Chapter 26 The Tenth Day
~ brEN ~
From that moment on, the sense of pressure overhead, and an ever-ticking clock rolling down to failure, grew stronger and louder with every passing hour. But, as if God heard our prayers—or perhaps, the devil did—everything changed on the tenth day of the Festival.
I was sitting at a quiet lunch with Grace, only two other bleary-eyed nobles in attendance. I was dressed in leathers because Donavyn had already gone ahead to harness Akhane and Kgosi, who were agitated and needed to fly, but refused to leave the castle grounds without us.
I only made an appearance at the lunch on the small chance Hanson showed. But it seemed like he’d been avoiding me since laying down his gauntlet.
I would have left without eating if Grace hadn’t been there. I wanted to stay with her in case the men appeared, but my heel bounced anxiously under the table. The dragons weren’t the only ones who felt tense. I needed to get out as well.
Then, just as she finished and we made our farewells, heavy boot steps rang on the marble floor and we both turned to find Donavyn, his expression somber, but his eyes bright, striding towards me.
I felt him in the bond, humming with anticipation.
‘What’s going on—?’
“My Lady Brennan, Lady Grace,” he said formally, nodding to Grace beyond me before fixing his gaze on mine. “I fear our duties call with unexpected urgency. I do apologize for taking you from your friend. But we must go. Now.”
His eyes were piercing, and I couldn’t get a bead on what he was feeling.
‘Donavyn, what—’
‘Your brothers have arrived.’
My brows shot up, but I covered quickly, leaning down to brush crumbs from my leathers as I murmured an apology to Grace, who nodded elegantly and squeezed my hand with a sympathetic look, then I turned and followed Donavyn out at a brisk walk.
‘Why didn’t you call me through the link? I would have come sooner, I only stayed in case Ruin or Hanson showed up with Grace there.’
‘I learned this bare moments ago. I’d harnessed the dragons and when you didn’t come quickly, thought I should make an appearance in case Hanson was there and you needed back up.
But Kgosi reached me as I was in the hallway outside.
They flew over, high—but we can’t have them land their dragons near the city, in case they’re seen.
We need to fly out to them. Or rather, you do. ’
‘Of course, but—just me?’
‘I’m going to take Benji to fly over Hanson’s herd. Kgosi has had an idea about how he might connect with some of the dragons—through Benji—without undermining a Primarch’s authority, or breaching the herd bond. If they allow him close, we’ll try it this morning.’
That was news. My head spun, but it was a relief, my anxious heart racing, but with anticipation more than nerves now, because we could finally do something.
The minutes of running out of the castle and down to the dragons seemed to take forever. My heart in my throat, my body convinced that something would stop us. But there was nothing, no one. Most of the nobles were still asleep, or taking their powders to rid them of headaches.
We had hours until we had to be at the banquet tonight, and my brothers were near?
‘Did you hear, Akhane?’ I sent to my dragon. ‘And do you know where to meet them?’
‘I did, Little Flame! And I do! Let’s go!’ she bounced on her front feet, flapping her wings and chirping to urge me on as we reached the lawn outside the stables where they awaited us.
Donavyn caught my hand before we split, pulling me to a stop. I drew up short, panting quietly from the run. He handed me the rucksack I hadn’t noticed he was carrying over his shoulder, his expression serious.
“Food. They’ll be hungry,” he said softly, looking at the sky over my head. “We still don’t know where Ruin is, or Carnage, and you’re going to the mountains where many of the feral dragons herd. It was the safest place for them to land. Just… be careful.”
I nodded and stretched up on my toes to kiss him. “I love you too.”
He grunted, but when I started to pull away, he caught my chin and kissed me again.
“Fill them in on everything while you’re out of the castle.
We don’t have the bond with them, and their dragons won’t be close enough to communicate with ours.
We’ll have to speak, and write things down.
Cover as much as you can while you know you can’t be overheard—then get your ass back here. ”
I nodded and kissed him one more time, then threw the straps of the bag over my shoulders, tying them at the front as I ran to Akhane. I laughed when she shrieked the moment I clicked into the safety strap, and lumbered into a run to take off.
‘Tell Akhane not to draw more attention than she must—’
‘We’ll be back in hours. Don’t worry. Good luck with the dragons.’
I felt his indignation, but he didn’t warn me again, and I was smiling as we flew away.
Finally. Finally, I could do more than just sit and wait for men to talk to me.
“There she is.”
I ran across a small clearing as my brothers emerged from the shadows under the trees and threw myself into Gil’s chest. He swept me up and spun me around, laughing while Voski chuckled behind him. Somewhere off to our right the dragons were reuniting too, but I’d left Akhane to greet them.
“I’m so glad you’re here!” I said breathlessly when Gil set me on my feet. I turned to Voski, who smiled and pulled me into his side, but Gil was already talking.
“We received the Commander’s order for silence, but holy shit, Bren. What’s going on? Even silence for the Shadowfang? Ronen was ready to rip someone a new asshole when we told him we were both under orders and couldn’t say how long we’d be gone.”
“We need more eyes. And more skilled sneaks,” I said, with a soft laugh, though my nerves were returning now that they were here and I realized what we had to achieve. “There’s… a lot. And a lot we still don’t understand.” I hardly knew where to start.
“Debrief now?” Voski asked quietly.
I nodded, then caught the glance that passed between them. Which is when it hit me—they were worn out. Dirty, grimy, probably hungry. They looked like they’d barely stopped to sleep on the trip, let alone wash. Which was likely true. They’d gotten here in just a few days.
“You guys need to eat. Do you have any rations left?”
Gil winced and Voski scratched the back of his neck. “We were kind of hoping you’d—”
“I’m joking. I brought food. Real food,” I said, laughing, and shrugged off my bag, throwing it to Gil who cursed happily and dug into the rucksack.
Half an hour later we sat with a low fire under the trees, both of my brothers digging into the food Donavyn had been thoughtful to send, and drinking water from the creek nearby.
I’d already told them about Hanson, his dragons, and that Ruin was here.
“Now, we’ve intercepted one of his messages. We’re hoping for more in the coming days. But they’re in code, and we’re still working out exactly what it means. It’s not clear yet which side he’s on.”
They’d both been very quiet since I brought up Ruin’s appearance.
I’d skipped over my instinctive panic, letting it be implied that he’d attacked, and that was why I fled.
I prayed Donavyn would forgive me for covering, but when I got to that part of the story, something inside me froze up.
My brothers knew a lot of what I’d been through.
But I’d never told them about Ruin, or the fact that the worst events occurred at the hands of Furyknights.
“I’ve got the message memorized. When we get back to the castle, I can write it down for you so you can memorize it too.
But the short story is that he’s communicating with the queen, and it’s at least partially in code.
But a code Donavyn doesn’t already know.
We think they’ve switched the names of kingdoms, but that’s as much as we can be even partly sure of.
A lot of the statements seem to contradict each other.
It’ll be interesting to see what you both think. ”
Gil glanced at Voski, who sat with his legs bent up, elbows on his knees, staring into the small fire as he chewed on a chunk of bread and cheese.
“You want to take that?” Gil asked him quietly.
I looked between them. “You know something about his messages?”
Gil didn’t look at me, just kept his eyes on Voski, whose dark hair was messier than I’d ever seen it—and longer too, The shorter sides starting to flick out around his ears, and the long strands on top falling into his eyes.
He took one more mouthful of bread and cheese, then locked eyes with me.
“Bren… We were there when your father came.”
My lungs froze. I nodded, my pulse thrumming in my skin. “I know, I—”
“Ruin. Your father knew Ruin. He said you did too. And we gathered… we gathered that didn’t end well.
But there was no time to ask that night.
You were upset, and then you were gone.” Voski looked at Gil and his jaw tightened.
“You don’t have to tell us if it’s truly not relevant.
But… we know enough, we think. It’s not hard to put the pieces together.
Except, they’re Furyknights and… you’d have told us that, right?
If… if those things happened to you at the hands of our brothers? ”
I swallowed hard. I wanted to nod. I wanted to reassure him. Wanted to tell him that Ruin was just a former lover, and not the man who’d destroyed my life, taken me to the edge of that cliff and… “I… I didn’t know how to talk about it,” I rasped.
Gil’s jaw rolled. Voski swore and tore another mouthful from the bread and cheese. Both of them stared at me with dark, furious eyes.
My heart beat faster. “It was Ruin and his… his friends.”
“Brothers,” Voski corrected. “Shadowfang brothers?”
I nodded slowly. “At least… they had to have been Shadowfang more than a few weeks, right? Before they left?”
Gil scoffed. “Ruin was sworn in before I was. Within months of being pinned.”
I couldn’t meet their eyes. I’d been sitting with my legs folded, leaning my elbows on my knees, but I sat back, pulled my knees up, and hugged them. “I’m sorry… I didn’t know he was Shadowfang until after… I mean it’s not—I wouldn’t hide that from you usually, but—”
“Bren… we’re not angry with you. We’re fucking furious with him. With all of them. This is all linked, right? The men who went to Draeventhall are the men who hurt you? They’re the squad whose dragons called judgment—or at least, some of them did? Davros and Ruin were thick as thieves.”
I nodded.
Gil pushed to his feet and started pacing. “Fucking shit weasel had the gall to taunt you?!”
Voski shot him a quelling look, but then he glared at me over the top of fisted hands, his arms folded and tight on his knees.
“So, this dickmist and his friends, violated you, then took our secrets to Draeventhall? Their dragons flamed them, and he’s the only one who survived—or at least, that’s his story.
Now he’s here and claims he’s serving the crown?
” Voski’s tone was a low, quiet warning that raised the hair on the back of my neck.
“That’s what he says. We still don’t know if he’s telling the truth—”
“No fucking way.”
“We’ve confirmed some of what he said—”
“I don’t give two shits,” Voski said. “A man who’ll break the honor vow for his own pleasure isn’t holding his vows to service sacred.”
“He would if… if he thought it would make him the hero,” I said quickly. It was a discussion I’d had with Donavyn, and something I knew about Ruin. “He’s always wanted to be admired. Applauded. If he thinks doing this for the king gets him a promotion or… or something else important. He’d do it.”
My brothers looked at each other again, and I thanked God that I wasn’t the person on the receiving end of their quiet rage.
“Well, whatever this little fuckwit thinks he’s doing, doesn’t matter. We know what he’s already done… right?”
Gil smiled viciously, his fists so tight at his sides, his knuckles turned white. “I can barely wait to greet my brother.”
I winced. Was I going to go through the same problem with my brothers that I’d faced with Donavyn? “We need to be very careful. What happened between me and Ruin isn’t the point of this mission—”
“Oh, don’t worry, Bren,” Voski said with an eerie smile. “We’re all about being efficient.”
“Maximum impact for minimum effort,” Gill added, his smile growing broader. “And always in secret, of course. Some of us don’t need to be applauded for the good we do.”
Voski nodded. “If we can save the kingdom from a traitor and punish this cockbubble for his crimes against you, well… that’s what I call a perk of the job.”
I was both afraid of their anger, and touched by their care.
“Donavyn’s already broken his nose. Twice,” I said with a small smile.
“See, this is why we follow the man,” Gil said with a grin at Voski.
But Voski just got to his feet and patted his leathers until he found his sheath, then drew the blade and checked it like he knew he’d need to use it soon. Then, as he slid it back into the sheath, he looked at me. “Is there anything else we should know?”
I shook my head. “Just… that I’m glad you’re here.”
“Us too,” Voski said with a menacing smile.
Gil gave a wicked laugh. “Let’s go say hi to our old friend.”