I felt a jolt of pain that I couldn’t hide. Fritz saw me wince. He drew a long breath and hung his head.
“I keep telling myself it will all go back to the way it was,” he said. “Perhaps I should not get my hopes so high…”
“Just in case,” I finished for him.
***
Out in the murky forest, Lev had pinpointed the first wave of intruders and he was concerned. There were too few red capes. He detected no more than six. He would have liked their odds better if there were more. He knew the duke to be underhanded. His tactics were dirty and even though the numbers seemed to be in their favor, he knew it counted for little.
He tried not be distracted by the whimpering hostages from Feegman’s Boot. They limped towards Woodman’s Hall, clearly all too aware of the red capes following them, but too beaten to care. He told himself that a Slaugh caught in their situation would know better. A Slaugh would never become a hostage in the first place.
It was pure ego but it helped him keep the confidence he needed to command his troops. An outsider would never know it, but these particular Slaugh were all very young and very rough around the edges. Every warrior must be flawless, must never flinch, must never falter. It was ingrained in Lev, but there was another part to him as well. He acknowledged it as weakness, but in his heart of hearts he knew it was his mother’s voice that kept him from living each moment for the next battle.
It was hard enough to keep his head in the moment when he kept thinking about his visit to Rae. He’d been able to put the encounter out of his mind well enough until he saw Emma again. Now every time he saw her face he thought of the word sacrifice. If she had any idea of the horrible visions in his head, she’d know why he’d been avoiding looking her in the eye.
“Sir, they’ve stopped.”
It was Katriel whispering from the branch below. Lev pulled himself back into the present and focused on the hostages. The old Fay man, the Brownie woman and her children had collapsed by the stream. He caught the scent of Mr. Tulley and the Terra Cartisans who were hiding behind a pile of tree trunks that had washed up from the tidal wave. They were waiting for their chance.
Meanwhile, the red capes hung back from the hostages, watching. They tried to remain unseen among the forest foliage but they were not Slaugh and they did not have the knack of blending seamlessly into shadow and moonlight. Besides, their odor was too strong. They reeked of the bitter smoking leaf that many Larlaithians rolled up and put in pipes. It burned in Lev’s nose.
“You,” Lev whispered to a Slaugh in the next tree over. “Take out the man in the back.”
It was done seamlessly. The Slaugh swooped down and picked off the lagging red cape before any of his cohorts even noticed. Lev had not given a specific kill order, but the captured red cape made no sound. More than likely the man was dead. That was fine since he appeared to be an underling. Lev set his sights on their leader, a big man with steel-gray hair and a noticeable limp.
With another signal, one more of the red capes was taken. This time, however, the man got out a garbled cry before the Slaugh who captured him broke his neck. The other red capes whirled around and drew their swords. They ran to encircle the frightened hostages.
“NOW!” Lev shouted.
His troops glided down from the surrounding trees like birds of prey. Their numbers took the little band of red capes by surprise. One more of them went down easily, felled by a thrown blade. The rest scattered in confusion, leaving the hostages out in the open.
The Brownie woman screamed and hugged her children close. Only when the Slaugh had drawn the remaining red capes to a safe distance did the Terra Cartisans move in. They grabbed the stunned hostages and lead them away.
“I knew it!” the red cape leader shouted. “I knew you traitors were hiding somewhere up here in the northern forest. Now the duke will come down on you with the force of a hundred armies!”
The Terra Cartisans ignored the threats as they struggled to haul the weary hostages to safety. Trapper Toussant could barely walk. Two of the Fay men had to hoist him up and carry him.
The Slaugh closed in on the red cape leader. All the other red capes were dead.
“So you devils are in on it as well,” the leader said, curling his lip at the Slaugh nearest him.
The circle of Slaugh tightened around him. They hovered with their hands on their weapons, waiting on Lev’s orders. Either they could kill the man, or they could take him alive. Lev had considered taking at least one of the men prisoner so that they could wheedle information about the duke’s activities from him. It seemed like the smart thing to do, but the man’s attitude bothered him. Something wasn’t right.
Lev checked to make sure that the Terra Cartisans and the hostages were safely on their way to the cave. The bodies of the fallen red capes lay sprawled on the forest floor.
Their leader laughed. He reached into his cape.
“DON’T MOVE!” Lev shouted as he drew one of his daggers. He burst through the circle of Slaugh.
“What are you going to do?” the red cape said with a sneer. “Kill me?”
Lev took aim with the dagger. “Yes, unless you cooperate and come with us.”
The man tilted back his head and laughed. His wrist flicked under his robe. There was a pulse of light.
All of the Slaugh had their weapons drawn but none of them could do anything with Lev in the middle of the circle. It was up to him to kill the red cape. He tossed the dagger in a perfect arc. It should have caught the man in the throat, but by the time it reached the spot there was nothing there but a dimming glow. The red cape was gone.
Lev roared the worst of Slaugh curses and dropped to the ground. The dagger that should have killed the red cape was stuck point down in the dirt. He kicked it and cursed again.
“What happened?” Katriel asked. “Where did he go?”
“He had a Pyxis Charm,” Lev growled. “He has gone back to Ivywild. Now the duke will know where we are. He will send more men. We are finished here.”
The other Slaugh stared at the ground. Lev felt their anger and disappointment and it was heavier than the weight if his armor. They had only just found a new sanctuary and now they would have to abandon it.
“How long do you think we have?” Katriel asked.
Lev shook his head. “Not long enough.”
There was a troubled flutter as the others twitched their wings.
“We could fly away,” spoke up one man. “This isn’t our fight. We’ve said that all along. Let the Fay take care of themselves.”
Lev leaped on him so fast that the man didn’t even have time to throw up his fists.
“Have you no honor? This isn’t about Fay or Slaugh anymore. This is about reclaiming our world from a tyrant. Would you run, coward? Would you leave the defenseless to perish?”
He let go of the man’s collar and shoved him to the ground. The others looked away in shame. They had all been thinking the same thing. He knew it, and they knew he knew it.
Wilhelmina was the first to say something.
“Please, let’s hurry back to the hall and tell the others,” she said.
Though she did not mention Noemi, Lev knew a mother’s plea when he heard it. “Yes, Wilhelmina. Fly ahead to Mr. Tulley and tell him to take the hostages back as well. Now that the secret’s out there’s no use keeping them in the cave.”
“What will we do now?” Katriel asked as Wilhelmina flew away.
Lev didn’t answer. He didn’t have any more answers. He felt ashamed. He had failed miserably by letting the red cape get away. What doom had he brought upon the innocents at Woodman’s Hall?
What doom had he brought to her? He had tried to shield Emma from his nightmare visions, but now they surged through his mind with new clarity. Death. Destruction. Sacrifice. These were the mechanisms of destiny and he had laid an open path for them straight to her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Chloe and the others made camp in an abandoned cor
nfield. Nobody built a fire. It was warm and they wanted to keep their presence a secret. They sat in a somber circle, nibbling at the food the Mrs. Larue had packed.
Now that Chloe had seen the prison and had been told the story of Commander Larue’s suffering there, she felt a terrible ache in her gut that wouldn’t go away. It was more than anger. It was fury worse than any she’d ever known and sadness more piercing than she’d ever thought possible. Not only had she let Commander Larue down, but she’d turned her back on all her people while terrible things were done.
“So you think that they finished whatever they were doing at the prison?” she asked Jules Larue.
“I think so. Those fires weren’t accidental. They destroyed the prison and then left it.”
“But why?” Chloe asked.
“To get rid of evidence,” Bazzlejet suggested. “To hide the experiments they were doing.”
“No,” Othella spoke up. “They didn’t have to hide anything. More likely they destroyed it all so there’d be nothing left that anyone else could use.”
Tobin smacked an insect that was biting his arm. He’d been silently morose since leaving Helm Bogvogny. They’d found no signs of his mother there. The two Master Casters traveling with them had even inspected the skeletons to determine their age and gender. None of them were a match for Kiros Rubedo. That wasn’t much of a comfort. Having heard what they’d done to Commander Larue, Chloe didn’t care to imagine what they had in store for Kiros.
“I just wish there was a way to know what the duke was up to,” she said. “Believe me, I want to go back to your hideout and see Emma and Lord Finbarr just as bad as anyone else, but…”
“We’ve done nothing to help them,” Bazzlejet said. “We’re no better off than when we started.”
“Exactly,” Chloe said. “And besides…” she glanced over at Tobin.
“Kiros,” Othella said lowly. “I wish I knew why they took her.”
Tobin lifted his head and looked at her with a spark of hope showing in his face. “Can’t we just go wherever this duke guy is? You know, sneak in?”
Othella sighed. “Not to be pessimistic, but Ivywild is impenetrable. It only has one entrance by land and that will be heavily guarded. The protective barrier is gone, but to go in by air would be suicide.”
Bazzlejet sighed. “If only I could get inside! I had all my own little routes mapped out through the place. Keeping hidden from the duke would be as easy as making a virgin blush.”
“Bazzlejet, mind your tongue,” Mr. Larue said sharply.
“Yessir,” Bazzlejet said, ducking his head.
Chloe knew Ivywild better than anyone. The lousy duke had lived overseas his whole life. There was no way he could have ratted out all the nooks and crannies by now.
Garland Finbarr cleared his throat. He’d been staring dreamily into the distance and he even hummed a few times. It was an odd way to deal with their predicament, but Chloe didn’t think any less of him for it. Now that their talk had turned to Ivywild, however, he perked up and listened with interest.
“What is it?” Chloe asked, catching a curious gleam in his eyes. “What are you thinking about?”
“Well,” he said, “there might be a way to sneak into the castle, but it is extremely dangerous.”
Chloe leaned forward. “Go on.”
Garland fumbled around in his carryall bag and pulled out a beaten up little book. “There’s a way through here.”
“No,” Mr. Larue, the two Master Casters and Violet said all at the same time.
But Chloe was afire with new energy as she looked at the little book. “Yes!”
Bazzlejet’s voice chimed in with hers.
“We would get captured,” Mr. Larue said.
“Not me!” Chloe said. “Ivywild is my home! I know every stone in the walls!”
“Yeah, and besides, what have we got to lose?” Bazzlejet asked. “If we go back to Woodman’s Hall now, what good will it do? We need to know what the Dookie of Briar is playing at. The others are counting on us!”
“But what if we get caught?” Violet asked. “Can you imagine?”
Chloe got to her feet and looked down at the others. “I’m not asking if anyone else wants to go, but I’m telling you all right here and now that I’m going to. Somebody has to stay behind anyways and continue on to Woodman’s Hall. We can’t have a whole group of us tromping around the castle or we’ll surely get caught.”
Bazzlejet jumped to his feet. “I’m going with you.”
His father grabbed him by the pants leg and gave him a stern frown.
“It is madness to expect the queen to go to the heart of enemy territory,” said one of the Master Casters.
“I don’t deserve to be anybody’s queen if I don’t do something,” Chloe said in earnest. “This is an opportunity we can’t afford to waste!”
“An opportunity to get yourself killed, more likely,” Mr. Larue said.
Chloe looked to her mother.
“I have to agree with Jules,” Othella said with a tired sort of resignation. “It’s too dangerous.”
And that, it seemed was that. Chloe puffed her cheeks and blew the air out in one long, frustrated stream.
“Phew, I’m beat,” Bazzlejet said, unrolling a blanket. “Wake me when we get to Woodman’s Hall.”
Chloe glared at him. “This is no time for jokes! What happened? You were all fired up to sneak into Ivywild only moments ago.”
He let out a big yawn and stretched out on the blanket. “I know a lost cause when I see one, Your Highness. Nighty night.”
He winked. She almost missed it.
Garland cleared his throat. “I’ll take the first watch. The rest of you look rather exhausted.”
“There’s a good chap,” said one of the Master Casters. “Wake me in a few and I’ll relieve you.”
Chloe was determined to stay awake, but she drifted off the moment her head hit the rucksack that was serving as her pillow.
“Your Highness?”
Somebody was nudging her shoulder. She opened her eyes to find Garland and Bazzlejet kneeling beside her.
Bazzlejet lifted a finger to his lips. Chloe sat up and rubbed her eyes.
“Do you still want to go?” Garland whispered. He slid the book out of his pocket.
Chloe’s eyes shot wide open. She glanced back and forth between Garland and Bazzlejet. “You’ll come with me?”
Bazzlejet placed his right hand over his heart and bowed his head. “Anywhere, my queen.”
Mr. Larue snorted in his sleep and rolled over. Chloe, Bazzlejet and Garland froze, watching him. His eyes remained closed.
“We must hurry,” Garland said, flipping open the book. “Join hands.”
Chloe grabbed Garland’s free hand with her left and Bazzlejet took her right. As their fingers interlaced, Garland murmured an incantation that transformed the words on the page into a real environment that they could see and feel. More importantly, it turned the book into a sort of passageway. They could use its cross-references to enter other books. A joyful ache filled Chloe’s chest at the thought that one of those books was the doorway that would finally lead her home.
***
I stood at the top of the stairs at Woodman’s Hall, waiting for the Slaugh to come back. The lights were low and the place was quiet, but nobody was sleeping. I could feel them all holding their breath just like I was.
There came a rattle at the drawbridge. The night sentries called out to each other and the bridge was lowered. The Terra Cartisans came in. They half-carried, half-dragged the hostages from Feegman’s Boot.
A swift black and white shape flew in after them. It was a young Slaugh woman with a grim expression on her face.
Something was wrong. Where were the other Slaugh? A thousand terrifying possibilities surfaced in my mind all at once.
A small shape brushed by me. It was Noemi, rushing down to greet the lone Slaugh woman.
“Momma!”
Th
e woman scooped up the girl and hugged her tight. She murmured something soothing in Slaugh.
“Where are the others?” I asked.
“On their way,” the woman said. “Where is Lord Finbarr?”
“Here,” said the old man as he emerged from a room off the main hall. “Ah, Wilhelmina. What is the news?”
Wilhelmina lowered Noemi to the floor. The little girl stood close by her and squeezed her hand.
“They defeated the red capes,” Wilhelmina said. “All but one. He escaped with a Pyxis Charm.”
There was no hiding the grief in Lord Finbarr’s face. He’d weathered a lot over the past year but this was the blow that almost felled him. He swayed on his feet. I offered him an arm to lean on.
“This is…disastrous,” he said. “We can stay here no longer. We must move!”
Everyone nearby heard him. The Channelers who were trying to help Trapper Toussant and the others froze in shock. The Terra Cartisans hung their heads. Mrs. Larue, who’d just come from the kitchen, pressed a hand to her chest and looked like she might cry.
“Where will we go?” She asked. “Where can we go?”
A swarm of winged figures landed on the drawbridge. Lev led them. They looked defeated. The sight stunned me. Slaugh were never supposed to acknowledge failure, but it showed plainly in their lowered eyes, their slumped shoulders and the heavy way that they dragged their feet.
Lev wore an expression I’d never seen on him before. It was shame. More than any of the others, he looked as though he hated himself. Gone were all traces of his pride.
It had a strange effect on me to see everyone looking so crushed. I grew angry. Were they really prepared to give up after holding out for this long? Now was not the time to feel sorry. Now was the time to act.
I climbed up on the banister above the main hall so that I towered over all of them, even the browbeaten Slaugh. I cleared my throat and everyone looked up at me.
“So what?” I said.
I waited a moment to make sure they were all paying attention. The listless Slaugh fighters barely acknowledged me. Only Lev appeared to listen, and he still looked so shamefaced that it made my blood boil.
The Flute Keeper's Promise (The Flute Keeper Saga) Page 38
