Anais and the Broken War (The Blood Mage Chronicles Book 5) (9 page)

“I’m going on the ship,” Dahlia squeaked. It had taken some time to convince Dahlia to abandon her home for a chance at a new life, but she had eventually accepted the opportunity. I hoped it would prove a suitable solution for the quiet girl.

“And the rest of you?”

I shook my head. “We’re just accompanying her to ensure she boards safely. We won’t linger.”

A carriage screeched to a halt in front of the gate, interrupting our discussion with the soldier.

“Wait, wait, wait. Don’t close the gate. I’m here,” a breathless voice gasped as a large man lumbered out of the carriage. It was my uncle Gil, holding a small case in his hand. Two men followed him out, moved to the back of the carriage, and removed a large crate.
 

The soldier sighed. “I take it you’re one I’ve been waiting for.”

“That’s me.” Gil looked at us and grinned. “I see I’m not the only one passing through. Anais, you came. I knew Simon would talk sense into your pretty head. And you’ve brought friends. Well, I’m sure Simon can make room for all.”

“We’re not all going. Just Dahlia.” I looked at Dahlia, who was staring at the ground. I hoped she wouldn’t lose her nerve.

Gil sighed. “That’s unfortunate. I wish you would change your mind, girlie. Your father will be unhappy when he learns that we left you here.”

“Gil. I can’t.” A part of me badly wanted to go with them. I could be with Uthur to protect him and watch him grow up. I could flee the nightmare that was about to overwhelm the city. It was a chance–a
golden
opportunity. But I had promised Fynn that I wouldn’t just let him die. And more importantly, my power could turn the tide in the war. I couldn’t ignore it. I would just have to accept that my ties to Uthur could not be permanent. Maybe they would fade with time, and I would grow content knowing that I had tried to do what was right for him. Maybe.

“So if you’re here, I can close the gate,” the soldier said. “I need to get to the southern gate as soon as possible. The captains want us all at the ready.”

“No, you can’t close it yet. Two more carriages are coming with crates full of goods,” Gil told the soldier, and then dropped two silvers into the soldier’s palm. “Make sure the gate doesn’t close early. I need those crates.”

The soldier groaned but slipped the coins into his pocket. “Fine. You have one hour and no longer.”

“That’s fair. That should be enough time. My thanks to you, fine sir.”

Gil picked up the small case from the ground, and we followed him and his men through the open gate.
 

As we walked toward the docks, the sounds of gulls squawking and the thick smell of brine surrounded us. The ocean held a potential for unimagined adventure. And I would have to turn my back on it. I was suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of regret for the path not taken.

Once we reached Simon’s ship, two deck hands jumped up and started moving three planks next to the one that was already in place. The single plank would apparently not be enough to support Gil’s weight. After they positioned the planks, one of the men opened a trap in the floor of the ship and slipped down beneath decks, disappearing below. Within a few moments, Simon emerged from the opening and walked nimbly across the boards. He hopped onto the dock and approached us, smiling broadly. It was impressive that he could maintain his balance while holding Uthur to his chest.
 

“A baby?” Gil asked. “Where did you get a baby?”

Simon looked to me as if he was waiting for a direction.

So I tilted my head to the side and glanced sidelong at Dahlia. She stepped up to Simon and took Uthur out of his hands. He nuzzled into her chest as soon as he was safely in her arms.

“I believe the sweet little babe belongs to this woman here. He’s hungry. I did try to give him some goat’s milk. But I think we just made a mess. I truthfully have no experience with babes.”

“I’ll feed him,” Dahlia said as she stroked Uthur’s forehead. “It’s been too long.”

“Let’s get you comfortable onboard.” Simon put an arm around Dahlia’s shoulders and led her across the wide planks. “You can have my cabin while you feed the little mite.”

“That’s so kind,” she whispered, looking up at him with big doe eyes.

“That’s me–the sweetest captain that has ever sailed the high seas.”

“Well, well, well,” Gil said. “I never thought I would see the day that Simon would be smitten with a baby or a woman.” He looked over at the two men who held his crate. “All right boys, we need to get the cargo aboard.”

Two of the deck hands scrambled across the planks and took the crate from Gil’s men. “We’ll do it,” the deck hands offered. “Should we place it with the others?”

“Yes indeed,” Gil responded. After the deckhands carried the crate across the planks, Gil enveloped me in a big bear hug. “Looks like it’s my turn,” Gil said, before waddling across the boards and onto the ship.

I stared at him as he disappeared below decks. I had wanted to hold Uthur again before we parted. Although I had said my goodbye to him, it felt unfair that I couldn’t have one last moment. Was this really the right choice? Would I ever know if I had doomed him or saved him?
 

“We should leave,” Tatiana said, touching my arm. “It’s getting late.”

“Yes,” I nodded, numbness creeping over me. The two men who had accompanied Gil in the carriage were already walking back to the eastern gate without us. I didn’t want to go. But, we couldn’t stay here. I took a long breath.

I looked at both Zilla and Tatiana. “You could go with them on the ship. There’s no need for either of you stay in the city. It’s not too late to change your minds.”

“I’m not getting on a boat,” Zilla said.

“We won’t leave,” Tatiana agreed. “We’re sisters of mercy. We belong here, no matter the danger.”

“You’re not leaving,” Zilla added.

I sighed. I couldn’t even tell them why I needed to stay. “We’ll go. If we’re lucky, Jacarda will take you until there’s a way to return to the Abbey.”
 

On our way back, we passed two men carrying a large crate. We did not stop to speak with them, as they looked as if they were in a rush, as would be expected if they knew how little time was left.

When we reached the gate, the soldier motioned for us to walk through. “I’m closing the gate. Sisters, you need to make haste.”
 

“How will those men get back into the city?” I speculated, worried that the men we had passed would be trapped.

“That’s not my problem,” the soldier answered.

Breathless, the two men who had carried the crate ran up to the gate, and I sighed in relief. I didn’t like the idea of anyone being trapped outside the relative security of the walls of Barriershire.

“Thank the sweet sisters we made it in time,” one of the men coughed.

“You lot are the last ones through. You’re lucky I’ve held it open so long. Now get moving,” the soldier said to all of us, clearly growing impatient.

After we walked through the archway, we watched as the lone guard closed the gate and set the barricades, closing us off from the escape and freedom of the ocean.

Jacarda’s townhouse stood within a block of five others, two streets past Gailin Fairweather’s vacant estate. It was a rectangular white stone building with flowers tumbling out of beds along the entrance, looking as if they hadn’t been tended to in weeks. Had she abandoned Barriershire, like so many of the other wealthy elite? Had she found a way out even after the western gate had closed? I had hoped she would prove stalwart, for I had no idea where Zilla and Tatiana could go if Jacarda would not take them.
 

Tatiana rang the bell, and we listened as it tinkled softly.
 

“Do you think she left?” Zilla asked.
 

“I doubt it. The western gate has been closed for weeks,” Tatiana said. “She’s somewhere in the city.”

“I don’t think she’s here,” Zilla said after we had waited at the door for what seemed like an eternity. “Anais, where should we go?”

I thought of Fynn’s little studio, which couldn’t accommodate the three of us, and of Azriel’s rented room, which would have been let out to someone else by now. No other idea came to mind.

“I’ll think of something,” I said softly.

Before we could leave, the door creaked open, and a head with silver curls covered mostly by a white kerchief peeked through the crack.

Jacarda’s eyes widened when she saw us. “Come in, come in. Quickly now.” She ushered us through the door and then shut it as if she wanted no one to know that she was still living in her home.

“Where’s your manservant?” Zilla asked.

“Oh, I let the staff go a week ago. No point in keeping them on at this point. The better question is, what are you girls doing here? You would be smart to stay hidden behind the walls of the Great House. Terrible things are afoot.”
 

“Lady Mediera plans to leave and cross the mountains. And we can’t get to the Abbey with the northern gate closed. We don’t have anywhere else to go.”

“I’ll be impressed if Lady Mediera escapes, for I certainly wasn’t so lucky. By the time I started making inquiries, it was much too late. Well, no matter, the three of you are here, and I hadn’t thought to see any of you again.”

“Why haven’t you visited the Great House? Are you no longer on the council?” I asked. “Captain Carenhail hasn’t been receiving Mediera or Cedric, or even Gorman or Fynn. But I had thought he would have kept you. You know more about the inner workings of this city than any of us.”

Jacarda laughed. “There is no council anymore. Captain Carrenhail wouldn’t even see me when I called on the Great House, nor was I allowed to call on Lady Mediera. It was quite the insult. But I’ve come to terms with my situation as one must.” As Jacarda talked, she led us to the kitchens and through a door into an empty storeroom.

“Where are we going?” Tatiana asked.

“You’ll see.” Jacarda pushed aside a thatch rug and opened a hatch in the floor, revealing a set of stone stairs that led down into the ground. She pulled two lamps off hooks on the wall and lit them. After she handed one to Zilla and the other to Tatiana, we took the stone steps down into a large room outfitted with six beds. Shelves of dried food, herbs, and glass containers of oil lined two walls. What looked like a well sat in the center of the room, complete with a bucket attached to a pulley system of ropes and gears.
 

“I have access to fresh water down here. My great grandfather dug this well himself years and years ago. He thought a day would come when the furies would rise, and he wanted to be prepared. Although my family thought he was mad, no one stopped him. It will give us a place to weather the impending storm.”

Zilla gulped. “Do you think it’s going to be so bad that we need to hide?”

Jacarda closed her eyes. “My concern is not with furies breaching the walls. If that happens, there is no hope. I’m sure this cellar will provide no real resistance. No, my concern is that once the risk becomes common knowledge, chaos and violence will descend upon the streets. The homes along this street will be looted, and I don’t want anyone to find me when that happens, for I’m hardly in a position to defend myself.”

“I can’t believe the common people would destroy the city,” Zilla said. “Their better natures would prevent it.”

Tatiana nodded. “It’s happened before. Entire cities have crumbled when fear infested the streets. The Stone Cities, the Vorpal Realm, the Sand Lakes, to name a few. Illium barely survived the last war. And the furies were not the reason the kingdom fell. It was the civil war the followed that did the real damage. The whole of the nobility were torn to shreds. If it weren’t for Grayson, our greatest cities in the West would just be husks.”

“Grayson? The mage?” I asked, my eye’s widening.

“If we had had more time, I would have showed you some of the Abbey’s collections of scrolls. You would have liked to read about our history, I think. But it’s too late now.”

I closed my eyes. Time had run out. I had meant to dig into the histories at the Abbey, and now I had lost my chance.

 
“Are you sure you don’t mind us staying with you?” Tatiana asked Jacarda. “Do you have enough supplies?”

“I have food enough to last through a siege of months. You’re all welcome to join me. We may need to hide for quite a while. I’m glad you came, really. I was growing a bit lonely here all by myself.”

Zilla touched my arm, her fingers dark against my pale skin. “Will you stay, Anais? I don’t like the idea of you outside with no one to protect you.”

“No. I can’t,” I shook my head. I wouldn’t be hiding in the face of an onslaught. My path led in a harder direction.

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HAPTER
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