Thorns (3 page)

Sharp talons of panic closed around me, squeezing the breath from my lungs. If the Circle—a governing body specifically formed for justice and protection—wouldn’t fight against the Farthers and their unjust occupation of our village, who would?

We passed the Assembly Hall. I paused beside one of the relief carvings, painted blue like the sky-colored snow blossoms of the Frost. I darted a glance around. “And what about Watcher attacks? Aren’t the Farthers afraid?”

She leaned against the wall and brushed a gloved hand over her eyes. “I heard Officer Raine telling my father that they plan to continue reinforcing the gates and walls. They’re going to bring more guns to protect themselves.”

“Fools,” I muttered. More guns meant more Watchers buzzing around the forest, agitated and aggressive. “They’re going to stir the monsters into a frenzy if they start poking around with their technology, and then who will pay? Us.” I thought of my family’s farm, lonely and isolated against a backdrop of frozen trees. Who would defend us if the Watchers tried to break down our door?

Ann played with the strings on her bonnet. “Listen. There’s one more thing I heard.”

I straightened and cast another glance around to make sure no one could hear. “What?”

She traced the embroidery on the edge of her cloak with one finger. “The officer told my father that...that they have finally confirmed the identity of the Thorns operative working in the Frost.”

All the air left my lungs. I felt as if I’d been punched.
Did they know about Adam? Did they know about ME
? My eyes flew to hers, but she stared at a patch of ice on the ground and didn’t look up.

“They said it was Cole Carver.”

My legs trembled in relief. Not Adam. Not me. The words began to sink it, though, and my lip curled. “Cole? But everyone knows the Watchers killed him.”

And as far as anybody else knew, the truth was as simple and tragic as a careless boy in a dangerous forest. The whole village had mourned. I remembered his parents, their faces blotchy with grief as they absorbed the news Adam Brewer had gently delivered to them. I remembered the townsfolk gathered in a hushed circle around them, sorrowful over a life extinguished so young, and the funeral two days later where everyone spoke glowingly about his bravery and kindness. I’d even said a few words about my former friend, the sly and flirtatious boy who hadn’t been able to resist hunting in the Frost during the night despite its dangers, and everyone had nodded and wiped away tears and whispered to each other that he’d intended to marry me, and wasn’t it terribly sad?

In fact, the villagers had been giving me sympathetic looks for the last two months, thinking I grieved his death and my inevitable spinsterhood. Nobody but Adam, his family, and mine—and Ann—knew the grim truth. Cole had betrayed us. He’d followed us into the Frost, intending to expose Adam and me to the Farthers for helping Gabe escape. He’d held us at gunpoint and threatened to shoot me. But he’d been snatched up by a Watcher before he could deliver on his threat, and eaten.

I remembered the sickening crunch of bone when the monster struck from the shadows, the spray of blood on the snow, the screams. I pressed a hand over my eyes, willing the memories away.

“They never recovered his body,” Ann reminded me. “And that isn’t so unusual, but one of the Farther officers told my father that he believes Cole escaped along with the fugitive. He said he thinks the rest of us are too stupid to have been involved.”

She sounded angry, but I felt light as air. If the Farthers thought the only Thorns agent was gone, that meant they wouldn’t suspect Adam. They wouldn’t suspect
me
.

My family would be safe.

The knot of apprehension in my chest eased a little.

“Good,” I told her. “If they think we’re clever, they’ll be that much more on their guard. It’s good they aren’t expecting us to be smart.”

“Well, it infuriates me,” she whispered. “It makes my blood boil when I think that traitorous Cole Carver gets the credit for all your bravery and good deeds, even if it’s only in the eyes of the Farthers.”

I looked at my boots. She didn’t know about Adam and his true involvement with the Thorns. In fact, for all she knew, he and I still distrusted and hated each other. Two months ago I’d believed Adam’s family responsible for my parents’ deaths, until I found out that Cole had killed them and blamed the Brewers. Ann knew now that Cole had killed my parents, and that I had helped Gabe escape with the assistance of the Thorns, but I’d kept the rest of the operatives’—Adam and his family’s—identities a secret.

Secrets kept us safe.

The weight of the knowledge I kept from her pressed heavily on me, though, and I ached to tell her everything—Adam, my parents, the extent of the secrets that permeated our village.

But I couldn’t.

“Don’t let it bother you,” I said. “This is a good thing. If they suspect it was him, they won’t be sniffing around for anyone else. This protects me.”

“I know. It just rankles me all the same. And I suspect Officer Raine just wants the problem done with so he can report it taken care of. I think since Cole is dead and the fugitive is gone and there’s been no sign of the Thorns for months now, they think everything is over.” She paused. “And it is over, isn’t it?”

I thought of the brooch hidden in the drawer of my bureau. Adam had issued me an invitation the night we’d taken Gabe to the gate, and I hadn’t made a decision yet. The knowledge of that brooch burned in the back of my mind, making me restless and uneasy.

Realizing she was waiting for some kind of reply, I said, “It’s over. He’s gone, and he’s not coming back.”

She looked relieved, but I felt unbelievably empty saying the words out loud.

Gabe was gone, but everything had changed anyway. He’d been the catalyst, and now my entire world had turned upside down.

We reached the open-air market, where booths and stalls braved the snow and wind as their banners fluttered in the breeze, advertising their wares. I passed the stall where old woman Tamma sold herbs and medicines, and our gazes slid away from each other. I’d once bought medicine from her for Gabe, and ever since then I’d felt her watching me as if she knew something.

I tugged my cloak closer around my shoulders and headed for the food stalls. Here, families could trade their excess perishables in exchange for other goods, but during the cold winter months the offerings were meager and limited mostly to meat and fish. We had the cow and the chickens, and our stores of dried onions, turnips, potatoes, and apples from the short and brutish summer, but I didn’t hunt and the traps yielded scant offerings. With my parents dead and the Farthers eating much of the extras, the food supplies we received in exchange for our quota were not enough these days.

I traded a knitted scarf and a pair of mittens for six small fish caught through a hole in the ice over the river. A steep price, but we needed the food. The seller wrapped them up, and I took the smelly bundle under one arm. He gave me a grim nod of solidarity, but when his eyes cut to Ann he scowled and muttered something under his breath.

Ann looked neither surprised nor offended. Just resigned.

I could feel the stares we were attracting. Or rather, the stares Ann was attracting. People murmured and frowned our way. A chill tickled the back of my neck, and I bit my lip. I hastily traded with another seller for a cup’s worth of cornmeal and then grabbed Ann’s arm to steer her back toward the village square.

“What was that about?” I demanded as soon as we’d left the market. “Why did he look at you that way?”

She played with the edge of her cloak. “My father’s cooperation with the soldiers hasn’t been popular with some, you might say.”

I snorted. “A gross understatement. But you aren’t your father.”

Ann didn’t reply to that. There was no need. We both knew how damning association with a traitor could be. “Did you hear about Everiss?” she asked instead.

“No, what’s wrong?” Everiss was the eldest Dyer daughter, and more Ann’s friend than mine, but I’d known her since our days in the village school.

“She’s called off her betrothal.”

I was shocked. The last time we’d spoken, Everiss had talked of nothing else but marriage and babies, and then she’d chided me repeatedly for not being betrothed myself.

“I don’t know. She won’t talk about it. The whole family is upset with her. It would have been a good match.”

“Maybe she decided she loved someone else,” I mused. And in my mind I saw Gabe’s face, and my chest ached. But I pushed the thought away. He was gone.

I needed to move on with my life.

“Perhaps,” Ann said, and looked over her shoulder as someone hissed something at her. “I should get back to the house, I think.”

“It was good to see you,” I said, glaring at the person who’d issued the muttered taunt at my friend. “Be safe.”

She smiled ruefully. “I’m the one who should be saying that to you.”

But I wasn’t so sure anymore. These days, things seemed just as dangerous no matter which side of the village walls you lived on.

She slipped away, and I turned and headed for the gate to the Frost. The fish were heavy in my arms, but all I could think about was how they weren’t heavy enough for the price I’d paid, and how tiny and frail Ann seemed now, as if a strong gust of wind would break her. When had her smile gotten so brittle? Was it after the Farther soldiers began to occupy the village, or even more recently?

Worry gnawed at my insides and muttered in my thoughts. I almost didn’t hear the voice whispering my name.

“Pssst, Lia Weaver!”

I stopped.

The shadows in the alley to my left stirred. I turned toward the movement, uncertain. “Hello?”

“Quick. Over here.”

I caught a glimpse of a flutter of black fabric and a flash of a hand beckoning.

I hesitated. The hand shot out and closed over my wrist, yanking me forward. Suddenly I was pressed against the side of a stone house with a cloaked figure clamping a hand over my mouth. Panic stabbed me. I kicked, biting at his hand.

“Calm down, girl.”

“Then let go of me!”

He let go and stepped back. I jerked away.

My frenzy had dislodged his hood, and I blinked in recognition.

The blacksmith’s middle son.

He was about my age. We’d gone to school together. I knew him, but only vaguely. We had never spoken.

“Leon Blacksmith?”

He released me and adjusted the hood of his cloak. His sharp blue eyes blazed with intensity as they met mine. A shiver ran up my spine and danced across my skin.

“I’m sorry about the subterfuge, but we can’t be seen,” he said.

I feigned ignorance as I bent to retrieve the bundle of fish and sack of cornmeal I’d dropped. “Why not?”

Instead of answering, he put a finger to his lips and motioned for me to follow him. Then he turned and hurried down the alley.

Whatever he had in mind, I didn’t want any part of it. I turned to slip away, but his voice cut through the air. “
Please
.”

Sighing, I joined him. He rounded a corner and came to a stop behind a stack of firewood. We were obscured from the view of anyone in the streets, and no windows opened on this side of the house. I could see the wall around the village from where we stood, but the soldiers were too far away to hear anything.

“What’s this about?” I demanded as soon as he stopped.

“Did you find her?”

I whirled. A pair of boys emerged from behind the woodpile. I only vaguely recalled their names. Seth Baker? One of the Hunter boys? A girl was with them, and I didn’t know her except from a hazy recollection.

“Yes,” Leon replied. To me, he said, “This is Seth, Bern, and Onna.” He pointed at the girl, and she flipped her hair out of her eyes and gave me a toothy smile.

“What’s going on?” I scanned their faces for some shred of indication about what they wanted.

“Did you tell her?” Onna asked.

Leon shook his head. He looked at me.

“I’ve heard good things about you, Lia Weaver,” he said. “You’re strong, you’re clever, and you aren’t squeamish when difficult things need to be done. You travel through the Frost several times a week, and you live far from the safety of the village walls. Rumor has it you’ve even seen a few Watchers out there.”

“So?” I said, too uneasy to be flattered. I shifted the bundle of fish and cornmeal in my arms and stamped my feet to ward off the cold. “You want me to tell you a few creepy bedtime stories or something?”

They chuckled, although I hadn’t really been trying to make a joke. “You’re funny, too,” Leon said. “But no. We want you to join us.”

“Join you?”

“We’re going to get rid of the Farthers,” Onna interjected.

“What?”

They gazed at me solemnly, and I realized they were serious.

“How?”

“Listen,” Leon said. “The soldiers are oppressing our village. They’re eating our food and stirring up the Watchers and they’re pushing us around. We’re a free people! We don’t have to put up with this. But our Mayor is under Raine’s thumb. If anything’s going to be done, we just have to do it ourselves. We’re calling ourselves the Blackcoats—” He gestured at them all, and I noticed the black scarves and clothing they wore. “—and we’re going to save this village.”

I stared at them. They were nothing more than a couple of ragged young people with fervent expressions and clenched fists. “And how exactly do you plan to rid the village of Farther soldiers again?”

“Targeted acts of resistance,” Leon said. “Stealing food, damaging property, leaving ominous messages.”

“Leaving ominous messages?” I couldn’t contain my derision. Were they stupid? “You think that will work against armed soldiers?”

“You know what I mean. We’ll make it so unbearable for them to stay that the costs will begin to outweigh the benefits. If we aren’t worth occupying, then they’ll leave.”

“Or retaliate,” I said.

“It’s worth the risk.” Leon folded his arms. “Well?”

I was silent, chewing over my words. Finally—“Why me?”

He chuckled mirthlessly. “Like I said. You’ve got a reputation for being tough. And you have inroads that the rest of us don’t.”