I meet his eyes and raise my chin. “I meant every word I said. The difference between us, Ian, is that I’m not willing to kill anyone but those who absolutely deserve it.”
“You’re tied to a wagon, surrounded by trackers, and too injured and weak to even defend yourself. You’re stupid if you think you can get the best of me.” He gets to his feet, his legs braced against the constant motion of the wheels. “And I don’t care what you say about hope. About second chances. You’ve used up your chances, Rachel. You and Logan both.”
His voice drops until his words are nothing but a breath whispered across the space between us. “You and I are the same. You know it. I know it. Justice requires sacrifice. The moment Samuel turns his back on you, I’m going to deliver the justice you so desperately deserve.”
Without another word, he leaps from the wagon, and I’m alone.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
LOGAN
Lankenshire is a distant gleam of white-gray stone on a hill behind us, only intermittently visible through the thick clusters of tall maples, hickories, and oaks.
It took us nearly three hours to work our way out of the tunnels. Once we reached the northeast exit and met up with the handful of soldiers and horses the Commander had requested from the vast army camped across the fields surrounding Lankenshire, Willow announced that the device was actually four hundred yards northwest of the city. When the Commander cursed her for costing us extra time, Willow coolly asked him if he’d rather have had the location announced in the hearing of the few trackers who’d survived the dungeon assault. Covering the ground between our exit point and the device was slow going in the dark, even with the horses, because we didn’t want to leave a trail beside the tunnel’s entrance advertising our new direction.
I wish I had Jeremiah’s map with me so I could figure out where we are in relation to Hodenswald, the next closest city-state, but the map, along with my bag of spare tech supplies, my extra clothes, and my weapons, is in my room at the hospital in Lankenshire.
The Commander will know how to get to Hodenswald from here. I just have to hope that once we recover the device, he still agrees that I’m necessary to his efforts to take down Rowansmark.
Actually, hope has nothing to do with it.
My horse’s hoof slides through a damp patch of dirt, and I take a second to lean down and brush the print away with the leafy bough I’m carrying as I ride at the back of our small group. My left hand aches in dull throbs, and I handle the branch carefully to avoid bumping it against the stump of my missing finger. It isn’t easy to carry the bough and keep my seat on my borrowed horse while my hands are wrapped in chains, but I’m not about to complain. I might need these chains for a weapon.
I fully expect the Commander to try to kill me as soon as we recover the device. Part of me wants to let him try. Let him take up his sword against me and learn a permanent lesson about what happens when a leader abuses his power and pushes his people to the breaking point. If I couldn’t defend myself against him with my chains like I did inside his dungeon, Willow could simply shoot him with an arrow.
A shrill whistle interrupts my thoughts, and I look up to see Willow swing out of her saddle and leap into the cradle of a huge oak. Knots in the wood have created holes the size of my fist across the trunk. She looks from me to the hole closest to her and then back again.
We’ve found it.
The Commander and his men ease to a stop and dismount.
“Where is it? In that tree?” he asks. “Bring it down.”
Willow pauses, looking to me for direction. I understand her hesitation. Once we give him the device, our bargaining chip is gone. We’ll have to hope he understands that he needs me if he wants to disarm the tech in the northern city-states and strengthen this device enough to have a prayer against Rowansmark’s armies.
“If you’re considering breaking the terms of our deal, think again.” The Commander’s voice cuts through the morning air. “I saw what you did with the arrows in the dungeon, girl, and I came prepared.”
A knot forms in my stomach as two of the new guards whip arrows into their bows and aim them at Willow. She’s stuck, her feet on a branch, her body wrapped around the trunk while she reaches for the hole that hides the device.
She’ll never get out of the way in time.
The cold rasp of a sword leaving its scabbard stings the air and the Commander grabs my cloak, pulls me from my horse, and shoves me against the nearest tree, his blade already at my neck. I don’t raise my hands to block him. I can’t. If I make a single wrong move, both Willow and I are dead. The Commander already knows where the device is. Our leverage is gone. All I have left is the faint hope that his need to destroy James Rowan outweighs his need to destroy me.
“Perhaps we could discuss this matter with civility, rather than with weapons,” Connor says as he spurs his horse forward so that he can grab the reins of the riderless mounts who stand quietly like the battle-trained horses that they are.
“Perhaps you should hold your tongue before I cut it out of your head,” the Commander snaps.
“I told you it was a mistake to bring the old man out here,” Willow says, her eyes on the two arrows aimed at her body. “I told you he’d stick a knife in our backs because he’s too stupid to see the value of keeping alive the people who can actually stop this piece of tech from malfunctioning and who can disarm the tech in the other city-states.”
“Better shut that little girl up, or I’ll let my men teach her the same lesson I’m about to teach you.” The edge of his sword catches against the skin on my neck.
“You’re tied to a wagon, surrounded by trackers, and too injured and weak to even defend yourself. You’re stupid if you think you can get the best of me.” He gets to his feet, his legs braced against the constant motion of the wheels. “And I don’t care what you say about hope. About second chances. You’ve used up your chances, Rachel. You and Logan both.”
His voice drops until his words are nothing but a breath whispered across the space between us. “You and I are the same. You know it. I know it. Justice requires sacrifice. The moment Samuel turns his back on you, I’m going to deliver the justice you so desperately deserve.”
Without another word, he leaps from the wagon, and I’m alone.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
LOGAN
Lankenshire is a distant gleam of white-gray stone on a hill behind us, only intermittently visible through the thick clusters of tall maples, hickories, and oaks.
It took us nearly three hours to work our way out of the tunnels. Once we reached the northeast exit and met up with the handful of soldiers and horses the Commander had requested from the vast army camped across the fields surrounding Lankenshire, Willow announced that the device was actually four hundred yards northwest of the city. When the Commander cursed her for costing us extra time, Willow coolly asked him if he’d rather have had the location announced in the hearing of the few trackers who’d survived the dungeon assault. Covering the ground between our exit point and the device was slow going in the dark, even with the horses, because we didn’t want to leave a trail beside the tunnel’s entrance advertising our new direction.
I wish I had Jeremiah’s map with me so I could figure out where we are in relation to Hodenswald, the next closest city-state, but the map, along with my bag of spare tech supplies, my extra clothes, and my weapons, is in my room at the hospital in Lankenshire.
The Commander will know how to get to Hodenswald from here. I just have to hope that once we recover the device, he still agrees that I’m necessary to his efforts to take down Rowansmark.
Actually, hope has nothing to do with it.
My horse’s hoof slides through a damp patch of dirt, and I take a second to lean down and brush the print away with the leafy bough I’m carrying as I ride at the back of our small group. My left hand aches in dull throbs, and I handle the branch carefully to avoid bumping it against the stump of my missing finger. It isn’t easy to carry the bough and keep my seat on my borrowed horse while my hands are wrapped in chains, but I’m not about to complain. I might need these chains for a weapon.
I fully expect the Commander to try to kill me as soon as we recover the device. Part of me wants to let him try. Let him take up his sword against me and learn a permanent lesson about what happens when a leader abuses his power and pushes his people to the breaking point. If I couldn’t defend myself against him with my chains like I did inside his dungeon, Willow could simply shoot him with an arrow.
A shrill whistle interrupts my thoughts, and I look up to see Willow swing out of her saddle and leap into the cradle of a huge oak. Knots in the wood have created holes the size of my fist across the trunk. She looks from me to the hole closest to her and then back again.
We’ve found it.
The Commander and his men ease to a stop and dismount.
“Where is it? In that tree?” he asks. “Bring it down.”
Willow pauses, looking to me for direction. I understand her hesitation. Once we give him the device, our bargaining chip is gone. We’ll have to hope he understands that he needs me if he wants to disarm the tech in the northern city-states and strengthen this device enough to have a prayer against Rowansmark’s armies.
“If you’re considering breaking the terms of our deal, think again.” The Commander’s voice cuts through the morning air. “I saw what you did with the arrows in the dungeon, girl, and I came prepared.”
A knot forms in my stomach as two of the new guards whip arrows into their bows and aim them at Willow. She’s stuck, her feet on a branch, her body wrapped around the trunk while she reaches for the hole that hides the device.
She’ll never get out of the way in time.
The cold rasp of a sword leaving its scabbard stings the air and the Commander grabs my cloak, pulls me from my horse, and shoves me against the nearest tree, his blade already at my neck. I don’t raise my hands to block him. I can’t. If I make a single wrong move, both Willow and I are dead. The Commander already knows where the device is. Our leverage is gone. All I have left is the faint hope that his need to destroy James Rowan outweighs his need to destroy me.
“Perhaps we could discuss this matter with civility, rather than with weapons,” Connor says as he spurs his horse forward so that he can grab the reins of the riderless mounts who stand quietly like the battle-trained horses that they are.
“Perhaps you should hold your tongue before I cut it out of your head,” the Commander snaps.
“I told you it was a mistake to bring the old man out here,” Willow says, her eyes on the two arrows aimed at her body. “I told you he’d stick a knife in our backs because he’s too stupid to see the value of keeping alive the people who can actually stop this piece of tech from malfunctioning and who can disarm the tech in the other city-states.”
“Better shut that little girl up, or I’ll let my men teach her the same lesson I’m about to teach you.” The edge of his sword catches against the skin on my neck.
