The Prince of Exiles (The Exile Series) (45 page)

“Stay with her until I tell you otherwise,” Raven said to Stannit, and the man nodded in deference. He hated to do it, but he had to entrust her to the man – he had to keep the rest of this camp in order until Autmaran got back.

Another hour passed as Raven went back and forth, speaking quietly to those who looked as if they needed instructions, lending a hand with rolling boulders into the lake to gain more space.

“Raven,” said a voice.

He turned to see Autmaran coming in on foot – he must have tied off his horse elsewhere to help with space.

“Good, you’re here,” Raven said quickly. “I’ve organized them all, but I’m sure they’ll be eager for you to tell them –”

“Everything I can think of to do you already did,” the man said to him earnestly, catching his eye and trying to get Raven to stand still by holding out an arm. “I spoke to my men – you did what needed to be done, and in almost half the time I could have.”

“I’ve had training,” Raven said dismissively, “that’s all. They are still your men, surely they wish to receive further instructions from you.”

Autmaran watched him for a long moment and then nodded.

“I will speak to them,” he said. “But know that I’ve told them you speak with my voice. If you give an order, it will be followed as if I had given it.”

Raven’s jaw clenched in anger, but he didn’t saw anything. He didn’t want such responsibility – but someone needed to take it.

“There’s a boat,” he said quietly, “on the other side of the lake now. Tiffenal used it to cross, and I think Polim and Palum used it to go back. It’s big – big enough I think to hold at least twenty in one trip. The lake isn’t wide – maybe a couple hundred yards at most. If you send your men across to get it –”

“Done,” Autmaran said immediately and spun to grab a Scout rushing by with a layered chevron sewn to his shoulder. A sergeant. Autmaran told the man what Raven had told him, and he went immediately to the water’s edge, calling together a number of his men, all of whom began to strip down and ball their clothing up to hold over their heads as they swam. Before long, they’d all pushed off into the water and were disappearing into the night.

“What’s on the other side?” Autmaran asked.

Raven told him – about the house, and about the section of the tunnel that had caved in.

“It was a large section,” Raven said bleakly. “It will take time to clear it, if we can at all.”

“I know the man for the job, an Eldorian,” Autmaran said. “Is there anything else you need from me?”

“No,” Raven responded automatically. “You’re dismissed.”

The Major moved off before Raven realized the switch he’d just pulled. For a brief moment he considered going after the man and berating him before the whole group, and showing everyone that he wouldn’t put up with being bowed and scraped to. That part of his life was over, and they’d better get used to it.

But then he looked around him and saw the men and women staring blankly into the fire. He saw Autmaran talking to grim-faced Kindred and Roarkians, motioning across the lake toward the cave in.

I’ll deal with it later.

He went to Leah again. She was still unconscious, and Stannit was keeping watch over her. She was wrapped in as many blankets and cloaks as could be spared – many of the Kindred and the stronger Imperials had given up what little extra they had to the soldiers when they’d been asked to help the sick and wounded – but her skin still looked dangerously pale. He thanked Stannit for his help, and then dismissed him, but the man refused to go.

“You may need to leave again my Prince,” he said. “I would like to be here for you when you do. I know she is important to you – I can see it from the way you look at her. I want you to know someone will be with her until we can get her to wherever we’re going.”

“I’m not a Prince anymore,” Raven said softly, “but thank you.”

Stannit nodded, ignoring the first part, and went to rest his back against a rock wall nearby, within earshot. Raven pulled up the blankets and lay down next to Leah, trying to warm her with his body. He knew if she were awake she’d probably knife him for being so presumptuous, but as it was he didn’t care. He’d worry about her modesty later.

He must have fallen asleep, despite all that had happened, for the next thing he knew Autmaran was shaking him awake. He got quickly to his feet, careful to settle the blankets back over Leah to keep her warm.

“What’s the situation?” He asked the Major.

“We’ve cleared some of the cave in,” he replied, “and we’ve started ferrying people across the lake, those who are strong enough to help us. We tried to break down some of that house for firewood, but the thing is more stone than wood.”

“Did you clear enough to get people through to the other side?” Raven asked. He didn’t know anything about caves really, though he had heard terrible stories about people digging through broken tunnels only to bring the rest of it all down on them.

“I have a few men from Eldoras, the mining city of the Kindred,” Autmaran said. “It’s just south of Vale, they have experience with this sort of thing. They said it isn’t as bad as it could have been. They said they were almost through, and that was when I left them half an hour ago.”

“Good,” Raven said. “Then we need to start ferrying more people across, as many as we can. And as soon as we have a clear path through the tunnel again we keep moving – we have no food, which will lead to a whole new set of problems if we don’t get them to Vale soon. Those strong enough should swim – all the soldiers at least, which is a sizeable number.”

Autmaran nodded, watching and listening carefully.

“Sorry,” Raven said quickly. “I keep giving you orders. You should be telling me what to do.”

“No,” Autmaran said with a completely serious face. “I’m a military commander, not a civilian governor. I think we both know that you’re the one in charge – anything I do will take twice as long, and I’ll miss things along the way.”

Raven opened his mouth to protest once more, but found he didn’t have the energy. All that had happened had stripped him of his anger and without it his limbs were heavy and it was all he could do to stand.

“Did he die well?”

Autmaran was looking out across the water now, his expression dark. Looking into his face, Raven realized that beneath his calm, commanding exterior, the man was barely holding it together. He remembered just how much Goldwyn must mean to the Major – Goldwyn had been his personal military mentor.

“He did,” Raven said. “He died trying to teach me just one more lesson.”

At all odds with the sadness he felt, his mouth quirked into a smile at the memory. The man just didn’t know when to leave a person be.

“Then you’d better remember it,” Autmaran said. “He didn’t waste his time teaching lessons that didn’t matter.”

They stood there together for a moment, looking into the distance. Looking around at all the men and women gathered here, and all the Kindred soldiers helping them with food or blankets.

“It’s strange,” Raven said. “I was always told the Kindred were thieves and murderers. I was told that you were all criminals who reveled in anarchy. But it wasn’t until I returned to the Empire that I found those things again.”

Autmaran grunted in grim amusement, before he turned and left, going to his lieutenants once more. Raven reached out again through the Raven Talisman, looking ahead for the missing Rogues. He could feel them along with a number of other people – it looked like they’d been stopped by the cave-in as well.

Raven turned and began to help organize people into groups for the boats. He looked over and saw that Stannit was helping many of the wounded to their feet, accompanied by a dozen or so of the Roarke soldiers he’d had with him in the city. He was carrying Leah with him in an improvised sling that held her against his chest – she looked like she barely weighed a thing.

Autmaran says you can trust him. You need to help get everyone to safety – make that your priority.

He turned away and continued to organize the trip across the water. It would take a long time to get everyone across, maybe even days. Some of the stronger ones could swim it, and many already were under the careful watch of Kindred soldiers. But the wounded … that would take time. Word came that the cave-in had been breached. He spoke to Autmaran again and they relayed messages to the others that word was to be sent to Vale for food and supplies. They would need them before this was done. Raven found himself forced into one of the boats by Autmaran, the Major saying they needed someone in command on the other side. He went, but everything there was already taken care of. He passed through the house, and beyond the cave-in.

It was dawn of the next day when he emerged from the other side of the tunnel.

The sun was rising in a clear blue sky, a sky that seemed hard and flat. The clouds of the night before had dissipated, breaking up and scattering once the force of the blizzard had blown itself out. The whole world was bright and covered in snow, and Raven saw, with no surprised, that the horse Leah had left there had long since bolted. He hoped the beast had made it back to Vale.

He organized the men and women who were there, and they began the trek to Vale, moving as quickly as they could. Apparently some of the men had made it to Vale earlier in the night, bearing missives. Kindred in the green and silver of Vale rode in with the rising sun on horses bearing blankets and spare mounts. Raven got one for Leah, tired her to it, checked her bandages, and then told Autmaran he was taking her to Vale.

“You can handle this,” he told the Major. “I highly doubt you need me.”

The Major inclined his head toward him.

“Ride safe my Prince. We’ll be right behind you.”

“I’m not a Prince,” Raven growled before spurring his horse into motion.

The ride was oddly quiet; no birds sang, and no wind blew, and Raven felt as though the entire land had been silenced. He rode along snow-covered paths with Leah tied to the saddle in front of him, holding her tight. His back began to ache and then to throb from holding this position, but he didn’t care. He would be damned if he let her out of her sight now that they were back in Kindred land. She was going straight to Elder Keri if he had to hunt the woman down himself.

Hours passed – it was a long ride. He was hungry beyond belief – it had been a full day and a half since he’d eaten now, and he hadn’t realized how much strength lack of food could sap. But still he rode, pushing his horse as fast as it could go without endangering Leah on her precarious perch.

And finally, he saw the slope that led up the entrance to valley. He was so relieved he felt he could both laugh and cry.

He breached the top of the hill and saw a huge row of riders with carts full of supplies and food coming toward him. They saw him and waved him down, but he rode past, not responding to their calls. He was looking for a Healer, but didn’t see any in their loose white robes.

“Where are they - the Healers?” He asked of a man riding past with large sacks tied to his horse’s saddle, both full of bread and cheese.

“They’re at the hospital, preparing beds, opening all the wards.”

He nodded and continued on, heading toward the main boulevard, leaving the noise of the gathering rescue mission behind. The rest of the city seemed oddly quiet, though he supposed that made sense. It was hardly a good day to be out … only yesterday an Elder had been assassinated.

Shadows and light. Yesterday.

He tried not to think until he found himself outside the hospital. He dismounted, untied Leah, and held her in his arms, still wrapped in blankets. She was breathing – that was all that mattered. It meant she was still alive. It meant she would recover. The doctor had said she would. She
had
to recover.