Buried Heroes

Chapter 2-1

Chapter 2

Iellieth felt the tears coming fast and knew she couldn’t withstand her mother’s response, whether it was an offer of compassion or a harsh correction. She spun away and strode past the doorways of her half-siblings’ rooms. Hers had been beside theirs originally, when the four of them returned to live at court years ago. The duchess took pity on her heartbroken daughter and allowed her to move to what should have been a guest room. It was situated at the end of the family wing, but Iellieth couldn’t sleep without the sounds of the seaside that had been their home. From the isolated part of the hall, Iellieth could hear the Infinite Ocean pounding against the rocky coast beneath the castle, wave upon wave throwing itself against the cliffs.

As was only fitting for the nation’s richest and oldest still-surviving family, the Amastacias possessed a beautiful section of Io Keep, second only to the halls of the king and his family. Their portion stretched along the northwestern reaches of the cliffside, rounding out in the beautiful circular room, made almost entirely of windows, that Iellieth called her own. She didn’t have the en suite bath, separate visiting room, or dining quarters that the legitimate Amastacia offspring did in their suites. Despite what might otherwise be considered shortcomings in elegance and status, Iellieth’s room offered her, as unendingly as it could manage, a picture of the outside world.

The 270-degree circle of windows looked out on the coastline and the Infinite Ocean beyond, wrapping around to include vistas of the castle gardens. But if she climbed over her wooden desk—careful not to disturb the pages of notes and open books from her translations with Katarina—Iellieth could see ships pulling all the way in to port.

It had been several years since she regularly studied these arrivals, hoping for a sign of Teodric’s return with his parents or, even less likely, a delegation of elves making a tour of the Caldaran coast. Her hopes for a chance of escape or a new life dwindled slowly as time passed. She still enjoyed the exercise occasionally and was fascinated by the intricacies of the rigging and crews that she had read about but never been able to investigate in person. Almost everything in her home kingdom revolved around them, but she was forbidden from going to the docks.

Today, however, she would only be able to visit her windows and books briefly before she had to leave them behind forever, and she hurried down the hallway, eager to reach a sanctuary that wouldn’t be hers for much longer. Even if she were able to return to Linolynn when it was their turn to host the Festival of Renewal every other year, she would stay, she recalled with a shudder, in the guest suites reserved for foreigners and dignitaries.

Her door, bleached by the sunlight that caressed it each day, seemed more alive and welcoming than the polished, dark doorways of the other family bedchambers. Iellieth glanced over her shoulder before she turned the large iron handle, and the hinges swung open effortlessly to the airy expanse of her chamber. After a row, the duke liked to send the family guard to supervise her activity, and she was sure that one of his private soldiers would be along at any moment.

She gasped as the open door revealed a tall, gangly figure sitting on her desk, swinging his legs while consuming an apple. “Scad, what are you doing here? They’re quite serious about a punishment if you’re caught again.”

Scad’s easy, cocksure smile answered her concerns as he sprang off the desk. “And miss the chance to tell you good-bye? Hang their punishments and pronouncements—I couldn’t just let you go now, could I?”

“Shh,” Iellieth said as she checked that the door was shut behind her and carefully turned the lock. The emotions that had been building during her time with Katarina and her rage at the duke threatened again to overwhelm her in her friend’s presence. She rushed forward to Scad’s embrace and buried her face in his thin linen shirt. The warm scent of wood chips and the crisp whiff of an apple danced into her nostrils. “You know that I’m relieved to see you, right?”

Scad patted the back of her hair before he released her. “I wouldn’t have known that exactly, given your alarm.”

“I can’t bear the thought of something happening to you on my account, especially as I won’t be here to try and help.”

“No offense, Ellie, but in the past, your help has made things worse, not better.”

She felt a stab of pain at that reminder. Following her and Teodric’s attempted escape, Scad was implicated as an accomplice to the fallen nobleman’s schemes. After a week, when Iellieth was finally allowed to leave her room, she found out that Scad had faced a similar punishment, having been relegated to the servants’ quarters and threatened with imprisonment but given a heavy fine instead. When Iellieth tried to speak to the guard on his behalf, their suspicions of his involvement were confirmed, and they locked him away for several more days.

Katarina had helped, in that time of heartbreak. Many of the guards were smitten with her, so she used that leverage to check on Iellieth’s friend and bring him small treats from the kitchens. Iellieth had snuck the money for the fine to Scad’s mother, Celia. The Delarios were incredibly hard working, but they didn’t need unexpected expenses, especially ones that were no fault of their own.

“I am awfully sorry about that,” Iellieth said. “But, Scad, someone’s going to be down here any moment to fetch me for the Lyceum.”

“Alright, alright. Will you be needing”—he glanced around the room—“this in your new abode?” He cleared his throat and held up an alabaster wolf figurine that Iellieth kept on her dresser. She’d stumbled upon it when she was young on the grounds at Aurora and had kept it ever since. Something about the freedom of wolves spoke to her and, as a child, it had felt like destiny for her to find a pretty trinket that made her think of them and the closeness of their packs.

She blinked to clear her eyes before she answered him. “I would love for you to have it, Scad.”

“It’s not that I’m worried about forgetting you or anything. I just wanted a way to keep you nearby. This is the best I’ve come up with besides more involved schemes like we attempted before.”

The finality of their time together, the end of Scad’s forbidden visits to cheer her up or bring her news from around the castle, weighed down Iellieth’s heart and threatened to rip it from her chest. Living in a cage was difficult enough, but at least in this glass enclosure, there were people who loved her. “I . . . Scad, I don’t know what else to say. I’ll miss you so much.”

“I know you don’t believe me right now, but I think you’ll figure something out. There’s more for you than what they’ve planned, Ellie. You’ll see.”

She sniffed and looked up at him. “I hope you’re right, Scad. I’ll write to you as I can. Katarina will let you know how I am too. She’s already promised.”

“Now, that I wouldn’t mind at all,” Scad said with a wink. “As I’ve failed to win you over, perhaps in your absence, your scholar friend will fall for me.”

“Perhaps she will.” Iellieth smiled. She felt a light breeze of relief across her jagged internal landscape before the urgency of their present moment returned to her. She shook her head quickly. “Alright, now it’s really time.” She closed his fingers over the alabaster wolf.

“I have a parting gift for you too, Ellie.”

“You do?”

“I made this, to go with your dagger.” He nodded at her bag, well aware that it held the blade he’d brought to her room the night she and Teodric tried to escape. He withdrew a thin, angular piece of wood from his pocket. A sheath, cut in a botanical lace pattern and tied with two thin strips of leather. “These can weave through on the sides so you can wear it underneath a dress or keep in your boot. I was thinking about you, and I remembered a story Teodric told me of a woman who lived with a pack of wolves, and that was what she did just in case she lost them somehow and had to survive on her own.”

Iellieth traced a finger across the pattern of intertwined vines, marveling at the delicacy Scad had managed to achieve in the inflexible wood. “Scad, it’s beautiful, thank you. It’s so intricate. I don’t know how you kept it from falling apart.” She blinked back tears and smiled at him sadly. “That story was one of my favorites growing up, from those books. Lady of Canis was the title of the first one, I think. The girl’s name was Daphne.”

“He always had a better memory for those sorts of things than me,” Scad said, “but yes, I think I remember now.”

Iellieth pulled the dagger from her bag. The top of the blade resembled a root structure that grew into the Adhemar crest at the hilt, a sprawling golden oak tree with silver leaves.

Scad waited breathlessly as Iellieth slipped the dagger into its sheath. He sighed as it slid home. “Phew, I’m relieved that fit. I didn’t want you to think someone had stolen it, so I couldn’t come in and take it to measure and bring it back.” He grinned at her. “You really do like it, Ellie?”

“I love it, Scad.” It must have taken him ages to make in his little free time.

“Does it work with what you have on?”

Iellieth sat on the end of her bed and unlaced her boot before she tied the dagger’s hilt around her calf. The straps were long and thin; it would fit easily over her thigh as well. She retied the boot and stood for inspection. “What do you think?”

A glint of gold winked at her from the top of her boot. She tucked her sock over the exposed hilt tip.

Scad grinned. “It’s perfect.”

Heavy boots walked down the hall toward her room. “You have to go,” Iellieth whispered. She propelled Scad to the servants’ door hidden in the wainscoting. “I love you. Don’t forget me, and know that I’ll be thinking of you.”

He took her hand before they parted. “I love you too, Ellie. Be careful, now, and take care of yourself.”

Her lips pressed together and turned in a sad smile that mirrored his. “I will, and you too.” Scad nodded and ducked into the small opening.

Iellieth walked a slow circle around her room, running her fingers over the grainy surface of her wooden desk and taking in the velvet fur of the patterns on the couches. Halfway to the line of bookshelves that rounded out the circle otherwise made of windows, a solid knock banged against her door.

“Lady Amastacia,” the muffled voice of either Welton or Roswell called, “it’s time.”

Iellieth picked up her bag from the bench at the foot of her bed and draped her fur cloak over her arm. Since Hadvar was located so far to the north, she had the excuse of traveling in the leather breeches and corset Henri and Rikson had made specifically for her. They took great care in the pressed pattern of moonshade flowers and ivy that trickled delicately over the set of ladies’ armor. Iellieth had a jacket that matched as well, but she’d stashed it in her bag along with a few days’ supply of food and most of her gold coins. If the smallest opportunity of slipping away from her family and Lord Stravinske arose, she planned to take it.

Sir Welton, one of the family guard, waited at her doorway and followed as she joined her mother, half-siblings, and stepfather in the receiving room. “I believe we’re all accounted for, then,” said Sir Merud, the family steward, nodding to the duke. With his liege’s permission, he strode forward and opened the main door to begin the procession down to the Lyceum. He peered out for a moment and scowled.

“Are you really going to let her go like that, Mother?” Lucinda complained to the duchess with a snide look at Iellieth’s polished leather boots. “She makes us look quite common.”