Weavers (The Frost Chronicles) (3 page)

We no longer considered each other friends, I supposed. She knew I was furious about my sister’s involvement with the dangerous and revolutionary group of young people in the village who called themselves Blackcoats—an involvement Everiss had not prevented or warned me about, even though Ivy was only fourteen. And so we avoided each other. She stayed glued to Jonn’s side, and I spent most of my time with Adam, trekking through the Frost.

There seemed to be a lot of places I tried to stay away from lately, I mused darkly. I was avoiding the village, too, because in the last few weeks, things had begun to take an ugly turn there.

Adam touched my arm lightly. I flinched, and he withdrew his hand instantly. “We should speak outside,” he said in a low voice. “We have something else to discuss.”

I nodded.

“Privately,” he added, when I looked reluctantly at Everiss and Jonn. I didn’t want to leave them, because now they would discuss what we’d been talking about. I just knew it.

I followed him out, and we walked in silence to the barn. As soon as the door thudded shut behind us and the warm dark enfolded us with the sounds of the animals, I whirled.

“I cannot believe he’s telling her things about the PLD. She cannot be trusted. Is he blind?”

“Lia,” Adam said.

I choked on an incredulous laugh. “It’s ridiculous. Of course he is—he’s being blinded by his feelings for her. The day she came to us for shelter, he told me he loved her. And for all we know, she’s using that to her advantage. His affections are making him a fool.”

“It happens to the best of us,” Adam said softly, almost bitterly.

That shut me up. I took a step back and leaned against the door, studying his face. We stared at each other, and I saw pain pass like a fog over his eyes. The emotion evaporated as quickly as it had come, and once again he was focused and intent.

“You’re right to be cautious,” he said. “But give her a chance. I’ve spoken to your brother at length about this. Jonn believes she’ll want to defect and work for us.”

“For the Thorns?” I didn’t know what astonished me more—the news about Everiss’s possible change in loyalty, or the fact that apparently Adam and my brother were having long, voluntary conversations together now. “And you support this idea?”

He nodded, thoughtful. “Another agent would help us tremendously. Her duties would be limited, of course—the whole village thinks she’s dead, so she can’t show her face there again.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “That’s another reason for her not to betray you. She has nowhere else to go. The Blackcoats all live and operate in Iceliss.”

“As far as we know,” I muttered.

He made a fair point, though. Of course, he assumed Everiss would behave rationally—I did not. Many people did anything but the rational thing when it came to what they were passionate about.

“Let it rest, at least for the moment,” he said. “Right now she’s helping your family with quota and healing from her injures. Any talk of her staying or leaving is still weeks away. There is time.”

“You’re right.” I leaned back against the door and tried to massage some of the tension from my temples with suddenly trembling fingers. “It’s just...”

“You’ve been betrayed and deceived before,” he finished. He took a step closer to me, reaching for my hands to tug them away from my face. “I know. You have every reason to be suspicious now.”

I laughed under my breath. Betrayed. Deceived. How true. Everyone in the Frost seemed to have a secret. My parents had been secretly smuggling fugitives through the Frost to safety before their deaths, unbeknownst to everyone, even Jonn, Ivy, and me. Cole Carver, the village buffoon and my fervent admirer, had turned out to be their murderer. Adam Brewer, the silent lurker and near-outcast—whose family everyone had blamed for my parents’ deaths—had turned out to be the Thorns operative working alongside my parents. The cruel Farther noble who’d recently taken up residence in the village was Gabe’s brother. And even my best friend, Ann was a secret Thorns operative. I’d only discovered it a few weeks ago.

So many secrets.

Was it any wonder that I felt wary?

I let him pull my hands away, and suddenly we were face to face, with his fingers warm against my wrists and his eyes searching mine. I turned my head; he let me go.

My pulse hammered hot under my skin. I cleared my throat. “You said we had something else we needed to discuss?”

“Yes,” he said, stepping back to give me space, letting me breathe again. “The PLD. We’re running out of time.”

“Jonn is making progress,” I said.

“Yes, but we might not have that much time. We need something else. We need a leg up on this decoding process.”

“And how do you propose that we do that?” I asked.

Adam studied me thoughtfully. “Korr has information and research on Echlos. He was looking for the PLD. Recently, he was asking questions about your family in the village, particularly about your father. He mentioned journals. Perhaps he has documents, information that might help Jonn with the decoding. Another journal, perhaps. The missing piece.”

Another journal? I inhaled sharply.

“You really think so?”

“It’s a long shot...but from what I know of Korr, I don’t think he would have come here in the first place if he didn’t have confidence that he could make the device work. I’ve heard rumors lately that he has a document that originated from the Frost.” Adam hesitated. “He must still have it, even though he regards the PLD as lost. And I need you to try to get it from him.”

My heart stuttered at the thought of getting anywhere near Korr again, but I swallowed and nodded.

“I’ll do whatever you need me to do.”

MY FOOTSTEPS ECHOED as I took the path through the forest toward Iceliss. A bag of extra yarn dangled from my hand, yarn I could use to trade for more food. Bluewings fluttered overhead in a cacophony of thrashing feathers. Ice dripped from the trees and made puddles on the ground. The snow blossoms that lined the path dipped and waved in the wind, a blue frenzy of scent that seemed more fragrant today. Spring was still just a faint memory lingering on the edge of the wind, but it was coming. We called it The Thaw.

We had weak springs and short, brutish summers. The air was never truly hot in the Frost, but every year for a few months the snow melted and the grass grew tall and the chill retreated into the nighttime hours. We had time enough to grow a few meager vegetables and harvest enough dried grass to fill our barns, and then the winter overwhelmed us again. We had no autumn season. Winter began with the first of the storms that brought ice and snow down upon us.

My heart sank like a stone when I reached the Cages that led into the village proper, but my steps didn’t falter. I strode between the Farther soldiers guarding the entrance to the steel-enclosed tunnel that was supposed to protect us from the monsters as if I didn’t fear them. As always, a chill slipped down my skin as the shadows cast by the metal beams flickered over my face and arms. On the other side, the snow blossoms still danced in the wind, and the tree branches scraped and rattled against the bars. The sensation of being a rat in a trap closed around my throat, threatening to strangle me, but I forced myself to walk slowly, almost languidly.

Finally, I reached the gate to the town. Steel met old stone where the Cages emptied into the village. Houses and shops of snow-weathered rock, faded from eons of ice and sunlight, huddled together around narrow streets. Smoke from a few cooking fires curled toward the sky in spirals, and somewhere I heard the sound of children chanting in unison as I passed the school, the newest addition to our village.

The new school was Farther-taught. Raine had brought a teacher from Aeralis, and this severe Farther with the sharp eyes and a sharper tongue drilled the children daily in their lessons. None of the village families wanted to send their children…but for those who attended, their families received extra food and supplies each week. And so the classes were filled to the bursting, because our people were hungry. The winter had been long, and the occupation had been harsh. We were feeding soldiers and the workers who built the Cages and Farther houses of steel and brick. We didn’t have enough for everyone, not anymore.

I slipped past the new schoolhouse on my way to the market. They’d built it next to the quota yard, and the children used the space in the yard weekly to drill in “movements” that looked suspiciously like military exercises.

Farther soldiers marched through the streets in a stream of gray uniforms and glittering buttons, heading my direction. I froze. My eyes slid past them to the wall, and my stomach simmered with uneasiness. I felt like an insect waiting to be crushed every time I entered the village now. I carried so many secrets—the Thorns, Gabe, and now Everiss, too.

What if they knew? What if they were coming for me?

The soldiers passed without stopping, and I exhaled deeply. Ducking my head to hide my expression of relief, I turned the corner of the quota yard and headed for the market.

The collection of shabby little shops and stalls seemed even more meager today. Few people had anything extra to barter. I browsed the selection of fish and sized up the cured squirrel meat one Hunter had brought. It was more gristle and bone than meat, but we needed nourishment, and I couldn’t be too picky. I held up what I’d brought to barter—yarn—but the man shook his head.

“I need salt, Weaver. I can’t feed my family or preserve what I hunt with your wares, as prettily woven as they are.”

I lowered my eyes. Slowly, I put the yarn back in the bag. “I understand.”

His mouth turned down, and he nodded at someone behind me. “Maybe she’ll take your yarn.” With a sniff, he moved away and began speaking to a Baker trading day-old loaves. I turned and caught sight of a familiar red cloak and hood. The Mayor’s daughter. My best friend.

“Ann!”

She hugged me so tight that my hood slipped from my hair. She felt bony in my arms, like a bundle of sticks wrapped in cloth.

“Lia. How are you?”

Her eyes searched mine. She didn’t ask about Everiss, of course, but I saw the questions on her face. Everiss had been more Ann’s friend than mine before she’d changed into someone we didn’t know. It was just one more painful change in a long list of things that had become so different over the last few weeks and months.

“Hungry,” I said with a harsh laugh, gazing down at the yarn in my hands that the Hunter had just rejected. “Like everyone else.”

Ann followed my gaze. “Oh, yarn,” she exclaimed with a little too much enthusiasm. “What luck—I need more yarn for the mittens I’m making. I’ll trade you some food for it.”

I wasn’t fooled for a moment. “Ann…”

“No,” she said, insistent. “I need that yarn, truly I do. Come on.”

I followed her up the hill to the Mayor’s house, my heart sinking with every step. I could read the story in the sharp thrust of her shoulders through the fabric of her dress, in the sunken curve of her cheeks, in the fragility of her wrists and neck.

She was hungry, too, but she was pretending.

We reached the house and passed through the garden to the back entrance, the kitchen. The cook was gone, and we were alone. Ann went to the pantry and opened the door. She angled her body to block it, but not before I saw how bare the shelves were.

“I have some bread,” she said over her shoulder. “It’s a few days old and a little crusty, but still filling.”

“I…that’s fine,” I said. My chest felt heavy.

“Excellent.” She wrapped it in oil paper and presented it to me. “An even trade.”

I bit my lip and let her tug the yarn from my hand.

“How are…things?” I asked.

She held up a finger. While I watched, she went to the door that connected the hallway between the dining hall and the kitchen. She placed her ear against it for a moment, listened, and then stepped back with a nod of her head. It was safe to speak freely.

“Things are, well, the same,” she said with a grimace. “Officer Raine has taken up residence in this house now, you know. His men repaired the damage to my father’s study, and he has refurbished it to his own taste. He no longer makes any pretense about his power over us.”

“And Korr?” My heart did a nervous dance just saying his name. Gabe’s brother was a cunning, dangerous man who asked too many questions. He’d seen me at the lake the day Everiss was shot, the day Luka the blacksmith died. He knew I’d been looking for the PLD, but as far as he knew, it had gone into the river and been lost. And he’d protected me—he’d told the soldiers to let me go, and then he told me it was because he knew I’d helped Gabe escape. He didn’t know I was with the Thorns.

I didn’t know what he thought about me. Did he believe I was with the Blackcoats? He hadn’t called for my arrest. He hadn’t said anything to Raine.

Yet.

I wasn’t about to relax when it came to Korr. He’d let me go, but I didn’t trust him for a second. He was dangerous, unpredictable, and clever. He had power over me because of what he’d done, and those who held power like that always took advantage of it sooner or later. I knew one day he’d use that power to get something from me, something he wanted. The question was only what...and when.

“Korr has taken up residence here,” Ann said. “To keep an eye on Raine, he says—and to torment him, I think. They do not get along. They snarl at each other like dogs both wanting the same bone.”

“I’m surprised Raine hasn’t hung him from the trees yet.”

Her lips tugged apart in a rueful smile. “Officer Raine is afraid of him, I think. They have a history.”

The bread was heavy as a stone in my hands. I saw Ann look at it a few times, but she dragged her gaze away. I ached to give it back to her, but my stomach knotted, and I thought of everyone at home. We were all hungry. We all needed food.

And there wasn’t enough.

I dragged my mind away from that. I had other things to worry about, too. My new assignment from Adam. The PLD. We were running out of time.

“Ann,” I said. “If Korr had something he wanted to keep safe, where do you think he would keep it?”