Since coming here she’d made no friends nor found anyone willing to talk to her. At this point, she didn’t have any idea of where the gate was, or if it really was in this city, or maybe beyond. And so far, she hadn’t come up with any firm way of looking in hidden places for it.
Face it, she thought, all you’re doing is wandering, hoping to get lucky. That isn’t going to work. Make a better plan!
It wasn’t the first time she’d told herself that, and this time the result was no different. There was nothing and nobody around who would be of any help.
Fighting back a sudden rush of tears, she looked around her, set her jaw and determined to find something, anything, that would lead her to at least a clue.
People pushed past her, ignoring her even though she obviously didn’t belong here and was lost and bewildered. They treated her no differently than they did each other.
Except for those two. The couple standing in the middle of the street, holding hands and turning slowly in circles, staring at everything, every face that passed them by. Especially the children.
“Oh,” the woman whispered, realizing who they must be.
She cautiously approached them, moving slowly through the press of people.
The short woman’s cheeks were wet with tears, and the man seemed to be holding them back himself.
“Excuse me,” she said when she neared.
The couple spun to her, eyes narrowed with suspicion.
“What do you want?” the man growled. The hand that didn’t hold on to his wife’s, if that’s what she was, dropped to his side, digging into his pocket for some weapon.
She held up her own empty hands. “I don’t mean any harm. But I saw you looking….”
“It’s none of your business,” the man said, at almost the same time that the woman let go of his hand and stepped forward.
“Have you seen her?” she asked, her eyes bright with hope. “Have you seen our daughter?”
Her heart broke when she saw the hope fade as the woman saw her expression. “I did,” she said, hating herself but knowing that she would want to know. “I’m sorry. They took her. I tried to fight them off…”
The small woman sobbed and buried her head in the man’s shoulder. He looked over her at the taller woman. “You tried to help her? Why?”
“She was a child.”
“She wasn’t your child.”
“No, but she was somebody’s. I’m sorry.”
She turned to go when the short woman cried out, “Wait! Please, tell us. Is she dead?”
The woman turned back. “No. Or at least she wasn’t when I saw her last. But she wasn’t herself either. I think they took her.”
The short woman nodded, glanced at her husband and said. “Who are you? You’re not from here, are you?”
“No, I’m not. My name is Celia, and I’m from far away.”
“Where are you going? And where are you staying?”
Celia shrugged. “I’m not sure, honestly. And I’ve been staying on the street.”
The short woman looked at her husband again. He shook his head no, but she silently pleaded with him. He grimaced, said no again, then relented and with a frown turned to Celia.
“Come with us,” he said abruptly. “At least tonight you’ll have a safe place to stay.”
Celia hesitated. It could be a trap, a trick to get her into their house. Then she looked closer at the hair starting to gray on both of them. At the way the woman was clinging to the man’s hand again. At the very fact that they were out here, searching for their lost daughter.
If there was any goodness in this city at all, perhaps she’d just stumbled across it.
“Thank you,” she said, the words rushing out of her as she fully realized how grateful she was. “Thank you.”
Chapter 11
It was good to get out of the office for a while. To breathe the outside air and listen to the sounds of the soldiers training. A lot of that was going on. Shireen had authorized the induction of several young people into the ranks, younger than they normally would have accepted. The battle against the Soul Gaunts, then against House Glittering Birch, had taken its toll though. And even if they did cause more losses than they took, House Towering Oaks was still in dire need.
They were vulnerable right now, and she lived in fear that Jamshir would bring his might against them again. His House was depleted too, but a lot of them simply retreated when Whispering Pines showed up, and made their way back to their own House. Besides, who knew what else Jamshir was keeping up his sleeve.
“They’re coming along,” Orlando said, approaching and wiping sweat from his brow.
“Not fast enough.”
“They’re trying. And we’ve got soldiers training them who aren’t used to doing that. Some of them barely out of training themselves.”
“I know,” she sighed, “and I do appreciate the efforts everyone is making. But we’re still too weak.”
Orlando nodded. There wasn’t much more to say.
Shireen watched as one young recruit awkwardly waved his sword, lunging at his trainer, a woman hardly older than the trainee. She laughed and easily dodged the blow, disarming him and thumping him a good one on the shoulder with her practice sword, sending him sprawling.
“Hold on!” Shireen yelled, striding forward.
She reached down and helped the young man to his feet. “You’re doing it wrong,” she said.
“I know,” he replied, rubbing his shoulder.
“Here, hold your sword like this.” She showed him the proper way. “Too heavy? Use your other hand to support your sword hand then, like this. And stop swinging at her sword. You don’t want to hurt that, you want to hurt her.”
The young man took a better
