Finnikin of the Rock

stared like she'd seen an apparition.

'Yata!' Isaboe's cry of anguish rang through the hills. Her body pressed against her yata, collapsing under the weight of her memories and grief as the names poured out of her mouth. Names of her sisters and brother, mother and father, echoing with a sorrow that seemed as if it would never end.

Yata's tent, where the queen stayed, was heavily guarded that night. Out of respect for the family and a need to be alone, Finnikin had kept his distance. But his desire to see her was strong. The need to lie by her side and gather her to him was so fierce that it made him weak.

As he went to enter the tent, four of the queen's cousins stepped in front of him, swords in their hands.

'I'm with the queen,' he said firmly.

The Mont who seemed to be in charge shook his head. 'She's with her family and the queen's First Man,' he was told. 'Who are you to her?'

Who was he to the queen of Lumatere?

Lucian appeared before he could answer. 'He's with us, lads,' he said, stepping back to allow Finnikin to enter.

He could not see her from where he stood. Saro and his brothers and wives and their children were clustered around the middle of the tent. He could see Sir Topher, his head bent close to Saro as the two men spoke.

'They trapped the silver wolf,' Lucian whispered as they sat at the edge of the tent. 'In the hole we dug and covered with foliage.'

'Who?'

'Balthazar and Isaboe. That night. And when the assassin gave chase, Balthazar hid Isaboe in a burrow and led him to the trap.' Finnikin stared, horrified.

'Isaboe later returned to the main gate,' Lucian continued, watching the scene around Yata's bed, 'but the bodies of the royal family had already been discovered and the gate was closed. She knew something terrible must have happened in the palace as it had in the forest. So she returned to the Forest and went searching for Seranonna and led her to where... Balthazar'—Lucian shuddered —'lay dead alongside the assassin in the dugout. Torn to pieces. The wolf still lived.'

'They buried the wolf alive with Balthazar and the assassin?' Finnikin asked hoarsely.

Lucian shook his head. 'Isaboe would not allow her brother to be buried beside the assassin. She was afraid it would keep the gods from taking Balthazar to his rightful place in the afterlife. She killed the wolf with Balthazar's crossbow. She said Finnikin of the Rock had taught her how to shoot as a child. Seranonna retrieved the bodies of both the animal and Balthazar and buried them together. Then the death bells from the palace began to sound. Seranonna knew that Isaboe might be the only surviving member of the royal family. She made sure that whoever the assassins were, they would be led to believe that Isaboe had died, not Balthazar. So they would never search for a girl child.'

'The clothes... hair ...' Finnikin swallowed, not able to continue.

'Belonged to Isaboe. But the fingers ... ears ...'

'Mercy.'

The queen was sleeping, her head resting on Yata's lap, as if the ten years of journeying had finally exhausted her. Yata caught Finnikin's eye among the crowds of people, and she beckoned him with her hand.

'She asks for you each time she wakes,' she said, smiling as he approached.

Who are you to her?

He knelt beside the bed, wanting to reach out and touch the smooth flushed skin. 'All this time she wanted to get home to you,' he said quietly.

Yata shook her head. 'No. She is mine for these few precious moments, Finnikin, and I will be selfish and take every opportunity to hold her to me. But all this time she needed to get home to her people of Lumatere.' She took his hand and placed it alongside the queen's cheek. 'Is she not the image of my precious girl?' she asked, tears in her eyes. 'My other sweet lovelies were the image of their good father, the king, who treated my daughter like a queen from the moment he first saw her. But this one? This one was our little Mont girl.'

Finnikin looked up at Saro. 'If I could be so bold, Saro. Please send your people ahead to the Valley tonight and allow us to keep our traveling party small. It will be dangerous to draw attention to ourselves this close to Lumatere, and the protection of the queen is paramount. We must inform Trevanion that Queen Isaboe is returning to the Valley to take her people home.'

Saro nodded. 'We will send word through my brothers.'

'We leave at first light,' Finnikin said.

They left the hills of Osteria the next morning with the last of the Monts. The queen rode in the middle of the group with Finnikin. At times he felt her tears against his back, and he knew they were for him as much as for her. What was about to take place in the Valley outside the kingdom was a mystery to them all, and he sensed her fear as her hands clutched him tight. Strong hands, he had once observed when they stole the horse in Sarnak. They would need to be to lead a kingdom. Heal a people. On either side of them rode Saro and Lucian, and in front Yata, Sir Topher, and Froi. They were quiet. They knew too much not to be. The entry into Lumatere would cost the Monts dearly, if not through the loss of their queen then through the loss of their men. After ten years of keeping their people safe from harm, Saro and his men would be the first to enter the gate after the Guard.

Before they reached the Valley, Finnikin stopped. They were traveling along a narrow path between wheat fields that shimmered on either side.

'I need you to come with me,' he said quietly to Lucian. 'Saro, can you take care of the queen? We will not be long.'

She gripped his hand. 'Let me come, Finnikin.'

'You'll be safer here,' he said gently.

Lucian followed him to a place among the crops, and Finnikin wasted no time in speaking. 'I need you to pledge,' he told the Mont when he was sure no one could hear them.

'Definitely not from my upper thigh.'

'We don't have time to argue. Just bleed and pledge to the goddess.'

'Lagrami or Sagrami?'

'Goddess complete.' Finnikin held out his dagger, and Lucian stared at it for a moment before taking it and making an incision across his arm. He handed the dagger back to Finnikin and waited for him to repeat the action, but Finnikin shook his head.

'Just you.'

'Whatever it is, we pledge together, Finnikin,' Lucian said firmly.

'Pledge that you will kill me—'

Lucian stepped away from him in fury. 'You go too far.'

Finnikin grabbed the Mont by his shirt. 'Pledge that you will kill me if I am ever a threat to the queen.'

Lucian shrugged free. 'I will kill anyone who is a threat to my queen,' he said through gritted teeth.

'Pledge, Lucian. Please.'

'A blind man can see what she feels for you and you for her. Your souls are not merely entwined; they are fused. There is your threat, Finnikin. Why can't you just tell her you love her and pretend you live normal lives like the rest of us damned mortals?'

'Pledge it! I beg you as my blood brother.'

Lucian traced a line across Finnikin's arm with his dagger. 'Balthazar's pledge,' he said forcefully. 'That I protect the royal house of Lumatere. The queen.' He looked at Finnikin. 'And the one she chooses to be her king.'

Froi leaned his head on Finnikin's horse beside where the queen sat, desperate to see the captain and Perri and Moss. Then everyone would start scowling and yelling orders again and he would know that things were back to normal. The night before, he had overheard the Mont lads talking about Finnikin and the queen. He hated the way they called Evanjalin the queen, as if she wasn't a person anymore. The Mont lads were whispering about the force needed to break the curse at the main gate and one of them called Finnikin a skinny trog and Froi wanted to tell them that he had seen Finnikin fight and that he was better than all of them. Then the other Mont lad whispered that Finnikin or the queen would probably die at the gate because the curse was so strong, and it would probably be Finnikin because he wasn't used to the darkness. Froi knew the captain wouldn't let Finnikin or Evanjalin do