I jumped out of the tent, wielding my dagger, ready to stop any Omte who dared come into our camp. She stood over the guards with her back to me, snow clinging to her dark hair and fur-lined jacket. When she turned around, I got a good look at her for the first time, and I recognized her.
In her late twenties and beautiful, especially for an Omte, she had the face of a warrior, with determined dark eyes and smooth olive skin.
“Bekk Vallin,” I said, but I didn’t lower my dagger.
When Konstantin and I had been to Fulatr?sk, she had been kind to us, and even helped save us from the wrath of an ogre. But she had been a Queen’s guard, and now she was sneaking into our base camp. So things didn’t look good.
“Bryn Aven.” Bekk sounded just as surprised to see me as I was to see her, but relief washed over her face. “I was trying to tell the guards but they wouldn’t listen to me. I came here to help you.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why should I believe you?”
“Helge Ot?ck betrayed our Queen and our kingdom. He’s dragged us into a war that we have no place in, all for a few gemstones.” She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “He sold out our entire tribe. Queen Bodil doesn’t see it yet, but I do, and I won’t continue to do their bidding.”
“So you’re saying that you want to fight on our side?” I lowered my dagger a bit, and she nodded.
“I want to fight with whoever is going to kill Helge,” she replied coolly. “And I’ll help you however I can.”
“I think I should take you to see King Mikko, and I’ll let him decide what to do with you.”
She nodded. “That only sounds fair.”
SIXTY-SIX
dialogue
Mikko pushed in the canvas door to the round tent that had been used for planning our strategy, his long silver fur robe dragging on the ground behind him. Baltsar and Finn followed.
I’d gotten his footman to wake him, and he’d apparently decided to wake Baltsar and Finn too, but that was just as well. Bekk and I had been standing by his table, warming ourselves by the thick pillar candles that covered it.
As soon as he came and eyed up Bekk, his mouth turned down into a deep scowl. “I thought we’d decided we’re taking no prisoners.”
“I’m not a prisoner,” Bekk said fiercely and stepped back from the table.
I put my hand on her arm in an attempt to calm her, and even through the thick leather of her jacket I could feel her thick muscles coiled. She could take us all out if she wanted to.
“She came here voluntarily to talk,” I interjected hurriedly.
“What does she have to talk about?” Baltsar asked, eyeing her with the same suspicion as Mikko.
“Why don’t you ask me yourself?” Bekk shot back, and I was beginning to wonder if bringing her had been a bad idea.
“All right.” Mikko took a deep breath, and his broad shoulders relaxed a bit, as he attempted to start over from a less offensive position. “If you came into our camp tonight, risking a great deal, you must have something valuable to tell us.”
Bekk responded by relaxing herself. “I do. I came to tell you about Helge Ot?ck. He duped Queen Bodil, and he’s been working with Viktor D?lig. He’s helped orchestrate the whole thing.”
Mikko’s brow furrowed. “Helge Ot?ck? I don’t think I’m familiar with him.”
“He’s the Viceroy to the Omte,” I said, and I bit my tongue to keep from adding that he was the bastard who was holding Ridley hostage.
“The Omte are working for the Kanin and Viktor D?lig. We all know that.” Baltsar shrugged. “How is this exciting news to us?”
Bekk glared at him, her amber eyes seeming to blaze in the candlelight. “Helge helped orchestrate this whole thing. For over a year, Helge has been getting the strongest members of the Omte tribe exiled on the tiniest infractions, then passing them along to Viktor for his army.”
“Why would Helge do that?” Finn asked.
“Viktor traded our men for a few sapphires. Helge has been selling off our tribe bit by bit for a few lousy blue rocks.” Bekk shook her head in disbelief. “He even sent off the Queen’s own nephew, and he got killed running errands for Viktor!”
The Queen’s nephew was Bent Stum. From what I’d gathered from Konstantin, shortly after Bent had been exiled, he’d joined up with Viktor and was immediately paired with Konstantin to track down changelings. Viktor had brought Bent to help ensure that Konstantin would do his job.
“How do you know all this?” Mikko asked. “I’m not saying I doubt your story, but I can’t imagine that Helge just confessed this all to you himself.”
“I’ve never trusted Helge, but I started putting it together when we arrived in Doldastam and I met Viktor D?lig,” Bekk explained. “I realized it wasn’t the first time I’d seen him. He’d been sneaking around Fulatr?sk before, whispering with Helge in the hallways of the palace.