by Lucy Saxon
Aleks frowned; he had indeed seen all the reports on the Stormlands, and seen first-hand how much more tempestuous the storm was growing. But it wasn’t that much worse than it had been a few years ago. And if Luka had designed the ship to take on the Stormlands, Aleks didn’t doubt it could manage even now.
‘So you think there’s something on the other side, then,’ he asked eagerly, glad there was someone else who shared his views. Everyone else he’d brought it up with, even Saria, thought he was crazy, or being fanciful.
‘There’s got to be, hasn’t there?’ Luka reasoned. ‘When you look at how little distance there is between most of the countries, and how much of a space is estimated between the two sides of the Stormlands, it can’t be solid storm the whole way through. There’s no way anyone in Dalivia would be able to get past – their side of the Stormlands is even worse than ours, and it’s far too hot – but here . . . well, it doesn’t matter now.’
‘I want to do it,’ Aleks blurted out, the words rising unbidden. But he didn’t want to take them back – he’d always dreamed of flying to the Stormlands, of discovering what might lie on the other side. Sure, it was a risk; hundreds of expedition ships had gone to the Stormlands and never returned. But none of them had been built by Luka.
‘You what?’
‘I want to do it,’ Aleks replied. ‘I want to fly through the Stormlands. You’ve spent all this time building this ship, it’d be a shame for her to go to waste. It’s not too late, Luka. She’ll make it to the other side. If you’ll teach me to fly her.’
‘Are you mad?’ Luka spluttered. ‘Or do you just have a death wish? I told you, the storms are too rough, it’s too late now.’
‘What if it’s not, though?’ Aleks persisted.
‘Then we’ll leave finding that out to someone who doesn’t have as much to lose as you do. What about your family, lad? And that girl of yours – you really want to risk losing all that just for a bit of adventure?’
Aleks bit his lip, thinking of all the people he cared about. Luka had a point. But if he could make it, if he could fly through the Stormlands and return successfully, he’d go down in history. This appealed to Aleks more than he was willing to admit; to the guilty, selfish part of him that wanted to do something that would finally place him above his brothers.
‘I trust your work, Luka, and I don’t think the Stormlands are as bad as you think they are. I can do this,’ he insisted.
Luka sighed, folding his thin arms over his chest. ‘I’ll think about it,’ he said eventually. ‘One step at a time, lad. Learn to fly her, then see if you still want to throw your life away on a pipe dream.’ Aleks grinned; that was probably the best he was going to get.
‘Regardless of whether you take her to the Stormlands or not, you’d still be doing me a favour by helping me get her in the air. So I thought I’d do you one in return.’ Aleks raised an eyebrow at the mechanic’s words. ‘I talked to a friend of mine in the records department. His name is Kir. You do this for me, Stormlands or no Stormlands, and Kir can make that little arrest warrant of yours disappear, along with your enlistment file. There’ll be no record of an Aleksandr Vasin ever joining the army. You can get your apprenticeship, get married, do whatever you like. Even if that obnoxious little Lieutenant comes sniffing around again, he’ll have nothing that’ll hold up in court.’
Aleks gasped. Luka could get his record clean. He could make it so Aleks was free to do whatever he wished, without constantly looking over his shoulder in fear of being caught out and dragged back to Rensav to serve out his four years.
‘You would do that? For me?’
‘If you’re going to risk your life in one of my contraptions, the least I can do is reward you for it when you’re done,’ Luka retorted, glancing up at Aleks. ‘It’ll have to wait a while, until the records department starts the annual overhaul. No one will notice a few missing papers in all that chaos.’
‘Still, that’s . . . that’s more than I ever expected,’ Aleks said, stunned. ‘Thank you.’ He was now even more determined to fly the ship through the Stormlands; if Luka could give him his freedom, the least Aleks could do in return was fulfil his dream. ‘So when do we start flying?’
Luka beamed, clapping him on the shoulder and nudging him closer to the furnace.
‘That’s the spirit, lad.’
Winter was well and truly on its way, and Aleks was worried they would soon miss their window of opportunity; if the weather got much worse than it already was, there was no way he would be able to fly. As usual, the snow was falling thick and fast as he hurried through the streets to meet Saria, still in his tyrium-smudged clothes from work.
She was waiting under the awning of her father’s shop, bundled up in a thick fleece-lined coat. ‘Not the best day for it, is it?’ he remarked as he approached, leaning in to kiss her briefly. She laughed, dusting snow off his shoulders with gloved hands.
‘This? This is nothing! You wait until the storms really get going!’ she replied. ‘Come on, I want to show you something.’ She took his hand, tugging him back out into the blizzard. Aleks had no choice but to follow, his head ducked away from the icy flakes. He now understood why so many people wore flight goggles as part of their everyday clothing in the North.
‘Where are we going?’ he asked, not recognising any of the streets they were taking.
‘It’s a surprise,’ Saria said, still leading him by the hand. ‘I think you’ll like it.’
Digging his work goggles out of his pocket and putting them on for better visibility, he glanced up at a street sign, his step faltering. Now he knew why he didn’t recognise where they were; Saria had led him right into military territory. The small military base that held the kingsguard was barely three streets away, and they seemed to be walking right towards it. ‘Saria, really, where are we going?’ he asked, a hint of panic creeping into his tone.
‘I told you, it’s a surprise!’ she said laughingly, not noticing his growing alarm. He had to leave, but he couldn’t do so without alerting Saria to the fact that something was wrong, and that was opening a whole other can of worms that he just didn’t want to deal with. ‘Now, come on, before we’re too late!’
Heart beating fast, Aleks had no choice but to follow, letting Saria take him closer and closer to the barracks. He could see the base now; much cleaner and nicer looking than Rensav, but a military base all the same. Even the sight of the uniform rows of barracks made him flinch.
‘It’s just around here,’ Saria urged, heading over towards a large building at the front of the base. Suddenly, everything made sense: the kingsguard stables.
‘Should we really be doing this?’ he asked, trying and failing to keep his voice even.
‘They haven’t started drills. It’s fine,’ she assured him. ‘Oh, good, they haven’t covered it over yet. I was worried they would because the snow is so bad.’
As they rounded the corner, Aleks saw the stable yard was open, ringed by stalls full of tall, gleaming horses of all colours. He had to admit it was impressive. Two stablehands were doing hay rounds and another was sweeping snow from the concrete, but it was clearly too cold to have any of the horses out in the yard. He could imagine the place was quite popular in the summer, when the horses could be on full display. He wondered how they kept all the horses fit and healthy with so little land to run them. Quicksilver was already starting to pack on some fat beneath his thick winter coat.
‘Maybe we should come back another day when the weather is better,’ Aleks suggested. The stablehands didn’t worry him – they probably didn’t care about much but the horses – but at any moment Shulga could come around the corner, and then he’d be in deep trouble. And while Aleks had no proof that there were any soldiers other than Shulga looking for him, it wasn’t a risk he was willing to take. ‘There’ll be more to look at, then.’
‘There’s plenty to look at now,’ Saria insisted. ‘We just have to wait – they’ll bring them out soon. The mounted g
uards always run drills on Wednesday afternoons.’ That didn’t make Aleks feel better; did it mean the area would soon be filled with guards and soldiers? He and Saria were in plain view. They had to leave now. Before someone saw him, before he was arrested and tried as a deserter, sent back to Rensav, or worse. But there was no excuse he could give Saria that wouldn’t sound pathetically flimsy.
She seemed enraptured as the stablehands began to bring the horses out ready for saddling. Aleks might have been too, if he weren’t so on edge; the Syvana kingsguard truly did ride the best horses in all of Siberene.
‘Come on, it looks like the snow is getting worse,’ he said once most of the mounted guards had ridden out of the yard, off to do their drills. They were the only ones around, and the silence made him nervous. ‘We should get inside.’
‘It’s only snow!’ Saria protested. ‘We can stay a little longer. Aren’t the horses amazing?’
‘They are, truly,’ Aleks agreed. ‘But there’s not much point in staying now, and I’m starving.’ Saria huffed. She seemed annoyed that her little surprise hadn’t gone down as well as she’d hoped.
‘Oh, fine,’ she relented, reluctantly turning away from the stables. ‘I only thought you might enjoy watching, but if you’re bored . . .’
‘No, no, it’s not that!’ he insisted, trying not to look too happy about the fact that they were walking away. ‘I’ve just had a long day at work, and I’ve hardly eaten since breakfast.’ The excuse fell flat and he sighed in frustration. ‘I did enjoy watching.’
Ignoring the urge to run, he stopped in the street, pulling Saria close. ‘Thank you for showing me,’ he murmured, trying to slow his racing heart now he was out of sight of the base. ‘I liked seeing the horses.’ He leaned in to kiss her, trying to draw a smile to her face, and he grinned when it worked.
‘I’m glad,’ she replied, huddling closer for warmth as the snow fell thickly around them. ‘I didn’t mean to get cross with you. I just want to show you all my favourite parts of the city, so they can be your favourite parts too. So you might see everything this city has to offer, and decide to stay here a while longer.’ Aleks couldn’t imagine wanting to leave any time soon, and told her as much, wrapping his arms around her waist. He ducked his head, pressing his lips to hers as one hand moved to her hair, then froze at the sound of footsteps crunching on snow.
‘Oh, how sweet.’ The sneering voice sent shivers down Aleks’s spine. ‘I almost feel bad about what I’m going to do. Almost.’
Aleks let go of Saria and turned, facing the uniform-clad man who had emerged from the adjacent street. There was a gleam of triumph in the lieutenant’s eyes. ‘I told you I’d find you, brat. Though I have to say, I didn’t expect you to just walk right up to base.’ He paused, barking out a laugh. ‘Getting homesick, are we?’
16
‘Aleks, who is this?’ Saria’s voice snapped Aleks out of his panic, and he realised that she was eyeing him with a mix of confusion and fear. He had unconsciously stepped between her and Shulga, protecting her from the man.
‘Yes, Aleks,’ Shulga mocked. ‘Introduce me to your little girlfriend. Haven’t you told her about me yet?’
‘Let her leave,’ Aleks urged. ‘Whatever you’re about to do to me, she doesn’t need to see it.’
‘I’m not going anywhere,’ Saria argued, her voice wavering. She tried to step out from behind Aleks, but he moved with her.
‘So you haven’t told her, then?’ Shulga said, taking a step closer. ‘That’s rather rude, isn’t it? Not that it’ll matter soon.’ He moved closer again. ‘I told the commander I’d find you here – asked him to transfer me to Syvana and everything. He advised me to give up, to let you get away, but I was sure I’d find you eventually. I was put on probation thanks to that report the stupid old man filed, and banned from that section of the city. You got cocky, coming here. One would almost think you wanted to be caught.’
Had Aleks not been taught to evade attack as a child he would have taken a fist straight to the face, but he saw Shulga preparing to move and ducked, darting forward to ram into the man’s chest and punch him in the stomach. ‘Saria, run!’ he yelled, unable to turn back and check if she’d obeyed. Shulga was on him now, gripping him tightly by the coat, and Aleks had the air forced from his lungs as the man threw him to the ground, pinning him to the snow-covered concrete.
‘Thought you could get away with it, didn’t you, you fool!’ the lieutenant growled, punching Aleks in the face so hard he was sure his nose was broken.
‘Then take me in,’ Aleks muttered, ignoring both the pain and the blood trickling down his cheeks and lips. ‘Sending me back to Rensav has got to be more satisfying than killing me.’
Shulga’s eyes widened as Aleks attempted to knee him in the groin, but he dodged it easily, pinning him tighter. ‘Oh, far more satisfying. But no one will care if you get a little . . . damaged in transit. Besides, I can’t kill you until you give back what doesn’t belong to you.’ He reared back, raising his fist once more, and Aleks closed his eyes in anticipation of the blow. But the blow never came, and instead there was a loud crack and Aleks felt a heavy weight on his chest. Opening his eyes, he was sure Shulga had knocked him out and he was imagining things. There was no way it could possibly be Saria standing over Shulga’s unconscious form with a half-shattered flowerpot in her hands and a vindictive expression on her face. Hadn’t he told her to run?
Aleks blinked, but the image didn’t change. Finding it difficult to breathe with Shulga slumped over his torso, he shoved the man off with some difficulty, staring in astonishment at his beautiful Saria, who looked stunned at her own actions. ‘Saria,’ he murmured, still sitting in the snow.
‘I broke the flowerpot,’ she declared in annoyance, looking at the piece of pottery. ‘I didn’t mean to do that.’
Aleks scrambled to his feet, only to sway dangerously, blood gushing from his nose. He pinched it, yelping in pain, and Saria dropped the flowerpot to hurry to his side. ‘Are you all right?’
‘He broke my nose,’ he muttered, grimacing. ‘Gods, Ksenia is going to kill me.’
‘Forget Ksenia, I have half a mind to kill you myself,’ Saria retorted, looking furious even as she gently pulled his scarf aside to tend to his nose. ‘What on Tellus was that all about?’ Aleks winced, and not because of pain.
‘I . . . haven’t been entirely truthful with you. It’s probably best if you don’t know, to be honest,’ he added, glancing nervously at Shulga as the man’s uniform became dusted with snow. How long would he be out? By the sluggishly bleeding lump on his head, Aleks assumed it would be a while.
‘No,’ Saria said firmly. ‘I just knocked a man unconscious because he was trying to kill you. You can’t expect me to simply ignore that and move on!’
‘It’s not safe for me to tell you!’ he argued, making her glower.
‘Clearly it’s not very safe for you to leave me in the dark either! Tell me what’s going on, Aleks, or I’m leaving. I mean it.’ She stepped away.
‘Saria, please,’ he started, but trailed off at the look on her face. He couldn’t evade this one. ‘Fine. But you’re not going to like what you hear.’
‘That’s for me to decide, don’t you think?’
‘We should leave first,’ Aleks insisted. ‘Our friend here is going to wake up at some point, and I need to be as far away as possible when he does.’ Not giving Saria a chance to argue, he grabbed her hand and took off at a jog, leaving Shulga in the snow. The man could get frostbite for all he cared.
He didn’t speak until they were back in familiar territory, wandering narrow streets that were deserted at this time of day. Saria tugged on his hand. ‘We’ve walked far enough – now I need answers. That man, that soldier, what did he want with you?’
Aleks took a deep breath, dread curling in his stomach. ‘He wanted to take me back to Rensav,’ he started, ‘where I can serve out the rest of my four-year commitment.’ Saria’s hazel eyes widened in shoc
k.
‘Wh– what are you saying?’
‘It’s complicated,’ he said, trying to think of a way to explain properly. ‘Gods, I didn’t want you to find out, especially not like this. When I first left home, I went South to Rensav and enlisted. Only the military wasn’t what I expected at all. I had to get out before they killed me.’ Saria gasped, connecting the dots for herself.
‘You deserted,’ she said softly. Aleks nodded.
‘Grabbed my horse and ran for it,’ he confirmed, not mentioning his little detour to Shulga’s office. It wasn’t safe for Saria to know what he’d already told her, let alone anything else. ‘Made it up here through luck and the will of the Goddess.’ Only he clearly hadn’t had too much luck, to have been followed so diligently. Shulga was like a bloodhound! It only cemented Aleks’s conviction that the lieutenant wasn’t supposed to have Hunter’s journal.
‘And you didn’t think I might want to know that my boyfriend is a criminal?’ Saria asked indignantly. ‘Gods, Aleks, I was so scared. I thought he was going to kill you! You’re telling me that he’s just under orders because you broke the law?’
‘No, you don’t understand!’ he said hastily.
‘I think I understand plenty, thanks,’ Saria said, cutting him off. She pulled her hand from his, stepping away. ‘I can’t do this, Aleks. I’m sorry, I just . . . this is too much.’
‘Saria, wait!’ Aleks called, but it was too late. She disappeared in a flurry of snow and a swish of dark red fabric. Aleks’s shoulders slumped, his nose throbbing painfully. He cursed; could his day possibly get any worse?
He didn’t think Ksenia believed his story about getting a piston to the face while working in the shipyard with Luka, but she bandaged his nose all the same. ‘It might look all right, once the swelling goes down,’ Raina remarked from over at the bar, where she was wiping the surface down. ‘Roguish, or something. You never know, Saria might like the bad boy look.’ Aleks stiffened, and the dark-haired girl frowned. ‘Wait, she didn’t do this, did she?’ Aleks almost snorted, before he realised how painful it would be.
