“Then take their kerchiefs off. I’m not leaving my horse behind,” I said.
“I’ll take care of it,” Reed said, holding up his hand to indicate Keir should not speak. “I’ll say they all have the strangles. It’s highly contagious to other horses in a stable. I’ll say we’re taking them outside the city gates. It makes sense they’d all have it as they carried the same wagon here. Also, we’ve yet to secure horses that aren’t Thane’s for our wagon. I’m sure he’d loan them if it was to help his daughter, but I’d rather not rely on it. And there are ten of us planning to escape. That’s a lot of folk to cram into one vehicle and a lot of strain on the beasts.”
“Alright, that may work,” Keir conceded.
“Dermid can do it,” Evangeline offered. “He is friendly with the drivers, and he can get one to aid him. He hasn’t really come inside yet. It’ll draw less attention. He can lead the animals right outside the Gates of Sound. Maybe even tomorrow morning. He’s allowed to come in and claim them too if he says they’re Thane’s property. I think that will help.”
“It’s time to make a plan,” said Reed. “And then execute it.”
86
NOW: WAITING
Evangeline argued with Reed and Keir about removing us immediately. The two men claimed they could simply slit the throats of any guard that wouldn’t let the five of us leave, when the fifty to sixty Perpatanian soldiers stationed at the entrance and along the wall at any given time were pointed out as a hindrance.
“You’re both thinking with your pricks,” Evangeline snarled. “Look, they’re my friends now too. Of course, I want them out of here and I want them out now. But that’s not the answer. Plus, we still need the niece.”
“Our pricks?” Keir griped.
“Yes. I understand. You’re both in love, but this is foolishness! Jade and Robbie are not helpless. They can weather it a bit longer in here.”
I looked away when she said that, leaning into Ilsit, avoiding Reed’s eye.
In the end, when Keir had doused the torch against the stone, when we had ascended the cliff-like steps and reentered the first level,they had seen reason, though I could tell they were both upset. It was decided that Thane needed to be informed of this route, that we must take a chance on his loyalty to his daughter, the memory of his wife, and his sense of decency. The loose plan was to get Adelaide into the tower and then that the six of us, escorted by at least two of our scout friends, would escape via the underground chamber and iron door at a time when the patrol would not see, make for the timber forest, and join the other two scouts outside. We would set off back down the public dust road until we found a fork that would take us upward and slightly to the east where Eccleston sat.
In the morning, huddled in the stinking wagon, Ilsit and I explained everything to a horrified Jade, Tessa, and Fox, warning them not to drink a drop that flowed from the fountains and spigots and along the edge of the first level, which we now knew was the skull of an ancient, immortal being.
I’m so thirsty here, Fox signed.The stone is so dry. It makes me parched.
“Dermid will try and bring us a canteen when he removes the horses,” I offered, my own throat feeling raw and foul from retching. “I’m so sorry, girl.”
We had a small bit of chewsticks left from our foraging on the pilgrimage, and we chewed at them desperately, both to clean out our mouths and to work up a spittle of our own, to quench our thirsts that worsened by the hour.
We were given some reprieve the next morning when Dermid and the same driver who had been with him and Adelaide walked down, past our row, and tossed us a canteen without bothering to turn their heads our way.
Relieved, I watch them return, leading the horses in two different trips to the stables, Zara being the first they took outside.
We waited for hours, the penitents around us growing more irritable and morose. Finally, our long game of cards—the five of us sitting under the wagon, playing with little interest—was interruptedjust before the dinner hour. During a rising din of people complaining to the soldiers about the next delivery of jerky and requesting news as to what Perpatane would do with us, if we would ever be able to leave the tower, Thane and Adelaide arrived.
They crawled under the wagon to sit with us. Adelaide tearfully greeted Jade and Fox, who fell upon her with unabashed worry and affection. Ilsit gave her a wink and said, “Some wild goose chase you’ve set us all on,” which earned her a pinch on the back of her neck from Tessa.
My niece had a small bag with her and wore a finer dress than anything I had ever owned. I reached across our circle to squeeze her hand.
Next to me Thane said, while handing Fox two canteens, “Your Vyggian friends have informed me of what this place is. If it were not for you, I wouldn’t believe them, but then I have had doubts and misgivings more and more ever since this business began. I am loath to bring my only child here, but I’ve also been barred repeatedly from taking her out of the city. And getting her out of her husband’s house has been a thing of tremendous planning. Watch over her, Robbie.”
“I promise it.”
“I have much to reckon with,” he said, hanging his head. “What have I turned a blind eye to? What kind of father am I, letting her marry a foreign man from a faith I myself have never cared for?”
I put my hand on his arm. “What have youseenthough? Was your own choice in marriage not kept from you by your own father? I know that influenced any lenience you had towards her choices. And I know what you did for Rowena when you married her, Thane.”
He almost recoiled at my words. We had never spoken about our courtship or his marriage to Rowena. After both of our spouses’ deaths, we had not even been in the same room without a third party. “I cannot believe I chose my father’s approval over you,” he whispered.
“Thank the gods you did, or they may have burned my sister alive,” I said into his ear. “Forgive yourself and build a new life for Adelaide.”
“Will you be a part of it?” he asked.
Before I could reply, Ilsit said, “So when do we get the hell out of here?”
