When we parted ways, I slipped through the Flags and over the city wall, well clear of the guard towers. Dawn was still hours away, but weariness tugged at my eyes and clouded the edges of my thoughts.
As I stepped into the dark camp of Liadian refugees, I shifted my stride to mimic Black Knife’s. I didn’t have his sword or gloves, but I doubted anyone would notice. I didn’t have his voice, either, but I could disguise mine. He was probably doing the same already.
Cool, sharp air twined through the tents and lean-tos. Within a circle of shelters, a small fire crackled, throwing a fractured glow among the handful of men guarding the camp. There were ten of them, all armed with clubs or other blunt objects. A few had short blades at their hips, and likely hidden within their clothes.
Sheep bleated at my passing, and one of the guards spun around to face me. “Who are you? Show yourself!” At his shout, the others snapped to attention, weapons raised.
My hands palm-up and out to my sides, I stepped into the light, and pitched my voice deeper. Raspier. “Who do you think I am?”
“Black Knife,” one breathed. The men all lowered their weapons.
“I’m chasing a rumor.”
The men gathered around, lowering their weapons. “What rumor?” A few narrowed their eyes as they took in my height. Tall for a girl, but not as tall as people expected Black Knife to be.
“A map in the palace shows a lake in Liadia marked with questions. What’s out there?”
The men exchanged glances. “No one at the palace believes,” said a boy not much younger than me. Small round scars dotted his face. “We were told not to speak of it.”
“I will believe you. Tell me.”
“It’s just a rumor,” said the boy. “I didn’t see it.”
“Take me to someone who did.”
The guards led me to a nearby tent with a goat tethered outside. One man darted inside, and I caught the edges of his whisper. “Black Knife is here. He’s going to stop the wraith. He’s going to save us all.”
I entered the small space, which was lit with a few candle stubs. Next to the guard who’d shown me in, a woman sat amid a mountain of blankets. Though she appeared young enough to be my mother, she was hunched, as if she’d hurt her back, or had carried heavy loads for many years. Her expression was grim, with traces of kindness. “Black Knife.”
I stepped away from the shelter’s door and assumed Black Knife’s posture. Shoulders back, feet hip-width apart, arms over my chest.
“You want to know what I saw.”
“Every detail.”
“I was forbidden from speaking of it.”
“By whom?”
“The Liadian king. His men.”
“They’re dead now. Tell me.”
She offered a slight bow. “Before the wraith hit, I was a maid in a lord’s country home. Everyone was talking about those barriers like they were the answer, but I knew the truth. The supposed alchemists the king hired to build the barriers were all flashers taken from their homes and put to work pouring magical energy into the walls. I was one of them. But”—she held up her hands, as though trying to appease me—“I don’t use magic now. What use is making myself float? I did only what my king ordered. I could not refuse.”
She could have refused, but he might have had her killed for it.
“What happened then?” I asked.
She lowered her hands. “When the walls were finished, we were sent home. The magic barrier seemed to work for a time, but eventually, the wraith broke through. People were angry. Afraid. Many fled immediately, but some of us were trapped by the very barriers we’d helped create. From the house where I was trapped, I watched the wraith break through the walls. Pieces flew into the nearby lake. It was called Mirror Lake.”
There were probably a hundred lakes called that. It didn’t mean anything. “The lake with the pieces of the barrier is the source of the rumors?”
“Yes.” She slumped deeper into her blankets. “I saw the water erupt. It cleaned the wraith right out of the surrounding land. That’s everything I remember.”
The guard cleared his throat. “I heard that the light of another world shines through the lake now. Others have said the water boils all year around, or the water sucks in the wraith every night so the surrounding land is clean.”
“I see. Is that all?”
They plied me with a few more nonsense rumors before I left the tent and refugee camp. When I was sure no one was watching, I climbed over the city wall and made my way through the Flags.
By the time I reached Thornton, the eastern horizon had turned purple and the silhouettes of mountains were just visible. I had to hurry back to the palace, but first, I needed to grab a few supplies.
I stopped in quiet shops, lifting a sleeping roll and sturdy breeches and bags of dried travel rations. I was out of the area just as the clock tower chimed five and owners began making their way toward their businesses.
Hawksbill was trickier, with maids and servants awake to prepare for the day, but the deep gold rays of dawn left pockets of shadow. I stayed to those, ascending to my palace balcony just as light broke over it. I slipped into the room and let all my new belongings fall to the floor as I staggered into bed. Everything I’d learned tonight spun in my head, even as tension eased from my body and I fell closer to sleep.
No wonder the prince’s wraith mitigation committee wanted to keep that place on the map confidential.
Liadia had broken the Wraith Alliance, but did anyone even know what the results were, let alone what they meant?
It seemed no one was interested enough to find out.
No one but me.