Dragonoak (37 page)

She
hadn't got any sleep.

I left without another word, found my bag on the floor, and
snatched it up, feeling like a thief as I shouldered the doors
open. I
was
a
thief, taking Claire's things with me. I moved quickly, not
stopping to take in my surroundings, and it didn't take me long to
find Akela. All I had to do was follow the sound of an axe cracking
something in two.

She was
by Orinhal's wall, making herself useful. Dozens of logs were
stacked in a pile, and Goblin sat atop one of them, watching Akela
as she made short work of the wood. He caught sight of me first,
tilted his head my way, and Akela lowered her axe to the ground and
rushed over.

“It is
true?” she asked. “Ightham, she is alive?”

“She
is,” I said, hearing awe seep into my voice. “She's alive. Claire's
alive.”

Akela
beamed for me, but I couldn't fix my eyes on anything in
particular. Akela's face and Goblin's face blurred together, and
there were too many people around me making far too much noise. It
roared between my ears and finally, I caught sight of the axe,
blade glinting against stone.

“I want
to help,” I said. “I want to help, so...”

Bemused,
Akela took a step back and handed me the axe. She swept an arm out,
proudly displaying the wood she'd already cut down to size, and I
understood what I needed to do. I stepped in front of the log she
was working on, lifted the axe above my head and gripped it so
tightly that there was no room to tremble. With one swift, vicious
motion, I brought it down, chopping the wood clean in
two.

“Almost
as good as the Commander!” Goblin cheered, and a curious sort of
heat crept over me.

There
hadn't been any relief in the motion.

I swung the axe again and again, not caring to cut the wood
cleanly; not caring to strike it at all. The whole world could be
splinters, for all I cared, and the
thock
of the wood being struck over
and over was the only thing louder than the blood pounding in my
ears. I brought the axe down one final time, blade getting caught
in the wood, not releasing when I tried to pull it back. I
stumbled, dully aware that someone had been calling my name with
every swing of the blade, and landed hard against Akela's
chest.

She
pulled me close, murmuring, “It is alright, it is alright. Claire,
she is alive,” as I trembled.

Staring
down at the mangled log, I murmured something about having to use
it as firewood.

CHAPTER XIV

Goblin's
house was a modest building in the heart of Orinhal. He lived with
his husband, but was more than happy to give me and Akela somewhere
to stay, while we settled in. The room we were given was bare, save
for a single chair, but Goblin had plenty of spare blankets and
pillows to offer. Akela made a mountain of them in the centre of
the room and I placed my bag beneath the chair. With that done, we
stood, taking our surroundings in for all of a second.

“Northwood, you are not worrying,” Akela said, “In a week, I
am building us a new house, yes? Or, I am being busy, and I am
making beds,
real
beds!”

Not
doubting her in the least, I fell atop the pile of blankets,
flattening it as I stared at the ceiling. Goblin had insisted upon
preparing lunch for us, and there was nothing to do but wait,
and—

I bolted
upright.

“Did you
hear?” I asked. “About Queen Kidira?”

Elbows
on the windowsill, Akela tore herself away from staring at the
tower and smiled at me, bowing deeply.

“My
Queen, she is alive. I am never doubting this, not truly,” she
said. “Goblin, he is saying, that a month ago, they are hearing
from Queen Kidira. But she is attending to business of her own,
yes, finding some new way to help. When she is wanting to be found,
I am not losing a second.”

I was
happy for Akela, but that happiness was distinct from any news
pertaining to Queen Kidira. I didn't wish her ill; I didn't wish
anything on her.

Goblin
didn't keep us waiting for long. An assortment of plain but
well-prepared food was set out, two chairs pulled out for us, and
Goblin's husband sat at the other side of the table, already
eating. I hadn't expected gushing gratitude from him, but I'd
expected some kind of acknowledgement. A wave, a tilt of the head.
I would've settled for a grunt.

“Ghost!”
Akela said, falling into her chair. “You are not seeing me for
years, and you are sitting there, staring at your plate instead!
What is so interesting that is hiding under your potatoes,
hmm?”

Ghost
looked up slowly, trying to conceal a smirk. If I hadn't known who
he was, I wouldn't have recognised him; his face was far less
distinctive when his skull wasn't caved in.

“Sorry,
Commander. Didn't expect company,” he said, putting his fork down.
“Worked a long shift and thought I'd be able to relax.”

Akela
laughed, and I took my seat, asking, “Are you a soldier,
too?”

Without looking my way, he said, “I am a
baker
,” affronted by the
suggestion.

Never
mind, I thought. Goblin fussed with the cutlery, poured me a drink
and sat down next to Ghost.

“We can't
not
take people in! And besides, they're hardly strangers,”
Goblin whispered as he got comfortable. “So! Rowan. How are you
finding things? I expect it's all quite the surprise...”

I hadn't
eaten since we'd arrived in Benkor and Goblin's question caught me
with a mouthful of chicken to work through. With all eyes but
Ghost's on me, I hurried to swallow it down, mulling over an answer
but only managing, “Right. Didn't expect to see any of you,” when
it came down to it.

An
expectant silence followed, but I could say no more. What did they
want to hear from me? That I had thought Claire dead, not burnt;
gone with Isin, not leading the survivors in Kastelir? I busied
myself with eating, forks scraping against plates as Ghost drummed
his fingers on the tabletop.

“Ah!
Goblin, you are giving more thought to my offer, yes?” Akela said,
rekindling the conversation.

“We'd be
more than happy to count you among our numbers, Commander,” Goblin
said, smiling. “Although we can't make you commander, just like
that. You'll have to earn your place in our army, lest we fall back
on Kastelir's unsavoury habits.”

Akela
bit into a baguette, shrugging.

“You are
giving me a week and they are having to invent a new title for me,”
she announced, and no one in the room expected it to take a moment
longer.

There
should've been no shortage of things for us to say to each other,
but the meal trundled on in uneasy silence. I was so eager to
disguise the fact that I wasn't speaking that I didn't think twice
about how much I was eating. I focused on dishes scraping across
the table, cutlery being set down and picked back up, the sound of
my teeth constantly coming together, and tried to drown the
discomfort out in that way.

“If you're going to keep eating like
that
,” Ghost said, over his far more
modest pile of food, “You'll have to work for it, you
realise.”

“Give
her a break. She's had a long journey,” Goblin said, “I've no doubt
you'll fit in well here, Rowan. You used to be a farmer, didn't
you?”

Dully
grateful that Ghost had waited until I'd eaten my fill to speak up,
I nodded, but a knock at the door interrupted any defence I was
about to muster for myself. Goblin rose to answer it, and I sat
with my hands clasped under the table, dreading what Ghost might
say next. I turned to Akela for support, but she was busy battling
the baguette with her teeth, not pausing to slather on butter, or
fill it with any of the meat on offer.

“Rowan,
it's for you!” Goblin called.

Wanting
to be out of the room, I didn't bother finding out who it was
first. I left the kitchen, passing Goblin in the hallway as I
darted towards the front door, and was met by Sen, standing out in
the sunshine.

I
stepped out of the cabin so that she didn't have to duck beneath
the door frame to speak to me, and from the way she was fiddling
with her long braid, still not looking directly at me, I could tell
she'd been building herself up to this for the last hour, at the
very least.

“H-hello, Rowan,” she said softly, “I'm sorry if I've
interrupted your lunch. Would you like me to come back later? Or
wait?”

“I'd
just finished,” I assured her, but she still seemed hesitant. “Is
something wrong?”

“Oh, no,
not at all...” she said, running her claws against the side of her
neck. “I thought we could talk. If you'd like to. Ash is... she's
going to scout the forest. Rylan's soldiers are always trying to
sneak in that way, and, ah. We'd be hunting too. Would you like to
come?”

“I
would,” I said, agreeing readily.

There
was only one thing Sen and I had to talk about, and I didn't feel
the need to brace myself for it. After all I'd witnessed in the
tower, I doubted anything else could stir guilt and regret within
me. Sen smiled brightly, tusks longer than Kouris', and she took a
step back, ready to lead the way.

All of
the cabins had been built to the same specifications – slightly
elevated off the ground, two steps leading down onto the streets –
and I was about to set off when Akela filled the doorway, still
chewing on the last of the baguette.

“Northwood! Already, you are making friends,” she said
through a mouthful of bread. “Good morning, my tall friend. I am
sorry that Northwood, she is not thinking to call to me, so that we
are introduced, but we are all having our faults, yes? Other than
that, you are not asking for more in a friend. Except for when you
are busy eating one dish, and she is already devouring all of the
meat. But it is a rare situation, yes, and I am not holding it
against her! It is not Northwood's fault that the bread, for some
reason, it is absurdly long.

“Ah, I
am forgetting my point. I am Akela Ayad, and it is a pleasure to
meet you.”

Akela
held a hand out, and I expected Sen to back away and mumble her
greetings under her breath, but she took Akela's hand in her own,
doing a poor job of not looking amused.

“I'm
Sen,” she said, voice as quiet as Akela's was loud. “It's—it's nice
to meet you. And, um. I think it's the afternoon.”

“Sen's
Claire's maid,” I hurried to explain, and Akela nodded
thoughtfully.

“Perhaps
I am paying Ightham a visit,” she said, pointing to the tower.
“Here, correct?”

If Sen
considered telling Akela it wasn't the best time, she quickly
realised it was futile. Akela headed off without waiting for
confirmation, waving over her shoulder as she went, and Sen and I
set off in the opposite direction.

Orinhal
was a well-chosen location for the resistance. The ravine behind
provided a natural defence, now that the bridge crossing it had
been destroyed, and the dragons had done nothing to touch the wide,
flowing river that had caused the city's original founders to
choose the spot. Outside of the city, farmland stretched on as far
as even a pane could see, full of crops and cattle alike, and dense
woodland stretched west.

I
stepped over tree stumps as we made our way towards Ash in the
distance, and said, “Do we really need to hunt? It looks like
Orinhal has more than enough to go around.”

“The
pane, we... eat more meat than the humans,” Sen explained, ears
twitching. “S-so they prefer us to hunt for our own
food.”

I
stopped atop a stump, causing her footsteps to falter. The country
had near-enough been destroyed, and still humans were unwilling to
share with the pane.

“That
doesn't seem very fair.”

“I-it's
fine! We make sure there are no other predators, and we... cull
responsibly,” Sen murmured, glancing over to Ash, who was waving us
over, “There's enough for all of us, like this.”

I didn't
see the need for division in the first place, but Sen wasn't the
one I ought to be pushing in the matter. Taking the lead, I hurried
over to Ash and peered into the forest beyond. A bow and quiver too
big for anyone but Sen were rested against a tree and she crouched
down, slinging them over her shoulder as she apologised for being
late.

“Don't
get your hopes up too high,” Ash told me. “We've already had a few
patrols pass through this morning, coming up empty-handed, as ever.
Looks like Rylan's soldiers are learning not to try sneaking in, if
nothing else. Honestly, this is just an excuse to slack off—but
don't tell the Marshal I said that. Someone's gotta keep an eye on
Sen, right?”

Sen
headed into the forest, quieter on her feet than either me or Ash,
and pushed back branches high above us so that they didn't catch on
her horn. I almost forgot that I'd been brought there to discuss
something, instead losing myself in the forest, watching out for
twisting tree roots and dead dragons.