“I didn’t say ‘in.’ I said near, Papa.” The wagon jostles me again. I wince. This time I do sigh. “He’s willing to help us, but he doesn’t want to invite attention. He prefers to keep the details of where he lives a secret, even from me.”
I can feel my father’s unspoken disapproval through the satellite phone. “And his presence hasn’t alarmed the others. What if he’s a pirate who somehow learned our language?”
“You have my word he’s one of us.”
He wouldn’t believe me if I told him Tovian was Ansi, and saying I don’t know where he lives isn’t a total lie. Somewhere in The Boscage isn’t exactly a precise direction.
Luza, crouching, made her way to me. I’ve more or less got my own empty wagon, a privilege of being royalty. Only Tovian, Luza, and a driver ride with me. Luza looks apologetic for interrupting me and says, “When you’re ready, Princess, one of the prisoners is in bad shape.”
“Papa, I have to go.”
“Before you do, is there any news of Lorcan?”
“No.” My stomach sinks.
“Zosia?”
“No one’s seen her, alive or dead. Or King Rohan.”
My father sighs heavily. “Get yourself home in one piece, Raina.”
“I will.” I hang up and pocket the phone. To Luza, I say, “I’ll take a look.”
There won’t be much I can do for him. The cargo we stole leaned heavily to ammunition and weapons, along with several boxes of perplexing machine parts. They look like they’re for the motor bikes, but I’m not entirely sure. We’ve mostly run through my stash of medical supplies treating our own people. I do, however, have one precious vial of morphine left. I’m saving it for an emergency.
As if this whole summer hasn’t been one big emergency.
The wagon train halts. Gingerly, I jump from the back of the wagon. Landing on the ground rattles my teeth. Turning my head hurts. Thinking hurts. Everything I do hurts.
“I’ll come with you.” Tovian follows me.
“Sure. I don’t mind company.” I flash him a smile. “It’s probably the guy from this morning. Treating him won’t be pleasant.”
He shrugs and falls into step with me. “Someone has to watch you.”
We’re so damned short-handed. We lost a lot of people early on, when fighting was uncoordinated and was mostly farmers with pitchforks, daggers, and spears up against heartless murderers with machine guns. People are scared to join our ragtag group of fighters.
But they’re angry, too. That makes recruitment a little easier. Already today, we’ve picked up a trio of young men whose families have fled to Canavale, a city in Central Auralia. They had no idea where they were going, only that they wanted revenge on the people who ruined their livelihoods.
We hoped to make it to the ferry crossing by mid-afternoon, but it wasn’t long before we ran into trouble. The buzz of dirt bikes.
“I really hate that sound,” I muttered to Tovian, who was riding beside me. Volunteering to take the worst guard shift last night had won over a lot of the Oceansiders, but I could see he was tired.
“No more than I.” He halts, listening. “We have maybe three to five minutes before they come roaring up the road. We need to hide.”
“Where, Tovian?” I gestured around us. To our right, a sea of marsh grass leads to the estuary. To our left is a rocky open space, the only reason the southern end of the Grasslands District wasn’t on fire. The only place to hide is a patch of scrawny trees a good distance away from the road. “We’ll be sitting ducks.”
“Then we make a stand.”
He takes one of the machine guns and points it at the ground as if trying to remember the very brief and inadequate demonstration I gave this morning. I do the same. The sound of metal clicking sets my teeth on edge.
“Forget the prisoner. Go with the riders up toward that stand of trees. Stay with them. I’ll handle this.”
“You’re giving orders now?” I say archly, though my pulse quickens at the thought of him taking control. I refuse to overthink that impulse.
He infiltrated the pirates once. Tovian thinks he can do it again. Fear, clarifying and cold, chases away my pain.
“Would you rather wait for the pirates to arrive while we debate the merits of who gives orders, or get as many people out of sight as possible?”
