Page 51 of Crown of Ashes and Awe

Everyone around the room slowly deflated. Their attention fell to the table or the floor, their shoulders slumped.

“We can’t just give up,” I said, pointing out the obvious. “They can’t expect us to know their rules until they explain them, correct?”

Tearloch’s expression was pure pity as he dragged a finger down the outside of my sleeve. “Ciro is anything but reasonable. We will just have to prepare ourselves, be ready for the worst.”

I backed away from him, from all of them, and held my arms out to my sides. “Look at me. Do I look like someone who can fight? And what about Minkin? Who—or what—will she have to kill to survive?”

Tearloch came at me then, grabbing my upper arms and forcing me back, all the way back, until the wall stopped me. His head lowered, and my mouth fell open in surprise. I hadn’t expected him to kiss me in front of his friends.

But he didn’t kiss me. He never looked at my lips. Instead, he stared hard into my eyes and growled. “You need to remember who you are. You need to remember everything you’ve done since leaving your little sanctuary in the canyon. You faced every challenge. You reached into your pocket and drew out miracle after miracle. You were determined to save us all from our fate. And I believe you will. But first, you have to get through this next test.”

He pressed his lips to my forehead, and a little fissure of tingles lit along the sides of my face, down my neck, and found my heart.

“Remember, you know things others do not. And you’ll have to pull from that knowledge to survive. But you will survive, do you hear me?”

Tears leaked from my eyes and poured down my cheeks. I was so tired, so very, very tired. I just wanted to go home, to find my ramshackle house intact, to open the door and hear Demius reading aloud. He would take one look and wrap his arms around me and let me weep until my emotions were spent. Then I’d crawl into my bed where he would cover me with a heavy blanket…

But Demius was gone. My home was gone. And my only source of comfort was the man standing in front of me.

I lifted my chin, looked into Tearloch’s eyes, and silently begged for relief.

He released my shoulders and scooped me up in his arms, carried me a few feet, and sank into a large, soft chair where he held me against him and let me do my worst. He never said a word to hurry me along, never bothered with inanities. I completely forgot there were others in the room.

When my weeping finally waned, I felt more than heard him chuckle and pulled back to see what he thought was funny.

“I was just thinking what a pitiful job I’ve done of protecting you, of saving you. But at least I had a dry shirt available when you needed it most.”

“If you two are finished…” Griffon waved for us to rejoin them all at the table. “Let’s see if we can come up with a reasonable plan to escape this place before Lord Maniac can catch us.”

24

THE GREAT ESCAPE

Once we developed a plan, we had to wait until night before we could attempt our escape from the castle, and hopefully leave The Soundless and its strange occupants behind. In the meantime, we took turns sleeping and discussed our individual strengths.

I learned that neither Lennon nor Griffon suffered from the cold the way the rest of us did. And that fire they’d had in the cave had been started not by Kivi, but by Lennon, who could summon a blaze if she merely concentrated. They had needed those flames only for light, but we were all grateful, for Minkin’s sake.

Lennon could also walk through a conflagration and bend it to her will. We assumed this talent was due to her DeNoy blood, however, and therefore, any DeNoy she might be pitted against would have the same abilities. But when she was in danger, her gold armband turned to liquid, and instead of morphing into saddles along her dragon’s back, it covered her in golden armor.

A neat trick no matter what she faced.

Griffon could wield a sword, but there was little need when the feathers of his bronze wings could do the work of a hundred blades. He admitted that his friends once got the upper hand when they got him good and intoxicated before pinning his wings to his sides. Other than that instance, he’d never been bested…yet.

We moved the furniture back so that Morrow, Lears, and Poole could take on Bain, Dower, and Tearloch. Though they fought with sticks of wood from the fireplace, they all seemed equally matched. Lady Edeen’s men did a great deal of fighting on her behalf.

I also learned for the first time that Tearloch and his friends were Law Wardens, and as such, they did their fair share of fighting as well.

That left Nogel and I.

Tearloch pointed to the bedchamber I’d used briefly. “You. Get some sleep.”

I scoffed. “You mean I’ll be armed with a lecture and a good cry and that’s all?”

“And a good sleep. Now go.”

Though I grumbled, I did as I was told, privately grateful. Poor Nogel wouldn’t be allowed to rest until each of the other men gave him their best advice and cleverest moves to use on a battlefield. I fell asleep with a pillow over my head, trying not to hear the grunts, instructions, and clamor of wood striking wood, over and over and over again.

When I got up, Lennon looked as if she’d slept too. Her waterfall-like hair was no longer perfectly arranged, and her eyes were slightly puffy. She kept muttering something about coffee, whatever that was, and how could she be expected to function without it.

---