Trial of Fire (9 page)

‘West, Master?’

‘Yes,’ Nash smiled, heading for his horse, ‘west. To kill the Enemy and take the Key.’

Finnlay reached the door to his rooms to find it open and, inside, a mess of movement. Bags and boxes were already piled up. The bedroom doors were flung wide, his daughters running from one place to the other, their faces white with fear. The fire had been extinguished, leaving an ugly sickly smell that clung and lingered. All the shapes he’d become familiar with, the combinations of colours and patterns – all the things that had made him recognise this as home had gone.

‘How long have we got?’ Fiona emerged from their bedroom and placed another bag on the floor by the door. ‘Are we taking your books with us, or will you leave them to go with the library tomorrow?’

Her voice was harsh, her gaze uncompromising. Her face, softened a little with the babies and age over the years since they’d married, was contained. Reality had never been so hard.

Without saying a word, Finnlay went to her, pulled her into his arms and held her close. A heartbeat later the stiffness in her body evaporated and she melted against him, needing to give comfort as much as to receive it.

Nobody but their daughters ever saw this gentle and vulnerable side to Fiona. Finn was glad: he’d never felt more loved. The embrace lasted only a moment, then she was pulling back, looking up at him, her eyes moist but full of tenderness. ‘Your brother.’

‘My brother,’ he nodded, conceding.

‘Again.’

‘Aye, again. What can I say? At least he’s consistent.’

She gave him an ironic smile, then asked, ‘How much time have we got?’

‘Two hours. We must travel light, so we leave the bulk of our goods to go with the carts. Take only those things we can’t live without. Leave all the furniture.’

‘Do you know where we’re heading?’

‘Flan’har, I should imagine, but we didn’t really discuss it. How much more have we to do here?’

‘Almost done.’

‘Good. Then we get the girls fed, and rugged up for the ride. I’ll organise provisions and get the horses saddled.’ He paused, then kissed her lightly. ‘I
love you,’ he whispered, then turned and left before he could see more tears in her eyes.

This was, after all, the only home she had ever known.

*

Andrew pressed himself against the passage wall, lifting his feet out of the way as two men carried a heavy wooden chest between them, followed by a woman with her arms wrapped around an enormous cloth bundle. Once they were past, he hurried on, some part of his head counting the seconds until he had to be back with his mother.

He couldn’t just get back on his horse and ride away; he’d not even been here a whole day yet. He’d hardly had a chance to see anyone, even Liam’s family; he had wanted to tell them how sorry he was about the boy’s death. How could he forget that night when he’d helped Liam perform a dimensional shift? The older boy had looked at him with respect, had treated him like a friend, like he belonged here, with the rest of them, like he was Salti born and bred and that it didn’t matter if he didn’t have any powers of his own; they would accept him anyway.

Only it no longer mattered whether or not he was accepted by the Salti. The Enclave was dissolving before his eyes, melting like snow on a warm spring day. His chance to become a true member had vanished that easily. And all the people he’d once thought of as his friends by default were about to lose their home – the only chance of safety they could ever have.

Andrew had always had two homes: Maitland and here. When he rode down the mountain today, he would have none.

Horror lent his feet wings. He began to run, skipping down stairs he knew by heart, swinging around corners balanced without thought, climbing more stairs three at a time and landing at the top without breaking his breath. He knew this place, but now it looked different: now it felt different, smelled different and sounded different. He had to find Guy and talk to him before—

‘Andrew?’

He skidded to a halt. Guy was standing in the doorway to his family’s rooms. He wore a cloak and his riding boots and carried a saddle-bag weighted down by something angular – probably books.

‘I came to find you,’ Andrew gushed, suddenly breathless. It was so good to see his best friend again; he had so much to talk about – and there was no time at all. He needed to know what Guy thought about all this … and about the whole thing with Robert and Kenrick and this assumption that he would be the next King. Guy was bound to laugh himself silly at the idea, and if he did, Andrew would feel much better—

But there was no time for any of that, only for a goodbye.

‘When are you leaving?’ Guy rushed forward and dumped his bag on the floor beside two more. Andrew could hear Guy’s parents moving around inside their rooms, gathering the last of their things.

‘I have only a few minutes. My mother’s expecting me. We have to head out with the Key … or the Calyx, or whatever it is now.’

‘You’re going with Robert?’

Andrew nodded, unable to dismiss the tiny, pleased feeling inside him at Guy’s awe. Though he knew Robert better now, he still felt that same awe himself from time to time – in fact, knowing him better only made it worse, for now he was sure it wasn’t all his imagination. ‘Finnlay and Fiona and the girls are coming with us as well as Lady Margaret, Arlie and Martha and their children.’

Guy was almost jumping up and down with glee. ‘Us too! Us too!’

‘Really?’ Andrew grabbed his friend’s shoulder hard. ‘But why?’

‘You know my mother fought with Robert at Shan Moss. She said Robert needs a few strong fighters to protect the Key, in case the mask falls and Nash finds us. My father wouldn’t let her go alone, and you know what a brilliant archer he is, and Robert said this was not the time to be splitting up families – so we’re all going the same way!’

Andrew’s face hurt, he was grinning so hard. ‘I’d better go. I’ll see you up there!’ With that, he turned and ran again, this time his feet touching the ground more lightly. But as he reached one of the main corridors, he came to a complete halt.

The tunnel was choked with people, with bags and boxes, with trolleys and children. Up ahead were voices he recognised: Martha and other Councillors, calling out for calm, for order. Their words vanished into the deafening rumble of panic.

Andrew once again pressed himself against the wall to let people by, to avoid getting crushed, but he stumbled, and there were too many people around to stop his fall. Suddenly he was on the ground, with no room to move, no room to stand again, with too many feet shuffling around him.

Abruptly a hand grabbed his elbow hard, hauling him to his feet without ceremony. He barely had time to register who it was before the voice commanded silence. Seconds later, everyone came to a halt as every head turned to face Robert.

‘Is this panic?’ he asked without preamble. ‘Is this what all our training, all our discipline is for? So that we can panic at the first test? All those hours we spent working out the best and most practical means of evacuating, all for nothing. Instead, we’re going to allow a little panic to kill our children, is that it? Did none of you see the Jaibir’s son get knocked to the ground?’

The silence had more depth then. Some eyes shot to him, others looked away. He didn’t dare to guess which was shame and which anger.

Robert continued, ‘Those of you who are scheduled to leave now, move to the walls. Those who leave in the next wave, head back to your rooms. I promise you, Nash is too far away to get here in less than a week, even if he barely stops to rest. We will have the Enclave empty in fewer than three days – because we refuse to panic. It will be your patience which defeats him here, not your urgency.’ With his voice gentler, he added, ‘Go, now.’

And the noise rose again, but this was subdued, more constructive. Andrew remained by Robert, saying nothing, standing there and watching a frightened people pretend they were, instead, very, very brave.

He knew exactly how they felt.

As the throng began to clear, Robert murmured in his ear, ‘Let’s get moving. Your mother will be waiting for us.’

*

Jenn moved from one horse to another, checking saddles and bags and straps and doing all she could to ignore the cold day, the sharp gusts of wind and the bare stone of the mountain-top around her.

She would never come here again.

Irritatedly, she pulled in her bottom lip, deliberately catching it between her teeth. The pain cleared her thoughts for a moment and she drew in a deep breath, willing calm. She had erred on the side of caution and chosen to wear a pair of boy’s trousers; her hair was already bound up in plaits to sit beneath a cap. Sometimes her diminutive size was a curse, and there were moments like these when the instant disguise gave her more safety than anything else, and she would be able to move freely in these clothes where she would be trapped by a gown of any kind. Though she’d said nothing to the others, she knew this trip would be dangerous. It didn’t matter that Robert was with them – being bound to the Key as he was at the moment, there was no way to guess how much his powers would be hampered if they should come across Nash, and if they did …

She walked towards the next horse as others arrived. There was already so much activity on the field, it was hard to see the order, but here and there a voice was raised, instructions were given and everything slotted into place. It all appeared so damned
organised
 – and so unbelievably horrible at the same time. They were afraid, but they were still working, still ruling their own lives, working together for their freedom.

These brave people, these vulnerable souls had trusted her.
Robert
had trusted her, and she’d failed them all. Robert had warned there could be danger taking the Calyx to the Key, but she’d insisted, her confidence at
winning Robert back blinding her to the possible consequences. But she had felt so sure that it was the right thing to do.

And now she was leaving. Leaving
them.

She blinked, her eyes abruptly moist. Though she’d tried to stop it, she was staring at the mountain-top, the open field surrounded by a crown of stone, and the entry tunnels leading to the caves beneath. She would never see this place again, never feel at home in it, never feel trapped by it again.

With a gasp, her eyes widened. Had she done it deliberately, because, deep down, she’d felt trapped living here, tied to the Key?

By the gods! How could she have done something so—

‘Stop it.’

Jenn started as a gentle hand squeezed her shoulder. She blinked away tears and looked at Martha, who was reading Jenn all too easily.

‘It’s not your fault,’ she said compassionately.

Jenn laughed dryly. ‘You don’t know that. You weren’t there. It is my fault. If I hadn’t—’

‘If you hadn’t, Robert would have found a reason to sooner or later. You know that as well as I do.’

‘And if he’d done it later, he would have ensured there would be no danger. The Enclave would still be intact and—’

‘You can’t know that, Jenn!’ Martha came around and stood before her, voice firm but quiet. She knew what this day would mean to all Salti. ‘From the sound of it, the Key and Calyx were meant to work together like this and nothing either you or Robert could have done would have changed that. Blaming yourself will only make you suffer.’

‘They will hate me. They’ll hate Robert.’

Martha’s eyebrows rose. ‘Possibly. Then again, maybe there are those here who welcome the push to get out of here. You know there are many Salti who have found living here as little more than a prison – Finnlay being one of the most obvious. Now there is no reason to stay and every reason to go.’

Jenn shook her head and turned to gaze once more at the stone peak above. Finnlay was the only Salti in history to have climbed it in winter; only twelve people had ever climbed it at all. Andrew was the youngest.

‘Our strength,’ she murmured, ‘has always been seated in our need to stay together. To work together, to find solutions together. We have survived hundreds of years because of that. Even before Selar and Vaughn with his Bresail hunting us down, most Salti lived here, with only a few out there, in Lusara. We stuck together because we had to, because there was no choice, because we could never survive separately. Now … now there is no choice but to survive on our own, because staying together will be the end of everything, not just the Salti.’

‘And so far, staying together has brought us nothing but further imprisonment.’

Jenn blinked at that.

‘It’s too soon to assume this can only end in tragedy,’ Martha continued.

‘Please, Martha. I appreciate the thought, but don’t try to make this a good thing. Not today.’

‘Jenn, not all change is bad.’

‘Then why do I feel like—’

‘Like what?’

She started at the deep voice which was like a warm touch on a cold day. Before she could even move, Robert was beside her, letting her feel his presence. Andrew was with him, looking scared and trying not to. By the gods, he’d lost so much in the last week. She could only pray he would lose no more for a while.

‘You feel like?’ Robert insisted, with a glance at Martha. ‘Like you’re deserting them?’ Jenn met his eyes: deep green reflecting her own thoughts back to her. Yes, he would understand exactly how she was feeling. Hadn’t he blamed himself for every evil in Lusara for the last thirty years?

When Jenn didn’t answer, Robert turned to Andrew and Martha. ‘You’d better mount up. We’ll start heading through the gate in a moment.’ As soon as they were alone, he put his hand on her arm, but she forestalled his words of comfort. With her heart thumping in her chest, she murmured, ‘I can’t go with you. I have to stay.’

His grip tightened. He looked around to see if anyone was watching them. They were surrounded by horses, and those who would accompany them; those from whom they would have to keep so many secrets.

Sure now that nobody would overhear them, Robert turned his gaze back to Jenn, who shook at little at the determination in his eyes.