Queen Of The Great Underworld

66

I wanted to sink into the bed and die. “LaLa thinks I abandoned her.”

“No, I’m sure that’s not it.” But Ilina didn’t say what else it might have been, and misery dug its claws deep into me. My friends knew why I’d vanished, but I couldn’t explain the situation to a dragon. What kind of person befriended a baby dragon, spent nine years training her and growing close, and then did something stupid that resulted in prison? Leaving that baby dragon alone.

Of course LaLa and pookie had flown away. They knew all they had was each other.

“Don’t look so sad,” Ilina said. “We have a plan.”

“For getting LaLa and pookie back?”

Ilina made a face somewhere between a smirk and a grimace. “No. Your escape, obviously.”

“Oh. Right.” The medicine was making me slow.

“Escape can wait a few more minutes.” Jan stood at the foot of the bed, his hands behind his back and his head bowed. Though he wore the Luminary Guard uniform, the mask was gone and the jacket was unbuttoned. Both daggers were at his hips, even the one that had cut me. I wondered if it felt poisonous to him now. Traitorous.

But Jan didn’t think like that. He was sensible. Protective. I’d have said paranoid before, but after learning about Hurrok trying to kill me last year, I knew better. He was constantly on guard so that I didn’t have to be.

“Mira,” he said, “before anything else, I have to tell you that I’m sorry. I came to protect you and I failed.”

“Jan.” I pushed myself up until I was sitting. Ilina helped support me where my arms trembled. The numbing medicine still rushed through me, making my movements uncertain. “This isn’t your fault. This is Galadriel’s doing.”

“It was my job to stop her,” he insisted.

When I reached for him, he rounded the foot of the bed and took my hand. Ilina took my other, and there I was, connected to the two people I loved best. Their strength filled me, and for five long heartbeats, I just closed my eyes and breathed in this moment.

“You are both the most loyal, bravest people I know.” I didn’t deserve friends like them. “How did you get here?”

“It was your parents, actually,” Jan said.

“Did they send you?”

He shook his head. “They don’t know we’re here.”

“Your parents worked day and night for your release,” Ilina said. “When they heard about the Bophan Senate dinner, they suggested taking you out of the Pit for it. They said you’d learned your lesson about questioning the Luminary Council and you’d do whatever you were ordered.”

My heart sank. When Mother heard about my performance last night, she would be furious. Even in prison, I was a disappointment to her.

“The Luminary Council fought about it for hours,” Ilina said. “Your parents told my parents, who told me. I think they were just relieved that I was speaking to them, because they told me more than I should have known otherwise—about ship schedules, Luminary Guard selection, and when you would be here.”

“No one let us come,” Jan said. “But we’d promised we’d help you.”

“I was serious when I said I’d drain the seas if I must.” Ilina squeezed my hand. “So when the council decided to give you a chance, we formed a plan to get you out, just in case they decided to try sending you back to the Pit.”

Or in case I ruined my chances.

“It wasn’t easy,” Jan said. “I stole a Luminary Guard uniform, but I had to be careful about the times I was with you. I didn’t want to insist I be near you and risk getting caught.”

I nodded, but the movement made my head swim. “Even I didn’t realize you were there until the other night.”

Jan smiled. “I wanted you to know someone was there for you, but I also didn’t want you to know, because I was worried Galadriel might figure out that I was your protector.” Again, his eyes flicked to my cheek. His smile disappeared.

“You still are,” I whispered, my fingers twisted tight with his. “No matter what, I know that you are always protecting me.” I wouldn’t tell him that I’d been imprisoned with someone who’d tried to murder me—not yet, anyway—but he needed to know I still trusted him. I trusted him more than ever.

His response was low and rumbling. “Thank you.”

I turned to Ilina. “And you? How did you come to be a server at such an important state dinner on Bopha?”

She gave a weak laugh. “I’ll tell you when we’re out of here, but my story involves forgery, stowing away on a ship, and bribery.”

They brushed all that effort aside, as though it had been nothing to learn where I’d be and come for a big rescue, but I knew it hadn’t been easy.

Never had I anticipated them taking such actions, and my eyes stung with tears as I imagined the challenges they’d endured—for me. I didn’t deserve such friends.

“As for the rest of our plan”—Ilina leaned forward—“the Chance Encounter leaves on the morning tide. Galadriel won’t be on the ship, and we know the captain. The crew will help us if we board tonight. No one will search it for you in the morning, and once they’ve made their stops, we can get off anywhere. Or we don’t have to get on the Chance Encounter at all, if you don’t want. We can leave the Shadowed City and go anywhere on Bopha. It will be more dangerous, though.”

“Thank you.” My voice broke, caught somewhere between love and fear. “You’ve done so much.”

Ilina drew back, already sensing what I was about to do. “But?”

I dreaded saying the words. Their reactions. But if I didn’t speak now, I might go along with their plan and feel terrible about myself for the rest of my days. “I have to return to the Pit.”

“No.” Ilina squeezed my hand. “We won’t let you. You’re never going back there.”

I was already shaking my head—carefully, because I didn’t want them to think I was too weak for this. “I must. My allies—”

“Forget about them.” Ilina surged to her feet. “Forget all about them. Everything that happened there.”

“I can’t. I left people there, and they don’t deserve to be in the Pit any more than I did.” Tears stung my eyes. “yarrow hurts them to get to me. He’s a Drakon Warrior.”

Ilina’s eyes grew wide. “Really? They still exist?”

“Not legally, I think.” I bit my lip. “He wanted to know about the shipping order.”

My friends exchanged uneasy glances. “What did you tell him?” Ilina asked.

“Where he could find the dragons, before they’re shipped to the Algotti Empire for good. I thought better the dragons remain with the Fallen Isles than with our enemies.”

“And did he send people to take back the dragons?” A glow of hope lit her face.

“I don’t know.” I swallowed hard. “He wasn’t exactly forthcoming with information. But our goals aligned there. He wants the Heart’s dragons, but I don’t know whether he succeeded. If he did, his people should have reached them already.” Oh, Damina. What if LaLa had been taken? And yarrow “rescued” her?

I’d never be able to live with myself.

“If the dragons are rescued,” Jan said, “the Luminary Council will know the information came from you. It wouldn’t be hard to figure out who told the Drakon Warriors where to find the dragons.”

I slumped. I hadn’t thought of that.

“The line of information points straight to you again. If you have to go back to the Pit and the council finds out you told yarrow, you will never get out.” Ilina moved to cover noorestones to keep anyone from investigating the light this late. “The other prisoners don’t deserve you going back just for them.”

Ilina was my wingsister, but I didn’t know how to explain Aaru.

“What about Chenda M’rizz? The Lady of Eternal Dawn.” I glanced between Jan and Ilina. “She’s politically useful to have on our side. Plus, her crime was the same as mine: she stood up against immoral actions and was betrayed by the people entrusted to protect her island.”

“The deportation decree?” Ilina glanced at Jan, her manner softening.

“She’s the reason I knew about it ahead of time.”

Jan’s voice was a soft rumble. “Is that why you didn’t recite Galadriel’s speech?”

“I couldn’t permit more suffering.”

“You could have used the chance to tell everyone you’d been suffering too,” Ilina said.

“I didn’t even think about that.” It was true. It hadn’t occurred to me to announce my captivity. My fingertips grazed across the bandage on my cheek. “Imagine what Galadriel would have done if I’d told everyone about that.”

“They wouldn’t have cared,” Ilina said. “They accused Chenda of feeding information to a Hartan lover.”

They were quiet a moment.

“Four extra people is a lot,” Jan said. “We’ll have to obtain papers and supplies for them as well.”

The burden I’d placed on them sat heavy on my chest. My decision wasn’t about me alone. It wasn’t just my time in the Pit, the danger I was in. Every extra person I decided to save was an extra weight on Ilina and Jan.

“Mira, if you insist on doing this, how would it even be possible? Maybe Jan can get in, but warriors don’t wear masks down there, do they?”

“I—”

Just then, loud thudding sounded on the bedroom door. It was locked, but then I heard the jangle of keys.

“Mira!” Galadriel’s voice carried through the quiet inn.

Ilina glanced at Jan, who drew his daggers.

“Go,” I hissed. “Out the window.”

But it was too late.

Galadriel and her Luminary Guard burst into the room.

We scrambled for the window, but it was locked.

Three metal darts zinged through the room, catching noorestone light.

The first landed in Ilina’s neck. Then Jan’s. Then mine.

One, two, three.

We dropped.

OUR PLAN HAD LASTED FIVE MINUTES. THAT WAS possibly a new low.

I awakened to find myself on a ship. The Chance Encounter, if I had to guess. The sway of the ship on water was unmistakable. Scents of the sea and sweat filled the small cabin, and all around I sensed the groaning of rigging, the thumps of footfalls, and crewmen singing on the decks above.

Four Luminary Guards stood around the perimeter. All had two daggers at their hips. I’d been shoved in the outer corner, among crates and boxes. One leg stung with blood rushing back into my toes. My face ached worse than before; it felt like the stitches had been ripped out.

Galadriel stood in the midst of the guards, frowning. “I can’t say I’m surprised,” she said. “Given your performance at dinner, this latest betrayal is far too easy to believe. But I am disappointed. I didn’t think you’d recruit others to your cause and risk their punishment, too.”

Chills swept through me. My wrists were bound and my mouth gagged, but otherwise I had freedom of movement. I could look around.

Jan was slumped onto his knees to my right, but his head was c****d, listening. Ilina was on my left, unconscious on the floor. She groaned; she’d wake soon.

Guilt wormed through me. Somewhere in the back of my foolish mind, I’d thought maybe they had a chance of escape. I’d thought if I did the right thing, everything would be fine.

Instead, I’d taken them down with me. What kind of friend was I?

A dangerous friend, Gerel would say.

“It’s a shame what has to happen now,” Galadriel said. “But I’ve discussed it with Councilor Bilyana and our Bophan friends. We have authority over disciplinary actions for your little adventure. I hope you know this gives me no pleasure.”

She motioned at one of the guards, who removed my gag. Why had they used it in the first place if they were just going to take it away?

For effect, probably. Galadriel liked effect.

And—apparently—shoving rags of dubious cleanliness into other people’s mouths.

I resisted the urge to spit the taste of dirt. That would not make me appear strong and capable, and I wasn’t sure I could do it, anyway, what with the gaping hole she’d left in my face. Instead, I pulled myself straight. “Let these two go. They have nothing to do with this.” Out loud, the words didn’t sound nearly as tough as they had in my head. But my throat was dry. My mouth was dry.

My cheek burned with the gash sliced through. And in the back of my head, all I could hear was Mother’s voice: What if it scars? What then? She’s ruined. Useless. Hideous.

I wanted to reach for my friends. Ilina would tell me we could hide it, and though I’d doubt hiding something that felt bigger than my entire head was possible, I’d pretend to believe her. Jan would tell me it didn’t matter because I was still Mira Minkoba, though he would always look at it and see his failure.

I was the worst friend in the world for worrying about my appearance at a time like this. Because the truth was worse. We were all on the Chance Encounter. The four Luminary Guards loomed over us. And Galadriel had a sinister smile that quirked up one corner of her mouth.

“Your friends were here to rescue you, weren’t they?” She phrased it as a question, but it wasn’t one. “I’m almost sorry your plan failed so quickly. It might have been entertaining to watch you run.”

I could imagine the scenario she envisioned: us fleeing the Shadowed City, her sending the Luminary Guards and local police after us, keeping us on the move until we were too exhausted to continue. I’d fall first, no doubt. Jan and Ilina wouldn’t leave me behind, though. No, they’d carry me if necessary.

It would always be my fault that they were caught.