Haven (War of the Princes) (20 page)

           
“Dylan!” they shouted excitedly.

           
“Oh it’s Dylan! He’s next!” one of them announced and they all rushed around him.

           
“Oh no,” Dylan said, turning ashen. “You are
not
tying those on me.”

           
“Please?” several of them cried at once.

“But your hair is long enough!” another shrewdly observed.

“No. Go on now,” he said irritably, trying to shoo them away from him. “Miss Katelyn could use ribbons I think. Get her instead.”

“Miss Katelyn!” they cried and swarmed me.

My protests were overwhelmed. This was not how I imagined the day of my escape. Little hands pulled me to sit on a side bench beside some cross ties and the children chortled something about me being the Queen of the Bay.

There was nothing I could do to get away. They laughed and joked, braiding red and yellow ribbons into my hair.

“You have such pretty hair!” one little girl said as she worked. “And these colors look nice with your scarf.”

Something about her light brown skin, glossy black hair and blue eyes were familiar to me, even though I knew I’d never seen her before. She looked just about my little brother’s age, six or seven, give or take a year.

“You’re
Lina
,” I said in revelation.

“Yup,” she answered, not seeming worried or confused that I’d known her name. “And you’re Miss Katelyn. I saw you here last time.”

I looked up to see what Dylan was doing. He was with the horses and a stable girl who looked like she wanted to smother him with affection. His cold, nonchalant body language kept her at bay. When he glanced to see if I was watching them, I pretended that I hadn’t seen anything. It was pretty clear that the girl was another of his past conquests.

I wasn’t jealous, I was just glad he wasn’t paying enough attention to hear me talk about Rune.

“Do you have a brother,
Lina
?” I asked, unable to reign in my curiosity.

“Rune!” she beamed happily. “He’s a Dragoon. He doesn’t say much to me when I say hello. Mum says that he doesn’t say anything to us because he loves us so much. Dragoons always protect their families by not saying anything. But I still say hi so that he doesn’t forget that I love him too.”

 
It was heartbreaking. I’d just begun to learn how ugly the life of a Dragoon was, and here was Rune’s little sister, the one he had mentioned when I had first met him. She would never get to know him. They weren’t allowed any connection. Maybe it was just as well. If he didn’t drain people of life and lose his humanity, he’d be drained himself or killed in battle.

When we had first met, he said that he had to be a Dragoon for his family. If he died, they’d take someone else. Dylan taught me what that meant, but the weight of it settled upon me while I sat with this kind little girl. Rune believed he had to live to protect his little sister. As long as he lived, they wouldn’t recruit children, and if he died, he’d blame himself for the consequences. Would little
Lina
be the one to be taken?

Their mother seemed cruelly indifferent when she spoke of Rune, but there was the scarf and the note that read, “No one is sorrier than me.” Now, according to
Lina
, she raised her daughter with the explanation that a Dragoon’s distance was kept out of love.

I wondered for the first time in my life if my real mother had left us because she loved us. Was there a worthy reason for her abandoning my father and me? I promised myself at that very moment that as soon as I returned home, I’d find out, I’d find her.

“Do you know my brother?”
Lina
asked with great interest, her eyes bright with anticipation.

I didn’t know what to tell her. I’d met two sides, and I honestly wasn’t sure which one was the real Rune Thayer.

“A little,” I said uneasily. Disappointment crept into her eyes and inspired me. I couldn’t help but say more. “When I met him he was very sick. He told me that you and your mom and dad were all very important to him. He said that he misses you all very much.”

Lina’s
smile blossomed and she hugged my arm and said, “That’s my big brother! I wish he could come fishing with us. ‘
Da
said he wasn’t very good at fishing but he was always funny to watch. If you talk to him, tell him that I caught a big fish. It was the size of my hand!”

She held out her palm with all five fingers splayed out as big as they could be. I couldn’t help but laugh a little.

“If I talk to him, I’ll tell him,” I promised and felt myself fill up with sadness for her.

“Thanks!” she bounced with a smile so big, it squeezed her eyes shut. “I like you Miss Katelyn, you act nice, you smell nice, and you don’t yell at us to go away,” she said matter-of-factly. “I just decided that we’ll be friends for a long time.”

Hello guilt, nice to see you again.

As if on cue, Dylan shooed the children.
Lina
hugged me before she left.

“You’ve done enough to her,” he said waving them off. “We don’t have all day for this.”

I touched the thin red and yellow ribbons that brightened my dark hair. The kids reminded me of the ones I knew in
Rivermarch
. They seemed like good little troublemakers. I couldn’t help but like them, and wondered how many of them would be forced to become Dragoons.

“She looks beautiful enough for a party!” one of the little girls announced.

“Queen of the Bay!” a boy cried out.

“Okay, enough of that,” Dylan said sternly.

The children flocked away from me, waving to us as they ran off.
Lina
was among them. As she disappeared around the corner, I felt sorry that I wouldn’t be able to keep my promise to her.

I was leaving, now.

My heart slammed in my chest to a measured rhythm and the world went slow. Adrenalin burned into my veins and made me feel dizzy. I wrapped my hand around
Florian’s
reins. I could see the readiness for action in his eyes. My tall grey horse stamped his foot, far more sensitive to me than my human companion was. I swung up into the saddle.

Dylan walked around his brown horse, different again from the others he’d used, and paused to look at the stable girl behind him.

This was it.

We had to fly.

I jammed my heels into
Florian’s
sides and let the long slack of my rein slap against his neck. My grey charger put all of his power in his back legs and leapt forward, diving to speed.

Somewhere behind me I could hear Dylan shout in surprise. The sounds were muted; my ears were ringing from the rush.

Breakwater was still mostly unfamiliar to me, but I trusted that I’d find my way out.
Florian’s
hooves clattered over cobble streets and pounded packed dirt paths as we
wove
through the town at all speed. An automobile was forced to swerve and slam to a jarring stop to avoid us. Gouts of dark steam clouded the driver as he honked his horn at us. We charged past shop fronts and I ignored the surprised cries of shoppers in my wake. Chickens scattered clumsily from our path, squawking with fright.
Florian
slowed for no one.

The sound of echoing hooves drew nearer but I refused to let Dylan catch me. I wheeled
Florian
to the side and we stormed up the stone steps of an old building, dodging shocked townspeople. Not bothering to walk down the opposite steps,
Florian
launched over them. I felt my stomach rise to my throat as we fell the short distance, landed, and barreled off again. We turned sharply down a side street and I stopped breathing when I saw a pair of carts blocking our way.
Florian
wouldn’t be stopped. Any doubt within me meant nothing to him. The gelding tossed his head, powered forward and jumped the obstacles before him with commendable ease.

My hair, tangled with ribbons, flowed behind me, my orange scarf trailing along, and I smiled. We were faster. Dylan had given me the better horse.

If I had liked him before, I
loved
Florian
now. Maybe he thought it was a race, maybe he just liked to run, but either way, he was unstoppable and followed my lead more fearlessly than any horse I’d ever known.

We burst out of a side alleyway into a wide, unpaved area of town, filled with sun-drenched olive limestone cottages and surprised townspeople when something went wrong.

Florian
fell.

It happened quickly and slowly at the same time. I saw his head lurch and felt us dip down. The dusty ground sped toward me and I twisted sideways to protect myself from the impact. Before I knew it, I was on the ground,
Florian
was struggling to get up, and a brown horse was trotting confidently toward us. I didn’t think about why I wasn’t pinned beneath my horse, or how I wasn’t injured, I just ran. I couldn’t check on
Florian
, Dylan was just behind me.

Burning every bit of strength and energy within me, I fled. Near the outskirts of town, I was so close to the low hills that led home. I had to make it. I had to hide.

Then I was victim to
Florian’s
same misstep. My foot felt strangely cushioned for a split second and I lost my balance, before crashing to the ground.

“Katelyn,” I could hear Dylan call after me. “Stop running.”

I forced myself up, ran, and fell again. It was like a bad dream. I couldn’t get far before tumbling onto the dirt.

When I hit the ground a third time, I remembered the floating cider. It was Dylan. He was using his Ability to loosen the gravity around my foot and trip me, just like he must have tripped
Florian
.

“No,” I said scrambling up and taking off again.

“Katelyn, please stop. I hate to do this,” Dylan said, sounding both impatient and sympathetic.

He hurried his horse forward to catch me and I ducked behind a carriage and dashed around a street corner.

           
Skidding to a halt at the very edge of town, I took in a ragged gasp. I found myself face to face with a
Lurcher
and a ring of soldiers.

           
In the sunlight the beast was a dirty cream color with round dull-green stripes over its back. Its long, swishing tail was jet black. Heavily wounded, there were dozens of gashes all along the length of its body. It looked as surprised to see me as I was to see it and its liquid silver eyes met mine. I was terrified.

           
Behind the
Lurcher
, a soldier in dull black and red leather armor loosed a spear that came down and impaled the creature in the back of the neck. Three other soldiers shot the beast with their rifles. It dropped dead at my feet.

           
I screamed and jumped backwards, right into Dylan.

           
“Just in time,” a soldier said.

From the intimidating armor, I assumed the men in red were Dragoons. The other half of the troop was made up of men and women in brown militia gear.

           
“We won’t have far to carry it,” another Dragoon agreed.

           
I struggled to pull free of Dylan’s grip, hoping to escape while their attention was on the dead beast on the ground. I wasn’t so lucky, but neither was Dylan.

           
“What the hell is this?” a man demanded, reining his chestnut horse through the front of the troops to get a look at me. He was tall and imposing, his countenance commanded respect, and between his blonde hair and his low brow, I could guess that he was an Axton.

           
“Brendon,” Dylan greeted his brother unhappily. He shifted his grip on my arm to appear more casual.

           
Common-Lord Brendon Axton swung down from his horse and walked purposefully toward us. I could see a family resemblance, though Dylan was the handsomer of the two.

           
“Dale,
Grands
, keep an eye on her. The Commanders should be here any moment,” Lord Brendon ordered, and Dylan grudgingly released me to the watch of two militia soldiers. “Dylan, what the hell do you think you’re doing, letting her out here?”

           
“I wasn’t
letting
anything. I was showing her around town. Everything was under control,” Dylan said, shooting me an angry glance.

           
“Clearly, brother. Control was in her favor, I’m afraid. Now tell me what in ten thousand hells you’re doing keeping a prisoner outside of a holding cell?” Lord Brendon demanded, gripping his shorter brother’s shoulder.

           
“She’s not a spy, she’s harmless. There’s no reason to treat her like an enemy,” Dylan told him, pulling away from his grasp.

           
I was grateful for what he said and even felt a little guilty for getting him into trouble, until I reminded myself of his motives. At the moment, I knew I’d rather deal with Dylan’s attentions than an army of Dragoons and Breakwater Militia.

           
“That remains to be seen. She is no longer a concern of yours Dylan,” Lord Brendon leaned in toward him and said with a quiet authority, “If you disobey protocol one more time,
brother
, so help me, I will strip you of your title and send you on the next steam ship to Alder Island.”