After I began eating, Kippenger ordered the woman and soldiers to leave. Knowing what would likely come once I finished the soup, I took my time. But after I set the bowl down, he said, “You won’t eat to save yourself, but you will to save a stranger. How interesting.” He watched me a moment longer, then continued, “Back in Carthya, you have a large number of soldiers stationed on a bluff, far from any fighting, and overlooking a lake that no longer exists. Why is that?”
“You’ve asked me this already.”
“And you refused to answer. So I’m asking again. Why is your army there?”
“It should be obvious,” I said without looking at him. “They’re waiting for the lake to come back. Perhaps you could join them and go swimming.”
He kicked me in the side, adding to a bruise already there, and then crouched to face me. “Why not work with me? Why not save yourself this pain?”
“You’re not causing me any,” I replied. That wasn’t entirely true — I was still gasping, after all — but I felt better for saying it.
“If I can’t hurt you, then you force me to bring in somebody I can hurt.” He rose to his full height, and then whistled to his vigils outside. Like obedient dogs to his call, they pattered down the stairs. Only this time, they had someone else with them.
“Tobias.” He raised his head when I breathed his name and I saw the remnants of a bloody nose on his face. As good as it was to see him, my heart was already pounding. If Tobias was here, then where were Fink and Amarinda?
His eyes widened when he saw me and he shook his head in disbelief. “Jaron? You’re alive? But they said —”
“I am alive. Or something close to it.”
Kippenger’s voice became louder. “I’ll ask you again, Jaron. Why is your army on that bluff?”
I set my jaw forward, but said nothing. Kippenger used my silence as a reason to backhand Tobias with a force I knew would leave its mark. Tobias yelped in pain, then collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
The vigils grabbed his arms to lift him again, but Kippenger said, “What’s the point now? We’ll wait until he wakes up, so Jaron can hear his cries.”
They manacled Tobias to another set of chains across from me and left him with his face half buried in the cold mud. Kippenger pointed at him, warning that if I didn’t cooperate, he would do the same to Tobias as he had to Imogen.
When Kippenger and his men left, I softly called out Tobias’s name again. He only stirred at first, but I called to him once more, louder the second time.
Without opening his eyes, he whispered, “Is it safe?”
I coughed out a quiet laugh. “Of course not. You know where we are, don’t you?”
Now Tobias opened his eyes and maneuvered his way to a seated position. “How’d you know I was awake?”
“People who’ve fainted don’t peek when they think no one’s watching.” He half smiled back at me, and then, with more seriousness, I added, “You thought I was dead?”
He nodded somberly. “They’re parading your clothes around for everyone to see, ripped and covered in blood. They hope it’ll discourage your people from fighting.”
With a humph, I said, “Well, as you can plainly see, I’m not nearly as dead as Avenia claims.”
“You don’t look far from it.”
I liked his joke, but in truth, I didn’t feel far from it either.
“Were Mott and Imogen able to escape, then?”
Answering was harder than I had thought it would be, and I had to force the words out. “There’s been no word on Mott since I came. I haven’t dared ask about him. Imogen didn’t . . . isn’t . . .”
Tobias nodded and opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. Whatever he was going to say, condolences, or pity, or further questions, I didn’t want any of it. So before he could change his mind, I closed my eyes to rest them and then asked, “Where are Amarinda and Fink? Please tell me they made it to Bymar.”
The silence was long enough that it forced me to look at Tobias again. He was shaking his head. “We got past the border guards without too much problem. They took most of the food, but let our driver pass through. We were almost to Isel when a group of thieves attacked the carriage. There wasn’t time to get back into the holding below, so when an opportunity came, we ran and hid near the road while our driver held them off. A group of Avenian soldiers was passing and heard the commotion. They captured a few of the thieves and our driver. The thieves told them about our having escaped, and the soldiers soon realized our carriage might have held the princess. They ordered our driver to talk, but he only expressed his allegiance to Carthya and refused to answer any further questions.”
I shook my head. Loyalty was invaluable, but amongst those soldiers, it meant that I already knew how that man’s story had ended.
Tobias continued, “That’s when the soldiers told the driver about your death. They even showed him a piece of your clothing. Amarinda and I were watching from a distance. We recognized it as the same clothes you had worn when we were last together.”
“Fink saw them too?”