Valiant (21 page)

I thought of him telling his falcon bride about how we’d worked so closely. I knew he’d tell her everything, and I knew there would be nothing that could shame us.

But more than anything, I knew how much I’d miss Lord Verras when he no longer needed my help stopping an army of giants.

“Well, then,” said Leymonn. “What did you
both
see?”

Lord Verras told him about the camp, the giants wading into the Kriva, and finally, the pens.

Leymonn schooled his expression, but not before I saw his fear. “We need a way out of Reggen.”

“It’s possible we could send a messenger to Yullan. Have him take a small dinghy out into the Kriva. We’d send him at night and he wouldn’t use the oars, at least until the boat’s past the camp—the giants might hear them.”

“The Kriva’s sound might help mask the noise,” added Leymonn. “But don’t choose a messenger you like, Verras. You might have
his
head delivered to you next.”

A hit for Leymonn. Lord Verras’s hands curled into fists, but he kept his voice even. “I know why the fourteenth is special to the duke. It’s the date the emperor took Reggen. I found it in the archives last night. The emperor fought armies on the plains for weeks. Finally, the rulers of the city went to him at midnight. By morning, they’d negotiated a truce. The emperor entered Reggen that day, the fourteenth. We were the first of the River Cities conquered.”

“You’re sure?” demanded Leymonn.

“I am. Reggen wouldn’t celebrate a defeat after the emperor died. When the calendar changed, the date became even more obscure.”

“It fits,” said Leymonn. “The duke wanted the king to join him at midnight.… You’ll report what else you learn?”

“I need help.” Lord Verras hesitated, as though the words pained him. “Lord Cinnan has read almost every document and book in the archives.”

“No. Lord Cinnan will stay under house arrest and be happy that he is alive. I see no need to allow that man back into the castle. Am I clear?”

Lord Verras refused to answer.

Leymonn chuckled as he opened the door to leave. “I thought as much. I’ll expect news from you soon.”

Lord Verras locked the door the moment Leymonn left. Then he marched over to the desk. “Lord Cinnan had a map of the caves with other paths in and out of the city.”

He riffled through papers and books, then peered at me. “You’re wondering why I kept such a valuable map out on the desk.”

I shook my head. “I’m wondering how you could possibly find it. I could hide a small giant on that desk.”

He smiled and returned to digging. When he located the map, he spread it out before us—more a caress than an attempt to make it lie flat. I’d never seen anything like it—a series of caterpillars lying outside the straight edges of the castle rooms.

“Lord Cinnan had this made ages ago, though I think it was a retracing of an earlier map. Here is the entrance from this room.” Lord Verras pointed to a spot, and then his finger traced a series of tunnels. “And this is the path we took to visit the king your first day here.”

He stabbed a section just beyond those lines. “There used to be a tunnel that led to the cliffs, though it collapsed years ago. A similar path would be a safer way out of Reggen than a boat down the Kriva. We just need to find it.”

“Without telling Leymonn? Without any other help?”

“I don’t want Leymonn to know about a route to the cliffs. He’s too intent on escape.”

I thought of all the people Lord Verras must know in the castle. “I’m sure you can find a few people to search the caves.”

“I know of one.”

I heard the answer in his voice. When I looked up, I saw it confirmed in his face.

“No. No! I hate the caves. It’s like being buried one stone at a time.”

“We have days, Saville.”

I crossed my arms. “We
need
to visit the princess. You told her you’d come …” I sighed. “… and you can tell her that her errand girl will be busy.”

T
hat afternoon, Lord
Verras showed me how to systematically explore the tunnels. We would tie a rope to a rock formation near the entrance and unwind its length as we followed a path.

It was my idea to cut strips of linen and use them to mark the route instead.

Lord Verras liked the idea, though he warned me to secure the fabric. “Don’t just leave it where it could slip.” When I rolled my eyes, he’d smiled and added, “It’s a fine idea, though. Trust a tailor to think of using fabric.”

I was so surprised by the praise that I didn’t even mind being called a tailor.

I hated the caves at first. I’d eyed the stone and wondered how it would feel to be buried beneath it. Yet the longer I explored, the more I enjoyed traveling among the stone pillars. It wasn’t safe, but it … it reminded me of when the giant scouts had knelt before me. It was storms and mountains and seas; fear and joy twisted so tightly together I couldn’t tell them apart.

The next day, while Lord Verras was occupied with the king, I explored the caves alone, searching for a tunnel that would lead to the cliffs.

And I found it.

I was so excited I could hardly tie the linen strip around the formation at the beginning of the new tunnel. Grinning, I threw the satchel of strips over my shoulder, collected my lantern and map, and picked my way back to Lord Verras’s room.

The cave was covered with older markings, white blazes of paint that shone out in the light from the lantern. One day, when I had more time, I’d come back and explore the rest of the marked paths. But first, I had to tell Lord Verras.…

He was waiting for me when I squeezed back into his room.

“What took you so long? I was about to come after you.”

“I found it.”

“A tunnel?” He didn’t smile as I’d expected.
Why was he so distracted?

“
The
tunnel. I could see daylight at the end of it!” I shrugged out of the coat he’d made me wear. “It goes up to the top of the cliffs, though someone will have to clear away a small mountain of rubble first.”

“Saville, you need to—”

“I could only reach my hand out of it, but I can’t tell you how good the sun felt on my fingertips! I used a triple knot in the linen to mark where the tunnel branches off. You know what that looks like, don’t you?”

“Saville!” He slapped the table to get my attention. “It’s the Tailor. You need to go see him.”

The walls of Lord Verras’s room retreated till they seemed leagues away. And there still wasn’t enough room to breathe.

“Now?” I whispered.

He nodded.

I turned back to the map. “There,” I said, pointing to the passage. My voice sounded foreign to me. “That’s it. I marked it with—”

“—a triple knot. I know. Just go, Saville. You need to go.”

I ran to the Tailor’s room, hardly aware of the corridors I threaded. When I reached the door, a doctor stood outside, face impassive.

“Where is Lord Verras?” he asked.

“He sent me,” I gasped.

The doctor’s forehead wrinkled. “Why you?”

I reached around him. “That is my business.”

I stepped inside and closed the door behind me, leaning back against it. The sound of my breath slapped against the walls, loud as words. It wasn’t until I saw the Tailor so still on the bed that I realized how restless he’d been even after the apoplexy. He was dead. He’d never lie so still otherwise.

I slid down the door and sat crouched on the floor, knees against my chest. I couldn’t get a deep enough breath.

“No,” I whispered against my clenched hands. “No. You can’t leave me like this.”

I slammed my fists on the ground, glad for the sting and scrape of the stone floor, and pushed myself to standing. The room tipped around me as I walked to the bed.

Someone had pulled the blankets up to the Tailor’s chest and folded his hands.

I looked down at his face, looking for … What was it I hoped to see? Some hint that he was sorry for dragging me to Reggen, so far from Mama’s grave and my friends? A clue that he wished I, instead of the trunk of his precious fabric, had been by his bed these last days?

For the first time in my life, I stood in the room with the Tailor and wasn’t battered by his anger, his disapproval. It was an empty, echoing sort of peace, like the quiet after shouting. I pulled the Tailor’s trunk beside his bed and sat on it, peering down at him.

“Do you know how little I wanted from you?” I asked, my voice strong and steady, as though I could reach beyond death and make him hear me. “I wanted you to love me as much as your silks. I wanted to sit beside you and not fear what you’d do or say!”

All the words I had longed to speak to him. A life’s worth. And they didn’t change the silence, didn’t make me feel lighter for speaking them. I laughed, more a ragged sigh than anything.

For the last time, I put a hand over the Tailor’s. He was already cooling, his skin dry and rough. “Oh, Papa …,” I whispered. “It’s too late for wanting, isn’t it? It was too late years ago.”

And then I was humming the giants’ melody I’d heard out on the walls, the one that made me think of hearth fires and home. Except I sang of a father I’d never known and a home I’d never return to. The melody became a sort of tears. I keened the song until the strange syllables I remembered were as real as stone, more present than sorrow.

A long while later, I heard a knock, and Lord Verras slipped inside, closing the door behind him. “Saville, I’m so sorry.”

The tears that wouldn’t come earlier caught in my throat. How comforting it would be to have Lord Verras pull me close and—

I shook my head. “Please. Don’t be nice. I’ll—”
Break
.

He grimaced, then seemed to understand and perhaps even feel relieved.

“Why are you here?” I prompted.

“Leymonn has demanded that you come to the balcony and address the people. They’re terrified. The duke has been putting on a show. The giants have been engaging in trials of strength since sunrise.”

He raised his eyebrows:
should he go on?

I nodded.

“I tried to tell Leymonn”—Lord Verras’s gaze dropped to the Tailor—“but he wouldn’t hear of it. You need to be on the balcony in an hour’s time. After that, I promise you can go wherever you wish.”