Blade of the North Read online

  “And how do we get those things?” Theolin asks. “Do any of us have money? Or know where to go in this place? Look back there,” she points to the crowds we have just forced our way through. “This city is overflowing with refugees from everywhere! Where do you think we will find a place to sleep?” She turns to me and her voice is full of venom as she says: “Well? Tolos was your idea? Now what?”

  My mouth hangs open as I stare back at her, unable to say anything. Seriously? This is all supposed to be my fault? “What do you suggest?” I ask, hating that my voice sounds so meek.

  For a moment we both stare at each other, neither of us speaking.

  “What’s happening here?” a voice calls out behind me, breaking the silence. “Is she alright?”

  Turning around, a girl who looks similar in age to me is standing at the end of the street, the rush of the crowd flowing behind her. Her face, framed by shoulder-length brown hair, is beautiful.

  “She could use some help,” I reply.

  “Who are you?” Tom asks the newcomer.

  “Aveline Dew,” the girl replies. “This is Jarryd Thorn.” She gestures to the man standing next to her. I hide my surprise – I hadn’t noticed him before; I thought the girl – Aveline – was by herself. Taller than Aveline, and a couple of years older, Jarryd watches us with a calm, almost boyish-looking face.

  “And who are you?” Aveline asks back.

  “Tomas Crane – Tom.”

  “And you?” Aveline turns her attention to me.

  “Sara Fairgrey,” I reply.

  Quickly the others introduce themselves as well. “Give Tom a hand with Rose,” Aveline says to Jarryd.

  Jarryd obeys immediately and bends over, preparing to lift Rose. “Come on,” he says to Tom, who hasn’t moved.

  Shaking himself, Tom bends over and, together with Jarryd, lifts Rose.

  “Alek,” Aveline says, her voice kind, “I think Dain could use some help as well.”

  “No, I’m fine,” Dain says.

  “Alek will help you, and so will I,” Aveline replies in a voice broking no argument.

  To my shock, Alek obeys her, just like Jarryd had. Once Alek has taken Dain’s weight, Aveline puts Dain’s other arm around her and helps support him.

  “Follow me, all of you,” she commands.

  “Where are we going?” Theolin asks, but only a moment before the words come out of my mouth too.

  Aveline turns and looks at us. “Do you want help or not?”

  Without waiting for us to answer, she turns and, still helping to support Dain, leads us down the street and into the massive heart of Tolos.

  The inn Aveline leads us to is overflowing with refugees like us. The people crowded on the wooden steps leading up to the doorway, waiting to get into the inn, are pitiful. Their cheeks are sunken, their skin yellowed, their clothes tattered, a look of hopeless despair in their eyes.

  Aveline forces her way through, up the steps and into the common room. She is still helping Alek to support Dain, with Jarryd and Tom carrying Rose behind her, the rest of us following. Inside, the inn - though full to bursting - is surprisingly clean. As soon as we enter the room the innkeeper pushes through the throng and comes over to us.

  “Maraise,” Aveline addresses her, “we need some extra beds. And medicines for these two,” she gestures to Rose and Dain.

  I gape at her temerity – how does she expect beds to be available in this already overcrowded inn?

  “Of course, my dear, I’ll arrange it right away,” Maraise replies. “I’ll bring some food and water as well.”

  “Thank you, but only if you have some to spare,” Aveline says, then turns back to us. “Have a rest for a few minutes. Maraise is extremely resourceful and will bring some food and water as soon as she can.”

  “But… how?” I blurt out. “There are so many people outside who are obviously starving and needing somewhere to rest. How will she find food for us?”

  “Because she said she will,” Aveline replies simply.

  “How long have you lived in Tolos?” Theolin asks. She is watching Aveline closely.

  “Two days,” Aveline replies.

  Theolin raises her eyebrows doubtfully but says nothing.

  I can’t keep my mouth shut so easily. “Two days? How do you get into this overcrowded inn yourself, let alone us, and have the innkeeper fawning over you in just two days?”

  Aveline turns her steely brown eyes on me, and immediately I wish I’d kept my opinion to myself.

  “Jarryd and I,” Aveline begins in a cold, no-nonsense voice, “and quite a few others from our hometown of Coream arrived here two days ago. Coream was attacked without warning by the Peace Bringers. Not many survived. Those who did were taken captive. The rest of us – only a few - escaped. We’re refugees like everyone else.” She looks me up and down, as though considering whether to dismiss me or not. “Does that satisfy you?”

  “I’m sorry,” I reply. “The same happened to us and our town of Farley.”

  Aveline’s face softens. “And I am sorry for you.”

  Maraise returns with a pitcher of water and cups. Behind her, a serving girl carries in a tray half-filled with bread.

  “I’m sorry, my dear,” Maraise says to Aveline, “it’s the best I can do for the moment – you know how short of food we are. I’ve arranged for some extra straw mattresses to be put into your room and a small selection of herbs as well. I’ll do whatever I can to ensure you don’t go without.”

  “Thank you Maraise,” Aveline says, “your kindness is heart-warming.” She takes the tray of food and Bree takes the pitcher of water and cups.

  Maraise scurries away, her attention back on the others in the room who need her help.

  “Who are you?” Tom asks Aveline when Maraise has gone.

  “Excuse me?” Aveline replies and gives him the same expression she fixed on me a few moments ago.

  “Sara is right,” Tom continues. “Nobody comes into a city filled with starving refugees and within two days has an innkeeper hurrying off to obey their every command. My father owned a bar. I know how he ran his business and how he dealt with people. Giving some new girl whatever she asks for is not how he went about it. So, who are you?”

  “Are you calling Aveline a liar?” Jarryd asks, moving between her and Tom.

  “It’s alright, Jarryd,” Aveline says, placing her hand on his arm, before turning back to Tom. “Perhaps your father would have helped some ‘new girl’, as you put it, if she were in enough need and asked politely and firmly enough. Perhaps any of us would do whatever we could to help those we find lying exhausted, or close to unconscious, on the street.” She looks deliberately at Rose, who Tom is now all but carrying. She is unconscious and deathly pale.

  “You’re right,” I say quickly. “And thank you. Can you help us with Rose?”

  Aveline turns her eyes slowly from Tom to me. Then she nods. “Of course. Bring her upstairs to our room. All of you.”

  Expecting immediate obedience, she turns and strides through the crowds to the stairs at the back of the room. We follow her up the stairs and down a narrow corridor.

  “In here,” she says, opening a door.

  Tom and Jarryd carry Rose in, with Alek dragging Dain behind them. I follow after them into the cramped room. There is one bed in the far corner of the room, and in the other corner is a washstand with a tray on it. The rest of the floor is completely covered in thin straw mattresses.

  Aveline enters last and closes the door behind her. “Maraise certainly didn’t let us down,” she says quietly, a small smile on her lips. “Place her on the bed,” she says. Tom and Jarryd step over the mattresses and gently lay Rose down on the bed.

  “How did Maraise find so many spare mattresses?” Theolin asks.

  “She looked,” Aveline replies dismissively. “Jarryd, get her to drink this.” She hands him a cup and Jarryd raises Rose’s head and gently pours the drink into her mouth.

  On t
he tray on the washstand are the herbs Maraise has provided. “What’s in the drink you’re giving her?” I ask.

  “Greenleaf and wild wilflower,” Aveline replies. “And water – she’ll need lots of it. They should help to restore her strength.” She fills another cup and passes it to Dain. “Here, drink this,” she says softly.

  Dain takes the cup gratefully and gulps it down. “Thank you.”

  “You know about herbs?” Bianca asks.

  “My father…” Aveline pauses and for a moment she appears on the brink of tears. Then she continues, quickly back in control of herself. “My father taught me many different herbs and their uses. Everyone in our town came to him when they fell ill. He always seemed to know what each person needed to make them well again. Not that they all did, of course, but…” She shrugs her shoulders.

  “That’s life,” Alek says.

  “Yes, that’s life,” Aveline echoes in a small voice.

  Silence fills the room. Even though we’ve all recently escaped the deadly hands of the Peace Bringers, gloom still hangs heavily in the air. Aveline’s words have reminded us of life’s fragility, and of those we’ve lost.

  “You said there were others who escaped with you from Coream,” Bree says, breaking the silence. “Where are they?”

  “Some are in this inn, others… wherever they could find a place for themselves,” Aveline answers. “What about you? You said you are from Farley?”

  I tell her what happened to us, even my return to Farley to find Mother and Rehana. When I finish, Aveline slowly nods her head.

  “As I said, it was the same for us, but I didn’t see what Coream looked like afterward. I don’t think I would have wanted to.”

  The afternoon passes slowly. No one really talks – we are all too tired. The journey here has taken its toll. Lying on one of the mattresses, Dain is looking brighter, his strength obviously returning. Jarryd and Aveline continue helping Rose to drink, and slowly she begins to stir.

  “Where are we?” Rose asks.

  I rush over to her, overjoyed that she is finally awake. “We’re in Tolos. You’re safe.” I tell her about Dain carrying her the rest of the way here and she looks at him with awe.

  “Thank you, Dain,” she says, a thin smile touching her lips.

  Happy that my friend is beginning to mend, my eagerness to see my father returns. “I’m going out for a while,” I say.

  Nobody seems to have heard me, as most of them are drifting off to sleep. But Theolin did. She glares up at me. “Off to find your father?” she asks bitingly.

  “Yes.”

  She turns her head away and lies back down.

  Opening the door, I look back into the room. Aveline and Jarryd are still ministering to Rose, the rest are lying down. Nobody looks up, nobody seems to give me a thought as I leave. Suddenly I wonder if they would even care if I never come back.

  Finding Maraise downstairs, I ask her for directions to the Tolos garrison, where I assume my father will be. She happily obliges, and I quickly squeeze my way through the crowded common room and out into the streets.

  It is only slightly less crowded out on the street than it was inside the inn but at least there is room to move without being buffeted on all sides. Night has fallen and a cool wind is blowing. But being from Farley, farther northwest, the breeze feels mild.

  The dusty streets are dark. Oil lamps that are supposed to be alight hang lightless from their posts. The rulers of Tolos must have better things to do than worry about oil and light - like finding enough food to feed all the refugees. Following Maraise’s directions, I trudge through the winding streets. The crowds that so shocked me earlier today haven’t dissipated, but I am growing accustomed to them. The smell of so many hungry, dirty people is horrible, but thankfully it isn’t combined with the smell of blood and death. I barely spare a glace for those lying huddled on the edge of the street, trying not to be trampled. But the sight of children, huddled with their parents, staring vacantly at nothing, does attract my attention. If not for the help of Aveline, I could be one of them.

  After winding my way through the crowded streets, I eventually find the garrison. Like most of the other buildings in Tolos, it is made with the same grey stone that comes from the mountains. In front of the wide, imposing building, guards are standing at the entrance.

  “Hello,” I say, to the first guard I meet. “I am looking for my father.”

  The man, middle-aged with lines around his eyes and an unkempt moustache, looks down at me. “He’s busy,” he says. “Go home.”

  “But… you don’t know who my father is,” I reply, confused.

  “If your father’s in here, he’s too busy to see you. If he’s not, he’s not. Either way, go home.”

  “But - ”

  “Go home!” the guard says, more forcefully this time.

  Tears form in my eyes. I desperately want to find my father. “Please,” I beg, “his name is Tallis Fairgrey - ”

  “Captain Fairgrey?” one of the other guards asks.

  “I doubt he would be a captain, but please, I desperately need to see him.”

  The second guard, younger than the other one, steps closer and examines me.

  “Send her on her way,” the first guard says. “You know orders – don’t interrupt the captain unless it is important.”

  The younger guard rubs his chin thoughtfully. “She does have the look of the captain,” he says. “Go get him, just in case.”

  Grumbling, the older guard stalks off into the building.

  I wait on the steps while the younger guard continues his inspection of me. I don’t know who they are going to bring out, but I doubt it will be my father. He only joined the Tolos garrison three months ago, and would only be a ranker soldier, not a captain. I consider leaving, but perhaps this Captain Fairgrey will be able to –

  “Sara!”

  It’s my father! I run to him and he embraces me with his strong arms. “Father,” I begin, but no other words will come out.

  “I am so happy to see you. Where is your mother? And Jerym and Rehana?” he asks, as he smooths my hair.

  All the pain and grief I didn’t know I had been holding in suddenly comes pouring out, and I burst into tears. “They’re dead,” I blubber. I feel him tense and his hand falters. But he quickly covers it.

  “It’s alright,” he says, his voice cracking slightly. “It’ll be alright.”

  He leads me inside the garrison to a small room with a table and two chairs. Leaving me alone for a moment, he quickly returns with a tray of pastries and a large cup of water. “Tell me about it,” he says gently.

  Through tears, I recount to him everything that happened in Farley. A gleam of hope lights up his eyes when I tell him that nobody actually saw Jerym die. But I put that down to the hope of a distraught father. The pain my news has brought him is written clearly on his face, though he tries his best to hide it. Putting aside his own grief, he tells me all that has happened to him since arriving in Tolos: how his ability with the other men saw him quickly promoted to Captain, how he has taught the men to fight together as a unit and how to properly use a sword. He smiles at my disbelief at his ability with a sword. “There are many things a child never learns about their parents,” he says kindly.

  We spend the next few hours talking. And surprisingly, laughing. Reminiscing about Mother, Jerym, and Rehana, we remember with fondness the good and the bad times our family has shared. There was the time Jerym broke his arm falling from a horse. It was the first time he’d tried to ride, and he carried a fear of horses ever after. We remember our favourite meals, and I can almost smell Mother’s cooking in the room as Father describes the flavours in detail. More than her cooking though, we remember the tenderness and care with which Mother looked after us all, even Father. He acknowledges with a warm, glowing smile that he is only the man he is today because of her. And yes, we remember Rehana and her doll, Sa-Sa. We honour all their memories with our laughter and our tears.
And of course, with love.

  Father tells me more about Tigranik and his conquests. After the emperor conquers somewhere, he takes the captives to his army camps. There, they are offered the choice of submitting to his rule or... apparently, there is no or. The submissive captives are then permitted to return to their homes. In places where rebellion appears more likely, Tigranik will intermingle people from quieter areas, in the hope of quelling any potential unrest. But his usual tactic is to obtain the submission of the conquered people, then allow them to return home. So long as they pay their taxes, supply their compliment of soldiers for his armies, and don’t cause trouble, they are allowed to live in peace. I wonder, then, who will return to Farley?

  There is so much more I want to say to him, so much more I want to hear him tell me. But it is late, and he escorts me back through the crowded streets, to the inn.

  “You can’t stay in the garrison,” he tells me, “you’ll be as safe with your friends as anywhere else. I’ll come and see you tomorrow night.”

  He kisses me on the cheek then strides away. I watch him go, his back straight, his shoulders broad. For the first time since leaving Farley, I feel secure, safe.

  Wearily I make my way back up to our room. The others are fast asleep, so I curl up in a ball on the only spare mattress and close my eyes.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Waking up in the morning, I feel renewed. Seeing my father has not only strengthened me, it has also given me a purpose - I have decided to help with the defence of Tolos. I don’t know when the Peace Bringers will come, but it is inevitable that they will. When they arrive, I will be here doing whatever my father needs me to.

  I still can’t believe he has been made a captain – or that he is considered competent with a sword. Maybe it’s the way he can make people do what he wants them to. I don’t know, but what matters is that he is here.

  “You look better,” I say, as Rose sits up on the bed.

  “I feel better,” she replies.

  “Keep drinking today and tomorrow. You’ll be fine,” Aveline tells her.

  “Thank you,” Rose says, smiling at Aveline, obviously knowing how much she is in her debt. She rests her hand on Aveline’s arm in a gesture of friendship, and a sudden surge of jealousy wells up in me.