At the very front, Arcturus could see Elaine and the others, curled up in the space beneath the prow. Only Alice was awake—tending to Edmund. Even from the other side of the ship, the boy’s face looked very pale.
“Ulfr, how long until we stop?” Prince Harold asked. “I assume there’s a way out on the other side? Perhaps somewhere near Corcillum?”
Arcturus turned to see Ulfr perched on the back of the ship. He was manning the tiller, guiding the boat’s path by swinging the rudder from side to side. The dwarf did not answer.
“Ulfr, I appreciate what you’ve done for us,” Prince Harold said, “and I will never forget it. But this is the third time I have asked you. I need to know where we’re going.”
The dwarf looked away, as if reluctant to speak.
“We’re going to the dwarven quarter,” Ulfr announced, jerking the nearest soldiers from their reverie of rowing. “And we’ll be there any minute.”
“The dwarven quarter?” Prince Harold repeated. “Is that … safe?”
Ulfr stared at him, as if he was scared to speak.
“The rebels won’t know you’re there,” Ulfr replied. “These boats could have belonged to anyone, as far as they know. You’ll be safe there.”
“What about the dwarven elders?” Prince Harold asked, his face suddenly panicked. “Will they shelter us … or use us?”
“Use you?” Ulfr growled, affronted by the idea.
“There’s a war being fought up there,” Prince Harold said, taking a deep breath. “Hominum’s whole political system is on the edge of collapse. With us in their hands, the dwarves would have leverage over both sides.”
“If you hadn’t noticed, you’ve got a small army with you,” Ulfr snapped. “And our men are not trained warriors—we’d lose twice your number to capture you.”
Harold opened and closed his mouth, unable to answer.
“And you’re more trouble than you’re worth. If the rebels were to find out we were sheltering you, they’d storm the dwarven quarter just to recapture you. Your father would do the same, even if we claimed to be keeping you safe for him. He hates us.”
Prince Harold looked at his hands, ashamed.
“I was scared to tell you because I think the dwarven elders might throw you out, you fool,” Ulfr said, his face red with anger. “Hurry you out onto Corcillum’s streets and stay out of this rebellion.”
“I’m sorry,” Prince Harold said.
“You humans are all the same,” Ulfr said, staring moodily into the darkness.
Then he straightened, peering ahead. “We’re here.”
The boat lurched, and Arcturus fell to the side. By the time he had scrambled to his feet, the boat had scraped itself onto a gravelly beach.
They could have sailed by it and barely noticed it in the darkness, for it was no wider than a man was tall, and there seemed to be nothing discernible other than that small strip of flat land.
“Everybody out,” Ulfr called.
Arcturus gathered his weapons and jumped over the side, landing in the shallows. He winced as his boots filled with water. Sacharissa sailed over him. She landed on the dry sand and gave him a bemused look.
“It’s all right for some,” Arcturus grumbled, stomping after her.
It took but a minute for the men to assemble on the beach, stamping and blowing on their hands to stay warm.
“Nobles, if you would,” Ulfr called, motioning for Prince Harold and the others to join him. Arcturus followed, and they stood away from the soldiers.
“We can wait here,” Ulfr said once they were out of earshot. “Wait until this all blows over.”
“If our parents don’t know we’ve escaped, the rebels will just keep lying to them and more of Corcillum will burn,” Prince Harold said.
“And Edmund won’t last long in this cold,” Alice said. “None of us will, really. We need shelter.”
Edmund was leaning against her, his black hair plastered with sweat across his forehead. He smiled weakly, unable to speak. Whatever injury the orc had done to his head, it was taking its toll on the poor boy.
“Well, then, I can present you to the Dwarven Council and they can decide what to do with you,” Ulfr said. “There’s nowhere else I can take you.”
“Can’t you take us to your home?” Arcturus asked. He had never heard of the Dwarven Council before that night, but it sounded like a risky move.
Ulfr let out a bitter laugh.
“I live in Vocans now. What, you think they kept a room for me here? We’re forced to live in a small circle of land in the center of Corcillum; there’s no space as it is.”
“Family perhaps?” Prince Harold said.
“And put them at risk?” Ulfr said. “Even if I wanted to, few dwarves own their own homes. Most of us only have a room in a communal dwelling.”
“The Dwarven Council will want no part in this,” Prince Harold said. “You said as much.”
“Odds are they will send you on your way,” Ulfr agreed. “But you’ll be on the streets of Corcillum. That’s better than you were before, and I’m sure I can find some parchment for you to tell your parents you’ve escaped. Find shelter there. Surely you have friends.”
“Perhaps … I know a few people,” Alice said hesitantly.
“Commoners,” Zacharias interjected. “We won’t know who to trust.”
“Well, we can’t stay here,” Alice snapped back. “It’s as good a plan as any.”
There was a sound from Edmund, barely audible over the echoes of their argument.
“What was that, Edmund?” Prince Harold asked. “Save your strength.”
“Uhtred,” Edmund whispered. “Uhtred Thorsager. We can trust him.”
“Who’s that?” Elaine asked.
“A dwarf,” Alice replied. “He helped build the secret tunnel under Raleighshire.”
“Do you know him?” Zacharias asked.
Alice shook her head.
“None of us do,” she said. “But Edmund’s father must have faith in him, to trust him with such an important secret.”
“Can you take us to him?” Prince Harold asked, turning to Ulfr.
The dwarf thought for a moment, stroking his beard.
“He owns his own workshop and home. He’s a wealthy dwarf, especially for one so young … a blacksmith, if I remember correctly.”
“Can you take us?” Prince Harold repeated.
Ulfr sighed.
“Follow me,” he said.
CHAPTER
54
THERE WAS A CRACK in the wall—just wide enough to fit a man. They would never have noticed it, for the outside was covered in lichen, but Ulfr swept it aside and beckoned them through.
The entire group followed, the sound of the soldiers marching echoing like a drum in the depths of the tight tunnel. Inside, it was somehow colder still, and the path was so twisted that the torches did little to illuminate their way. The soldiers cursed as they passed through, but a bark from Sergeant Caulder silenced them once more.
Still, they pressed on despite their complaints, eager to finally reach somewhere warm and safe. As they traveled, Ulfr would stop and peer at dwarven runes carved into the walls. Their path split and split again, until Arcturus thought that Ulfr had become lost. But finally, signs of life began to appear.
A cart full of rocks and oars lay on its side down one tunnel, while in another, Arcturus saw a metal door embedded in the wall. He passed too quickly to get a good look, but soon more began to appear. Great iron circles built into the rock itself, riveted and reinforced with a crisscross of bracing along its center. Each one had more runes written above it, but Ulfr did not stop to look now—he wove his way unerringly through the labyrinth, ignoring the dripping water from above and the squeaking rats that skittered from their path.
It was only when Arcturus thought he could not walk any farther and would need to ask for rest that they reached it. Another metal door, this one as large and thick as any Arcturus had seen,
with a great pile of discarded leather, rusted nails and other such leavings outside it.
“This is it,” Ulfr said, leaning heavily against the wall. “Uhtred’s workshop. We had better hope he is in.”
Behind, soldiers collapsed to the ground in relief, ignoring the dampness and the cold stone beneath them.
“Edmund … what now?” Alice asked.
But Edmund did not reply. The boy slipped to the floor, his eyes half-closed.
“I’ll have the red one,” the boy muttered, reaching out at the ceiling.
“He’s delirious,” Alice said, pulling her damp cloak from her shivering body and wrapping it around him.
Arcturus strode to the door and rapped it with his knuckles. He winced, and the metal rang so softly that he wasn’t sure he’d heard it. Growling, Arcturus grasped a nearby rock and slammed it against the door with a clang.
“Hello!” he yelled, hitting it again. “We’re here, hello!”
Silence.
“If you don’t let us in, we’ll die down here,” Arcturus shouted. He battered the door with the rock, until the stone crumbled beneath the onslaught. He let the pieces fall to the ground and pressed his head against the metal. It was warm to the touch, and he reveled in its heat.
“You have to be there. You have to.”
Still silence. Then …
“Who is it?”
The voice was deep, but muffled behind the thickness of the door.
“We are nobles from Vocans. We have Edmund Raleigh with us,” Arcturus replied, trying to keep his voice loud enough to hear without announcing that they were nobles to the echoing cave. Who knew what other dwarves might be listening?
The voice took a while to reply, then said, “How?”
“Ulfr brought us here,” Arcturus replied.
“I have heard Ulfr hates humans,” the voice replied. “You’re lying.”
“Please, Ulfr,” Prince Harold begged, looking beseechingly at the dwarf. “Tell him.”
Ulfr shook his head and approached the door.
“Uhtred, it’s me, Ulfr. We have not met, but I believe you’re courting my cousin Briss. She likes you.”
The door was silent again.
“Truly?” called the voice.
“Open the damned door—it’s freezing out here,” Rotter shouted.
Finally, Arcturus heard some movement on the other side. A thumping sound, followed by the clanking of metal. Then the door slowly rolled sideways, and a red-bearded face peered through the gap.
“Ulfr?” Uhtred said.
“Aye,” Ulfr said. “See.”
Uhtred stared at the dozens of soldiers shivering on the floor outside, and the waxen-faced Edmund collapsed in Alice’s lap.
“Come in,” he said, his face a picture of shock.
“About bloody time,” Rotter growled. He hurried to Edmund and lifted the boy onto his shoulder, then barged past Uhtred into the room behind. Arcturus followed, and the soldiers piled in, thanking Uhtred with the exaggerated gratefulness of men on the edge of despair.
But Arcturus was not listening. Because he was staring at a roaring fire, and the heat was the most blessed thing he had ever felt in his life. He fell to his knees and spread his arms, while Rotter laid Edmund out beside him.
“Some warmth and rest will do him good,” Rotter said, brushing the hair from the boy’s forehead. “And some soup.”
Arcturus took a few moments to let the feeling seep to his extremities again, before turning to see Uhtred standing morosely among the men who had crowded into what appeared to be a forge.
Metal tools and implements lay in neat rows on wooden benches, and half-finished weapons and armor were stacked like kindling in wooden boxes around the room. In the center, where Arcturus was now warming his back, an enormous furnace roared within a metal pipe that extended into the ceiling. On the opposite side of the room, a door identical to the one they had just entered from was built into the wall.
“What’s wrong with Edmund?” Uhtred said, hurrying over and kneeling beside the stricken noble.
“He was hurt fighting the orcs, and the summoners couldn’t heal him,” Rotter said. “The skull may be fractured.”
“It may be brain swelling,” Uhtred said, stroking his beard with a worried expression. “The cold from outside has probably helped with that, but he’s too weak to cool him any further. We must give him rest—there’s nothing else we can do for him now.”
Arcturus was finally able to take a look at the dwarf. It was strange, but the dwarf was taller than Ulfr, reaching as high as Arcturus’s chest. His arms were heavily muscled, and his shoulders as broad as two men standing side by side. But despite his beard, he looked young. Arcturus would have been surprised if Uhtred was much older than himself.
“What are you doing here? Did you say he was injured by an orc? And who are all these men?” Uhtred asked.
He was looking furtively at the men around him, as if he was already questioning his decision to let them in. Arcturus doubted he would have, had Edmund not been with them.
Nobody replied to the dwarf; instead Sergeant Caulder slammed the door shut and twisted the metal wheel that kept it locked into place. Then the tired man collapsed to the ground and put his face in his hands.
“We did it,” the sergeant said. “Goddamn but we kept you safe. It’s a bloody miracle.”
Arcturus smiled and hugged Sacharissa close. It was true. They were finally safe.
CHAPTER
55
THEY SAT IN A circle in front of the fire. Arcturus, the nobles, the two dwarves and the three sergeants. As for the soldiers, most lay sleeping, scattered like dolls on a nursery floor. Snores permeated the room as if it were occupied by an orchestra of broken wind instruments. Of the nobles, only Edmund and Alice did not join their war council, instead resting in a makeshift bed of furs and leathers in the corner.
“How’s Edmund?” Uhtred asked as Rotter came back from checking on the stricken noble.
The dwarf was still in a state of shock from what Rotter had told him of the nobles’ escape, and they were the first words he had spoken in quite some time.
“Well enough,” Rotter said, his mouth half-full. “He’s talking normally again, and Alice is feeding him. Thank you, by the way.”
He waved a hunk of bread in the air as he sat down. Uhtred had disappeared upstairs soon after they arrived and had returned with enough bread and cheese to feed a small army … which indeed it had. There was water enough from a tank in the corner, one Uhtred used for dousing when he did his metalwork.
Crawley had been tied to the tank, while Sacharissa kept watch over him. She snarled if he so much as even twitched, so the man lay perfectly still, his eyes darting around the room.
“How’s it going over here?” Rotter asked.
In the center of their circle sat a pair of scrying crystals, and the group had been watching them in relative silence for the past few minutes. Even with two crystals, it was not easy for everyone to see, but the image was clear enough from Arcturus’s vantage.
Valens was on the move with a note that Prince Harold had written. Now the Mite flitted from rooftop to rooftop, observing the streets below.
To Arcturus’s surprise, they seemed relatively calm. In fact, few people wandered the streets at all, and those that did seemed to be in a hurry. It was as if a curfew had been put in place.
The morning light was still barely blushing the horizon, for it was still the early hours. But one thing did seem out of place. The great pillars of smoke, scattered across the sky.
“Something happened last night,” Prince Harold said. “Rioting? Or an invasion from the soldiers.”
“They were told to head to Corcillum,” Sergeant Caulder said. “But who knows what orders they received when they got here.”
“I know,” said the third sergeant. He was seated between Sergeant Caulder and Sergeant Percival, a round-faced man who had barely spoken since they had left Vocans. He had
introduced himself as Daniels, but volunteered little more until that moment.
“We went to Corcillum,” Daniels continued, and he had the good grace to look ashamed. “We were on our way back anyway, when Barcroft’s orders arrived. There were riders skirting the southern entrances—they stopped us before we could go into the city. They said they’d occupied the southern half of the capital, and we were to make camp and wait for more orders. But there weren’t many other squads there; ours was one of the first. We thought it would be safer at Vocans … wait it out, you know?”
He shook his head, and Arcturus could not tell if his expression was one of regret or relief.
“Then one of the other sergeants came over,” Daniels said. “He told us the nobles had gathered their household troops and barricaded themselves in Corwin Plaza. That we’d be assaulting it at the tenth bell the next day. And to expect heavy casualties, but that we would triumph.”
“They’re going to attack?” Prince Harold said. “Are they mad?”
“No,” Uhtred said. “They have the numbers.”
“If you think that, you’re a bigger fool than I gave you credit for,” Zacharias laughed.
“With respect,” Prince Harold said, ignoring Zacharias’s words, “these are powerful summoners, many with their own trained bodyguards. Even the squads that patrol Hominum’s southern border would not be able to beat all of them.”
“The rebels don’t need the soldiers,” Uhtred replied. “They have the people. There are marches in the streets, flags being burned. The citizens don’t even realize that there’s a rebellion; they think it’s a spontaneous protest. Just a mass of angry people gathered around the plaza, singing songs and waving banners. Thousands of them.”
“How do you know this?” Arcturus asked.
“The dwarves have their friends among the humans,” Uhtred said. “We know what’s happening. Some are even rebels who want us to join them. But we will not risk dwarven lives for a human cause. Alfric may hate us, but these rebels may be no better.”