Mister Sun quickly brought them through the main area and after a brief exchange, he took charge of Swoop and led him back to his own room. Mister Sun helped Swoop remove his clothes and then assessed the wound. To Cass’s surprise, Mister Sun seemed to know quite a lot about cleaning and stitching up such injuries. After sealing the wound, Mister Sun applied some kind of salve and dressed it in a layer of bandages.
Once they made sure Swoop was as comfortable as they could make him, they left him to rest and returned to the main room. It was only then that Cass realized the two women who had helped her get Swoop to the Tea House were gone. She never even got their names.
“Mister Sun,” Cass said. “What happened when we left? What’s going on?”
He shook his head and slid a stimstick in his mouth. It activated, and he took a drag before he answered, “Trouble, Lady Cass. Much trouble.”
He led her through the main area and then up the back stairs to a small room on the top floor. Painter’s old room. They went inside and he closed the door.
“There was a riot, after you left,” Mister Sun said. “Many were injured. Some killed.”
“What started it?”
“Who can say which pebble caused the landslide? It had been building for weeks,” he answered. “Citizens of old resent those brought in from outside the wall. Both despise the Awakened. When it was announced you had slain Connor and fled, there was outrage.”
“I didn’t kill Connor, Mister Sun.”
He shrugged. “You were not here. It was convenient to believe what they said, for those who desired the same outcome.”
“What outcome?” she asked.
“They’re rounding people up,” Mister Sun said. “Preparing to move them out of the city.”
“That’s why all those people were gathered at the gate.”
Mister Sun nodded and took another pull on his stimstick.
“They can’t,” she said. “They can’t do that. Those poor people will get slaughtered by the Weir.”
“They claim the guard will patrol to protect them. Some have resisted. Most have not.”
“And the people downstairs?”
“There was backlash against the Awakened,” he replied. “We brought some of them here.”
“What about the others?”
“With Aron.”
The mention of his name shocked her. “I thought he was dead.”
Mister Sun shook his head.
So, they were forcing the non-citizens back outside the wall. The pure foolishness of it struck her. Particularly now, with the danger that lay ahead.
And logistically, she didn’t see how they could possibly expect to pull it off. There was no way the Council could have put together such a plan in such a short amount of time. Unless of course, they’d been planning it for much longer.
“I need to see Aron.”
Joris opened the door to the throne room, and the first thing that struck Wren was the fact that there were now three throne-like chairs on the dais instead of one. No one was sitting in them yet, which somehow seemed worse than facing whoever was supposed to be there. The room was cleaner than it’d been the last time he’d seen it. The night that Connor and Aron had dragged him through it. Only a few days before, though it seemed like weeks in his mind.
They closed the door behind him and, when Wren looked back, he saw that only Joris remained with him.
“What’s going to happen now?” Wren asked.
“The High Council will be here in a moment,” Joris said without looking at him.
“But what will happen?”
“I don’t know,” Joris answered. Then his eyes flicked to Wren. He lowered his voice. “But try not to be scared.” He tried to give a little encouraging smile.
But just then the door opened, and Joris snapped to attention. Three people strode in, followed by several guardsmen. The guards moved into a semicircle, half on each side of the dais with the chairs in between, while the three moved to sit upon the thrones: Hondo, North, Vye. The new High Council. Hondo sat in the middle, though from the arrangement of the thrones, it was hard to tell if that was meant to be a more important seat or not. It was farther back on the dais than the other two, which were angled slightly inwards. From where Wren stood, it felt more like he was at the focal point of all three. But there was still something inherently more intimidating about that center seat – where Hondo now sat. Vye was on Hondo’s right, and North to his left.
Wren tried to remember everything Swoop had taught him about commanding a room. He pulled his shoulders back, widened his stance. Looking at the three of them seated there, Wren was surprised to find he wasn’t intimidated. Before he had left, he would’ve frozen at a time like this. After what he had seen, after what he had learned, these three people seemed somehow lesser than he remembered. The adrenaline was coursing through his body, but he found it within himself to bend that nervous energy to his purpose.