Inker and Crown

Chapter 12

12

Niko

The crowd was smaller than it should have been. The King and Lord Karron were at the northern city gate, seeing off the journey to the white mountains. Princess Illia was the only royal to come to the southern gate to bid farewell to the journey to the eastern mountains.

Wagons laid heavily with supplies lined up behind eight horses, waiting at the closed city gate.

Niko studied the loads of supplies, wondering how many bottles of frie he might have been able to stash if only he’d been fool enough to try.

“I have your horse ready for you, sir.” A small boy nearly squeaked at his boldness in speaking to Niko. The boy was young, not yet old enough to have been chosen to study with the map makers, but he wore the green trim on his sleeves that distinguished him as a child of the Map Makers Guild.

“Thank you.” Niko nodded.

The child didn’t leave.

“Are you really going to go into the eastern mountains?” the boy asked.

“That is the journey the King commands.” Niko scanned the crowd. It was selfish, but he had hoped someone would come to see him off. He’d said all his goodbyes, but still…

“And they aren’t taking any apprentices on this journey?” the boy asked with the air of one dreaming of adventure.

“Not this time.” Niko smiled kindly. Too well he remembered longing to go on his first journey, and too well he knew this venture was not one children could attend. “Two map makers and eight soldiers.”

“Brilliant,” the boy breathed. “You must be going someplace very, very dangerous.”

“Are you afraid of danger?” Niko said as a head of brilliantly blond hair moved through the crowd and Allora joined the Princess on the platform.

“No, sir.” The boy pulled himself up to his full height. “I am always ready for adventure. Even if it is dangerous.”

“Give it a few years.” Niko ruffled the boy’s hair. “There will be journeys left when you come of age.”

The boy glanced around before speaking. “But what if everything’s been explored by then?”

“The first thing you learn in map making is there will always be something more to explore. Sometimes, the things are small. Sometimes, they are whole mountain ranges. But the world changes far too often for the Guilds not to need new maps.”

The boy bounced on his toes, his face beaming with excitement.

“Now go mind my horse, or I’ll be walking to the eastern mountains,” Niko said.

The boy ran back to Niko’s horse and took hold of the reins.

Niko’s mount was accustomed enough to standing with wagons waiting for journeys, he could have been left alone. But the child beamed with pride as he guarded Niko’s horse.

“Everything set?”

Niko held back his groan as Jerick Ballak, the head soldier on the journey, appeared out of the common crowd.

“Of course,” Niko said perhaps a little more brightly than he’d meant to. “Everything’s packed, the weather is fine, we’re one speech from being on our way.”

“Good. The sooner the better.” The short, stocky man barely reached Niko’s shoulder, but something in his manner made every word he spoke a decree. It was not a trait Niko enjoyed.

“You know, I think you might be addicted to traveling with the map makers.” Niko tucked his hands into his pockets. “You’ve journeyed with us one too many times, Jerick. I think you’ve grown attached.”

“I do my duty.” Jerick gave a curt nod that might have been meant as a bow. “Be ready to go as soon as the rigmarole is through.”

Jerick melted back into the crowd before Niko could form the words slitching getch in his mind.

“Niko,” a familiar and much more welcome voice called from behind as Adrial limped his way out of the crowd.

“Come to see me off?” Niko clapped Adrial on the back, careful to aim for his good shoulder. “I’m surprised they let you out. Such important work you’re doing, Head Scribe.”

“Well, nothing I can do at the moment but bring an old friend some comfort for his journey.” Adrial pressed a leather pouch into Niko’s hands. The finely etched leather had years of wear scarring its surface, and the weight felt more like stones to carry than anything that could be of comfort.

“I know it’s heavy,” Adrial said, as though reading Niko’s face, “but promise to keep it with you. And don’t open it until you’re truly desperate for comfort.”

“Hmm.” Niko weighed the bag in his hand again before stuffing it into his pocket. “Mysterious gifts don’t seem much like you.”

“I wasn’t alone in this.” Adrial pointed up to the royal platform where Allora had joined Illia.

Niko wanted nothing more than to run to her. To sweep her into his arms, kiss her with a passion that had burned for years, and carry her far away.

But they had already said their goodbyes, and his pride couldn’t stand a public rejection at the city gate.

“You know, I think she’s softening,” Adrial said. “It burns my heart to say it, since it betrays a friend’s trust, but not saying anything would harm another friend’s chances.”

“Saying what?” Niko whispered as a hush fell over the crowd and Princess Illia began to speak.

“Map makers,” Illia began, nerves shaking her voice, “the journey you begin today―”

“Allora came to me in tears before dawn this morning,” Adrial spoke softly, hiding his mouth behind his hand. “You and Mara leaving on the same day tore her apart.”

Pain struck Niko’s chest. He should stay. Relinquish his place in the Guilds and damn the shame it would bring.

But they needed someone to make a true map of the eastern mountains. Lord Karron was to sail south, and Mara would already be on the road to the north. Someone had to be brave enough to record the things the sorcerers didn’t want them to find.

“The ties that will bring us closer to Wyrain will bring prosperity to Ilbrea.” Princess Illia seemed near tears.

“She said she didn’t think she could stand watching you ride away again,” Adrial whispered, “especially not knowing if you were going to take up with some southern woman and bring her home as your bride.”

“What?” Niko said louder than he’d meant to.

Jerick turned his sharp blue eyes to Niko, giving him a vicious glare.

“I told her you had every right to marry whomever you like if she kept turning you down,” Adrial continued once Jerick had turned back to the Princess. “She looked like I’d stabbed her in the heart and sobbed hysterically.”

The loathing of anything making Allora unhappy mixed with a surge of joy at her being distraught at the thought of Niko choosing someone else. Cruel, half-formed plans flitted through his mind.

Finding a common woman from the south and bringing her back to Ilara just to prove to Allora that he could. Rolling his way through every woman he happened to meet on his journey. But his gaze met hers as she glanced at him from the royal platform, and everything inside him melted.

“Am I supposed to take tears as a sign of promising things to come?” Niko said under the applause of the crowd.

“The winds could blow us all away before you return.” Adrial gave a one-shouldered shrug. “But somewhere beneath the tears, I distinctly heard her say she loved you, and whoever thought anyone but Mara would hear her say that out loud?”

“She said she loved me? Are you quite sure?” Niko clenched his hands into tight fists as he fought the urge to leap onto the royal platform and kiss Allora.

“Oh, I am very sure.” Adrial smiled. “Go and find some glory and honor, and for the stars’ sake, bring a ring with you the next time you propose.”

A bugle sounded at the front of the caravan. The young boy holding the reins of Niko’s horse nervously waved to him as the gate swung open.

“I should talk to her now.” Niko glanced back at the stage.

Allora gave a tiny smile and nodded at him.

But he couldn’t do anything now. They had already said their goodbyes, and the journey wouldn’t wait for him to propose again.

“Take care of her.” Niko grasped Adrial’s shoulder. “And if any man comes within ten feet of her, remind him she is spoken for by Nikolas Endur.”

“I will,” Adrial said. “Be safe, old friend. The city will be lonely without you.”

“Be safe, brother,” Niko said. “Guard the gates until I return.”

Niko ran to his horse and swung easily up onto his saddle. Cheers rose as he waved down at the crowd.

The leaving had always been one of the grandest parts of journeying. Reveling in the adoration of the people. Bolstered by the hopes and confidence of the Ilbreans. But his heart didn’t float with joy as the caravan took the first steps forward.

Niko forced air into his lungs, promising himself he was only being a lovesick fool, and then screams rent the air as a c***k sounded behind him.

“Allora!” The shout tore from Niko’s throat before he’d even turned around.

Smoke coated the street near the royal platform. Flames licked the bottoms of the houses and reached toward the Princess.

Soldiers in black uniforms lay on the ground in growing pools of blood, but others were still on their feet.

“Allora!” Niko moved to leap down from his horse, but the soldier riding next to him grabbed his reins, dragging his mount into a run. “Stop. We have to help!”

A soldier grabbed Allora, pulling her down from the platform and bundling her into the waiting royal carriage with the Princess.

“We can’t risk the caravan. Ha!” Jerick screamed at the horses, making them run faster. The wagons behind them blocked the road from sight as they broke free of the last of the city and were out on the wide road.

“We can’t just abandon them.” Niko’s hands shook as he snatched at his reins.

“Do you think going back would help?” Jerick said. “What could you do that the soldiers left at the gate can’t? The start of our journey was attacked. The best thing we can do is get our party away from the city as quickly as we can.”

Niko buried his face in his hands. Only years of riding kept him in the saddle. He wished they hadn’t. He wished he could fall to the ground and crawl back to the city.

Allora hadn’t looked injured when they’d bundled her into the carriage. Terrified, but not wounded.

It was a blessing from Dudia that the Princess’s carriage had been so close. And the soldiers so quick to act. And that there were so many of them.

“Did you know?” Niko’s eyes snapped open. “Did you know the journey was going to be attacked?”

“Had we known, we would have left in the middle of the night.” Jerick tossed Niko his reins.

“But you suspected.”

They passed the last of the outlying houses. An old woman worked in her front garden, no sign of fear showing in her manner as she pulled weeds.

“There have been rumblings from the common folk,” Jerick said. “The journeys starting today are the biggest events Ilara will see until the King’s birthday in two months and Lord Karron’s sailing after that. If anyone wanted to cause problems, today was their best chance.”

“And the Soldiers Guild decided to let Guilded and commoners, and even royals, gather anyway?” Niko spoke through gritted teeth. The smoke of the blast was barely visible from here. No more than a cook fire gone wrong. “Has the Soldiers Guild gotten so lazy they’ve decided to just let the commoners run wild and hurt people? Murder a few as morning fun?”

“We had no proof,” Jerick said, unfazed by Niko’s insults. “And the orders came from far above. I don’t even know who gave them. If it were up to me, there would be no ceremonies when the map makers leave. No one gives speeches when soldiers march out of the city. Why should it be different for those dressed in green?”

“So we just ride east to the mountains and hope the city doesn’t burn while we’re gone?” A horrible ache settled in the back of Niko’s lungs.

“The King has given us our task for the good and safety of Ilbrea,” Jerick said. “We must trust in the wisdom of the Guilds to protect those whose duty it is to stay behind.”

Jerick didn’t sound comforted, or even very sure.

Aximander, Dudia, mother―whoever might be listening―take care of them. Protect the city. Protect my family. Protect Allora. Give me the strength to ride away from them. And the promise of something to come back to.