“Well, now,” Granger said. “How does it happen that, in the confusion after the explosions, the families of the rebellious thanes end up here—at the entrance to Lieutenant Karn’s private prison? Before you passed through the gate, I was able to intercept young Lady Matelon. When I attempted to question her, the little minx pulled a knife on me.” He scanned the crowd. “Now. Where is Lieutenant Karn? He has some explaining to do.”
Harper had her narrow-eyed, scheming face on. Please, Harper, Hal thought. Don’t make any sudden moves.
“She’s just a child,” his mother said. “You cannot blame her for trying to defend herself when she is attacked in the streets.”
“Where she shouldn’t have been in the first place,” Granger said. “An attack on a member of the nobility is a serious offense. It’s a shame, because I’d hoped that—well, so very disappointing.” His smug expression belied his words.
“Let her go, Granger,” Queen Marina said, taking a step toward them.
“Your Majesty!” Granger said. “And little Princess Madeleine. Curiouser and curiouser.” He didn’t look curious, though. He looked delighted.
“My lord,” Hal said. “I think you are misunderstanding what you see. My corporal directed us to escort these women and children here to Newgate where they could be safely held until we have identified and neutralized the threat.” The tactical language, at least, came easily to Hal.
“Is that your story?” Granger’s confidence dwindled a bit, but only just. “Well, we’ll see. Guillaume should be back at any moment with the King’s Guard.”
“In the meantime, Lord Granger, why not allow them to go inside, out of the rain,” Hal said. “If any of them fall ill, my corporal will have my ass.”
Granger licked his lips. “Everybody stays here,” he said, “until we sort this out.” He looked around again. “Where the hell is Karn?”
“Ow!” Harper cried. “You cut me!”
It all happened in a split second. The startled Granger dropped his blade hand away enough that Harper was able to twist in his one-armed grip, seize his hand with both of hers, and plunge the blade into his neck, leaning in so it penetrated all the way to the hilt.
Robert, who’d been edging closer the entire time, barreled into Granger, knocking the thaneling onto his back on the cobblestones, where he lay, both hands scrabbling at the knife, blood bubbling from his mouth.
Hal leapt to help his brother, but there was no need. Granger was gone.
“Now he looks disappointed,” Robert growled, “the greedy, gutter-swiving, ass-licking—”
“Language, Robert,” Lady Matelon said. She stood over them, one arm around Harper, who was pale as parchment, shaking so that her teeth rattled together.
“Are you all right, Harper?” Hal sat back on his heels, looking up at her. “Did he cut you?”
“I’m fine.” Harper’s voice trembled, just a little. When several of the lýtlings began to cry, she forced a smile and said, “Don’t worry. The bad man won’t hurt us.”
They shouldn’t be here, Hal thought. Children should never have to witness a scene like this.
“Speaking of surviving the night, we’ve got to go.” It was Karn’s friend Lila. “Everyone! Into the building. Now, before the bad man’s friends show up!”
Hal and Robert exchanged glances. It seemed very strange to be rushing back into prison when they had gone to so much trouble to get out. Was this just some kind of new trap or power play by Destin Karn, who’d been notably absent since the explosion? Was he trying to gain custody of the hostages for his own murky purposes?
They had no choice, really. Leaving Granger lying in the street, they entered the prison, crossing the threshold, into which was carved: The Truth Shall Make You Free. They descended several staircases, each level danker, the air thicker and more oppressive. Harper gripped Hal’s arm, leaned close, and murmured, “Don’t tell me we’re going back to the Pit?”
“We’d better not be,” Hal said, with a dark look at Lila.
Eventually, they seemed to hit bottom, and then struck out horizontally into what now seemed to be a natural cave, only lightly shaped by the hand of man. At one turning, Lila pulled a large crate from an alcove in the wall, unlocked it, and handed a dozen torches to those in the lead. They were flashcraft, and began to glow as soon as they were lifted from the crate.
Some of the lýtlings began to fuss. Their mothers pressed on grimly, carrying their children if necessary. Hal and Robert ended up carrying two of Lady Heresford’s four children. Hal had long since accepted the fact that they were so far in, there was no going back. With the distance they’d traveled, at least it was unlikely they were still anywhere near Citadel Hill.
Finally the tunnel sloped upward, in some places growing so steep that steps had been carved into the cave floor. The air freshened and became noticeably cooler and drier.
Finally, Queen Marina came up beside Hal. “Lady DeLacroix really cannot go much farther, and your mother is struggling, too. If we collapse, then it’s going to slow us down considerably. We need to say something. If we still have miles to go, we’re going to need to stop for a rest.”
Hal nodded, though at this point he wasn’t exactly sure who was in charge of this enterprise—he or Barrowhill or the queen.
He was threading his way forward toward Lila when he noticed that the oppressive darkness was thinning, the walls to either side becoming visible, even beyond the reach of the torchlight. They were obviously nearing an opening to the outside. It wasn’t bright—likely the sun hadn’t yet risen.
As the others began to notice, some of them put on speed, children tugging at their mothers’ hands, stumbling over rocks in their eagerness for the long, scary journey through the dark to end. Up ahead, Lila stopped, turned, and waited for them to catch up.
When the entire group was gathered, Lila said, “This is where we surface. We should be outside the city, beyond whatever perimeter the King’s Guard has put up. I need everyone to wait here while I check and make sure our transportation is ready to go.”
“I’m thirsty,” a little boy whined.
“Don’t worry,” Lila said, ruffling the boy’s hair. “They’ll have food and drink for you.” She disappeared through the cave entrance.
She wasn’t gone long, but by the time she returned, some of the lýtlings had curled up on the floor or on their mothers’ laps and gone fast asleep.
“All right,” Lila said. “The wagons are just outside. Each one holds about ten people. There’s room for everyone. I want families to stay together and board the same wagon. We need to be well on our way before the sun comes up.”
As the families began trickling toward the door, Hal took hold of Lila’s elbow. “Well on our way where? Where are we going?”
Lila cocked her head. “Didn’t you talk to Lieutenant Karn about that?”
“He’s been tight-lipped,” Hal said. “He’s told us just enough to get this far.”
Lila shrugged. “You’ll have to ask him. I’m just the hired help.” She rubbed her thumb and fingers together, signifying payment.
Hal’s temper was fraying. “I would like to ask him, but I haven’t seen him since the blasts went off.” He followed Lila out of the cave to find himself in a pitch-dark copse of trees at the bottom of a ravine. He could hear water running somewhere nearby, and the soft nickering of horses.
Where were they? It was hard to judge how far they’d traveled in the dark.
Lila pointed them down the ravine to where it opened up into an abandoned farmyard. The house had long since been burned. The barn and outbuildings were still standing, though, and four wagons were lined up, each with a team of four sturdy mountain ponies.
The wagons were enclosed, so as to keep passengers out of the weather and out of sight of prying eyes. They resembled the wagons used by clan traders to transport their goods—something rarely seen in the empire these days.
The first family was climbing into the first wagon. The driver was muffled in a scarf and coat that seemed too heavy for the weather. He’d placed a step next to the wagon to make it easier to climb in. As each one passed, he handed him or her a wrapped bundle and a deerskin flask—the promised water.
As each wagon filled, it pulled away, rolling down the farm lane and disappearing into the trees.
“This doesn’t look familiar,” Hal said, touching Robert’s arm. “Do you know where we are?”
Robert shrugged. “We should be on our way to Temple Church to join Father and the others. So I’m guessing we’re somewhere north of the city.”
“Maybe,” Hal said. “But I’ve been up and down the North Road between Ardenscourt and Delphi way too many times. I don’t remember seeing a stretch this remote.” He squinted up at the sky, but between the sodden clouds and the canopy of trees he couldn’t get a fix on their location. The rain seemed to muffle sounds, the mist lending an air of risk and mystery.
“Well,” Robert said. “We wouldn’t want to come up too close to the road, would we? It’s probably just that—”
Hal put his hand up. “Hang on. Isn’t that the last of the wagons?”
Robert stared as the wagon rounded the curve and disappeared. “Hey!” he said, running a few steps after it until he must have realized it was no use.
Hal turned to find Barrowhill striding toward them. “That’s the last of them,” she said. “The queen and the princess are with them. Let’s hope they don’t run into any trouble along the way.”
“We were supposed to go with them,” Hal said. “Isn’t that what we agreed on?”
“My agreement is with Lieutenant Karn,” Barrowhill said, brow furrowed. “I thought he’d have filled you in.”
“No,” Hal said through gritted teeth. “He did not fill us in.”
“You mean you got into this without really knowing the plan?” Barrowhill shook her head. “That’s never a good idea.”
Automatically, Hal thrust out an arm to prevent Robert from leaping forward and throttling her. “What is the plan?” he said.
“Well.” Barrowhill looked from Hal to Robert. “It’s not really my place to— Look! Here he is now.”
Destin Karn materialized from among the trees like a black-clad wraith.