Wet snow and mud sprayed over several people on the side of the street, some of it splattering over Quilla’s outer robe. The sleigh responsible raced down the street, spraying more people as it went, and was out of sight in moments. Quilla made only a token effort to brush the mud off. She was covered in so much of it already, there really wasn’t much point.

This was a common occurrence these days, Bloods with no care racing about and accosting anyone who dared to question them—arresting them if they were lucky, but more likely just executing them on the spot. Anyone unable to move out of the way fast enough just got trampled. In such cases, the lucky ones died quickly; the unlucky either died a slow, lingering death, or were left with horrendous injuries that were unlikely to ever heal.

But it was the walking patrols Quilla worried about. There was little likelihood of them identifying her, especially from a distance, but they liked to stop people at random, especially if they were Eloorin, and even more especially if they were darker-skinned Eloorin. In such cases, they didn’t need to realise who she was to decide to harm or kill her. All they needed was their personal whim.

For that reason, whenever she was out like this, she did her best to avoid attracting attention to herself. Unfortunately, that meant not wearing a hood, which not only increased the likelihood of being recognised—though admittedly only very slightly—but was also a lot colder.

When she had first arrived in Arnor City after Garet’s death, she had liked the presence of the cold—well, that wasn’t strictly true. She had welcomed it because it reminded her of her misery. She’d found that appropriate, but not any more. Now, she was sick of the cold. She was still miserable, but she didn’t need the cold constantly reminding her of that.

The wind picked up as she continued on her way, whipping through her hair and freezing her ears. She was growing her hair longer than she typically kept it with the hope it might make her less recognisable and maybe help keep her head warm. It wasn’t doing very well with the latter, though to be fair, it had only been a couple of weeks.

Two damn weeks they’d been stuck here. Two weeks since the Bloods had arrived and placed the embargo stopping any ships from leaving. Annai had been right. They should have gone with Pastrin, Ned, and Hang. Then they would have gotten away just in time.

Oh well. It was done now and, as Gabby said repeatedly, there was no way they could keep the embargo up forever.

She came around a corner onto the street where the tenement building they were staying at was located. It was just a short distance ahead now.

Shit.

A pair of Bloods were walking along the street in her direction. If she rushed, she could probably reach her door before they reached her, but that would draw attention. She couldn’t turn around as that would also draw attention. All she could do was just keep going at her current pace and hope they ignored her.

They didn’t.

“You there!” one of them called as they got close.

Quilla stopped and prepared her best smile.

“What’s in the sacks?”

Damn. They just had to go straight for those. “Food, my Lords. I’ve just come from the market.”

The two Bloods reached her. One stood back a couple feet, one hand on the hilt of his sword. The other came right up to her, so close she feel the heat of his breath and smell its fowl scent. “Food, eh? Show me.”

“Of course, my Lord.” Quilla took a small step away from him, hoping it didn’t offend him, and gently lowered the two bags to the ground. She bent over and untied the one on the right.

Food was a major concern. They had no money. No money at all. But Quilla had spent many years of her life travelling Arnor alone. She’d been in tight monetary positions before and had learned how to lift a little bit of food. The problem was, it wasn’t possible to steal food in large quantities without being noticed—especially when there were regular patrols about—so she had to be very careful about what she took. She had just enough here to feed herself, Gabby, and Annai for two to three days.

She pulled a loaf of bread out of the bag and held it out to the Blood. “Would you like some?” Bribery sometimes helped in these encounters, but losing even a single loaf of bread was hard.

He snatched the bread from her and broke a piece off before handing the rest to his companion. “Thank you. Very generous of you.” With a laugh, he reached down and picked up both bags. “Very generous indeed.”

Laughing, the two Bloods walked away.

Gods damn it! She hated this fucking city.

She kicked at the ground, stood there a few moments, then headed inside the building.

When she reached the door to their room, she gave three quick knocks, paused, and then another four quick knocks. A moment later, there was the sound of dragging from the other side of the door, and then Annai opened it and let her in. She stepped inside, closed the door, and then helped Annai drag the wardrobe back in front of it.

There was no lock on the door, and they had had quite a few people—several unsavoury—just walk in, so they had started blocking the door and had come up with the knock as a way to let the people inside know it was safe to open. Annai never left the room, so there was always at least one person there.

Annai flopped down on one of the beds while Quilla removed her outdoor clothes. “I’m glad you’re back. There have been three attempts by people to get in here. On the last one, it was a group of at least three or four people. They almost managed to break the door down before they gave up. Someone called out a warning about Bloods and they took off. Where’s the food?”

“Bloods took it. I got stopped just outside the building.” Quilla walked over to the bed and swatted her hand several times over the spot where she intended to sit. The beds here were crawling with bugs.

“But I’m starving!”

“It’s not my fault. You know how the Bloods are.”

With a groan, Annai rolled over on her side, facing the wall. “I know, but can’t you go out again?”

“I’m tired. I need time. You could always go.”

Annai rolled back over to look at her. “And what would Gabby say about that?”

Quilla sighed. “I know. I’ll go in a little while, okay?”

With another groan, Annai muttered, “Fine,” and rolled back over to face the wall.

They had dyed Annai’s hair black and cut it short, but the fact was, she was still the most recognisable of them, having made frequent public appearances before everything went to shit. That was the reason Gabby and Quilla had decided Annai should remain inside all the time—well, one of the reasons, but the only one they had actually told her.

Quilla sat there in silence for several minutes, then grabbed her pillow and shook it out. She had just laid her head down when three quick knocks followed by a pause and four more came from the door. When Annai didn’t move and only muttered a couple unintelligible words, Quilla sat up and went to the door.

Once Gabby was inside and they’d replaced the wardrobe, Gabby handed a small sack to Quilla. “A small bit of food I was able to acquire. It’s not—”

“Thank the gods!” Annai leapt to her feet and snatched the sack. “I’m starving. Quilla lost what she got.”

Quilla rolled her eyes. “I didn’t lose it. It was taken by Bloods.”

“Whatever.” Annai pulled out a loaf of bread, then eyed the now-deflated sack. “Is this it?”

“I was about to say it wasn’t much,” Gabby said.

“Whatever.” Annai broke the loaf in half and took a bite out of one half. Her face pulled back in a grimace. “Ugh, it’s mouldy.”

With a shrug, Gabby grabbed the other half of the loaf and handed it to Quilla. “Sorry. Best I could do. I’m not actually out there looking for food, you know.”

A slight whimper came from Annai, but she kept eating the bread and sat down on her bed.

Quilla examined the half loaf she had. It didn’t look too terrible. It was a bit stiff and obviously stale. There were only a few bits of visible mould that she could easily break off. “I’ll go out to the market again in an hour or so.” She took a bite. It wasn’t the most pleasant flavour, but food was scarce enough and she was hungry enough that she didn’t care too much.

“Any news?” Annai asked.

Gabby removed her cloak, tossed it over the wardrobe, and leaned against the wall. She buried her head in her hands for a moment. “I’ve got good news and bad news.” She looked haggard. Her face was dirty, her eyes sunken. Despite the cold, sweat dripped from short, greasy hair.

“Start with the good,” Annai said. “Everything else is always bad, so I want something different.”

“Some of the ship captains are finally accepting passengers. I’ve got us booked on a ship to Porthaven as soon as the embargo is lifted.”

Annai sat up straight and turned to face Gabby. “Is the embargo being lifted?”

Gabby rubbed her eyes and shrugged. “Don’t know for sure, but talk is that it can’t last much longer. People are getting very tense. They have to lift it soon, or there will be a revolt. Even the threat of a dragon burning all the ships won’t keep that off much longer.

“So, soon then?” Annai said.

Gabby shrugged again. “Hopefully the next day or two, but can’t say for sure.”

“Well, that’s something at least.” Annai took another bite of her bread.

“Our payment is we have to work, do whatever odd jobs the captain needs of us. That includes you, Annai.”

Annai groaned. “I know, I know. I’ll do it. At least we’re getting out of here.”

“You better.” Gabby lowered her head and rubbed her forehead.

Quilla approached and reached out to her. There was a hint of tears in Gabby’s eyes. “What’s the bad news?”

Gabby gave her a weak smile and wiped her eyes. “We have to leave here in the morning.”

“Leave?” Quilla said. “As in Arnor City?”

Gabby shook her head. “Here as in the tenement building. We’re being evicted.”

“What? Why?” Annai said.

“I snuck off one too many times to find a ship, and got caught. Now I’m fired. We have to leave first thing in the morning.”

Gabby had been working at the docks, hauling cargo for their landlord. However, as there weren’t any ships coming and going, the “pay” was only accommodation.

“It’s not so bad,” Quilla said, trying to sound upbeat. “We’ll find some place else, even if we have to sneak in somewhere. It’ll be like our first couple of nights, and it’s hopefully for just a couple days.”

“Yeah, this place is a shithole anyway,” Annai said. “I’ve got so many bug bites now, it’s ridiculous. I itch everywhere.”

“I know,” Gabby said. “I just… I’m so exhausted and so… Gods, I don’t know. It’s just one little thing that’s made all the little things come crashing down upon me and…”

Quilla put her arms around Gabby and held her tight. “It’s all right. We’re going to be all right.”

Gabby started to sob softly. “They’re dead, Quilla. My father, Thilin, probably Rudiger. And so many others. It’s been nearly three weeks and I haven’t had a chance to grieve. I’ve had to—”

Quilla shushed her and continued to hold her. “I know, and I understand. I’ve got you. Grieve all you want.”

Quilla continued to hold her while Gabby sobbed softly. After a minute or so, Annai came over and joined in the hug, sobbing along with both of them.

* * * * *

A bang awoke Quilla. She bolted upright in bed as several more bangs followed it.

“Rianne! Rianne! Open this door now!”

Annai was sitting up now as well, a dagger in her hand.

“Open this door or my boys will break it down!”

Gabby jumped to her feet, threw a cloak on, and started pushing the wardrobe.

Quilla grabbed her own cloak and hurried over to help Gabby. “What’s going on?”

“My former employer,” Gabby said quietly. “Rianne’s the name I’ve been using.”

As soon as the wardrobe was out of the way, the door flew open. A tall, thin Folith stood there. Behind him were three muscular men, each holding heavy lengths of wood or metal.

The tall man stepped into the room and looked about. “I told you, you were to be out of here.”

Gabby stepped right up to him. While he was taller, she was still a tall person and more muscular than him, so he didn’t dwarf her. “You said we could leave in the morning.”

“I said you had to be gone by the morning. It’s now morning and you’re still here.”

“We’ll be gone in an hour.”

He laughed. “You’ll be gone in ten minutes, or…”

Gabby took a step closer to him, right in his face. “Or what? You really think I’m afraid of your toughs? You’ve seen me fight. You know I’ll break them without even breaking a sweat.”

The toughs started forward, but the man held up a hand and they stopped. “You’ll be gone in ten minutes or I’ll get the Red Knights involved.”

Gabby hesitated a moment. When she spoke, the assertiveness she’d had before was gone and there was a slight waver in her voice. “And what are you going to tell them?”

“I don’t know yet.” The man leaned to the side and pointed at Quilla. “But they’ll believe anything I say about her.”

Annai jumped to her feet. “Don’t you dare do anything to her!”

The man laughed. “You’ve got nine minutes left!” Then he turned around, waved his toughs aside and left the room.

Gabby slammed the door shut. “Fuck!” She turned to face Quilla and Annai. “Get dressed. Quickly! Grab everything. We don’t have much time.”

“It’s fine,” Quilla said. “It’s not like we have a lot of stuff anyway.”

Beyond their clothes, there really wasn’t much to gather. There were the two princesses’ swords and each of them had a dagger, all of which had to be kept hidden under their winter clothes. There was also the food Quilla had acquired on her second trip to the market yesterday afternoon. Beyond that, there was virtually nothing. Quilla didn’t even have her locket any more. Gods, she missed that more than anything. Her last link to Garet...gone.

As they hurriedly dressed, Quilla turned to Annai. “Thanks, by the way.” Had Annai really leapt to her defence? Wonders never ceased. When Annai just looked at her blankly, Quilla added, “For jumping up to help me.”

Annai’s eyes widened. “Oh that! Right, well, what he was suggesting was just...disgusting. I couldn’t let him treat a fr...anyone like that.”

It was hard to tell exactly how long it took them, but it couldn’t have been more than seven or eight minutes, definitely within the limit they’d been given.

As they headed outside, Annai said to Gabriella, “Why did you work for that jerk anyway?”

“It’s not like there are a lot of jobs to choose from at the moment,” Gabby said.

Gabby’s former employer stood outside with two of his toughs. He had a grin on his face.

“There,” Gabby said. “We’re going.”

The man snickered and pointed. A short distance down the street were two Bloods and with them, what looked like the third tough.

Gabby rounded on her employer. “You said we had ten minutes!”

The man merely shrugged. “I had to summon them in advance for them to be here when the time ran out. You should have been quicker.”

“Fuck!” Gabby grabbed Quilla’s arm and led her to the side a little. “Get out of here. Fast as you can.”

“What?”

“Take Annai with you and get out of here. I’ll hold them off. Meet me in three hours in the Night Plaza behind the Cathedral of the Gods.”

“What are you going to do?” Quilla asked.

“Just go!” Gabby hissed. “Now!” She strolled forward, placing herself between the Bloods, and Quilla and Annai. She reached inside her cloak and drew her sword.

“What the hell?” he employer said. “Where did you get a sword?”

“Gabby, what are you doing?” Annai hissed.

Quilla grabbed Annai’s arm and tried to pull her away. “Come on, we have to go.”

Annai glared at her. “We can’t leave her!”

The two Bloods were now running towards them.

“We have to,” Quilla said, pulling on Annai’s arm some more. “Let’s go!”

“But…” Annai looked desperately at Gabby for a moment.

“Annai, go!” Gabby yelled.

With a nod, Annai turned, and Quilla turned with her.

“Annai?” Gabby’s employer said. His two toughs moved to block their way.

“Shit,” Quilla muttered.

Gabby spun past them, her sword swinging out in a wide arc and slicing the throat of one of the toughs. “Run!”

As the tough fell over in a pool of blood and the other one took a step back, Quilla clutched Annai’s hand and ran. Annai didn’t resist.

A whistle sounded behind them. Annai hesitated slightly, pulling back on Quilla’s arm and looking back, but she kept going.

Hopefully any other patrols that heard that whistle were too far away to get here before they could be well out of sight.

“We have to help her!” Annai said, but didn’t slow.

“We can’t.”

“I know how to use a sword. I can fight.”

“Not well enough, and you know it. Gabby’s better on her own. It was her choice. Trust her and just run.”

There were yells and cries behind them, but Quilla refused to look back. She was fairly certain Annai did a couple times, every time she fell behind a bit, tugging on Quilla’s arm. But it didn’t matter as long as Annai kept running.

They turned a corner as soon as they were able, and kept running a couple more blocks. Annai was heaving and slowing down at that point. “I can’t go on.”

Quilla nodded, and they slowed down. If they kept running for too long, they’d draw attention anyway. It was important now to look casual, blend in with the crowd, and hope they weren’t stopped by any patrols.

* * * * *

It was a bright, sunny day, but bitterly cold. The tall pines in the plaza provided some cover from the wind, but not much, as the wind just whipped around them and seemed to change direction frequently. The monument in the centre of the plaza provided only slightly better cover, but it was something, so that was where Quilla and Annai stood shivering, waiting for Gabby.

They had spent the last couple hours moving cautiously through Arnor City, jumping at shadows, and hoping not to be stopped by any patrols. They’d been lucky. A couple patrols had watched them closely—watched Quilla more specifically—as they passed, but hadn’t stopped them. Finally, they’d made their way here.

The Night Plaza was located just off the Tower of Night at the back of the Cathedral of the Gods. Despite its name, it was not a place to honour Night, but rather to honour the dead. There were not a lot of people here at the moment, and most importantly, there were no Blood patrols in sight. Hopefully, any would stay away long enough for Gabby to get here.

“Ardon’s name isn’t here,” Annai said.

“Huh?” Quilla turned to look at what Annai was doing.

She indicated the list of names carved into the base of the monument, which was a large obelisk. “Ardon’s name isn’t here. He must still be alive.”

The list was of all the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Universal Religion for the last two hundred years, up to and including Ardon’s predecessor, who had died nearly fifty years ago. Gods, just how old was that man? Unfortunately, the lack of his name didn’t necessarily mean he was still alive. “They might not have had time to add it yet.”

“Yes, but then, surely there would have been a public announcement. They’d have to appoint a new patriarch.”

Quilla shook her head. “I wouldn’t trust any announcements put out right now. Remember, Gabby’s confirmed dead according to the official announcements.”

Annai frowned, and turned away. “Everybody’s dying.”

Quilla groaned inwardly. She shouldn’t be such a downer. “Oh, don’t mind me. You’re probably right that he’s still alive. He’s too wily to have died in a simple coup.”

Annai sniffled loudly. “What about Gabby? Shouldn’t she be here by now?”

“She said three hours.”

“It’s been three hours.”

“Approximately. She didn’t mean exactly. I’m sure she’ll be here soon.”

“What if they killed her?”

“I’m sure she got away. She’s a competent warrior, probably better than any of them. Garet always said she was the only one who ever game him any real competition.”

“It doesn’t matter how good she is if she was outnumbered.”

“One of the thugs was already down, and there were only two Bloods.”

“With more on the way!”

“And Gabby probably got away before they got there.”

“And if she didn’t?”

Quilla hesitated a moment. Nearby, the bells of the Cathedral of the Gods began to ring. “It’s not worth thinking like that. Gabby’s going to be fine. You just have to—”

Annai rounded on her. “Don’t patronise me, Quilla. I’m not a child. I may not be as worldly as you or Gabby, but I do know a few things. You’re just as worried about Gabby as I am, so stop babying me.”

Quilla sighed. Annai was right. She was worried. As skilled as Gabby was, she was likely to be overwhelmed. She had said three hours yet… Quilla wasn’t sure exactly what time they had left the tenement, but in the time she and Annai had spent moving through the city, the bells had already rung eight, nine, and ten o’clock. Now, they were just finishing eleven. It had been well over three hours.

Gabby should have been here by now.

“See?” Annai said. “You don’t have anything to respond to me with.”

“Look, I just…” She paused and took a deep breath. This wasn’t worth getting angry over. “I’m just trying to be hopeful, that’s all.”

Annai turned back to the monument and ran a gloved hand over the stone. “I don’t think I have any hope left.”

“Let’s give her time, okay? She might have been delayed.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

They stood there shivering in the bitter cold, Annai lightly sobbing after a little while, Quilla trying not to sob. It became harder and harder. They tried walking in circles around the plaza to keep from freezing, but it didn’t help much.

A patrol of Bloods passed by, eyeing them. Quilla kept walking in a straight line, hoping Annai followed without comment. They walked out of the plaza and a couple blocks down the street before circling round and retracing their steps. The Bloods were long gone by the time they got back to the plaza.

They waited some more.

The Cathedral of the Gods rang noon.

Then it rang one.

“She’s not coming, Quilla,” Annai said eventually. “And we’re going to freeze to death if we stand around here any longer.”

Quilla stared out into the streets of Arnor City. She wasn’t sure she felt the cold anymore. It was there, but somehow it seemed distant.

“Quilla?”

Gabby was the only real friend Quilla had in the Royal Family—except for Felitïa, she supposed, but she’d fucked up her relationship with Felitïa already, so Gabby was the only one left. Except now she wasn’t. She was probably dead.

Maybe she was a prisoner. No, they’d kill her at the first opportunity. She was a threat to Lidda Plavin’s claim to the throne.

Maybe she’d gotten away but was unable to get here for some reason. Maybe she was hurt and needed help.

“Quilla!”

Annai grabbed her arm, and Quilla turned to look at her. There were frozen tears on Annai’s scarves, glinting in the sunlight like morning frost.

“We have to go, Quilla. If we stay here too long, a patrol that has already passed here is going to come back and recognise we haven’t. Then they’ll question us.”

“I can’t abandon her.”

“She’s dead, Quilla, and believe me, I know what it means to say that. She’s my sister, and I’ve lost so many people already, but we have to face facts. We have to go! Please!”

Quilla looked back out to the streets. In the distance along one, there was a hint of a couple red figures moving amongst the people. They were moving slowly in the direction of the cathedral. She looked back at Annai. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Annai gave her a weak smile. “It’s okay. The last couple of weeks, I’ve been the one wallowing in my emotions and you’ve been the strong one. You deserve a turn to be weak once in a while.” She took Quilla’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Let’s go. Please.”

Quilla nodded. “There’s a patrol up that way. We should go this way.” She started to lead the way, but hesitated and looked back.

“What’s wrong?” Annai asked.

Quilla shook her head. “Nothing.” She wanted to leave a message for Gabby just in case, but she had no idea how to leave one that would only be recognised by Gabby. She couldn’t take the chance of anyone else finding it.

“Then let’s go!”

With a sigh, she nodded and they continued on their way.