The Secrets of Solace

by Jaleigh Johnson

  “Where?” Zara asked, and frowned when Lina shook her head. “You have to tell me where, Lina.”

  “I can’t,” Lina insisted. “Besides, the fewer people who know, the better. Isn’t that the best way to guarantee Ozben’s safety?”

  “This is different,” Zara said, crossing her arms. “I can’t let you take him somewhere when I don’t know where you’re going. You’ll both be in terrible danger, with no one to protect you.”

  Ozben glanced at Lina, and the two of them shared a look. His eyes brightened, first with surprise and then excitement as he guessed the hiding place she was hinting at. “We won’t need protection,” he said. “Lina’s right. No assassin will be able to get to us there. It’s the best hiding place in the whole stronghold.”

  “You’ve seen this place, Ozben?” Zara’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “How long have you been sneaking off under our noses, then?”

  “Just the once,” Ozben assured her. “But it’s a good place. Think about it. If I’m hidden, you’ll be free to help the refugees and hunt for the assassin at the same time he’s looking for me. Sooner or later, he’ll show himself.”

  Zara didn’t reply, but she looked thoughtful, which Lina took as a hopeful sign. Maybe she really was considering the idea.

  But after a moment, Zara shook her head. “I can’t agree unless I know where this hiding place is,” she said.

  Lina’s shoulders slumped with disappointment. “Why won’t you trust me?” she asked, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice.

  “Trust has to go both ways, Lina,” Zara said calmly. “If you want me to trust you with the huge responsibility of hiding Ozben, I have to know where, in case something goes wrong.”

  “But…” Torn, Lina looked to Ozben for inspiration. He knew better than anyone what she risked by confiding in Zara. Even if she couldn’t take her teacher there through the tiny Hourglass passage, revealing the location of her workshop brought the archivists a step closer to her hidden world. But if she didn’t tell, she lost the chance to keep Ozben safe.

  Ozben smiled at her sadly and lifted his shoulders in a helpless shrug, as if to say, It’s up to you. Lina nodded and tried to push down the fear churning in her gut. There was no choice. She had to convince Zara that this was the right thing to do.

  “I want to take Ozben to my workshop,” Lina said. “It’s in a hidden cave near the museum. I’ll show you and Nirean the access tunnel—only the two of you. It’s too small for anyone bigger than me or Ozben to get through.”

  “All right,” Zara said. “And this is where you’ve been going all those times you disappear?”

  Lina nodded. “I like to be alone down there, that’s all.”

  Looking closely at Zara, Lina could tell she didn’t quite believe that was Lina’s only purpose, but for whatever reason, she didn’t press the point. Instead, she said, “And you’re sure no one bigger than you and Ozben can get down there?”

  “You’ll see for yourself,” Lina said. She hesitated. Might as well go all the way with this plan. “That’s where I want to take the carnelian cat too,” she added.

  “Don’t push it,” Zara said, a warning in her voice.

  “They’d be away from everything dangerous, I promise you,” Lina said. “No forge fires, no flammable objects, and no assassins. And if anything happens, I can come out and tell you and Nirean. The assassins aren’t looking for me, so I can still move around the stronghold freely. It’s the perfect situation.”

  Zara sighed again and rubbed her hand across her forehead. Lina would have given anything to know what she was thinking in that moment, but she could only wait, her heart pounding, as Zara considered her plan.

  Finally, she looked at Lina and Ozben and held up her index finger. “First: the cat. Feldwon is in charge of the Menagerie, so he gets to decide,” she said. “Make your case, and if he says no, that’s the end of it. But if you can convince him, I’ll agree to let you care for the cat temporarily until he can go back to living with the other animals. All right?”

  Lina nodded vigorously. “I’ll talk Feldwon into it,” she said.

  “I imagine you will,” Zara said dryly. She held up another finger. “Second: Ozben. In light of the situation with the storms and the refugees, I’m willing to try your hiding plan for a few days, but with conditions. I’m assigning a guard to patrol the area around the entrance to the workshop to watch for trouble.” She looked at Lina, and her severe expression thawed a bit. “Your idea is a good one. If Ozben’s safe and hidden, Nirean and I can track this assassin, maybe even set up a trap using a decoy. But if there’s any sign of trouble, we’re pulling you out and putting Ozben under lock and key—no argument. Is that understood?”

  Lina and Ozben both nodded. Lina could hardly believe it. She’d convinced Zara, and more than that, her teacher had actually liked her idea.

  But now that it was settled, questions and fears filled Lina’s mind. At least one assassin was out there in the stronghold right now—in her home—and he was stalking her friend.

  “I still don’t understand how the assassin found Ozben,” Lina said. “He must have had help, someone to tell him where Ozben was going.” Her expression turned grim. “Or someone at the stronghold told him.” Her stomach clenched. She didn’t like to think that one of her own people would betray them.

  “I don’t know how he discovered that Ozben was here. It doesn’t do us any good to speculate until we know more,” Zara said. But Lina could tell by her teacher’s face that she was worried. If there was a traitor somewhere in the stronghold, they were all in danger.

  And they couldn’t trust anyone.

  Four days later, Lina stood at her worktable, inspecting the hand winch that she and Ozben had risked so much to acquire. She’d removed it from the hidden pocket in the wall where Ozben had left it and brought it with her to the workshop when the two of them had gone into hiding. They’d spent the next few days settling into their new, temporary home and recovering from the turmoil of the assassin’s attack.

  Lina knew how lucky she was. She and Ozben were safely hidden in her workshop, they had the hand winch, and they were free to use it. It looked as if they were on the verge of clearing the boulders blocking the airship’s door. The carnelian cat wound himself through Lina’s legs, purring contentedly and leaving little trails of heat in his wake.

  Feldwon had been skeptical of her plan at first, but he had a soft heart, and Lina knew he didn’t want to put the cat in a cage by himself any more than she did. He’d given her a mesh screen to block the entrance to her workshop so the cat wouldn’t wander back up the tunnels, and he’d made her promise to let him know at once if the cat became too much to care for. She’d lit a small fire in the fire pit to keep her and Ozben warm, but nothing that would cause the cat to burst into flame if he walked near it.

  Everything had worked out the way Lina had hoped.

  Yet she felt awful.

  Lina reached down to stroke the cat’s smooth flank. When she stood up, she banged her fist down on her worktable. At the sound, the cat darted under the table.

  “Sorry, Aethon,” Lina said, abashed. The name had been Ozben’s suggestion, from a book of collected mythologies he’d been reading in the library.

  Ozben, who’d been looking at the boulders wedged against the ship’s door, called out to her, “What was that for?”

  “Nothing. I’m fine.” She turned and leaned against her worktable, hugging herself and pulling her heavy coat closed to ward off the chill she felt in the absence of the cat’s heat. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I should have come up with a better way to get the hand winch.”

  “What do you mean?” He stood up and walked over to her, his brow furrowed. “The plan worked, didn’t it? We got the winch, and the assassin missed his target.”

  Lina shook her head. “As an apprentice, the first lesson I learned is to never take anything for granted when dealing with things from other worlds. Don’t assume anything,
and be three times as careful as you think you need to be. I should have made sure I knew everything there was to know about the carnelian cats, but I didn’t. I just rushed in and took advantage of them, and look what happened. Aethon might never be able to go back to be with the other cats, and I created the perfect opportunity for an assassin to go after you.”

  “The assassin isn’t your fault,” Ozben said firmly. “He would have found me no matter what. As for Aethon—well, I’m no expert, but he doesn’t look all that unhappy to me.”

  “That’s not the point.” Lina tried to extricate herself from Aethon, who’d wandered back over to her and was enthusiastically brushing against her legs and making loud purring noises that echoed through the quiet cavern. “I should have been more careful. Remember that night on the staircase in the museum? You asked me how the archivists knew those objects weren’t dangerous if they didn’t fully understand how they worked.”

  “I remember,” Ozben said, nodding. “You told me it was because they’d been tested over and over.”

  “For years,” Lina confirmed. “But we’re even more cautious with living things. Most of the time, they don’t survive the passage from their world to ours, but when they do, there’s a chance they could upset the balance of Solace’s ecosystem, so the archivists try really hard to make sure any living things that survive the meteor storms end up here.” To do that, the archivists routinely sent expeditions to the scrap towns to watch out for people selling plants and animals at the trade markets, and they made it known that they’d double any offer made for them by a potential buyer.

  “I never knew that,” Ozben said, surprised. “I guess it’s hard to imagine what would happen if the carnelian cats were running around free in Solace.” He reached down and petted Aethon. “I mean, did this little guy really catch on fire?”

  “Sort of,” Lina said. “Feldwon’s theory is that the cats originally came from a world with a lot of volcanic activity and that, over the centuries, they developed adaptations to allow them to survive the extreme temperatures while at the same time developing a defense mechanism against predators. So when they’re exposed to extreme heat, they’re able to self-immolate—it’s a protective instinct.” When she’d put Aethon down outside the Gears and Steam workshop, in the unfamiliar environment, he was drawn to the fire to create a defense in case something came after him. Once he was away from the fire and finally calmed down, the flames went away.

  “Amazing,” Ozben said, letting out a soft whistle. “I would never have guessed he had that kind of power inside him.” He looked thoughtfully at the cat. “You know, I’ve always wondered why it happens,” he said. “How do these things end up in Solace? Do the archivists know that?”

  “Not for sure,” Lina said. “Some people believe that when the goddess left the world after she created Solace, she tore a hole in the sky, and that’s where the objects come from. Other people think the objects are things that were forgotten in their own worlds, lost by the people who used to own them, so they fell out of those worlds and into ours.”

  For her part, Lina believed the second theory, and her work with the otherworldly artifacts was also a promise: I will restore you and care for you. I won’t ever let you be forgotten.

  She gazed at the Merlin as she spoke. Here was another artifact that was full of mysteries, something to treat with great care. But for the first time since she’d found the ship, Lina wondered whether she was doing the right thing, keeping its existence hidden from the archivists. What if it turned out to be dangerous and unpredictable too, like the carnelian cats?

  No, she couldn’t believe that. True, the ship was a mystery, but it wasn’t dangerous. She had no proof, but she felt it deep in her bones.

  Silence fell in the cavern except for Aethon’s constant, rhythmic purring as he sauntered back and forth between them, bumping their legs to get attention. With an effort, Lina pushed aside her doubts and anger at herself. She couldn’t change what had happened, but at least she could make the sacrifice count for something. They had the hand winch. It was time to use it.

  “Come on,” she said, “we’re wasting time. We have a ship to open.”

  Ozben’s face split into a wide grin. “Now you’re talking. And you said we can use Lumpy—that’s the boulder with all the bumps and dents in it, right?—to attach the winch. It should be secure.”

  “Let’s do it.” Lina carried the hand winch over to the ship, and together they began looping the thick metal wire around the boulder. When she was sure it was fastened tightly enough, Lina handed the crank part to Ozben. “Fasten it to the stalagmite over there,” she said, pointing across the chamber.

  “Got it,” Ozben said, moving to do as she instructed.

  While he worked on the other end, Lina ran back to her worktable and retrieved her pry bar and fulcrum. She put the fulcrum in place as best she could at the base of the boulder and wedged the pry bar on top of it. Now that they were so close, her heart was beating fast, and her palms were slick with sweat as she gripped the bar. She’d been trying not to get her hopes up in case they failed, but she couldn’t help it.

  Please let this work. Please.

  She glanced across the cavern at Ozben. His eyes gleamed in the glow of her candles. “I’m all set over here,” he said, sounding breathless in his excitement. “You ready?”

  Lina swallowed and nodded. “Tell me if you get tired turning the crank, and I’ll take over for you.”

  He sniffed and grinned at her. “I won’t get tired. Just watch.”

  He started turning the crank. The thick wire connecting the boulder and the stalagmite pulled taut, and Lina pushed down on the pry bar with all her strength, trying to lever it away from the door.

  Sweat broke out on her forehead as her muscles strained. Her hands slipped on the pry bar, and she had to wipe them on her pants, adjusting to get a better grip. The metallic clink clink clink of the crank turning, along with Ozben’s breathing, were the only sounds in the chamber. Aethon, perhaps sensing that something momentous was happening, had retreated beneath the worktable, where he sat curled up in a ball, watching intently with his glowing orange eyes.

  Minutes passed, and the muscles in Lina’s arms began to ache. Her shoulders quivered, a telltale sign that she was losing strength. She wouldn’t be able to hold down the pry bar much longer, and she hadn’t felt any movement yet from the boulder.

  Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. She couldn’t fail again, not after all they’d gone through to get to this point. Why won’t you move?! She screamed silently at the rock pile.

  And then, just as her strength was about to give out, Lina felt the boulder shift. It was such a small movement that at first she thought she was imagining it, but there was no mistaking the rough scraping sound of the rock sliding across the cavern floor. Inch by agonizingly slow inch, they were moving it.

  “It’s working!” Lina called out to Ozben. “Keep turning the crank. We’re moving it!”

  “I’ve got it,” Ozben said through gritted teeth. Lines of sweat ran down his face. He hunkered down and turned the crank with both hands.

  This is it, Lina thought. One more push, just a little longer. She put her entire body’s weight against the pry bar.

  Suddenly, the bar slipped, and Lina lurched forward. She threw her hands up in front of her and slammed hard into the ground, skidding on her hands and knees. She sat choking down a cry of pain as the pry bar clanged against the ground beside her.

  “Lina, what happened?” Ozben yelled across the chamber at her.

  “Ow,” Lina offered weakly. She shifted until she was sitting on her butt on the cavern floor so she could get a look at how bad the scrapes were. Her pants were ripped, and her knees and palms were raw and bleeding—she wouldn’t be able to pick up the pry bar again until she’d bandaged them. “Um, Ozben?” she said. “Might need a little help here.”

  But Ozben had already abandoned the winch and was hurrying across the cavern toward
her. He crouched down in front of her and turned her wrists gently to look at her palms. He winced. “You keep finding all these creative ways to hurt yourself,” he observed.

  “Look who’s talking,” Lina said, nodding at his hands. Two bright red blisters shone on each of his palms from turning the winch.

  “It’s nothing,” Ozben said, but Lina could tell his hands hurt by the way he gently dropped them to his sides. “Looks like you just scraped the skin, but those cuts will need to be cleaned and bandaged up,” he said. “You still have any of that medicine we used on your shoulders?”

  Despite her pain, Lina flashed him a lopsided grin. “You know me—wouldn’t be without it,” she said. “But we can clean these up later—I just need a bandage. I felt the boulder move, Ozben,” she said excitedly. “Just a little more prying and we’re there.” She caught him fighting a grin. “What?” she demanded. “What are you laughing at?”

  “You,” Ozben said, his shoulders shaking. “You didn’t even see it, did you?”

  “See what?” Lina said, annoyed. Then Ozben took her by the shoulders and turned her toward the Merlin.

  Lina’s mouth dropped open, and thoughts of her injuries flew out of her head. The only thing she could do was stare.

  All four of the boulders, her nemeses, had shifted away from the airship’s door. That last push with the combination of the pry bar and the hand winch must have done it. They’d been able to shift Lumpy just enough to dislodge the others and send them all tumbling into a heap a few feet away from the ship.

  The way was finally clear. She could open the door.

  “Lina? Hey, are you all right?”

  Lina blinked and suddenly realized that Ozben was nudging her shoulder. She turned to look at him as the first tear spilled down her cheek. All the emotion of the past eight months—the frustration, the setbacks, the lonely nights spent digging in the chamber by herself—and now, the moment she’d been working toward had finally come.