Chapter 19
Niamh
“Okay, sunshine,” I said, wearing my new dress and feeling much better now that we were out of the shop and back on the main road. Wolfe must’ve just been shocked to see me in something other than my worn blue dress. “Now I’m starting to understand why you don’t have any friends.”
“Because I don’t want them?” he asked with an arched brow.
“Because you’re insufferable,” I countered. “I can’t believe you’re out here yelling and causing chaos.”
“I paid for all the damage to the mannequins and helped him clean up,” Wolfe said.
“That doesn’t negate that you did it.”
“Well, I didn’t know how much it affected him,” Wolfe mumbled.
“You would if you actually talked to any one of these people.” I paused at a shop painted a bright yellow, where the owner stood out front with a table covered in glittering jewelry. I nodded at the older woman, and she smiled at me, her face turning to stone when she looked at Wolfe.
I tsked, and Wolfe sighed. “I’m not the problem. Everyone isn’t normally like this.”
I very much doubted that, but I didn’t say so, not wanting to ruin the pleasant walk by getting into yet another argument with Wolfe.
“It’s all these attacks,” Wolfe continued. “We’ve had at least two a week the last three weeks. The attacks are amping up.”
An icy cold crept up my spine. “And you think it’s the brotherhood doing this?”
“Most likely, but we can’t confirm it. The brotherhood aren’t the only ones who steal magic, just the most well-known. There are kingdoms who attack others, who have gone to war just to possess some piece of magic.”
“Do you think they’re trying to take over all of Aubergn?” The thought of those monsters ruling over everyone, having all the control of magic, horrified me.
“Yes,” Wolfe said. “But they’re a long way from that happening. There are hundreds of kingdoms scattered across Aubergn, and at some point, we need to unite against them.”
That was going to be hard when Aubergn was so vast, so diverse, with different languages and customs and laws.
I’d never been anywhere until Bergenay had been attacked and I’d been forced to flee to the tower.
We’d just had the unfortunate reality of the brotherhood forming in the eastern corner of the continent, where Bergenay, Fairwitch Isle, and other kingdoms lay.
Bergenay had fallen, and I didn’t want this wonderful kingdom to fall as well.
I wanted to do whatever I could to help protect it.
“The godwitches really didn’t do us any favors,” I muttered. “I wish they’d never given up their magic, never put it into the world. Literally.”
“If people had magic, we’d still have wars over it. It would just be a different kind of war, fighting between the most powerful people instead of the people with the most powerful objects.”
He was right, and for some reason, it made me feel a little better to know there was no avoiding the evil in the world and that the best we could do was combat it with goodness and kindness.
“What is the solution?” I asked.
Wolfe shook his head. “I don’t know. My brother has a royal guard and a council for problems like that. But I do worry Cillian is focusing too much on this marriage.” He winced and shot me a look out of the side of his eye.
“It’s okay.” I patted his arm. “I get it, and I don’t particularly like the balance of this kingdom hanging on my shoulders.” My chest tightened just at the thought.
“Cillian has just been so focused on finding a queen for years,” Wolfe said.
“I don’t think he wants to make the hard decisions, decisions that could mean life and death for our people.
And I’m worried he truly thinks if we get a queen, the attacks will just stop and the castle’s magic will be fixed.
I’m worried that’s his only plan. We need to be out there, finding our attackers, doing research.
Defending our home. But that would require sacrifice. ”
I stopped, unthreading our arms and turning to stare at Wolfe in horror. “You want to go to war?” I asked, thinking about the war that had wrecked Bergenay.
He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “No, but I also don’t want to sit here and keep waiting for attack after attack to come. For more people to die . . . or get taken.”
The frustration in Wolfe’s voice took me aback.
He was normally so cold, so reserved, so distant, but right now, his voice was filled with an anguish I hadn’t heard before.
I reached out and grabbed his hand, squeezing it, not knowing why he needed to be comforted but just knowing that he did. He stiffened but didn’t pull away.
Victory. I might break those walls yet.
“Well, if I become queen, that’s what I’ll focus on.” I gave him a soft smile. “I might even make you my captain of the guard.”
His lips twitched in that characteristic way that I knew meant he wanted to smile, and he looked down at my small hand covering his, suddenly snatching his away. My cheeks heated. So much for that.
“Sorry,” I said, but before I could finish apologizing, buzzing filled the air.
Bzzzzz.
Wolfe’s head snapped in the direction of the sound, and my gaze followed his to see an army of yellow-striped bugs with translucent wings scattered in the sky, emitting some kind of red smoke from their pointed tails. Magic. Dark magic.
The royal guard flooded the streets.
“Go to your homes, your businesses,” Wolfe yelled. “Lock your doors, your windows. Board them up. Do not breathe in that smoke.”
The smoke covered the sky in a thick haze, settling lower and lower. Soon it would be upon the entire city.
“What does the smoke do?” Wolfe muttered, watching it crest the rooftops of buildings.
“It poisons you,” I said, voice shaking as I smelled the ashy scent, as my stomach grew queasy. “Once you breathe enough of it in, you start feeling nauseous, then you can’t eat anything, then you throw up everything you have eaten, and then you start feeling so weak you can’t move.”
Wolfe gestured for me to follow him, and we walked past people rushing to their homes, doors slamming, windows closing, blinds being yanked down. I wondered if Wolfe was taking me back to the castle.
I’d sat by my father’s bed after he’d gotten poisoned while fighting against the wasps.
Wolfe drew out his sword like he might stab one of the wasps if it came too close.
“The brotherhood used it on us.” I glanced at the smoke, pulse spiking as it lowered farther. “When they first attacked and we managed to fight them back. My father was injured but recovered.”
He swore under his breath. “How did you defeat them?”
I hadn’t done anything but hide with Princess Ashami, but she’d told me how they fought off the wasps in the end. “Fire,” I said. “They don’t like fire.”
Wolfe nodded and turned to me, grabbing my shoulders.
“I’ve got to get Cillian. Find somewhere to hide.
Get yourself to safety. You can do this.
” He bounded off in the other direction, and I trembled as I watched him, watched the smoke get lower and lower while people still fled in all directions and I was completely frozen.
Screams echoed throughout the streets, and that ashy scent permeated everything, tinged with a foul odor, one that reminded me of death.
Maybe I could knock on someone’s door and they’d let me in.
The dress shop wasn’t far. I could go there, though I thought of Ceri’s anxious father and wasn’t actually sure he’d open the door for anyone.
I could run for the castle, but the front doors were much farther than any of these businesses, and I didn’t know if Barty or Tal would let me in since they were usually too busy arguing to notice anyone else.
I twisted my hands in indecision. I just needed to move.
I just needed to make my feet go one in front of the other, yet I couldn’t, and my chest tightened and my breathing became labored while door after door around me slammed shut.
A wailing sound pierced my ears, and I looked over to see a small child all alone while everyone else ran for cover.
Where was his mother or father?
I raced to him and crouched down, trying to keep my voice calm as the smoke got lower, the buzzing louder. I blinked, seeing Ashami’s face, hearing her voice amidst the tinny sound.
Your father has been injured, Niamh.
The boy’s wail brought me back, and I shook my head, pushing down my rising panic, ignoring the way my chest burned. By now the streets were almost completely empty, doors shut and locked, wasps ever closer. We were running out of time to get somewhere safe.
If he saw I was panicked, then he would only panic more. He couldn’t have been older than four, and tears streaked his cheeks.
“Hey,” I said. “What’s your name?” I glanced nervously at the smoke, now so thick it covered the rooftops, blotted out the sky. We had minutes, maybe until it was upon the streets.
He shook, unable to speak.
“That’s okay.” Calm, Niamh. Stay calm. “I’m Niamh, and do you want to know a secret?”
The child nodded, sniffling.
“I don’t know this town very well, but I heard all the children here have a fun hide-and-seek game that they like to play. Have you ever played hide and seek?”
“Yes,” the boy said in a small voice.
“Can you show me your favorite hiding spot?” I asked in a conspiratorial voice, trying my damndest to not look up at the smoke.
He wiped his nose with the back of his arm, then grabbed my hand and led me along the sidewalk, now empty of anyone but the royal guard, all of them carrying torches and wearing scarves over their faces instead of their characteristic helmets.
The boy walked slowly, painfully so, and I kept my gaze forward, heart thundering with every step. He veered into a small alley between two buildings and tugged me toward a little crawlspace in one of the buildings as the smoke hovered right over my head.
“Where does this lead?” I asked as he got down and crawled into it.
He shrugged. “Don’t know.”
This might have been a really bad idea, but the smoke was descending upon us and we were running out of options.
I got on my hands and knees and followed the boy into the dark space, hoping this led deep enough to get away from the worst of it. Dust and dirt mingled in the air, and I wondered if this tunnel led under the building since it felt like we were crawling down.
“No one can ever find me,” the boy whispered from somewhere in front of me. “I always win.”
“This is a very clever hiding spot,” I encouraged.
Eventually he stopped crawling, and I bumped into his little body. He sat with his knees curled up to his chest. His arms trembled as I settled next to him, resting my back against the rough wall. I was exhausted and scared and uncertain, but I couldn’t show any of that to him.
“This isn’t a game, is it?” he asked in his small voice.
“No, it’s not,” I said, “but we’re safe here.” I paused. “Have you ever played knights and dragons?”
He paused. “Once, but I wasn’t very good at it. This girl in my class always got to be the dragon, and I could never get her with my sword. She was too fast and big.”
I loved playing knights and dragons when I was little. Ashami and I would play together, but she was always the knight, the one protecting me from the dragon.
“Well, today,” I said, “you were the knight.”
“But I didn’t defeat a dragon.” I could hear the confusion in his voice, and it made me smile.
“No, but you led a fair maiden to safety against wasp dragons. You know, legend has it that the wasp dragons are descended from the mighty dragons who used to roam our lands thousands of years ago.”
“The ones the godwitches rode?” the little boy asked, voice full of awe.
“Yes,” I said. “I learned about it from a book.”
After the brotherhood had used the wasp dragons to attack Bergenay, I’d read all I could about them, hoping to be ready, should they ever attack again, and I learned that their red smoke evolved from dragon fire, the poison having similar effects on the body to smoke—with a few added dangers.
“Wow. I saved us from dragons,” he said. “Real dragons.”
“Yes you did,” I said. “And you’ll be able to go home soon and tell everyone about it.”
He laid his head against my arm, and soon his soft snores filled the tunnel.
Some time later, far in the distance, shouts rang out, the city bells ringing. “They’re gone! Fairwitch Isle is safe, but please stay in your homes until the smoke is clear.”
I slumped against the wall, all my energy spent, and that’s when the tears I’d been holding back finally fell.