Chapter 17 #2
I hug both my siblings to me, clinging to them fiercely before whirling around and striding out of the room, hoping the speed of my movements will hide the tears cascading from my eyes.
As I stalk out, I swipe the wetness from my cheeks, thankful that they are not icy. Outside, silver moonlight casts watery shadows on paving stones as I head towards the gate.
Benny, Caz, and Ruben are already mounted, and the horses are laden down.
I asked Summer to prepare rations for us to take with us, and given the meals that she’s cooked over the last couple of days, I should have known better than to expect a couple of bread rolls and cold meat.
There’s enough to feed an army here: bread and meats, yes, but also stewed fruits, canned to keep their freshness, dried vegetables that we can rehydrate to create broths, salted fish, biscuits, oats, and dried milk. You name it, she’s packed it.
At least it means we won’t have to worry about food, which, given how much we actually do have to worry about, is a blessing.
One mount is lacking a rider: a jet-black mare with a thin, white blaze of hair on its forehead. Blaze. Seems like as good enough a name as any.
‘Last chance to back out,’ I say as I pull myself into the saddle of my newly named steed.
Benny shrugs. ‘Not really. I’m pretty sure we can abandon you at any point we fancy.’
Without a change in expression, Caz moves her horse next to his, reaches out, and hits him over the head.
‘Thanks,’ I say to her.
‘Public service.’ She shrugs.
With Benny’s power, he surely saw Caz’s intention as she approached, yet he let her swipe at him all the same. He’s a good friend.
Ruben grins for the first time since we watched his mother disappear into Etta’s temple. ‘This is going to be fun.’
‘That’s the spirit,’ Benny says. ‘It’s best that we’re all delusional from the start.’
We ride through the city in silence, passing through the rings effortlessly as tired knights wave us through checkpoints with no issues. Sometimes conversation creeps into the group, but mostly we’re quiet.
There are times, though, like when we reach the third ring and Etta’s temple, that the silence becomes even more pronounced.
I wonder whether we should stop and allow Ruben a moment at his mother’s final resting place, but I know that if he wanted to do that, he’d have asked, so I respect his tacit wishes once again, and we continue on into the outer rings.
Stars litter the sky above us as we slip out through the final wall and find ourselves in the deprivation and stench of the slums.
‘Is it strange that this smell feels like home?’ Ruben says, inhaling a lungful of the undeniably putrid air.
‘Extremely,’ Benny says, but I get it. Somehow, there is something comforting about it all. In the slums, you know where you stand.
As I throw Ruben a smile, a child runs beside us.
‘I know you. You’re the gifted!’ he shouts, his mouth hanging open as he stares at me.
‘Shh! It’s late,’ I chastise him. The last thing I want is a crowd. Not when we’ve got this far unnoticed. ‘You should be in bed.’
He has to be able to hear me, but he doesn’t listen. Instead, he yells, ‘It’s Lady Rose! The gifted! She’s come back!’
A corkscrew of nerves twists within me as the first few figures appear around us, attracted by the noise, only to add to it.
‘It’s the gifted!’
‘She came back!’ People start to pour out of their makeshift houses and lean-tos, gathering around us.
‘Are we about to get robbed?’ Caz mutters behind me.
‘I’m looking, don’t worry,’ Benny replies, scanning the area. His ability to see things is normally enough to spot anyone who’s out to harm us before they can actually do so, but before long we’re surrounded.
‘One of us!’ someone shouts.
‘One of us!’ the cheer comes again.
‘She’ll always be one of us, right, Rose?’
The warm use of my name catches me by surprise, but when I twist my head around and see the figure standing there, I understand. Corem, my old neighbour, is looking up at me, pride beaming from his face.
‘Always one of us,’ he says quietly, as if it’s just the two of us.
Tears fill my eyes as the chant starts up again. Any apprehension I had is long gone. These people aren’t going to hurt us. Even if our horses are laden with more wealth than they’ll see in a lifetime.
The thought causes another to stir within me.
‘I’m going to do something stupid,’ I warn the others.
Benny sighs. ‘Aren’t you always?’
Next to me, Ruben grins. ‘Let me guess, we’re not gonna be quite as well fed as we thought on this trip?’
I reach back and loosen the bag filled with my share of the food Summer made up.
‘You’ve got one too, right?’ I say to Caz, while beckoning Corem over.
As the bag slides out of the saddle straps, Corem reaches my side.
‘Share it out,’ I tell him as he grabs the bottom. ‘That one too,’ I add with a gesture to Caz’s bag.
Corem nods, his eyes shining. ‘I will, Lady Rose.’
The use of my title causes my heart to twinge. ‘It’s Rose, Corem. Just Rose.’
‘No, it isn’t,’ he says gently. He opens the pack and starts passing the rations out.
‘There’s more here,’ Ruben says as he slings his pack down and hands it to Corem as well.
Benny sighs loudly. ‘You guys are absolutely idiotic,’ he says, but he’s undoing the straps to his own saddlebag as he speaks.
‘Just so we’re clear,’ Caz says, ‘we’re probably all going to starve now.’