Then to the other—
And finally—finally!—flat on his face, with Skye on top.
She did it.
She actually did it.
Chapter Twenny-Four
“You done it, Skye,” Siena says. “I knew you would.”
Others are saying similar things, encouraging words, excited words, because, well, we’re getting out of this Heart-forsaken dungeon.
Skye climbs offa Big’s back, turns to look at us, all sweat-gleaming and muscle-tightened. She wipes the blood off her chin with the back of her hand. A woman looking like this, it should be kinda gross, more than a little off-putting, but nay, it’s the exact opposite. She’s never looked more beautiful.
“Get the keys,” Feve says.
Skye nods and reaches down at Big’s belt, trying to find them.
The dungeon door swings open.
Goff stands there, filling the doorway, wearing the finest clothes that ice country taxes can buy. In the cracks and crevices between him and the door I can just make out the dozens of armed guards behind him.
“You really thought you could just walk out of here? Haven’t you learned that I control everything? Ice country is my game board, and you are the pieces.”
“Go to scorch,” Skye says, even as I’m wondering why the king himself would stoop so low as to visit the dungeons. Something about it doesn’t feel right. Doesn’t he have people to do this kind of work for him?
“Oh I will,” Goff sneers. “But not for a very long time, not with the Cure in my possession. But you, my dear fire country animal, are heading there sooner than you think.”
“Stay away from her,” I growl.
Goff glances at me, a look of surprise flashing across his royal face for a moment, but then morphing to amusement. He laughs. “Interesting,” he muses. “Making friends with the natives I see. What’s this girl to you?”
When I don’t answer, he takes a step forward. “Guards! Please escort her back into her cell.”
Skye stiffens and I think she might take on all of them, Goff included, but then she wisely steps into her cell, says, “I’m goin’,” and even closes the door herself.
A guard moves forward and locks it behind her.
“Is he dead?” Goff says, motioning to the pile of flesh at his feet.
The same guard that locked the door bends down, sticks a couple of fingers to Big’s throat, says, “Just unconscious, your highness.”
Goff smiles an ugly smile. “You couldn’t even kill him?” he says, looking in at Skye, who’s far enough back from the bars that I can’t see her.
“I chose not to,” she says.
“An important difference to you, I suppose,” the king says, “but to me, it shows your weakness just the same. In any event, attacking a palace guard and attempting to escape are sufficient crimes to leave me no choice as to the punishment.”
He pauses, looks down the row, calm as a windless day, meeting each prisoner’s eyes. I’m pretty sure none of us flinch away.
“Let this be a lesson to you all. Foolhardy escape plans and a bunch of children carrying them out will be the death of each and every one of you. Starting with her.” He points a stiff finger at Skye.
Dread fills me, blackening my soul like a fire darkens the inside of a fireplace.
“No,” Siena whispers. “No. You can’t do that.”
Goff laughs, which is beginning to annoy me. “My dear, I’m the king. I can do whatever I want. She’ll be hung at dawn.”
~~~
“Skye?” Siena says for the fourth time. There’s no answer.
I take another look through the wall hole but Skye’s tucked in a corner somewhere, outta sight.
“Skye, we’ll find a way out of this,” I say. I mean it, although I don’t have an icin’ clue how.
“There’s no way out,” Skye says, finally breaking her silence.
“There is,” Siena says, almost pleadingly. “I lost you once, I won’t again.”
“Goff’s one sick man,” Feve says. “He’ll make us watch.”
“Yeah,” Circ says, latching onto the thought. “We’ll all be there. We’ll fight. We’ll do everything we can to break you out.”
“So you can be hung right after me?” Skye says. “Sear it all to scorch, don’t be foolish. Jade and Jolie are as good as dead if we all die. We’re the only ones who know.”
“No,” Siena says. “No. You can’t die. You can’t.”
“Oh, don’t you worry, Sister, I’ll fight like a Killer. They won’t get me that easy. I’ll fight ’em with my every last breath, and then keep fightin’ even after I got none left.”
I close my eyes as reality sets in. There’s no escapin’ what’s comin’. The king probably knew exactly what would happen with all of us born fighters in the dungeon together. He wanted us to try to escape, so he could have his fun. So he could give us hope and then snatch it away. So he could make us watch him kill one of our own. With a jerk I realize that’s who these people from fire country are to me. My own. All of them, even Feve. He may not like me, and I may not much like him, but we’re in this together now.
And Skye, well, there’s something with her that’s worth exploring. I can’t let her slip away so fast. I just can’t. But there’s nothing for it. There’s no plan that’ll work. There’s no spy I can call upon. There’s just me, Dazz, who’s failed at everything I’ve tried for the longest time. Except fighting. So like Circ said, that’s what we’ll do. Every last one of us.
Fight until they stick us in the ground.
~~~
There’s no dinner tonight. My stomach’s all clenched up, aching and aching, but it’s not because I’m hungry. Every last ache is for her.
Every beat of my heart seems to ring out, louder than ever, like a dull bell ringing, counting down the moments on her life. I squeeze my chest tight, try to slow down my heart’s frantic pace, but on and on it beats, never ceasing, speeding up if anything.
Big’s gone. It took half a dozen guards to carry him out.
Siena and Skye talk across my cell, but I shy away from it, staying against the back wall, because I don’t want to intrude. I’m nobody, just an outsider, someone they met by a strange twist of fate that left me with a bloodied nose and a black eye. And Skye with a death sentence.
They talk about all kinds of things, stories from their childhood and all that, and although her voice hides it well, I can sense the tears on Siena’s cheeks. Skye, however, is herself, as tough and stalwart as ever, talking as if it’s just another night, rather than the night to end all nights for her.
“Siena,” she says. “You take good care of Circ, you hear me? Treasure him like you always have. Don’t ever take him for granted. Guys like him don’t grow on pricklers these days.”
“I will,” Siena sobs, and I feel a hot tear slip down my cheek, the first in a long time, since the Cold took my father. I wipe it away with an angry hand. Wes stares at me across the hall, brows heavy.
“And you, Circ,” Skye says, a little louder, “don’t let me hear of you doin’ anythin’ to hurt my lil sis, or you know I’ll find a way to kick yer butt from wherever I am.”
“I won’t,” Circ says.
She’s not stopping there. Everyone’s getting a turn. “Feve,” she says, “you’ve done some searin’ stupid things in yer time, and you’ve hurt me and my sister more’n anyone, save fer my father, but yer more’n yer past, more’n what you done. Throw it all behind you and be the man yer capable of.”
“I’ll make you proud,” Feve says.
“Wilde, my sister,” Skye says. “You might have a different mother, a different father, but you’ll always be my sister.” Another freezin’ tear splashes below me and I scrub at my eyes with my fists.
“I know, Skye. And you mine. Go with honor,” Wilde says.
“Buff,” Skye says, and I stop rubbing my face. I didn’t expect us to be included in her goodbyes. We’re just Icers. “You seem like a good fella, and you’ve got a good friend sittin’ ’ere ’side me. He seems like he’s got more thunder in him than a storm sometimes. Help him control it ’fore he searin’ gits himself killed, will ya?”