Part 23 (1/2)

The west side of town held the large brick mansions of the Markis and Marksinna, but most of the town consisted of smaller cottages, looking like a quaint village from another time.

Not too far from the palace was the stable, where my loft apartment had been. The huge Tralla horses were out in the yard beside it, and though I was too far away to see for sure, I imagined that I saw Bloom running out with them, with his silver fur and lush white mane flowing behind him.

In the town square, the clock tower soared above everything, and it began to toll for the last time of the night. Between ten p.m. and six a.m., the clock went silent.

My parents lived right off the town square, and I tried to pick out their place. But the houses were packed in tightly, like town homes, and they all had matching roofs. There was no way to know for sure, but I strained my eyes, as if I would somehow be able to see my parents through the walls.

On the far east side of town along the wall was the house Ember shared with her parents. It was easier to pick out, because the houses were a bit more spread out in that area to make room for ”farming.” Ember's mother raised angora goats and Gotland rabbits, but I couldn't really see them.

I could see people walking around town, and though I wanted desperately to see a familiar face, they were all too far away to discern. Occasionally, I caught a flash of light from the epaulets of the Hogdragen uniform, so I knew there were many guards out patrolling Doldastam.

Mixed in with them, I saw much larger figures bundled up in brown coats. The Omte were inside, working with the guards.

Just outside the walls, a huge campsite had been set up in the valley. Personal tents were set up, along with larger rectangular marquee tents, where meetings could be held or meals could be served. Several fires were burning, casting plumes of smoke over the site.

Flying above the camp, bearded vultures circled. The Omte had brought along their birds. Legend had it that the Omte had chosen the vultures because of how much the Omte liked killing others. Since the vultures subsided mostly on bones, they would clean up the mess the Omte left behind.

”What do you see?” Finn asked. He stood back behind us, with Ludlow and Konstantin.

Baltsar, Ridley, and I lay at the top of the hill, scoping out Doldastam. Baltsar had a pair of binoculars, while Ridley and I were left gauging it with our eyes.

”It's definitely not good.” Baltsar lowered his binoculars, so I held out my hand for them, and he pa.s.sed them to me.

”What do you mean?” Finn asked. ”Is it worse than we thought?”

I adjusted the binoculars, fixing them on the campsite outside the walls, and I immediately saw what the problem was. Not only were there a great deal of Omte soldiers, but members of the Hogdragen and Kanin soldiers were mixed among them. It appeared that Viktor's army had fully acclimated with the Kanin and the Omte, and they were all blended together.

Konstantin had said that Viktor's army had been camping outside of Doldastam, and we were hoping that we could take care of them before moving on to deal with the Omte. Doldastam was too big to house the entire Omte army, so we'd a.s.sumed they'd also be camping outside the city walls.

Our plan had been to take out Viktor's men and the Omte without ever having to touch a Kanin. If we eliminated the first two threats, there was a good chance that Mina and her army would surrender, because at that point they would be outnumbered. a.s.suming we could take out Viktor and the Omte first.

But I wanted to avoid Kanin bloodshed as much as possible. These were people I had grown up with and trained with. They were good people, and they were going to end up dead.

FIFTY-EIGHT.

fortified ”s.h.i.+t,” I swore as I lowered the binoculars.

Baltsar stood up, wiping the mud from his clothes, and turned back toward Finn and Konstantin. ”We're going to have to take on everyone all at once.”

”We can't do that,” I protested. As I got up, Ridley reached out and took the binoculars from me. ”Innocent people will get hurt.”

”You act like all the Kanin are saints and everybody else is a sinner,” Konstantin said harshly. ”Those Omte soldiers down there are just following orders, the same as the Kanin. And you don't have any qualms about killing them.”

I shook my head. ”It's different.”

”It's different how? Because they're not like you? Because you didn't grow up with them?” Konstantin shot back. ”Proximity doesn't make some people more worthwhile than others, Bryn.”

”That's not what I'm saying. I don't want to kill anyone, but the Omte volunteered for this fight,” I argued. ”The Kanin were manipulated into it.”

”You don't think the Omte were manipulated at all?” Konstantin arched an eyebrow. ”You said yourself that weird things were going down in Fulatrask.”

And I had. I remembered how the Omte Queen Bodil had seemed eager to help Konstantin and me stop those who had gotten her nephew Bent Stum tangled up in the mess. She'd agreed to aid us in our quest to stop Viktor Dlig.

But later that night, her right-hand man Helge had done a total about-face. Not only had he refused to help us, he'd banished us from Fulatrask in the middle of the night.

It all seemed very odd, and now it seemed even more suspicious that the Omte had aligned themselves with Viktor and the Kanin. Bodil had wanted revenge on Viktor one moment, and then she was apparently helping him the next.

The Omte were known for being finicky thanks to their short tempers, but this was ridiculous even by their standards.

”Fulatrask?” Baltsar asked, looking from Konstantin to me with a quizzical expression. ”When were you in Fulatrask?”

Both Konstantin and I had failed to mention our excursion to the Omte capital city, since it hadn't been relevant before. But now, with the Omte so involved, it definitely wouldn't hurt for everyone to know.

”Finn.” Ridley stood up, extending the binoculars toward Finn. ”You should come see this.”

”What?” Finn rushed up the hill, nearly knocking me over, and he s.n.a.t.c.hed the binoculars from Ridley. ”Oh, h.e.l.l.”

”What?” I demanded.

”My sister is with them.” His shoulders slumped. ”I just saw her go into a tent with Viktor Dlig.”

”But she's not with with him,” I said, almost insisting it when I looked at Baltsar and Ludlow, so they wouldn't think less of her. ”Ember would only work with him to bide time. And this is what I'm talking about. We can't just storm Doldastam and hurt innocent people like her. We need to get them out.”

”Most of the 'innocent' people down there would kill us on sight.” Konstantin motioned toward the town. ”They think we're the villains. So how do we decide who is safe and who dies?”

”Let's stop this before it gets too heated.” Baltsar stepped in between us, raising his hands palms-out toward us. ”It has been very a long day, and pressure is high. It's getting dark, so we should camp out tonight, and we'll come up with a plan of attack in the morning.”

Below us, most of the troops were already setting up camp. We'd driven most of the day, and then spent the last four hours making the arduous walk toward Doldastam, through crowded forests and rough terrain. Everyone was exhausted, myself included, but that didn't stop the adrenaline from surging through me.

Baltsar managed to calm us down, and Finn agreed to a meeting at dawn with Mikko and all the captains. While everyone made their way back down the hill, I lingered behind to walk with Konstantin, who still moved more slowly because of his leg.

Ridley paused, looking back up at me with concern in his eyes. I nodded my head, motioning for him to go on ahead without me. He let out a heavy sigh, but he left me to argue with Konstantin on the side of the hill ”Why are you fighting with me so hard?” I asked him in a hushed voice.

”Because you've got to get the fantasy out of your head that you can ride in on a horse like some white knight and vanquish the dragon and save the kingdom,” he replied wearily.

I stopped. ”I don't have that fantasy.”

”You do,” he insisted, and he stopped so he could look at me.

It had started to rain, and it was just above freezing, so the rain felt like ice. We stood on the side of the hill, among the trees that smelled of damp pine. The light was fading, thanks to the expanding cloud cover blotting out the setting sun, but I could still see the steel in his eyes.

”There is no such thing as a good war, Bryn,” Konstantin said. ”Good people will die. Innocent lives will be destroyed. And in the end, one unfit person will still hold the crown.”

”But Mina is evil, and she needs to be stopped,” I argued. ”How do you propose we do that without war?”