by Halie Fewkes
“I’d love to see it,” Liz said, looking more excited than I’d seen her since West’s disappearance.
Corliss grinned and I wanted to add something, but couldn’t think of anything that seemed appropriate. And since I was still stupidly dwelling on the thought of Archie and Corliss hugging, I found myself twirling my fork around against the tabletop, feeling strangely out of place with my closest friends. Even Corliss’s harmless fidgeting began to bother me as she scratched her fingers mindlessly across the top of the table. Down down down over. Fidget fidget fidget fidget.
“So Archie, you used to travel with the Baking Show?” Liz asked.
Archie shrugged. “For a short while—”
“We kicked him out,” Corliss said. “He couldn’t get anything right.”
Archie jabbed her in the side. “That’s not at all what happened.”
“He broke half our cooking utensils, poisoned the customers, and almost burned the operation down.”
“I didn’t,” he insisted. “Allie, you saw me in action with the Baking Show. Help me clear my name here.”
“Hmmm?” I looked up from my fork at Archie’s expectant smile. He was trying to include me in the conversation, which warmed the bitterness in my chest enough to reply, “Yeah, you weren’t half bad.”
“Allie’s worked with us once or twice too,” Corliss told Liz, which was a disgusting lie. I had only worked with them once. “The girl can’t cook, but she’s an excellent washer of dishes.”
“She broke less than I did, from what I hear,” Archie said.
Archie was trying to make me look at him. I knew he was trying to get me to like Corliss, but some weird part of me didn’t want to, and didn’t want to explain herself, so I left my gaze on my twirling fork and bowl, already emptied of today’s venison stew.
“In other news, Archie,” Corliss said with a grin, “Karissa found her power a couple weeks ago. She can turn invisible.”
Archie laughed and said, “I bet Emery couldn’t be happier.”
He kicked me under the table, and I flicked my eyes up to him. “What?”
Archie only frowned and said, “Nothing. Corliss and I were just talking about some of our friends outside the Dragona.”
The two of them glanced at each other, like I was the butt of a private joke between them, but Corliss’ finger scratching distracted me again.
Down down down down across — ooohhhhh holy life. She was drawing tally marks. And she knew Emery and Karissa?
Archie met my widened eyes with a tiny nod of his head as their long-time friendship suddenly took on a new meaning. She was probably an old friend of mine too!
“I’m still hungry,” Liz said to her empty plate on the table, entirely oblivious.
“Me too,” I told her. “Would you be the best sister in the world and get me something while you’re up?”
“Fine. But you owe me. Anyone else?”
Archie and Corliss both shook their heads, and Liz had no idea how eager the three of us were to see her go. As soon as Liz reached the food area, I threw my forearms onto the table top and leaned forward to whisper, “You’re a Tally?” Then I turned on the one person who was supposed to be explaining my past. “Archie? Couldn’t you have mentioned that?”
Corliss also frowned at him. “Thanks for that, Archie, after I went to all that trouble to get you into the Dragona and introduce the two of you.”
Archie replied, “You may have gotten me in, but you did not introduce us. Don’t you remember? Allie jumped me.”
I looked up at my eyebrows as Corliss chuckled at the memory, and I didn’t admit that I found it mildly funny in hindsight.
Corliss said, “I was the one who found out about your amnesia stunt. If it weren’t for me, nobody would have even known you needed help.”
“Thank you then,” I said, finally allowing myself to warm back up to her, at least a little. If not for Corliss, Archie wouldn’t have come to the Dragona to help me. “I don’t know what would have happened if I’d been left alone to figure out who I was. It would have been a disaster. Who else is a Tally that I don’t know about?”
Corliss looked to Archie, and I could feel the good natured humor drain from the air before he said, “I don’t think there’s anyone else left.”
Corliss tightened one corner of her mouth and dropped her eyes to the table, giving me the feeling that there had once been more of us.
“Here you go,” Liz said, handing me a bread roll as she swung a leg over her chair.
I held up the piece of bread smaller than my fist and asked, “Is this supposed to hold me over?”
“What are you? A hibernating bear?” she shot back, making me smile. “You can get up and get more. Hey Corliss, do you have a power?”
“I can move things without touching them,” Corliss said, and the roll in my hand lifted into the air with only a slight twitch of her fingers.
“Hey, I still want it,” I exclaimed, snatching it and taking a massive bite to claim it as my own. I added through a full mouth, “No wonder you’re so good with Travelling Baking Show tricks.”
“No no no.” Corliss held both pointer fingers up to correct me. “That is all skill. You learn a thing or two when you travel with the Baking Show. Which reminds me…” Corliss reached down to her travel sack, which looked more like a conglomeration of pockets than an actual bag, and she pulled out a tight roll of leather. Corliss unwound it until she reached a pouch in the center, revealing a handful of dried green something.
“Are we supposed to smoke that?” Liz asked, drawing snorts of laughter from me and Corliss.
“Nooooo,” Archie said in disbelief. His entire face lit up like a child’s as Corliss set the bundle in his hands. “They’re tea leaves. I mean, the real, grown and dried in the north, tea leaves.” I could smell them from across the table, a mix of autumn wood smoke and spicy warmth. They smelled like comfort.
“You!” he turned on Corliss, “are the best. I owe you my life.”
Archie put an arm around her shoulder in a one armed hug, and Corliss shrugged with an unsurprised smile. “I do what I can.”
The biting sting of loneliness crept through my veins and toward my heart as I heard him whisper something faint and unintelligible to Corliss before they broke apart.
Liz set her warm hand lightly on mine and pulled, making me realize I had stabbed the prongs of my fork into the wooden table.
“I think I’m ready for bed,” Liz said, mostly to me. “Allie, do you want to come over to my room for a little while?”
I looked at Archie who smiled and said, “We can talk tomorrow. I think I’m ready for bed too.”
“Sure, tomorrow morning,” I said, forcing a smile in return. “And you can make us all tea.”
Archie laughed and asked, “What makes you think I’m sharing?” He pressed the leaves tightly back into their pouch as he stood, as though afraid they might escape, and exchanged a brief but meaningful glance with Corliss before he left. And the sting spiderwebbed deeper.
It was almost funny to me, that something as small as the direction Archie turned his eyes could invoke such a strong response, but it was also anything but funny. I felt my cheeks turn red, angry with myself for pushing him toward somebody else. Was there really nothing between us? Was I really so unlovable?
My blood grew warmer the longer I sat, so I stood and pretended I needed more food, although the thought of eating suddenly made me sick. Liz and Corliss struck up another conversation as I strode away.
Come on, Allie.
It was just a glance between friends, and I reminded myself that Archie was allowed to have other friends. I had spent many nights wondering why overreacting was such a hobby of mine, why I always let strong emotions smother all my rational thoughts. When I was upset, my instincts just handled situations for me.
A hand fell lightly on my shoulder, and I whipped around to see Liz leaning back, like she knew she would startle me. “Are you alright?” sh
e asked, searching my eyes.
“Yes,” I replied, “I just…” my words fled from me as Corliss slipped quietly into the side tunnel.
She was following Archie.
My breath froze in my lungs and my chest hurt, like my blood had carried a shard of ice into my heart.
Liz frowned at my response. “Allie… You might as well write your feelings across your forehead and have a bard sing them beside you. You’re transparent.”
“I know,” I replied, trying to keep myself grounded in calm, rational thoughts so Liz wouldn’t think I’d lost my mind over nothing. “I just need time to think. That’s all. I’m going to bed.”
“Well if you’re taking the long route to your room, you know, the one that takes you past Archie’s room first, then I’ll come with you.”
I sighed and found myself strangely grateful that she knew me so well. “Thanks, Liz.”
Liz took strides almost the same length as mine as we stepped into a side tunnel, the air around us cooling a few degrees while the noise from the Wreck faded.
“Do you really think there’s something between them?” Liz asked.
I felt my stomach squirm as I stopped in the middle of the hallway, feeling the need to defend myself. “Look, I know it’s stupid—”
“It’s not stupid, Allie. What’s stupid, is that you and Archie are closer than foxes in a den and not doing anything about it. You two obviously have fun when you’re together. There are times when I think Archie cares about you more than I do, and the guy is not exactly ugly.” I found myself smiling. “And, if he thinks there’s anyone in the world better than my sister, I am going to hit him.”
I laughed and some of the tension escaped into the air. “I like how similar our thoughts are,” I said, and we both slowed as Archie’s door came into view.
I didn’t like that the door was closed, I didn’t like that their muffled voices sounded so comfortable with each other, but most of all, I did not like the words I heard from Corliss.
“You know you’re always welcome to come with us if you want to leave the Dragona.”
I held my breath, waiting for Archie to laugh and tell her the Dragona was his home. That his friends were here, that we were his family.
Instead, he replied, “I think I’ll take you up on that. A change of scenery might be nice.”
Shock welled up so quickly that I thought I might choke on it. He couldn’t go. Archie was the constant in my life, the only person in the Dragona I could talk to, one of the few who could put a smile on my face when I didn’t want one.
“But you can’t just leave without telling Allie why,” Corliss said. “She needs to know. Honestly, Archie, she already should.”
“I know, and I’ve been trying to tell her, but… it’s so hard. There’s never been a good time.”
Liz’s eyes had doubled in size. “Allie, we should go.”
I nodded quickly, but my feet remained planted as I heard Archie ask, “When are you guys leaving?”
“Probably a couple days—”
“A couple days?” he repeated. “But you just got here.”
“I’m sorry, Archie, did you get us confused with the Stationary Baking Show again?”
They shared a chuckle, and my blood turned into a fiery, liquid anger in my veins. He was leaving. He was leaving me, laughing about it, and had not once thought to tell me there was someone else.
My hands shook as I thought of bursting in to hit and kick and bite and yell at him, and Liz stepped quickly between me and the door. “Allie, let’s go. Don’t do something you’re going to regret.”
I could see her preparing to lunge at me, ready to wrap her arms around my shoulders and make me drag her into Archie’s room if I really wanted to go after him, and I appreciated it. Her willingness to get in my way grounded me just enough to know my rational self wouldn’t want this either. Rational Allie just felt so far away right now.
So I turned around and sprinted. If it wasn’t a problem I could bare my teeth at, then I could at least run away from it. Rational or not, it was my solution. I just… couldn’t get far enough. Every time I felt tears seep into my vision, I would take a longer stride and push my legs to run faster until I escaped the confining tunnel walls. I finally reached the fresh air where cedars towered over a dimming forest, and I slowed to take deep breaths from the wooded breeze as pink clouds surrendered their vibrancy in preparation for night.
What was I going to do without Archie? How could he actually be planning to leave me?
I ground my palms against my forehead and held my breath, making a furious attempt to pull myself together. I was a whole person without him, wasn’t I?
Yes. I was. And it was stupid to feel like an earthquake had just ripped a gaping fissure through me.
So what if he left? I could find a new sparring partner, and a new friend to hunt with, and a maybe there was somebody else in the world willing to chase me down every time I got myself into danger. Surely I could find somebody who knew my past and had the patience to stay up all night answering my questions with stories that left us both in stitches.
I leaned against a massive cedar, trying to convince myself that my need for Archie was strictly practical as the sky grew nearly dark enough for the stars to emerge. Night life in the forest began to stir as the crickets struck up a chorus and a nearby duskflyer began whistling its evening melody. The local birds only knew one song… One mourning, haunting song with low notes that brought an unnecessary level of feeling into my thorn-wrapped heart.
I looked all around for a distraction and spotted a tendril of smoke rising in the distance, grey against the blackening sky. I pushed myself away from the peeling tree to trot toward it because anything was better than where I was now, and I was curious to know who in their right mind was outside at night. It was no secret these woods were dangerous.
A muffled shriek cut through the trees and I slowed my approach as dread stiffened my limbs. Were there Escalis out here, or possibly the Zhauri brotherhood who’d just arrived? Had they grabbed somebody from the Dragona?
Logically, I knew I should turn around and distance myself from the situation, but then I’d have to wonder all night if that scream had belonged to a friend. Whereas if I crept a little closer, I might be able to figure out who was here. In fact… It would be irresponsible not to move in and listen. I might be the only person who could.
Seeing without being seen is an art, and while most people try to escape notice by moving slowly and crouching often, neither of those things are the key to stealth. The real secret is to get a good look at your surroundings and step casually about them, the way you’d navigate furniture in a room you’ve known all your life.
I’ve never been particularly patient, but I do know how to move with discipline and grace. By the faint starlight glowing through the canopy, I could see the outlines of every leaf and twig around which I had to maneuver, and I slipped silently toward the commotion until flickers of firelight began to dapple the foliage.
Being a Tally meant I could hear conversations from a great distance, and the drifting voices sounded distinctly Escali. I caught the words can’t, never, and Epic before I could hear a full sentence, and I leaned silently against the base of a mossy tree to hold my breath and listen.
“Prince Avalask hasn’t even revealed his son to us yet.” The feminine voice sounded desperate. “Nobody knows where he is.”
A deeper voice answered rather politely, “I have no interest in the location of his son.” He spoke Escalira, but his words were wrought with the vowels of a Human accent. “I asked where he would hide something of great value.”
A second shriek rang through the night, and I clapped a hand over my mouth to keep from gasping. I couldn’t let this happen. Not at the Dragona. This wasn’t how we did things.
I wasn’t stupid enough to think I could run in and stop them, but I could get back inside and alert Tarace — alert everybody.
“Pity. I thought
a servant to the royal family would know more.” The deep voice had switched back to Human. “Kill her. We’ve got another one back in the trees.”
My heart stopped as icy dread trickled down my neck. I shrank back against the moss because it was impossible they’d heard me, and I wasn’t about to give my position away by panicking.
The man laughed softly and said, “Not Escali, either. She understands Human.”
He had to mean me. If he could sense me and knew I understood him, he had to be a shanking mind mage. I hissed silent profanities for getting myself into this position and heard a different taunting voice say, “Don’t you dare, Kit. You know how Iquis gets when you take his kills.”
A new, horrific scream was stifled into silence, and I froze as indignant rage pounded into my ears. One of the hunters began to approach me, taking no care to muffle his long strides, and I was too shocked and furious to bolt away.
The laughing voices of the group had switched to yet another language, and one said “Zhev nol’ silnat dierevismos,” which was answered with a few chuckles and, “Silnat? Falrieg on nekrie.”
I recognized the Icilic language spoken up north because I knew two of the words. Silnat meant five, and nekrie meant ten. I should absolutely be making a run for my life right now, but I stepped out from behind the tree in livid defiance instead. A man approaching forty came to a stop, his blue eyes cold and piercing beneath thick, steep eyebrows.
“You southerners don’t fear the Zhauri name yet,” he said, the same chilling voice that had just ordered a woman’s death. He had a lean, clean-shaven jawline and stood much taller than me with a cloak of white fur draped over his massive shoulders. “But you will.”
My entire body shook, but more with anger than fear as I spat, “They’re taking bets back there. I hear them.” I took a step closer and added, “What’s the wager?”
“How long you’ll last.”
“Against who? You?”
“No,” he said with an interested smile. “All good hunters have their dogs. You’re about to meet mine.”
I sneered and was about to ask how he’d like his dog cooked and served to him when I heard the eerie squeak of a door swinging on rusty hinges. The hunter whistled sharply, and as much as my pride demanded I stand tall, instinct finally reared its head and I bolted away.
