by Lea Doué
A few moments later, Holic emerged from the fortress carrying a large load of short boards, which he dumped outside the doors. Bay and Hazel followed close behind.
Gwen rushed to Hazel’s side and told them Sissi’s story before they had a chance to overreact. Bay looked like she wanted to crack one of the boards over Sissi’s head.
“It was kind of her to help out, wasn’t it?” Gwen said, hoping they would pick up on her lead.
Hazel was the only one who managed to respond. “Of course,” she said weakly.
Gwen joined Sissi at the fire. “Hazel was actually making something with these particular webs.”
“Were you?” Interest sparked in her eyes, and she turned to Hazel expectantly, the teeth necklaces clicking as she moved.
Hazel explained a few of the uses for weaver webs, leaving out their specific need for them at the moment.
“You really should consider burning them.” Sissi smoothed a hand down her slender neck. “They smoke so nicely and would get lots of attention so you can be rescued. Then you can get whatever you want made out of webs.”
She stood in front of the fire a moment longer, eyes unfocused. The evening light dimmed and melted into black, and the sparkler dragons speckled the forest with their light show. Sissi finally wandered off. She stopped beside Eddy, looked up into his face, and spoke softly. He frowned but nodded, and she faded into the forest.
Everything that girl did was for herself. What was she up to now?
Chapter Twenty-One
Gwen sat heavily on the ground. “She knew exactly what she was doing.”
“Of course she did,” Eddy said. “We need to be extra careful.”
“What did she say to you?” Theo asked, poking the fire with a stick.
Eddy didn’t answer right away. “She wanted me to promise not to leave her behind.”
“You promised her, didn’t you?” Gwen said.
“She’s playing a game, trying to finish the task Idris set for her. Prove she can do it on her own. She doesn’t want us to escape, of course, not until she has her prince, but if we do, she needs to be near us or risk failing.”
“So she won’t openly sabotage our effort,” Gwen said. “She’ll play innocent, like she did just now.”
“Exactly.” Eddy shrugged. “I’ll turn her over to Father when we get home.”
“Good,” Theo said. “I’m tired of dealing with her.”
They sat in silence. Night animals rustled in the underbrush, just out of sight. Ten minutes passed, or twenty. It didn’t matter. Finally, they all filed into the fortress for the night, and Gwen fell into an exhausted sleep.
The next day was spent rebuilding their rope supply after deciding that Gwen’s original escape path would do. Holic and Eddy worked on notching the boards he’d brought out the night before. They had chopped up Eddy’s chest to get the wood, and they planned to make a step bridge and whatever other tools they could think of to aid in their escape. Their path through the trees would be a slow one.
*
Gwen woke in the dark to the screeching, groaning sound of something crashing outside the lookout. She bolted upright, heart pounding. Orange light flickered on the stone walls, and the air carried the same throat-clenching fumes as when Sissi had helped clean up.
She glanced at their pile of webs, safely tucked into Hazel’s side, and then ran to the window.
The forest burned.
“Hazel, get up! Bay!” She whipped off her nightclothes and dressed quickly.
Holic bolted into the room and took a split second to read the signs. “We need to get out. This fortress is sorcery-created, but that doesn’t mean it won’t burn.”
“If the fire reaches our trees, we might not have time to find another escape route.” They would never get past the dragons on foot.
“The search party will surely be able to find us now,” Holic said. “I’ll get my brothers.”
While Bay and Hazel dressed, Gwen gathered the rope, the step bridge, and Eddy’s wooden chess pieces, which she’d rescued from the splintered chest. They would use them as weights. She tucked one of the long-nosed rats into her belt.
They met the brothers at the bottom of the stairs. Gwen distributed the rope so everyone carried some. Holic took the bridge.
The halls remained smoke-free until they neared the front doors. The branches and split wood they had stacked inside to keep dry had been scattered, and it burned hot and high, blocking their exit. “What now?” Gwen said.
“There are other exits down the broken halls.” Eddy turned and brushed past everyone to lead them back the way they’d come. “The nearest is down past the ballroom.”
“We need to cover our noses and mouths before we go out. The smoke from those webs is going to make it impossible to breathe.”
Eddy removed his shirt before she stopped talking, and he ripped it into strips with his knife.
Bay grabbed the cloths. “I’ll wet them in the bathing room and meet you at the end of the hall.” She bolted off, her limp barely noticeable now.
There was one person missing. “I’ll go see if Sissi is in her room,” Gwen said. “She could still be sleeping.”
“No, I’ll go.” Eddy put a hand on her shoulder. “You should stay with your sister.”
She hesitated, but he knew his way around the fortress better. The last thing she needed now was to get lost. She nodded, and he raced off.
Bay rejoined them just as they neared the ballroom. She’d wrapped cloths around her hands and held up a fistful of extra strips.
Gwen raised an eyebrow in question.
“They make climbing easier.”
Good thinking.
Theo stopped them at the entrance to the abandoned hall and had Bay pass out the wet cloths and the strips for their hands.
While everyone was occupied, Bay pulled her aside. “Eddy wanted me to tell you he’s staying behind with Sissi.”
If Bay had slapped her, she might have been less shocked. “What?”
“Sissi wants to stay.” She bit her lip as if reluctant to go on. “He said he won’t leave her here alone. He made a promise.”
Gwen blinked. That was it, then. He’d chosen Sissi after all. No doubt he felt some obligation to her after four years in exile together.
She might never see him again.
Bay shrugged. “I’m sorry.”
She nodded numbly.
“Where’s Eddy?” Holic said.
Gwen tied the cloth in place over her nose. “He’s not coming.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s staying with Sissi!”
Hazel flinched, and the others looked at her silently.
Anger burned in Theo’s eyes. He called Eddy a name under his breath as she brushed past him and entered the dark hallway.
Gwen’s fists clenched in understanding. There was no time to hunt for Eddy and make him change his mind. If he wanted to be left behind, they would leave him behind.
Theo stomped into the rubble-strewn corridor and quickly took the lead.
Smoke trickled in through cracks, and red-and-orange light flickered on the stones in a deadly dance, illuminating their way.
Theo stopped short before they reached the end of the hall. Gwen had been following close behind and turned her face in time so that her cheek smacked against his solid back. She peeked around his shoulder—a cave-in blocked their escape.
“What is it?” Bay asked.
“Our route is blocked, but we can still get out here,” Gwen said, wanting to reassure her.
“We can?” Theo said.
“Yes. Look at that crack beside the pile of rubble.” She pointed. “The stones all around are loose.”
“We’ve got no hammer. We don’t even have the ax.”
“You’ve got legs. Use them.”
Gwen sat on the floor and pounded both feet against the lowest stones. With Holic’s help, they kicked and pushed until they’d widened the hole enough to
crawl through.
Theo pushed through first with his wide shoulders, followed by the girls, and then Holic. They emerged into darkness and wasted no time weaving their way around rubble and brambles, aiming for their escape route on the other side of the fortress. The wind joined them and smoke nipped at their heels. Unless the fire had started in two places at once, their trees were safe. For now.
Tears stung Gwen’s eyes, and only partly from the smoke. What Lily and Eben had—she wanted that for all her sisters—but she wanted that for herself, too. She had never admitted it before, not even to herself. She understood Eddy’s need to take care of his family and his people, including Sissi. No doubt he was also trying to be noble or heroic or gentlemanly by staying behind and letting her go, holding himself back so that she could make a choice about her future without any pressure from him. He might even be scared that she would reject him, and he’d decided to avoid the possibility.
She stopped walking. Whatever was going on in his brain, she intended the find out. She’d made her choice. If he wanted to stay, she would, too. “Wait!”
They all stopped, and four heads turned in her direction. She pulled the cloth down and let it hang around her neck as she explained her intentions to go back for Eddy.
“I’ll come with you,” Holic said and took a step forward.
“No.”
He jerked back.
She didn’t give him time to argue. “I appreciate that you want to come, but your place is not by my side.”
His pleading eyes tore her heart. “Don’t leave me, Gwen.”
“Theo needs you. He can’t get the girls out alone.”
“You know she’s right,” Hazel said. “Whether you love me or not, you still know right from wrong.”
Holic growled in frustration.
“The potion was an accident,” Hazel said. “But what you do now is not. If you truly love her, let her go. For good.”
He stared at Gwen and then his gaze shifted to Hazel. “You’ve given up a great deal yourself, haven’t you?”
Hazel didn’t respond, but pain flickered in her eyes.
“I’m not myself lately… but I am still in control of my actions.” He turned to Gwen. “I’ll make sure your sister gets to safety.”
She nodded in acknowledgment and then ran to Hazel and kissed her cheek. “We’ll catch up with you.” Hopefully.
Bay tapped her on the shoulder. “Eddy and Sissi are heading to the falls to wait out the fire.”
“Thank you.”
Pulling up her mask, Gwen ran back the way they’d come. She bypassed their exit and circled around to the front of the fortress. The entryway still burned, along with the door and the lean-to that held the axes, but the trail leading to the falls looked clear enough. Well before she neared the stream, she called for Eddy, but she got no reply.
Something swished by the back of her head, sending her short locks flying. A weaver dragon. They swarmed in the canopy, green hides darting among the branches, batty wings flapping in panic. She’d mistaken the noise for the wind or her own labored breathing. She ducked a few more times before reaching the cave. Weavers crouched inside and waded in the shallow water at the base of the cliff. Two climbed on her boots.
“Eddy!”
They should be there. She counted to fifty, calling for Eddy after every ten. Still nothing. Something had happened, and time was short. She nudged the dragons off her feet and ran for the fortress.
The fire had spread almost to the courtyard, but the once-blazing entrance had died down to a smolder. She kicked her way through the embers.
“Eddy!”
Her voice bounced down the corridors as she searched the bedrooms, the dining hall, the lookout. Nothing. He’d gone to look for Sissi in her room. Could they still be in there?
She hesitated. Eddy’s room was closer—she’d check there first.
The smoke still hadn’t invaded the main hallways, so she pulled her mask down and ran. Right, left. Another right. Even before she turned into Eddy’s ruined hallway, banging and yelling reached her ears, then anguished, desperate cries.
Eddy.
She ran down the hall, tripping over rubble and choking on the smoke seeping through the cracks. “Eddy, I’m here.”
The banging stopped. “Gwen, what are you doing here? Where is everyone?”
“I came back for you. I want you to come with me. Please. You don’t have to stay here.”
“What are you talking about? I want to come with you, but Sissi trapped me in here. I thought she was Bay.”
She gasped. In their rush to get out, they had forgotten to stay together. Sissi must have disguised herself as Eddy, too, and lied to Bay about him staying behind.
She explained quickly both what she knew and what she guessed. “Has the smoke gotten in yet?”
“The air is still breathable, but she’s jammed the lock with something. I can’t open it.”
“What about your sword?”
“The door’s too thick.” He paused. “And my candle went out.”
He was trapped and in pitch black again for the first time since he’d had the blindfold off. No wonder he’d been panicking.
“You have to find the key.”
“There’s no time. Besides, wouldn’t Sissi have it on her?”
“Perhaps, but it’s worth taking a look in her workroom, just in case.”
“Right. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
She ran again and thankfully found the bedroom without getting lost. She pushed open the door. “Sissi?”
No answer. Dim candlelight shone from the workroom. She crossed the floor and entered. Hundreds of eyes blinked at her, just as they had the first time. Nothing had changed, but how would she ever find a key in this mess?
She started at the far end, moving everything that wasn’t bolted down. For one brief moment, she stole a peek at herself in a large oval mirror standing in the corner. It was hard not to. She put a hand to her hair. Her poor hair. Eddy had done a good job with the trim, but it was frizzed and dirty, much like the rest of her. Scratches marred her forehead and chin.
With her three seconds of vanity behind her, she moved on, turning over baskets and crates, tapping on the walls and stomping on the floor looking for hidden compartments. She found Hazel’s hair, the golden strands braided again and tied at both ends with purple ribbon. She tucked it into her belt.
There was no key here.
Eddy was hacking at the door when she returned.
She knocked and then paused. Her throat tightened, and the words almost choked her. “I couldn’t find it.”
Silence.
“Eddy?”
“Any chance one of your sisters taught you how to pick a lock?”
“No, but how hard can it be?” Especially with no lock picks. She didn’t even have a dagger. At the moment, anything pointy would do.
The long-nosed rat. She pulled the wooden piece free of her belt and stuck its snout into the keyhole. It fit… but now what? She wiggled it around, trying different angles until she heard a snap. When she pulled the piece free, the nose hung on by a splinter.
“Thorns and thistles!” She flung the piece down the hallway. She’d never liked rats.
She wasn’t giving up. Sissi liked locking people in rooms, but they had gotten Bay out. She would get Eddy out, too. The rock hadn’t worked on the dungeon door, but it was worth a try now. She circled her hands around a large stone on the floor and smashed it against the handle, over and over again, ignoring his questions, until the metal gave way and clanged onto the floor.
She pushed the door.
It didn’t move.
She kicked it.
Nothing.
“Gwen?” He sounded tired.
He shouldn’t sound tired. They had too much running to do when she got him out, and climbing, and more running. The longer this door took to open, the closer the fire would get to the dragons and the faster they would have to run.
&
nbsp; The fire.
She would use fire to set him free.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“I’m going to burn the door down,” Gwen said. “I’ll be right back.”
“What? Gwen!”
Eddy yelled something else, but she didn’t slow, intent on reaching the front entrance and collecting some embers.
She skidded to a stop near the dining hall. A pot. She needed a pot to hold the fire. She ducked into the room, where breakfast had been laid out as if all was well, and tried to ignore the clenching hunger in her stomach as she snatched the apple bowl from the table, sending fruit rolling into the corners.
Once at the entrance, she scooped up a generous amount of smoldering wood and rushed back, but as she stepped over the threshold into Eddy’s hallway, the bowl vanished and scorching embers trickled through her fingers. She shook them off her hands.
Drat! Of all the vessels to grab, she’d gotten one that wasn’t real. Now what? She glanced around, unwilling to waste time running back and forth again. Her boots. She pulled one off and scooped the embers inside.
“Stand back,” she ordered when she reached the end of the hall. “I’m going to burn the door down. Cover your face, and duck low under the smoke.”
She dumped the embers at the base of the door and blew on them, sending sparks and ashes flying into her face. She blew again and again, shielding her eyes. Finally, tiny flames licked up the wood until the door smoldered and burned, but it was too slow. The wood was too thick. She’d never get him out in time.
She stood and clenched her hands in her hair, growling with frustration. If only she’d found the key, but no key would free him now.
Unless…
She unwrapped her hands and stuffed a long strip of the fabric into the keyhole, leaving a piece dangling to act as a wick. To this, she tied a coil of web rope and lit the bundle with an ember balanced on a rock.
She pulled her mask back up and watched the wood around the lock singe and blacken.
Eddy coughed. “Gwen?”
“Hold on. I think it’s working” Once the web rope had burned off and the wood around the lock had caught fire, she knelt by the small hole growing at the base of the door.
