Page 134 of An Archer's Reckoning

Then she vanished.

I reached out with my own hand, as if to stop hers from disappearing, but she was gone.

That’s when the tears came again.

I forced myself to walk back to the entrance. A gust of wind blew through the open door, causing something on the wall to rattle and flap. I glanced to my left to find the ornate tapestry Tiana’s father had left her rippling with the wind. If I left it, some looter would steal it and sell it to the highest bidder, ensuring Tiana’s father and his legacy would fade. I couldn’t let that happen, so I carefully removed the weaving, rolled it, and tied it to Dittler’s flank.

Then I closed the infirmary door one last time.

A short trot later, I dismounted and walked Dittler through the southern gate of the Guard Compound. It was marred with the same charred line in the ground I’d seen near the Merchants’ Guild. It started at the site of the Mages’ tower, ran through the center of the Guard Compound, and into the southeastern residential district. Miraculously, the destructive path traveled down the exact center of the compound, missing all the buildings. They stood exactly as I remembered them.

Guards in dusty-blue coats scurried with more purpose that I’d seen anywhere else in the city thus far. Their shoulders and eyes carried more life and strength than that of the soldiers I’d encountered.

My head snapped up when someone called excitedly from across the yard.

“KEELAN!”

Ridley Doa nearly knocked me down as he charged across the field and wrapped me in a mighty hug. Dittler brayed and nipped at Ridley. I smiled for the first time since entering the city, my heart pausing from its grief for a moment of pure joy.

“You’re alive! Spirits, we thought we’d lost you.”

“It looks like we missed the fighting,” I said, glancing around. “So many . . . how did the Guard survive? How did you?”

Ridley’s grin faded. “They went after the soldiers. Keelan, when that witch started with her fire . . . I’ve never seen anythinglike it. It looked like the skies had opened and were pouring molten lava everywhere. Not pouring, shooting, in wide streams. I was . . . all we could do . . .”

“Take a breath,” I said, squeezing his shoulder.

He nodded and stared at his boots a moment, then looked up through tortured eyes.

“Keelan, they were going to kill the people. I know it. The soldiers went after anyone who moved. They went afterchildren.” His voice broke on the last word. “The Guard was supposed to fight at first. They had us running drills with the army. Something changed. I don’t know what. The Triad ordered the whole capital evacuated. That’s when our mission shifted to getting everyone out.”

“Evacuation? Did the Kingdom just let everyone go?”

Ridley shrugged. “I was in the city, rounding people up, keeping order. You’d have to ask the men at the gates.”

I nodded and stared into the distance, imagining the scene of hundreds of thousands fleeing their homes.

“It’s good to see you, Keelan,” Ridley said, his voice free of mockery or jest. “You might be my Lieutenant, but you’re all the family I’ve got . . . and that’s more than a lot of folk can say now.”

I looked down at Ridley. He’d always been far more expressive than me. Then again, most rocks were. My instincts told me to return his sincerity with the same, but the smart-ass boy who lived within wrested control. “It’s good to see you, too, even if you’ve let your uniform go to hell. What were you thinking,cadet?”

“Guard standards have really taken a hit while you’ve been gone. Don’t get me started.” Ridley’s boyish grin returned, lighting up the courtyard. Then his eyes shot open with excitement. He grabbed my arm and turned, pulling me behind him. “Irina’s tits, I can’t believe I forgot. There’s someone here who will want to see you right away. Come on.”

I let myself be dragged toward the headquarters building, but groaned, “Do we have to see the Captain-Commander first thing?”

“You’re not even close, Great Investigator.” Ridley laughed. “You’re going to owe meforeverafter this.”

I tied Dittler outside the headquarters and followed Ridley inside. I was surprised to see a flurry of activity. Dozens of Guardsmen bustled toward one task or another. When the famous Lieutenant Rea appeared in the doorway, all eyes turned and work halted. There had been so little to celebrate lately, the loyal Guard family wouldn’t let one of their own return home without a fair number of backslaps and kindhearted jests.

Ridley pried me away after a few moments, still oddly anxious about whatever mischief had him worked up. He dragged me into the bowels of the building where the Captain-Commander’s office held court.

“Ugh. I thought you said we weren’t coming here,” I said.

“No, I said we weren’t coming to see the Captain-Commander. He might be in his office, but so is the person you . . . never mind . . . you just have to see.”

The way Ridley almost giggled spiked my suspicious nature. He was definitely up to something.

Albius’s ever-attendant clerk rose and tried to speak, but Ridley waved him down. He never broke stride as he reached the stately doors of the office. “Don’t even think about it.”

---