by Sam Farren
“Aye. I'm not about to ignore this,” Kouris said, raking her claws through her hair in frustration. “Any idea how your brother turned out like that, Ightham?”
Claire took a moment to consider the question, as she had a hundred times before.
“I wish I could say. Rylan and I grew apart in recent years, that much is true, but that was a product of circumstance. Nothing between us changed, and he did not suddenly start displaying a penchant for senseless war,” Claire said. “I believe at some point he took a single wrong step and decided to take a thousand more to eradicate that one mistake, rather than turn back and face the consequences of his actions.”
Rocking forward, I wrapped my fingers around the neck of Kouris' waterskin and pulled it into my lap, pushing the cap off with a pop. Glancing between the two of them, waiting for something more to be said, I brought the waterskin to my mouth and took a sip. A bitter, unexpected taste told me it was ale, not water.
On the verge of being grateful to suddenly have something to calm my nerves after the day that had just unfolded, I caught sight of Claire and swallowed thickly, grimacing as though there was poison in my throat. Carefully putting the cap back on, I placed the waterskin in the long grass, out of reach.
“I'll be going. I'll take Akela and Kidira along with me,” Kouris said as I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “That way you'll have Rowan, just in case anything happens.”
“No,” I said, wanting Claire to take back the way she nodded in agreement. “I'm going. Akela can stay with Claire, if we need to leave someone here.”
If only Claire would've been safer with Kidira than Akela I could've found a way to leave her behind.
“It could be a trap, Rowan,” Claire reminded me sternly. “You're better off here.”
“The entire Felheimish army probably knows that I'm a necromancer by now. If anything's going to keep them at a safe distance, it's me.”
“... she's got a point,” Kouris allowed. “If they're gonna be dragging us down there, we should be doing all we can to turn the odds in our favour.”
Claire wasn't happy with the idea, but I would've rather she protested than sit there in silence. She stared into the fire, and I knew there was nothing more I could do for her than go in her place and try to get the answers to some of the questions that had plagued her for years.
When confronted with the reality of Felheim, Claire had been brave. She'd chosen to fight, to save Felheim and Kastelir at the cost of everything she'd ever known, and when the same task had fallen to her brother, he'd blindly followed the King's commands. He'd gone too far to ever turn back of his own volition.
“Two days,” Claire murmured, scrunching the parchment up and throwing it into the fire. “Rylan wants to meet in two days.”
The flames twisted the parchment to ash in a matter of seconds, but we all kept our eyes fixed on the flickering orange and gold. The pane would never stop Kouris from coming into Kyrindval, and so it was all the more important to her that she remained outside of the tribe of her own agency. We'd only passed through the dragon-bone gate in order to talk things through with her, but now we'd said all we needed to, Claire and I sat motionless, minds wrapped around something that rendered our surroundings obsolete.
The three of us fell asleep in the grass, under the stars.
When dawn came and an entire day still stood between me and Rylan, I began to feel the minutes being torn from between my fingers. I was too confident; I was assuming Rylan wouldn't be prepared for the presence of a necromancer. Needing to be the one to get answers for Claire was the only thing stopping me from taking it all back.
Kouris left us to track down breakfast, and I returned to Kyrindval with Claire. She assured me that she didn't need me to stay with her, and I squeezed her hand as I went, intent on keeping myself distracted all day.
Draeis was delighted to inform me that it was my turn to clean the cabin, and I was disproportionally glad to have something to do. My morning was lost to scrubbing down brightly coloured lengths of fabric on a washboard taller than I was, washing every surface in the communal rooms with the aid of an upturned bucket for a step, gathering up bowls and cups left around the living area, and putting books back onto shelves.
I swept the floors, and by the time I was done, I'd almost managed to forget what tomorrow would bring. I helped myself to a lunch of bread and cheese, wondered whether washing the worktops for a second time would distract me once more, and decided to head out in search of Sen.
Her cabin wasn't far from Claire's. I caught sight of her through one of the windows, and waved my hands above my head to catch her attention.
“Rowan. H-hello,” she said, at the door seconds later. “Is something wrong?”
“Everything's fine, Sen,” I took care to reassure her. “I just felt like coming to see you.”
Her worried smile slipped into a warm one, and she stepped to the side, holding the door wide open for me.
Sen showed me to her room. Blocks of wood of varying sizes were stacked in the far corner of her desk, and the piece in the centre was slowly taking on the shape of a raven with its wings spread out. The work was so intricate I was convinced she was merely carving through a shell of wood to uncover the bird trapped within, and I pressed my fingertips to some of the finished feathers, half expecting them to move at my touch.
“Did you make the birds in Claire's room, too?” I asked, taking a seat when Sen stood with her hands on the back of an armchair, cushions pushed into place.
“She's always liked birds, so...” Sen said softly, fiddling with the end of her braid. “I hoped they might cheer her up.”
“I'm sure they did,” I said sincerely, smiling as she sat opposite me.
Sen's room wasn't far removed from her cabin in Orinhal, and I staved off an encroaching sense of guilt by not mentioning how sorry I was. She didn't need the fire to be brought up over and over again.
“How are you finding being back in Kyrindval?” I asked her.
“I, ah... I only came here, two years ago. When...” Sen paused, tapping the scars where a horn ought to have been. “It's so much bigger than m-my tribe, and I'm worried that I'll never get used to it. But the Marshal—oh, she says I should call her Claire, but... but she's here, so I don't mind it. And Kidira and Akela and you too, Rowan. I like that you're all here, even if...”
“Even if we didn't have much choice,” I said, finishing the sentence for her when she glanced off to the side, grazing her claws against the side of her throat. “We're all happy you're here too, Sen.”
Smiling bashfully, Sen stuttered for something to say, eventually settling on, “Oh—ah, I just remembered. W-would you come with me? If you don't mind.”
Sen led me into the kitchen, apologising profusely for the dishes that been left half-washed with my arrival, and through the back door to a garden that seemed small, by pane standards. A fence ran around the flowerbeds lining the perimeter, attached to the gardens of other cabins, and in the centre stood a chicken coop, some feet off the ground.
From all the clucking going on inside, I could only discern that the chickens were more than a little busy. I crouched in front it as Sen did, holding out a handful of grain and sprinkling it on the ledge between the entrance and ramp. A few of the chickens set aside what they were doing in order to peck at the offering, and I smiled to see Sen smile.
Carefully, Sen reached a hand inside, and none of the chickens fretted in the least. Two of them skidded around, ducking beneath her arm to get at the last of the grain, and Sen withdrew her hand, fingers curled in just enough for her claws to touch the heel of her palm.
A chick, no more than a day old, spread out its fluffy wings, peering curiously between her fingers.
“I thought Akela might...” Sen murmured, stretching her fingers out and cupping her hands together. “But I'm n-not sure if she was serious.”
“She'll love it,” I said, leaning against Sen's side to get closer to the chick and t
he tiny noises it was making. “If Akela says something, she always means it.”
Sen grinned brightly, bringing her hands closer to her chest when the chick began to get too curious about what laid beyond her fingers.
“I'll be gone tomorrow. There's something important I have to do, but Akela's going to be here. Just in case something... just in case,” I said. “Akela will be with Claire all day. You should give her the chick then and spend the day with them. They'll both be happy to have you there.”
“O-of course,” she said, gently returning the chick to the coop. I hadn't wanted to worry her, but Sen had spent the last two years worrying. The fact that she took it in her stride was hardly a good thing. “Whatever the Marshal... ah, whatever Claire needs.”
I spent the rest of the afternoon with her, feeding the birds and helping with the last of the cleaning in the kitchen. Sen made us tea and I sat opposite her at the table, listening to her gain more and more confidence with the more she told me about her latest book, until she was speaking without stuttering, without worrying about her words quite so much.
I left when dinnertime drew close, wanting to help Sen but having already promised Draeis that I'd be home in time to eat. I hugged her as I went, startling her in way that left her smiling, and found myself ready for whatever awaited me tomorrow, now that I knew Claire would have Sen by her side all day.
I managed to take a single step out of the cabin before my mood turned sour.
Kidira came to a halt at the bottom of the steps.
“I came to see Sen. As much company as possible would serve Claire well tomorrow,” Kidira said flatly, and I stepped to the side. Kidira took the steps at her own pace, pausing with her fingers wrapped around the handle. “Rowan. I—”
“I'm sorry, alright. I'm sorry for what I said,” I blurted out, needing to get it off my chest and not wanting to hear her say anything more. “I shouldn't have told you like that.”
Kidira stepped back, forcing me to meet her gaze, expression so steely I doubted whether I'd really just apologised.
“There is bad blood between us, Rowan, and I have neither the time nor energy to set things right,” she said, irritated by the seconds she was wasting in talking to me, “But we have to find a way to work together. You understand the importance of that, don't you?”
There was something different in the way she was talking to me. There wasn't a hint of warmth in her words, but when she fixed her eyes on me, she didn't stare straight through me.
“I get it,” I said, “I'm not going to cause any problems for Kyrindval or Claire.”
I didn't wait for a response. I walked away without looking back, willing my legs to keep working at an even, steady pace, and Kidira didn't call out after me.
The morning came far too soon.
I slept without gaining anything from resting, dreaming of crumbling mountain faces.
Prince Rylan had been specific in his demands. We were to meet him at midday beyond the town of Yastin, ten miles from the foot of the mountains. For every hour we delayed, he'd march his army a mile forward. Quite the set of conditions for a man claiming he only wanted to talk, in order to come to an agreement.
Kidira, Claire, Akela, and Sen were waiting for me at the gate, along with Charley and another horse. The morning had an appropriate feel to it. Last night's heat had only been washed away in favour of damp humidity, and grey clouds swarmed the sky, making it seem as though the sun had had a hard time rising, that morning.
Claire stepped away from the group to greet me, and I could see in her eye that she was having seconds thoughts, was considering going to face Rylan herself.
“Are you certain you wish to go with them, Rowan?” she asked me. “It's going to be dangerous. More dangerous than you can imagine.”
“The past two years have been more dangerous than I could've imagined,” I said, fingertips brushing the back of her wrist. “I want to do this. I mean, I don't want to do this. It's not my idea of fun. But I want to be able to help, and I know that I can. You don't have to worry about me.”
“Of course I shall worry about you,” she said, sighing softly. She kissed me briefly and said, “I won't keep you. Rylan's never been one for idle threats.”
Kidira and Akela said a quiet goodbye to one another, and Kidira strapped her spear to her back, unwilling to let Rylan think for a moment that she had any qualms about fighting. Akela slapped me on the back, bemoaning how unfair it was that she didn't get to come along with us, but supposed that she could spend the day beating Sen and Claire at cards.
Kidira and I led our horses away from Kyrindval and met Kouris by a path I'd yet to take. She greeted me with a smile and tilted her head towards Kidira, and I knew the day's conversation wouldn't be much more riveting than that, until we reached Rylan.
The path was far wider than the ones I'd taken in the past, beaten into shape by pane wishing to lead horses and other livestock up and down the mountain. It grew steep in some places, causing Charley to stomp his hooves against the ground and take fretful steps backwards, but Kouris reached out a hand, placed it against his chest and gently eased him down.
With a low rumble from the sky, the dark clouds burst, turning the dusty ground dark and slick within seconds. We stuck as close to the mountainside as we could, but were soaked by the time we reached the foot of the mountain. The clouds began to part, clear skies shining through.
It'd taken hours to get down and around the mountain, but the rest of the journey was straightforward. We rested for a handful of minutes, eating and drinking and giving the horses a chance to calm down. Kidira idly patted Charley's mane on the way back to her own horse, and we set off in the direction of Yastin, following Kouris' lead.
I'd taken lengths with my appearance, that morning, in the hopes that it'd give me the confidence I'd need to speak up around Rylan. I'd pulled on a new shirt and clean trousers, had even made the effort to wear boots, and did what I could to comb my unruly hair into place. The sun had finally banished the clouds and I was dry again, but the rain had done its damage and the stillness of the air made breathing a chore.
Rylan's letter had said he'd be waiting outside of Yastin. He hadn't said how many soldiers he'd have behind him, but I'd expected dozens, not hundreds.
I could've been dressed as a Knight or a Queen and I wouldn't have been prepared.
A line of soldiers stretched from one end of the horizon to the other, blocking Yastin from view with a sea of green and gold. They stood with great, rectangular shields almost the size of them held in front of their chests, a spear in their other hand, base rested against the ground. They were unmoving, well-trained enough to be mistaken for stone, from such a distance. Rylan didn't need a fraction of them to face us. He simply wanted us to know how extensive his forces were, how many soldiers he could afford to bring along to make a point, while the rest of the territories, Orinhal included, remained under his control.
Rylan himself sat astride a pure-white horse, a hundred feet ahead of his army. He wore dragon-bone armour, despite being no Knight, and from a distance I saw he had carved the ends of a dragon's horns off and fixed them to the front of his helm. A dozen soldiers surrounded him, all of them holding bows I'd never seen the like of before. They were turned onto their sides, fixed atop a solid slab of wood, arrows pulled back though the soldiers' fingers were nowhere near the strings. They held the strange bows not unlike the way Reis wielded their gun.
Bizarre though the weapons were, I understood what having arrowheads pointed at our chests meant.
“I do so hope that you are only here to tell me my sister is running late,” Rylan said, voice booming out from beneath his helm.
“Claire won't be joining us,” Kidira said, having her horse take a single step forward. We were a dozen feet away from Rylan, and that was how the soldiers intended it to remain; every bow was turned towards Kidira's chest. “Oh, put your crossbows down. No one is impressed, Rylan. We've come to talk on Claire's behalf.
Let's get on with it.”
The soldiers glanced towards Rylan, but he gave no signal for them to lower their weapons. Instead, he hooked his thumbs around the edge of his helm and pulled it off, hanging it from a hook on his horse' saddle. He looked between us one by one, letting us feel the weight of his gaze, now that we could see his eyes.
He was older than Claire, but it was by so few years that it hardly showed at all. There was Myrosi blood in him, and he wore his hair as long as Akela's, clasped back neatly at the nape of his neck. He was not an unkind looking man: he scowled, lines worked into his forehead where his brow was furrowed, but his skin was not scarred and his eyes were only hard because of the effect war had had on him.
“You are Queen Kidira,” he stated plainly. “Working with the rebels you once fought so hard against. The rebels who assassinated King Jonas. Claire has chosen her companions poorly indeed.”
Kidira kept her jaw tilted up and didn't for a moment succumb to the urge to explain herself, as Rylan wanted her to. She didn't point out that only a small faction of the resistance had been responsible for King Jonas' death, or that change was never affected peacefully.
“Did you honestly believe you could force cooperation out of Claire with a single threat? Did you expect to meet her here?”
“I did not,” Rylan allowed, lip curling. “She only grows more cowardly with each passing year.”
“Claire isn't a coward,” I snapped so abruptly that every crossbow was turned towards me.
I ground my teeth together, holding my tongue as Rylan fixed his eyes on me. His expression didn't change as his gaze bore into me, and he didn't dignify my remark with a reply. Slowly, so as not to alarm us or his own soldiers, Rylan raised a hand, gesturing to the soldier on the left. She started, lowered her crossbow, arrow pointed towards the dirt.
She took a horn from her belt, and Kouris took a step forward as a low note rang out into the air. All arrowheads were turned towards her, and the soldiers inched closer, forcing her back as Rylan continued to stare at me.
