The other passengers began taking notice, and Nova seized on the moment’s confusion to disembark via the rear door. It was unlikely the police expected the exiled queen or her guard to board a trainintothe city. It was more likely they were constructing a checkpoint on the way out. Once the people were told why, there was no accounting for who might point her out in a crowd.
A cart bearing tall, dense stacks of earthenware kitchen goods rolled by her position headed toward the blockade. She ducked behind it and then down an aisle of textiles.
“Green, green, green, look for green…” she muttered to herself. A friendly stall would be marked by green stripes and maybe one of those adorable stone bear statuettes.
She spied a green awning on the other side of a small crowd gathered at a linen merchant’s stall. She made to move past them when she noted their collective silence, heads angled forward in serious and somber expressions as they listened to the merchant’s radio. Listeners were advised that the new queen had fled the palace. The Senate was expected to convene in the afternoon under Dorian Drake to formulate some type of response, but it was unclear why he was involved in the first place.
She caught the eye of a merchant beneath the green-striped awning. An older woman. Pleasant enough, if maybe a bit nervous in the face. They stared at one another for what bordered on too long before Nova heard authoritative shouting the next aisle over.
“Anyone with eyes on Yemaya Blackgate, Miles Cutter, or Ennova Grey is to report the sighting to the nearest royal officer.”
“On whose orders?” someone demanded.
“Ain’t no queen to report the queen to!” someone else laughed.
“Any information will be rewarded,” the officer replied to the area in general.
Dismissiveboos scattered throughout the aisle. Even still, others began to study the faces around them.
Nova looked again at the merchant beneath the green awning, and the woman gestured with her head for Nova to meet her around back. The stall itself was stocked with stoneware and decorative elements including her favored bear statue in various sizes. Nova was mildly amused by the lack of subtlety as she met the woman in her storeroom.
“I never thought I’d be needed,” the woman said with a small smile.
“But you’re alright with it?” Nova clarified. She was prepared to do whatever was necessary to make it out of this little room alive if the woman had second thoughts.
“Yes, of course. My whole family, we’re loyal.”
“Thank you for that. You know who I am?”
“Yes, Comman—”
Nova shushed her and pointed to the thin fabric walls around them. The woman nodded her understanding.
“I’m Dina. Whatever you need,” she added in a lower voice.
“Dina, what have you heard?”
“Nothing. The three of you are in the wind.” Dina leaned against a shelf. “Is she… Are you all coming back, or…?”
“She’s not dead. We haven’t gotten much further than that. We’ll need transport. Do you have connections to any safehouses near the border? Ideas on how to get there?”
“I don’t know the network. Transport will be tricky. The train’s probably not safe. I can secure you an ambler.”
Before the packard, there was the ambler, a ten-foot-tall, six-legged mechanical vehicle ideal for traversing much of Ixia’s variable terrain without need of care and feeding like a horse. Nova had seen one topple over and crush a man’s legs once.
They would need at least two of them, and she couldn’t guaranteewhen they would be returned. Nova handed her the sack of gold coin and had her fetch clothes for two regular people and one giant. Food for the same. She watched the aisles from a split in a green curtain until Dina returned half an hour later looking somewhat flushed.
“Any trouble?” Nova asked as she changed into the clothes Dina brought her.
“Not for me, but you may have a fight on your way out of here. It will take me an hour to fetch the amblers, and officers are everywhere. There will be more before I return. I don’t know if they’ll search the shop.”
Nova sighed in annoyance and gave Dina what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “Don’t you worry about me and a fight. As long as I can trust you not to be bullied by anyone out there, you just tell me where to meet you in an hour. Can I trust you?”
Dina appeared to steel herself with a deep breath and nodded somewhat boldly. “You can.”
• YEMI •
Yemi woke beneath a starry night sky and half a cracked stone slab of ceiling in the lighthouse ruins. Every muscle ached and seemed reluctant to function as she propped herself up. The flicker of a campfire and Cutter’s tired face was visible through a hole in the wall. She dusted herself off and cursed her throbbing headache as she made her way out into the open air. The fields were awash in moonlight, and hearth smoke billowed from the chimneys of homes whose window glows winked like lonely stars embedded in the hills.
