Ice Country(63)
The same guard that locked the door bends down, sticks a couple of fingers to Big’s throat, says, “Just unconscious, your highness.”
Goff smiles an ugly smile. “You couldn’t even kill him?” he says, looking in at Skye, who’s far enough back from the bars that I can’t see her.
“I chose not to,” she says.
“An important difference to you, I suppose,” the king says, “but to me, it shows your weakness just the same. In any event, attacking a palace guard and attempting to escape are sufficient crimes to leave me no choice as to the punishment.”
He pauses, looks down the row, calm as a windless day, meeting each prisoner’s eyes. I’m pretty sure none of us flinch away.
“Let this be a lesson to you all. Foolhardy escape plans and a bunch of children carrying them out will be the death of each and every one of you. Starting with her.” He points a stiff finger at Skye.
Dread fills me, blackening my soul like a fire darkens the inside of a fireplace.
“No,” Siena whispers. “No. You can’t do that.”
Goff laughs, which is beginning to annoy me. “My dear, I’m the king. I can do whatever I want. She’ll be hung at dawn.”
~~~
“Skye?” Siena says for the fourth time. There’s no answer.
I take another look through the wall hole but Skye’s tucked in a corner somewhere, outta sight.
“Skye, we’ll find a way out of this,” I say. I mean it, although I don’t have an icin’ clue how.
“There’s no way out,” Skye says, finally breaking her silence.
“There is,” Siena says, almost pleadingly. “I lost you once, I won’t again.”
“Goff’s one sick man,” Feve says. “He’ll make us watch.”
“Yeah,” Circ says, latching onto the thought. “We’ll all be there. We’ll fight. We’ll do everything we can to break you out.”
“So you can be hung right after me?” Skye says. “Sear it all to scorch, don’t be foolish. Jade and Jolie are as good as dead if we all die. We’re the only ones who know.”
“No,” Siena says. “No. You can’t die. You can’t.”
“Oh, don’t you worry, Sister, I’ll fight like a Killer. They won’t get me that easy. I’ll fight ’em with my every last breath, and then keep fightin’ even after I got none left.”
I close my eyes as reality sets in. There’s no escapin’ what’s comin’. The king probably knew exactly what would happen with all of us born fighters in the dungeon together. He wanted us to try to escape, so he could have his fun. So he could give us hope and then snatch it away. So he could make us watch him kill one of our own. With a jerk I realize that’s who these people from fire country are to me. My own. All of them, even Feve. He may not like me, and I may not much like him, but we’re in this together now.
And Skye, well, there’s something with her that’s worth exploring. I can’t let her slip away so fast. I just can’t. But there’s nothing for it. There’s no plan that’ll work. There’s no spy I can call upon. There’s just me, Dazz, who’s failed at everything I’ve tried for the longest time. Except fighting. So like Circ said, that’s what we’ll do. Every last one of us.
Fight until they stick us in the ground.
~~~
There’s no dinner tonight. My stomach’s all clenched up, aching and aching, but it’s not because I’m hungry. Every last ache is for her.
Every beat of my heart seems to ring out, louder than ever, like a dull bell ringing, counting down the moments on her life. I squeeze my chest tight, try to slow down my heart’s frantic pace, but on and on it beats, never ceasing, speeding up if anything.
Big’s gone. It took half a dozen guards to carry him out.
Siena and Skye talk across my cell, but I shy away from it, staying against the back wall, because I don’t want to intrude. I’m nobody, just an outsider, someone they met by a strange twist of fate that left me with a bloodied nose and a black eye. And Skye with a death sentence.
They talk about all kinds of things, stories from their childhood and all that, and although her voice hides it well, I can sense the tears on Siena’s cheeks. Skye, however, is herself, as tough and stalwart as ever, talking as if it’s just another night, rather than the night to end all nights for her.
“Siena,” she says. “You take good care of Circ, you hear me? Treasure him like you always have. Don’t ever take him for granted. Guys like him don’t grow on pricklers these days.”