19. Keelan

Chapter nineteen

Keelan

T he next two days of hiking across the countryside were brutal as we pushed to make up ground. Everyone was tired and sore but knew what was at stake and kept complaints to themselves—save Atikus, who was always musing about steaming potatoes, roasted pork, or other aromatic cuisine. Thankfully, the late fall weather remained clear and cool, perfect for a journey on foot, and Sil's eagle kept a close eye on Tiana and her captors, who'd made it past the fork and were now headed toward Irina's Seat.

Midmorning of the third day, the town of Rutin came into view. More village than town, Rutin served as a trading center for every kind of grain and livestock raised throughout the heartland of the Kingdom. Farms sprawled for a hundred leagues in every direction, filling tables in every corner of the country. Most of the people who lived in the area were good, honest folk who said what they thought and didn't mind a startled look when they did. A change in season stirred the town far more than a change of king or queen, and politics rarely entered their minds. Still, patriotic pride flowed in their veins.

As the team entered town, shouts and jeers roared from somewhere deep within the village. Curious, I led Atikus and Sil through the winding roads, past houses and shops, toward the commotion. The buildings opened into a courtyard centered around a massive stone statue of a long-dead king.

"Let's wait here and watch," I whispered as I leaned toward the others.

A red-faced man in green-and-gold livery stood on the base of the statue, waving his arms and shouting to the men and women encircling him. Most wore aged, homespun clothes and wide-brimmed hats. The man had the crowd whipped into a frenzy and seemed intent on pushing them for more.

". . . our daughters and sons! And now we have undeniable proof that they've kidnapped our own Crown Princess , Jessia Vester!"

The crowd gasped in anger and surprise. They shook their fists toward the sky as if that might be enough to undo whatever crimes were being touted.

"I say again, our men found undeniable evidence that a member of Melucia's Triad directly ordered the kidnapping of the Crown Princess. His personal seal was found on the road where the Princess was taken—and there's only one place that could've come from!"

"MELUCIA!" the crowd roared.

"For hundreds of years, the Melucians have grown fat off the hard work of our people. Look around. You are the hardworking men and women of the Kingdom. You feed not just our land, but theirs , too. You break your backs so they can live like kings, and now they want more? Is that fair?"

"No!"

"Are you going to let them steal from your table?"

"NO!"

"It was bad enough they thought to take our children, our precious Gifted . Now they attack our royal family, the beating heart of the Kingdom itself! Can we let this treachery stand?"

"NO!"

"Can we let them go unpunished?"

"NO!"

"The King agrees and calls his people to rise! He calls you to take up arms and march! Together we'll teach those imperial bastards what happens when you strike at our heart—at the Spires!"

"We'll show 'em!" one man shouted.

Another yelled, "Kill the bastards! Make 'em pay!"

The speaker nodded and raised a defiant fist. "Heralds stand in squares just like this one across the full breadth of our Kingdom, gathering men to fight for our King—to fight for our Kingdom!

"People of Rutin, join your brothers and sisters! Tell your family, your friends, your neighbors! JOIN US AND FIGHT!"

The crowd exploded.

Chants of "Death to Melucia!" and "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" thrummed through the courtyard long after the speaker stepped down from the statue.

Many in the crowd waved sheets of paper. Those same sheets littered the courtyard. Sil reached down and stuffed one in her pocket. I turned and led the others along a road that skirted the courtyard, not stopping until I found a large wooden building marked simply as "INN."

A notice board towered over the entrance, and two sheets pinned to the cork caught my eye. One had "REWARD!" scrawled in large lettering across its masthead and described four kidnappings that had occurred over the past few months. Brief descriptions of the victims, along with an artist's sketch of each, filled the page. Constables believed the cases to be connected, possibly perpetrated by the same criminal or group. A generous reward was offered for information leading to the return of the victims.

The title on the second post made my breath catch. "JOIN THE KING! JOIN THE WAR!" it cried. Another artist's sketch of a teenage girl wearing an elegant gown and a jewel-studded tiara consumed the center of the page. The rest of the sheet described the kidnapping of the Princess and vague references to the "hard evidence" obtained by investigators. Just as the herald in the square had said, Melucia's Triad was to blame, and volunteers were being recruited in every town and village throughout the Kingdom to join the war effort.

I turned to Sil and Atikus. "Stay quiet. I'll get us a couple rooms, and then we can talk."

The bartender eyed me with caution, likely more from how I towered over him than any suspicion of Melucian ties. At six-foot-eight, I'd grown used to sideways looks from most people. The barkeep disappeared through a door behind the bar, returning a few minutes later with a tiny woman whose head barely reached my chest. Undeterred, she squared up, hands planted on wide hips, and met my gaze. After a bit of haggling, her manner softened, coins were exchanged, and she motioned for us to follow her through a long hallway to our rooms.

Sil waited a few minutes before joining Atikus and me in our room.

"That was a fine welcome," Atikus said with a weak smile.

"I guess we know why troops are headed toward the border, but the Triad involved in a kidnapping? Five kidnappings, if you believe the flyers? That doesn't make any sense." I sat on the corner of the bed as Sil took a seat at a writing desk against the wall .

"The man in the courtyard was wearing the green and gold of the royal house. Whatever's happening, it has the King's approval. This is his war," Atikus said.

"I wonder if they even know that we've had two kidnappings of our own," Sil added.

Atikus paced by the door. "They won't care at this point. If they're publicly blaming the Triad for their missing people, they'll say our kidnappings were part of the Triad's plot somehow. They'll use them to make us look even more sinister. ‘We were even willing to do this to our own people'—whatever ‘this' is."

Sil unfolded the flyer she'd stuffed in her pocket and handed it to me. It was a duplicate of the one I had seen on the notice board.

"From the looks of this, they're recruiting volunteers from all over the Kingdom. The flame's already lit, and I doubt there's any snuffing it now," she said.

The three of us stared at the flyer for a long moment before I broke the silence. "We can't control any of that. Our mission was to save the Healer, and that hasn't changed. We'll have to be a lot more careful when moving through towns and should get some new clothes to blend in better, but we stay the course.

"Sil, you should check on the cart; make sure they're still headed to Irina's Seat. Atikus, contact the Arch Mage and report what we've learned. I'll see about getting some new clothes. "

An hour later, I returned with an armful of clothes, which I unceremoniously dumped on the bed in front of Atikus. "Well, that was fun. I'm glad we thought to swap out our Melucian quills for crowns before crossing the mountains. If I'd dropped coins on the counter with the Merchants' Quill, I'm not sure I'd have made it back. The mob's roaming the streets, still raging."

Atikus shook his head. "I still don't understand what's behind all of this. Surely the King knows the Triad would never stoop to kidnapping, especially not the Crown Princess of our most important trading partner. We're missing a significant piece, perhaps a few of them."

"I don't know, but I do know we can't win a war. Before all this recruiting, the Kingdom already had a standing army large enough to crush us. Now, we'll be lucky to last more than a month when they roll over the mountains." I picked my new clothes out of the pile and began changing. The rough-spun fabric clawed at my skin, but I was hopeful the faded clothing common among farm folk in the area would mask our origins. I held the pants up to my waist, grunted at how they rose above my ankles, then slipped them on. We had seen plenty of boys and men in the square with ill-fitting clothes, so perhaps my height would work in our favor, at least where the clothes were concerned. "Were you able to get a message to the Arch Mage? "

Atikus nodded as he picked through the clothes. "I'm confident he received the information. I just wish we could communicate both ways. He could help us figure out what to do over here."

"We know what to do. We follow the Healer." I set my jaw stubbornly.

Atikus stared, and I could almost hear him choosing his words. "Son, this is a lot bigger than one missing girl. Our whole way of life is about to be attacked, probably even destroyed."

"I understand that, but this isn't just some missing girl. This is Tiana ." I tried to blink away the image of her smile.

"You say her name as though—"

"Atikus, she's . . . Tiana is special . . . to me. She's special to me ." My voice broke as the words tumbled out.

The Mage's gaze softened as recognition dawned. We hadn't spoken of my growing infatuation—if that's even what it was—with the Healer. No one but Ridley knew how I felt about her.

This mission was about a lot more than just saving some random victim from a terrible fate. In those cases, I was filled with a driving urgency to protect and rescue someone in need. But with this one, with Tiana's life in the balance, my heart ached to find her, to wrap her in my arms and stave off the entire world, if that's what it took to keep her forever safe .

"Atikus, there's nothing we can do to stop—wait a minute." I paced the length of the small room, tapping a finger against my chin, as fresh ideas flooded my mind. "Can you contact Declan? You sent him for magical help, right?"

"Hmm . . . I can try. Where he's going, my Telepathy might not work."

My head snapped up at that, concern flooding me. Atikus was one of the most powerful Mages alive. If he couldn't reach Declan, what hope was there—

"Besides, he wouldn't be able to answer. All I could do is send a message about our situation and hope it helps him."

I headed for the door.

"Get changed. We need to get some supper in the common room before it gets too late. I'll meet you down there in a few minutes."

I stopped in the door, Atikus's chuckle grabbing my attention. "Do I want to know what's behind that grin? About to make fun of my ankles?"

"Oh, I would never tease you about flashing a little leg to get what you want." Atikus coughed a laugh as his eyes sparkled. "I was just thinking how command suits you, even when you're ordering an old Mage around."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to give orders. This whole thing's got my head spinning."

Atikus took a few steps toward me and put a hand on my arm. "Allow an old man to be proud of his son. "

I was dumbstruck, but the tight embrace that followed seemed to stun the Mage even more. When we pulled apart, Atikus's broad smile lingered as I left the room.

The common room was empty throughout most of our meal, and the evening passed without incident. Atikus was in his element, entertaining Sil with stories of "little Keelan" and "Declan the Terrible" from our early years in the guild. Sil spent much of the night laughing while I dreamed of ways to squeeze my massive frame under the table.

Each time Declan's name was spoken, something prickled inside, and I wondered where my little brother had traveled—and what he'd gotten himself into this time. As boys, he was forever hurling himself headlong into trouble. I smiled, remembering the countless times I had to rescue the puffy-haired bugger before one of our Mage uncles discovered whatever he'd done. Mischief was more his name than any given to him by our parents.

Despite the embarrassment of my adopted father's tales, my heart was full for the first time in ages when we left the common room to get some rest.

The next morning, Sil joined us in our room again, and I explained how I'd bought horses for each of them. I hoped we could beat the masked men to Irina's Seat, assuming that was their final destination. We slipped out of the inn while the sun still slumbered, walked a few blocks to the stables, and trotted up the road.

As we passed the last few buildings of Rutin, I reined in my horse. A few paces off the road, where any traveler could see, hung a straw man in a Melucian Ranger's cloak, mounted high on a tall pole. He wore a hat with a makeshift Merchants' Guild Quill pinned to its brim. A dozen knives and arrows protruded from his body, and many more holes hinted at the game that had been played the night before.

Maybe they'd just been venting anger, but I thought it looked more like practicing for their vengeance to come.