Finnikin, Isaboe and Lucian spent the night in a cottage halfway up the mountain. Tesadora woke them once … twice to feed the babe, and later, Finnikin held Isaboe in his arms as she wept, sobs that ripped at the core of him. Then they were awoken a third time.
‘An army is entering the valley,’ Trevanion said. ‘More powerful than we could ever imagine. Take her back to the palace, Finn. Don’t even stop in the mountain. I don’t want you or Isaboe close if they cross the stream.’
‘She hasn’t lost her hearing,’ Isaboe murmured, getting to her feet. Trevanion embraced them both.
‘Find a way to arm Harker’s people,’ she ordered. ‘And I want Quintana of Charyn on our side of the stream. She needs to be with her son.’
And Finnikin watched as Isaboe took the Charynite King in her arms one last time and pressed her lips to his cheek and whispered something in his ear. She returned him to Tesadora and then took Finnikin’s hand and walked outside to where Perri had prepared her horse.
‘What say you, Perri?’ Isaboe said wearily. ‘Is it time to go home?’
Perri lifted her onto the horse. ‘I say what I said in that Charyn woodlands four years past, my queen,’ he said, his voice husky. ‘You humble me. You humble us all.’
Chapter 40
Phaedra and the women listened to the fighting from inside the cave. They knew little except to do what Harker had told them earlier that day. To stay where they were and not move until they were given a sign that it was over.
‘It could happen that while we fight Donashe, an army will enter the valley and we won’t know who is friend or foe,’ he whispered when he was granted a visit, accompanied by Donashe, who Cora kept busy with one of her outbursts. Harker smuggled a dagger into his wife’s hand and she quickly placed it up her sleeve. The Lumaterans had left weapons for Harker’s men concealed on their side of the stream and Phaedra prayed no one on the Charyn side would be foolish enough to cross beyond the bank. More than anything, Donashe and his men could not suspect that the little King of Charyn was hidden there.
They stayed huddled together all the day long, frightened by the cries coming from outside and below. Sometimes they heard the clambering of footsteps outside the entrance and they’d press themselves into the darkest crevice of the cave, but most times it was a valley dweller finding safer refuge on higher ground.
‘It’s cat and mouse down there,’ an old man whispered. ‘And Donashe’s men are not just fighting Harker and the lads, they’re fighting each other. There are already corpses floating downstream.’
‘Father’s going to get himself killed,’ Florenza wept.
They heard wails and shouts and Phaedra prayed with desperation that Donashe and his men would not take refuge up so high. If they decided to sweep through the caves with their weapons, a single dagger was not going to save Phaedra and the women. Fear was vicious and whispered cruel thoughts into their hearts.
‘At times such as this, I’m grateful for the curse,’ Cora said. ‘How could we ever have protected children from this?’
Phaedra felt Quintana take her hand and she gathered her in an embrace.
‘If there is one thing I would bet my life on, it’s that the little King is safe,’ Phaedra whispered.
Night brought with it new sounds. A scurry of a rat, or a branch knocking against stone in a grim beat. Sometimes a quick cry would reach them from the world below. And nothing else would follow.
‘A dead man,’ Cora would say. They had learnt to tell the difference between the sound of a man with a deadly wound and one that caused pain to linger and sing a maudlin tune. And then they heard footsteps come from the outer cave. No one so much as muttered a word. They heard flint against stone and a flicker of light appeared. Phaedra could see now that sometime during the night the cave had filled with valley dwellers, their eyes wide with terror.
‘The Mont!’ someone said and suddenly Lucian was pushing between those standing before him. Phaedra sobbed with relief as he gathered her to him.
‘You’ve got to trust me,’ he told the women, whose instinct was to huddle around Quintana. ‘There’s so much confusion and more than one army is about to enter. I’ll find a way to take Quintana to the little King and keep her safe on my side of the stream. I have to do it now, or it will be too late.’
‘Whose army?’ Cora asked.
Lucian shook his head. ‘Harker sent out a scout but there’s little to see in this darkness. He says it looks like Nebia. So I need to be gone. If they know a Lumateran is on this side of the stream, it could trigger a crossing. Donashe and his men are turning on each other. Some surrendering to Harker, others attacking anything that moves and never mind those caught in their way. Trevanion’s orders are that the moment I take the Princess to safety, the Monts are to return up the mountain. Tesadora will stay with Quintana and the boy.’
Lucian pressed a kiss to Phaedra’s lips.
‘If I get a chance –’
‘Don’t!’ she said. ‘Just keep her alive.’
Lucian picked Quintana up in his arms and the women wrapped her in blankets and cloaks, and then the two were gone.
‘If he gets her safe across the stream, I’ll never call him an idiot again,’ Cora said, and Phaedra could hear she was crying.
It was in the early hours of the morning that an army entered the camp. Phaedra heard the shouting, demanding surrender in the name of a united Charyn. Jorja said there was no such thing. Phaedra and Florenza crept to the outer cave and stole a look at the path behind them. A never-ending stream of horses and riders were arriving from the Alonso road. Phaedra took Florenza’s hand and they crawled on their bellies to the tip of the rock that overlooked the stream before them. And they wished they hadn’t.
Men lay dead, sprawled over lower cave ledges. The valley dwellers from below began to emerge, searching for their husbands, their sons, wailing at what was to be found. Florenza began to weep, but Phaedra’s throat was dry and it felt as though fear had torn and scratched away at its core. Had Quintana and Lucian made it across the stream?
Phaedra and the women made their way down with caution. There were soldiers rounding up Donashe’s men and questioning anyone else. The women heard whispers that an army from plague-ridden Desantos had arrived, and those from Turla and Avanosh as well, not to mention those from Nebia. Jorja recognised the uniform.
‘Trust no one,’ Cora said, grabbing a bloody sword discarded across their path. ‘Plague-touched or enemy.’
It was only Jorja’s cry of joy when she saw Harker speaking to one of the Nebian soldiers that brought the first hope and certainty of the day. Nebia was not the enemy. They watched as two of the camp leaders were being dragged in chains beyond the caves. One of them had taken part in the murder of the seven scholars. A soldier, Phaedra didn’t know if he was Turlan or Lasconian, said Donashe and his men would be handed over to the Priests of Sebastabol for execution. The Priests would want the seven lads avenged and they would want to know the whereabouts of Rafuel. She saw Ginny in chains alongside Gies, and Phaedra walked away from Cora and the women and followed the soldiers between the caves to the Alonso road where Donashe’s men and Ginny were being placed in a wagon. Ginny’s eyes widened the moment she saw her.
‘Phaedra!’ she screamed. ‘Save me, Phaedra, please. Please!’
But Phaedra could only think of being on her knees beside Florenza and Jorja as Donashe’s men held his sword to Cora on the day Ginny betrayed them. Once, her compassion had no boundaries. The months since Donashe and his men entered the valley had changed that. So Phaedra turned away and walked back towards the caves. But suddenly, she was dragged into a crevice and she found herself face to face with Donashe. There was a crazed look of fear in his eyes and he held a filthy, bloody hand to her mouth.
‘You tell them that I kept her safe in the end,’ he said. ‘You tell them.’
He dragged Phaedra back towards the Alonso road where more soldiers were arriving from the south.
‘You tell them or I’ll make you pay,’ Donashe threatened, his mouth close to her ear.
But when the new arrivals stopped to tether their horses, Phaedra broke free with a cry and it was then that
