by Pam Brondos
“What are you doing here?” Andris appeared in the doorway. A thin shirt of chain mail covered his broad torso, and a sword at least a yard long hung from a thick leather belt strapped tightly around his waist. The vein in his neck bulged. Nat took a step back.
“It’s time to close up the shop. I need to go home.”
“Go, then!”
“Someone needs to lock up after me.”
“You came back here to tell me that?”
Nat bit her lip and took a deep breath. “I’m leaving to catch my bus. Do what you want with the shop.” She slammed the metal door to the costume room on her way out. She pulled her coat from under the counter. The door chimed dully as she burst out of the store with an arm in only one sleeve of her coat. Snow pelted her skin, and the cold brought her back to her senses a little as the anger faded.
“Stupid Nat,” she muttered, pulling her coat tight. “That’s going to get you fired.” She trudged through a thick blanket of snow covering the sidewalk, cursing herself. Work, school, her family—it was all too much. Maybe she should take next semester off and work full-time. She could get a job at the restaurant back home where she waitressed in the evenings during the summer. She’d always been able to pick up odd jobs, and she could help her dad with his woodworking business and the farm. If she could keep her scholarships, she’d have enough money saved up by next year to come back and not stress so much.
The street was deserted as she continued her trek toward the bus stop. The streetlights gave off a foggy glow, and she slowed momentarily as she passed underneath them. The road and sidewalk were now indistinguishable. She pushed back her coat sleeve and checked her watch. 7:40. She quickened her pace and then broke into a run. Her sneakers were already soaking wet, and her feet were more than cold. If she missed this bus, it would be a long, nasty climb to campus.
Andris opened the door and watched Nat disappear into the storm. He turned and surveyed the quiet storefront, a line of worry set deep in his forehead.
“Andris, I heard yelling. What’s going on?” Estos emerged from the costume room.
“The girl came into the back. She almost made it into the kitchen before I caught her sneaking around. She won’t return after tonight. We’re better off without her around. It was foolish for you and Barba to hire her and bring her so close to the entrance. We’ve got enough problems on our hands without having to worry about that one.”
“What do you mean she won’t return?” Estos asked.
“She doesn’t seem to like my manner. She bolted into that storm like it was a spring day on the banks of the Rust River.” Andris smiled as he scratched his blond beard.
“You let her leave on foot in this weather?” Estos looked out the window. White flakes splattered the glass.
“She mentioned a bus.”
“She’s not going to catch it. Everything is shut down because of the storm.” Estos pulled a heavy felt cape off a mannequin and opened the door. “Lock up behind me, we’ll come around to the side entrance.”
“We?” Andris asked, looking at Estos as if he’d just gone mad.
“And tell Ethet and Barba that we are having company for dinner,” Estos called out.
Nat brushed snow off her watch. The bus was late. She shifted her weight from foot to foot. The road was a smooth layer of white. She looked through the falling snow to the Italian restaurant across the street. A “Closed” sign hung crookedly in its dark window. She straightened as she saw a pair of headlights in the distance. The vehicle slowly turned onto a side street. She shoved her hands deeper into her pockets. Viv was gone, and none of her other friends had cars that could handle this road. Calling anyone was pointless. She had just decided to walk downtown when she heard her name.
“Natalie!” The snow and dark obscured Estos until he was right below the halogen glow of the streetlight by the bus stop.
She squinted into the snow. “What are you wearing?”
Estos pushed back the hood and held up a snow-covered panel of his cape to examine it. “I think it’s from the Robin Hood costume. I was in a rush to catch you. Come on, this weather is getting worse.” He grabbed her arm and started to pull her back the way he came. Nat resisted and Estos let go.
“I’ll find a ride back to campus.”
“No, you won’t. Not in this.”
“Yes, I will. It’s not that far to town.” She wiped snow off her eyelashes so she could see better.
“I’m not trying to be difficult, Natalie, but they shut down the hill road. If you haven’t noticed, nothing is moving in this. Please come back with me. We have plenty of room for you to stay, and dinner is on.” He held out his hand. Snow plastered his hair. She looked through the swirling storm, down the dimly lit street toward downtown, then back at Estos.
“You win.” She sighed. “I’m so tired right now, I don’t even know if I could make it downtown. I’m not sitting next to Andris at the dinner table, though.” She gave Estos a sideways look, hoping he’d take it as humor and not offense.
“Fair enough.” They walked a few moments, then Estos added, “Don’t take Andris’ behavior personally. He’s stressed and preoccupied right now.”
Nat held her tongue. Andris must always be stressed and preoccupied.
They walked silently through the snow past the car-repair shops and auto-parts stores until the outline of the costume shop came into view. She slowed as they reached the entrance, but Estos took her hand, gently this time.
“There’s another entrance around the side. It’s not much farther.” They walked along the warehouse wall. Flurries of snow fell in waves from the gutters high above them. Nat heard a faint humming. When they reached the far corner of the warehouse, Estos pulled her round to a small door. The snowdrifts were knee high. Nat wiggled her toes, trying to regain some sensation in her frozen feet. Estos quickly punched buttons on a keypad and spoke into a snow-covered intercom. The door clicked, and the two stepped inside.
They walked into a dark, cramped room that smelled faintly of pine. The humming sound grew louder. Estos leaned toward another door and spoke again into a screen. The door clicked, and they proceeded up a set of enclosed metal stairs, which led to a high narrow walkway made of metal grates. Snow melted off of Nat’s shoes and dripped between the slats. She looked over the railing and stopped. The tips of thick evergreens touched the edge of the walkway. Half of the warehouse was filled with towering trees. Skinny, faceless blue dummies floated above them, suspended from the ceiling of the warehouse. At the other end of the building, she saw a small greenhouse and neat rows of plants. Fiber-optic cables coiled down from the ceiling to the roof of the shed. A patch of dirt was adjacent to the garden and greenhouse. Long spears, swords, clubs, and other weapons lined the wall in the corner.
“Come on, Natalie,” Estos beckoned from farther down the walkway.
“What is this place?” She reached out and touched the tip of a pine tree, rolling a needle between her fingers.
“Think of it as one big movie set.” Estos grinned in the wan light. An open door greeted them at the end of the walkway. Estos closed the door and moved swiftly past Nat down another set of stairs, his boots thudding against the metal. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she realized she was on the other side of the second carved door Andris had come through earlier in the evening.
After a few more steps, they entered a galley-style kitchen. Oberfisk and the tall, muscular man named Kroner sat at a long wooden table next to Barba. Cairn was hunched over a sink, steam encircling his long arms. Pots, pans, and dried herbs hung from ceiling racks above the table. Oberfisk stood quickly, knocking over his stool and barely missing bashing his head on a low-hanging pot.
“Bit foolish going out in the weather without letting us know, Estos,” he chided as he took Nat by the elbow. He pulled out a chair. Nat sat directly across from Barba.
“I let Andris know,” Estos replied coolly.
“Cairn, would you get the girl a plate? She looks like a starved, wet rat.” Oberfisk accepted a plate from Cairn and plopped it in front of Nat. “No offense meant.” He smiled down at her, the kitchen lights reflecting off his bald head.
“None taken.” Nat inhaled the rich smell of roast beef and mashed potatoes covered in gravy.
“You can get your own.” Oberfisk pointed to Estos and then sat down with a thud. Estos loaded his plate, and he and Cairn joined the four already sitting at the table. Barba leaned forward slightly with her arms crossed. Her eyes never left Estos. Nat glanced at him as he shoved a forkful of potatoes into his mouth. No one said a word.
After a few minutes of silence, Nat said, “Thank you for the dinner, Professor Gate, Mrs. Gate. I don’t mean to impose on you like this.” She twisted her napkin underneath the table.
“Don’t give it a thought,” Oberfisk answered. “It’s our fault we kept you late during such a bad storm. We were just a bit busy back here and forgot all about the store. Guess that’s why we hired you, isn’t it?” He chuckled, looked at Barba, and clammed up.
They continued to eat in silence until Estos got up for a second serving. Nat wondered if Oberfisk was the one person in the group designated to speak until Barba suddenly spoke up.
“Estos, show Natalie to the spare room upstairs. She’s exhausted, and we all have matters that we must attend to.” Barba gave Nat a gentle smile, which disappeared when she turned to Estos.
“Please don’t.” Nat held up her hand. She’d broken some strange taboo by merely sitting at the table with this group. “I can walk downtown and catch a ride up to campus.” She stood and slung her sopping wet bag over her shoulder. “Estos, if you would just show me out, I’ll be on my way.”
Barba rounded the table. In one fluid movement, she took Nat’s bag off her shoulder. “Don’t be ridiculous, come with me.”
Nat looked back at Estos, unsure what to do. He nodded encouragingly toward Barba. Nat reluctantly followed her out of the kitchen. Wisps of red hair had come loose from the tight bun high on Barba’s head. Nat thought she looked like a petite lion. They walked through the room where Andris had yelled at Nat.
“I have seen too many students in my time not to recognize when you’re about to fall down from exhaustion,” Barba said as they reached the base of a staircase. Nat thought Barba didn’t know the half of it but nodded in quiet agreement. The stairs creaked slightly underfoot. She doubted she would be able to sneak back down without anyone hearing.
“Sleep here tonight,” Barba said as she flicked on the light in the last room at the end of the long hallway. The room contained a dark-blue chair, an ottoman, a small daybed covered in a down comforter, and a tall wardrobe. On the wall next to the single window hung a painting of hills swathed in golden-yellow flowers.
“The bathroom is across the hall.” She placed Nat’s bag by the door. “Estos will come get you in the morning. Have open dreams, Natalie.”
“Thank you.” The door clicked shut. Nat kicked off her wet shoes and lay on the bed, staring at the painting. Her eyelids drooped, and she was soon asleep, dreaming of golden fields.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“It was premature to have brought her here, Estos,” Barba scolded the young man. Oberfisk and Kroner stomped down the hallway in front of them.
“Tell me when the time would be right, Sister? We’re running out of options. You’ve been assessing her for more than a year. How much longer do you need to watch her? She’s mentally strong, physically capable, and meets all your other criteria,” Estos replied, his tone full of exasperation.
Oberfisk and Kroner halted in front of a door emblazoned with carvings of a vine, sword, bird, and sun.
“She can be on her way tomorrow knowing nothing if you prefer.” Estos tilted his head, listening to the muffled voices on the other side of the door. “When did they get back?” he asked.
“Shortly after you left to get Natalie,” Oberfisk replied. “Couldn’t really mention it with her in the room.” He and Kroner grabbed the door handles. “After you.” They bowed slightly as Estos stepped across the threshold into Ethet’s laboratory.
“Two weeks, and you couldn’t deliver a simple message?” Andris was stomping back and forth in front of an opening to a rough limestone corridor in the corner of the bright room. Ethet and Annin were bent over Riler, who lay on a narrow table opposite Andris, moaning in pain.
“They were tracking me, you dolt,” Annin said. “What did you want me to do, lead them straight to your brother and the rebels? They knew Riler was through, too.” She pointed at Riler, and the blue skin on her arm rippled under the light. “They’re tracking all of us.” Annin’s wild hair flew in all directions. She stopped when she saw Estos. He brought his hand to her cheek.
“It’s good to see you,” Estos said. A look of relief washed over his face. Her blue eye glittered like shattered glass. The patch over her other eye hung crookedly.
“I tried, Estos. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. At least you’re back safe,” Estos said. Oberfisk cleared his throat, and Estos dropped his hand.
“How were you able to stay two weeks, yet Riler was attacked after just half a day?” Andris stepped in front of Estos. Spittle from his mouth landed on Annin’s cheek. She wiped it away and gave him a murderous look.
“I assume it’s because I am, as you’re always reminding me, a ‘duozi.’ We’re harder to track than you.” She shoved him slightly aside and grabbed a glass-stoppered vial from a high wooden rack.
“The Nala and Mudug’s men have been a day behind me ever since I crossed over. I’ve spent the last two weeks trying to find your brother or the Northern Warrior Sisters. Get out of my way.” She pushed past Andris again and stood next to Ethet. Andris clenched his fists, and Estos moved protectively between him and Annin.
Ethet dropped the scissors and pulled layers of blood-stained fabric away from Riler’s thigh. She inspected the long gash and took the now unstoppered vial from Annin’s hand. The wound sizzled slightly as the clear liquid fell from the vial onto Riler’s ragged piece of skin. He arched his back and groaned.
Ethet leaned over the wound and sniffed. “It’s clean.” His body relaxed, and everyone in the room except her and Annin let out a collective breath.
“Annin, mallow salve and threaded needle. Have the bandages ready.” Ethet gently inspected the rest of Riler.
Estos pulled up a stool while Ethet irrigated, then sutured the wound. “Tell us what happened,” he said calmly. He laid a hand on Riler. “Annin, you first.”
“I waited in the portal before I crossed over. Nothing was in the forest when I made it through.” She had an odd look in her human eye.
Barba interrupted. “Did the membrane push back?”
“Not when I was leaving. I was caught coming back. I had Riler past the barrier, but it took me more than a minute to pull myself through.” Annin turned her attention to Riler’s thigh. Ethet brought the curved needle up in tight, efficient strokes, securing and cutting each suture before starting another.
“Did anyone see you?” Estos asked.
“No.” Annin kept her head down, swabbing the wound lightly as Ethet worked. “At least I don’t think so.” Her voice held some hesitation.
“Go back to the beginning,” Barba demanded.
“I traveled northeast out of the forest along the edge of the Meldon Plain.”
“In the opposite direction of where we told you to go.” Andris looked up at the ceiling and pulled his beard. “Why didn’t you go straight to Benedict’s house?” His face was a shade redder than normal. Estos looked at his friend and held up a cautioning hand.
“You told me to go to the Hermit’s house, Andris—no one else did,” Annin shot back as she scowled at the soldier. “I’d neve
r go near that rat traitor. He’d turn me over to the Nala faster than Mudug’s men.”
“You and your imaginary conspiracies cost us time and almost cost us Riler.” Andris placed one hand on the rough limestone archway and gestured to Riler with the other. “He went in to find you and do the job you should have done weeks ago,” he said accusingly, narrowing his eyes and twisting his mouth.
“The rebellion will not hold if they think Estos is dead. It’s been almost a year since Oberfisk delivered the last message for Benedict, and we don’t even know if that made it to the right hands. I knew from the beginning it was a mistake to send in a duozi. No one would have believed a word you said, even if you had managed to pass the message on. We’ve wasted all this time!” Andris kicked a small waste bin. The metal clanged as it hit the limestone.
“Enough!” Estos shouted. The room fell silent. “Annin, you said they were tracking us. What do you mean?”
Ignoring Estos’ question, Annin ripped the patch from her face. An eye like a faceted silver disc focused on Andris. He instinctively stepped back.
“Annin,” Estos said, impatiently.
Annin glared at Andris a moment longer, then responded to Estos, “Do you remember when Oberfisk tried to go through about nine months ago?”
“Do I!” Oberfisk exclaimed from the corner. “Nearly got my head pinioned to a tree by Mudug’s lackeys when I came out on the Meldon Plain.” He patted the side of his head.
Annin nodded. “And Barba and Kroner, similar thing. When they tried last year, they were attacked by the Nala.” Barba and Kroner nodded, looking grave.
“We all know this,” Andris said grimly. He addressed Estos. “Just let me go in, Estos. I can find my brother and ensure the rebels are ready for your return.”
