But until Caelan could marshal his own forces and possibly even bond with the Godstone, that wasn’t going to happen. That made spies like Maris a huge help.
“Have you had trouble getting food?” Eno inquired.
Maris made a face that Caelan wasn’t entirely sure how to read. “It’s definitely getting harder. The stores are cleaned out in most of the districts, but the Empire is letting food go to the refugee centers. They’re also letting people leave Stormbreak. I’ve heard that the other cities in Erya aren’t having problems with getting food. I think some of the Erya soldiers have worked out a system of smuggling food into the city.”
Caelan glanced over at his bodyguard, who was scratching his jaw in thought. “Eno?”
He grunted. “It’s a smart move. The city is easier to control if it has fewer citizens in it. And if the Erya soldiers won’t leave and the Empire can’t find them, they’ll starve them, make them too weak to fight.”
“We need to move fast. Break the Empire’s hold before the situation gets any worse,” Caelan murmured. He looked at Maris and smiled. “You mentioned something about easier ways to get past the wall and into the city. Can you help us?”
Maris snickered and jumped down from the table. She waved for them to follow her across the basement and up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, she paused and cautiously opened the door a crack, listening for any intruders. When all was clear, she waved for them to continue. The child moved like a soundless apparition, pausing here and there to check that they were alone in the building. They crossed one corridor to another set of stairs to the fifth floor, where the door opened to the roof.
Eno followed close behind Maris, ready to grab the child and pull her out of harm’s way. But when he stepped out onto the roof, he stopped dead, his mouth hanging open.
“What the fuck…” he whispered, his eyes wide.
Caelan stepped around Eno’s frozen body as he took in the view, his mind quickly placing landmarks, and finally the wall. They were inside the wall. They were standing on what looked to be an apartment building in the East Ward. Maris had already gotten them under the wall, the little devil. He glanced at the girl to see her beaming smugly up at him.
“Pretty slick, kid,” he said.
She pointed her finger at him and winked. “Yeah, I thought you’d like that.”
“Cael,” Drayce choked out.
Caelan turned to follow his friend’s line of sight, and his eyes locked on the three royal towers in the distance. They were a ways off, but there was no missing them as they were the tallest buildings in all of Stormbreak. But now one of them appeared to be missing its top ten floors. A tiny green sparkle caught his eye and disappeared again as the sun drifted behind a cloud.
His home. His mother. Something inside of him broke to see it. He wanted to rage at the Empire. It would be so easy to call on the power of the God of Storms to strike down the Empire, but how many other people would get hurt in the process?
Shaking his head, Caelan forced the anger to wash away from him. He’d had his temper tantrum in Sirelis. He’d sunk ships and killed hundreds of Empire soldiers, including the Lord High Commander. Now that he was home again, he needed to start doing what was best for his people. The first priority was keeping them safe.
As he exhaled the breath he was holding, the warm power of Tula surged over him, wrapping him in what felt like a tight hug. But there was no bite to that comforting embrace, only a sense of urgency. He needed to bond with the goddess before the Empire could figure out how to do it.
“We need to scout out King’s Square and the towers,” Caelan announced. He turned his back on the place he’d called home his entire life and looked at his three companions. “Tula is calling.”
Drayce stepped up beside him and crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s not a good idea to keep a goddess waiting.”
“What about Chancellor Croft?” Rayne asked.
“And Tomas?” Drayce added.
Caelan shook his head. “Right now, we don’t know where either of them is holed up, and this isn’t the sort of place we can wander around hoping to find them.” Caelan focused on Maris, who was hanging on their every word. “Do you know where we can find Tomas Soto or Melita Rey of the Royal Guard?”
Maris’s face scrunched up in thought, but she ended up shaking her head. “Nope. They aren’t the guards I usually talk to.”
“Would you be able to pass along a message to them?”
Maris vigorously nodded. “Sure. Piece of cake.”