Page 40

PIECES ON THE BOARD

WREN

“ S he is a danger to our people!”

The debate has been raging for hours, the arguments looping back to the start at this point and beginning again.

There are calls for blood, my blood, and I should be more worried, petrified even, but instead I find myself growing…

almost angry. Angry with the blustering, wind-filled, wrinkled lumps of men in front of me.

Angry with the scheming and stupidity, angry with myself for sitting silently on the side, angry about letting myself be discussed as though I’m not here.

Finishing the last of the cistern water I was provided when I first was called into the chamber, I debate my actions.

I’m cold, and tired, and hungry, full of sharp, biting grief for my lost Hunter, of paralyzing fear for my weakened Protector, and suddenly I have had enough.

Surging to my feet, I draw the eyes of all the Council and the Father to me.

“I’m leaving for the rest of the evening,” I state simply, rolling my empty eyes at the cacophonous response, Councilmen jumping to their feet and shaking their hands in the air like spoiled children.

“You’ll do no such thing,” Raek bites out.

“You have much to answer for, Keeper.” He’s sneering, lips twisted up, overly confident, his supporters making noises of agreement behind him.

To his credit, he’s played the game beautifully, distracting the discussion from his sacrificing villagers without the bones calling them to Offering, sending our people to Silence when there is an able Keeper within our walls.

He expects me to be complacent, as always, bending to threats and menacing looks, thinks of me as an obstinate child throwing tantrums who will be brought to heel.

Raek depends on my respect for our traditions, on my reliance for their protection.

But he hasn’t noticed the shifting plates beneath my surface, the oceans being born in desert lands while he wasn’t paying attention.

“Ah.” Something in my voice stills the Council, some flash of fang, and I smile, cold and vicious.

“Yes. Are we talking about answering for our actions now, Councilman? Then I am happy to stay, and hear your justification for murdering our people to water a tree which served the Ender. Please, explain how you felt it acceptable to send souls to Silence, in secret away from half the Council and the eyes of the Father. Explain why, when there is a BoneKeeper, you thought it your province to decide who lived and who died. Because I, and the bones, would love to hear any explanation.”

There is silence, and then an explosion of sound.

“The Ender …”

“To Silence?...”

“But…”

“Murder?…”

“She didn’t know?...”

Only Raek, Nickolas, the Father, and Rannoch are unmoving. The rest of the Council, the Protectors, the Renders and Reapers are a wash of chaos. Clearly some pertinent things were left out of the briefing they had had while I sat outside the Councilroom, waiting to be called in.

“Oh, did we not discuss that yet?” I ask innocently, and heads whip back and forth between us, Raek and Nickolas now standing as one and advancing threateningly toward me.

“Ah-ah-ah,” I caution gently, and they freeze, the weight of the full Council upon them.

“You wouldn’t threaten the BoneKeeper, would you?

” Smiling grimly, I shake my head, the bones calling out hollow songs.

“Well. Not openly, at least. Perhaps you need reminding, Councilors, but I am not your servant. I am not beneath you, to be commanded and commandeered.”

“You are a girl ,” Nickolas snarls, and I smile.

“I am. And this girl had to see earth soaked with the blood of our people, several inches deep, damp enough that my palms pressed against it could still feel the warmth and wetness of the victims. Murder I said and murder I meant. These were no Offerings to our Gods, but sacrifices to a darker purpose, blood that polluted instead of purified. What say you, Raek?”

Raek’s nostrils are flaring, eyes narrowed as he thinks through his answers.

But a wave of dizziness presses against me, churning in my stomach, and my vision flickers.

I know this pain, though I haven’t felt it in ages.

“I’ll let you think of excuses, Raek. You and your brother can fumble with half-truths and full-lies to the rest of the Council, and the Father.

” Fury white hot and poisonous drips from him, his body trembling with the effort of remaining still, and I, perhaps unwisely, decide to shove the blade in deeper.

“You’re predictable, and, truly, I am tired of you.

” Yawning theatrically, I turn my back on him and the rest of the men.

“Though I must say, your feeding the Ender was unexpected. Pointless, but unexpected.”

“Raek–” The Father’s voice is tight and demanding as I leave the room, drifting calmly and quietly out, not letting myself collapse until the door has closed behind me.

I only make it a few steps until I reach the far wall and fall against it, sliding to the ground, cold with fear.

It’s been years, but the wet clamminess on my skin is a bleak reminder of what’s to come.

When this sickness used to take me I was lost to the world for the space of two, if not three days, and it’s beyond full dark, so I have no way to find my way home.

Not like this. If I were at full strength, I would risk it, but I already feel the weakness seeping into my muscles.

If I lose consciousness here, like this, I don’t know who I’ll be when I wake.

Cold shivers ripple through me, but I fight them, trying to stay upright against the wall.

The Council door opens, and my breath catches in my throat before seeing Rannoch’s face, at first lit with fury, but instantly melting into fear at the sight of my shaking body curled up on the floor.

“Keeper?” he asks worriedly, but I can’t answer him. “Blood and bone, what’s wrong with you?”

The hallway wavers, and then disappears, and I am swallowed by pain and darkness.