Chapter 12

The Walls that Keep Us In

With the assassin guild’s threat looming over our heads, we decided it would be best to avoid the main roads between Shallow Tides Bay and the next city we planned to spend a couple of days in — Feldroch. 

Our journey to Skai City would have been shorter if we’d gone up the mountain to Feldroch’s sister city, Shalesteppes, but that plan was squashed when Toni finally admitted that he was afraid of heights.

Finn and I glanced back and forth at each other at this revelation since Skai City was technically higher in the mountains than Shalesteppes was… but at least by the time we got to our destination, it would be a lot harder for Toni to turn back and return to Shallow Tides. 

Winona had apparently prepared five different routes to Skai City from Shallow Tides Bay in the small amount of downtime we’d had between fighting the Reanault clan and leaving the bay. Each route started off the same but then rerouted a different way between checkpoints.

“Just in case of trouble,” she’d said.

The question that bobbed around in my head as we walked the three days to Feldroch was whether the trouble we heard or the trouble we caused would reroute us. With our track record, it was probably the latter.

On our last full day of walking before reaching the city, we bedded down in a large, open clearing. The mountain climbed high above the trees on one side of the clearing like it was pointing up at the stars above. Way up high, I could see twinkling lights from homes and businesses in Shalesteppes, scattered over the sides of the city. 

Winona had told Finn and me about how most of the buildings are carved into the mountainside, and you could get between them on little wooden bridges or tunnels that wound their way through the rock. Toni had grown green at the first mention of open-air bridges and walked as far ahead of us as he could without getting out of sight.

But now, everyone snoozed around me as I took the first watch of the night. I couldn’t see much past the light from our fire, but someone needed to be awake in case a bear or something attacked us. 

A bush rustled in the distance. I whipped my head around and whispered, “No bear food here, so git.”

And there was no more rustling for the rest of my watch, just the crackling of the fire and chirps of crickets.

I got up once enough time had passed and shook Toni lightly on the shoulder. “Your turn,” I whispered to him as he cracked his eyes open groggily. He stretched and started pulling his armor back on as I added a couple new logs and sticks to our fire to keep it burning through the night. Then, I settled into sleep.

“Woah, hey! What are you doing?” Toni’s voice was filled with concern as I was jolted out of my sleep. It couldn’t have been too long since we’d changed shifts since the moon was still in pretty much the same spot as earlier. But the sudden pull from my slumber was still jarring.

Toni was standing up, holding his arms out wide between us and two winged shadows who were just out of reach of the fire’s light. 

I rolled out of my bedroll and grabbed up my scimitar with one fell movement, rushing to Toni’s side. The winged creatures didn’t move forward at all like I’d expected. “Those are the biggest bats I’ve ever seen,” I noted, squinting at the figures.

Laughter erupted from the shadows. “We’re not bats,” a gruff and guttural voice from one figure responded. 

“We’re the fire watch from Shalesteppes,” the other said with a similar accent that was just a step higher than the other shadow’s voice. They both stepped into the flickering light of our fire, and bat-like wings with metallic skeletal joints held together some strange, glossy material folded behind them. Each of them had a hose in hand like they’d been ready to fight off a fire.

“Our fire’s being watched,” Winona said from next to me, making me jump. She walked so quietly, even when rudely awakened. I looked around at Finn, who was still sitting in his bedroll, looking like he was concentrating. When he caught me looking at him, he gave a thumbs up and subtly pointed to his temple and ear. Apparently, he was quick to mind-read, which I should be grateful for since that meant we could easily rule out most liars. I’d never trust him in a game of cards again, though.

I turned my attention back to the two dwarven-folk who’d interrupted our night’s sleep. “We’re just doing our job,” the more effeminate one of the two said with a shrug, twisting at a red beard.

“To be fair, I pointed out that the fire didn’t seem to be growing. They were the ones who wanted to be overly cautious,” the other dwarf, whose black hair was lightly peppered with gray, said, returning the hose nozzle to a hip clip.

“Yep, no danger here. We’ll be sure to put it out really good tomorrow morning, too,” Toni said, finally dropping his defensive posture. Winona’s warm presence disappeared from beside me, and when I checked to see where she went, she was already back in her bedroll. Toni shifted for a second and then returned to sitting on his own, watching the fire. The two dwarves still hadn’t moved to leave.

I looked over the wing machines on their backs once and realized they weren’t flying contraptions but rather gliding contraptions. “I hope you’re not the only ones on firewatch duty tonight since you can’t get back up to Shalesteppes with those wings,” I said, gesturing way up to the quiet city. 

“There are hundreds of fire watch captains up there for this specific situation, actually,” the salt-and-pepper-haired dwarf responded. “Plenty of us get stuck down here for false alarms, so we’ve adapted the approach.” The red-headed dwarf nodded.

“We’ve built an escalator between Feldroch and Shalesteppes to help people back up.” The red-headed dwarf continued talking. “The only problem is that they don’t operate it until morning since it’s noisy enough to wake both cities.”

Ah. They were stuck down here. “No one should be venturing on the road this late by themselves, either,” I said, moving to the side to offer them a spot in front of the fire. They immediately started doffing off all of their mechanical equipment. They pulled their flight goggles to rest on the tops of their heads.

“I’m Brannam Stormbranch,” the dwarf with the black and silver hair and beard said, toddling past me and jerking a thumb over his shoulder at the red-headed dwarf. “That’s Galdrus Mightbraid. I vote they keep watch since we’re down here disturbing you because of their mistake.”

“Voting rights only go to those in the main party,” Winona growled from the ground, still facing away from the group. “And I vote everyone shuts up so I can sleep.”

“No need for a vote if I volunteer,” Galdrus said, prancing over to sit beside Brannam by the fire. Brannam was already splayed out on the ground, shoes off, and toes so close to the fire pit that I worried we might not be clear from starting a fire tonight.

Galdrus seemed to notice me worrying and said, “Don’t worry. I’ve kept Bran’s piggies from roasting for many years now. Get your rest.”

I fell back asleep to the sounds of Galdrus humming some unknown medley in time with the crackling of the fire.

The next morning, I woke up feeling refreshed. Before I opened my eyes, the smell of sizzling sausage and patty cakes met my nose with a warm greeting. I rolled over to see Galdrus and Brannam awake, with an iron plate set up over the fire for cooking. It wasn’t ours. In fact, none of this food was ours either.

“Thought we’d prep a breakfast to say sorry again and properly introduce ourselves,” Brannam said, offering me a small popping sausage link from a skewer. I took it and popped it into my mouth before noticing that Winona was awake and shaking her head furiously. She had dark, sunken circles around her eyes.

I swallowed slowly, waiting for some sort of poison to set in, but all that remained from the sausage I ate was a desire for more tasty sausages. I shrugged at Winona and sat down across the fire from Brannam and Galdrus. When Finn and Toni woke up, they both took seats next to me, happily taking whatever food was offered.

Winona sat on her bedroll and ate rations quietly.

“She sure is a suspicious one, huh,” Galdrus whispered quietly enough so that only Toni and I could hear. Their bright red beard was now in a neat, intricate braid, slung over their shoulder so as not to get food in it.

“Winona’s been through a lot, especially since we met her a couple of days ago,” Toni whispered back. I glanced out of the corner of my eye, noting that Winona had gone rigid as she faced out into the forest, eating a peeled orange from her bag.

Galdrus nodded knowingly and said, “When someone’s been through a tough time, they need to be surrounded by patience and love. It seems like she’s got good friends in all of you.”

Could I call Winona a friend? Not really. I didn’t know enough about her to say that. I’d learned so much about Toni on the Onyx Glory because he’d shared it with me so openly. I’d known Finnan for so long now, but there wasn’t much we didn’t know about each other at this point. But Winona had been clamped shut to all of us. We only knew what she had been unable to hide from us. 

Emilee. The Assassin’s Guild. The plot against Queen Hestiana.

That was about it.

“I don’t know if you can call us friends, exactly,” I replied, feeling my brows wrinkle my forehead as I looked over at Galdrus. “There’s so much she’s not shared with us. How can you say someone’s a friend when there’s so much that remains behind thick walls?”

Toni spoke lowly between bites of sausage. “But friendship comes in many forms, right?”

I shrugged, but out of the corner of my eye, Galdrus nodded affirmatively. “What do you mean by that?” I asked, feeling a strange sense of uncertainty bubble up in my chest. I knew what friendship looked like — what it was supposed to be. Like Finn and me. Or Galdrus and Brannam. How could it be different?

“If I’m guessing correctly here,” Galdrus said, “I’d say you grew up in a small town with a big family that was super close with one another?”

Toni shook his head, knowing all of these to be true because I’d told him so. I blinked at Galdrus a few times before nodding, too.

“That kind of upbringing can teach someone how to be open and trusting with others. I was raised in a similar situation, though I was an only child.” Galdrus took a long swig of tea from their mug, glancing over at Brannam, who was in the middle of describing all the different types of sausages they serve up in Shalesteppes to a very rapt Finn.

“At the convent, truth and openness weren’t really about friendship or closeness, but more of a way of life,” Toni said, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder while Galdrus sipped more tea. “So, to me, friendship is more about who I choose to spend my time with, and I choose those who make the world feel lighter and brighter.”

He squeezed lightly when he saw tears spring to my eyes. “Reasons for friendship aside, why doesn’t she trust us?” I whispered.

“She does,” Galdrus whispered. “And it’s very apparent she cares for you… in her own special way.”

An image of Emilee floated to the front of my mind. I thought of how protective and caring Winona had been with her in her final moments. I thought of when I was scared I would lose Finn in the Reanault clan’s hideout, how the idea of it nearly broke me in two. I never wanted to feel like that again. 

“Oh, she must be so sad,” I murmured, feeling my gaze drift over to Winona’s hunched back. She surveyed the clearing with vigilance, which told me all her focus was going into the action. Toni squeezed my shoulder again before reaching for another sausage from the small skillet.

Galdrus followed my gaze to Winona, unaware of what I was referencing but somehow still able to sit with the realization I had. “Sometimes we see the high walls someone’s built around themselves and think they’ll never come down. What we don’t realize is how hard they’re working to break those walls apart from the other side.”

“Kithri, Shalesteppes has over thirty different types of sausage. We have to go on our way back,” Finn said from across the fire pit to me, his eyes gleaming with a look of wonder I’d only really ever seen when he was talking about something new he learned at the library. “Once we find the Dragon’s Helm, that is.”

Winona’s scanning stopped abruptly behind Finn. “Dragon’s Helm?” she asked.

Whoops. Even with days of walking, we’d not really brought up the reason we were journeying with her. Maybe I wasn’t being as open with her as I expected her to be.

“When Hill Hollow Shire was attacked when I was young, a warrior with a helmet in the shape of a dragon’s head saved us and fought off the raiders. I’ve been looking for them ever since.”

Winona nodded slowly, turning back to her watch. “Do you know anything about the warrior?” I pressed, everyone’s heads turning to watch for her response.

She remained silent, staring into the trees.

“Not so curious anymore?” Brannam said with a gruff grunt in her direction. Galdrus placed a hand on his arm and shook their head with a seriousness I’d not seen between the two of them.

“Do you know the Dragon’s Helm Warrior?” Finn asked. I saw a twitch in his fingers like he was about to do some magic, but then he seemed to think better of it.

“I don’t think you want to know what I know about the Dragon’s Helm,” Winona said with a curt finality in her voice.

I stood and brushed the dust off my pants before padding over to Winona’s bedding. I was eye-to-eye with her for the first time, and when our gazes met, I noticed a flash of fear before it hardened. “We do want to know. Good or bad. I need to know who it is I’ve been looking for,” I said.

Her shoulders relaxed. I hadn’t realized she’d been tense. How long had she been tense?

“I don’t know who they are, but when I first moved to Shallow Tides Bay, there were rumors circulating about a warrior living on the outskirts of the city,” she said. “Everyone talked about the dragon’s head-shaped helmet they wore. No clue if it’s the same warrior you met, even if that kind of helmet would be pretty unique.”

I looked back at Finn. “You’re sure that Aramedia said the warrior was seen near Skai City?”

He nodded. I turned back to Winona. “Maybe they moved?” I suggested.

She shrugged, looking away. “Last I heard, the warrior had retired over fifteen years ago, though.”

That was what she’d not wanted to tell me. I hadn’t dreamed up the warrior. Everyone around town had seen them — seen their helmet. Maybe it was just a coincidence of two different dragon-shaped helms. My warrior, and then this retired warrior.

But what if there was only one? Would a retired warrior want to help me? Would they still be alive fifteen years later?

Finn was at my side. “Don’t lose hope. They’re out there, and we’re going to find them,” he said, draping an arm around my shoulder.

But what if we left home for nothing?