by Lorna Reid
He flexed his hands. At least they were healing well. His father had re-bandaged them for him, listening intently to Russell’s story about their journey. His father had been comforting but quiet and brooding, unvoiced thoughts churning behind his eyes.
Russell didn’t regret what he had said – at least, not all of it. They had done it for the right reasons and that was important. The stuff about his mother had boiled to the surface after bubbling under for so long. He wanted to ask his father everything he had wanted to ask for so long, things Jack had never answered, but now wasn’t the time. It could wait. For now, he was done. He just wanted to get home. He turned and watched his father saddling a horse, until Katrina distracted him.
‘You okay?’ said Katrina.
‘Yeah, just tired,’ he replied. Her hair was still damp from her bath, and her top was on inside out – it made him smile. It was good to know some things didn’t change, and the touch of normality helped drive back some of his demons.
‘I could sleep for days,’ she said, stretching. ‘At least they’ve mostly all patched stuff up. They’re all talking again,’ she said. She looked across to Peter and Jen exchanging banter with Jack. ‘He apologised to Mum last night.’
‘I’m glad.’ He had also heard his father apologising to Peter, although the air between Jack and Thom was still icy. ‘He’s not bad, just protective; he cares so much,’ said Russell, suddenly feeling the need to defend his father.
Katrina nodded. ‘He’s a good fighter, too. You should get him to teach you.’
He smiled at the compliment for his dad.
‘Well, you wanted to learn mirror magic – Jen’s awesome!’
Katrina grinned her thanks and blushed. They fell silent for a moment. Neither one of them could bring themselves to mention Isa – none of them had. It was too hard, too fresh.
‘So, how grounded do you think I’ll be?’ He made a vague stab at lightness, watching Jack issue orders to a pair of soldiers. ‘Whole summer or a few weeks?’
‘No idea. Mum said we’ll “talk” when we get home.’ Katrina wiggled her fingers into quote marks. ‘That’s never good.’
‘Danny won’t get off lightly.’
They watched everyone saddle up their horses while Poppy hovered nearby, watching Thom tighten the girth for her on a dappled mare.
‘But I doubt being grounded will stop him,’ said Katrina.
‘I don’t think anything will ever stop Danny,’ Russell muttered.
They both managed a laugh.
*
Katrina shifted and peered at the ground, fighting nerves as they moved off. It was a surprisingly long way up from the back of a horse. When she had been riding long enough to feel more confident, trying to remember what she had been told earlier, she looked across at her mother, who was riding beside her on a bay stallion. ‘What will happen to the fragment?’ she asked.
‘It’s being secured elsewhere, as far as I know,’ said Jen. Katrina wanted to ask the other question on her mind but didn’t know how. Her mother answered it anyway.
‘Jack’s the highest ranking officer, so he broke the news to Adalric last night about Isa. It’s a crushing thing to have to do. I feel terrible for him.’
Katrina looked across at Jack, who was riding next to Russell, the buttons of his army jacket catching the light as he stared ahead, lost in some silent world. He looked very alone.
‘To tell someone their daughter is dead …’ Her mother trailed off, and Katrina wanted nothing more than to hold her.
The ride to the port was long, taking them through the dense, sloping forest, along twisting roads, and across rivers. No one said much during the morning. Only after they stopped for lunch did the conversation pick up, but most of them were too exhausted to say much.
Any hope of finding a place to sleep when they reached Varron was dashed when they ended up at a forces base overlooking the harbour. Adalric had met them, and Jack and the others had spent hours shut away with him, reporting about the battle, the fragment, and the Reaper. Katrina had slept on the sofa in a small common area overlooking the sea and was only woken up by Danny whumping a cushion over her head.
‘Hey. Wake up. They want to speak to us.’
‘Who?’
‘Adalric. But we aren’t in trouble,’ said Poppy.
‘That would be a first, lately,’ Katrina muttered, hauling herself up and swatting at Danny, who pulled a face and stuffed a piece of apple into his mouth. He was clearly feeling better.
They joined Isa’s father in a long room bathed in sunlight. He was silent, looking out at the sea as they shuffled and found seats. Eventually he summoned the words to speak. Each one seemed to have to overcome a hurdle of pain.
‘Your attempt to save the Ianuan fragment and the life of my daughter has earned my respect and gratitude. You showed little thought for your own welfare. For each of your actions, showing courage beyond your years, I gift you one favour each. Anything you need or want, anything I, my Land, or my city can do is yours.’ He looked at them for the first time.
‘Isa would have been proud. She, too, was selfless. You spent some time with her before she left the city. Cherish the memories as much as I do and she will never leave us.’ His hushed, hoarse voice wavered and he fell silent.
For a long time, he stared out, unseeing, gathering himself. His fingers drummed and stroked the stone windowsill.
Danny and Katrina shared looks. What did he mean, a favour? she wondered. How would she know what to ask?
‘Maybe if you end up getting us all arrested next time you do something stupid, we can use it then,’ she whispered to Danny. He scowled and tried to pinch her, but she wriggled away.
*
Adalric finally turned from the window and moved to take Poppy’s hand. He stared deeply into her nervous eyes, and Poppy could almost see the pain behind the barely composed mask.
‘You personally put yourself at great risk to protect the fragment. Your father would have been proud. He gave his life to keep it safe. I give to you one of the greatest honours I can bestow: the Audax Acclaro.’
Poppy felt a murmur travel around the room and caught a few amazed smiles being shared out of the corner of her eye. She shot Thom a grin, which was reciprocated. He had told her about her father’s awards and achievements, and she knew that he had also won the same award. For that moment, she felt suddenly closer to him – treading in unseen footsteps, but determined to catch up.
The thoughts buoyed her mood and held back the tiredness through the port to the harbour. They were to head back to the city aboard a military vessel and, from there, home. The thought of a long journey wasn’t appealing, and she could see how exhausted everyone else was, too.
Adalric was staying in the port to escort his daughter’s body home separately, aboard a smaller ship. Poppy tried to push the grieving feelings away as they wound their way through the hubbub of the streets that fed into a large market square lined with canopied stalls and open wagons.
Travellers, traders, and shoppers milled around and pushed past each other, and the flotilla of smells, shouts and colours was overwhelming. Fruit, meat, smoked fish, leather, cloth, spices, and more wrestled for dominance. She was thinking about how to ask her mother about coming back to the Lands when, without warning, Katrina darted across the square and flung her arms around a man, who stooped to hug her.
It was Patches. Poppy pushed her way over. Seeing his friendly face after everything that had happened was overwhelming. He had been a big part of their journey; the train seemed so long ago. So full of hope.
‘Didn’t expect to see you here,’ he said. He turned to Mineska and the Captain, who joined them along with some of the other crew. ‘You’ll need to pop by the berths and pick up your packs. You were in so much of a hurry that you left them.’ He stopped. ‘What happened?’ Patches absorbed their expressions and his face tensed.
‘We couldn’t save her. We tried. We tried so hard,’ said Russell.
‘I’m sorry, lad.’ Patches looked crushed. He squeezed Russell’s arm and looked over his shoulder to Jack and the others as they approached, and smiled a greeting, moving to embrace them and shake their hands. The Captain and Mineska did likewise.
‘It was really a Reaper?’ asked Mineska, getting a kiss on the cheek from Jack.
‘Afraid so,’ he replied. Several crew members exchanged glances.
‘Where are you heading now?’ asked the Captain.
‘Xantheris, by sea, then the bolt train. Adalric is taking a smaller military transport ship.’
The Captain nodded, lost in thought. He glanced across the square and Poppy noticed his eyes harden and his body visibly tense. She turned and saw Adalric striding toward them with his armed escorts. People fell away either side and stopped to stare. For one icy moment the two men locked eyes before the Sentrum of Lallienns turned and spoke to Jack.
‘I’ll see you onto your ship and make the necessary preparations for myself. I trust you will have a safe journey.’ He turned back to the Captain. Tension hung in thick ropes between them, and the crowd, sensing trouble, had begun lingering.
‘My condolences,’ said the Captain. ‘I am sorry indeed to hear the news. With respect, a transport ship will only prolong a painful voyage. I offer my ship to your service and we will return you to Port George.’ He inclined his head slightly, but his eyes never left the man’s face.
Adalric drew a deep breath, his voice barely controlled, putting Poppy in mind of a delicate instrument with over-tightened strings on the verge of snapping.
‘Forgive me, Captain,’ he hissed, words lashing the air. ‘But I would not have my daughter’s funeral escort hosted by a common smuggler for all the Glacian in the Dirrall Mines.’
Poppy flinched and shared a horrified look with Russell. To her equal shock, the Captain half smiled, although his eyes had hardened to flint. ‘Then excuse me, My Lord.’ The words twisted with contempt. ‘But this “common smuggler” has a ship to ready.’ He kissed Jen on the cheek, nodded to the others, and turned to leave.
‘I should have you arrested at once, given the outstanding charges against you in every major port in this Land. There is no Port Authority to bribe, threaten, or blackmail now, no tricks, no allies, nothing – just you and me.’ Adalric’s voice was raised and the crowd fell completely silent.
The Captain regarded him with cool, green eyes. ‘You can try.’
No one moved. No one breathed. Poppy squeezed Danny’s arm and bit her lip.
‘Do not try my patience, Captain Ervand.’
Adalric’s hand moved to his sword hilt and the Captain’s hand mirrored him in a lazy fashion. The crowd shuffled back in an eddy of whispers, and Mineska and Patches peeled slowly away, giving the Captain room. The other crew members fanned out but remained at a respectful distance from their Captain while keeping hard eyes on the Sentrum’s escorts.
Just as Poppy thought things couldn’t get worse, Katrina was in the middle of them, shouting. ‘Leave him alone!’ She glared at Adalric, her fists clenched.
Jen moved to go and get her, but Thom held her back. ‘I have to see this,’ he whispered.
‘He offered to help, just like he helped us. Even though we couldn’t save Isa, it doesn’t change the fact they risked themselves and their ship to help us. To help her.’ All eyes were on Katrina, and the crowd were enjoying the show.
‘In your limited opinion, child,’ said Adalric in a raised voice. His fierce eyes burned, fuelled by grief. Poppy thought that would be the end of it, but Katrina gathered her courage, buoyed up by her anger, and fixed him glare for glare.
‘No, fact,’ she shouted back. ‘I’m better placed than you to know that.’
Poppy saw Jack wince, and Mineska and Patches shared a look behind the Captain’s back. The man was watching Katrina, a guarded smile in his eyes.
‘He helped us try and save her. Doesn’t that mean anything to you? He’s trying to help now, too.’ Katrina’s voice dropped back to a soft, almost dejected tone, and she shook her head.
‘If you don’t want to listen, then fine. That favour you gifted me … keep it in exchange for leaving them alone. Cancel whatever they’ve done or just keep it, because I don’t want it.’
Her words vanished into the sucking silence of the crowd. Jen had her hands over her face, Thom and Peter were staring at the sky and ground respectively, failing to conceal grins, and Jack was trying to hide a look of stunned amusement. Russell and Danny shared a look that said ‘where the hell did all that come from?’
‘The man’s the ruler of a whole Land,’ Poppy squeaked to Russell.
He nodded, dumbstruck.
Adalric regarded Katrina, a minute crawling past as his eyes flickered and narrowed. The Captain broke the tension and turned away from the Sentrum.
‘You have incredible loyalty, Katrina Heartly, like your parents.’ He hugged her. ‘Thank you. If you ever need us, you know where to find us.’ He smiled warmly at Peter and the others.
‘Safe journey, see you soon.’ He nodded goodbye to Russell and everyone else and headed into the dispersing crowd with Patches and Mineska and the rest of the crew.
‘Captain,’ shouted Adalric, suddenly stirring. The man kept walking. ‘Captain Ervand,’ boomed the voice again. The Captain turned and the two men moved slowly to meet, caution guarding the Captain’s every move.
Adalric struggled for words. ‘Forgive my … rudeness. If you’ve ever lost a—’
‘I have,’ the Captain cut in, his eyes unreadable.
Adalric looked momentarily taken aback, but struggled on. ‘I would be honoured to accept your offer of assistance, should it still stand.’
The Captain studied his face a moment, betraying no emotion, before eventually nodding. ‘I’ll have the ship readied and meet your company dockside whenever you’re ready. Kern Berths, docking bay ninety-four.’
‘Thank you. As repayment of my favour to Miss Heartly, consider all marks and bounties against you in the city and all ports and towns of Lallienns expunged.’
The Captain inclined his head to the man, a ghost of a smile on his face. He gave Katrina a small, sidelong smile, and a wicked wink snapped from one of his bright green eyes before he vanished into the crowd.
*
The voyage to Xantheris aboard a characterless, confined transport ship wasn’t as pleasant as on the Riana. The journey ate the days and time disappeared to sleep and lazy, light conversation. Thom was not coming back home with them, but staying in the city for the Oracle’s funeral. They didn’t know when Isa’s would be, but the thought of it lay heavily on them all. Looping back to where they had begun was an odd feeling, Katrina considered. The excitement, the hope, the adventure replaced by grief and pain and exhaustion. Adventure weighed far more heavily than she had ever believed and, up close, was nothing but tarnish.
Chapter 29
◊
RUSSELL TURNED THE MIRROR over in his hands and stared out of his window at the approaching night. The Oracle, who had given him a piece of his mother’s past, seemed so far away now, like a hazy dream. He stared into the glass once again, hoping that this would be the time an answer surfaced. He didn’t know what he had really wanted, but nothing was the same anymore.
Before, there was the possibility that his mother had made a mistake, that she would come back, or that he would know what happened. The things he’d seen twisted in his stomach and knotted themselves around his mind at night.
How could he ask for answers of his father now, when he was afraid of what they might be? And what was the point, anyway? He could change nothing. Not even the future, it seemed.
He had fought to change what would be and failed. Or worse, the thought he never allowed himself, but which came unbidden in the small hours … What if he had killed Isa? What if she only died because she was saving him? Russell stared out of the window at the nearly naked cherry blossom trees in front of the library beside the house
.
He wanted to move on, to explore this new thing, to learn, to immerse himself in his father’s world and in doing so become closer to him, to make him proud. But all there was at the moment were questions. And the void where the answers should be lay between them both.
Russell set the mirror down and flopped back on his bed beside the Aquattrox programme he’d collected and closed his eyes, focussing on that day, that part. On his father’s pride in him, of his pride in his father, and more. He gathered fragments of happiness and built up his wall.
*
Katrina sat cross-legged on her bed with the box in her lap, letting her fingers play over the wood. She still couldn’t open it, despite trying for hours. She knew she should turn it in to her mother and Thom, but she was caught up in the fantasy of solving the puzzle herself, of doing something important.
Besides, it kept the Lands closer, somehow. Katrina turned it over and the things inside slid and grated. The odd, discordant sound was tantalising, and she allowed her thoughts to wander as she gently agitated the box to hear the noise again.
Nothing had been as she had imagined it would be. Darkness, brutality, and sadness … There was no real escape from it. Was she better off here? She stroked the box and tilted it to and fro, and her mind journeyed over the Lands. No. She smiled to herself. It wasn’t what she had gone looking for, or what she had expected, but it was what she had. And that would have to do.
*
Poppy propped up the photo of her father and tugged the cap off a pen with her teeth. The letter with the formal offering of the Audax Acclaro lay beside her on her pillow, but the man in the photos was her sole focus. Her mother was due home soon, and they’d made a pact. Made time.
She looked at the large pad of lined paper and began writing questions. She had many. By the time she fell asleep over the pad it was late into the night, and the ink from the multicoloured pen was seeping into her pillow.
