Chapter 5

The sun was quickly fading now. There were mere minutes before he’d be forced to venture out toward Croughton. Remis had started his day with a fountain of hope for his future all because of Elton Hamza and now…well now…Remis hated Elton more than ever. He died and now Remis would die too.

Leaning against the green wallpaper, Remis ran his tongue from one side of his mouth to the other, trying to count his teeth one way and then again from the opposite direction. It was something to keep his mind from counting down the seconds until his departure. He tapped his foot with impatience. Certainly, his father had purposefully overloaded his sister’s schedule so he wouldn’t have the opportunity to say goodbye, but it would be over Remis’ dead body that he didn’t get these final parting words with the kid he cared most about.

When the head of stick-straight dark hair rounded the corner holding a thick stack of books in her arms, Remis nearly fell over with relief. “There you are, Lettie.”

“Here I am.” Lettie nodded, a smile lifting the apples of her cheeks. Childlike youth still claimed the girl”s round face. She was only fourteen years old and hadn’t yet begun to look like a woman, even if she’d jumped a foot in height since last summer.

Remis rubbed a hand against the ache in his chest. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Father set me up with a few extra classes this morning.” She tried to raise the sum of books in her hands a little higher as proof. One book was nearly triple the size of the others, the pages thick and weathered. His father’s business ledger no doubt. Remis could remember the day he’d been told to study the old book. It had the scribbling of his father’s notes on all business matters as well as detailed accounts of where the money came and went.

“We need to talk.”

Lettie’s face fell. “You’re going away, aren’t you?”

Remis nodded.

“For how long?”

“I don’t actually know.”

With a thwunk that echoed down the hall, Lettie lunged forward, letting the books fall to the floor. Her arms, still thin and gangly, circled around Remis before she gave him a tight squeeze. She was still so frail and small in his arms. A child who’d need protection and guidance for many years to come. Remis squeezed his eyes closed, holding her tightly.

“If you scratch the ledger, Father will be mad and I won’t be here to stand between you two when his anger gets the best of him.” He pulled Lettie away, examining her at arm’s length, trying to memorize all the details of the girl he’d watched grow up. Lettie was his sister in blood but in his heart, she was more akin to a daughter. It had been him, after all, who had practically raised her after their mother died in childbirth. Remis had been the person who’d held her blood-covered and incredibly fragile body while she screamed at the top of her impossibly strong longs mere seconds after their mother had bled out. He’d been with her when she took her first steps. Remis had taught her how to hold her sword properly. Most importantly, he’d taught her how to avoid their father. “Keep your head down and do what you’re told. Okay? No funny business while I’m gone.”

Lettie laughed despite the shine of tears in her eyes. The girl sniffled and stepped back before carefully picking the books back up into her arms. Her hazel eyes, courtesy of their mother, drifted over the still-pink cut where their father’s ring had collided with Remis’ face. “I will throw myself into my studies.”

Remis smiled though it didn’t reach his eyes. “Smart girl.”

They stood in silence for a moment, both of them looking the other over. An uncomfortable swell of emotion clogged Remis’ throat and a burning sensation in his eyes left him blinking rapidly, but the sun was setting and dusk was here. There wasn’t time left or any words that could be said to ease the pain rooted in his sister’s heart.

“I will try to write when I am able.” Remis cleared his throat. If he was able. If he ever got the chance. He took one step back creating the space neither one of them truly wanted to give. Then he turned and began down the hall.

His sister’s whispered “Goodbye,” resounded in Remis’ ears. He was bound to leave her one way or another whether it was to attend school on the other side of the empire or to go on this maddening business venture. Knowing that didn’t erase the blooming sense of worry. No one was going to shield Lettie from their father’s heavy hand. The girl was smart enough to know when to be silent and when to find herself busy with needlepoint and other feminine things with their young stepmother. Still, Remis remembered being fourteen and how he wanted to rebel against his father at every turn and then how quickly he learned not to when he’d spent too many nights nursing a fat lip, a black eye, or a sore gut from the fist of his father’s own hand.

Her goodbye followed him through the halls and right out the front of the manor where he jogged down the steps to the waiting carriage only to come to an abrupt halt. His foot hung in midair between one step and the other as he inhaled sharply.

It wasn’t the carriage that gave him pause, though it was a plain looking thing hardly better than anything a man of lesser standing would use. It was his two long-time friends glaring heavily up at him. Under the weight of their scrutiny, he managed to stumble down to the rocky drive.

“A letter? The two of us are only worth a hastily scrawled parting letter?” Merritt said. His dirty blond hair was ruffled as though he’d been running his fingers through it only a moment before. His disheveled locks were at odds with the stiff perfections of his expensive clothes, a blue embroidered waistcoat over a neatly pressed white collared shirt nearly hidden by a thick fur-lined cloak. Those blue eyes of his narrowed. “What a bastard. Don’t you agree, Percy?”

Percy lowered the book that he held cradled in his hands and frowned. “Remis isn’t a bastard. His parents were married upon his conception, but he is a terribly mean friend.” Percy shook his head, his features taking on the same ‘don’t waste my time’ look that Merritt wore. It was so ridiculously a Percy thing to say.

Merritt’s scowl deepened. Though he was the youngest of the three of them, all only months apart in age, he had no qualms about acting as the group”s proverbial mother. “I told him not to bring the damn book.”

Percy’s affliction for reading was about as bad as it could get. Remis had seen him turn down party invitations and even a run down to the city’s brothel for some fun for a chance to finish whatever novel he’d picked up that day. From what Remis could tell, the man wasn’t interested in women or men or sex for that matter. Which in and of itself was as bizarre to both Remis and Merritt as the moon turning purple. But Percy was their purple moon and had been since the trio had met in their early years of school. Nothing short of the world ending might change that. Gaze lifting to the sky, Remis slid his tongue over his lips and prepared to launch into the very reason why his world was ending.

Percy closed his book and tucked it under his arm. With one hand, he scrubbed his short-cropped brown hair before smoothing over the gilded buttons of his jacket. “You were going to leave without us?”

“There better be a good reason,” Merritt hissed.

“Is certain death not a perfectly fine reason to leave you two behind?” Remis began pacing before the carriage. Four steps one way and four back. “I’m leaving, right now, if you didn’t notice.” The notes he’d sent his friends were quite elusive and contained little to no details as to what Remis was actually doing. He’d just let them know that he was leaving and left it at that. They deserved more than he’d given them. “My father is sending me to attend to some business deals. He’s made arrangements for me to leave. He will not be persuaded to wait until after dragonis season so we know the likelihood of my survival is…low.” He took a deep breath. “He is holding my contract for school over my head. He’ll rip up my contract should I refuse.”

How his friends understood the jumbled mess of words he’d said far too quickly was beyond him, but both of them stood unfazed. Something was working behind Merritt”s icy gaze, ever the fixer of problems. “Fuck.”

Fuck was right.

Fuck was exactly what this situation was.

“Not your schooling.” Percy’s thin brows pulled low over his eyes.

“He really won’t consider waiting until after dragonis season?” Merritt asked.

Remis shook his head. Rocks crunched under his boots as he moved back and forth. “He seems to be under the impression that this is abundantly urgent, and any amount of waiting will lose him business.”

“And as a result, money,” Merritt finished for him.

“He is condemning you to death all for the chance at greater wealth. Money is a plague upon this world.” Percy clasped his hands in front of him. “What if you just ran away?”

Remis snorted. “And then I’ll never get into school.”

“But perhaps you’ll live,” Merritt said.

Remis closed his eyes. So these were his options? Run away and live or chase his dreams and risk death? But his heart had already chosen. Even if it was a bad idea. A very bad idea.

“You’re already set on leaving, aren’t you?” Merritt continued and Remis grimaced. “It’s a good thing our bags are already packed then, right, Percy?”

“Right.” Percy pulled the carriage door open and climbed into the seat, Merritt right behind him. The pair stared out at Remis who’d sent rocks skittering away as he stopped.

“Get out of the carriage, right now,” Remis demanded. “You two are not coming. I will not have your blood on my hands.”

“Well, it wouldn’t be on your hands, really. It would probably be all over us, the ground, maybe even on these seats.” Percy patted the thin cushion underneath him, his expression blank as he waited. Merritt stretched himself across the padded bench and let his head fall against the wall. His eyes drifted closed as if he was ready for a nap and not about to take off into the uncertain territory that was the Deadwoods in the winter.

“You’re both assholes, you know that?” Remis asked, but he didn’t mean it.

A warmth spread through his veins despite the cold. It perhaps went without saying, but he was certain he had the best friends in the entire world. He tried his best to hide his smile as he went ahead and climbed in, pulling the door closed behind him.

Perched on the edge of his seat, Remis watched the Deadwoods through the window. The bench creaked underneath him as he leaned back. Every breath he tried to take was too shallow, never reaching the true depths of his lungs. Perspiration was beginning to pool in the palms of his hands. That damn huntress mark itched and he adjusted the wrap over it to ensure it remained concealed. Neither of his friends had brought it up yet and he hoped it stayed that way.

“No better time than the present,” Merritt said, though his voice was quiet. Both he and Percy sat together on the opposite bench. While Merritt leaned forward to look out into the treeline, Percy had yet to lift his face from his book that he read by the firelight of the small lantern at his side.

There was no need for urgency when no one dared to come and go from the city. The road they sat on was painfully empty, a stretch of dirt that curved around the brush and tree trunks. To their left sat one of the city”s mage-made flame canons mounted and angled to reach above the treetops. Remis did not envy the man who’d have to manage it if and when one of the dragonis drifted into the city. Though it hadn’t happened yet this season, it was inevitable. When they grew desperate toward the end of winter they dared venture this way. Then, for a moment, he considered seeing if he and his friends could somehow get it onto their carriage. No…then the city would lose another defense. He couldn’t. Not when Lettie was here.

Remis shivered at the thought. He could recall the stories of children plucked out of their mother’s arms and swallowed whole by the dragonis. He wouldn’t wish that upon anyone. Well, mostly anyone. Would it be so bad if it happened to whoever was hunting him? While he was likely too big to be swallowed in his entirety due to the dragonis’ narrowed faces and shorter snouts, the idea of those razor-sharp teeth splitting him in half was not pleasant either. He’d seen enough of them at a distance that he knew he didn’t want to see one up close.

From here, the sounds of the city had yet to fade. Day gave way to the bustle of nightlife that the city hosted in its many taverns. A chorus of laughter came and went with a gust of wind. Normal people, doing normal things. People who would go to bed in their homes tonight instead of snoozing in a carriage rolling through the Deadwoods. Breath fogged in front of his face as he exhaled and pulled his cloak tighter against his body.

“Ideally, the best time would be in the summer when the dragonis have migrated back to the mountain tops,” Percy said.

One of the horses huffed and stomped its feet impatiently. Did the animal not sense that it was just as likely to get eaten as he was? Stupid horse. But the driver didn’t urge the animals forward. It was quite possible he was considering turning around. What had his father promised him to get him to go along for this ride? Or rather what did he threaten him with?

With one last glance back at his home, Remis sent a prayer up to the heavens, to whichever gods cared to listen to his feeble pleas. Silently, he begged for safety for his friends, the driver, and his sister. For himself, he only wished that whatever came for him first, the winged beasts or the witch, they’d be swift with his death or not come at all. Then because he wasn’t a monster, he prayed that the horses would make it out alive too.

“Last chance to back out,” Remis announced.

Merritt only snorted in response and Percy made a show of getting comfortable against the cushion. Finally, the driver cracked the reins and the wagon jostled forward. Remis swayed with the movement and did his best to ignore the rapid beating of his heart that had leapt up into his throat.

“I hope you both updated your wills and testaments before making the absolutely terrible decision to join me.”

“Nah,” Merritt rested his arms against Remis” seat. “Remember that brunette I was telling you about?”

“The one that isn’t interested in you?” Percy closed his book with a solid thump. “Really, Merritt, leave the poor woman alone.”

Merritt stiffened but the smile on his face only widened. “You only say that because you wish she fancied you.” Percy rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I wrote a letter to her. Had to tell her that I was off to face the dangers of the Deadwoods. She’ll be filled with worry for me, no doubt. And then when we return, she’ll recognize her true feelings for me. I bet she throws herself at me upon our arrival home.”

“I bet she throws something at you, for sure. Like a fist. Or a small dagger.” Percy stretched his legs out in front of him.

Their friend only knocked his knuckles against the bench and sucked his teeth. “You’re both just sour.”

Remis chuckled, but the sound dried up in his throat. He looked through the trees that hung over the road and up to the sky. Stretches of clouds were pulled like spun sugar in wisps of gray and white and the stars were already glimmering like a diamond-studded necklace. Dragonis were masters of disguise; their dark underbellies blended in with the night sky and the treetops. Would they even know if one was near?

There were too many unanswered questions. Remis knew nothing of survival outside of civilization much less how to withstand dragons. Of all the things his father had prepared him for, this was not on the list. All those classes were useless now unless he made it back in one piece. Etiquette? Not necessary. Swordsmanship? He’d be dead before he could pull the damn thing from his belt. Mathematics? History? Worthless.

His father had thrown his natural talent back in his face. The inkling of magic that Remis was able to gather from the world around him. The one skill that his mother had always encouraged him in. Not even that small power could spare them, especially since that was the one area of schooling that Remis lacked. Perhaps if he’d already been enrolled in the mage school then he’d have something, but shifting a gentle wind or causing a bud to come to bloom and open were not talents that would save his ass or his friends.

The three of them fell into silence and Remis wished someone would say something. At least that way their minds would be busy with something other than watching the shadows and the skies.

They’d listened to the clomp of the horses’ hooves, the creaking of the wagon wheels, and the steady turn of Percy’s book pages for hours before the wagon began to slow. The driver was the first to break the silence as he let out a panic-driven scream.