Page 89 of Skysong

A fist tightened around Oriane’s heart. Where was that flute now? Burned to a pile of ash in the ruins of their home? Blown a thousand miles away as fragments of dust on the wind?

‘Are you all right?’ The words should have been impossible to hear above the din of the crowd.

‘I’m fine,’ she told Andala, and kept following her through the crowd.

They came to a door tucked away beside the bar. When Andala tried the handle, it appeared to be locked. But she simply braced one hand on the frame and jiggled the handle again. The door sprang open.

Oriane didn’t know what she’d expected to find beyond it, but a library had not been high on the list of possibilities.

The raucous noise of the inn faded to a muffled hum as the door closed behind them. The cushioned quiet of the library welcomed them inside, folding around them like a warm, worn coat. Oriane’s mouth fell open as she looked around the room. It was nothing like the library at the palace; it was more like the one she’d had at home, writ large. There were shelves upon shelves of well-loved books – three times as many as she and her father had had, the leather of their covers looking twice as soft from years of many different hands. A small group of people were seated at a table in the corner.318

Andala’s family.

Girard – her former husband, the man she’d loved and had a child with – rose to greet them. He was handsome, Oriane thought, though she knew little how to judge such things. Kindness, though – that she could recognise easily. Oriane saw it in the lines of his face and the corners of his bright eyes, in the concern and understanding on his face as he turned to them.

‘Are you all right?’ Girard’s eyes flicked to Kitt. ‘Are they in danger?’

‘We’re fine,’ Andala interrupted, before Kitt could respond. ‘But we need your help.’

She strode over to the nearest set of shelves, Kitt and Girard on her heels. Following a half-step behind, Oriane stole a glance at the table.

Andala’s mother was watching her.Leilyn, Andala had called her. NotMother. She had the same raven-black hair as Andala, run through with strands of silver. Leilyn gave Oriane the shadow of a smile, and Oriane endeavoured to return it. Then her gaze flicked inexorably to the small girl beside her.

Amie. Andala’s daughter. She was her mother in miniature. Those were Andala’s wide-set dark eyes, keen already despite the girl’s youth. That was Andala’s mouth, too, poised in a curious O as Amie stared right back at Oriane.

‘What are you looking for, anyway?’ Kitt’s voice broke through her reverie. ‘What do you need books for right now?’

Oriane tore her eyes away. At the bookshelf, Andala was rummaging through the volumes, throwing stacks to the floor to access yet more hidden behind them.

‘I don’t need books.’ She swiped another handful of tomes aside, seizing a stack of thinner ones that lay behind them. ‘I need maps.’319

She promptly dropped to the ground, spreading out the map books she’d collected and sitting cross-legged amid the sea of pages.

‘Maps,’ Kitt repeated, kneeling beside her.

Andala selected a volume from the pile, seemingly at random. ‘Terault will have already started looking for us. The Order of the Sky could be on their way here right now. We need somewhere to go. Somewhere he can’t find us.’

‘Is there such a place?’ Oriane asked, trying to keep the tremor of fear from her voice.

‘There might be. Everybody grab a book. Start looking for an island.’

‘An island?’

Oriane and Kitt glanced at one another in confusion. But after a moment, Girard said, ‘You mean—’

‘Yes,’ Andala replied, flipping furiously through pages. ‘I ran into Gabe outside. It gave me an idea.’

Understanding passed across Girard’s features. ‘You think Gandry might be able to help?’

‘I hope so.’

Oriane was lost, but hesitant to interrupt the quick, familiar flow of their talk. Fortunately, Kitt wasn’t.

‘Andala, I’m sorry, but could you explain what in the skies is going on?’

Andala looked up from the map she was currently poring over. ‘I’m sorry. I got carried away. Terault could find us at any moment, and we need to go, and I’m just …’

‘It’s all right,’ Oriane said. She knew what Andala had been going to say –I’mjustafraid– because she felt it too.

---