North Star Guide Me Home (50 page)

She nodded. ‘You can open a vein … by the Black Sun, you can stab someone in the heart, and as long as they’re still breathing when the Blood-Mage gets to them, they won’t die. Provided the mage has enough power.’

‘It has limits,’ Rasten said. ‘All it will do is keep a body alive while it heals itself, but it has to be a wound that
will
heal. It won’t do a thing for an arrow through the spine, or if the soul has flown, and if the wound turns foul they’ll likely die anyway.’

‘I see,’ Rhia said. ‘This is what you meant before, when you said you’d use Blood Magic if you had to.’

‘When she was stabbed? It wasn’t necessary. She was going to be fine.’

‘So, all I have to do is keep myself full of power until I’m healed,’ Sierra said.

‘Yes. Might take some weeks.’

Rhia threw her hands up in frustration. ‘Well, you have no need of me.’

‘Rhia, she’s still wounded, even if she’s not showing it right now. What would you do for someone who was pulled from a burning building, insensible from smoke?’

Rhia sighed. ‘I can only treat the symptoms, but if she has none? She must rest as much as possible, somewhere warm, with no smoke. She must be watched closely in case the tear widens, or the lung collapses again. She must have good food and clean water, and sick people must be kept away. It will take weeks to heal, and she may fall ill with pneumonia anyway.’

Sierra frowned. ‘We don’t have time for that. We have to find Cam and Cade, and deal with these cursed Akharians while they’re on the run.’

‘I understand,’ Rhia said. ‘But this is why I say there is little I can do.’ She turned to Isidro with a sigh. ‘There are others who are in need of my help, Isidro.’

He bowed his head. ‘Of course, Rhia.’

‘If she takes a turn for the worse, I will come, of course. Just send word.’ With that, she gathered up her satchel and left.

‘She doesn’t like mages,’ Rasten growled once she’d closed the door.

‘She never has,’ Sierra said, ‘but she’s had a hard night, Rasten, just like the rest of us.’

Rasten said nothing. He merely stayed where he was with his arms folded across his chest. He seemed clenched tight enough to shatter.

Sierra hauled herself up, gripping the edge of the table for support, and Isidro had to fight the urge to pull her back as she moved cautiously towards Rasten and laid a hand on his arm. ‘Rasten, sit down. Have something to eat. I’ll pour you some tea.’

He turned to her, seemingly willing himself to obey, but wrenched himself away again with a shake of his head. ‘No. I can’t —’

‘Rasten —’

‘They killed the dogs, Sirri! They had crossbows ready for them. The beasts barely jumped up and they shot them down.’

Isidro remembered then how Rasten had always sat with the hounds. He’d had little time to pay attention to the beasts. A noble household always had dogs; they were as much a part of the furniture as furs on the chairs and hides on the floor, but he should have realised what they’d mean to a man like Rasten. The dogs didn’t care what he’d done — any man who treated them well was a good man in their eyes.

‘I know they did, Rasten, I’m sorry. But those dogs knew it was their duty to guard us. I’m sorry they died in the course of it, and we’ll remember them and honour them, just as we will the men who died defending us. Here, Mira’s already talking of a memorial for the folk we lost. We’ll list the beasts along with the men, and we’ll have them laid on the pyre, as well.’

‘But what does it matter? They’re nothing but rotting meat now.’

‘It’s not for them, it’s for us. We do it to honour their sacrifice. Rasten, come here, sit down. I’ll pour you some tea. It’s what people do when they’re upset, normal people, I mean.’

‘It … it is?’

‘Yes, I swear. Sometimes they get drunk, but I don’t think that’s wise right now, so tea it is …’

Isidro had turned his back as they spoke, giving them privacy in the Ricalani manner. He started to circle around the beds when he heard a baby whimper, reacting to Rasten’s troubled tones.

It took him a moment to find them, in a basket which had been placed between the two beds.

Illiana and Eshta both lay within on a soft blanket. Eshta was sound asleep, but Illiana had her tiny face screwed up in displeasure. She was wrapped in a worn grey shawl, pilled and felted, which Isidro could not recall seeing before … certainly Delphine never wore such a thing.

As he crouched beside the basket, he saw Sierra looking over to him, but he shook his head, waving her back to deal with Rasten. Glancing around, he found the still form of one of the nursemaids, sleeping on a felt pad with her face towards the wall.

Isidro laid his hand on his daughter’s chest. ‘Hush hush, little one. You don’t want to wake your sister.’

She settled a little at the sound of his voice, and her eyes, dark as charcoal, seemed to find his. But as that moment passed, her tiny mouth opened and she began to wail.

She wanted to be picked up. Isidro had held her a number of times, but always with other people around ready to take her from him. He’d never picked her up himself, not since that first time. He still didn’t like the way the small, soft bundle in his arms made his power shift and stir within him, sniffing after her like a hungry beast. Cam had always stepped into the gap he’d left. But Cam was gone.

He slid one hand along her back and scooped her up with her head nestled in his palm and his false hand gingerly steadying her body along his forearm. Quickly, before she could squirm and upset the delicate balance, Isidro lifted her out of the basket and set her against his chest.

She calmed at once, nuzzling into his woollen shirt. It had slipped open at the neck as he bent down, and as he gazed down at her, all round cheeks and button nose, he saw that she lay less than an inch away from the wide purple scars sliced across his chest.

He sat on the edge of the bed, but only for a moment — he was truly weary, and his shoulders ached, too, a familiar old pain from having his arms bound overhead. The weight of her made his arm tremble with the strain, and after a few moments he lay back on the bed with Illiana resting on his chest. There, she seemed content, for she settled down with a soft sigh, though she didn’t close her bright, shining eyes.

Isidro couldn’t quite manage the same feat. With his hand on the baby’s back, he let his eyes drift closed, just to rest them, just for a moment.

It was the voices that roused him, some indeterminate time later. He opened his eyes to find that Mira, Ardamon and Delphine had returned, accompanied by Nirveli. They were gathered around the table, while Sierra dozed beside Isidro, but she woke when he stirred, and rubbed her red eyes.

Illiana was fast asleep, now, and Isidro carried her to the cradle. It took him a few moments to figure out how to set her down, but she didn’t stir.

When he joined the others, Delphine passed him a bowl of tea, and then poured another for Sierra, who tried to stifle a cough as she settled onto the bench. Her colour had worsened, Isidro thought. Her skin was pale, her lips looking oddly bloodless as she hunched over the bowl.

‘Alright,’ Mira said, rubbing her eyes. ‘We need to decide what to do now.’

Isidro wrapped his hand around the bowl. ‘Sierra and Rasten should go after Cam. From what I hear of this fort, it’ll take some firepower to get inside.’

‘Perhaps, perhaps not,’ Nirveli said. ‘There’s a back door. I can show them — or I can draw a map, if you have another task in mind for me. There were a couple of mages left behind, though, and you may need to deal with them if the clan hasn’t already.’

‘Sirri?’ Isidro said. ‘What do you think?’

She shrugged. ‘Sounds good.’

Mira nodded. ‘And what about Cade?’ She fixed her gaze on Nirveli. ‘Do the Akharians know you turned against them?’

‘They shouldn’t. I could pretend I fled the rout as well. Once I’m in the camp it will be easy to get close to the little prince.’

‘Can you protect him as well as take out the remaining mages?’ Ardamon said.

Nirveli pursed her lips. ‘Destroy them
and
protect the boy? I’d do better with backup.’

‘I’d thought that Delphine and I would go with you,’ Isidro said. ‘Along with the best of our mages.’

‘That ought to do it,’ Nirveli said.

‘Issey, I think you should command that mission, you know fighting and mage-craft both,’ Mira said. ‘But someone needs to lead the team to free Cam. Sirri, I don’t think you should lead when you’re weak and injured …’

Sierra gave a dispirited flap of her hand. ‘I’m not fit for it, I know. I assumed Ardamon would be our commander.’

Mira pulled a face. ‘I’d thought to leave Ardamon in command here while I went with Issey to bring Cade home. Someone has to stay here, to show we’re unbeaten, that we still stand firm.’

‘Perhaps my man Floren …’ Ardamon said, but Mira sighed and bowed her head.

‘No. No, Ardamon, it’d best be you. The men need someone solid to lead them.’

Ardamon nodded. ‘We’ll bring Cam back, I swear. But who will stay here?’

‘I’ll have to,’ Mira said, resting her head in her hands. ‘By the Twin Suns, I don’t want to. I want my baby back, I want to curse the wretches who took him from me, but I’m the only one of us who isn’t needed elsewhere.’ She heaved a sigh. ‘I know they took the wet nurse with Cade, but Delphine, you can nurse him too if something goes wrong, can’t you? They’re not far away. You’ll be able to feed both him and Ilya for a few days.’

‘Oh, without a doubt,’ Delphine said.

‘We’ll take Rhia with us as well, I think,’ Isidro mused, scratching his chin.

‘Oh?’ Mira said. ‘I thought it’d be best if she went with Sirri.’

‘No,’ Sierra said, ‘we’ll have Rasten. Issey’s party needs a physician, too.’

‘That seems best,’ Isidro said. ‘Alright, what about you, Mira? We’ll leave Alameda, you’ll need a good mage at your back.’

‘Agreed,’ Ardamon said, ‘and I know just the man to lead the royal guard while I’m gone.’

‘You do? Good. If he suits the role, Ardamon, you’d best start grooming him for your replacement,’ Mira said. ‘Because once we have Cam and Cade back, the Wolf Clan will be in need of a new chieftain. I mean it to be you. But,’ she said with a flick of her hand, ‘we can deal with that later. No doubt Cam will want to have his say in the matter. Alright then, you lot get some rest. I’ll have your gear and provisions ready by first light, and I’ll catch up on sleep once you’re gone. Is there anything else?’

Once she’d left to make the arrangements, Isidro turned to Ardamon. ‘Will you take Anoa with you?’

‘I wasn’t planning to,’ Ardamon said. ‘The Akharians couldn’t touch her with Sierra still alive, but they made it clear what they had in mind for her. She’s badly shaken, and I’d rather leave her here with Mira.’

‘That’s what I thought,’ Isidro muttered.

‘Then why’d you ask?’

Isidro scowled, waving away the question, and with a frown of his own Ardamon left to see to his own tasks.

Delphine was still at the table, and Isidro turned to Sierra, and then glanced at Rasten. Delphine followed his gaze and stood. ‘I’ll just go and check on the babes,’ she said, and turned away. She’d learnt how privacy worked in the north, Isidro realised.

He turned back to Sierra. ‘You’re going to need power. Lots of it.’

She covered her face with her hands, and nodded.

He looked past her to Rasten and opened his mouth to speak, only to find he didn’t know what to say.

Rasten stood. ‘I’ll do whatever you need of me,’ he said. ‘Whatever you command. You know that.’

Isidro nodded. ‘I know. Would you … would you give us a moment?’

Rasten turned away without a word, plucking a blanket from a pile on the end of a bed. Wrapping it around his shoulders, he went to a corner and curled up on the floor, facing the wall. Isidro remembered how the dogs had nuzzled around him and had to turn away.

‘Issey,’ Sierra said, reaching towards him. Her nails were tinged with blue, and when he caught her hand in his own, her fingers were very cold. ‘Issey, I … if you can think of another way, please, tell me.’

He shook his head. ‘I can’t.’

Tears were welling in her eyes. ‘I don’t want to do this to you again. Not … not when we were finally putting things back together.’

He swivelled around to face her. ‘Will you be alright?’

She nodded as the tears began to spill. ‘I’ll do whatever it takes to get Cam back safe. I have to.’ She drew a ragged breath. ‘Even … even if it comes between us again …’

He curled his hand around the back of her neck, winding his fingers into her damp hair, and kissed her on the forehead. ‘It’s alright, Sirri. It truly is. Just so long as it’s not too much for you to take.’

She glanced around at Rasten. ‘I can handle it. When my power’s running high I can handle anything. And he’s … he’s …’

‘He’s not the same man he once was,’ Isidro said. ‘I know.’

She leant against him, resting her head on his shoulder as her tears soaked through his shirt. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said.

‘Don’t be. You’ll do what you have to, Sirri, you always will. You’ll never shy away from something because it’s hard, or because it hurts. It’s one of the reasons I love you. Go and find my brother. I’ll be here, waiting for you both.’

Cam awoke to the rattle of chains across a stone floor. Somewhere very near, a child was singing a nursery song about a bear and a beehive.

He had no memory of how he’d come to be here, but the cloying heaviness in his head and the foul taste in his throat told him he’d been drugged. He was lying in a cell, one wall sealed off with iron bars.

The room was very dark, and he lay on a bed of straw with a filthy blanket thrown over him. Cam levered himself up, and realised then that he’d been chained to the wall by each wrist.

For some time he simply lay there in the prickling straw, trying to recall how he’d come to be here.

The attack in the palace he remembered all too well. The sight of the dagger poised above his eye was clear as crystal in his memory. He’d done his best to brace himself for the pain, for the sudden darkness that would come, willing Sierra not to give in and surrender. Nothing good ever came of giving in, they both knew that. If he could have spoken he’d have urged her to fight, to give them no quarter, show them the folly of attacking a Child of the Black Sun. When they brought Isidro in, bound and chained, it had felt like a punch to the gut, and then when Sierra gave in …

He wasn’t in the palace, he was sure of that. The emptiness of his belly, the ache in his head and the unwashed smell of his clothes told him that some time had passed since that night. He took that as a good sign. If they’d had to move him, it meant they didn’t hold the fortress. The others might still be alive.

The cell and the hall beyond were dimly lit, the distant light so faint and irregular he guessed it must be a single candle. That was interesting — he’d assumed he was in Akharian hands, but if they were using candles instead of mage-crafted lanterns, perhaps he was wrong.

He started to examine the manacles around his wrists, but since the distant candle seemed to cast more shadow than light, his examination consisted mostly of touch.

It did him little good. The manacles could only be loosened with a blacksmith’s tools. The chains gave him no more hope — it’d take nothing less than a hammer and chisel to cut them free. The bolt on the cell door was fastened by a heavy padlock, or so it seemed to Cam as he squinted through the shadows. The chains would not let him close enough to examine it directly. They were, however, long enough to allow him to stand and reach his arms overhead, and so he did, stretching carefully to ease his aching back. He felt as though he’d been hung in a sack and beaten with sticks. ‘By the Black Sun,’ he muttered to himself, ‘I’m getting old.’

The child’s song abruptly stopped at the rattle of his chains, and he heard a quick scuffle of movement, somewhere very near.

A moment later, something appeared at the edge of his cell — a doll made out of plaited straw and dressed in wisps of rag. Clutched in one small, grubby hand, it peered through the bars.

Cam settled onto his heels again. ‘Well, hello there,’ he said. ‘What’s your name?’

There came a sharp intake of breath from the neighbouring cell. ‘Ricca!’ a woman hissed, her voice strained and weary. ‘Ricca, come here! Don’t you bother the man. Come back here at once. I mean it!’ There was another rattle of chain, but the doll and the grubby hand that clutched it didn’t move.

The pair had been here a while, Cam guessed. Long enough for the little girl to know that so long as she was beyond her mama’s reach, there wasn’t a thing she could do to make her obey.

Ricca.
He knew that name. The woman’s voice was vaguely familiar as well, but he couldn’t quite place it. ‘Hello,’ he said, pitching his voice low. ‘Can you tell me where we are?’

There was a long moment of silence on the other side of the wall, and he tried to imagine what she was thinking, what it would be like for a woman with a small child in a place like this. For all she knew, he was the sort of mad dog who wouldn’t hesitate to hurt a little girl playing with her dolls.

‘You … you don’t know?’ the woman said.

‘Afraid not,’ Cam replied, tipping his head back against the wall. ‘They had me knocked out for a few days, and then I woke up here … I was in Lathayan before that, though, so I guess we’re not too far away.’

‘Oh? I didn’t know that.’ She fell silent for a moment before she spoke again. ‘We’re in a Wolf Clan fort. I know they brought us south, but I didn’t know how far. What’s it like in Lathayan?’ she said with a wistful note. ‘I heard the new king has taken over, and he brought an army of mages back from the west.’

‘It’s not quite an army,’ Cam said.
Mind you, Sirri’s practically an army by herself. If she’s still alive.
‘We were attacked by Akharians working with the Wolf Clan.’

‘Oh,’ the woman said, her voice soft and dejected. ‘Oh. I had hoped …’

‘Mama?’ the little girl said. ‘Mama? What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing’s wrong, sweetheart,’ the woman said, with a rattle of chains as the child climbed into her arms. ‘We’ll see your other mamas and papas and all your sibs again one day. We just have to be patient, and pray to the Gods to make it so.’

‘How long have you been down here?’ Cam asked her.

The woman gave a brittle laugh. ‘It must be four or five months by now.’

‘Four or five
months
?’ It was hard to fathom anyone being kept imprisoned for so long. It happened in other parts of the world, but Ricalan had no tradition of keeping prisoners for such a term when it took so much time, effort and material to keep a body warm and fed. Crimes were usually punished with fines or flogging, and if the matter was extreme, with exile to the steaming nightmare of Earthblood Temple or a single brief appointment with the headsman and his axe. ‘What …’ he realised the question was utterly ill-mannered, but he couldn’t think how else to phrase it. ‘What did you do?’

‘Nothing!’ the woman snapped, long months of frustration and indignation seeping into the word. ‘Well … unless you count birthing a child with the taint of mage-craft a crime.’

And at once, he remembered where he’d heard the girl’s name, and the woman’s voice, as well. ‘Your name … Is it Marima, by chance?’

Her shocked silence was answer enough. ‘Who in the Fires Below are you?’

‘I met you once,’ Cam said. ‘A year or so ago, after Kell’s old apprentice came to your homestead.’

‘Are you one of Lady Mira’s men?’

‘You might say that,’ Cam said. ‘But why are you
here
?’

The woman heaved a sigh. ‘Ricca had bad dreams. She … she kept starting fires. Even the warding stones wouldn’t stop them. It was too dangerous to stay, we all could have died. I heard that Sierra the Stormblade was helping fight the Akharians, and that there was an Akharian mage who’d defected to join our folk, and I thought … I thought maybe they could help, that the Wolf Clan would help us get to them. But they didn’t. They turned us over to the Akharians. We stayed in Ruhavera for a while, but then they brought us here, and now I’ve got no idea what they mean to do with us.’

I have a fair idea,
Cam thought. Delphine had told him what happened to slave-children with the spark of power. It made sense to leave Marima with the girl in the short term — they’d only have to find another nursemaid, otherwise. When they shipped them south, Ricca would be given to a Collegium family for fostering, and Marima would be sent to the slave-markets.

He raked his hands through his hair with a jingle of chain. ‘Are there any Akharians still here?’

‘By the Black Sun herself, I don’t know. The only folk I see are the gaolers.’

‘Fair enough.’ He sucked on his lower lip, thinking. ‘If your little girl has mage-talent, I don’t suppose she can unlock —’

‘No. Don’t you think I’ve tried that? They made a new stone and hung it on a chain around her neck, too tight to pull it off. You’re stuck here, just like we are. Unless Lady Mira sends someone to bring you back.’

Cam pressed his hands to his aching belly. He’d grown soft in these last few months, with a few days of hunger leaving him feeling weak and ill. ‘So it seems.’ Of course they’d come for him, as long as they were still alive. Isidro, Mira, Sierra, Delphine, and the little ones … it had been easier when it was just him and Issey. There were so many people to worry about now, so many to protect.

‘Marima,’ he said, ‘can I ask you one more question? When do they feed us?’

‘Not for a good long while yet. You just slept through the morning meal, and they won’t leave it around if you’re not awake to eat it. Rats, you see.’

‘Figures,’ Cam said with a sigh.

There was nothing else to do, nothing at all. He closed his eyes, willing himself to sleep.

Before a great deal of time passed — he’d been nursing his aching head and cramping belly for only an hour or two, Cam judged — he heard footsteps in the passage, and saw the bright gleam of a lantern sweep across the stone. He shook himself out of his doze and ground his palms against his eyes to clear them. Marima had said it would be hours before the next meal was due. Something else must have brought his captors down into the cells.

Cam struggled to his feet just as the visitors came into sight. Hespero stood at their head, his arms folded across his barrel-like chest as he stopped beyond the bars and studied Cam with a scowl. His guards hovered in the background, together with a young page who looked at Hespero with something akin to hero-worship.

‘Ah,’ Hespero said, ‘you are still with us. Good.’

‘Was there some question?’ Cam said.

‘You’ve been in the land of dreams for three days, lad. In my experience those who wander for so long have a tendency not to return.’

He must have been worried, Cam thought, to come down personally to check on his prisoner.

Hespero stayed where he was, studying Cam for a long moment until he turned away with a shrug. ‘Well and good, then. Don’t get too comfortable here, Cammarian. We’ll be moving on again in a day or so.’

‘Oh? Where to?’

Hespero ignored the question. ‘Just keep in mind that if you give us any trouble, we’ll give you another dose like the one before. Whether you come on your own two feet or trussed up like a bale of goods is up to you.’

With that, he turned to go. Cam started forward, as far as the chains would let him. ‘Hespero! There’s one thing I want to know —’

‘Really? I fear you’ll be disappointed. I’ve no mind to tell you anything,’ Hespero said as he walked away.

‘When did the Wolf become a clan of slave-traders?’ Cam called after him.

Hespero was already out of sight, but Cam heard the footsteps halt.

‘I used to think your clan had honour,’ Cam said. ‘You’ve made it clear that you’ll do anything to rule the north, even if it means trading away your own flesh and blood for the sake of alliances. But even then I never thought you’d stoop to selling a woman and her child like beasts at the market. Well?’

Hespero appeared again, approaching the bars with a swift and angry stride. ‘Hold your wretched tongue, or I swear by the Black Sun herself, I’ll cut it out and send it to your cursed brother as proof you’re still alive.’

So,
Cam thought,
Issey lives. Or so he wants me to think.
‘You’re no better than the Akharians,’ he said, holding Hespero’s gaze.

With a bellow, Hespero slammed his palms against the bars. ‘And what would you have me do with them? Smother the girl with a pillow? The woman, too? At least this way they’ll live, and life as a slave is still better than the pyre. By all the Gods, they might even use the girl against us one day, but we’re still letting them have her. What’s that, if not mercy? Do you think she deserves it any less than that animal you welcomed into your halls,
your grace
?’ The last was said with dripping sarcasm.

‘You could let them go,’ Cam said. ‘There have never been slaves in Ricalan, Hespero, we’ve never been a part of that filthy trade. If you go through with this, all the powers of our land will turn against you. Your guardian Wolf will withdraw his protection, and the Black Sun will set her tigers to hunt you down. But you don’t have to do it. Let them go, send them to my people. It’s not too late to take the right path.’

‘Your people won’t live long enough to take them in,’ Hespero said. ‘And don’t you dare speak to me of mercy, of doing what’s right. Do you have any idea what that beast Rasten has done? The Akharians turned him loose on Mirasada in return for his support, and she cursed near brought the palace down with her screams. And since you brought the wretch under your roof, I’m holding you responsible. Don’t waste any time worrying about the fate of your fellow prisoners, Cammarian. I can promise that what’s left of your life will be far, far worse.’

With that, Hespero left, his guards with him, while Cam watched him go in silence, chewing on his lower lip. Once, he might have believed that Rasten would switch his allegiance to whoever held the upper hand, but now … now he wasn’t so sure. If Isidro was right, if Rasten truly was worthy of their trust, then they had an agent on the inside.

Your people won’t live long enough,
Hespero had said. That meant they were alive now. That was good, better than he’d dared hope when he woke up in chains. The Akharians only hope of victory lay in killing Sierra, and though there was little else of Rasten that Cam knew for certain, there was one thing of which he was utterly sure … he would let no harm come to the woman he loved. If everyone were still alive, it could only be because Sierra had been saved, and if she and Isidro were alive then the rest of them likely were as well, and whatever defeat they’d suffered had little relevance next to that. They’d come too far to fail now.

In the next cell, Marima cleared her throat. ‘Are you really the king?’ she asked in a quavering voice.

Cam suppressed a sigh. ‘Something like that,’ he said.

‘What … what happened?’

‘Like I said, the Akharians attacked us. They were allied with the Wolf Clan … and apparently were double-crossed by them. That’s all I know.’

She was silent for a long moment, and when she spoke again, her voice was very small. ‘Thank you. For trying, I mean.’