Hostage

by Rachel Manija Brown

  “What!”

  He nodded. “They killed the governor and half the soldiers from Gold Point, chased the rest out, and buried all the heads on their walls in a big ceremony. Father couldn’t do a thing about it, since you’d swamped his gunpowder. People are whispering that once more towns get the word, his entire empire will fall apart.”

  It hadn’t occurred to Kerry that what she and Ross did would have any effect outside of Gold Point itself, except to delay Father from attacking Las Anclas. She’d never intended to bring down Father’s empire. She could barely even imagine that was possible.

  “And that’s not all,” Sean added. “I spotted Pru on my way to Gold Point, headed in the opposite direction. I would have thought she was spying for Father, but she had two burros loaded down with her stuff.” He laughed. “She had a sack stuffed full of silk pillows.”

  “She took off.” It was hard to imagine. Pru had been a fixture in Gold Point for years. “She must have guessed I’d tell Las Anclas about her, and she figured even Father couldn’t protect her once her secret was out.”

  Sean nodded. “A handful of people grabbed their families and ran during the chaos after the dam blew, and I guess she was one of them. Pru always did know what side her bread was buttered on.”

  More than anything else Sean had said, that made Father’s downfall seem real to Kerry. Pru was canny, and she had been happy to work for Father. If even she had abandoned him . . .

  “So,” Sean went on, “Want to come to Catalina?”

  It was hard to believe that Father wasn’t going to appear one morning at the head of an army. But it sounded like he had his hands full—with luck, for years. And who knew what might happen in years?

  But it was a fantasy to think that the threat was over forever. Father never forgot a grudge. And if he did come after her, how could she risk drawing his eye to Sean, who had also betrayed and left him? Catalina was the one place where she could never go.

  If she stayed in Las Anclas, at least she’d be near him. She was a hero in the town, and if some people still hated her, there was nothing they could do about it.

  If she stayed in Las Anclas, she could keep her friends. She could keep her plain little room, with its varnish-smelling furniture. She had her horses, and the sparring group. Maybe she could trade for a rat of her own. It was a life she’d never dreamed of, but it seemed like a good one.

  “If I stayed here, would you come back again, with your jellyfish-watching boat?”

  “Sure. I’ve been checking up on the family at Gold Point whenever I had a long enough liberty for the trip inland.” Sean flashed his grin. “But now you’ll see me. I take it you want to stay in Las Anclas?”

  Kerry patted her bed. “Did you see those girls who helped me move my stuff? They’re not servants, they’re friends!”

  Sean nodded vigorously. “That’s been one of the best things about Catalina. I couldn’t have real friends in Gold Point.”

  “Is that why you left?” Kerry asked.

  He twisted a braid around one finger. “You remember how it was. Father had me spying on people and reporting back to him since I was four! When I was little it was a game, and later it was just how things were. Then Leila died on Opportunity Day, and all Father said was, Better luck next time. One day I walked out the gates to watch the bobcats, and I looked back at the latest head that had belonged to someone I’d spied on, and I just kept on walking.”

  In the distance, the bells rang the evening watch change.

  “No one in Las Anclas knows about me, Kerry,” said Sean. “I’d like to keep it that way.”

  “Sure.” In a way, she was glad to have Sean all to herself. Everything else had changed, and she’d lost so much. Now she’d have one special thing that was just hers. “When will I see you again?”

  “We trade up and down the coast. Whenever I get overnight liberty, I’ll turn up.”

  Another bone-cracking hug, and he was gone.

  Kerry closed the door behind her, and went out to meet her friends.

  Chapter Fifty-Six. Las Anclas.

  Yuki

  Yuki stood beneath Paco’s window, trying to get up the nerve to knock. It was ridiculous to be more nervous about talking to his boyfriend—his ex-boyfriend—than when he’d risked everything to set Kerry free. But instead of giving him courage, the thought only made him feel foolish as well as anxious.

  Kogatana dug her claws into his shoulder and coiled her tail around his throat, chokingly tight. She’d stuck to him like a limpet ever since she’d come back, often giving him reproachful glances from her shiny black eyes. He wished he could let her know that he’d never send her away again.

  A roar of laughter rose up from Julio Wolfe’s party at the other end of Singles’ Row—the party Yuki had slipped round the back to avoid. The entire town had started celebrating that afternoon, when Mr. Preston had announced the news from the Ranger team he’d sent out to confirm Ross’s story: not only had the dam come down, but Voske’s conquered towns were rebelling, one by one.

  Voske was unlikely to attack Las Anclas any time soon, and some thought he’d be lucky to keep his crown. “Or his head,” Henry had joked.

  Yuki had made up his mind at that moment. Now he had to tell Paco . . . if Paco was even willing to open the window. They hadn’t spoken since Paco had stormed into the jail to break up with him.

  His heart pounding, Yuki tapped on the glass. An eternity passed until the curtain twitched aside and Paco’s face appeared, barely visible in the dark room. Yuki half-expected him to drop the curtains back down when he saw who it was.

  Paco froze, then unlatched the window. “Come in.”

  Yuki passed Kogatana to Paco, then hoisted himself through the window. Paco retreated into the room, set the rat on the bed, and pulled the cover off the bright-moth cage. In the soft light, Yuki searched Paco’s face for clues as to his feelings.

  “I’m sorry, Paco.”

  “Sorry for what?” The light didn’t reach his dark eyes.

  Yuki didn’t want to lie. “Sorry I went behind your back.”

  Paco sat down on the bed. “Yeah, well, I’m sorry you had to. If you’d told me, I would have stopped it.”

  “I know.” Yuki felt awkward, standing while Paco was sitting, but he couldn’t sit on Paco’s bed without an invitation.

  Paco didn’t invite him to sit. “What made you trust Kerry?”

  “I didn’t. I . . .” Yuki was certain that the conversation would end then and there if he said, I couldn’t let you kill your own sister. “I couldn’t let her be killed in cold blood.”

  Paco absently stroked Kogatana’s fur. “So she did what my mother did—left Voske. I guess I’ve got to respect that.” Stroke, stroke, his hand worked gently through the rat’s gray fur.

  “Actually, I’m not sorry for what I did,” Yuki admitted. “But I’m sorry it wrecked things between us.”

  Paco kept petting Kogatana. Yuki hadn’t moved from where he stood, up against the window.

  Another roar of laughter came from outside. Someone shouted, “Julio! It’s past midnight! Some of us have to work in the morning.”

  “Shut the window, will you?” Paco suggested. “It’s getting cold in here.”

  Yuki latched the window and pulled the curtain.

  Paco let out another long breath, then patted the bed. Yuki sat down next to him. He could feel the heat in the air between them—that hadn’t changed. But it made what he had to say even harder.

  “I’m leaving Las Anclas,” Yuki said. “I’m going prospecting.”

  Paco’s hand froze on Kogatana’s back. “Seriously? By yourself? When?”

  “The day after tomorrow. I wanted to go tomorrow morning, but mom said I had to give everyone a chance to say good-bye.”

  Unexpectedly, Paco laughed. “She’s going to make you sit through an entire day of everyone in town asking nosy questions and giving you advice you don’t want, huh?”

  “Yeah, I�
�m really looking forward to it,” Yuki said wryly.

  “Did you buy a burro? I know you can’t afford a horse.”

  Yuki had braced himself for Paco to be hostile, or, worse, to not even care. But Paco acting like he used to, before everything had gone wrong—before Voske’s soldiers had killed his mother—was unexpected, and unexpectedly painful. This was what Yuki was leaving behind.

  Yuki shook his head. “It’ll just be me and Kogatana.”

  Silence fell, and the question he hadn’t asked seemed to hang in the room, glowing like the bright-moth cage: Will you come with me?

  The silence continued, its own answer: No.

  “I have to protect the town.” Paco’s voice was level, neither defensive nor apologetic. “I think I’ll get into the Rangers.”

  “I think you will, too.” Yuki tried to phrase the question without mentioning the name Voske. “Don’t you think the town’s safe now, though?”

  “Maybe. But I’d never forgive myself if I left, and it wasn’t.” Paco frowned. “I don’t mean you shouldn’t go. You should go. It’s what you’ve always wanted.”

  It is, but it’s not the only thing, Yuki thought.

  If he stayed, maybe he could he patch things up with Paco. If he stayed, he’d still have the sea cave to explore, and maybe the ruined city.

  Everything he’d miss if he left popped into his mind: not only people, like Paco, Mom, and Meredith, but Fuego, the beautiful red-gold gelding he could never afford to buy. Hot baths. Books. Luc’s. Music.

  “I think I’ve been afraid to leave,” Yuki said slowly. “Not afraid of danger—afraid of losing what I have here.”

  As he said it, he knew it was true. He’d lost his entire world once before, when the Taka had been attacked by pirates, and he’d spent years vainly wishing for time to turn backward and change what had already happened. Thanks to Kerry, he now knew that the life of a prince, too, wouldn’t have been the life he wanted. He’d have done his duty. But he wouldn’t have been happy.

  He had to either settle in Las Anclas and call it home, or leave and find a new life of his own making.

  “You don’t have to go,” Paco said.

  “I said I was afraid. Not that I don’t want to. There’s a saying, Koketsu ni irazunba koji wo ezu.” Yuki translated, “You have to go into the tiger’s cave to catch its cub.”

  “Nothing ventured, nothing gained? Yeah, you’re right.” Paco gave him a little smile. “Say it again?”

  Yuki repeated the saying, translating each word. With his music-trained memory, Paco caught it on the second repetition. It had been months since Yuki had taught Paco any Japanese, but soon they were having a stilted Japanese conversation on the subject of tigers.

  “Are there tigers in the desert?” Paco asked in perfectly accented Japanese. In English, he added softly, “I’ll miss you.”

  Yuki struggled to keep his voice even. “I’ll miss you, too. But it’s not like we’ll never see each other again. I’ll come back for a visit in a year or two.”

  “Or three,” said Paco glumly. “Or four.”

  “Two, maximum,” Yuki said firmly. “Anyway, I have to come back: I made a deal with Ross over the sea cave. He can prospect it, but I get half the profits. Would you mind diving it with him? He’s a good swimmer, but he’s inexperienced.”

  Paco nodded. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t drown.”

  “One more thing.” Yuki opened the pouch he wore at his belt, and placed a small statue beside the bright-moth cage. The light of the fluttering moths flickered across the silver dancer, making her seem to breathe. It was the one treasure he’d wrested from the sea cave, almost at the cost of his life. “I’d like you to have this.”

  “I can’t,” Paco protested, as Yuki had known he would. “It’s too valuable.”

  “Just keep it for me. You never know what might happen in the desert. It’d be safer with you.”

  “Well . . .” Paco looked at the statue, and Yuki wondered if he was remembering how he used to drum for the dancers. How he used to dance himself, making the formal steps and turns of folklorico look relaxed and easy. “All right, then.”

  Yuki got up. “I should get back home.”

  Paco caught his hand. “Stay. Just tonight.”

  Yuki sank back down on to the bed. Paco tossed the cover over the bright-moth cage, darkening the room. Yuki could barely see, but he felt it when Paco pressed his lips against Yuki’s.

  *

  The next morning, Paco walked Yuki to the stables, Kogatana trotting at their heels. He walked with Paco in their old rhythm, matching strides, trying not to think that it would be the last time they did so.

  If Yuki stayed in Las Anclas, would that “just tonight” have led to more nights, until they were a couple again? Or had it only happened because it was the last time?

  Inside the stable, Kerry was grooming her royal horses with an invisible curry comb. They gleamed as if they’d been polished.

  “Yuki, I have something for you.” Kerry’s quick black glance flickered toward Paco, and then the two of them resolutely ignored each other.

  “What is it?” Yuki asked.

  “Meredith told me you were leaving,” Kerry said.

  Yuki reminded himself that this was the last time he’d have to put up with everyone discussing his private business. “That’s right.”

  Kerry ran a hand along the bronze mare’s shining mane. “I want to give you Tigereye.”

  “What?” Yuki exclaimed.

  In the weeks he’d helped Mrs. Riley at the stables since Kerry had come back, he’d coveted those graceful royal horses, which were faster and smarter—though more temperamental—than the horses of Las Anclas. The thought of owning one took his breath away.

  “Her full name is Tennessee Bronze,” Kerry said.

  Tigereye nuzzled his cheek, her breath hay-sweet and warm.

  Yuki stroked her glittering neck, unable to believe that she was really his. “I don’t know how to thank you. This is the best gift I’ve gotten in my entire life. Well, her and Kogatana.”

  “It was Jennie’s idea. But I wanted to give you something.” To Yuki’s surprise, she turned to Paco. “I’m sorry about what I said at the party. I was terrified that I was going to be executed, and I thought an ally might save me.”

  “An ally? Against Las Anclas?” Paco repeated angrily.

  Kerry held up her hands. “I was desperate and I did what I’d been taught to do. Can we start over?”

  “I guess,” Paco said reluctantly. “I know you could have stayed in Gold Point and let Ross die, if you’d wanted to.”

  “Don’t think that didn’t cross my mind,” Kerry said. “But I had a promise to keep.”

  Yuki wondered if Kerry had planned out this entire conversation, and had only been waiting for a chance to have it.

  She continued smoothly, “Do you like to ride? Sally could use the exercise.” Kerry indicated the slim silver mare.

  Paco’s face lifted with pleasure, as it used to when he drummed. Then he glanced away. “Maybe later. I’m due on the wall. See you, Yuki. I’m glad you’ll have a horse.”

  Yuki watched Paco leaving, and saw that Kerry did the same. It was strange to see Paco’s high cheekbones and sharp chin on a girl’s face. Then she turned to him and smiled. The features were the same, but the resemblance was gone.

  “I think you and Tigereye will suit each other,” Kerry said.

  “Oh?”

  “She likes wide open spaces. You’ll see.”

  *

  Yuki and Kogatana rode out on Tigereye at dawn.

  Mom and Meredith came to see him off, of course. Paco and Brisa stood with the rest of Yuki’s bow team. And he wasn’t surprised to see Mrs. Riley, Jennie, and Ross also waiting at the gate to wave good-bye.

  What surprised him was how many others were there, too: a handful of nosy gawkers, which was to be expected, but mostly people he knew and liked. All the Rileys were there. So were Trainer Ko
slova and Trainer Crow, along with their rats. So were Mia, Dr. Lee, Indra, Becky, Sheriff Crow, Jack from the saloon, and even Kerry. There were old schoolmates, guys he’d dated, people he knew from patrol and sentry duty, and the entire Old Town Band.

  Yuki hadn’t realized that he’d gotten close, at least a little bit, to so many people. He blinked hard, his throat unexpectedly tight. Then he raised a hand in farewell and rode toward the gates.

  A chorus of “Good-bye!” and “Make some good finds!” rose up.

  “Bring back a tiger cub!” Paco shouted in Japanese.

  “You better come back!” Meredith yelled, and fiercely scrubbed her eyes.

  Yuki rode through the gates, and left the walls of Las Anclas behind him.

  He nudged Tigereye with his knee, and she set off in a gallop, her flying mane glittering in the sun. She moved like an extension of his own body, fast as a gale. Kogatana squeaked in excitement.

  Yuki laughed aloud with the sheer joy of it. As they sped across the sands, all his sadness and regret and loneliness fell away, like barnacles scraped off the hull of a ship before it could set sail. The desert plains rolled out before him like the open sea, and the very air he breathed seemed full of endless possibilities.

  Chapter Fifty-Seven. Las Anclas.

  Ross

  Ross walked through the back gate, with Mia and Jennie at his side. The girls each held a glass lamp filled with bright-moths, Jennie’s all gold, and Mia’s a rainbow mix of colors. The setting sun burned red over the cornfields, and flashes of crystalline scarlet and black overlaid his vision. Chimes rang out in chorus, each one clear and distinct.

  But even more distracting than sight and sound, the singing trees sent him emotions: from his own crimson tree, curiosity and the desire to have him near; from the obsidian grove, hatred and rage, fear and pain, shock and disbelief and denial . . .

  “Ross!”

  His nerves jolted. The link with the trees snapped, dropping him back into reality.

  Mr. Preston had climbed down from the wall. Mia put a hand on Ross’s back, and Jennie stepped forward protectively.

  Mr. Preston raised his eyebrows. “Stand down, Jennie. I already gave you all permission to stay out past the gates closing.”