Fantasy of Fire (The Tainted Accords #3)(17)

“Adox, are you all right?” Hamish bends down beside him and places a hand on his frail frame.

“No,” Adox booms, making the people around him jump. The man stands and limps towards me. My bemusement must be clear because he gives me a dry grimace.

“The Tatum will soon be aware of our presence here.” He leans heavily on his left leg. “The Solati who sighted you will make sure of that.” I repress another shudder at the reminder of Uncle Cassius. “We must align ourselves with allies. Tell the king of us. Tell him I give this information freely as a gesture of goodwill. You will remind him of our help and make it abundantly clear we wouldn’t be in this situation otherwise.” His brown eyes look into my blue eyes. “The Ire will be safe,” he states, wrinkled mouth set in a hard line. And it’s clear: this man will do whatever he has to in order to achieve his people’s future.

“You know I’ll help the Ire however I can. He’s a good king, and loyal. He won’t let you down.” I hesitate before plowing on. “I believe an explanation to the king’s assembly is advised as well. Left with no reason for the flying boy, rumors will run rampant and cause more damage than the truth would.”

Adox stops on my right side. I look ahead, and he does the same. “I leave that to the king to decide. I suppose it must be done.” He swings his head around, checking the area, leaning in so Hamish can’t hear. “I am trusting you, Tatuma.”

Guilt stabs me at the anguished look on his face. Is it possible for a man to age years in just a few days? Does he regret agreeing to help us, or even allowing me to stay here? I shake off the blame. It’s possible he’s regretting the decision to let Crystal live on Glacium; then she would never have brought me here. It’s no point analyzing the past. With a solemn nod, I turn from him and walk to the far edge, in the direction of Glacium, toward my Soar.

If I stop I’ll be asleep for a full day and Jovan has already been waiting a week—he’ll be half insane. For some reason I can’t wait to get back. He’s probably taking his temper out on everyone around him. The smile slips from my face. I hope that person isn’t Olandon.

I turn back to look at the weary band of Ire folk behind me as a clattering sound catches my attention. It wouldn’t normally, but it sounds out of place in the subdued Ire of late. I stare unblinkingly at the source of the clattering noise, blaming the fogginess of sleep for how long I take to understand what I’m seeing.

I even blink several times to make sure what I’m seeing is really there, that it isn’t some cruel hallucination. But the vision is still there afterward. A quiver of arrows, fallen on its side.

But there isn’t just one quiver. I quickly count—there are six! The broken fletching from Kedrick’s murder is tucked away with my other belongings in the castle. I’d stopped carrying the fletching in my boot some time ago. I wish I had it with me now, but I really don’t need the remnant to confirm what I’m already certain of. I’ve spent hours staring at the bit of wood that took my friend from me. I know without a hint of uncertainty that if I get closer, I’ll find six quivers full of Seedyr wood arrows. Six quivers full of the same arrow which killed the prince.

I’ve found them at last.

“Willow, wait!” Hamish calls.

I turn to him in a haze.

“So I’ve been thinking … where’s the fun in knowing someone’s deepest darkest secret straight away? These things have to be earned, right?” he says.

“Hamish…” I interrupt. He stutters to a stop.

“Why are those arrows there?” I drag him a few steps toward the circle and point.

He shrugs and I have an irrational urge to punch him.

“The tradesmen are getting ready to leave,” he says around a yawn. “Sometimes they hunt, so they take weapons.”

I know they hunt! I want to scream. One of them hunted and killed my friend for money.

He misinterprets my murderous expression as confusion. “You must’ve seen them when you were last here. They come back every month or so to rest. Other than that, they’re back and forth all the time, bartering goods with Glacium or Osolis. We’re lucky they were here to help destroy the pathway. Traders are the best flyers, and used to dealing with danger.”

My heart pounds in my chest, threatening to escape. A trader. This whole time. Such a position would’ve given Kedrick’s assassin the perfect chance to kill me. Because I’d been the intended target. But the person didn’t count on Kedrick pushing me out of the way. I still wish, every day, he hadn’t. But this regret didn’t mean I’d waste Kedrick’s gift now Jovan had forced me to see his brother’s actions in this light.

“I only ask because those arrows look like Seedyr wood.”

Hamish gives me a so-what look at my comment.

“On Glacium, this wood is considered too weak for weaponry,” I add, teeth gritted.

“Oh, that,” he says cheerfully. “It’s all in the drying of the wood and the way you cut it.”

I’m staring at the arrows like a starving man looking at food, but I can’t help it. In one sentence Hamish has answered a mystery that has plagued me for months. “Are the traders here right now?” My voice is unrecognizable.

“What’s wrong?” Hamish asks. I glare at him and he backs up.