"Sled wolves, is more like it," Sir Caleb said.
Apprehension gripped Achan. Soon he'd have to make a choice. He would not be a puppet. They'd come all this way to free his army. Fine. Achan would do his part, then he'd have to decide to take charge or refuse the call to be king.
26
Sir Gavin led them through the city gate without incident. Their horses carried them down roads slick with ice, around log cottages blanketed in snow. Torchlight shone through cracks on shuttered windows. Families were home and warm.
"It must be night," Sparrow said.
Frost glistened in Sir Gavin's beard. "Seems to be."
Sir Gavin stopped at an inn. The wide building stood three levels high. Two steps up from the street, a long, narrow porch stretched across the face of the building, its sloping shed roof covered in snow. Lanterns and icicles hung from the eaves. A wide oak door divided the porch with two long, frost-covered windows on either side. Music and voices spilled out from the building, but Achan could only see shapes of people through the frosty glass. Dozens of chimneys stuck out from the roof, pouring silver smoke into the black sky.
A painted sign hung above the door. The Ivory Spit: Tavern and Inn.
"Really, Gavin? This place?" Inko said. "We should be going to Lytton Hall."
"Lytton Hall is being watched. Besides, Old Merrygog McLennan's got the tightest lips in Tsaftown."
Inko lowered his voice. "You are thinking it is being wise to be bringing Kurtz here after years being in the Prodotez?"
"Wise or not, 'tis our only option." Sir Gavin climbed the steps and went inside.
"What's the Prodotez?" Achan asked.
"The king's personal prison in Ice Island," Sir Caleb said. "The Fisherman's Quarter has ears. Hold your questions until we're inside."
Sir Gavin returned and tossed a key to Sparrow. "Third floor. Our rooms have a dagfish and a stag on the door. We'll take the back stairs to avoid the tavern."
They led their horses after Sir Gavin, down the side of the building to a stable where they unlatched their packs. "Inko and Vrell, put up the horses and meet us upstairs."
A rickety staircase zigzagged up the back of the inn. They climbed up two levels and entered a door on the third floor into a narrow hall. Three pairs of snowy boots clumped over the worn plank floor, leaving wet footprints on the wood. They passed doors on both sides, each with an image painted on the door, faded from age. A reekat, a charmouse, a cham…
Sir Gavin's key opened the door with a stag. The room stretched out, long and narrow, with a small fireplace at the end. No windows. Two pallets with straw mattresses and a table with two chairs lined the left wall, leaving only the width of a man to navigate down the right. A single door hung open on the right at the end of the room.
Sir Gavin ducked through the interior door and returned just as quickly. "Leads to our other room. Achan, you're not to leave without one of us knights. Vrell doesn't count."
Why would he even try?
Sir Gavin sniffed long and exhaled a sigh. "We'll wait for Inko, then go over our plan."
*
Vrell and Inko found the door with the dagfish empty. Raised voices carried through an open door in the back. Vrell walked past the fireplace, where a stack of kindling and logs sat ready to be used. She entered the other room and found it identical to hers. A crackling fire beside the adjoining door warmed her face. The men sat at two tables wedged together near the fireplace, pouring over a piece of parchment between them. It seemed they had taken the table and chairs from Vrell's room to make a larger one.
"It looks like Meribah Corner," Achan said.
"Aye, both were designed and built by Livnas." Sir Gavin met Vrell's gaze. "Good, you're here. Where is Inko?"
"Unpacking, I believe," she said.
"Well, call him in."
She rolled her eyes and went back to find Inko removing items from his pack. "Inko, Sir Gavin needs you in his room."
Inko heaved a dramatic sigh as if it were bad luck not to unpack his belongings straightaway and Sir Gavin's orders could doom them all.
Vrell ducked back into the room and stood behind Sir Caleb, where she could see the parchment clearly.
It appeared to be a sketch of Ice Island. A painting of the prison hung in Mother's study, which used to be Father's study. Father's brother served as warden of Ice Island. Vrell had always wondered why Mother had kept the horrible painting around. Who wanted to look on a prison all day?
"Inko!" Sir Gavin yelled. "Put some effort into it, will you? We're waiting."
Inko ambled though the doorway and stood beside Sir Gavin. "What are you needing?"
"I need you to stand here and listen. Now, Verdot will meet us at Stormwatch tomorrow with the dogs and sleds."
Vrell's interest piqued. Her uncle was going to help them?
Sir Caleb huffed and leaned back in his chair. Though his hair was blond, his short beard had grown in red. "You always do this, Gavin. You tell no one your scheme until there is no time to change it. When did you plan this?"
"Over the past few weeks. Nitsa helped me arrange it."
"Figures." Sir Caleb slapped his palm on the table and stood. "This is really for her, then? Risking our future king for a childhood romance is-"
"You know full well that's not why we're here." Sir Gavin's bushy eyebrows scrunched together. "If you'd been sent to Ice Island, you'd hope someone would come for you."
Vrell watched the men, mouth gaping. How did this situation involve her mother?
Sir Caleb glared, his eyes so wild Vrell inched back. "None of our men would have gone to Ice Island if Verdot Amal wasn't a coward."
"That was years ago. Nitsa assures me the man is changed. Guilt can change a man."
"That may be, but I still do not trust him."
Achan voiced the very question that plagued Vrell. "What are you talking about?"
Sir Caleb shoved his chair. "You tell him, Gavin." He stomped into the other room.
Sir Gavin stroked his beard. "When your father died, I told you Kenton and his men had drugged us…I knew this because I had a witness. He saw Kenton and his men. He tried to rouse me, and managed, with a lot of water, to succeed."
"But is was too late."
"Aye. My point is, when it came time to testify before the Council of Seven, Verdot refused. Kenton had threatened him, bribed him, who knows, but Kenton and his men went free, their false story went unchallenged, and there you have it."
" Eagan, Kurtz, and the rest of our men in Ice Island these past thirteen years." Sir Caleb leaned against the adjoining doorframe.
Her uncle had let so many good men go to prison?
"What about the childhood romance?" Achan asked.
"Remember the friend I told you about, the man who lost his love to a higher-ranking man? Eagan's lady was Nitsa Amal."
"And she wants him rescued."
"I don't doubt it. Duke Amal has been dead for years."
Vrell swallowed, tears pricking her eyes, throat burning. She knew of Mother's heartbreak with Sir Eagan, but she never thought Mother still cared for the man. After all this time?
"Caleb." Sir Gavin leveled a glance at his friend. "Verdot is a good man who got scared. I trust him."
Sir Caleb huffed and disappeared back to Vrell's room.
"Wait." Achan frowned. " Eagan? Like my sword?"
"Aye, the sword is his, lad."
Now Achan looked as forlorn as Sir Caleb. "How can Verdot help us?"
"He is warden of Ice Island and brother to Pinot Amal, Nitsa's late husband." Sir Gavin glanced at Vrell. "He owes the duchess a favor and has agreed to help."