to arrange, of course, was for the dragons to take the wounded to Ce’Branna. I wasn’t ready for Oisin’s vehement response.
‘Absolutely not!’
‘What? Why not?’
‘The Draceni are not beasts of burden! We have chosen to help here tonight out of the goodness of our hearts. We are under no obligation to bear these strangers to the city.’
‘You hypocrite!’
The King of the Draceni cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. ‘As with the King in Ce’Branna, Bach Chwaer, I don’t tolerate that kind of language in my own land.’
‘It’s true,’ I spat, even as he led me away from the others, past the witchlights, into the shadow of the forest. ‘How dare you get on your high horse with me? You said you wanted to know what I was willing to sacrifice to stop the White Queen. And I showed you that I was willing to give my own life. And you won’t even help dying men and women get a decent death in a bed, under a roof!’
‘There is no shame to dying under the sky. We Draceni have been exiles for three hundred centuries. So little of our history has been conducted indoors that we are proud to die as we lived — as wanderers, as exiles… free.’
I swung my arm back towards the clearing, pointing an accusatory finger. ‘These dying refugees aren’t free, Oisin. They’ve lived their whole lives as slaves. Just when they’d won their freedom, led by a great hero, he was snatched from them and their lives were thrust back into darkness. Now the White Queen is trying to remove them from existence. Does ignoring the suffering of the dying Camiri make up for the suffering endured by the Draceni over the centuries? How much blood could ever pay that debt? While you’re trying to balance out who has suffere
d more, this conflict will never cease. You’re the King. End it. Start a new age. Show them a new future, unless you want to remain among the sufferings of the past forever.’
I thought he’d fight. It seemed like Oisin always did the opposite of what I expected. He nodded. ‘You’re right, Bach Chwaer. But I will leave it to the free will of my people. It isn’t the Draceni way to give or follow orders. They can make their own decisions. As for me, I will take as many Camiri to the capital as I can carry.’
Every Draceni there that night consented to carry the wounded to Ce’Branna. Of course, they did. Oisin and I had our differences, but he was like a force of nature. The Draceni might not give or follow orders, but with such a man as Oisin as their King, it was easy to follow his example. The charisma of the man was overwhelming.
We arrived in Ce’Branna before the sky started to lighten with the dawn. Clouds still hung heavily over the sky and boded a grey day. The Draceni flew together, each carrying wounded Camiri clinging to their backs, the more grievously wounded cradled gently in a cage made of their massive claws. Oisin himself bowed his neck for Sparrow and Rhiannon to be carried by him.
Rhiannon took him up on his offer. As both a guest and a slave in Cairastel, I wondered if she had ridden dragons before, whether she knew they were shapeshifters. The tattoos on her face were too closely related to Draceni designs to be accidental. I knew that she’d managed to escape from Aoife once. I’d never found out how she ended up with Draceni tattoos on her face.
Sparrow bowed graciously to Oisin in return and said, ‘Thank you, Rhiannon has friends in the city. We will make our own way there.’ She came over to me, the first time she’d come anywhere near me all night. ‘Are you ready for me to change you?’
I nodded and let her magic flow through me. Even after all the work she’d done tonight, she still had strength. Maybe I’d been underestimating her for too long. She never flaunted her magic but it was true when she’d said that she was as strong as I was. The only advantage I had was Umbra, glowing like a star in my brow and sharing her magic freely with any who needed it.
Sparrow turned herself into a bird, too, and as the Draceni thrust off from the ground, she rose into the air and followed them to Ce’Branna.
Chapter Sixteen
We landed in the largest piazza in the city, just outside the palace walls, mostly because there wasn’t a big enough open space inside the walls of the palace to accommodate the wings of the dragons and the sheer number of wounded. The Draceni shifted back into human form to assist further with the wounded and Sparrow changed me back into myself.
We hadn’t made a secret of our arrival. We had flown low over the city and even though it was night time, we would have been seen. Draceni hadn’t been seen in Ce’Branna for three hundred years. Not as guests, anyway. The only time any of them had seen a Draceni in their dragon form was when Kiaran attacked the Rhydda today.
I was forcibly reminded of that when we were suddenly confronted by a cohort of guards.
I ran towards them, my arms outstretched. ‘No, no, no!’ I cried. ‘They’re friends! Don’t hurt them! They’re coming to help!’
The guards were all armed and armoured, ready for battle. As I ran towards them, one stepped out from the group and said, ‘Aine, what are you doing outside the palace walls?’
I recognised the man who had been with Aine on the tower, training her. As Umbra’s heirs, we looked alike. So, I went with it.
‘I’ll explain later, but believe me, they’re friends. They’re our allies. These people were wounded in an ambush by the White Queen’s troops. Please, you’ve got to send for help.’
I saw the conflict in his face. I stepped forward until we were nose to nose. Well, nose to breastplate. ‘These people need help!’ I shouted.
The conflict in his face passed and he turned to his guards. ‘You and you, to the hospital! Tell the healers they are sore needed. The rest of you, come with me. We have work to do.’
And they moved like a river flowing within its banks. They were organised, efficient, and where they got the materials for stretchers from, I’ll never know. I followed them. Sparrow was still in bird form, observing from a nearby roof. I wanted to shout at her, but it wouldn’t do any good. She’d probably peck my eyes out.
The courtyard outside the hospital was chaos, but it was welcome chaos. People knew what they were doing here and they could help. I slumped against a wall, exhausted. I’d been up all day and nearly all night. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the chill of the stone at my back. I could sleep right here. For a moment — and it was a beautiful moment — I decided that was exactly what I was going to do, and let my body relax into the exhaustion.
I was jerked out of the pleasant and longed-for daze when hands grabbed my shoulders.
‘How did you get through the shield? Always looking for a way to make a big name for yourself! Selfish, conniving girl!’
Saoirse, hands clamped to my shoulders, her face inches from mine, her dark hair spilling over her shoulders and gown as she screamed in my face.
As before, Oisin appeared where he was needed, and pulled her off me. She went for him. ‘You!’ she cried. ‘Your kind have no right to be here in this city. You’re nothing but beasts! Look at the damage your kind have done tonight! Guards! Round up the Draceni! And you, Oisin,’ she said it like it was a slur, ‘you tell me where the rest of your vermin is camped and I’ll make sure the world is safe from you and your kind.’ Her eyes were wild. ‘Guards!’ she screamed. ‘Guards! Take her away! And him! Take them away! Bury them so deep they never see daylight again!’
Everyone turned to watch her screech. She grabbed the arm of the nearest guard, pointed fingernails digging deep and aimed another finger at me. Oisin was standing very tall and very still beside me. The guard hesitated, looking from me to Saoirse and back again.
‘But, your Majesty… the Princess…’
‘That isn’t the Princess, you fool!’ She sprayed spittle in his face as she spoke. I noted how his head went back to avoid it. ‘She is a liar and a cheat! An imposter! Now, arrest her or I will see you hanged!
Right next to me, Oisin whispered without moving his lips. ‘Let it happen. Don’t resist.’
‘Are you insane?’ I wasn’t as good at whispering without moving my lips as he was. I’m pretty sure everyone saw it, even if they didn’t hear it. Oisin couldn’t respond, not with everyone watching us, until Saoirse began screaming again.
‘Arrest them! Arrest them now before they get away!’
‘They’re not running, your Majesty-’
‘Arrest them! Arrest them or I will kill you myself!’
We all felt it happen. Saoirse drew in her magic and prepared to release it. The very air sizzled around us. The guard drew in a breath in a hiss but he didn’t move towards me.
I ended the standoff. Oisin was right and I’d figured out why. This could only discredit her. What loving mother would incarcerate her child? What good, kind Queen would threaten to kill a guard on the spot?
I stepped forward, my hands extended. ‘Arrest me,’ I said. ‘I will come with you. As will the King of the Draceni. We are no threat to you.’
Oisin had been so, so right. Not one person standing there saw me as the villain. Not one bystander saw Saoirse as a hero. As I was led away to the dungeons, I mused that it was the strangest victory I’d ever won. I’d just successfully put myself in prison.
Yay?
There was plenty of time to think about things in prison. I’d spent enough time in one sort of prison or another lately — lately? Who am I kidding? My whole life long — and to be honest, my thoughts weren’t a nice place to be. At least I had Oisin to keep me company. He was fast asleep, so he was terrible company, but he was better than nothing. At least, with him there, I had someone to glare at when I paced past him.
I’d been awake all night. I should have been exhausted. Instead, I was filled with a strange, restless energy that demanded I pa
ce and glare and think unpleasant thoughts. They had put out food for us, plain bread and water. I nibbled on it as I paced and glared and went deeper and deeper into my own darkness.
It was dawn before the door opened. I’d been watching the sliver of light visible through the high, barred window that opened a long, shallow slit at ground level. I spent most of my time picking up the cleaner bits of straw from the floor and braiding them into a thick, short rope. It was something to do with my hands, at least.
There was a commotion outside, first. Men raising their voices, guards fiddling with keys, and cutting through all the clamour, Aine’s sweet, high voice demanding they open the door forthwith. She sounded more like the Dark Queen than ever. She barged into the cell, her silver gown sweeping the straw covered floor. She proceeded as though entering a ballroom, confident that every eye in the room was going to be on her and relishing the thought. Oisin sat up slowly, a very attentive expression on his face. I tucked the straw rope into my back pocket.
Aine ran to me and wrapped me in a tight embrace that I fought until she released me. Free of her arms, I backed away. She came towards me again, hands extended to grasp mine. I allowed it, but kept my distance.
‘Emer, Emer, I’m so sorry. You were right and I was so wrong. Nothing I could say can ever make up for the fact that I didn’t believe you, but I am so, so sorry. Please, please forgive me.’
I didn’t want to. I really didn’t. I’d needed her, and she’d let me down — badly. I still needed her, but I couldn’t just forgive this. I was still hurting. What’s more, if I was to forgive her, I needed to know that I could rely on her. That it wouldn’t happen again.
So, I let her grasp my hands, but I didn’t squeeze back. I didn’t gush. Not that I ever do. ‘Thank you for the apology,’ I said, keeping my voice cool. The cool didn’t last long. ‘So you damn well should apologise. You threw me away like a toy you’d outgrown. What are you here for?’
