Page 55 of Frost Like Night
“What are you doing?” she hissed, her voice low as she noted their audience. “If you wish to join them—”
Meira’s face hardened. “Not join them. Save them.”
Dendera blew out a breath. “What don’t they know?”
But Meira shook her head. “No time to explain. Who’s in charge of the camp in Ceridwen’s absence? Send for whoever it is, now.”
Dendera stood frozen for as long as it took Meira to turn away from her. Then she moved, her years of training as a soldier compelling her to obey orders even as Mather saw the gray hue of terror engulf her face. He knew what she was thinking, one worry pulsing like a brand across her mind—Henn. He’s in danger.
Mather ground his jaw.William. He’ll die too.
He growled at himself and spun after Meira.
Minutes later, Hollis, Feige, Trace, Kiefer, Eli, and even Jesse had gathered in the middle of what had become the Winterian section of the camp. There was little time for a reunion as a pile of supplies was deposited outside one tent. Mather and the Thaw picked through it, suiting up as best they could for battle. Meira knotted a sword’s sheath to her belt as Dendera joined them with a man Mather didn’t know, a Summerian who had the familiarSbrand below his left eye.
“This is Kaleo Pikari, leader of the camp,” Dendera introduced him. Her worry had been replaced with resolve, something she held as tightly as Meira gripped the sword she shoved into her belt.
Meira nodded. The way she stood there, head high, shoulders squared, she was every raging stubbornness from their childhood. She was the girl who had never relented in her arguments with William. She was the ferocity that had both terrified and entranced Mather as a child. She was all of that at once, fierce and bold and daring.
She was a queen.
Mather knew he was gaping. But ice above, looking at her was like staring at a snowbank under a midday sun—blinding and mesmerizing.
“I don’t mean to come in and question your authority,” she started to Kaleo, eyes softening. “But Ceridwen and her group are unaware of the severity of Angra’s threat. All of you are—which is why you must trust me, though I realizethis is a large request: you have to move this camp.”
Mather shouldn’t have been surprised. If anyone who knew of this camp’s location became possessed by the Decay, they wouldn’t hesitate to turn over that information to Angra.
More surprising still, Kaleo nodded. “We’re already in the process of breaking down the camp. We were going to move for the same reason I suspect you have—if anyone in Summer who knows of this camp falls into Angra’s hands . . .” His voice tapered off and he cleared his throat. “We figured it was safest to relocate.”
“Where?” Meira refitted her chakram’s holster over the leather vest she’d taken from the supply pile.
“Summer.” Kaleo smiled sadly. “There are barren places there that not even Angra would dare go. It will be uncomfortable, but not impossible, living in the desert—and hopefully Angra won’t think to look in a kingdom he’s already overtaken.”
Meira considered, her cheek caught between her teeth.
Kaleo pressed on. “We considered moving to Yakim, for instance, but we didn’t want to risk becoming Giselle’s prisoners when Angra falls.”
“Angra won’t fall so easily,” she whispered. Kaleo’s dark face paled enough that Mather recognized it as the same fear Dendera had shown—someone he cared about was in Ceridwen’s group. “My soldiers and I will assist Ceridwen in Juli. Your camp should relocate, but I worry thatanywhere in Summer will still be too close to Angra’s reach. Anyplace you hide there will be known bysomeonein Juli, won’t it?”
“Where do you suggest we go?” Kaleo’s voice was clipped.
Meira turned to Dendera. “Did Henn and Sir pass through Autumn on their way here?”
She nodded. “They avoided main roads, so they didn’t have much to say about it.”
“Has anyone received word of them? Has Caspar sided with Angra?”
Mather heard the words she didn’t say:Has Angra killed Caspar yet?
Kaleo was the one who answered. “We sent scouts who told us that Cordell turned on Autumn—but the royal family was never accounted for. So while the capital is under Angra’s control, the rest of the kingdom is less certain. You want us to go to Autumn?”
Meira tipped her head, as though she was piecing together a plan as she talked. “An uncertain kingdom is better than one that Angra has definitely taken, and no one outside this camp will know any hiding spots there.”
Mather expected Kaleo to show resistance, but clearly he had experience taking orders from young, passionate royals. Nevertheless, Kaleo weighed her words in turn, his lips parted.
“We can split the camp into small groups, able to travel faster, and take different routes through Summer tostagger our travel.” He scratched his chin, thinking. “We’ll make for the foothills—we’ll go as far into the Klaryns as possible.”
“How many soldiers do you have here?”
