Bailey Baz's Arc

Chapter 19 of 44

The elk carried them through the night. Tyrek slumped between Bailey and Cora, one hand pressed to his wound, the other clinging to the golden crest on Bailey's cloak. He guided them with weak words. "Left at the split rock. Then down, into the hollow." Dawn came gray before they reached it. The hideout sat below a collapsed hill, hidden by a wall of dead brush. Tyrek whistled twice. A shape moved in the brush. Then people came out. Dozens of them. Ragged, thin, armed with rusted blades and farm tools. They stopped when they saw Bailey. They stared at the two lions and the letter shining on his chest. Tyrek slid down from the elk. He fought to stand, blood dark on his shirt, and lifted his arm toward Bailey. "I told you the dead prince walks," he called out. "Here he is. This is Prince Colton, come back to us." Bailey climbed down. The crowd knelt, one by one, until only he and Cora stood. A hundred faces turned up to him. He gripped the sword hilt to steady his hands. He had wanted to reach the throne unseen. That plan was gone. These people had waited years for him, and now they had found him. An old woman spoke from the front. "Lead us, my prince. We have no general. We have only hope, and hope is starving." Bailey looked at the swords. He looked at the children peeking from behind their parents. He knew how to break the King's magic. He did not know how to command an army. He had led lost children through a swamp, one at a time, for a hundred years. He had never led men into war. He knelt so his eyes met the old woman's. "I know how to end the King," he said. "His power is a debt, the same kind that once froze me. It can be broken." The crowd murmured. "But I cannot lead your fight. I have spent a hundred years learning to save one child at a time, not to move an army." He stood and turned to Cora. She held her cracked wand, the violet crystal steady in its grip. She had learned the old words. She had broken curses with them. She had faced Malachar and survived. "My sister will be your general," Bailey said. "She knows the old magic. She freed a cursed man. She stood against the emperor and did not break. Follow her orders, and I will break the throne." Cora's mouth fell open. "Bailey, I'm not—" "You are," he said. "You always were." The rebels rose. They looked to Cora now, not him. Tyrek grinned through his pain and pressed a fist to his chest. Bailey felt the weight shift from his shoulders. He had a soldier's leader and a soldier's cause. Now he only had to reach the King.