Haven (War of the Princes) (34 page)

           
I stood rigid. There was nothing I could do but wait. My heart was fluttering in my chest like a moth in a jar. Would we run or fight? I waited tensely.

           
“I was given the order to bring the Lodestone to
Fallux
,”
Kelmen
said. “But here
you
are.”

           
“I was given the same order,” Rune said easily. I lost my breath. Our try at freedom seemed hopeless now, but maybe we could still lose him somehow.

           
The other Dragoon looked angry. His mouth was pressed down into a rigid frown and his eyes narrowed beneath pinched brows. Did he see through Rune’s lie?

           
“Who do you think you are, Thayer?” he spat temperamentally. “Showing off every chance you get. Your Ability is as cheap as your character. You go up against a
Lurcher
, people die, and you come back with barely a scratch. Bet you threw our boys straight into that
Lurcher’s
mouth to get yourself back here pretty and clean.”

           
I knew it wasn’t true. Rune’s arm had been rent horribly by the
Lurcher
encounter.
Kelmen
may not have known that, and regardless, it must have seemed like nothing beside a scar that spanned a person’s entire scalp.

           
“I’ve had enough of your golden-boy brown nosing. Seems to me you don’t give a damned about what’s fair. I want a chance at honors, Thayer, and I won’t have you taking my work and
my
credit.”
Kelmen
said, furious.

           
“Credit where it’s due,” Rune said, not even looking affected by the man’s words.

           
“Like hell!” he growled, cracking his knuckles. “If you weren’t a Dragoon, I’d
break
you.”

           
“If I wasn’t a Dragoon, that would be easy. If you’d like to take this to the sparring ring, I’m yours,” Rune said coolly.

           
Kelmen
glared back at him. “I’m delivering the Lodestone.”

           
I looked worriedly at Rune, afraid of the remote possibility that he’d let me go.

           
Rune shook his head, never breaking eye contact with the aggravated man.

           
“You can go back to your other duties. Doesn’t seem fair for someone to do all the work and lose all the credit, does it?” Rune said carefully.

           
Kelmen
gritted his teeth. “Fair enough.”

           
Slight relief released some of the pressure pent up within me. He was going to let us go. I felt the Pull of the nearest path that would lead us out.

           
“We’ll deliver the Lodestone to
Fallux
, together,”
Kelmen
said, crushing all of my hopes of escape.

           
For a moment I wondered if Rune would fight him. He didn’t.

           
Even for all of my will to survive, I couldn’t wish harm on an innocent person. I didn’t know what
Kelmen’s
Ability was, but Rune did. I trusted his judgment. If the man couldn’t be incapacitated without making a scene or without killing him, I had to agree with leaving him be. It wasn’t his fault that he was a Dragoon.

           
We were caught. Our escape was a failure… this time.

           
It could have been worse. Rune’s quick thinking had saved both of us.

           
“I have a
name
,” I said pointedly. It was sort of insulting that my captors didn’t see anything wrong with moving a prisoner without binding them. How helpless did they think I was? If our charade was over, I didn’t need to act the pitiful mute.

           
“Lodestone,” Rune agreed. I knew he was only acting, but it still irritated me.

           
I wanted to scream. We had been so close. When we began walking, I could feel the way we should go to get out. We passed it, traveling deeper within the fortress. I wished I could run for it. Just bolt for the door. All of my muscles were tense with anticipation for flight. Rune would be forced either to catch me or pay the price for helping me. I couldn’t push him to that. It would be just like the day I tried to escape from Dylan all over again. My heart hurt thinking about it. Catching me had been Dylan’s only way to protect me. My foolhardy actions had made things worse for both of us.

           
Dylan.

           
As upset as I was, I had to surrender to my fate, for the time being, and hope for another chance.

           
Now that
Kelmen
was with us, Rune was like a different person. Even when the other Dragoon wasn’t looking, he remained in character. He didn’t offer me an apology or a single reassuring glance. I didn’t blame him. His life was at stake.

           
When we crossed the far end of the entry hall, the sight of the huge double doors open to the outside world, was a cruel thing. A pair of Dragoons rode by on their black warhorses. The stables were just beyond them. Would
Florian
still be there? I hadn’t been able to see him from the tower in two days.

           
My escorts led me to a room just off of the main hall. I shook from the chill of the wind blasting in from outside. My black long sleeved shirt, matching trousers and flat slip-on shoes were thin. I was grateful I had my orange scarf wrapped around my neck for warmth. My night goggles were hidden beneath the folds of woven orange cloth and now I was glad I had taken the precaution. They were no weapon, but I was fairly certain I wasn’t allowed to keep them.

           
Rune motioned for
Kelmen
to open the twin doors. The scarred Dragoon looked surprised, but didn’t waste the offer. I could only assume he would get some kind of credit for bringing me down if he were first to open the doors.

           
Kelmen
squeezed the handles and swung the doors open. I’d never been here before. Bookshelves reached to the ceiling on each side of the room, clocks with exposed gears and pendulums dappled the far wall below a single, high, wrought iron window. Movable boards with wheels were pinned with maps and surrounded a large, square table with a metal frame. Its surface was a grid, obscured by many papers, notations and a number of mechanized devices I’d never seen before. The small door beside the bookshelf on the right did not escape my notice.

           
Senior Commander
Fallux
was leaning forward, both of his palms on the surface of the table. A row of five Dragoons stood behind him. Stakes was among them. He smiled at me.

           
Upon our entrance,
Fallux
looked up, pleased.

           
“Ah, prompt. Good,” the Senior Commander said. “
Kelmen
, Thayer, you may stand by, but close the door, if you would.”

           
Rune complied.

           
I didn’t like being closed into a room with a host of Dragoons and two Commanders, one of whom was bloodthirsty and probably insane. If something happened to me, Rune couldn’t help without giving himself away.

           
I wouldn’t act the victim.

           
“What do you want?” I demanded of
Fallux
.

           
“Lodestone,” he said cheerfully in that dark voice of his. “Were you so busy in your tower prison?”

           
“I was, actually. I don’t appreciate being interrupted,” I said, feeling brash after our attempt of escape had been derailed.

           
“And what was it you were so busy doing?”
Fallux
asked curiously.

           
“Figuring out a way to throw you and Stakes out of my window,” I told him.

           
Stakes chuckled dryly.

Commander
Fallux
only smirked. “Charming. Small talk aside, I brought you here for an important purpose. I had at first thought to summon the Margrave here to meet you, but in light of certain events near the capitol of our region, I have decided to bring you to him. Don’t be upset, there are more towers in Cape Hill.”

This couldn’t happen. They were taking me away. I’d be farther from home… far away from Rune. How would there be any hope of escape then? We had been so close. Rune and I could have been on our way to
Rivermarch
where we’d finally be safe, truly safe.

“I don’t think she wants to go,” Stakes said as though he found humor in it. He gave me a soothing look. I didn’t like it.

“Our Margrave needs Dragoon reinforcements in Cape Hill. We will provide them and bring the Lodestone,”
Fallux
told the Dragoons in the room. “We will leave at… leave at…”

I noticed a fine layer of sweat on
Fallux’s
metal torn face. He reeled over the table and caught himself. His one clawed hand dug scars into the wooden table surface as he swayed.

 
“What is this?” he demanded. He blinked his eyelids hard. Something was definitely wrong with him.

Fallux
gripped the forearm of his metallic clawed hand, blood dripped out from beneath his gauntlet.

“Senior Commander, are you alright?”
Kelmen
asked stepping forward.

“The Sting,”
Fallux
said and turned sluggishly to face a stocky Dragoon who stood at the end of the row, nearest him. “Bayard!” he barked, trudging up to the Dragoon.

Fallux
gripped the shorter man with hand and claw by the collar and flung him back like he was light as a child. His strength was inhuman. Bayard hit the bookshelf behind him hard, breaking several shelves. The Dragoon grunted, choked, and a shower of water poured from his mouth.

Stunned, I stumbled backwards a step. Bayard fell to the ground. He didn’t move. I didn’t understand at first that he was dead.
Fallux
had killed him by controlling the water in his body. It happened so fast.

I’d never seen anyone die before. I stared at his lifeless form, lost in a whirlwind of sinking confusion. That man had been blinking, moving and breathing only a minute ago, and now it was over for him. A tear rolled, unbidden, down my cheek. It wasn’t from sadness; I wasn’t even sure which emotion I was feeling. The man was a complete stranger to me. I simply had never in my sheltered life experienced such a swift intrusion of death.

“I’ll get a medic, Senior Commander,”
Kelmen
said.

“Poison,”
Fallux
said leaning on the table again and breathing heavily. “Nothing I won’t survive.”

Bayard must have had a poison Ability and used it against
Fallux
, but why?

Kelmen
turned to head for the doors, but the metal handles creaked and wrapped tightly together as if forced by an unseen entity.

Fear expanded in me like a clay pot shattering to the floor.

“Rune,” my mouth moved without any sound.

“Don’t be so sure,” Stakes said to
Fallux
, stepping forward. He didn’t allow a moment of understanding to cross
Fallux’s
features. The metal frame of the table peeled away from its wooden interior like it was a living creature and wrapped around the Senior Commander. Dark iron screeched and twisted, winding around
Fallux’s
arms, legs, and throat, turning him to face Stakes.

The Junior Commander revealed a thick, square device in his hand. Its brass edges were surrounded with dials and metal teeth, and a single robust tube trailed off of it. Stakes punched it onto
Fallux’s
chest, cutting through his armor, into his flesh.

I felt like I was standing beside myself, watching things that I could hardly perceive as real blossoming all around me. Even knowing that it was possible for a person to control an element like water or metal, and understanding that people were capable of such acts of violence, I was pushed into a momentary bubble where everything happened slowly around me, enveloped in shock.

Rune took the rifle off of his back, removed its two bullets, and slid them as far away from everyone as he could. It was a strange thing to do… until I understood why.

In the very same moment, a young, pale skinned Dragoon hefted his rifle, aimed, and fired at Stakes. I flinched when the bullet made impact with Stake’s armored shoulder. The sound of the bullet tearing through leather and meeting flesh was sickening.

Stakes grunted and barked a short laugh, leering at the inexperienced Dragoon. The bullet flew from where it was lodged in Stakes’ body, and shot the pale Dragoon in the heart.

“No!”
Kelmen
shouted bursting into action and charging at Stakes.

Before he could reach the Junior Commander, one of the other Dragoons, a tall grizzled man with one eye, intercepted him, swinging a short sword.
Kelmen
only had time to shield his neck by raising an arm in defense. The blade sunk into his leather bracer, through his skin and stopped. Blood spattered to the floor.
Kelmen
winced, jerking his arm away from the sword before flinging himself to grapple with the one-eyed man for his weapon.