Chapter 1
The rain fell hard, blinding Blake as she dashed between fat sequoia trunks. No birds took flight. They knew better than to inhabit trees that side of the wall.
She stopped in the tall shadows at the edge of the borough, gaze sweeping the length of the wall. Any closer and the defenders would see her. Her eyes fell to the mud separating forest and stone. It had once been covered in grass, before the rain had arrived and never left.
Catching her breath, she eyed the defender strolling atop the wall, bow slung over his shoulder. A corpse hung beneath him—a warning to the merchants.
She needed to find Kingsley before the dogs arrived.
Her feet were soundless as she made her way through the trees towards the shaft, praying her brother was still inside the borough. Ears straining, she could hear nothing over the thudding of her heart. While she knew every inch of the merchant forest, the tunnels that ran beneath it were another matter.
A shift in the breeze made her turn, and she glimpsed Kingsley crouched ten yards away. She checked her surroundings before making her way over to him. He had removed the shaft cover and was preparing to enter the tunnel. His eyes snapped to her as she stepped into sight, hand going to the knife concealed beneath his shirt.
‘What the hell are you doing here?’ he whispered, looking around.
Blake closed the remaining distance between them, tucking wet hair behind her ears. ‘Saving your life. There are dogs in the borough. We need to go—now.’
Kingsley glanced in the direction of the village. ‘I’d rather be mauled by a sniffer dog than slowly starve to death.’
When he went to move, Blake grabbed a hold of his arm. ‘You don’t know what’s waiting at the other end.’
‘Food. Food awaits me.’ He tapped her nose like she was ten years old instead of twenty. ‘Now piss off home before the dogs findyou.’
She peered into the narrow shaft, barely wide enough to fit his frame. Every time he entered the tunnels, she wondered if it would be the last.
‘One lamb will feed us for a month,’ he said, reading her expression.
Blake could not ignore the twist of hunger in her belly at the mention of meat. ‘When the rain stops, we’ll be able to buy everything we need.’
‘You sound like Father.’
‘Good. One of us should.’
Kingsley’s mouth flattened into a thin line. ‘Tell me another way to feed my family and I’ll stay.’
‘You could fish.’
‘Fish?’ He raked a hand through his unkempt hair. ‘I can stand on that beach all day alongside every other desperate merchant, but I’ll return home with nothing to show for my efforts. Get me a boat, and then we’ll talk about fish.’ He lowered himself into the shaft and looked up at her. ‘Go help Mother with dinner.’
There was no food for dinner, but saying that would only prove his point, so she kept quiet.
He exhaled when she did not move. ‘Do you know how hard it is watching you shake dust from the barley bag into the soup pot? Adding a carrot doesn’t make it a meal.’
He went down onto hands and knees. The tunnel was half his height, so he would need to crawl the entire way.
‘Be careful,’ she said.
‘Replace the cover, and don’t linger.’
Then he was gone from sight, leaving her staring into empty darkness.
Blake did as she was told, covering the entrance with dirt and leaves. The network of tunnels, built and maintained by the merchants, connected the borough with both the noble and farming boroughs. While many knew of their existence, only a handful were brave enough to enter them. The consequences of being caught were displayed on every wall, making even the most desperate of men think twice.
‘What are you doing?’ came a male voice.
Blake shot to her feet and found a stern-faced defender standing five feet away. She reprimanded herself for not hearing him approach. His eyes were on the ground she had just covered, hand wrapping the hilt of his sword.
‘Mushrooms,’ she said, hoping to divert his attention. ‘I was hunting for mushrooms.’
