A Time of Dying (Araneae Nation) (21 page)

“She’s gone mad.” He discovered a second pocket and withdrew a length of black silk rope. Holding it aloft, he murmured, “Or perhaps not.” He glanced at me. “I believe this is her attempt at giving us her blessing. We can’t let Vaughn discover she did this. Being his mother won’t save her if she’s aiding us instead of him. He knows she has taken the loss of her station hard, but she is courting treason. What’s worse is she talked Bram into helping her. He ought to know better.”

“You really do care for her, don’t you?” I marveled.

“I swore allegiance to Brynmor, and to her. She treated me well when she had no reason to. I respect her. I won’t see her harmed.” He added the rope to his supplies. “She is still my maven.”

“I won’t breathe a word of this.” To prove it, I tore the parchment into tiny pieces and let the wind scatter them. For the sake of convenience, I shoved the spade into the pack and shrugged it into place. Bram’s knife went on my belt, and my necklace got dropped down the front of my shirt.

“The others are heading for the mountains,” I told him. “What will we do now?”

“The same.” His expression tightened. “We’ll follow them. Unless you have a better idea.”

“No.” The mountain pass was the fastest way to Titania, and that was the way we should go. “Bram must have realized we would continue as planned. He might have staged the conversation so that we learned that was their intent as well and could negotiate around them.” After saying it aloud, I found I believed myself. “I think we can trust him to keep his group separate from ours.”

“At least this way he’s given us a measure of protection. If Hishima has guards placed near the pass, they’ll encounter Bram and the others first. We can use them as a distraction if we need one.” Murdoch inhaled, pinpointing the direction they had gone. “They have a good lead on us.”

While he stood debating, I began walking. Say what you will about Isolde, but she was sly. I had theories about why she had risked so much to help us, but most were grim thoughts best kept for later consideration. What mattered now was we had a powerful ally, if an unpredictable one. I hoped that meant, despite Murdoch’s concerns, if Isolde spoke on our behalf that Vaughn would be obligated to at least hear her out. If we managed the unthinkable and we actually captured the harbinger, then words would be unnecessary. We would have proof. We would also be punished, I was sure. But a month in a grotto cell sounded far more pleasant to my ears than a noose fitting.

“They’ll know all the best spots for fresh water and camping.” He was catching up to me. “I know a few spots that are harder to reach. Most travelers are too weary to climb to them, but it’ll put us higher than Bram and his men, and higher means we’ll hold the advantage if things sour.”

“I trust you to do what’s best for us.” Even if it meant I climbed until my muscles gave way.

“I’ll ask you to remember that once you see the place I have in mind.” His smile was slight.

For whatever reason, Murdoch let me lead. He would correct my course once in while if his nose told him one direction was better or that an unsavory obstacle lay ahead. I remembered the times I’d stumbled into trouble while traveling alone and was grateful for Murdoch and his nose.

The only heightened sense I possessed was my hearing, and I was tuned into a range so high it was useless outside my work. Aural crystaliers, such as myself, possessed a specific talent. We taught crystal to sing. Or we sold ourselves that way. Ours was a precision trade, and those of my line had an ear for it. Even more delicate than song was the ability to amplify sound, or a specific sound. Consider this. Later in life, your hearing wanes. What if wearing a custom pair of earrings amplified sound to make hearing possible again? What price was too high to restore a lost sense?

Granted that concept had not yet been perfected…

A pang of longing swept through me. That had been a different dream for a different life.

No use dwelling on
what might have beens
when
what will bes
always prevail.

Our journey into the foothills was uneventful. Bram and his band of guards seemed to be the only ones set on our trail, which suited me fine. Briefly I worried we might be penned in the pass if a secondary unit arrived. But keen as Murdoch’s nose was, I trusted he could scent such a trap.

For my part, I kept an ear cocked for the hum of the harbingers.

One could never be too careful.

“See that ledge?” Murdoch indicated a sliver of rock cloaked in shadow.

It was three times his height from here to there. “It’s rather high.”

“I trust Bram and his comrades felt the same.” He backed up to me. “Can you manage?”

As long as I ignored the churning in my stomach. “Yes.”

“Good.” His fingers dug his first handhold. “I thought after your reaction to the window…”

He grunted and began his ascent. I achieved my first rung with more of a whimper, really.

“Has no one ever told you to face your fears so that you might conquer them?” I waited for a nod from him before saying, “They’re dirty, rotten liars. I have climbed rock, though usually not more than twice my height, since I was a child, helping my mother and father harvest promising crystals for their work. It made me sick each time my feet left the ground. It still does. But when it’s the difference between reaching the stone that might pay for your food for a month and being too cowardly to outstretch your arm, you must decide which will best you—your hunger or fear.”

“That explains one thing at least.” He sounded much relieved. “Why you dared an attempt to escape through that bloody high window. It seemed such a fool thing to do. I thought it was more proof of madness. That you didn’t care whether you reached the ground or died in the attempt.”

I bit my tongue to keep from pointing out the distance from the window ledge to the ground had been several times my height. I was fool enough to try it. I was a competent climber in short distances. There was a chance I might have reached the ground on my own, safely, in one piece.

Though sick as our descent had made me, I would have bet on Murdoch finding me lying on the grass in a jumble of limbs and hair, freed from my prison in a way neither of us had expected.

Chapter Eleven

Days and nights blurred in the mountains. Five days into our journey, mists rolled in and we resorted to tying ourselves with rope to ensure we weren’t separated. Spotting Bram’s camp was a simple matter. They dared to build fires and roast game while our frost-kissed fingers trembled.

If ever the others despaired of finding us, we saw no evidence of dissent among them.

Often Murdoch chose the higher trails so we could lie in wait for their passing below us. There we caught snippets of conversation. We heard little, but what gossip they shared heartened us.

Though Murdoch had warned me against it, I peered over the edge to watch the others reach the spot where he and I had been resting for a half hour. After a while, even Murdoch acquiesced and lay on the rocky outcropping beside me. He was a warm presence at my elbow, and where we touched, contentment blossomed. I leaned against him, and together we watched their procession.

“I heard the wing was so large it wouldn’t fit through the door to the council chambers.”

“Think about that.” A sigh. “If it couldn’t fit through the door, how’d Isolde get it in there?”

“Well, I heard that wing’s not the first. There’s one in Beltania that anyone can ask to see.”

“Huh.” A thoughtful pause. “Might be worth the trip if that’s true.”

“It is true,” Bram said with authority. “I’ve seen it. Both of them, actually.”

From there, interested murmurs erupted. Bram fielded their questions and kept them moving forward. If he knew we rested above him, he gave no indication. The others were likewise blind.

In the stillness of their departure, Murdoch kissed my forehead. “Time to go.”

“Do you think we can beat them to the pass?” I had been considering it for a day or so.

He stood and stretched. “A lame ursus could hobble faster than they’re walking.”

“I worry if they go first and realize we haven’t arrived yet, they’ll guard the pass against us.”

“It’s possible.” He shrugged. “I still say it’s worth the risk in case there are guards posted.”

“I’ve been thinking about that. I don’t recall anyone showing particular interest to that area, but that might be because our Theridiidae guards held our city so well. Now I’m not sure. If they have been dismissed as Vaughn says, and my clan has no warriors, I can’t imagine finding much resistance for us there. Even the Mimetidae warriors on loan should ignore the foothills since the pass is deep inside the Segestriidae land and they were charged only with guarding the borders.”

“What’s changed?” He helped me stand. “We had already agreed on a course of action.”

“It’s a feeling.” I couldn’t put into words. “It’s like the closer we get, the faster I must go.”

“I’ve noticed.” He rubbed his still-mottled jaw. “Your earring… It’s not humming, is it?”

“No.” I touched it out of habit. “I would tell you if it was.”

“The night we faced the harbinger, the nearer I came to her, the more compelled I was to get closer. I shook the compulsion off, and Lleu claims she didn’t affect him at all. What about you?”

It worried me that my first impulse was to lie and say I was unaffected too. For that reason, I did the opposite and told him the absolute truth. “Her song calls to me. It gets worse the longer I hear it. That’s why, after tracking a few harbingers, I gave it up to do more…preventative work.”

“We’re a ways from Titania yet. Do you think the harbinger’s call is what has you on edge?”

“I’m not sure.” It was the best answer I could give him. “I don’t think so. My earring would pick up the sound of her wings if that was the case. It’s not a flawless system, but it hasn’t failed me yet.” Resting a hand over my stomach, I considered another cause. “This will be the first time I’ve been home since I escaped Hishima. It will be the first time I’ve seen the empty streets I’ve walked in other cities. I fear it might be the first time that the crystal city does not shine for me.”

His arms were around me before I felt the wetness dribbling down my chin.

“I didn’t think.” He buried his face against my neck. “I’m sorry I asked you to do this.”

“It has to be done.” I kissed his cheek, then pushed him aside to wipe my face.

“If you’d rather, we can push through the night and beat the others through the pass.”

“No.” Fear of the harbinger’s influence had been planted, and now it worried me. “We’ll do as we planned. Reaching the city faster won’t help anyone there. Because it feels fresh to me, I forget it’s been months for everyone else. I’m being impatient, and I’ll no doubt regret it soon.”

With an understanding nod, Murdoch fell into the plodding gait we maintained to keep Bram at a distance. More bodies required more time to move, but they seemed to go painfully slow for guards on the hunt for an escaped prisoner. I snorted, I meant
guest
.

Again niggling doubts made me consider our situation from another angle. Say the harbinger was calling me. Say that was the case, then couldn’t she also be repelling them? They had never heard her song to crave it as I did.

Again and again my thoughts circled the same weary path. “Murdoch…”

He turned the corner, and his steps faltered. “Gods above and below.”

“What is it?” I hurried to his side.

Here the path narrowed dangerously, and the sheer drop fed into a small valley in the center of the foothills. I had picked flowers there as a child. There was a small stream, spring fed, but it was marshy and no one had ever lived there. In the months of my absence, that had changed. The narrow valley was now littered with tents. No one milled about, and not a single noise was heard.

It was strange to see evidence of occupation but to find no signs of life.

Murdoch looked to me expectantly. “I’ve heard no reports of this.”

“I had no idea the valley was occupied.” I had doubts whether it actually was. The camp was so isolated as to make me think it was abandoned. “This section of the range falls on Segestriidae land. Unless the Mimetidae had cause to patrol it, there was no reason for them to know it was here.”

After a moment, he nodded. “We won’t be low enough for them to trouble us.” He studied the camp. “Though I don’t see anyone down there to engage us should the need arise. Do you think it could be a plague camp?”

“The possibility hadn’t occurred to me.” If an aggressive illness swept through a larger city, I had seen it done once before where the well citizens had banded together outside the populated areas until the sickness ran its course. It made sense for our people to seek refuge on our land. It was the stillness of it all that bothered me. As if the wind itself feared howling in that eerie nook.

“I don’t like this.” Chill bumps rose on his arms. “It doesn’t feel right.”

“No,” I agreed wholeheartedly. “It doesn’t.”

A final sweep of his gaze across the tent-strewn valley and he seemed to decide we had seen all we would. Time was too precious for us to waste standing here waiting for the emergence of people who might prove dangerous to confront. While they may have difficulty identifying us as high as we were, it required only one pair of keen eyes or a nose or ears to uncover our identities.