Fall

Atlas

To avoid the worst of the Western winter, Atlas and Milla made sure the towns stayed close to the edge of Eden. There, a warm sea breeze was always given by the coast, and the growing humidity from the East could be felt.

Thorn and the other mayors asked questions about the East, but Atlas and Milla kept the answer unchanged; we don’t know. What were their weaknesses? Their strengths? Their food and customs?

“All we know is patrols,” Atlas said one night. He laid out a map, and pointed to parallel lines of different colors. “We know how often they check their borders, and how many soldiers are in each unit.”

“Like lines in the sand,” Thorn muttered. His fera cocked its head to peer at the map.

“Exactly.” Milla wrung her hands, a rare sign of worry. “And we don’t know what’s beyond it.”

“We’re a day away from passing the East. We should be cautious on our way to the North, give them a wide berth.” What Atlas didn’t say was the show of numbers that would be flaunted to the East as they trekked by. How the vibrant clothes of the South, and their lowing livestock, would shout to the rooftops that there was another player in this game. That the North had evened the field.

“We will treat them like raiders, should they attack us.” Thorn nodded. The candlelight in the tent cast his face in shadow.

“Hm. A bit stronger than raiders. They aren’t just a rouge band of thieves, but an armed nation. Prepare every rotation of attacks you have, just to be safe,” Milla said. “We don’t want casualties on our side.”

“Of course.” Thorn turned away from the table, his coat a rippling night. Then he paused. “You are brave for doing this, ambassadors.”

Atlas thought of a thousand responses, but none of them could be formed quite elegantly in Chestic. He didn’t need Hudson’s help for what he finally decided to say. “I know.”

Piper

It was dark, and damp, and moldy. Grime grew between the gray bricks like plaque. Water dripped from the roof. If Piper hadn’t been convinced the cabin was abandoned before, she was now.

Her first step ended in a sharp break, a crunch far more precious than snow. She recoiled as she saw her boot had crushed a leaf. It was, or had been, solid glass.

Cedric continued past her. “Don’t mind the glass. It grows on trees.”

The leaf had been made of sturdier stuff than the vitrum plants in Elbe. Perhaps the shattered leaf was a paperweight? But then she thought of the glass on their way here. It had moved and bent underfoot just like any other vegetation, as rugged as normal brush. How many kinds of vitrum were there?

A growl that was deeper than Reine’s brought Piper quickly back to herself. The tiger and his boy were now in the doorway.

“Move,” the boy said.

His manners are better than his appearance, Reine said. She curled her lip and let a fang show.

Cedric was now at the end of the cabin, where he seemed to hold another key. This one was as clear as crystal. “It’s going to get bright.”

Piper shielded her face as a door swung open. After a second, she could see that the cabin was now open at the end. She walked cautiously through it, eyes wide.

Here, the vitrum was thick. It hung so dense in clumps and sheets that it seemed to wall out the world beyond. Even Reine was stunned.

This is strange, she said.

Silas the fox was their welcome break from the glass. Piper followed his red pelt closely as they drifted through the glass. It clinked softly against their clothes.

“What do you think?” Cedric said. His Kinnish was eerily fluent.

“How do you know Kinnish?” Piper replied.

“I used to live there,” he said.

“How did you get here?”

“The East has always been kinder to us than other territories. We were able to slip through the cracks easily enough.”

Piper pondered this as they came around a bend where the vitrum ebbed. The dark soil and greenery was a sudden contrast to the bright tunnel they came through.

Here there was a second cabin, identical in every way to the first… except here was not a sense of abandonment, but of life. There were clothes hanging from the roof to a nearby tree, the windows whole and frosted, the door open and with a woman in the doorway.

A dove flew in from the clothesline to land on the woman’s shoulder. She laughed and swept her dark hair to make room for it. When she looked up, her face contorted. Was that fear? Confusion? Recognition?

“Grace,” Cedric said.

And then the pieces fell into place. The letter from Lucy. The Kinnish.

“Cedric and Grace—Glassing?” Piper whispered. Finch snapped to attention next to her.

Cedric cocked his head towards Piper. “That’s a name we haven’t used in quite some time.”

Piper was stunned into silence. Reine’s thought broke through her pause.

Say something, she growled. It’s your Life-forsaken parents.

“Um—“ she began, but was shushed and quickly pulled into the house.

The woman with the dove put a finger to her lips, then shut the door. When the windows and drapes were closed, she whispered, “I’m so glad you’re here.”

Piper blinked in the now dark room. “I can… tell.”

“Are you Piper Amur?” the tiger-boy said in Elben.

She bit her lip, looked to Reine, then nodded. “Yeah.”

Cedric took up Elben to include the boy. “And the stories are true?”

“I don’t really—“

“Is someone going to thank me?” Tennyson muttered. “I’ve been risking my neck to reunite you four.”

“Of course, old friend,” Cedric chuckled. He pat him on the shoulder. “Our gratitude has no bounds.”

“And that means your wallet, too.” Tennyson grinned.

All the large fera made the room cramped. Piper inched closer to a side door as the group spread out. The woman with the dove—Grace?—began to place candles on the sills and table.

Her hair matches yours, Reine noted. And her nose. But you seem to have Cedric’s eyes.

You seem to be more concerned about our similarities than they are. Piper watched the group bicker about how much Tennyson was owed while Grace put away the extra candles. The room was now well-lit, their shadows silent giants on the wall.

Finch was beside her. “I thought your family was going to be boring.”

“Why?” Piper said.

He smiled. “Because you are.”

She pinched his arm. “Reine is not afraid to murder you. Right here, right now.”

“But you’re her conscious.” He didn’t need to say more. She turned away as Tennyson roped her back to the conversation.

“Weren’t you grateful for my help?” he called. “Think of the Seinish, how I kept their attention on me.”

“Yes, I’m grateful,” Piper said.

“There we go! Ups the price another hundred.” Tennyson rubbed his thumb and forefinger together.

“Are you some kind of bounty hunter?” Finch asked.

“I do a lot of odd jobs. And I happen to be friends with these people.” Tennyson switched to Seinish for a second to say something to the tiger-boy. He laughed.

Piper was confused. “Why are we like this?” She motioned to the closed curtains.

“Privacy, dear,” Grace said. She sat at the head of the table. “Any animal outside could be a fera.”

“You don’t seem surprised to see me…” Piper finally said.

“Your reputation precedes you.” Cedric settled next to Grace. “And Tennyson has kept us informed.”

She felt her eyes widen. “For how long?”

And why haven’t you revealed yourselves? Reine had her ask.

“Since the Battle of the Valley. That’s when we sent Tennyson out. And,” Cedric said. “As prisoners of the territory, we couldn’t meet you before now.”

“They already want my head for leaving,” Tennyson added.

Finch held his hand up. “Take a step back. Prisoners of the territory.”

“We’re in a gilded cage,” Grace said softly. “But we make the most of it.”

Piper’s head was spinning, but Reine had more questions. How were you captured? Why are you here?

“Why did you leave me?” Piper whispered.

Silence was the darkest curtain over the group. The eyes of all three big cats winked in the gloom. Reine, Taft, and the tiger.

“Why?” she repeated.

“We had to.” Cedric’s neck bobbed. “The East would have killed you.”

“What?” Piper and Finch said.

“We made our fortune in the West,” Cedric’s voice had lowered. “And the East came to us. They threatened you, and we knew you had to be hidden. Miss Mink was highly recommended, and we knew you would be safe. Then Queen Celia came for each of us, and we had nowhere to go. We’ve lived here for fifteen years.”

Piper bit her lip. “Did you know Lucy dealt in child trading?”

“Or arson?” Tennyson said.

They all looked to him.

“She’s a known arsonist.” Tennyson shrugged. “Sets fire to anything, for a price.”

“This is too much. Please keep it simple.” Finch chopped his hand into his palm. “Fifteen years ago, you gave Piper to Lucy to protect her from the East. The East then came after you, and somehow you ended up here. Then you lived like this until your daughter survived and won a battle before sending a bounty hunter to find and bring her to you. Do you understand the gap here?”

Grace put her head in her hands. “We’ve been trying to work our way free. We thought it would only be a year.”

Piper took a step forward into the light. “What work?”

“Vitrum.” Grace looked up, her dark hair falling past her shoulders. “We’ve been making vitrum.”