18. Kit
Kit
T he rest of the day, Penny hardly said a word aside from apologizing for spending so much at the market and reiterating that he’d pay me back every copper.
The visible relief when I assured him that I didn’t need him to repay what was spent on necessities was the only time I saw anything remotely resembling a smile on his face.
The next morning, while he cooked the breakfast he insisted was his responsibility to prepare, I sat in the kitchen with him.
He made do with the worn skillets, frying up onions and links of cased sausage, and it wasn’t until he piled the food onto plates and settled beside me at the table that he spoke.
“You called Merrick a Shroud Warden. Does that mean he’s in charge?”
I took a bite of sausage before responding.
“It means he’s one of the most powerful people here, but he’s not in charge, no.
There are obviously no wards or militia outposts this far out, so there isn’t any oversight from them, and Ashpoint doesn’t run like a normal town.
There are no elders, and generally the community doesn’t get a say in who runs things. ”
Penny took up his fork but didn’t start in on his food. “I’m sorry. I think you told me about this on our way to the farm, but it was so much to remember.”
“The Right Hand is in charge,” I reminded him. “Violette’s brother, Levitt, is the current one, and he oversees everything. The Shroud Warden ranks just below him. He provides council to the Right Hand and monitors the Oaths to ensure they’re done properly.”
We ran through it again: below the Shroud Warden, there were four others: the Sentinels of the Death Watch, one for each of the cardinal directions.
Symbolically, they were the guardians of the secrets of the cult, though they had once been actual night guards.
Their job was to ensure the protection of the original Bone Men camp.
But now, safe in the mountains with Ashpoint hidden from the world by the walls of the corrie, they were no longer needed to keep watch, so the positions became more ceremonial. They administered the Oaths along with the Shroud Warden and meted out punishment when ordered by the Right Hand.
My father had begun his rise through the ranks as a Sentinel when I was eight, and he had thoroughly enjoyed those particular jobs. They gave him an outlet for the cruelty he’d kept hidden during the first few years of my life, and it only got worse from there.
Penny pushed his food around his plate and kept his eyes down even after I finished. “Merrick must have been here a long time to get so high up.”
I took another bite of sausage and gave him time to mull it over. When he didn’t say anything further, I pressed on. “When did he join the militia?”
Penny shrugged. “About ten years ago. ”
A decade would have been plenty of time for Merrick to undergo his Oaths and insinuate himself into a position of power, assuming he’d found his way to Ashpoint immediately after leaving the farm.
With members of the Bone Men across the province living what looked to be regular lives to help support the cause and recruit others that might have something to offer, that wasn’t outside the realm of possibility.
“I don’t think he was ever actually in the militia,” Penny said before I had the chance to suggest the same thing.
“I’ve never seen him in uniform. He was gone for training far longer than he should have been.
And once training was done, he was deployed constantly except for planting and harvest. Even then, he never stayed longer than he had to.
I just… never thought much about it before now. ”
I didn’t like seeing him so dejected. Merrick had clearly been a shadow over Penny’s life for a long time, and even so far from home he couldn’t escape it.
Aside from how much harder it would be to justify Penny’s presence here, it made our current plan impossible.
If the Oliver brothers came face to face, it would no longer be as simple as Penny slipping away once he got what he came for or was assured his father’s bones were gone.
And with as small as Ashpoint was, I doubted I could keep them apart for long.
Having him here was a liability that I wasn’t sure I could afford.
“Maybe it would be best if you went home,” I said.
Penny looked up at me with a scowl. “What?”
I sighed and set down my fork. “With Merrick being the Shroud Warden, what we planned is twice as dangerous. Even if we’re able to find your father’s remains, if your brother finds out you’re here and what you know, he won’t let you leave.
But if you go tomorrow before first light, you can get back to the farm, and he’ll be none the wiser.
Your family needs you too much for you to get stuck here. ”
Penny let out a rush of breath and shoved his plate away. “So, he just gets away with it? I know he stole Father’s body. He put the curse on our family?—”
“There’s no curse,” I said softly.
Penny scoffed. “I don’t think he would’ve minded if there was.”
I turned my chair to face him fully. “I’m sorry, Penny. I know this isn’t what you wanted to happen, but it’s not safe for you to stay.”
Before he could respond, a knock sounded from the front door. I motioned for Penny to stay where he was while I crossed into the main living area.
My shoulders relaxed when I saw an unfamiliar woman on the front step, relieved not to see Merrick or Violette again. When I pulled the door open, the stranger held up a letter sealed with blood-red wax.
“Mister Koesters?” she asked.
Hearing that name so casually thrown around was taking some getting used to.
“That’s me,” I said.
She extended her hand. “For you and your recruit.”
“Thank you,” I said as I plucked the paper from her fingers.
With a nod, she turned and started back down the road.
I closed the door behind her, then ran my finger under the drop of wax, already dreading what I might find inside. I shook out the folded sheet of parchment and scanned the brief message. It was an official summons, and it named both of us .
Tomorrow before first light was looking like it would be too late.
I returned to the kitchen and sank into my chair, sliding the letter across the tabletop so Penny could see.
“Our presence is requested by the Right Hand. We’re expected in his chambers within the hour.
If we go now, I can sneak you out of town, but you’ll have to find your way back to Eastcliff alone. Can you manage that?”
He stared down at the letter, his expression grim. “I’ll probably walk off a cliff because the map says there should be a road there,” he muttered.
I cringed at ever having said something so cruel, but before I could respond, Penny looked up.
“Why should I go alone?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“To Eastcliff. You have to pass there on your way back to Forstford. I’m sure you’re not eager to be trapped with my mother and sister again, but we could at least go that far together.”
I sat back in my chair and shook my head. “Penny, I’m not leaving.”
“But you came here for me,” he protested. “Why would you stay if I left?”
“Because I’m not here for you. I’m here to find a way to put a stop to all of this, to make sure the Bone Men never finish their Vessel or bring Eeus and his suffering into this world.
Clearly nothing can be done from the outside, so I’ll figure out how to do it from in here.
It’s what I should have done years ago.”
Penny was quiet a moment, dropping his eyes back to the summons and picking at a frayed corner of the parchment.
“You said they’re expecting me, too.” He pushed the letter back. “What will you tell them when I’m not there? I thought you needed a recruit to get back in.”
The same question had occurred to me, but I didn’t have a great answer. All I knew was that I needed to get him out of town before that was no longer an option, and the rest would work itself out. With Levitt as the Right Hand, maybe I could get away with not having a recruit to offer at all.
“I’ll manage,” I said and stood. “Come on. Get your things.”
When he looked up at me, his eyes shone like he was holding back tears. “You shouldn’t have to manage. I’ve made things worse for you. That’s all I’ve done from the start.”
I wanted to protest, to make him feel better, but he was right. Of all the people who could have dragged me back to Ashpoint, it had been him, and a relatively simple—albeit unlikely—plan had ended in complete disaster by day two. Had he been anyone else, we might have managed to pull it off.
Penny shook his head, and his expression hardened. “No. No, none of this is right. I won’t let Merrick get away with this. I won't be the reason you can’t do what you came to do. And I’m not leaving without my father’s body.”
His determination was commendable, but he had the worst timing.
“If Merrick sees you, you’re stuck here, Penny.”
He rose from his seat and dropped his nearly full plate into the sink with a clatter. “So be it.”