Thick, dark deciduous trees surrounded us, and their branches came together overhead, creating a canopy. In the summer, they bloomed brightly with flowers, but now icicles hung down from them, like diamond ornaments.
Almost hidden in the dim light, I saw a bearded vulture perched on one of the branches. It cocked its head, its sharp eyes locked on me. I held my breath, waiting for it to cackle and give away our position, but it only watched us before taking flight.
Four large mausoleums sat in the center of the cemetery, pointing to each of the four directions, and the royal family and high-ranking Markis and Marksinna were buried within them. Since plots were scarce, most people had burials at the bay. What few spaces were left were usually reserved for dodsfall--or a hero's death, someone who died in service to the kingdom.
We crept along, keeping our heads low in case guards were patrolling nearby, then Ridley stopped short, causing me to run into him. Konstantin was leading the way, weaving through headstones, with Baltsar and Finn following close behind.
I was about to ask Ridley why he'd stopped, but then I looked to see what he was staring it. It was a headstone, broken in half. The bloody carcass of a fish with its guts hanging out had been left on the stone, the blood and entrails frozen to the granite.
Even though it was broken, I could still make out most of the words, and I filled in the rest:
REINHARD MIKAEL DRESDEN
1963-1999
HERO TO THE KING
BELOVED FATHER AND HUSBAND
Ridley's father had been killed protecting the King during Viktor Dalig's revolt. He'd been revered as a hero ... until Ridley had defected from Doldastam, and now, based on the dead fish, they were punishing Reinhard for Ridley's assumed loyalties to the Skojare. To me.
I put my hand on his arm and whispered, "I'm so sorry."
His jaw was set, and his eyes were hard. Then he shook his head once. "We just need to get out of here."
He turned and walked away. I wanted to right the stone and clean off the frozen blood, but we really didn't have time. And what would it matter if we did? The damage had already been done.
When we reached the edge of the cemetery, Konstantin, Baltsar, and Finn were long gone. I knew that Finn would go after his family, but I had no idea what Konstantin and Baltsar might be up to. Crouching beside the hedges, Ridley whispered that we should split up--he'd go get his mom, while I got my parents.
It seemed like the safest bet to get us out of here the fastest, so he kissed me briefly on the lips, then turned and darted in the opposite direction, while I dashed across the icy cobblestone streets toward the town square.
I was just thinking about how nice it was that I had yet to see a guard when I caught sight of two massive Omte soldiers marching right in my direction. I ducked into a narrow gap between two houses, just barely big enough to fit my body in sideways, and I started sliding through. In the middle, it started feeling very tight on my ribs, and I had to hold my breath so I could squeeze by.
When I poked my head out on the other side, I saw a member of the Hogdragen patrolling at the end of the block, only three doors down from my parents' house. He kept going back and forth, walking the same beat. He'd disappear for about ten seconds, then he'd return.
I was not his commanding officer, but I knew for certain that he was supposed to be patrolling a larger area. But thanks to him being a lazy idiot, he was making it much harder for me to get to my parents' house.
By my count, I had twenty seconds to run down to my parents'. Since I had no choice, I made a break for it, running on the ice much faster than I should. When I tried to stop, I almost slid past their cottage, and I actually had to grab on to the side of it. Just in the nick of time, I jumped into the gap between my parents' house and their neighbor's.
Above the kitchen sink was a useless window. Well, my mom had always called it useless because it only gave her a view of the neighbor's wall. But today it was going to prove itself not useless as I jimmied it open and climbed inside.
I managed to squeeze in by grabbing on to the kitchen sink and pulling myself through. I'd been hoping for a more elegant landing, but I ended up tumbling headfirst onto the floor, knocking a few glasses down with me.
It was enough commotion to wake my parents, and the upstairs light clicked on. I'd just gotten to my feet by the time my dad came rushing down the stairs in his pajamas with his hair sticking up all over the place. He'd never been much for weapons, so he was wielding an antique Scandinavian sword that he'd gotten because of its historical value.
"I'm not afraid to kill you little punks," Dad growled and flicked on the kitchen light.
"Dad, it's me." I pushed back my hood so he could actually get a look at me, and he nearly dropped his sword in shock.
"Oh, my, Bryn." He just stood there staring at me for a moment, then he finally did drop the sword and ran over to me.
"Iver?" Mom called from upstairs. "Iver? Is everything okay?"
"Runa, get down here," Dad said, while giving me such a bear hug, I thought he might actually break me. But I hugged him back just as tight.
"Iver?" Mom asked cautiously, but then she must've seen me, because I heard her gasp.
By the time she'd reached me, she was already crying, and I let go of my dad with one arm so I could pull her into the hug.
"Oh, Bryn, we weren't sure if we'd ever see you again," she said between sobs.
"I know, I know." I finally pulled away from them. "I love you, and I missed you guys too. But we can talk about all that later. Right now we have to get out of here."
Mom nodded, wiping at her eyes. "I've got my bag ready. We've been waiting for our chance to escape. Just let me put on real clothes."
SIXTY-ONE
liberate
Getting out of my parents' house had been much easier than getting in. I didn't have a key, so I'd had to break in, but now we were safe to sneak out the back door.
Behind their house was a very small yard--a tiny strip of frozen grass separated by worn wooden fences. In the summer, my mom kept a garden there, and several of their neighbors kept chickens.
Most of the fences weren't very high, which was fortunate, since my dad had trouble jumping them as it was. Dad had always been more of an intellectual, and Mom fared much better at athletics than him, so she had no problem leaping over the fences.
We went down through the yards until we found two houses that appeared to be the farthest apart. Some of the spaces between houses were mere inches, but this gap was several feet. It was still tight to get through, especially with my parents' overstuffed rucksack, but it was much easier than the gap I'd used earlier.
From there, it was just a few mad dashes across the streets when guards weren't looking and hiding behind whatever was available. I led my mom and dad through the cemetery, around all the headstones, and as we got closer to our exit, I could see that Finn had beaten us there.
He was helping ease his mother down through the open hole. There wasn't a ladder down into the tunnel, so it was just a straight eight-foot drop to the bottom. He held Annali's hands, slowly lowering her down to his father, who put his hands on her waist and set her carefully on the ground.
I peered down into the hole, excited to see Ember after all this time, but she was conspicuously absent. Only Finn's parents waited in the tunnel.
"Where's Ember?" I whispered.
"She didn't come," he said in a low grunt.
"What do you mean, she didn't come?" I pressed.
Finn gave me a hard look. "I'm not going over this again. I barely managed to convince my parents to leave without her by telling them that their grandkids needed them. Ember refused to leave, and that's all there is to it."
That was apparently all he would say on the matter, because then he crouched, grabbing on to the edges of the hole, and dropped down into the sewer.
I motioned for my dad to go next, and Finn and his father helped him. He landed with a bit of a clunk, but he wasn't a
ny worse for the wear. Once he was standing, I helped lower my mom down.
I waited until she was safely on the tunnel floor. Above me, the sky was starting to lighten even more, and though I couldn't see it from where I sat crouched in the cemetery, I knew the sun had started its ascent above the horizon.
My parents had taken longer to get ready and get their things than I would've liked, but they were running away from the life they'd spent the past twenty years building. I couldn't blame them.
"Bryn, come on," my mom said, staring up at me. "Your dad and I will help you down."
"I have to go back and get Ember," I told her. "You go on with Finn and his parents. He'll take you back to camp."
"Bryn!" Mom nearly shouted, her voice cracking in desperation. "I'm not leaving without you."
"Mom, go," I told her. "I'll be fine. I have to do this. You and Dad need to get to safety."
"Bryn," Dad said, pleading with me to go with them. But I couldn't be persuaded.
"I gotta go. I love you guys. Stay safe." I placed the grate back over the hole, and my mom said my name again, but I didn't stay to hear more.
Since Ember had moved to Doldastam over four years ago, she'd instantly become one of my closest friends. She'd always had my back, even sometimes when no one else did. Because she was a couple years younger than me, I'd always kind of thought of her as a little sister. I was an only child, and her brother lived so far away, so we'd made each other family.
I wouldn't leave her here to die. I didn't know what Finn had done to try to convince her, but I would drag Ember out of here kicking and screaming if I had to.
The good thing was that Ember lived on the far east side of town where the poorer people lived, and that meant that guards weren't patrolling it so hard. The east also faced the bay, and the guards probably weren't counting on an attack from the water.
On the last half of my dash across town to Ember's farm, I didn't see a single guard. That made getting there much easier. I hopped the fence into the goat yard and ran over to her house.
The exterior had dark wood beams that ran along the outside, both for decoration and for support. Using the beams, I managed to climb up until I could reach the balcony that extended from her second story. That was far harder than it sounded, since everything had that nice layer of ice on it.
I grabbed the metal railing and hoisted myself up. For a moment I just lay on the balcony on my back, catching my breath and staring up at the fading stars. But then I was up, jamming open the French doors, and pushing my way inside Ember's house.
I'd just stepped through the doors and was about to say her name when I felt a hard punch slamming into my jaw, knocking me to the floor.
SIXTY-TWO
reunion
"Oh, Bryn, oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Ember pounced on me, hugging me while I was lying stunned on the floor. "I thought you were a guard that caught my parents leaving."
"No, it's just me."
She sat back on her knees so I could sit up, and I rubbed my jaw where she'd hit me. Then I just stared at her. It seemed so unreal to be seeing her again.
Her wide eyes were so dark they were nearly black, and her bangs landed just above them. Her long chestnut hair hung over her shoulder in a thick braid. She wore shabby leggings and a patterned long-sleeve thermal shirt, and I felt a tad envious knowing that she'd slept in a nice bed in a warm house while I was out sleeping in the storm.
Her mouth spread into a toothy grin. "I can't believe it's really you."
"I know. It's crazy."
We'd been apart for long periods of time before. I'd gone on missions tracking changelings, and so had she. But this time it felt different. So much had happened, and neither of us was sure that we'd ever see each other again.
And then, since she couldn't contain herself, Ember hugged me again, and this time I was able to hug her back.
"I'm not going with you," she said softly, still hugging me.
I let go and pulled back. "What? Why the hell not?"
"I can't." She shook her head. "I don't have time to explain it all, but I can't. I have to stay here and help the people that are left behind."
"Ember, you're being ridiculous. Did Finn tell you about all the soldiers we have stationed out beyond the hill?" I asked. "It's going to be brutal here. You could die."
"I know, I do, but that's exactly why I have to stay," she said with a sad smile. "I can't leave everyone defenseless. Tilda and Kasper's families are still here, not to mention Juni Skold, Simon Bohlin, and Linus Berling, and so many other of our friends." She paused. "I won't leave Delilah."
"Delilah?" I asked, and then I remembered.
The Marksinna whom Ember had been training with before. When I'd still been here, it had only seemed like a flirtation, but by the conviction I heard in Ember's voice, I guessed that their relationship had turned into something more.
"Ember, you can't risk your life for someone like this. You need to do what you must to survive. That's what Delilah would want, if she really cares about you."
"Of course I can, and I will," Ember replied simply. "I love her."
"That's great, but--"
"I don't expect you to understand. I know that you'd never sacrifice anything for love," she said, sounding almost as if she pitied me. "For honor, for loyalty, for the kingdom, you'd give up anything. But love ... you never had time for that."
Her words stung, probably harder than she'd meant them to, like a knife cutting straight through my heart. I wanted to argue with her, to tell her that I loved, that I loved very deeply. And not just her and Tilda and my parents, but Ridley and Konstantin.
It wasn't that I didn't have time for love, or that I wouldn't sacrifice for it. I had just been so afraid that I would lose myself and my place in the world, the way my mom had, the way Ember's mom had, and the way I had seen so many other women do before her. I refused to be sidelined by romance.
But when it came down to it, I would give anything for love. I would lay my life down for Ridley, if it meant I could spare him pain.
That's when I realized there was no point in arguing with Ember. Just as no one would be able to change my mind when it came to protecting those that I cared about, I wouldn't be able to change hers. Besides, Ember was nothing if not stubborn and loyal.
"You have to be careful," I told her finally. "All hell is going to break loose here."
"I know. You should go, before they start noticing that people are missing," Ember said. Then she suddenly exclaimed and jumped to her feet. "You're here!"
"Yeah?" I stared up uncertainly. "I've been here for a couple minutes."
"No, I mean--just wait." She turned and dashed back into her bedroom. A few seconds later, she came back carrying a handful of envelopes. "You can read these."
I took them from her, and as I flipped through them, I saw that Bryn had been handwritten on each one. "What are these?"
"I wrote to you while you were gone, but I didn't mail them because I had no idea where to send them." She stood with her arms folded over her chest. "Also, the Hogdragen are checking all the mail going in and out, so that wouldn't have gone over well."
"Thanks, Ember." I stood up. "That was really nice of you."
She shrugged. "I missed you, and it was the only way I could talk to you."
"I missed you too." I smiled at her, and I tucked the letters in the back of my pants, next to the dagger, safely protected from the elements. "But I should go now."
"I don't know when I'll see you again," Ember said, and there was a hesitance on the word when, since it really should've been if. "Take care."
"You too."
I walked out of her house onto the balcony. I hung over the edge, and then dropped down carefully into the yard. I took a step backward and looked up to watch Ember closing the French doors.
Then I turned around and ran right smack into Ridley, who smartly put his hand over my mouth to prevent me from screaming.
"What are you doing her
e?" I hissed when he removed his hand.
"Looking for you. Finn told me you went back to get Ember, and I didn't want to leave you behind."
"What about your mom?" I asked.
"Finn is taking her out with the rest of the parents," he explained. "Where's Ember?"
I shook my head. "She's not coming." He didn't press any further, and it was for the best. "Do you have any idea where Konstantin and Baltsar went?"
"All I know is that Konstantin was trying to show Baltsar weak points in the town."
We hopped the fence out of the yard and started the trek back to the cemetery. We cut through alleys and backyards, taking much the same route I had on the way to Ember's house. But it was starting to get brighter out, and we no longer had darkness to help cloak us.
It had begun to snow, heavy wet flakes, and while it was only a flurry now, it felt like it could take a harder turn.
Two blocks from the cemetery, we paused, waiting in an alley. An Omte soldier was patrolling the street, and Ridley stood with his back pressed against the nearest house, craning his neck around to watch the soldier. I crouched down beside him, trying to get a better look.
Both of us were so focused on the Omte soldier in front of us that we didn't notice anyone creeping up behind us, until I heard Helge Otack's gravelly voice say, "Well, isn't this a nice surprise?"
SIXTY-THREE
overtaken
Helge Otack was the Viceroy to the Omte Queen, and while that sounded like a cushy job, Helge looked more like an old biker than a politician. His leathery skin showed signs of a hundred bar fights, and his scraggly hair hung past his shoulders.
Even under the thick brown winter coat he wore, it was still obvious that Helge himself was a large man. He easily towered over us, making him appear strong by human standards, and he had the Omte strength to boot.
When he grinned down at us, I realized that two of his front teeth had been replaced with gold caps, but that was really all I had time to notice, because then Helge was moving.
Before either of us could act, Helge grabbed Ridley. Ridley tried to fight him off, hitting and kicking him any way he could, but it was futile. Helge wrapped one arm across Ridley's throat, and grabbed his hair with the other hand. Ridley clung on to his arm as Helge lifted him from the ground.