Chapter 39 Ezra
The moment we entered the tavern, Elsbeth’s face fell. She craned her neck, as though we were possibly hiding ten terrified rescued girls behind us. The look of us gave it away. Slumped, exhausted, defeated. We had not gotten to a single girl, and we all took that personally.
“I suppose you won't be needing those extra carriages then?”
She already knew the answer. None of us wanted to speak it aloud.
Each person in our group fixed their eyes on the ground.
Raf was taking it exceptionally hard. He looked as though he might cry when Elsbeth sighed sadly.
He cared so deeply for the girls we had already saved, and he held the ones who hadn't been saved in his heart as well. I recognized my own sorrow in his.
We loaded into one wagon and bid Elsbeth goodbye, thanking her for her help despite the outcome. When we arrived back at the sanctuary, Margaret and Christine were already waiting outside. The mood was much the same as the tavern. Bright smiles faded quickly into solemn disappointment.
“No friends?” Christine asked quietly. I could only shake my head.
Liv sniffled beside me and Raf did not bother waiting for further questions.
He passed them without a word and retreated to his room in the cellar.
Margaret patted my back softly as we walked past her and retired to our own rooms to wash the sea and all of its memories from ourselves.
When we gathered in the kitchen again, it felt more empty than it ever had.
A pot of stew that Margaret had prepared for the incoming girls sat untouched.
Christine and Eliza lay on the floor staring blankly at the ceiling.
Arabella and Dinah absentmindedly wiped the same spots on the counter until I worried they may leave an impression in the wood.
And in the corner, Helena sat with her chest pressed against the back of a chair, her legs straddling either side as Rafael cleaned and redressed her wound.
“You look dreadful.” She gave him a small smirk.
Raf glanced up. “Thank you.”
“I mean more than usual.” She prodded him again. Typically, he would have a witty comeback, a teasing jest in return. He only grunted and continued to bandage her arm, his eyes distant.
“Sorry,” he apologized when he accidentally pulled the bandage too tightly.
“If you apologize to me once more, Blacksmith, I will reopen the wound simply to give you something worth apologizing for.”
He would not be bullied out of this with Helena’s peculiar type of remedy.
I did not blame him. This was our first true failure.
Turbulent as the missions before had been, we had at the very least managed to save someone.
This time, we had nothing to show for our efforts, and those girls would soon run out of time.
The tension and sadness in the room could be cut through with a broadsword.
I cleared my throat loudly. No one even flinched.
“I know that we are all feeling defeated. This sulking, however, will not help the girls who still remain in Verith, or the ones currently under our charge in the sanctuary.”
That got their attention. Every eye in the room drifted hesitantly toward me.
“We must discuss what happened.” I waved them to the table.
Helena pulled the chair she was sitting on closer.
Liv settled next to me and Raf next to Helena.
Dinah and Arabella stood behind Margaret as she sat, and even Christine rolled onto her stomach, her eyes widening slightly.
“They were waiting for us.” I sighed. “Someone told them where we would be breaching.”
Chatter erupted among them. Accusations were hurled and mistrust lingered.
For a moment I was back in the council chambers, playing a political game that I did not know the true rules to.
“Stop!” I shouted. “What we will not be doing is pointing fingers. We are a family, and we will not turn on any of our own.”
Margaret passed me a cup of tea and I took a long sip before continuing.
“We have been careless. Incautious. We have gotten comfortable here and have forgotten what, who, we are truly up against. We have allowed too many people to come and go. So, we will not be ostracizing our own people or casting judgment.” Liv squeezed my hand.
“We have spoken about this.” She stood to address them.
“Of course, every person here has a say. So, if you do not agree, please let your concerns be heard.”
She smiled, reassuring them that her words were true.
“We are going to retreat in a manner of speaking.”
She paused to make sure they were listening.
“The girls that remain in Verith weigh heavy on our hearts, and we will absolutely be thinking of ways to free them. However, we need to make sure they have somewhere safe to flee to.”
Heads began to nod in agreement. “We will be establishing a trade route outside of Forsgeth. One that only we know the path to. This is to ensure that we still have the supplies we need, but we are keeping our circle small until we can figure out who is feeding Stanhope information.”
No one objected.
“We understand that this may make things difficult.”
I stood next to Liv and wrapped an arm around her waist.
“For now, we will be doing supply runs in parties to ensure safety if Verith’s enforcers are bold enough to cross the wall. Once we are certain it is safe, we will move to extract the remaining girls.”
I nodded toward Raf, “I will need you and Helena to venture into Stanhope’s mind once more, try and find out what you can about who may be helping him. He has the power of persuasion, he is able to manipulate people’s minds,
so whoever in Forsgeth is feeding him information may not be doing so entirely of their own will.” Raf nodded his understanding.
We spent the remainder of the evening hunched over maps of the surrounding villages.
Margaret insisted we eat the stew that she had made so it would not go to waste, though none of us had a hearty appetite.
Some of the girls came in and carried one of the pots to the families in the dorms.
We settled on a village just beyond Forsgeth, closer to the capital of Torezia.
It was called Morietha. It was close enough to the capital to ensure it had everything that we required, but far enough away that it would not give away the sanctuary's location entirely.
The path we chose wound through the forest along the wall and bypassed Forsgeth so that we would not have to make excuses to the villagers as to why we were no longer buying from them.
We all returned to our rooms and the heaviness that hung over the house had lightened, if only a little. Tomorrow we would test our new trade route.