4

DARK WINGS

I walked through the gardens outside of the Howling Hall, jaw clenched, my eyes drifting across withered flowers, pale trees and patches of soil covered in snow. Black clouds were gathering above the city. I could smell the storm coalescing, and felt it in my aching bones.

A stone path threaded its way through the gardens. Islana had loved to walk through the gardens. She’d always moved slowly, bending to smell the different flowers, to touch every leaf. Whenever possible I’d volunteered as her bodyguard on such walks, always staying several steps back, careful to avert my eyes, to remain watchful even when every part of me just wanted to look at her. On such walks, we’d rarely ever acknowledged each other, the both of us too afraid to let anything slip. But occasionally she would pause, a flower in hand, and turn to me. She would place it beneath my nose and ask me what I thought of the smell, which one was my favorite, and if I knew what it was called. I would answer in the most neutral voice I could muster while my heart pounded and my guts twisted themselves into knots. She would smile, then, as though she knew exactly what she was doing to me in those moments. Of course she did. She always knew. Although she was usually obsessed with protecting our secret at all costs, she would occasionally flirt with danger, taking small, unnecessary risks. I don’t think they brought her any inherent joy. She just loved to make me squirm.

“Could you walk any slower?” Keterlyn said from behind me.

I turned. “You’ll understand once you get to my age.”

“Age isn’t your problem,” she said. “It’s the lifetime of fighting, I’d say.”

“I’ll give you that.”

Keterlyn moved to my side and started to walk. Without thinking, I begun to keep pace with her. She said, “I have news for you.”

I winced. “Anything good?”

“They found Islana.”

I stopped walking. Keterlyn kept going, and I lurched forward to keep up with her. “Where?” I asked, “How?”

“Don’t sound so desperate, First Blade,”

I knew I was betraying myself. I found it impossible to care. “Tell me what happened.

“She was at the Grand Library,” Keterlyn said. “Reading. Would you believe it? She’d just killed the king, and there she was, lounging back in a chair with a book in her hands.”

“Is she okay?” I fought to keep my voice level but it came out more strangled than I would’ve liked.

“She’s alive, if that’s what you mean.” A pause. “They’ve thrown her in a cell. The Black Floor, I hear.”

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“Who’d you hear this from?”

“Avokis. He was rather pleased about it.”

“And yet,” I grated my teeth, “they didn’t mention it to me.”

Keterlyn raised an eyebrow. “And why would they? Also, don’t forget, you’re not particularly highly regarded right now. You’re not at fault for Emrik’s death, of course, but even still, a bodyguard never fares well when his charge is murdered, even if it was out of his control.”

I took a deep breath. She was right, and I needed to be more careful. I found myself looking around, determining if we were watched. A bird hopped across a branch just above our heads and cawed mournfully.

I said, “Why are you telling me any of this?”

“Because,” Keterlyn said softly, “I know you cared for her. Oh, don’t look at me like that. I was, and am, close to Islana. I’m also not fucking blind. I care for her. Which is why I’m about to ask for your help.”

We walked past a lady slipper orchid, Islana’s favorite flower, and I said, “Help with what?”

“Listen very carefully, Sigmund. Magoran intends to have Islana executed in five days from now. It’s going to be public. They’ll drag her out into the city center, cut off her head, and pull out her intestines.” Another pause, then she glanced at me. “The thing is, she didn’t do it. She didn’t kill Emrik and you know that.”

I said nothing. It hardly needed to be stated that this was a dangerous conversation. A lethal one. A pair of young ladies walked past us and Keterlyn and I fell silent until they were long gone. I used the interruption to compose myself. “If she didn’t do it, then who did?”

“Ah,” Keterlyn showed me her teeth, white and slightly sharp. “That’s the question, isn’t it? That’s what I need you to find out. Clearly someone is trying to frame her. Magoran, maybe, the fucking snake, or Avokis. But we need proof. Islana has friends. A lot of them, in fact, more than you would know. There are a lot of people that aren’t buying that she did this. If we can bring real proof to them, they’ll free her.”

“Or,” I said. “I go down there and I break her out with my bare hands.”

“Yes, I suppose you could just go and get yourself killed, but that would hardly help her, would it?”

I said, “Emrik’s body. It was covered in something. Do you know what it was?”

She shook her head. “No. Avokis might be right. A poison of some kind. But…”

“But,” I said, “there was an eye embedded in his arm. And the poison, if that’s what it is, had done strange things to his skin.”

“The eye is off-putting,” Keterlyn admitted. “I have no way to explain it.”

“You’re the witch.”

“You know, people call me that, and have no idea what they’re even talking about. But I embrace the title, as I embrace their fear. Still, I have nothing to offer you regarding the eye.”

“Perhaps,” I said, “it was deliberately placed there by someone in order to confuse us.”

“I wouldn’t give them that much credit.”

I scowled. “Proof, you say. How do I find proof?”

Keterlyn rolled her eyes. “That’s what I’m asking you to figure out.”

I looked at her. “Why? Why would anyone kill Emrik, frame Islana?”

Keterlyn stopped and turned to face me. She patted me on the head as though I were a child. “Think about it, why don’t you? I don’t think you’re an idiot. Try to figure it out. And figure out how to save Islana. She doesn’t have long.”

The witch made to turn around, but I caught her by her arm. “And what are you going to be doing?”

“Oh,” she said vaguely, “don’t worry about me. Helping, I can assure you of that.” And this time, when she spun around, I let her go. She strolled away from the palace, and the bird perched upon the branch took flight upon dark wings and followed her.