“And for you?” I asked.
“Alas, I was always pining for people I couldn’t have.” I did notice how she didn’t say men. “And I’m an old woman now. I fear there won’t be anyone for me.”
“You’re not that old.” I figured her to be in her forties, no older.
She smiled. “I hope you’re right.”
Some strange little part of me, in that moment, made it my mission to find someone for Crane… and Midnight… if they wanted someone. After this whole war thing was done, I’d focus on that.
For now…
I had other things to worry about.
And something Crane had said had gotten me thinking. “We need help,” I stated.
“Yes,” she said.
I pulled my hand out from hers as I smiled and rose, ready to get back to work. “And I think I know where to get it.”
Chapter 8
Silence
Silence squirmed.He wanted to help, knew he could help, but he didn’t like this plan at all. Even though he had volunteered for this mission.
Legs’ plan was to talk to Blackclaw and convince her Legs wasn’t some horrible traitor. Then to have Blackclaw convince Grizzly House of that same fact. As soon as he’d heard Blackclaw’s name, Silence knew he had to come along. He hadn’t known exactly how he could help, but he was the only other person who knew Blackclaw well, so him making contact made sense.
He just hadn’t known how to do that. He’d had the entirety of the trip to Cragmount to think but hadn’t come up with anything.
Fin hadn’t been able to take them directly there. The Grizzly House Manor — Stonehold — was in the west of Elista, as they were the House that kept an eye on the western reaches and the border with Basia, which was quiet most of the time. Since Fin had never been inland in the west, the closest he could get the team was to a small coastal village in the southwest of Elista called Bell Cove.
There had been some debate over who would go. Silence had made his case, Midnight would come for her stealth, Fin for his transport — even if he couldn’t get them in quick, he could get them out quick — and finally Ant as muscle if needed.
It had taken them a little more than two days after arriving in that small coastal village before they’d arrived in Cragmount. The group had taken a wagon from Bell Cove to Peter’s Town, the largest settlement in the Southwest. That trip had taken most of a day. Peter’s Town wasn’t large — when compared to cities like Miraline and the capital — but it did have a fast-carriage service. A fast carriage got the team from Peter’s Town to Cragmount in a full day and a night, arriving in the dim twilight before dawn, which served Silence and the rest perfectly. The ride hadn’t been comfortable. Fin and Ant in the same carriage left little room for others, and since Fin’s other form wasn’t smaller, he remained as he was, while Silence and the others took turns in their avatar forms.
Once in Cragmount, Midnight procured the team two rooms at an inn, one with two beds for sleeping in shifts, the other for meeting and planning.
After one day of scouting, mostly by Midnight, they’d discovered that Blackclaw was at Stonehold and wasn’t part of the Grizzly forces that had been sent east to help with the “war” with Vauphan.
And now, it was Silence’s turn. He was the one going in… but he didn’t like any of his options.
“I know, I know!” he said, holding up his hands to stall any more comments from the others. Fin was sleeping, as was Midnight. Ant and Legs were both staring him down. “I know I’m the best choice to go in and I know why… I just don’t know how!” He squared his shoulders and straightened to his full height, which was just ever-so-slightly taller than Legs. “I can’t walk up to their front door like this.” He motioned to himself. “Which means I’d have to go in as a mouse, and there are a lot of things in that house — some of the avatars of the Nobles included — that would love to eat me.”
He’d seen Stonehold from a distance, up on a higher hill than the aptly named Cragmount. This whole area was badlands, craggy, rocky hills, best for grazing sheep and mining the many minerals beneath the ground. The place looked like a fortress and probably had any number of holes through which a mouse might sneak in. However, those dark places within the walls housed other denizens, many of which preyed on mice. And it wasn’t a small fortress either. He’d have to go quite a long way as a small creature to reach Blackclaw’s rooms.
Legs sighed. “I know you’re scared, we’re all—”
“I’m not scared!” he said, and instantly realized he sounded like a frightened child saying he wasn’t scared. He calmed himself. “What I mean is. I’m not scared of dying for our cause or doing something dangerous… but… I may be just a bit scared of dying for no reason other than I was a tasty morsel. And if I do, none of you will ever know what happened to me!” He sighed. “That seems… just so… sad.”
“You want me to go in with you?” Ant asked. “My avatar’s even smaller.”
Silence grimaced. “Then we’d both get eaten, a main course and dessert.”
Legs laughed her unique I’m-thinking-something-dirty laugh then coughed and was serious again. “You’ve convinced me. We’ll all go. My venom should stop most things in those walls. I’ll make sure you get where you’re going, and Ant and I will be there, just in case.”
Silence nodded. It was settled.
They waited a full day to make sure they were rested then snuck out of the town and up to the manor in the darkness before dawn. They did indeed find a nice hole to slip in through and made their way up inside the walls of the ancient fortress.
