46. Debt Repaid
Debt Repaid
Anara
Anara prided herself on her composure, but Masai’s constant fidgeting in the passenger seat was enough to dissolve any poise she’d had upon leaving Aagen’s farm. She gave him her best irritated glance.
He shot one back. “Couldn’t you have found a better truck when you left the Vienám?”
“Helga’s been with us longer than you have; show some respect.”
Masai rolled his eyes. “There’s no reason for us all to arrive in this beast.”
“That was between you and Darien. I don’t care if the Vienám decided to shoot first and ask questions later when you rolled up looking like someone who serves the Empress.”
Masai turned his body toward Anara, his towering frame hunched over in the small cab. “Still worried I’ll betray you?”
Oddly enough, she wasn’t. But if Anara had learned anything from living with the wolf packs over the years, it was that strength came in numbers, and lone wolves were often left frozen solid in the snow.
Not that she necessarily cared what happened to Masai.
But it would be awkward to explain it to Kiah when the Vienám marched on Smaragd if her only child had been killed by friendly fire.
Then again, it would be no less than she deserved for selling Smaragdian secrets to the Empress.
“Not worried.” Anara flipped her hair, eyeing the empty road ahead. The lack of sentries or Vienám rebels could only mean that both forces were heavily concentrated in Havsiden. “I’m more concerned that you’ll be a liability in the city.”
He scoffed. “I can hold my own.”
Anara stared pointedly at the faint scar on Masai’s neck left by the draugr ’s talon. “Like you did on the shore of Undarbrunnk Lake?”
Masai’s dark skin flushed. Anara almost regretted her words. Almost, but not quite. He had fought well against the draugr , especially for a soft-handed Smaragdian.
“Besides,” she continued as he seethed in silence. “Aren’t you a pacifist and all that nonsense? I was surprised you didn’t just let the draugr end you right then and there and say thank you with your last breath.”
Masai blew the air out between his teeth.
He touched the staffs placed awkwardly across his lap.
“Grie and V?re, remember? Peace and protection. Sometimes protection requires action and even offense. I’ve been training to protect myself since I could hold a staff. I will be fine . Worry about yourself.”
“Why did Kiah let you train, anyway? Doesn’t seem in her nature.”
“It’s our ancestral weapon. She wouldn’t let me touch a gun, but that didn’t mean she would cut me off from our roots.”
Anara’s lip twitched. “You don’t know how to use a gun?”
He leaned against the passenger window, a satisfied smirk on his face. “I said she wouldn’t let me touch one, not that I didn’t find a way to one without her knowing.”
“So you’ll disobey her, but you’ll defend her for giving away your people’s secrets to Shiko?”
Levity fled through the open cab windows. “You really want to have this fight right now?”
“I’ll give you a reprieve since we’re nearly there, but we will have this fight eventually.”
“That’s assuming we both live.”
She snickered. “I’m not going anywhere. You, on the other hand, we’ll see.”
The salty brine of the ocean rode on the wind that filled the cab.
It could only mean Havsiden was close. Though Anara much preferred the volcanic shores of her own country, she could admit that there was a certain beauty to Safír’s white-sanded shorelines and massive, stark cliffs.
The palace itself was set atop the highest point of the farthest cliff within the city.
The rest of the city was built in layers, its round-domed buildings carved into the cliff itself.
Images of Anara’s past sprinkled her vision like overlays crowding the present.
Unlike Perle, which had been nearly razed to the ground, Safír had survived with minimal destruction.
No doubt, to Darien and Larissa, it would feel like stepping into the past. Anara would have to ensure that their own confusion between past and present did not blind them to danger.
She’d seen it happen to both of them, the way their faces would go blank as they struggled with some memory or emotion they hadn’t remembered before.
A low growl rumbled in her chest. Anara wasn’t an anxious person, but watching over them had added a new level of anxiety to her life.
She was only one person, and there were two of them, plus Masai, if she cared to look out for him as well.
It would be possible but certainly not easy.
At least Halla and Kai were safe with Aagen.
Masai peeked at Anara from the sides of his eyes. “You’re not going to eat me, are you?”
Anara cut off the growl. “I’ve eaten roadkill that probably tasted better than you.”
“First, I would be delicious. And second”—his nose wrinkled in disgust—“ew.”
Though “ew” had pretty much been Anara’s own sentiment at the time, she wasn’t going to admit that to Masai. “That’s the difference between Rubinians and Smaragdians. We do what we must to survive.”
“Some would say that’s not much of a difference at all.” Masai shifted in his seat, letting his face turn toward the window. “What’s that smell?”
She glanced at him from the corners of her eyes. “You’re joking, right?”
As though realizing he’d said something strange, Masai’s face took on a closed and guarded expression. “Why would I joke?”
“It’s the sea. I know Smaragd is all about trees, but the sea isn’t that far from your city.”
Masai folded his arms, his jaw set as he stared straight ahead.
Anara remembered. “But you’ve never left the city, so you wouldn’t know what it smells like.”
The shock of that thought reverberated through Anara so strongly, any future sarcasm died on her tongue.
The only good thing that had come from Shiko’s reign was Anara’s ability to roam the nation without any royal responsibility.
In the last fifty years, she’d traveled almost every inch of Evrópa in her search for Lovisa and Darien.
From the icy tundras of Diamant to the beaches of Safír, Anara had seen it all.
There’d been so much to discover, and Anara couldn’t imagine being trapped within one city.
Just the thought of it made her skin itch and beg for transformation so she could escape into the sky.
The edge of the treeline was in sight; they were nearly there. A new scent mingled in with the salt and the sea, and Anara scrunched her nose. Masai caught a whiff of it only a moment later.
“ That is not the sea,” she muttered darkly.
“What is it?” he asked.
Dirt, smoke, and blood tainted the air; it was the smell of fear and decay.
Tents and vehicles formed a perimeter just outside Havsiden’s Outer Wall.
Though Helga was able to clear the trees without opposition, Anara slowed their advance to a crawl.
Her ears tingled as they shifted, becoming lupine.
Shouts came from the Vienám camp accompanied by the click of guns and the clink of metal as the rebels turned to face this new arrival.
Anara stopped Helga hundreds of feet from the perimeter, knowing it was best for the Vienám to come to them, to see that they were unarmed.
Anara turned to Masai. “It’s the smell of war.”
Two armored trucks drove in their direction, but a familiar scent eased Anara’s concerns. She popped her door open, walking to the front of Helga and leaning against the truck’s warm hood. When one of the trucks’ passenger doors opened, Anara wasn’t surprised to see Halvor’s relieved face.
“You’re back.” He glanced at the city behind him, readjusting his half-moon spectacles. “No time for pleasantries, I’m afraid. We’ll escort you in.”
Halvor slammed his door, and Anara hopped back into Helga, following the trucks into the Vienám’s makeshift camp.
They were only able to advance so far before the road became too cluttered by the tents, trucks, and bodies of the Vienám.
Anara wrinkled her nose at the overwhelming smell of human decay.
Clearly, this was where they were housing the wounded and dead from the battle.
And by the heaviness of the scent, the battle was not going well.
Cutting Helga’s engine, Anara leapt from the truck.
Already members of the Vienám were noticing them, calling out Darien’s and Lovisa’s names.
Many shot her furtive looks that she ignored.
More than one young woman did a double take when they saw Masai.
Recognizing the attention he commanded, Masai smiled.
Anara rolled her eyes and approached where Halvor waited for them.
“Come inside.” He held open the flap to a nearby tent, which was guarded at both entrances by Vienám rebels.
Darien and Larissa squeezed their way through the pressing crowd, and Anara followed them both in.
Masai came in last, letting the flap close behind him.
The inside of the tent was spacious, complete with a large table in the middle and light hung on the walls.
Halvor looked to Larissa. “Did you find what you were looking for?”
Larissa nodded. “We know the prophecy.”
He tilted his head, as though attempting to look around Larissa’s body. “Where’s Halla?”
“She’s safe. We left her with a farmer named Aagen—”
“—oh yes, we know Aagen. He’s been a great asset in helping those fleeing Safír.”
“I need you to send soldiers to his farm. They’ll find the Empress’ War Dog drugged and bound in his cellar. The sooner he’s off Aagen’s land, the better.” Darien ignored Halvor’s raised eyebrows, examining the maps of the city strewn out on the center table. “Where is my father?”