they’re really after. You are Chell. You need to leave the kingdom at once.”
The king was trying not to listen. “Look at all this love, Morzha. It’s so nice to see after everything we’ve been through.”
They joined the crowd heading into the castle and Kenton dropped it. Ackerley fell back, looking for his friends.
Jarn stood rooted near the gates as Cerise began to close them. He shook slightly and Ackerley realized that his father was not one of the group. Ackerley went over to help him back inside.
Just as Cerise was about to shut the gates someone shouted from the darkness.
“Wait a second, I’m coming!”
Jarn looked up in disbelief.
Cerise pulled the gate open again and a horse plotted along through it. They all stared at the rider-less horse, looking confused.
An arm came from the other side of the horse as an old bearded man attempted to pull himself back onto the animal’s back.
“Dad!” Jarn shouted, going over to help.
“Is that you, boy?” The man grunted, slipping back down the side of the horse.
“Here, I got ya.”
Jarn held onto his father, who couldn’t hold on anymore and fell to the ground, bringing Jarn with him.
“I hate those stupid beasts!” Rogerseen roared, flailing about.
“Dad, where’s your other leg?”
Rogerseen sat up and caught his breath. “Buried somewhere in the Vastlands I suppose.”
Jarn never looked happier as he helped his father to his foot and acted as a crutch as they made their way to the front doors.
Ackerley had seen his friend smile before, but never so broadly and never for so long.
Cerise put Rogerseen’s other arm around her shoulders and together they made quick time in getting him inside. The whole castle was filled with the sounds of happy families making their way to the ballroom until sleeping arrangements and food could be figured out. Both Cerise and Ackerley snuck back upstairs to be out of the way. They went to Cerise’s room and closed the door.
Cerise fell onto her bed and sat up with difficulty. “What a day.” She said, exhausted but smiling.
“It’s been a whirlwind.” Ackerley agreed.
She rubbed her hands together thoughtfully. “Maybe things will turn around.”
Ackerley couldn’t hold it in any longer. He told Cerise what he overheard his brother saying to the king.
She bit her lip apprehensively. “Hmm.”
“What do you think he meant by saying the king is Chell?”
“He’s clearly worried that the king is putting us all in danger by being here. I wish we knew what he knows. And you’re sure he said that the Welgos told him?”
“That’s what he said, ‘they told me’. I couldn’t have misheard it.”
Cerise stood up and looked out the window. “Something tells me someone like Chellias isn’t used to having people tell him what to do, or even what he should do. I doubt he’d leave unless someone he really trusted told him to.”
“His uncle?” Ackerley suggested.
“Maybe.” Cerise said slowly. “But we’d never get him to believe it either. And I really don’t think that the Welgos don’t want to murder. If they didn’t want people dead, then they would have spared the towns out in the middle of nowhere and . . .”
Ackerley knew she was going to say Indigo. He joined her at the window. All he could see was their reflections.
“I don’t know.” She sighed. “One way or another everything’s going to come to a head pretty soon.”
“Then . . . Vloraisha?”
Cerise smiled at him in the reflection. “Wouldn’t it be nice? I hope what happened tonight doesn’t get in the way. But if it does, we now have access to several horses.”
“Kenton said he would come. You, me, him, and Jarn can all go if we hear that the Welgos are coming.”
Cerise looked away. “But we can’t. Jarn wouldn’t leave his father and your brother can’t leave the king. If he does the king could have him killed.”
Ackerley’s heart sank. “Then if we want to survive we’ll just have to make a run for it, I guess.”
“I always wondered if that’s how it was going to end.”
“Begin.” Ackerley corrected. “This is the beginning. Right now we’re in between.”
“I suppose.”
22.
The castle didn’t stay long in merriment. Sobbing quickly took the place of joy as a lot of children found out that their families wouldn’t be coming. Jarn’s happiness of being reunited with his father also faded when he was told that his mother didn’t make it. On top of that the tiny fragment of the army that had come with the king broke the news that most of the older kids that left the castle to fight had died, including, to both Ackerley and Jarn’s sadness, Murdo.
It was weird looking at Murdo’s empty bed that night. Jamie stared at it for a long time muttering that he should have gone as well. It didn’t stay empty long, however, as Rogerseen moved in the following morning after spending the first night being checked for injuries.
That day was dark and cloudy with intermittent rain showers. Fog settled in overnight and wouldn’t go away. Several soldiers were stationed on the roof at all hours for signs of Welgos, which proved to be quite an ordeal as they couldn’t see anything.
The king and Chellion took over for Yinnib, having relieved him of his duty as a sign of respect for having done such a great job for so long. Yinnib didn’t like this much and he paced the castle at any and all hours in boredom. The noble families took the remaining rooms, including Cerise’s old residence, while some bunked in their children’s rooms if extra beds or mats could be found. Jamie’s family moved in with him. They took up half the room with their beds, forcing Ackerley out. He didn’t mind as he moved in with Cerise. Kenton was supposed to as well, but he chose to spend his nights on guard duty and slept in Ackerley’s bed for only a few hours during the day. Cerise liked the company and was happy not to have people she didn’t know move in with her.
The castle was now so overcrowded that food became a real concern. At first the king refused to take a meal cut as he was the king and all that. Chellion convinced him it was in his best interest and he reluctantly agreed. But even with that it was still hard to find food. Yinnib made it his job to be in charge of food and counted up everything they had. Two days after everyone arrived he found Ackerley wandering through the gardens and shared some bad news.
“I think,” he said fearfully, “that we only have one week’s worth of food left. And that’s if everyone only eats one meal a day.”
Ackerley figured something like that was going to happen. “What do you think should be done?”
Yinnib looked as though he might drop dead from exhaustion at any moment. “Who knows, young Morzha. Do you have any ideas?”
“Leave the country?”
Yinnib gave him a stern look. He looked about to say why that wouldn’t work, but then he sighed and shrugged. “At this rate that may be the only option.” He tried to look cheery. “But we don’t know that the Welgos would even come here. There’s no point in leaving if we’re perfectly safe.”
Ackerley sat down on the edge of the fountain and looked out at all the hedges that were starting to grow wild. “Perfectly safe while starving to death.”
The old noble sat down beside him. He was so hunched over, he faced the ground. “It’s just so hard to figure this all out.”
“No it’s not.” Ackerley said, growing a tad excited. “We can leave in groups to Vloraisha. It’s safer than here and we don’t have to worry about Welgos.”
For a second he was afraid he’d said the wrong thing. Yinnib mumbled something about being a Chell, but it was beginning to get hard for even him to believe in all that now.
“We’d never make it.” He said gravely. “Most of us would die just from the journey, not to m
ention being attacked. I know I wouldn’t make it.” He smiled at Ackerley. “I like the idea, though. You’re thinking of ways to help everyone survive. If you ask the king he might agree. Perhaps not now, but when the food really runs out he’d have to.”
Ackerley shook his head. “Without any food we’d definitely never make it. The only way to do it would be to leave now—right now. We could make up all the rest of the pasta and give it to people to eat along the way. Of course we’d have to leave in groups; I don’t think the Vloraishan’s would necessarily like to see a giant mass of us at once. I’m sure they already have to deal with a bunch of Chell’s that have shown up.”
Yinnib mulled it over for a long while. “If you could convince the king then . . . then it might be a possibility.”
Ackerley hadn’t wanted to talk to the king about going to Vloraisha. He was sure that someone so deep in Chell lore would be against it. On top of that why would he ever listen to him? It made more sense to try and get Kenton or Chellion to convince him.
The only problem was that neither seemed to be around. Ackerley looked for them for most of the day. He went to the basement only to see that the old feuds had returned in full force and guards had to be placed around the clock. The fourth floor was empty except for Thora, who tried to talk to Ackerley, but he quickly ran away at the sight of her. The first three floors were crowded with people milling about because they didn’t have anything better to do. It took twice as long as usual to get around the halls with so much traffic.
Finally, near evening he found