Haven (War of the Princes) (18 page)

“What have I done?” he wondered aloud, eyes going distant.

“You didn’t do anything,” I said automatically.

His focus returned sharply to me. “I told you to run. Why didn’t you?” he demanded.

“I-I didn’t want to leave you alone there,” I blurted out, taken aback by the grave severity in his voice. “I tried to go, but there was this
thing
in the dark. It stared at me. Its face didn’t match its body. It was like an eel.”

“
Lurcher
,” he confirmed.

My skin prickled. I had been that close to whatever had nearly killed Rune.

“The militia found me with you. They put me in a cell at first, but Dylan gave me a room and I’m allowed to go almost anywhere I want as long as I don’t leave the keep,” I explained.

“Dylan Axton,” he said, more as a statement than a question.

“Yes.”

His expression was unreadable. He moved to face the broad window that overlooked the beach where Dylan and I had ridden just that morning.

“You need to leave,” he said lowly.

“I know,” I said emphatically. “That’s why I came to you. I was hoping you could help me. I’ve been trying to plan to get away somehow, and I don’t want to try it just to get caught. It would make it twice as hard to escape later if that happened.”

“No,” he interrupted, facing me. “You have to leave this room. Now.”

I felt my blood turn cold.

“But- Rune,” I stammered, afraid of what he was saying. “You’re the only person I can trust. You’re my only friend.”

“I’m not your friend,” he said, empty of emotion. “Friendship is a luxury that I cannot accept.”

“I know,” I said, stubbornly. “Dylan told me everything. But it doesn’t have to be like that. Not with me.”

“Dylan told you
everything
?” he said sharply, the intensity in his eyes warning me that Dylan could not have told me what he didn’t know. “Everything is a lot, Katelyn. And there are too few words to describe it. There’s the door. Use it.”

My heart was racing, and to me, it sounded louder than the waves crashing against the keep, spraying the outside balcony.

“No,” I said, crossing my arms.

“Leave,” he said again.

“No,” I repeated firmly, stepping further into the room.

He turned, following me. “If you don’t leave, I’ll carry you out.”

“I’d like to see you try,” I said venomously and planted myself on his bed, as far away from the door as I could be. In front of me was the painting of the brilliant, leafless white tree, growing from a stone on the deep, dark, stormy ocean. I stared at it stubbornly, steeling myself for the moment he’d try to scoop me up.

“Have it your way,” he said threateningly.

“I saved your life,” I said quietly, stopping him in his tracks.

There was a long silence. I sat with my arms crossed around my middle, refusing to look at him, and stared at the lonely, beautiful painting. It was a compelling piece and I let myself be drawn in. To be honest, I’d have taken any distraction to save me from that moment. I studied the canvas, feeling an affinity certain for the masterful brushstrokes; there was a bright optimism in the white tree, despite the maelstrom that surrounded it. The thunderous sky and hungry sea, no matter how threatening, weren’t a match for the strength of the triumphant tree. It gave me heart. In the bottom corner I noticed a pair of initials: R.T.

Rune Thayer. I should have known. He told me he had painted before he had been taken away to be a Dragoon. Why did my every thought have to lead back to him?

“Sometimes I wish you hadn’t,” he said under his breath.

Even though I was just starting to understand how miserable life could be in the Outside World, to hear a person sound so wholly and honestly defeated was a shock to me. To go so far as to imply that he wished he’d died was like an insult to my sacrifice. I knew in my core that no matter what happened to me, I’d never give up on living.

“Coward,” I said fiercely. He wasn’t only giving up on himself. He was giving up on
me
.

I didn’t look at him. I didn’t need to. The room was thick with tension. I’d baited him and waited for the consequences.

His response was calmer than I’d expected. “Don’t talk of things you know nothing about.”

“Then enlighten me. It’s your fault I’m here,” I countered.

“Take responsibility for your actions. You’re here as a result of a series of decisions that you, yourself made,” he said, not sounding anything like the person I’d met in the cave.

I stood up and whirled around to face him. “So you can stand here and tell me that you don’t feel any connection to my being here?”

“No connection,” he said, hurting me more than he knew. I really was alone in this strange unknown land, and in more trouble than I ever could have imagined.

My hands trembled with emotion. I balled them into fists and met his blue eyes with my own.

“And if something horrible happened to me? How would you feel?” I asked.

“It can’t matter to me,” he said mechanically.

“I didn’t ask if it
could
or not. I asked how you would feel. When we were back there and you were injured, you told me I was your friend,” I said trying to keep my voice level.

“I had a fever,” he said dismissively.

“You said that you wished for me,” I said stubbornly. “You told me how much you hate all of this. It was your dying wish to have a friend by your side. Someone you could talk to; be normal with. I’m still that person.”

“This is the way things are,” Rune said, denying me again.

“I was your wish and I’m still here,” I persisted.

“Katelyn.”

“I’m your friend, Rune, and I need your help,” I all but begged.

“I’m sorry,” he said gently and I could finally see a shadow of regret in his eyes. “Please leave.”

I gritted my teeth, staring up at him, hoping with all of my might to see him change his mind. He looked tired but unyielding.

“I’m still here,” I said weakly and fled the room before he could see the tears spill down my cheeks.
      

Chapter 18: Resolve

           
No one in my life ever accused me of being fragile, except for Kyle when he was looking for a punch in the arm. It wasn’t often that I cried, and when I did, I hated letting anyone see it. Conditional freedom or not, I remained alone in my room for the rest of the night.

           
The door to the narrow balcony was open and chill night air gusted in, ruffling the curtains and corners of my bed sheets. The wide moon hung low in the sky, its splintered reflection dancing on the dark ocean. The stars were dim in its presence, but I could still see them. Tiny dots of light bobbed from the prows of distant steamboats, vaguely illuminating their decks.

           
I sat in the balcony doorway with a thin blanket to shield me from the intruding cold.

           
Anger made sense. I should have felt that way about Rune, but I pitied him. He was right, I had no idea about the depth of the situation in Breakwater and the rest of the Outer World.
    
He deserved a life, but instead he was a servant to an inhuman Overlord, cut off from his family and his loved ones. No companionship, no comfort. What could that kind of isolation do to a person?

           
The sea was a vast shadow without the help of my new night goggles, even despite the moonlight, but the sound of the churning surf was ever present. I imagined that the leafless white tree from Rune’s painting reached out of the water.

Strange though it seemed, he was more of a prisoner than I was.

           
That didn’t change the one thing I understood with new clarity: I had to escape and I had to do it alone. Playing it safe had allowed me to learn about my surroundings. It was time to take action. I was afraid, but my resolve dried my tears. In a day or two, when the time was right, I was leaving and I knew I’d find my way home.

Chapter 19: Ships On The Horizon

Morning didn’t just bring the warmth of dawn light and the cries of sea birds. Five enormous black ships were settled over the water just outside Breakwater Bay. I discovered that my night goggles had a zoom feature and I used them to study the huge machines. Each hull was a patchwork of dark, rusted metal, stacked with massive gears, wheels, pumps and billows. The result was a grim set of ships that didn’t sit upon the water’s surface, but floated just above it. It seemed impossible that something so large and ungainly could hover over the sea.

           
I watched them for most of the earliest morning hours, until they began to move. Four of them continued out on the water, never shifting their elevation over the surface. The fifth stayed where it was at the mouth of the bay. Though only one remained, it was still an ominous sight.

           
There was no way I was going to wait around and find out what its presence signified. I dressed so quickly that I zapped myself twice with static electricity. When my good boots were on and my goggles settled on top of my head, I looked over my room for any possessions I might bring away with me. My eyes lingered on Dylan’s gift: the extravagant sapphire necklace. I turned away from it, picking up the knit orange scarf from my bed and slinging it around my neck. It would remind me, more than any other souvenir, what the outside world was really like.

           
When I left my room, planning to slip into the kitchens for a quick snack before my attempted escape, I figured I wouldn’t see Dylan so early in the morning. I was wrong.

           
The sound of his voice brought me up short just outside the private mess hall for guards and soldiers.

           
“-many dead?” I could hear Dylan asking someone. He wasn’t speaking loudly, but in the quiet of dawn, it carried enough for me to hear.

           
“Seven militia, two Dragoons,” a tired, rough voice answered.

           
“Wounded?”

           
“Nearly everyone. The Dragoons had a healer out, so we were able to keep the minor wounds under control.
Davin’s
was the worst case. He had the venom fever badly and lost a good deal of blood. My horse was fresh so they sent me ahead to bring him in while there was still hope for him. He’s in the medical wing in surgery now,” the other voice reported.

           
“And my brother?”

           
“Hale and healthy when last I saw him. He gave me a message for you: Expect him soon.”

           
“Independence never lasts,” Dylan sighed with resignation. “How many
Lurchers
were slain?”

           
“One,” he responded.

           
What I heard frightened me. So many soldiers killed and wounded, even the Dragoons with their abilities, and only one
Lurcher
was brought down. What would I be facing on my way back to the cave?

           
“When I left them they were on the heels of the second, driving it this way. But the big one with the scars, it was still out there, pursuing us.”

           
“Did Senior Commander find any Lodestones up there?” Dylan asked in a familiar, sardonic tone.

           
“No, sir,” the man answered.

           
“I don’t know why they still bother wasting time on that kind of mythology. It’s a misuse of manpower while there are still
Lurchers
so close to our city,” Dylan complained.

           
I didn’t know what a Lodestone was, but I’d overheard plenty and didn’t want to risk dealing with Dylan before my escape.

           
My visit to the kitchen was brief. I only stayed long enough to stuff my face with as many deviled eggs as I could before the cook came back.

           
Attempting to be both stealthy and inconspicuous, I hurried back down the hall, passing bleary-eyed workers preparing to bring the keep to life for the day.

           
My stomach was in knots. I really didn’t know how I was going to make it out, but I was determined to find a way.

           
I needed to think of something, fast.

           
The only thing that came to mind was Rune… over and over. The thought of never seeing him again began to overshadow my longing for home. I wasn’t sure I was interested in him romantically, but there he was, prominent in my mind. Like the day I first encountered him, I couldn’t just walk away, I had to see him again.