Anna turned away. A lump stuck in her throat, and her foot trembled when she put it onto the bridge to walk away. She didn’t really despise Penelope Ann or Aquilla, but how else could she get through to them? Everywhere she turned, doors once opened to her closed in her face when she tried to help Menlo. Something had to give. She couldn’t live on this knife edge much longer.
She wasn’t sure she could keep her balance on the branch, and she hesitated to take the first step. Penelope Ann grabbed her hand. “Wait, Anna. Don’t walk away.”
Anna couldn’t look at her. “Leave me alone. I’ll help Menlo on my own. I don’t need any help from you.”
“I helped you by keeping these eggs secret,” Penelope Ann murmured. “If you give me a chance, I’ll help you again.”
Anna’s head whipped around. “You will?”
Penelope Ann’s cold expression softened. “I never knew Aquilla could be so cruel. I never would have believed he could do to anyone what he’s done to Menlo. I didn’t want to believe it, but now that he’s doing it, I see it’s wrong. You’re right. We have to stop him. Don’t ask me how, but we’ll find a way.”
“What can we do?” Anna asked. “Will you try to talk sense into him?”
Penelope Ann shook her head. “Talking won’t do anything. Piwaka already tried to talk to him, and you heard how well that went. If he won’t listen to a seasoned warrior like Piwaka, he won’t listen to you or me.”
“But you’re his mate,” Anna pointed out. “Would he free Menlo if you asked him?”
“Free Menlo?” Penelope Ann repeated. “He’ll never free Menlo. He’ll twist him around until the Ursidreans give up the man who killed his brother, and then Aquilla will kill him.”
Anna’s hand flew to her mouth, and she sucked air between her teeth. “He wouldn’t do that, would he? He would never get away with it.”
A soft smile played on Penelope Ann’s lips. “He’s already talking about it. He’s got it all planned out. Menlo is a dispensable pawn in his scheme to get revenge against the Ursidreans.”
Anna stared at her. “Then there really is no hope. We’ll never convince him to back down.”
“No, we’ll never convince him,” Penelope Ann agreed. “The only solution is to subvert his plan ourselves.”
“How?” Anna asked.
“I’m not sure,” Penelope Ann replied. “But you don’t have to worry about doing it all yourself. I’ll help you come up with a plan.”
Anna threw her arms around Penelope Ann’s neck. “Thank you! Oh, thank you! You don’t know what this means to me.”
Penelope Ann pushed her off. “I’m beginning to understand.”
“Just tell me what I have to do,” Anna replied. “I’ll do anything you tell me to do.”
“I’m not telling you anything,” Penelope Ann returned. “I never said I’m taking over the planning of this rebellion. I only said I would help you if I could. I’m counting on you to spearhead this operation. I won’t be able to do much with Aquilla around all the time. You’ll be able to do more than I will.”
Anna stood back, but she couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. “Knowing I don’t have to keep this a secret from you anymore is a big help. Thank you.”
“Stop thanking me.” Penelope Ann shoved the basket into her hand. “Now get rid of these egg shells. That’s the first step. I suggest you take them back to wherever you found them and hide them there, and whatever you do, don’t make another mistake like that. It was only by sheer luck that I found them before Aquilla did.”
Anna took the basket. “Right. Sorry about that.”
Penelope Ann turned away. Then she glanced back over her shoulder. “What did you do last night? Did you take him some more food?”
“I didn’t have any to take,” she replied. “He can’t eat the nut mixture we eat. That’s why I had to bring the eggs. I just took the salve, and I sat with him while he slept. He can’t sleep with his hands tied behind his back, so I untied him. Then, when I woke him up this morning, I retied him the way he was. That’s all I did.”
Penelope Ann cocked her head. “And that’s what you call helping him?”
“Those eggs are the first food he’s had since he left the frontier,” Anna told her. “And last night was the first decent night’s sleep he’s had since Aquilla captured him. Yeah, I’d say I’m helping him. I’m helping him a lot more than anybody else around here.”
Penelope Ann studied her. Then she nodded. “I guess you’re right.” She walked away.
Anna watched her disappear into her house, and in a moment, Penelope Ann’s laughter rose through the air mingled in conversation with Aquilla’s voice. Once, Penelope Ann came to empty a bundle of sweepings over the side of the balcony. She blushed with pleasure and laughed over her shoulder to Aquilla inside. She caught Anna’s eye on the platform across the bridge, but she didn’t miss a beat. In a flash, she retreated into the house.
Anna stared at the empty doorway. Then she nodded. Penelope Ann’s message was clear, and she had her own job to do to keep up their charade. She clutched the basket and hurried away.
At the next tree, she gripped the basket handle in her teeth and started climbing down the trunk to the ground. She found her way back to the same stream bed and buried the empty egg shells in the mud where she first dug them up.
She swung the basket on her way back to the village. She had at least one ally in the world. Her shoulders relaxed and lifted back. She hadn’t realized how tight and hunched they’d become in her anxiety over Menlo. Now, whatever happened, she could turn to Penelope Ann for help. The basket in her hand proved that. Penelope Ann might not be able to get around Aquilla enough to help her, but at least Anna could talk to her. That alone was the greatest gift anyone could give her right now.
Her step quickened. The future opened up in unlimited possibilities, now that she no longer faced it alone. She found her way back to the same tree and set the basket handle between her teeth. But the instant she put out her hand to take hold of the bark, a figure stepped out from behind the tree and she found herself looking up at Piwaka, the Captain of the Guard.
Chapter 10
Piwaka surveyed Anna up and down, from the basket in her hand to the frown on her face. He studied her so closely she shifted from one foot to the other in guilty anticipation. Had he figured out what she was up to while Aquilla’s back was turned? At least she didn’t have the egg shells in her basket anymore for him to find.
“What are you doing down here?” he asked.
Anna waved over her shoulder toward the stream. “I just took a walk down to the water. I guess I’m just not used to living so high off the ground. Sometimes I just need to feel the earth under my feet again.”
He cocked his head and blinked his bright eyes at her. “What’s in the basket?”
She held it up, and her cheeks flushed with relief. “Nothing.”
He smiled at her, but his eyes kept her pinned to the spot. “You can tell me the truth. What were you doing down at the stream?”
She stared back into his eyes, straight into the depths of his heart. He’d always been kind to her, and he showed a lot more sense than most other Avitras. He was the one who let Emily cross the border to visit her, even though the foreigners accompanied her. The other factions didn’t threaten Piwaka the way they threatened Aquilla. Those bright blue eyes of his saw farther than any Avitras she’d ever met.
What if, by some miracle, she could trust him? What if he wasn’t just asking what she was doing down at the stream, but was in fact asking her to open up to him about Menlo? What if his questions were really an invitation to confide in him, to rely on him, to draw him into her circle of allies?
Everything she knew about him, everything she’d seen him do, encouraged her to trust him. She couldn’t ask for a better ally. He knew everything that went on in Avitras territory, and he had a lot more influence with the Border Guard than Aquilla e
ver would.
If she trusted him, if she won his confidence, she might have a real chance of helping Menlo instead of just comforting him through his ordeal. With Piwaka’s help, she might be able to get him out of this horrible situation in one piece.
The moment the thought crossed her mind, her spirits soared the same way they did when Penelope Ann offered to help her. She never thought she’d be so fortunate as to get Piwaka on her side. If she did, the possibilities were limitless.
She took a deep breath. “I was burying some egg shells I got from there.”
He blinked again. “What were you doing with egg shells?”
He wasn’t asking. He was inviting her to tell him the truth, to unburden herself of her secret. “I gave them to Menlo to eat. I brought the empty shells here to hide them so Aquilla wouldn’t find them and figure out what I’d done.”
A trace of a smile touched his mouth. “What else have you been doing with Menlo that you don’t want Aquilla to know about?”
“I untied him last night,” she told him. “I put salve on his wounds, and I kept watch over him while he slept. Then I tied him up again this morning.”
Piwaka nodded, and the smile spread all the way across his face. “It’s a good thing you told me the truth, because I followed you just now. I watched you bury those egg shells. If you had lied to me....”
“Would you have told Aquilla?” she asked.
He cocked his head the other way. “I don’t know what I would have done. But since you did tell me the truth, I won’t tell him. I should, but I won’t.”
“If you should, why won’t you?” she asked.
“Probably for the same reason you did it in the first place,” he replied.
Anna frowned. “I did it because Aquilla is a psychopath who wants to drag this faction into another disastrous war with the Ursidreans. When the Ursidreans find out what happened to Menlo, they won’t rest until they get him back. They’ll punish us for Aquilla’s vengeful folly. You must understand that.”
He kept his eyes fixed on her face, but he didn’t stop smiling. “Is that why you did it?”
“Why else would I have done it?” she asked. “Who in their right mind could stand aside and do nothing while Aquilla toys with Menlo like a cat toys with a mouse before he kills it?”
“I don’t know what a cat and a mouse are,” he replied, “but Aquilla is not a psychopath. He might be a little....” He trailed off.
Anna waited. “Deranged? Is that the word you’re looking for? He’s more than a little deranged. He’s gone completely off the rails. You heard Menlo say he has no idea who the division commander for the Eastern Divide was. He doesn’t know who killed Aquilla’s brother.”
Piwaka shrugged. “That was a lie. Anyone could see that.”
Anna stiffened. “What do you mean? Why would he lie about it?”
“To save his own skin. That’s why,” Piwaka replied. “He knows, but he’s keeping it to himself. I don’t blame him, either.”
“Then you must realize Aquilla won’t quit until he gets that information out of him,” Anna countered. “He’ll starve Menlo and beat him and torment him until he gets what he wants, and then he’ll kill him. Then where will we be? The Ursidreans will want revenge in return.”
“You might be right.” He wouldn’t stop that maddening smile. Anna couldn’t look at that smile any longer without flying into a rage.
“So what are you going to do about it?” she asked. “Are you going to wait until he kills Menlo and drives us to war all over again? I thought you were more intelligent than that.”
“Intelligence has nothing to do with it,” Piwaka replied. “I think you’ll admit Aquilla is a perfectly intelligent man.”
“He’s crackerjack,” Anna muttered.
“Whatever else he is,” Piwaka told her, “he’s Alpha of this faction. It isn’t my place to interfere between him and his prisoner.”
Anna glared at him. “I can see I misjudged you the same way I misjudged Aquilla. I thought you could think for yourself and act on your own judgment without kowtowing to Aquilla all the time.”
He smiled even bigger. He almost laughed in her face. She could have slapped him if she wasn’t scared of him. “I am sorry to lose your good opinion.”
She turned away toward the tree. “I suppose you’ll run to Aquilla and tell him everything now. You’ll tell him everything I’ve been doing, and he’ll either kill me, too, or throw me out of the village. I don’t know what will happen to me, but I’m sure Menlo won’t survive much longer.”
Piwaka didn’t try to stop her. He kept his voice low so she hardly heard him. “I won’t tell him.”
Anna whirled around. “Why not? You said it wasn’t your place to interfere. Run home to your Alpha if he means so much to you.”
Piwaka shrugged again. “He might be my Alpha, but that doesn’t mean I can’t think for myself. It isn’t my place to interfere any more than it’s your place to interfere. That doesn’t stop you from interfering, and it wouldn’t stop me, either.”
Anna stared at him. She couldn’t understand him. “What are you getting at?”
He really did laugh at that. “Here. Take this. You’ll need it.”
He pulled a bundle from the folds of his shirt. Anna unwound it and stared at a dead sillian wrapped inside it. These fuzzy creatures inhabited the upper canopy, and their chatter echoed through the forest every day. They lived on fruit and leaves. The last warmth of its life radiated into her hand through its thick fur. She didn’t have to ask what she was supposed to do with it. “Why are you doing this?”
Piwaka chuckled and turned away. “He won’t last long on eggs.”
In an instant, he disappeared. The air washing off his feathers blew Anna’s hair out of her face, and she lifted her eyes into the sunshine where he vanished into the canopy.
She wrapped up the sillian as fast as she could and concealed it inside her shirt the same way he had. She didn’t have a moment to lose. She took hold of the tree trunk and started climbing.
Sweat trickled into her eyes, but she didn’t stop until she scaled to the platform adjacent to Penelope Ann’s house. There she stopped and considered. How could she deliver the sillian to Menlo in broad daylight? The animal was intact with its fur still on. She couldn’t exactly hand it to him and expect him to tear into it with his teeth.
At that moment, Penelope Ann and Aquilla came out of the house. Aquilla put his arms around her and kissed her. Then he set off across the bridge toward the village. He paused on the other side and waved back at his loving mate. Penelope Ann waved back. Adoration beamed from her cheeks, and she blew him kisses until he disappeared into the trees. Anna’s heart sank.
When the branches stopped swaying from Aquilla’s passage, Penelope Ann turned toward Anna. She strode over the bridge, and Anna braced herself for the other shoe to drop. What if Penelope Ann changed her mind about helping her?
Penelope Ann stopped in front of her. Then, to Anna’s astonishment, Penelope Ann’s composure dissolved. Her eyes darted one way and then another. She grasped Anna’s hands and whispered into her face. “Thank goodness you’re back! I’ve been at my wits’ end since you left.”
“What’s going on?” Anna asked.
“It’s Aquilla,” Penelope Ann exclaimed. “He’s completely lost his mind. I don’t know what to do about him. He won’t listen to a word I say. He doesn’t hear anything but his own voice.”
Anna’s shoulders slumped. “What happened?”
Penelope Ann bent closer and dropped her voice. “He’s going to kill Menlo. He doesn’t even care about finding out who killed his brother anymore. He’s going to get his revenge on Menlo and force the Ursidreans’ hand. He’s going to force them to start a war with the Avitras.”
Anna froze. “He can’t do that.”
Penelope Ann nodded. “He’ll do it. Nothing can stop him now.”
“What are we
going to do?” Anna asked.
Penelope Ann pressed something cold and hard into her hand. “Take this. Give it to Menlo. It’s the only way.”
Anna gazed down at the object in her hand. A fragment of stone, chipped into a crude point, dented her fingers. She didn’t have to squeeze it to feel how sharp it was. “Where did you get this?”
“It belonged to Aquilla’s father,” Penelope Ann replied. “Aquilla keeps it with some personal possessions in his room. It was made in the bad old days when the Avitras still hunted for their food. It was the closest thing to a weapon I could find.”
The sillian flashed through Anna’s mind. How had Piwaka killed it? He must have used some weapon like this one. He was old enough to be Aquilla’s father. Maybe he still possessed the old hunting skills to kill a fast-moving creature like the sillian.
“Give it to Menlo,” Penelope Ann urged her. “If Aquilla tries to kill him, at least he’ll have some way to fight back.”
“Why don’t you give it to Menlo yourself?” Anna asked. “If you feel that strongly about it, why don’t you come right out and say so?”
“I have!” Penelope Ann cried. “What do you think I’ve been doing ever since you left? Aquilla doesn’t hear me.”
“Then you just have to make him listen,” Anna replied. “There must be some way to get through to him.”
“You don’t understand,” Penelope Ann told her. “He doesn’t just not listen. He doesn’t hear. The words don’t penetrate his brain. He doesn’t comprehend anything but his own crazy plan.”
Anna frowned. “What do you mean? What does he do when you tell him this is insanity?”
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