The black man gave a bitter laugh. ‘I did not betray you, Beloved. Once you were gone, they believed they had all they needed from me and were finished with me—hence the better lodgings and cessation of torture. They took my dreams as I wrote them down. Several times they tried to induce me to contribute to their breeding programme. My dreams and my seed were all they valued of me. One of the night guards was assigned to seduce me. Instead, we became friends. She gave me news, but only what she knew of Clerres. The Four do not encourage news of the outside world here. For the Whites born here, Clerres is all they know.’
Per came sprinting back to us, panic on his face. ‘We cannot escape this way,’ he whispered hoarsely. ‘Ahead is a grand staircase. People are running down it, and crowding at the bottom and milling like corralled cattle in the room before the outer doors. There is no escaping that way; the main doors are locked! I could not get to the front of the mob, for folk are trampling and pushing and hurling themselves against the doors.’ He gasped in a breath. ‘I ran past them down the next corridor, but there I saw a troop of guards. They were opening each locked chamber and searching it. I think they are looking for us. They saw me but I raced away from them. They didn’t follow. I think they thought me just another slave. But I think they will come this way soon.’
I spoke as he drew breath. ‘They are seeking me. Vindeliar said he had burned it into their minds. They will not stop until they find me. And kill me.’
For a long moment, none of them spoke. The sounds of the fleeing people came faintly to us. Per sheathed his knife and took my hand.
My father spoke, but he sounded like a different man. One who thought only of what must happen next, without emotion. ‘Fool, lead us back to the dungeons.’
It was Prilkop who spoke. ‘It is two doors ahead of us. On the left. And I must go there too. We left the other prisoners still locked in their cells when Vindeliar sent his magic to draw us to him.’ His voice dwindled away.
My father sounded impatient. ‘And down there is the bricked up entrance to the causeway tunnel?’
‘Yes, it is also there. On the lower level.’
‘We need to get there and secure the doors before the guards come. Run!’ my father ordered. And we did, but only as fast as he could limp.
The moment we reached the second door and Lant opened it, Prilkop darted in and disappeared from sight.
My father seized Lant’s shoulder. ‘Lant. Secure this door and the one to the lower level. Barricade the steps with whatever you can find. Per and Fool, guard Bee with your lives.’ He unslung a harness from across his shoulders. It had pockets with little pots in them. He removed three. ‘Spark, take these. Have Prilkop show you the bricked-up entry. If nothing else works, blast it open. Get Bee back to the ship.’ He put the little pots into her arms. She cradled them like a baby while looking up at him wide-eyed. ‘Bee. Listen to Lant and the Fool. Obey them. They will get you to safety.’
‘But Fitz—’ Beloved said in a broken voice.
‘There’s no time to argue. Keep your promise to me!’ My father’s voice was the harshest I’d ever heard it.
Beloved’s gasp sounded like a sob.
‘Papa,’ I said. I held to the cuff of his sleeve. ‘You promised me! You said you’d never leave me again!’
‘I’m sorry, Bee.’ He looked at all of us. ‘I’m sorry. Get inside. Hurry.’ But at the last moment, he reached over and set his hand on my head. I do not think he knew what would happen. The touch broke our walls. I felt him. I felt his disappointment in himself. He did not feel he deserved anything from me. Not to touch me or even to say that he loved me, for he had failed so badly at being my father. It stunned me. It was like a second wall beyond his Skill walls, something that prevented him from believing that anyone could love him.
Wolf Father spoke to both of us. You would not feel so terrible if you had not loved her so recklessly. Without limits. Be proud of our cub. She fought. She killed. She stayed alive. I felt Wolf Father leap from me to my father. I heard his parting words. Run, Cub. We stand and fight like cornered wolves. Follow the Scentless One. He is part of us. Protect each other. Kill for him, if need be.
As the wolf went to him, I felt the surge of joy that linked those two. They would stand and fight, not just for me, but because it was what they loved to do. What they had always loved to do. My father stood a bit straighter. They both looked at me from his eyes. Puzzlement and pride. And love of me. It poured out of my father, as uncontrollable as the blood seeping from his wound. It drenched me and filled me. He lifted his hand from my head. Did he know how he had revealed himself? Did he understand that Wolf Father had been with me, all those days, and now returned to him?
Almost gently, he peeled my grip from his cuff. He spoke. ‘Please, Lant. Take Bee. Take the Fool, take all of them. Get them safely home. It’s the best thing you can do for me. Hurry!’ He gave me the softest of pushes. Away from him. He turned away from us, as if confident that we would obey.
He turned and began to limp away.
‘Why?’ I shouted at him. I was too angry to cry, I thought, but tears came anyway.
‘Bee, I’m leaving a blood trail that a child could follow. Per saw guards coming, searching rooms as they come. I will be sure that they find me before they find you. Now, follow Lant.’ He sounded terribly tired and sad.
I looked back the way we had come. His bloody footprints were plain on the once clean floor. He was right and that only made me angrier.
Lant stood by the open door. ‘Per, Spark, take them in. I’m staying with Fitz.’
‘No, Lant, you won’t! I need you with them, to be a sword to protect them and to use your strength to barricade that door.’
Beloved didn’t move. ‘I can’t do this,’ he said in a very soft voice.
My father rounded on him. ‘You promised!’ he roared. He seized the front of Beloved’s shirt and pulled him close. ‘You promised me. You said you would choose her life over mine.’
‘Not like this,’ Beloved wailed. ‘Not like this!’
Abruptly my father seized him in a hug. He held him tight as he spoke. ‘We don’t get to choose how it happens. Only that you save her, not me. Now go. Go!’ He pushed him away. ‘All of you, go!’
He turned and limped away from us. His hand left bloody prints on the wall, and his footprints were red on the white floor. He didn’t look back. When he came to a door, he halted. We stood in frozen silence. I saw him take something out of his pocket, watched him fuss with the door handle. After a moment, he opened it. Just before he slipped inside, he glanced back at us. He made an angry motion and mouthed, ‘Go!’ at us.