Chapter 38
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAY
“If the end isn’t happy, it isn’t the end.” ~ Raider’s Ban proverb
“T ell Isolde,” Audrey said, glancing toward the stairs to her rooms as Ylva began nosing around the tower. “I’ll wait here with Ylva.”
It was clear I wasn’t fit for guard duty in her opinion, and for some reason that rankled. I’d been dismissed from her company though, so she wouldn’t even see it if I glared at her.
There hadn’t been too many reasons for me to climb those stairs before. The turns weren’t too tight, but I had to put my hand on my scabbard all the same to stop it from knocking against the stone.
Her nightgown had been tossed over the back of the chair before her dresser, and an Audrey-shaped divot was in the middle of her bed. She’d fit in there so neatly. Her skin would be so warm, her smile sleepy.
“Isolde,” I said, with more annoyance than the woman had earned. “We’re disguising Ylva as you and releasing her in the orchard. I need a cloak or something.” There was no way Ylva would pass as Isolde. They were both humans and both sharp-tongued. Their similarities ended there.
“What?” she demanded through the door. “Where’s Audrey?”
“Down below with Ylva.”
My eyes wanted to wander over the room. I forced them to stay locked on the door as I waited for her response.
The time crawled by, and it didn’t matter that I wasn’t looking at the bed because it was right behind me. I tried to remember the smell of her from the orchard, but it was the feel of her atop me that filled my mind, not the woman’s scent. It’d be all over those pillows, though. Not that I was planning on sniffing her pillows, especially knowing how intimate she was with at least one of them.
But the thought teased me, still.
The door in front of me opened, and I stepped back instinctively. Isolde, pale but otherwise fine, strode past me, basket on one arm. “There’s a stack of spare guard uniforms in the spare wing of your barracks,” she said, directing the words down the stairs. “Get into a tabard in the La’Angi colors, Ylva.”
How she expected Ylva to hear that from downstairs I had no idea, but I followed along behind Isolde and, as we emerged into the common room, I saw Ylva’s cloak vanishing around a corner.
Apparently, she had heard.
Audrey was staring wide-eyed at her mentor. “Don’t complain,” Isolde said, irritated. “I’m fine, and I needed to stretch my legs anyway. Why now?”
Audrey shook her head. “She tried to escape. It made me realize she really ought to. There were guards in the kitchen.”
So, she had identified them. The unkind part of me wondered why she hadn’t killed them, like the other guard who’d been clearly abusing his power, much as these men had. It wasn’t an entirely fair comparison, and the righteous indignation I reached for didn’t sit well in my belly. I wandered over to my station before the fire, annoyed that I hadn’t been able to read her. The woman was just so changeable. I missed Kadan. Sunny one day, cheery the next. You always got what you expected from him.
This woman was murdering children one day and tossing men over the seawall just to save my feelings the next.
And then ordering me about.
Heart sufficiently hardened, I turned my attention back to where they stood near the window, speaking quietly. Isolde mostly listened, nodding every now and then, her eyes on the horizon.
Ylva let herself back in quietly. Her hair was tied back at the base of her head and tucked into the collar. The broad uniform made her look smaller than she was, but it hid the few curves she had. “The hair’s a problem,” I said. “They don’t let anyone don the uniform if your hair isn’t done just so.”
She looked at mine with distaste. “Well, I’m wearing their uniform whether they approve of my hair or not.” She plucked at the fabric. “It’s vile.”
“Agreed.” I went to my small bundle of items and drew out a scarf, passing it over. “A lot of people are covered at the moment.”
She wrapped it over her head with quick, impatient movements. Before I could get Audrey and Isolde’s attention, they turned toward us. “Let’s get it done, then,” Isolde said.
“You’re more concerned about Ylva than infecting Audrey?” I asked, because this wasn’t making sense. If Ylva was truly such a great threat, why had she allowed for visitation in the keep?
“We’ll be in the open air,” Isolde said briskly. “And it isn’t Ylva I’m concerned about.”
I glanced out the window at the threatening clouds, ignoring the smug look Ylva directed my way as she fell into step beside me.
From the corner of my eye, I kept track of Ylva’s body language. Everyone else seemed to know something I didn’t, and it all seemed to center around her. She didn’t lean away from Isolde any more than she had from Audrey, and didn’t seem in the least anxious. If anything, I would’ve called her cocky. I didn’t know if the swagger was natural or part of her disguise, along with the uniform she’d donned.
We barely encountered anyone, though. We’d seen no one at all on the way to Audrey’s tower. The chances of us getting away with it grew with every step. I knew I ought to care because it would put Audrey in danger later, but it was hard to get excited about executing an escape for someone else while we remained trapped.
In the stables, Isolde pointed to a deep-chested gray mare confidently. “Take that one,” she told Ylva. “She’ll carry you far, and she’s compliant.”
Ylva’s grin went unseen behind the carefully draped scarf, but her eyes crinkled with mirth. I turned away rather than pick up that joke, heading to where Bliksem was housed near Audrey’s mare. There was no sign of a stableboy, and I tried not to worry about that stroke of luck. Some good fortune was welcome, but too much felt suspicious.
I pretended not to notice the bundle of rags in the corner of the stables and the rats scurrying away.
Mayhap there wasn’t too much good fortune, after all.
Isolde led her horse to the mounting block, and I watched as she climbed into her saddle, unsure if the weakness was real or for show. One quick, razor-sharp look from her ended my doubts. Realizing I was supposed to be the lady’s guard, I moved to boost Audrey into her saddle, but she was already taking her turn at the mounting block. I returned to Bliksem as Ylva climbed into the saddle as if she hadn’t spent weeks in captivity, settling in comfortably. She’d been given a La’Angi issue sword and plain shield, which she wore slung over her back.
No one had said anything to me. Was I so superfluous?
The scene in the city remained unchanged, except now clots of people cast glances to the storm on the horizon. Audrey set a pace that bordered on impolite as we hastened out of the city, but the roads were almost empty, and the pressure of the quiet was immense. She never once paused to look back at Ylva or check on her. Isolde wasn’t the only one who played a close game. I’d lived alongside this woman for more than a moon now, and I still didn’t know her. It made me feel oddly hollow.
Audrey didn’t slow until the apple trees sheltered us from the view of the gates. Then she turned to Ylva and said, “Where are we headed?”
She pointed. “To the ceiyemmyah pbettra. ” And it was said as if Audrey should’ve known that, and also know what the words meant.
I watched as my liege lady glanced at her mentor, a quick, searching look that went unanswered. “Where?” Isolde asked.
“The ceiyemmyah pbettra ,” Ylva repeated, frustrated. “Surely you must know them?”
“Possibly,” Audrey agreed. “Under our own name.”
“The stones?” Ylva offered. “Big. Old magic. Pre-dates your shitty, drafty pile of pre-rubble, there.”
I enjoyed the term pre-rubble while I saw Audrey glance toward Isolde again. This time, Isolde met her glance.
“Should I stop to change to a proper saddle?” Audrey asked. “Or is it a short ride?”
“It’s not close, but we’ll make it before nightfall.”
Another quick look between the women, and I resented being left out entirely. At least when Thomas was here, he’d look at me. I felt invisible.
“We need to be back by nightfall,” Audrey explained. “Or they’ll send a search party for me.”
“Then go,” Ylva said with a shrug. “I don’t need to be accompanied.”
At least I knew enough of Audrey’s character to predict her terminal curiosity. She shook her head, and they set out in the approximate direction of Ylva’s pointing. “We’ll stop and change saddles,” Isolde said.
That they kept proper saddles stashed somewhere didn’t surprise me. Audrey had been using one, albeit only barely, when we’d first met. But I’d never seen such a swap happen, and mayhap the Duke’s daughter wasn’t the only one who was curious.
At one stage, Ylva pointed and said, “We’re off-course.”
Isolde glanced over her shoulder. “You’ll benefit from hitting our cache. We aren’t far and, we’ll travel faster with proper equipment.”
Of course she had a cache. I’d be surprised if she only had one.
Apparently mollified, or perhaps also curious, Ylva and I followed along until they came to a long-abandoned little home that looked to only provide shelter to animals now. Both women dismounted, and their horses—clearly feeling at home—went to work cropping the grass that had grown undisturbed in the small clearing.
I saw Audrey murmuring something quietly to Isolde, who sent a quick glance toward Ylva. “She knows where it is already,” she told Audrey with a dismissive flick of her fingers. “There’s no point worrying about that now.”
“I’ve a nose for secrets,” Ylva agreed, dismounting.
“If you don’t have a tongue for them, we’ve no issue,” Isolde told her.
Ylva grinned, the scarf down off her face. “No, Sister. I wouldn’t waste my talents on talking.” Impervious to Ylva’s charms, Isolde rolled back what looked like grass but had a pattern-like fabric beneath it, revealing a sturdy wooden door to a cellar. “Odd to see a wolf run so far north,” Ylva mused, hands on hips. “Have you a longbow, Sister?”
“Recurved only, and none to spare. But I’ve knives. Ylva and Chay, remove your insignia.”
I did as I was told, then held the reins of Ylva’s horse while the three of them vanished into the hole. They were only gone a few moments before reappearing with saddles. Isolde set to work swapping them over, and Audrey vanished again.
Horse care was something I could do. Wary of Audrey’s mare, who I’d seen nip at a stableboy who’d been too hasty with her, I helped Isolde ready the animals. Audrey reappeared, and I had to force myself not to visibly react to the change in her.
The riding habit was replaced by sturdy winter men’s clothing. A wide belt rode on her hips, a quiver on her left, and a wicked knife at her right. The curves of her legs were obvious in the boots and figure-hugging pants.
She hadn’t worn the quiver when we’d run into each other.
Isolde saw it and gave a nod of approval. They swapped roles almost seamlessly. I didn’t offer Audrey a boost into the saddle, and she clearly didn’t need one. The strung bow she hooked onto her saddle as if she’d done it a hundred times before was at my eye height.
I’d seen the like before in the hands of the Steppe warriors. Bone and wood, beautifully carved, passed down through generations. That bow would have tales to tell.
“Thanking you,” Audrey said to me. “It’s much faster with an extra set of hands.”
Surprised to be acknowledged, I said nothing.
“Are you sure you’re happy to part with this?” Ylva asked Audrey from her own saddle, turning a knife over in her hands.
“Mayhap it’ll find its way between my father’s ribs,” she said, with the same semi-bored speculation I’d heard in her voice as she’d once said to Isolde, “ I wonder if cook’s making upside-down apple cakes one day soon.”
Isolde returned dressed similarly to Audrey, then stopped to tie a bedroll on the horse behind Ylva and pass her a small but heavy bag that chimed with coin.
Ylva didn’t look so cocky now. She cleared her throat. “We need to move.”
“We will.” Isolde closed it up and spent a little time with her hands in the grass where it had been rolled up, fluffing up flattened stalks. She didn’t eradicate all signs of her hidden cellar, but there was nothing to set it apart, at least to my eye, once she was done.
Now, Ylva led the way. I followed along behind, ordered to participate by a man none of us respected. I could think of many situations where I would’ve gladly ridden along as a shield on such a rescue operation.
“Who’s Khazari?” Audrey asked, when we were forced to a walk due to the undergrowth.
“He breathed and made the wind,” Ylva told her, without looking away. “He angered and made lightning, then cried and made rain.” I wondered if Ylva knew how firmly the La’Angi locals held their beliefs of the One, but I put most of my attention to the rapidly approaching incline, assessing the best path for Bliksem. “His children are those who dedicate themselves to the air and sky. And they’re waiting for me.”
“Wait. Khazari is your name for the One?” Audrey asked. “There’s a priest here?”
Ylva snorted, leading us straight toward the hill, straight into the wind that whistled through the trees and made leaves stir wetly against branches. “Khazari is not the One. There is no One. There are only many. Arrogant northerners.”
Before Audrey could respond, a bird sang nearby, and then silence descended. Grateful for the quiet, I watched the way Audrey held her seat in the saddle, critically. If she broke her neck riding, I suspected my oath would consume me. I did, after all, know she needed practice.
She wouldn’t enjoy being pulled up and told to walk her horse, but the hill was such that it was probably the safest option.
She was fine, though, letting her mare pick her own way and moving well with the horse. I followed closely but noticed, once we’d reached a more level part of the trail, that Isolde seemed unconcerned.
I’d never thought to ask what had gone wrong with Audrey’s horse on that day, whether it was simply because it was an unfamiliar animal or whether something had happened. That oversight made me wonder how many other things I hadn’t thought to ask.
I could just about hear Kadan telling me, “You don’t know what you don’t know, brother. That’s why you make friends with folks who do.” My heart ached.
Neither he nor I would ever be the same people we had been before we’d come to La’Angi.
Leaning low over Bliksem’s neck to avoid a branch, I caught a glimpse of the storm clouds up ahead.
There were a lot more types of magic than those used in our own fair country by our lily-livered excuse for a king. But Audrey might not know that because she didn’t know what she didn’t know, either. And if we were riding up to someone proficient in magics we couldn’t understand, how could we hope to defend against it?
“What’re the odds this is a trap?” I asked Isolde, keeping my tone unconcerned.
“High,” she told me without looking. “If they turn on us, I’ll put an arrow in Ylva’s throat. It’s her they want enough to risk coming so close. You get Audrey home. Don’t wait for me.”
Despite her bravado, I realized she sat low in her saddle, her cloak pulled tight. From my position to the side of her, and with the poor light, I could see how pale she was.
Ylva sent Isolde a long look that left me with no doubt that she’d heard every word. Isolde clearly had known that would happen. If there was a hidden meaning I was supposed to take from that plan, some sort of secret alternative option, I wasn’t finding it. The best I could do was follow Ylva and Audrey’s path.
There was smoke coming from off to the west when we next slowed enough to speak, but the silence was broken only by the splashing of our horses crossing a creek. With another slow incline before us and the sun sitting low, we focused on the path ahead of us.
If Audrey was wearying, I couldn’t tell from her seat or her focus. Isolde, on the other hand, sank lower again in the saddle. Audrey was in front of her and hadn’t noticed. In the gathering gloom, I was watching for a spot of relatively clear riding so I could draw Audrey’s attention. Before one came, though, another burbling bird call met my ears. This time, I saw Isolde lift her fingers to her lips to make the sound.
It was a disorienting reminder I was riding alongside a Matri’sion. But it was more than that for Audrey, who had an arrow notched and crowded her horse closer to Ylva.
Ylva just laughed. “You’re sharp,” she threw casually over her shoulder toward Isolde.
And then chaos erupted.