I hoped he was right about that. I clutched Osprey and Marcel close as Alect led my carabao through the streets. Our escort stayed with us, hands on hilts, eyes on me. They saw me as a threat. If only I was as powerful as they thought I was, I’d make the Empire surrender all by myself.
“Is Raquella safe?” I asked when he glanced back at me.
Alect laughed. “Safe? She’s the one that found this place! The Forbidding grabbed her, and she twisted around and found a gap. And then it was just a matter of finding some more. This place is so weird. We thought it took all day to find her but by the time we did, it had only been minutes. Same with all the people that are brought here. They’re from so far away and it feels like it takes ages and ages to make the journey but the whole time the sun never moves. It’s the folding. Time doesn’t work the same way here that it does outside.”
“I thought I saw her pulled into the Forbidding. I thought she was dead,” I said, my head whirling with everything he was saying. I didn’t even care about all the curious faces watching us. “She’s fine?”
“Fine? She’s doing great! She’s a natural at healing. Sawet has her busy from dawn to dusk and way into the night every night. She’s going to be a healer. But what do you mean you saw her?” he asked.
My bee arrived so suddenly that I didn’t answer right away. He zipped through the crowd and buzzed around my head with the joy of reunion. And then another one and another one joined the first. They ringed me like a trio of happy moons, orbiting my every move.
“The bees have eyes,” I said simply, and my brother’s eyes grew wide as soup plates.
He shook his head and then pointed at a sign above us. “We’re here! Let’s get your friends inside.”
The sign read “Sawet” and someone had carved a pair of sawet owls on either side of the name as if that was all that needed to be said.
I moved as if I was going to hop down from the carabao, but I stopped at the sound of swords being drawn from sheaths.
“That’s my sister,” Alect protested. Around him, at least a dozen women and men had their blades drawn and all eyes were on me.
“We know, boy,” the one he’d named Francen said. He was thick in the arms and his dark hair was thinning. His eyes were hard as stone. “And we’re happy that you were able to greet your sister, but the happy welcome ends here. She goes before the council or she goes into the brig.”
“You can’t do that!” Alect protested.
“Why do you have your swords drawn?” I asked warily.
“Put your blades on the ground, nice and easy,” the one named Chesma said, flicking her own blade toward me to remind me who was holding all the power. “By order of the council, you are under the custody of the Single Wing. Don’t move, or we’ll cut you down and leave your corpse for the ravens.”
Chapter Seven
I WAS NOW IN THE CUSTODY of the Single Wing.
I was wanted by everyone – the Single Wing, the Empire, Osprey, Juste. Everyone. Frustration bubbled up in me and in answer, my bees began to buzz. I almost called them out to join me. These guards would be thrown into utter chaos if I let them loose. And then we’d see who was under arrest and who was running for the tangles of Forbidding, screaming as bees stung them all over.
I drew a long breath. Running into battle without thinking first had gotten me in enough trouble already. This time, I needed to think. This time, I needed to take my time.
“Can you take care of these two, Alect?” I asked gently, offering my younger brother a half-smile. “I really hope we get to catch up soon. But you should know that I love you and I’ve missed you.”
I slid carefully down from the carabao as Alect supported Osprey and Marcel. I gave him a hug the moment I was free.
“I missed you, too,” he said, but he looked confused from me to the Single Wing guards. Which was the normal reaction to this kind of betrayal, but I was getting used to betrayal. “I’ll take care of your friends.”
“This is Marcel – he’s traveled with us today and guided us to this point. He had a head injury,” I said, pointing to Marcel. “And this is Wing Osprey. He has a fever.” No need to add that he had one of my bees inside him. “And they are both Single Wing and have the tattoos to prove it, so hopefully these over-eager achievers won’t decide to arrest them, too.”
I couldn’t keep the bite out of my words, but I did put my swords back in my sheathes and I handed them to Alect. The Single Wing could decide what they wanted to do with that.
Alect was nodding. His hands holding Osprey and Marcel in place, but his eyes – crinkled with worry – were fixed on me and my new captors.
“I’ll take care of them, Aella, and then I’ll come find you,” Alect said.
I offered him my bravest half-smile and then allowed the guards to push me forward, ahead of them. I waited until they had me out to the street again and away from the healers – waited until I’d lost sight of Alect. Tearing myself away from Osprey seemed to almost hurt. As much as I trusted my brother, would he really be able to find Osprey the help he needed? Would he keep him bound as I’d asked?
There was no way to know. I’d just have to trust that he could. But I was finding it harder and harder to trust other people. I was too used to being let down.
“Do you want to tell me what this is about?” I asked the nearest guard.
“I think we’ll let the council tell you,” she said, spitting at my feet. “If they let you live that long.”
Something tightened inside me.
“You don’t mean that.”
“Don’t we? Just last night we found a traitor here. He’d slipped information to the enemy that led to three of ours being slaughtered in Karkatua. We hung him in a Forbidding tangle and let nature do its ugly work. We’ll do the same to you, if it’s proven that you’re a traitor. And we think you are.”
Around us, the haunting singing of those holding back the Forbidding mixed with her sour words. Who would have thought that song would work? And how did it work? But that was a question for another time.
“I have never betrayed the Single Wing,” I said.
“And anyone who was with you will be held equally culpable,” she said.
I shivered. They were accusing me falsely. And they’d seemed pretty unreasonable about that so far. And now they planned to take out their wrath on Osprey and Marcel as well. I gritted my teeth together and tried to keep my frustrations in check.
We had nearly arrived at a very busy building. Messenger boys flew in and out the front door, letting heat and tempers flare out the door behind them. It was set in front of a square, and in the square, soldiers were drilling. They were positioned in two-man teams and as one team attacked with long poles, the other team practiced a coordinated defense that pulled the enemy from his horse while seeing to it that each partner remained safe from the stomping feet or charge of the enemy. I watched in wonder until the guards pulled me along.
“We’ll never get far watching other people work,” one of them said.
“Who is doing the military training?” I asked.
The woman grunted, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself from answering smugly, “We have former Claws in our ranks, as well as original colonists. People who know everything there is to know about fighting with or for the Empire.”