Second Stone (21 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Mairi left the door to Terin’s chamber unlocked, hoping the girl would change her mind. The keys weighed heavily in the pouch dangling from her fingers. It hadn’t taken her much effort to figure out where Lord Reeve would keep Lord Oren. As a child, he’d often thought no one saw him sneaking out to play in the dungeons. But Mairi had seen and had kept quiet.

As much as she wanted to go straight to the dungeon, she kept her head and started toward the stable instead. She found Roel inside, spreading fresh straw. Mairi grabbed his arm. “Get a mount ready, quick, but keep it out of sight.”

Roel gave her a puzzled look, but he nodded his head. He’d do as she asked. Since the day Her Highness had been brought to the estate, obviously against her will, the staff had quietly been talking. They’d come to the consensus that their Lord Reeve was up to no good, but they just didn’t know what. Each of them had promised that given the opportunity, they would band together and do whatever was necessary. Things just hadn’t been the same around The Rest since Lady Emariya had left. Emariya had gotten to know them, and they loved her for it.

Reeve paid them no mind, and little by little, their respect for him had slipped away. He’d taken them for granted, and it was that carelessness that now let Mairi move about without encountering any resistance.

The third key unlocked the imposing dungeon door. The broken cobwebs on the hinges confirmed her suspicion. Someone had still been sneaking out to these dungeons, and she’d be willing to bet it was Reeve.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She wished she’d thought to bring a lantern. The odor of urine assaulted her nose. From the back of the dungeon, ragged breathing reached her ears.

“Lord Oren?” she called tentatively.

Someone coughed.

Trying not to think of what might be crawling around in the dark, Mairi felt her way toward the back.

There! All of a sudden, she saw him through the bars of a cell. The gray light made it hard to make out his features, but she was almost positive it was Lord Oren.

Mairi pulled upward on the latch of the cell, but it wouldn’t budge. She dug the key ring out of her pocket and tried each in the tiny keyhole beneath the lever. Her heart sank when she got to the last one and it, too, failed to open the door.

Oren shifted on the floor and lifted his head. “Is someone there?” His voice was so weak; panic surged through Mairi. She had to get him out.

“I’m here, Milord, I’m here.”

“Mairi?” He sounded confused.

“Yes, Milord, but I can’t get the door open. Do you know where the key is?”

“How did you get here? Where am I?”

“You’re at Warren’s Rest.” Feeling along the wall, her hands closed around an iron ring. Holding it close to her nose, she could see that it was another key ring.

Oren heaved a dejected sigh. “I thought so, but I tried to tell myself it couldn’t be. Was it Reeve?”

“I believe so, Milord.” Mairi twisted the key and the lock sprung open. It only took her a moment to lift the latch and she quickly rushed to Oren, trying to pull him to his feet.

“My son. My own son.” Oren’s voice sounded far away.

“Milord, you must come. Emariya needs you. Hurry.”

Regret flitted through his eyes, but his daughter’s name got him moving, and with Mairi’s help, he pushed himself shakily to his feet. He leaned against her, unable to support his own weight as they made their way out of the dungeon.

When they finally stepped into the pale early evening light, Lord Oren’s hands flew up to shield his eyes. Mairi waited patiently while he acclimated to the sudden light, nervously scanning for anyone nearby.

“Where’s Reeve?” He asked, setting his jaw beneath his overgrown beard.

“Inside,” Mairi said, “but he has several powerful men with him. We need to get you away from here.”

“To the village, then. I’ll rally the men, and then come back for my son.”

Mairi shook her head. “The men aren’t there. Lord Reeve sent them to the fjord to stand against Sheas. You’ll not find hardly a soul in the village or here. You need to go to the fjord.”

Oren sighed and then nodded. “Are you coming with me? I’m not sure I can make it on my own.”

“I wish I could, Milord. You’ve no idea how you’ve been missed. But I have to stay here. Someone’s got to protect the girl.”

Oren’s voice rose to a high, surprised pitch. “Girl?”

“Terin Ahlen, the princess of Thalmas.”

Mairi wouldn’t have thought it was possible but her lord’s eyes darkened even more. “Can we not get her out, too?”

“She won’t go.”

“Damn the Stones. She likely feels the pull.”

“I wouldn’t know, Milord, but she thinks you can get away easier without her, and I think she’s right. She’s heavily watched; it would seem you are not.”

“I’m forgotten,” Oren whispered softly.

“Never.” Mairi’s tone left no room for argument. It tore at her heart to hear her lord so broken.

“Milord!” Roel dashed out of the stables and helped support Oren’s weight. The going was much faster with both of them helping and they soon had him inside.

Oren leaned against a stall. “What of the Council? Are they privy to Reeve’s actions?”

Mairi and Roel glanced at each other, and Mairi shook her head. “I don’t know, Milord. Surely Lord Calkirk would lend you a sympathetic ear, but there’s no time. They will be upon the fjord in a few days at most. Lady Emariya sent word they were departing Sheas Harbor after disabling their last wave of reinforcements.”

“My daughter did what?” Oren arched a brow.

“I don’t rightly know, Milord. But I suspect she’s up to more than we know. She must know you’re here by now, after being to Sheas Harbor. But I know not what she plans. What I do know is that our men, and the men of Thalmas and Sheas, are all converging at the fjord, and Emariya is likely to be right in the thick of it.”

Pride shone in her lord’s glassy eyes. “What are you waiting for, then? Help me onto a horse.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

As they rode into the Borderlands, rigid tension took hold in Emariya’s back. Had someone asked her when she had left Eltar how she would feel returning a few months later, ‘apprehensive’ would never have factored in as a possibility.

The winter-ravaged trees in the forest bemoaned their naked branches as they waved them angrily in the wind, creaking and shuddering. Determined to be free of winter’s burden, the riotous limbs frequently plopped clumps of snow onto the travelers below.

Garith and Torian rode beside her, a subdued mood spreading over them all. At first, Emariya thought her uneasiness was due to nearing their destination, but the more she looked for signs that a battle might have already started up ahead, the more she felt someone was watching her.

“Torian,” she said quietly, keeping her voice as low as possible.

“Just keep riding, I feel it, too,” Torian answered her unasked question.

“Hard not to,” Garith muttered.

“Do you think Reeve sent scouts this far? If he knows we’ve lied and the Sheas army is riding with us…”

“I doubt it. You didn’t see the camp, Riya. When I was there, it was utter disorganization. Unless Reeve has sent someone to command them, we won’t be encountering their scouts. They don’t have scouts to send.” Garith’s jaw spoke of his lingering anger over their friends and neighbors being sent to die.

“But if it’s Rees’s men scouting, why aren’t they letting themselves be seen?” Emariya asked.

Torian sighed. “Because, in part, they are watching us.”

“Us? But why?”

“You. These are men of Sheas, Emariya, and you look like your mother. They are likely wondering who you are.”

Emariya closed her eyes. Would she ever be seen as just herself, and not as a reflection of her mother?

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Master Hendel sent word ahead to have them watch us, as well, making sure we aren’t deviating from our plan,” Torian said.

Emariya hoped she hadn’t given anything away. She’d been extremely cautious not to say anything about it openly. She trusted Jessa to keep her mouth shut, and as far as Emariya could see, that was her only vulnerability when it came to the information. She tried not to be hurt that her uncle trusted her so little that he had scouts spying on her.

“Are they riding parallel to us?” she asked later that evening, still feeling the eyes on her.

“Possibly.” Torian looked around. “We’ll make camp soon, I bet. We want to leave enough space between us and the fjord that we aren’t right on top of them, but we want to arrive in the morning as light is coming up, not going down.”

That made sense; it would give them the needed time to negotiate before darkness fell. They’d reach the fjord early tomorrow morning. Was she ready for this?

Shortly after they made camp, Emariya looked around their fire and realized Garith wasn’t there. At some point he’d slipped away, fading into the trees. Emariya raised a questioning eyebrow at Torian. “Where’d Garith go?” The fire danced nearby, a taunting performance of chaotic flames, subtly asking her if she dared think she could bend it to her will.

Torian gave her a pointed look and shook his head, refusing to answer.

Her heart lurched. Garith must have gone to scout the scouts. What was Torian thinking, letting Garith go do that? Garith had changed, perhaps more than all of them, since leaving Warren’s Rest, but that didn’t make him qualified to be a scout. What if he got caught?

Glaring, she hugged her arms around herself, trying to stave off the chill brought on more by fear than by the winter night.

“I’d feel better if you waited here instead of going all the way to the fjord. No matter how hard we try, it may still devolve into a battle.” Torian’s voice thickened with worry for her while she remained preoccupied.

“I have to go—it’s up to me to convince them,” Emariya said. “Besides, me staying behind didn’t work out so well last time, did it?” Unwelcome images of Russell’s blood covering her hands seeped through her mind.

Torian’s eyes darkened, and Emariya knew he was remembering the same grisly scenes.

“Where’s Garith?” Jessa asked, bounding up to the fire, her cheeks flushed.

Emariya shook her head, and Jessa’s face lost some of its happy glow.

“Blaine says we will reach the fjord in the morning,” she said, her cheerful voice conflicting with her troubled eyes. “I wonder what we’ll find there.”

Emariya reached out, taking her maid’s hand. “Whatever we find, we’ll face it together.”

“I just don’t want to lose anyone.” Jessa bit her lip. “I hope we go to Warren’s Rest. I’d like to see Mama again.”

“I hope so, too, and we will. We’ve all got people there we need to see.”
A few days,
Emariya told herself.
Hopefully in a few days I will be at The Rest. I’ll rescue my father and confront my brother and everything will be all right.
Hopefully they would make it in time.

As if he’d read her mind, Torian said, “It’s not spring yet; hopefully they haven’t wed.”

Emariya sincerely hoped that would prove true. She wanted Terin as a sister, but not through her marrying Reeve. Once, she would have been thrilled, but that was before Reeve became her mother’s pawn.
And before he tried to make me his
, Emariya thought darkly.

She forced a weak smile. “Hopefully. But what if they have?”

“I don’t know. It would mean the lines are already bound, but that is all I know.” Torian didn’t meet her eyes.

“Terin is strong—we will get her back.” She hoped her voice sounded more assured than she felt.

“We could wed,” Torian said so softly she almost wasn’t sure she’d heard him.

Was he right? If the lines were already bound, did that mean they could freely wed, without fear of the prophecies? Would more lines being bound together make a difference when it came to the prophecies’ warnings? A flush ran through her at the thought of being able to marry Torian, perhaps even soon.

Her own line of thinking echoed on his face. He grinned at her and said, “A silver lining, I suppose.”

“It could also mean that the prophecies’ warnings are already triggered, not that we really know what that means for us. ‘Over whispers and sights, Soil prevails, behold its might.’That line makes me really nervous for the battlefield ahead. It’s easy to infer that ‘soil’ is my brother and he is standing against the whispers of Sheas and the sights of Thalmas.”

“But you could be called
of the soil,
too, Riya. You’re a Warren still, you know.”

“Not according to my mother,” Emariya said, her eyes narrowing. “But you are right, except that I am not standing against Sheas and Thalmas.”

“It could mean my sister is siding with Reeve. The pull of the Stones might be too much for her. She could be ‘sights,’ and Reeve ‘whispers,’ while you are ‘soil.’” Torian’s voice was pained.

“In other words, we don’t know any more than we did before; we are all just guessing, so let’s not get ourselves worked up over it.” She shot Torian a reassuring smile and he came to sit beside her.

“I wonder how The Three ever expected anyone to figure out what the prophecies were intended to do,” Jessa said.

“Maybe someday we’ll have to just go ask them,” Emariya joked.

“I do like the idea of us being able to wed sooner.” Torian’s voice was low and husky with a completely different emotion than he’d shown just moments before.

Emariya blushed and leaned her head against him.

Minutes ticked by agonizingly slow as Emariya watched the trees, hoping to spot Garith returning. “He should have been back by now,” she said, standing to stride across the camp, going nowhere but needing to move.

A musket shot sounded through the trees, and for a moment, Emariya thought the ground was disappearing beneath her. Oh no. Garith…

Tears welled in Jessa’s eyes. “You don’t think…”

Emariya would have expected her own tears to form, but instead, she found only numbness.

Torian moved close, putting his arms around her shoulder. “Let’s not jump to conclusions,” he cautioned. A faint rustling came from the brush nearby, headed toward their camp. Emariya instinctively moved closer to Torian.

Torian’s fingers rested lightly on the hilt of his sword as the rustling grew louder. From the sounds of it, at least two people—possibly more—were crashing through the trees, making no secret of their approach.

With her muscles coiled, ready to flee if necessary, Emariya stared intently at the thick trees surrounding their campsite.

Garith stepped through and flashed a mischievous grin. “Whoa, some welcome. And I even brought dinner.” He mock pouted. He stepped further into their clearing and Emariya saw he had a deer gripped by the hind legs. Its front legs were supported by Commander Plank.

Once he was fully in view, Plank dropped the deer onto the snow-covered ground and bowed low to Emariya and Torian. “Your Highness.”

“Commander.” Torian gestured for the lean man to stand. Surprise and concern warred for control of Torian’s chiseled features.

Jessa stood. “I’ll go find someone to see to the deer.”

Emariya’s shoulders eased with relief at seeing Garith returned unharmed. The shot they heard must have been the commander downing the deer, but what was he doing there? He was supposed to be rescuing Terin.

Torian voiced that exact concern. “I’m pleased to see you well, Commander, but why are you here?”

“Your Highness, I must admit I hoped to be converging near Warren’s Rest with the additional men your father sent by now. Unfortunately, many of our troops have become entangled in a conflict just past Three Stone Pass.”

“What conflict?” Emariya asked.

“Well, Your Highness, it would seem that Eltar is dissolving into a civil war.”

“Civil war!” Emariya’s mouth gaped open.

“Commander, I think you’d better explain,” Torian said.

“The citizens in the Uplands seem to be rebelling against the Council. They must have assumed that you were sending troops to reinforce Her Highness’s brother at Warren’s Rest, and they’ve turned their anger toward us.”

“How bad is it?” Torian asked.

“They are unskilled and untrained, but their anger won’t let them hear reason. The twenty men I brought with me are nearby; I’d sent scouts out, hoping to find you as you headed this way. I suspected you’d cross to Warren’s Rest from the fjord and I wasn’t sure what you’d want me to do. Regardless, our group wouldn’t have been enough to take Warren’s Rest on our own, so we came down through the Borderlands and we’ve been waiting for you.”

“Good call, Commander. Tell me, can our troops hold on in the Uplands until after we’ve secured my sister and Her Highness’s father?”

The commander looked confused. “Did you not retrieve her father from Sheas Harbor?”

Torian sighed. “We’ve learned he, too, is held at Warren’s Rest.”

After a curious glance at Emariya, the commander turned his attention back to Torian. “I see. That’s unfortunate, but yes, I think they can hold on. What would you have us do?”

Torian turned to Emariya, his eyes searching hers. “What do you think?” he asked quietly, speaking only to her.

Self-doubt furrowed Emariya’s brow. She didn’t want too many troops standing against the citizens of the Uplands; she didn’t want her people injured before she could get up there to stop the madness. At the same time, she didn’t want Torian’s troops defeated, either. “I don’t like our people standing against each other.”

Running his hand back through his unruly hair, Torian nodded. “Neither do I.”

“Garith?” Emariya prompted, wondering what his thoughts were.

“I’m not leaving you, Emariya. We’ll go diffuse the Uplands after we deal with the fjord. Perhaps we can split then, if necessary, once we get an idea of how many we will need at Warren’s Rest.”

“That sounds like as good a plan as any,” Torian said. “Commander Plank, bring your men to join our push to the fjord. After tomorrow, we can make some decisions about where we go from there.”

Commander Plank bowed low. “It will be done at once, Your Highness. May the Stones be with us.”

Though she could not see it through the thick trees, Emariya looked off in the direction of Eltar, her eyes cloudy and unfocused with tears. What had her people come to? Not only were they fighting against Sheas and Thalmas, now they were fighting against themselves.
That’s why they need you to lead them,
her grandmother’s voice said in her ear.