It was also where Tenger had tried to kill her. And she was with Tenger now. Every time my thoughts drifted there, I became nearly paralyzed with worry. But for now, I had to put it aside. I had to, or else I’d be no use here.
“Stay on the stone paths,” Harlyn warned.
“Why?” Basil asked, scurrying back off the road.
She smiled back at him. “We don’t normally advertise this to outsiders, but our city is founded on an underground river. Believing that the Dominion would come for us one day, we built in quick escape routes everywhere we could. Holes have been dug into the roads, then covered with fabric and wood and disguised to look like dirt roads. If we are attacked, the plan is to pull out the wood and lower ourselves by rope into boats to go downriver. There are hundreds of holes throughout the city.”
“That was why your father wanted everyone to stay and defend this place,” I said.
She groaned. “No, my father wanted us to stay because his only instinct is to fight. An evacuation is better.” She dismounted, motioning for us to do the same, then crouched beside an unremarkable spot in the road, aiming the clearstone torch downward. Only then did I see the outlines of a light brown fabric with dirt scattered over the top of it. She lifted up one corner and we peeked in to see a long drop-off into darkness below. “Before everyone left, we had them remove the wood, but this fabric disguise remains. When the Dominion rides over the holes, they’ll fall into the underground river. My idea, by the way.”
“It’s brilliant,” I said. She blushed, but it had been a sincere compliment. I was genuinely impressed.
“And is that for the condors?” Trina asked, pointing to a tower in the center of the city, clearly visible in the moonlight.
I squinted, seeing what appeared to be a cannon there, but I hoped that wasn’t the plan. These birds were large enough to carry a grown man and had talons capable of killing him. They’d easily outfly a heavy cannonball.
“Nets.” Harlyn kept her eyes on me as she answered Trina’s question. “Big nets.”
“I’ll go into the tower,” Basil offered. “I’ll watch for the enemy’s approach.”
While he ran off in one direction, Trina’s attention turned to the path along which we’d come. “I’ll go shut the gates, slow them down when they do come.” When Harlyn didn’t respond, still keeping her eyes on me instead, Trina added, “Then I’ll single-handedly defeat the entire horde with my sword, a toothpick, and a sewing needle, shall I?”
I rolled my eyes at Trina’s sarcasm, still aware of Harlyn’s focus on me. And more than a little bothered to realize that I had been staring back.
To Trina, I said, “If you’re at the entrance, I’ll go to the far end of town for any soldiers who get past the traps.”
“I’m coming with you,” Harlyn offered. “You’ll want my help.”
“Help?” Trina echoed with a smile. “That’s what you two are calling it?”
If Harlyn heard, she pretended not to and only led me along the cobblestones on a winding maze through the city. “Nessel is a fine city and worth protecting,” she explained. “I didn’t think you would come here, not after the confrontation at the Corack camp.”
“How did you know to come to the Corack camp?” I asked. “Who told you that Kestra would be there? Was it Trina?”
Harlyn laughed. “Trina? No, they’d have told me if it was Risha Halderian’s daughter. My father only said it was someone the Coracks trust with their lives.” Which wasn’t helpful at all. We trusted every Corack with our lives.
We rounded a corner, then Harlyn continued, “The Halderians don’t hate the Infidante. But half of us believe she cannot succeed. The other half worry that her success will make her the next tyrant to assume the Scarlet Throne.”
“She will succeed, Harlyn. And she is no tyrant. She fights with us.”
“Where is she now?” I turned forward again, and after a loud and lengthy silence, she added, “At least you are here, and your two friends.”
Friends. One whom I’d accused of every sort of betrayal, and one who’d behaved far better toward me than I ever had to him.
At the far end of Nessel, Harlyn warmed a clearstone, then led me into a shop with shelves loaded with bags marked as saltpeter. “Is that really what’s in there?” I asked, brushing my knuckles along the bags as I walked down the row. My mind was already racing with possibilities.
“Trina may have a single fire pellet the size of a small boulder, but we can make the saltpeter into hundreds of explosives. And since I know you’re about to ask, yes, we have an excellent wagon for hauling it all to Reddengrad.” She touched my shoulder and I turned back to her, though she was standing so close, I had to step away. “You should rest now, Simon. I can see that you’re exhausted.”
“I’m fine.” Which was a lie and she knew it.
“Your eyes are bloodshot, your shoulders look as if you’re carrying a mountain on your back, your movements are wooden. It’s as if something inside you died.” She drew in a sharp breath, and when our eyes connected again, I knew she was seeing deeper into my heart than I dared to admit. In the gentlest of tones, she asked, “Who was it?”
My heart raced, hurting again, breaking again. Since the night my mother … since that night, I’d tried my best not to feel anything, not pain or despair or grief … or love, which hurt most of all. My emotions were so knotted that if I pulled a single thread to explain myself, I feared I would unravel entirely. But Harlyn wasn’t about to let this go.
She said, “A year ago, my family set out northward, hoping to trade with some Antorans along the coast. On our way, we saw Dominion soldiers approaching us on the road. My mother had some silver bars in the back and she went to hide them. As expected, the Dominion stopped our wagon to collect for the king. When they realized we were the Banished, as they call us, they set the wagon on fire and we ran for our lives.” Harlyn’s right foot had been jittering while she spoke, but now it went perfectly still as she added, “My mother didn’t make it.”
A