Page 84 of Last Rites

“You know they’re building something,” I said quickly, straining against my bonds. “With the bones. It won’t be much longer now. If they succeed, what comes will be worse than fire. They want to ruin everything—every town they can touch. But if you went there, you could stop them. Do more than we managed. You could finish it.”

Her eyes flicked over me, then she asked, “Go where?”

“To Ashpoint,” I replied. “That’s what the Bone Men call their encampment. It’s a town, too. A home for so many people, and not everyone there is—” I swallowed hard and then glanced at Rosie, who looked on, scared and stiff. “We aren’t all bad. If you really want to help, that’s where it’s needed.”

The commander’s expression stayed stony as she turned her head toward Ben.

“You believe him?”

“I do,” Ben said simply. “And they’ve taken one of our own. We’d like him back.”

Her gaze cut back to me. “How far from here is it?”

I thought of the endless cart ride that had brought me here, how the wheels had rattled over every rock and rut. “A few days,” I said. “I could take you, but we should leave now. Tonight. If we can catch up with the others on the road, we can make sure that no warning reaches Ashpoint before we do.” My legs twitched with the urge to rise, but the rope bit my ankles. So instead, I fixed the commander with a pointed look, then dipped my chin toward the bindings in mute suggestion.

She didn’t take it. Instead, her gaze swept the tavern, where her soldiers leaned against the walls and tables.

“We aren’t prepared for that long of a journey,” she said at last. “We’d need supplies. And rest.”

“There’s ample supplies here,” Ben offered. “And you’re welcome to them.”

“Thank you.” She nodded at him. “It will still take time, though. Several hours, I’d say. And we’ll need to send for reinforcements, or gather them along the way.”

It was well into the night by now. Hours would lead to morning, and while the commander and her troops dallied, I knew for fact that Violette and Klaus would not. The soldiers found the camp abandoned, which meant they were already on the road, heading back to Ashpoint. There would be untold miles between us by dawn.

My heart sank even as my temper flared. “You want to wait till tomorrow?” I asked.

“We could be on the road before the afternoon,” the commander replied.

“That’s not—” My voice cracked, and the rest escaped in a murmur, “soon enough.”

She leaned over me, tall and rigid, her shadow swallowing the weak light of the fire. “We can’t jump to respond to every cry of distress from every corner of the province without preparation. We’d fail before we ever started.”

“You’ll fail if we don’t start now,” I snapped, my wrists twisting against the ropes.

The commander’s mouth pressed a tight line. Her gaze didn’t waver, and I felt the weight of it driving me lower.

Finally, she inclined her head. “In the morning—when we are adequately prepared—you can take us there. I must admit I’m intrigued at the prospect. If you are, in fact, a Bone Man, you’re the first I've met who would so willingly betray them.”

“Willingly. Gladly. Urgently,” I shot back, hoping she could hear my insistence.

Rather than reply, she turned to where Ben stood by. “Mister Fischer? About those supplies you mentioned.”

He stirred at her summons, then joined her as they turned away, leaving me bound and sulking. It was shaping up to be a miserable night.

I stared after them, hating the distance stretching between me and the people I wanted to reach. Kit and Isla, being ferried ever farther away. Every second until morning felt like punishment while I was forced to sit and stew in my helplessness. I could almost hear Violette’s laughter, see Klaus’s snide smile, and it made the ropes around me seem to burn.

In the pause, Rosie peeled away from the huddle of tired townsfolk and crept closer, settling beside me and resting her head on my shoulder. Her chest rose and fell with a shuddering sigh.

“It’s all right, Penny,” she murmured.

My face pinched with pain. “How can you say that when you know it isn’t true?”

Quietly, she pressed her hand to my chest. “I have faith. Don’t you?”

Because of my prayers? My preparations? I hadn’t prepared for this. I hadn’t prepared for the fear that gnawed at my chest, that made my stomach twist and my jaw ache.

I looked across the room at where the commander had gathered some soldiers around Ben. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but it wasn’t much before the lot of them filed out of the tavern and into the black night.