Silvain Ironleaf's Arc

Chapter 7 of 7

At dawn Thaelis led Silvain down the mountain's flank. He walked fast, faster than the terrain allowed. Silvain watched his hands. They kept touching the coat where the pressed flower hid. "The lower door is close," Thaelis said. "Then he answers for the feast." His voice had gone thin and hungry. Silvain knew that hunger. It could carry a man through stone or throw him off a cliff. He needed Thaelis steady, not blind. The door sat behind a wall of ivy. Thick green vines hung over old stone, hiding a black opening. Silvain pulled the vines aside and felt cold air breathe out. The lynx cub slipped in first and made no sound. "This is it," Thaelis said. He drew his knife. "I go first." "No," Silvain said. He put a hand on Thaelis's arm. "You go first and you'll kill the first face you see. Even if it's the wrong one." Thaelis pulled back, but Silvain held. "You told me he steals halls and hangs flowers over the theft. If we storm in like the assassins he sent us, we're just him. We take the hall clean, or we don't take it at all." Thaelis's jaw worked. "He tried to kill me." "I know. And I'm still here." Silvain lowered his voice. "Show me the flower." Thaelis hesitated, then opened his fist. The pressed bloom glowed faint blue in the dark. "You kept that to remember the betrayal," Silvain said. "Don't become it." A small voice cut them off. "Please don't." A boy stood in the tunnel, half in shadow. His hair was cut rough and caked with mud. Both his ear tips were sliced flat. His deep blue eyes shone wet. He held a fallen cascade of pink and violet blossoms, torn from some arch inside. "They cut me for being what I am," the boy said. "Elf. He hangs these to look kind. He isn't." Thaelis went still. The knife dropped an inch. "You live down here?" "I clean his halls," the boy said. "Finn. I hide when he brings guards." He looked at Silvain's pointed ears and short frame, and something in his face loosened. "You're both. Like nobody." "Like everybody, soon," Silvain said. He knelt to the boy's height. "How many men are down there?" "Six today. He left at first light." Finn's mouth trembled. "He'll be back by dark." Silvain looked at Thaelis. The knife had gone loose in his hand. The hunger had drained out of him, replaced by something worse and better at once. He was staring at the cut ears. Silvain saw the plan hold. Thaelis would not throw them off the cliff now. This boy had steadied him better than any order. "Then we don't rush," Silvain said. He stood. "We learn the hall while he's gone. We wait for the dark." He looked back at the ivy door. "And when he comes home, it won't be his anymore."