by Tara Brown
A herder was bringing the sheep into the barn and gathering the goats too. He used a stick with a crook and dog, a loyal and friendly dog. It was something I hadn’t seen since The Last City.
I had my own pet dog as a child, the one whose death nearly got me kicked out of the city by Mrs. Barker. But since leaving I hadn’t seen a single one that was a pet. Wild dogs were something I had seen on the road and in The Lost City, but never one owned as a pet.
In my entire life I had never seen one trained to work with sheep. He was so smart he knew not to eat the sheep and goats. And he barked when danger came. In my opinion he was smarter than half the people in the kingdom.
“Gwyn!” Nan called after me. She was with Michael but left his side and ran for me. He waved at me as he turned and walked back into the town. Nan galloped over to where I stood in the long grass the animals enjoyed eating. “What are you doing out here?” she asked breathlessly.
I glanced down at the path I had followed of frosty grass that looked like someone had walked through it and shrugged. “Just going for a quick hunt in case the storm was chasing animals this way.”
She pointed behind me. “The storm is coming from that way and I know for a fact you are smarter than that. So tell me what you’re doing out here, with a bow.”
I sighed. “You’re going to think I’m crazy, but I think my brother is trying to warn me about Murphy. I think he’s trying to show me that he’s a danger to me.”
She looked confused. “What part of that is crazy?”
“The dead brother talking to me part.”
She waved a hand. “You droids are made from things that aren’t right. You think you're the first droid who could talk to the dead, or talk to something that wasn't there, or talk to another droid without actually talking?”
I furrowed my brow, almost annoyed with the droid talk but something she said made sense. “Of course. I bet Lisabeth’s people didn't communicate the way we did. They adopted it because it was how we communicated. That makes perfect sense. And if they are inside of us the same way we are inside of them, then of course we would find ways to work around the barrier of death and life and the different forms energy took. I read something about this once, a book on physics. It was transference of energy. It suggested that the earth always had the same amount of energy on it, in varying forms. In the beginning there were x number of trees and animals and birds and fish and bushes and each one made up an amount of energy. And as the population of man increased, the other populations decreased, and though the world seemed to have more energy on it, it didn't. The form just changed.”
She looked lost. “I am going to trust you know what you’re talking about.”
“It means that Bran and my brother and the people we have lost are still here, we just have to know how to listen to them. It’s not occult and religious. It’s science. They’re here as energy, existing in a different way but taking up the same amount of space.”
“This is very scholarly to be discussed in a field surrounded by cow crap.”
I laughed nervously and glanced about us. “My brother was warning me I was in danger, Lyle was in danger. I believe Murphy intends to finish what he started. He will try to kill Lyle again.”
“And if anyone is trained to kill another person—” She didn't finish the sentence. We both knew what she meant.
I sighed and pointed. “Last night I could feel eyes on me as I pretended to sleep and when I got up this morning, I found footprints in the mud outside the window. They led me to this field and if you look in the grass, you can see a path leading to the woods.”
“The frosty path?”
I nodded, not even attempting to explain that part of the tale.
She walked on, crossing the field and climbing the wall. “There’s a frosty handprint here.”
Shivers instantly covered my body as I followed her, placing my hand on the large print that had stayed for me, to show me the way.
When we jumped down we were both more silent, more cautious. The woods were not part of our territory. Sticks cracked, announcing us to whoever was in the woods with us. A stick with a bit of frost on the end of it led me off to the left. We walked until we came to a ravine.
The frost stopped there but he had left me a very direct sign.
“Is that frost?” She bent forward running her fingers along the edge of a crevice in the ground that was completely lined with frost, as if my brother too had run his fingers across it, leaving a trail of whatever he had become. Icy air and cold light.
She dropped to her knees, leaning forward more so she could look all the way into the hole in the earth. “This is deep.”
“Murphy must mean to push Lyle in there, make him disappear.”
She looked up at me, her green eyes completely filled with worry. “Your brother is trying to help us prevent it? He has seen this will happen, at some point?”
I shrugged. “I don't know the science behind this part of it. I just know about the energy and the fact I saw him. He was there, he spoke to me. He froze the air around me, and him.” My mind was boggled by the why. “Why would he need him to disappear? Why would he be so obsessed with me?” There really was nothing that special about me. Not when Brooke with her beauty, or Beth with her stunning hair, or any of the other women were there. I had slowly started looking like Nan, muscled, hard, and lean. My skin was no longer fair and my hands were always cut and bruised and callused like a man’s.
She sighed. “He’s a handsome man. I don't understand why he has to want something he can’t have.”
I rolled my eyes. “That's the part that makes sense. People always want what they can’t have. It’s part of what started all the problems with humanity in the first place. I just don't understand why he wants me. He could have anyone.”
She nodded. “Yeah, Brooke is far prettier and still soft because she’s as lazy as that stream over there. The handmaids to the queen are far prettier than you and still look like girls in dresses. You look like a teenaged boy.”
I laughed because it was exactly how she looked. We matched.
She glanced at the tree next to us. It was massive. “Want to climb and see if he comes?”
I shrugged. “Why not. I haven’t climbed a tree in a long time.” I strung the bow and quiver over my back and jumped to reach the first branch. I climbed with my feet and gripped to the branch I held. I pulled myself up, reaching down for her.
She scoffed and climbed it without using her feet. She jumped, pulled herself up, and sat on the branch next to me. “I have climbed plenty of trees lately.”
I smiled, even though the worry that Murphy was up to something somewhere else, and I was missing my chance to save Lyle, preoccupied me.
We climbed like two squirrels, getting high enough to see the kingdom. From here you could see it was still only a quarter of the size it had been before the invasion. The number of houses rebuilt were not even half the houses that had been there.
We still had to rebuild the castle. That was the undertaking planned for the spring.
We sat in frozen silence as the white clouds of the storm raced toward our little town.
I had no idea if anything beyond us dying in the damned tree would occur but I didn't want to leave. I sat up there, watching and waiting.
“When you found out that The Last Cities were a fraud, what did you think?” Nan whispered, obviously thinking about something other than how much her butt was hurting.
“I thought that the earth was ours and we needed to kill the things that had come and forced us to be in those cities as slaves. I thought we needed to save humanity because we knew the truth. I thought I was better than them and smarter and I could save us all.”
She snorted quietly. “You didn't.”
I nodded, still watching the entire kingdom batten down the hatches.
“That's some self-confidence you have.”
The comment drew a smile across my lips. “You have no idea.”
“That's Murphy with Lyle now.” Nan pointed at the two men. Lyle held something in his hands, a weapon of sorts. “You think they’re coming out here?”
I strained my eyes to see more clearly but I shook my head. “No. Looks like they’re just talking.”
The men talked for a moment longer before they parted ways. I didn't understand why Greg had wanted me to come to this place. I sighed and shivered. “I think we should go back.”
She nodded and started to climb down but suddenly the men met up again on the opposite side of town and started heading in this direction. “Wait.”
We froze and looked again. They headed across the long grass and walked, almost exactly the way we had. Their voices mixed together as they drew nearer. My insides ached and cramped as I pulled an arrow, not sure what to do or think.
Was Murphy leading Lyle to his death, over me?
Or were they looking for me?
Had my brother actually been here?
The questions were too many and I didn’t have the answer to even one, so I waited until they drew close enough to hear.
Nan and I sat perfectly still, gripping to the tree as the winds picked up slightly. Finally, we could hear them speaking softly.
“The girl said the firewood should last the week.” Lyle laughed, shaking his head as if they were friends. There was a small fear inside of me, seeing them both act cordially to each other, when I knew of the animosity.
“They have no clue what we are going to have to do to survive this first winter. We don't have adequate drying houses for meat so we’ll have to hunt all winter. That's not going to be easy. We don't even have sleds built yet. They think because we are okay today that we just will be tomorrow.” Murphy sighed and looked around. “The old man said she came in over here.”
He and Lyle both jumped the wall, landing with a thud.
My heart was racing and my mouth was dry to the point I could have coughed.
Nan gave me a look, turning in the swaying tree so that we might see the men near the crevice and prevent whatever was about to happen.
I couldn’t even breathe as they got so close Murphy might have shoved him, but neither moved.
“Well, we aren’t going to find them in here. Nan and Gwyn wouldn't come into the forest.” Murphy was the one trying to convince them to leave? “We should go back.”
Lyle pointed at the ravine. “There was a trail that led to here though—we should just see if they maybe went into the ravine to hunt.”
Murphy looked back at the wall and nodded, taking a step. Lyle lifted his hands, prepared to shove Murphy into the crevice he clearly hadn’t noticed.
The world was backward and I didn't know how to right it, so I shouted, “STOP!”
Murphy looked up instantly but Lyle didn't. He froze, arms out.
“Lyle what are you doing?” Nan climbed down, jumping on the hard forest floor.
Then, of course, Murphy noticed where he was standing and where Lyle was. He spun instantly making a fist. I pulled an arrow, pointing at him. “Don't.”
He looked confused. “You lured me out here to kill me? With girls to help you? Are you serious? You coward!”
Lyle’s lip twitched. “Just repaying the debt I owe you.”
Murphy’s eyes narrowed. “Debt? You want to talk debt? I’ve never done anything but keep her best interests in mind while you were acting like the little boy you are!”
Lyle moved to shove him but Nan pulled her knife. “Stop!”
I climbed down as quickly as I could, pulling my arrow when I jumped down, holding it on Lyle. “What is this?”
Lyle pointed. “You know he tried to kill me when we freed Brooke, Beth, and Amber. We fought in the woods because I wanted to go back for you and he tried to kill me.”
Murphy’s face contorted. “You idiot. I tried to save you. But you kept going back. You kept going back for her.” He spit his words at Lyle but pointed at me. “You were leading them right to us. Amber was pregnant—I had to make a choice. I had to decide between the three of them and you. You ass! You were so hung up on saving her that you nearly cost Amber the baby.” Murphy looked disgusted. “I trusted Gwyn. I knew she was going to make it. She always lands on her feet. If you had paid attention you might have noticed that. She doesn’t need saving. But those three girls did. They’re not strong like her.” He stepped toward Lyle, making me move my arrow from Lyle to him. “Just like you’re not strong like me.”
Lyle looked down into Murphy’s eyes, so close they were nearly touching. “You tried to kill me.”
“You wouldn’t take orders. The girls were shouting and crying. You were making things worse.”
They stood, staring like they were at a stalemate. I sighed as I lowered my arrow and walked away.
“You are both wrong. Lyle, you should have trusted me and saved my friends. It was what I wanted. It was why we were there in the first place. Murphy, you never should have tried to kill him. I will never trust you again and I hate that feeling. I hate that everyone else was right about you, and I, who thought I knew you best, was wrong.” The danger was gone. I could see it. They might fight but they weren’t going to murder each other with us aware of it. It was an anticlimactic battle between two like-minded men who acted like children. It wasn't worth me standing in the middle of the forest during a snowstorm.
As I jumped over the wall, the wind picked up, blowing the first flakes of the year at me.
Nan gave me a look. “You know they might still kill each other.”
“I don't care. Murphy did the thing I wanted him to do, because he wanted me to like him better. When Lyle risked my friends he tried to kill Lyle, thinking he was doing the thing I wanted. I never would have risked Lyle’s life like that or my friends. Murphy was wrong.” I pointed behind me. “But Lyle luring him into the woods to kill him was even worse. Lyle wanted revenge and he lied to me. He acted like it was nothing between him and Murphy so that when Murphy went missing I wouldn't suspect him. My brother was right. Lyle and I were in danger. We might still be but I’m not sitting in the cold snowy wind and watching them fight over me like the last scrap of meat on the floor between two dogs.”
She laughed and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Let’s go see what your mom has cooked. I’m getting tired of cavorting with stupid boys.”
I nodded and walked home as the world was blanketed in white powder.
Death and Cookies
We hadn’t talked in days. The world looked different, not just because it was coated in snow that came to my knees, but also because Lyle looked petty and sneaky and I didn't like that.
Amber gave me an annoyed look. “You’re being a child about this. Murphy tried to kill him. And he’s a trained killer so clearly Lyle had to be smart about it. You know him. You know he’s a good person. The king has him as the chosen heir to the throne of the kingdom. He wouldn't have chosen Lyle if he thought he was a bad person. He will be our leader one day and you will be by his side, helping him not look like a petulant ass.”
Nan snorted. “Not a task I would want to have.”
Amber grinned at Nan. “Nor I.”
Gregory crawled along the floor, making me smile at the curiosity in his blue eyes. Nan offered him a piece of straw as a lure. He took the bait, making baby squeals of joy and crawling to her. “He’s moving so quickly now. He’ll be walking in no time, causing all kinds of ruckus.”
Amber plopped down on the floor and grinned. “Don't I know it. Even just crawling and sitting, he’s a menace.”
Nan wrinkled her nose as he reached for the straw. “Are you a menace? I don't believe it. Look at those sweet little cheeks.” She reached and scooped him up, kissing and blowing on his chub
by cheeks. He squealed again. She was naturally good with kids. I imagined it was from having such a young sister.
Amber gave me a look. “Did you hear Michael and Anna are being married in the old-fashioned way?”
I scowled at Nan, waiting for her response but she didn't even bat an eyelash. “Are you sure?”
Amber shrugged. “And Clary and Lisle have chosen to be together. The king said they may not marry in the old way, but he said they would make a new way for them to marry, based on The Lost City’s ritual for women who wish to marry.”
“Two women?” I asked.
Nan rolled her eyes. “Of course two women. What do you think happened when The Last Cities stole all the eligible men? You certainly can’t control who you love.”
I nodded. “I know that one.”
Amber shook her head. “You love a very decent man. I wish you would just get past this whole Murphy thing.”
I got up, knowing what I needed. “I’ll be back.” I walked to the kitchen, stealing a cookie my mother and Angelina had made in the shape of a crescent moon. They were known as wedding cookies in the old city. The king had asked everyone to bring a gift, and Maria had told us at dinner about the wedding cookies.
Angelina gave me a mischievous smile as my mother missed the thievery as I walked by her. “Where are you going?” Mom asked as I bundled up.
“Going to see about the wedding preparations and see if they need help.” I technically had known Anna the longest in our town. I was officially her oldest friend, even if I was a lousy one and rarely visited the house where she, Clary, and Lisle lived.
“Tell them we will bring our gift over as soon as it’s ready.” She smiled at Angelina who nodded gleefully. I popped the cookie in my mouth, instantly smiling. “It’s really good.”
My mom scowled but Angelina laughed. I hurried out the door before she tried to get it back, trudging across the snowy grounds. Candles were lit in the windows of people’s homes. It was a time of year the king loved, something about Jesus being born in a manger. I still didn't understand the whole manger and celebration thing. Amber had given birth in a shack in a dirty little shantytown with no father for her baby, and no one had celebrated her or little Gregory. No one but us.
