The August 5 (31 page)

“I'll go see,” Tommy said. He swung himself onto the ladder and climbed down quickly. The air was stifling, and Tommy had to stoop because of the low ceiling, which was matted with cobwebs. His eyes darted around the cellar and he found it hard to breathe inside the enclosed space. Seeing no one, he had to fight the urge to scurry up the ladder when he heard a groan. A ragged figure hunched in the shadowy corner behind the ladder. It was a tall man with long red hair and a scraggly beard.

“There's someone here,” he warned Ellie, who had reached the bottom rung of the ladder.

Ellie picked the lantern up from where it had fallen and shone it on the man. “Mr. Hywel!” she cried. “It's him, Tommy! It's Mr. Hywel.”

The former chief administrator was dangerously thin and his skin was chalky beneath his ratty hair. His eyes seemed out of focus, and when he talked, it was like he didn't know they were there.

“Amy? Is that you?” Mr. Hywel whispered.

“Does he mean Ellie?” Tommy asked.

“Amy was his wife,” Ellie said. “He's confused about where he is.”

“Come on, Mr. Hywel,” Tommy said. “Let's get you out of here.”

“Amy? Where did you put my violin?”

“Who did this to you?” Ellie asked.

“The Zunft!” Hywel exclaimed.

“The Zunft kept you prisoner?” Tommy asked.

“Shore,” Hywel whispered. “The man with two faces…”

“Did he say Shore?” Ellie asked. “Are you talking about Colston Shore?”

“He can't have survived for months without someone feeding him,” Ellie said.

“He hasn't been eating much,” Tommy said. The man was a sack of bones.

“Still, he couldn't have survived here alone,” Ellie insisted.

Hywel muttered insensibly under his breath while Ellie and Tommy tried to maneuver him toward the ladder. Tommy's mind was racing. Mr. Hywel had been missing since August. It was now November. Someone must have been watching over him, they might be coming back at any moment. They had to get Hywel away from here immediately. But where should they go?

“Amy! The dogs are pawing at the windows!” Hywel ranted.

As Tommy helped Hywel onto the ladder, he thought about his father back in Sevenna, claiming victory over the cottagers now that the Cessation was over. If Colston really was responsible, then how could he justify this? How could he talk about honor and then imprison an innocent man?

Hywel was too weak to climb the ladder, and Tommy had to lift him while Ellie dragged him up from above. Once they got to the top of the ladder, Hywel collapsed on the floor of the ruined cottage. His breath sounded raspy.

“Let's get him some water,” Tommy said, rummaging in the backpack for a jug.

Ellie held the jug to Hywel's lips, but he sputtered and called for his dead wife.

“Should we take him to your manor?” Ellie asked. “I'm not sure he'll make it that far.”

“We need to get him away from here,” Tommy said. “We'll figure something out on the way.”

Tommy helped Hywel stand. He stood on one side, and Ellie stood on the other. Each of them put an arm around the man's back, and they managed to shuffle down to the trail. Finally, after what seemed like hours, they reached Miller's Road. The wind whipped through the trees, and Hywel was shivering uncontrollably. By now, they were practically dragging him and Hywel's eyes kept rolling back in his head.

“I'm not sure he can go any farther,” Ellie said. “Or me. My spine feels like it's about to snap.”

They dragged Hywel off the road and found a sheltered place at the base of a tree. Tommy covered the man with his coat and left the knapsack with Ellie.

“If you hear a rover, don't let the driver see you,” Tommy said. “My father has the only rovers around here.”

“I'll stay here no matter what,” she said to him. “Don't forget where I am.”

Tommy ran through the trees, oblivious to the branches scratching him through his shirtsleeves. He burst into the yard of the cottager's house—the same one where he had left Tamsin—and banged on the door. An older man with a gray beard opened the door a crack. He looked puzzled at the unexpected intrusion.

“Can I help you?” he asked politely.

“Please, I need to find Mrs. Trueblood,” Tommy pleaded. “
Greta
Trueblood. Please, can you help me?”

 

 

Mr. Hywel stirred on the cot near the blazing fireplace in Anna Henry's cottage. Anna and Greta Trueblood exchanged worried glances while Ellie checked to see if he had woken up, but he was only mumbling in his sleep.

“Will he be all right, Mrs. Henry?” Ellie asked.

“With rest and food he should recover,” Mrs. Henry said. “But it'll take some time for him to regain his strength.”

Ellie sat back down at the table while Mrs. Trueblood poured her another cup of black tea. Mrs. Henry's young daughters were asleep in the back room, so they spoke in low tones. Outside, another Aeren storm lashed the ridge, but as Tommy sat near Mrs. Trueblood in the cozy warmth of the fire, he felt a strange sense of contentment. He wished he never had to go to Sevenna again, but then his father would win, and Tommy would never forgive himself.

“Are you sisters?” Tommy asked the two women sitting at the table. Anna looked to be in her mid 30s, while Greta was older, with graying hair and smile lines.

“My whole life, she's been telling me what to do,” Mrs. Henry said.

“What would you have done without a sister like me?” Mrs. Trueblood replied.

“I'd have been very, very lost,” Mrs. Henry said. There was a profound sadness in the woman's eyes. When Tommy had heard that her surname name was Henry, he'd wondered if there was a family connection to the Michael Henry who had been executed for his role in the August Rising. Michael Henry had been from Aeren, but it could also be a very common name.

“You're lucky that you went to Mr. Fields's house,” Mrs. Trueblood said. “He knew that I moved in with Anna after I left Shore Manor. Not many people along Miller's Road would have been able to find me.”

The man who had responded to Tommy's desperate knocking did indeed know Greta Trueblood, and he'd been happy to help Tommy find her. He'd followed Tommy through the forest to retrieve Ellie and Mr. Hywel, who was now unconscious under the oak tree. Mr. Fields had driven the three of them in his wagon to a cottage a mile up Miller's Road, where Tommy had been ecstatic to see Mrs. Trueblood again.

“Thank you for taking us in tonight,” Ellie said to Mrs. Henry.

“You can stay here for a few days if you want,” Mrs. Henry said. “It's probably best if he doesn't move around too much at first.”

“Thank you,” Tommy said. “But we don't want to be a burden.”

“What's your plan?” Mrs. Henry asked. “Until we find out what happened, taking him back to Shore Manor isn't a good idea.”

“What do you want to do, Tommy?” Mrs. Trueblood asked.

“If Father is responsible, then he has to be held accountable,” Tommy said. “He can't get away with the lies anymore.”

“Your father is the law,” Mrs. Henry said bitterly. “He can do whatever he wants.”

“I'm not so sure,” Tommy said. “Two days ago, he held a gathering in Sevenna at his town house, and very few people attended. Maybe his support is waning.”

“Dissolving the Chamber can't have made the other Zunftmen happy,” Ellie said.

“But he controls the army, so it doesn't matter what they think,” Mrs. Henry said.

“What if we reveal the truth about Hywel?” Mrs. Trueblood asked. “Publish another treatise and tell the world that Colston kidnapped him and blamed us.”

“But what about the prisoners?” Mrs. Henry asked. “How long will they live if the truth comes out? Besides, Shore will spin it as a cottager lie.”

“I think we should contact the cottager leaders in Sevenna,” Tommy said. “There's a girl I know in Sevenna. She says she's a relation of yours, Mrs. Trueblood. I think she might be able to help us.”

“A relation of mine?” Mrs. Trueblood asked. “What's her name?”

“Emilie Johns, although I'm not sure that's her real name.”

“Why do you say that?” asked Mrs. Trueblood.

“I'm not sure,” Tommy said. “It's only a hunch.”

“How do you know her?” Mrs. Henry asked.

“She showed me a shrine with pictures of people who have disappeared since my father has been in power,” Tommy said. “Then a few days ago, she asked for my help in finding her friend Gavin Baine. That's the last time I saw her.”

“I told you, Anna,” Greta said. “He's not in league with his father. If Tamsin told him about Gavin, then she must trust him.”

“Who's Tamsin?” Ellie asked.

“Tamsin is my daughter,” Mrs. Henry said. “And the daughter of Michael Henry.”

There was a moment of silence, and then Tommy spoke, “We're sorry for your loss, Mrs. Henry.”

Mrs. Henry gave Tommy a sad smile. “Greta has told me stories about you since you were a little boy,” she said. “You have a good heart. If Tamsin trusted you enough to ask about Gavin, then I trust you as well. And if you mean to hold your father accountable for his crimes, then I will help in any way I can.”

“I told her I'd try,” Tommy said. “I went through my father's papers, but I got caught. That's why I got expelled from Seminary.”

“Wait, I don't understand what's going on,” Ellie said. “Tamsin and Emilie are the same person?”

“She took a false name to protect us,” Mrs. Henry explained. “Tamsin was the architect of the Cessation. She wrote
The Right to Rule
.”

“Angry Em!” Tommy said. “I had no idea. I thought maybe she could get us in touch with the people behind the Cessation, but she was the one I needed to talk to.”

Near the fire, Mr. Hywel stirred and propped himself up on his elbows “Amy?” he called loudly.

Ellie went over and sat on the edge of the cot. “It's Ellie,” she said. “It's your ward.”

“Ellie?” he asked. “Where are we?”

“At a friend's house,” Ellie said.

“What friends?” Hywel asked. “And damn it all, I feel like I've been crushed by wild horses.”

Mrs. Trueblood stood up abruptly, and Mrs. Henry followed her lead. The women obviously wanted to give Ellie and Mr. Hywel privacy, which seemed silly to Tommy. He didn't want Mrs. Henry to feel like she'd been chased out of her own sitting room.

“I'm going to put some soup on,” Mrs. Trueblood said. “Come on, Tommy.”

Mrs. Trueblood gave him a no-nonsense look that he remembered well from childhood so he followed them into the tiny kitchen at the back of the cottage. A pot of soup was already bubbling away on the woodstove. The kitchen was not really big enough for the three of them, but they stood huddled around the iron pot like witches making a brew. They could hear Ellie and Mr. Hywel talking in low voices in the other room. After about twenty minutes, Ellie came and joined them.

“He's asleep again,” she said.

“Did he tell you who did it?” he asked.

“Your father,” she said grimly. “It was Colston Shore.”

“How did he end up on Miller's Road?” Tommy asked.

“Your father sent him a message that a rebellion was imminent,” Ellie said. “Colston said that he had arranged a meeting with the leaders, but they would only talk to Hywel. That's how your father got him to come to Aeren. Mr. Hywel thought he was headed to that meeting when you saw him along Miller's Road. He was with the Zunft soldiers, but had no idea that they meant to harm him. He thought they were taking him to a rendezvous point.”

“So that's why he was so calm,” Tommy said. “He didn't know it was all a lie.”

“Once they were in the woods, they were ambushed and someone knocked him unconscious,” Ellie said. “When he woke up, he was in the cellar. For weeks, they made him think that he'd been kidnapped by cottagers. Apparently Colston was trying to pull off an elaborate ruse so Hywel wouldn't know he had been taken by Colston and his guards.”

“Why would he do that?” Mrs. Trueblood asked.

“He thinks that Colston was going ‘rescue' him from the cottagers and be a hero,” Ellie said. “If that's true, then Colston wasn't planning on killing him, at least not at first. He wanted him out of the way so he could take power, and use the kidnapping as an excuse to persecute the cottagers.”

“So what happened?” Tommy asked. “Hywel obviously discovered the truth.”

“He said that the guards got lazy, and he could hear them talking through the floorboards,” Ellie said. “Then something changed, and the guards came less and less frequently. A few days ago, the guards disappeared and never came back. Perhaps they meant him to starve to death? He had a jug of water that kept him going, but he wouldn't have lasted much longer.”

“Did he drink anything while you were talking to him?” Mrs. Trueblood asked.

“I gave him some of that root tea,” Ellie said. “He drank the entire cup.”

“Well, he won't be awake for a while,” Mrs. Henry said. “What do we do now?”

“Do you think he'd help us if we ask?” Tommy asked Ellie.

“Yes, I do,” Ellie replied. “I think he'd do anything to make things right. When he heard about what happened to Michael Henry … He never wanted anything like that to happen.”

“I'm afraid if Hywel confronts Father directly, he'll be arrested and we'll gain nothing.” Tommy said.

“He's too feeble to make a show of strength,” Mrs. Trueblood said. “I doubt he could even manage a flight of stairs at this point.”

“So what do you suggest?” Mrs. Henry asked.

“Can you get the three of us to Sevenna City?” Tommy asked. “I need to see Emilie—I mean, Tamsin. We need to find a way to reveal to the world what my father has done.”