But she’d told me to go to the servants’ quarters, too. Dammit!
I also needed to find Merulina and prepare to brave the cold, but those weren’t the only things. I had to think about Theon, and what he would want me to save most. So much to do. It didn’t help that the palace around me was churning in chaos. I almost wished that I was the queen. I would’ve ensured the safety of my people, not concerned myself with looting. The current of servants moved in the opposite direction, driving toward the castle’s main hall and exit, but I pushed back against them and forged toward the western tower first. I had some time. Just enough time to get one last thing…
The western tower was totally deserted—quiet enough to be disconcerting. The hallways tapered off into darkness… with the exception of a splash of golden light emanating from one particular doorway. The room which housed the mystical astrolabe. I crept onward, slipped into the room, and beheld the ancient device. Its interlocking discs gleamed with light. I was gentle as I removed the astrolabe from its platform, but I had no thick coat in which to hide it. If Michelle saw me, I’d have to pretend that I had collected it for her.
Moving through the western tower and back toward the center of the castle was like stepping from one world—dark, quiet, and lonely—into another—bright, noisy, and crowded. The walls had been stripped of their tapestries and crests. The floors were littered in sprays of broken baubles and discarded coins. I wasn’t even sure what I could grab for Michelle anymore, but then I also assumed she’d packed up everything she could carry.
In all the commotion, the dungeon was forgotten. Its door hung open, but the guard station just beyond was dim and empty. Of course; the ice dragons were by and large cowards, weren’t they? No wonder they had lost the land twice now. If they couldn’t steal it without much effort, they wouldn’t bother.
War against a nation of cowards and thieves was understandably difficult. Without respect for the land, for families, for heritage, there was much for a people to lose in war. But on the other hand, it was easy to regain a foothold against such an enemy. They were so weak, they made it easy.
I glanced to the right and to the left, then advanced toward the prison. Before I passed the empty guard station, I hesitated and scanned the interior of the small room for any keys. At first, I thought that someone had had the foresight to remove them—the foresight as well as the spitefulness. But the guard had not seen fit to remove every item of use, for leaned in one corner were several tools, including a long, metallic scissor which resembled bolt cutters.
I snatched them up, heavy though they were—the bolt cutters wedged beneath one arm, while both hands continued to brace the astrolabe—and trundled down, down, down the twisting stone stairwell to the dungeon beyond.
I could hear them crying out for me—for anyone—before I even turned the last corner and was spilled out amid the prison cells and dangling chains. “What’s going on out there?” a woman in a cell demanded. She was an older fire dragoness, starved down to the bone… and an idea bloomed in my brain. Of course. The prisoners could help the soldiers! No one would ever need to know that it had been me…
“The king has come to save us,” I informed her breathlessly, placing the lock on the cell door between the scissors and closing them tightly. The lock groaned and gave, twisting and falling to the floor. “Let’s go. Take a coat and boots from any closet and join them!”
“And who are you but an ice dragon slave, to give the proud people of this land your orders?” the woman demanded, glaring at me hotly.
I wrenched the prison cell’s door open and extended my hand toward her, so that she could see the thin band of gold gleaming on my finger—and the Aena crest thereon. Her eyes—a dark gold much like Theon’s—flashed from my ring to my face. “My slavery is nothing but a ruse,” I assured her. “I will be queen of The Hearthlands when the throne has been restored to its rightful king, Theon.” I didn’t have the time to explain any further than that, though I saw from the largeness of her eyes that she believed me. I jerked my head to the side, signaling for her to pass and pass quickly. “Go now, there is no time to lose,” I commanded her. She hurried past, and so did several other fire dragons in her cell. They all scurried up the stairs, into the madness beyond, and were gone. I continued to scavenge for Altair. Where…?
“Sister!” a familiar voice called to me from the shadows. I twisted and scanned the darkness… and there he was, on the fringes of a torch’s dying light, forgotten by the sentries, bound in chains.