Glissanda Read online

  Leif rips the curtains off the rod and throws the burning cloth to the floor. We stomp on the flames until they are extinguished. It’s then I see the lit torch lying on the floor, although it’s not yet caught anything else afire.

  Leif grabs the torch, snuffs it out, then goes to the window. He quickly ducks down, holding his arm against me.

  “Stay back, Raven!”

  “What is it—who’s there?” But immediately I know exactly who it is. I can already hear the chanting.

  Tui’s voice on the balcony next to ours overpowers them. “Move on, you cowards! How dare you endanger an innocent man’s livelihood!”

  My heart swells at my friend’s bravery. And then I hold my breath so I can hear the response from the Loyalists protesting outside.

  “He’s harboring a Treasoner!” A man’s shout.

  “Which he has every right to do,” Catriona says, her voice echoing into the night.

  Again, there’s a warm sensation in my chest, that I have such true friends willing to defend me. Still, I can’t help feeling that I should be the one defending myself.

  I start to rise.

  Leif grabs my arm, pulling me back down. “What are you doing, Raven? These people might kill you.”

  I shake my head. “They’re cowards. Look at them—coming by here in the dead of night. Couldn’t even face me in the daytime. They need to leave the Murphys in peace, let their inn alone. We’ll go—that’s fine.”

  A woman’s voice hollers from down below. “Where is the traitor? Show yourself!”

  I give Leif a look that dares him to defy me again; he releases my arm, and I stand. I grab Fortissima from the corner and strap the belt on.

  I walk toward the balcony, straightening my clothing as I do. Taking a deep breath, I open the ruined door and step outside.

  I knew I’d have to face these people one day—the ones who are opposed to my declaration that I’m the true heir to the throne of Nadir. The ones who’d prefer for the kingdom to be ruled as it has been for the past millennium. Those loyal to King Araroa and his son.

  But I’m not a traitor. If anything, I’m more loyal to this kingdom and her people than my father ever was. It’s me who wants better for them.

  True freedom.

  I scan the agitated crowd that fills the street below me. They are still chanting ugly slurs, waving flaming torches. Mostly men, but a few women are scattered amongst them. I recognize nearly all of them from my trips to Greenhollow when I was growing up.

  I lace my hands in front of me, and smile. Because I realize something then: that these people are certain to know what happened to my Baldachin family. I must play nicely.

  Eventually, the chanting grows more quiet; they’ve seemed to have gotten bored with it. I take the opportunity to speak.

  “My friend is correct—you’ve no need to harm Mr. Murphy’s establishment. He’s simply providing a place for us to stay the night. I’ve no wish to cause unrest here in Greenhollow.” I look at Mr. Black, one of the town’s shopkeepers, directly. I hold his eyes for only a moment before his dart down to the ground. “But I must say that I am terribly disappointed in all of you. I’ve grown up coming here, I nearly consider Greenhollow my second home. But I’m obviously not welcome here, at least not by all.” I take a deep breath and grip the railing in front of me to steady myself. “And now I’ve learned that some of you have destroyed my true home, Baldachin, and taken my family as prisoners. I’m not leaving until you tell me where they are.”

  The chanting that remains dies down to silence, until the only sound is that of the torch flames licking at the night sky.

  A man steps forward from the crowd, one I don’t recognize. Not that he’s someone I don’t know from Greenhollow: I sense he’s not from anywhere near here.

  “We’ll do no such thing. You are a traitor to King Araroa, to the Kingdom of Nadir. Your family—those who sheltered you from birth—are all traitors. You’re all guilty and must be punished. We do not believe in sheltering traitors.”

  As if to accentuate his point, he hurls his torch through a front downstairs window of the inn, followed by several others, their torches crashing through upstairs windows. Raucous cheering erupts.

  Seconds later, flames are licking up toward the wooden balconies. I can hear Tui and Catriona stomping around the room next door, then there’s pounding on my door.

  “We’ve got to go!” Leif grabs my arm, he’s pulling me off the balcony, back into the room. I’m furious—these people have no right to punish the Murphys. I want to tell them so … I want to do something. Anything but run away.

  But clearly I can’t stay here. Still stunned, I grab my jacket and my pack, then swing the door open where Tui and Catriona are still standing.

  “The fire’s catching—we’ve got to get out of here!” she says, turning for the stairs.

  We run down the steps, but are stopped by flames licking up the wooden railing. Heat billows toward us. The entire front room is ablaze. Through it, I can hear Mrs. Murphy wailing in the back, from the kitchen.

  Suddenly I feel as though my dream is becoming real. I can’t move for a long second.

  Me. Alone. Flames.

  But I’m not alone—Leif and Tui are pulling me back up the stairs. There’s the sound of glass breaking; Catriona’s broken out a window in the back. “It’s only one story—we’ve got to jump!” she yells.

  Tui kicks the rest of the glass out, then swings himself over the windowsill. He grabs on, suddenly dropping out of sight. Catriona follows. Leif motions for me to go. I don’t hesitate this time, more than happy to escape this burning inferno.

  I drop to the ground. My legs give way, and I find myself splayed in the dusty yard. Seconds later, a hand reaches for me—Tui’s. He’s pulling me up, toward the stable with our waiting horses.

  I shake my head. “I can’t go! I need to find out where our families are!”

  “We need to get out of here, Raven,” Tui says. “We’ll find them, but we need to make sure you are safe for now. This mob could get out of hand—”

  “You wench! Get out of here!” Mrs. Murphy is coming at me, swinging a broom. I realize she’s about to hit me and I jump out of the way, just in time. Mr. Murphy is running behind her. He catches up to her, grabs the broom from her hands. She’s still swinging, but he’s got her in his arms. She stops then, and collapses against him, sobbing.

  Mr. Murphy looks at me, while rubbing his wife’s back. “I don’t regret helping you, not one bit. We’ll rebuild the inn”—he glances behind him where the flames are licking through the window we’d just jumped from—“but maybe not here. Go—Godspeed to you all.”

  “But—but my family—” I pull against Tui’s hand, still clutching mine. He finally lets go and continues to the stable where Leif and Catriona are getting the horses saddled up.

  I stand for a moment, watching the inn burn. Over the roar of the flames, I can still make out the Loyalists’ chanting. It’s grown louder, more fierce.

  But my desire to face them head-on is nearly overpowering. I want them to admit to me, right in the face, what they’ve done.

  Still, I know deep inside that they’re not going to tell me where the others are, not in this riotous state.

  I feel a hand on my shoulder. “Pearl is ready for you, m’lady,” Leif says softly in my ear. I sigh, uncurling my clenched fists, and turn to mount my horse.

  Mr. Murphy points past the stable. “There’s a trail into the woods that way. You won’t have to face the—the bloody Loyalists if you leave through there.” He turns back toward his blazing inn. Both the innkeepers faces are wet with tears, lit orange by the flickering flames, as they watch the inn that’s been in the Murphy family for generations burn.

  I am crushed with guilt. If only we’d camped out in the woods, far from Greenhollow, none of this would have happened. Once again, it’s all my fault—that another family is homeless, another livelihood destroyed. All because of me.


  There are so many decisions I should have made. I could have stayed in Araroa’s dungeon, sworn autonomy to his tribunal, and lived happily ever after in Baldachin, with Leif and the rest of my family. But no: I used the key my Queen mother, Seraphine, gave me, and escaped that horrible dungeon. But then Seraphine was executed for the treasonous act. I fled with Leif to Nuimana where we had an idyllic life for a time, until we believed his papa, Nile, was in danger and Leif left to find him. I should have stayed on Nuimana, waited for him to return, but then I stupidly followed. Even after we’d found Nile safe and sound, even after we’d successfully freed the imprisoned Treasoners from King Araroa’s camp, Leif and I were on the return voyage to Nuimana. Was I happy then? No—we saw smoke on the horizon and I ordered the captain to come about, to sail back to Nadir. Araroa had broken another promise: he’d not stopped in his punishment of Treasoners and was busy destroying their homes. But I couldn’t let that go.

  And then I defied him, declaring right to his face, to be the true heir of the Kingdom of Nadir.

  I declared myself Nadir’s next Woman King. Who I was born to be.

  I look toward the dark trees, where safety lies, away from the angry mob still chanting in the street at the front of the inn.

  And then I turn the other way, and ride toward the Loyalists.

  The ones who are defying me.

  Chapter 3

  “RAVEN!”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  My friends’ voices fade behind me as I ride Pearl around to the front of the burning inn. I don’t know if they’re following me or not. I don’t care—I’m doing this on my own.

  I stop in the street, before the chanting crowd, and draw Fortissima from her sheath. “Do you see this? Do you know what this means?”

  The angry voices die down again. Nobody speaks.

  “This is Fortissima—the sword of Woman Kings. She’s the sword every Woman King has carried since the beginning of the Kingdom of Nadir.”

  “Impossible!” a woman shouts. “That was destroyed a thousand years ago!”

  I slide my sword back into her sheath. “No. That’s only what you were told. It was safe on Nuimana all this time and I’ve accepted her as my own—my birthright. I am the Woman King of Nuimana and I will be the Woman King of Nadir when Araroa dies.”

  “Or hopefully before then,” Leif says, riding up next to me and Pearl.

  I look over at him, shaking my head. Still, something flutters in my chest at his unwavering belief in me.

  And for once, I don’t argue with him.

  “If this continues, if you Loyalists, as you call yourselves, continue with Araroa’s blessing to destroy families, homes, villages, livelihoods, I will put a stop to it. Mark my words.”

  Before anyone has a chance to reply, I signal Pearl with a click of my tongue and we ride through the crowd. Cruel words are hurled at me but I don’t stop. The Loyalists are forced to part and let Pearl and me through.

  I can hear Leif following behind, and Tui and Catriona too. We continue down the road leading out of the town until the light from the flames fades away into darkness.

  It must take an hour for my heart to slow, for the throbbing of the blood in my ears to fade. When it does, I hear Tui and Catriona’s voices. Even though they’ve fallen back several hundred yards, their angry words echo in the dark around me.

  I stop Pearl, hoping they’ll catch up. Leif’s next to me, listening too.

  “Maybe we should just leave them to it?” he says, with a tone of irritation.

  “I think you’re right.” I shrug, and settle back in Pearl’s saddle to wait.

  Ten minutes pass before Tui and Catriona finally ride up to join Leif and me. Even in the moonless night, when Tui’s near I can see the hurt on his face, his slumped shoulders. Whatever they were arguing about, clearly he didn’t win.

  When Catriona stops next to him, her face is not smiling, either.

  “Go on. You tell her.” Tui’s voice is hard.

  She sits up tall in Hazel’s saddle. “I’ll be straight with you: I’m positive I can find out where these Greenhollow Loyalists have taken everyone if I stay behind.” She glances over at Tui; he’s still looking at me, one brow raised, silently challenging me to agree with her.

  I don’t accept it, at least right away. Instead, I ask her: “But they’ve all seen you, with me. How would you be able to get information secretly? They’ll recognize you in an instant. They’ll know you’re from Baldachin, besides.”

  She doesn’t answer right away.

  But Tui does. “She has no idea. Do you?” He looks directly at her for an instant, then back at me. “She just wants to take a chance that someone like Mrs. Willow could get information from her husband and pass it on. Cat is good at sneaking around, I guess”—a corner of his mouth turns up—“but this idea … I don’t like it. Not one bit.”

  The problem is, I do like the idea actually. Catriona’s a born tracker, and has been acting as my spy and messenger for the past year. And she’s good: she was the one who alerted me that Leif was in Araroa’s dungeon a short time ago, after all. If she hadn’t … I can’t even finish the thought. If anyone can find something out in Greenhollow, she can.

  I remember our conversation just last night, when I silently swore to myself that I wouldn’t let her do this to Tui.

  But everything’s changed. After witnessing the ruthlessness of the Loyalists, I don’t see how I can possibly prevent her from doing all she can. To find our families. To stop the Loyalists from presenting them to the King, who’s certain to punish them for treason.

  Is that worth Tui’s broken heart?

  All I know is there’s so much more than that at stake now.

  “I’m sorry, Tui. I know you don’t like this idea, but I think Catriona’s right. Besides, she’s been in far more dangerous situations than this one, I’m sure. I hate to say it, but it’s true—she does work best alone.”

  Tui’s response to my little speech is a hard glare. Not unexpected.

  “I’ll be in and out of there in a matter of days,” Catriona says. “I’ll probably catch up with you three on your way back to the Zenith camp.” She keeps her eyes trained on Tui.

  He remains silent, which tells me he’s really chafed. I lean over and touch Tui’s arm. “Tui, our families. We’ve got to do whatever we can to find them. This is not good.”

  He sighs, puffing out his cheeks. “Yeah, I know.” He looks over at Catriona, sitting atop Hazel on the other side of me. “Are you leaving … now?” His last word is so high-pitched I have to put my hand over my mouth so he doesn’t see me smile. I’ve never seen him so far gone over any girl. This is serious.

  She nods. “I want to talk to Mrs. Willow first thing, before dawn, when she begins the day’s baking. Maybe she can at least tell me who else I should talk to. I’ll hide out in the woods in a safe spot. Please try not to worry, Tui. I’m going to be fine.”

  I look at Leif, who’s been listening to our exchange in silence; he indicates with his head that we should move on. “I’ll let you two have a moment,” I say. “You can catch up with us, Tui. Do be careful, Catriona. I’m looking forward to meeting up again soon. Hopefully you’ll have some news of everyone.”

  “You be careful too, Raven, but”—she gives me a wink—“you’ve got the two most protective fellows in the kingdom with you.”

  I can’t help but laugh at that too-true statement, and give Pearl the nudge to move on, leaving Catriona and Tui behind us in the dark to say their goodbyes.

  Tui catches up with Leif and me eventually; we’re almost to the camp at the top of the hill by that time. There’s no moon; I can’t tell what time it is but there’s no sign of sunrise. Tui and Leif offer to unsaddle the horses and stake them in the nearby meadow for the night, and I gratefully accept, grabbing my bedroll and pack off of Pearl.

  I tuck myself in, so exhausted I’m certain I’ll fall asl
eep immediately. But my mind tumbles with all that’s happened in the past day, with my worst fear coming true of my family having been captured by Loyalists. I’m still awake when Leif settles down next to me.

  I reach over, searching for his hand until I find it, and clasp onto it. I feel his lips touch the back of my hand, his breath warm. A sense of calm seeps into me, just from having him nearby.

  “We’ll find them, Raven,” he says, as though he’s reading my mind.

  “Yes, we will,” I agree. I listen to Leif’s quiet, even breathing for a while, and it finally lulls me to sleep.

  I wake to the morning sun warming my face. The late summer rays have cleared the tops of the trees ringing our hilltop camp, and it’s already warm. I keep my eyes closed for a few moments longer, enjoying the peaceful morning, the birds calling to one another in the treetops, and … the smell of bacon and coffee.

  Am I still dreaming?

  I sit up, rubbing my eyes. Tui’s busy cooking over a small fire and Leif is pouring thick, black coffee into a mug. He smiles brightly when he sees me awake, and brings me the steaming drink.

  “Careful, it’s hot,” he says, handing it over.

  I accept it gingerly and blow on it. I’m too impatient for it to cool though, and take a tiny sip. The recently boiled coffee sears the top of my mouth, just as Leif warned. But I manage to maintain a straight face so I don’t give it away. “Where did you guys get this? I thought all we had was some old tea and hard biscuits left. I’d planned on doing some fishing today.”

  “We found the bacon in one of the saddlebags. There’s some scones too. I’ve no idea how it got there, must have been a gift from Mrs. Murphy. Before the fire, that is …” Tui plucks a piece of bacon from the cooling pan, blows on it, and is about to take a bite when my chest fills with ice.

  “Tui! Stop!”

  He pauses, holding the strip of bacon in midair, brows raised in question.

  “We don’t know who put it there, which means it could have been a Loyalist. Tui—it could be poisoned.”