Emerald's Fracture Read online

  After an interminable amount of time, Siaraa sat back in her chair with a grin of satisfaction on her charcoal-dusted face. “There.”

  Natalie stood up, walked over, and peered at the drawing. “How does it work?”

  Siaraa took a piece of charcoal and pointed to the relevant parts of the drawing as she discussed them. “So, it’s basically a rectangular tunnel that’s closed off at one end. Inside the tunnel is a ramp with a hole bisecting its midsection. A dowel will go through the hole and hold the ramp in the middle of the tunnel.”

  Understanding crossed Natalie’s face. “So once the rat enters the tunnel and crosses from the lower end of the ramp to the upper, it weighs down the upper part of the ramp and the ramp drops.”

  “Exactly. If we build and bait the trap properly, once they cross from one side of the ramp to the other and fall off the ramp, they won’t be able to cross back. They’ll be stuck at the closed end of the tunnel.”

  “Fantastic.”

  “How many do we need?” Siaraa asked.

  “As many as we can possibly make. Does Roseharbor have an orphanage? And a City Hall? We need to organize the children.”

  Siaraa nodded. “You get as many children as you can to be here tomorrow. Oh, and get City Hall to make signs and have the town criers announce it. People need to know. I’ll get as many supplies as I can.”

  Natalie swirled her cloak around her. “I will. Thank you. If the city lives, it will be because of you. I’ll have the Abbey arrange payment for you.”

  Siaraa waved her hand. “No need. I’m a sucker for crazy ideas and impossible odds. Plus, I don’t feel like dying just yet.”

  After breakfast the next morning, children from all over the city filled Siaraa’s workroom. Natalie explained the need for killing the rats. A few children balked.

  “Miss, must we kill them? They’re innocent animals,” a girl with brown pigtails called out.

  Natalie smiled kindly at her, recalling her own first animal kill and Jules reminding her the animal must die so she could live. “It pains me, too, sweetheart. I love animals. Unfortunately, the rats carry the disease that’s killing so many people in the city. Either we kill them or they kill us.”

  The girl with pigtails considered it for a moment. She still didn’t seem pleased, but she didn’t leave. Natalie could work with that.

  Siaraa walked the children through building the traps, showing them a completed model first and then supervising them as they built their own. She inspected each one to be sure it worked properly. Soon, the children were working on their second and third traps.

  Even Natalie learned how to build the traps and helped the children as well. She had to work to keep a silly smile off her face as she taught the children and watched them learn. When this is all over, I’m going to speak with Gayla and ask to teach classes at the Abbey again.

  Natalie was helping a child with a trap when the workroom door opened and closed and a girl near the door said “Doggie!”

  Natalie turned around in time to get a face full of fur. “Jake!” She fell to the floor, arms flying around him as he covered her with kisses, wiggling from nose to tail. “I missed you so much,” she sobbed into his fur.

  When her sobs quieted into hiccups, she wanted to bury her face in Jake’s fur again. The whole room was staring at her, including Onlo, with a bemused expression on his face, and Anli, whose expression appeared both bored and disgusted.

  “Sorry everyone,” she said sniffing and dabbing her eyes. She turned to Anli and Onlo. “Thank you for bringing Jake back with you.”

  Onlo raised his eyebrows. “Our pleasure. He is a good dog. We come with news, but first I must ask—what project are you working on here?”

  Natalie informed them of Jules falling ill, her theory that rats were the disease vector, and the idea to build and place as many traps as possible throughout the city.

  Anli stomped over to her and stopped with her nose an inch from Natalie’s “You let Jules get sick? Why aren’t you Healing him now?”

  “Oh, enough! I did not let Jules do anything.” Natalie explained how it was Jules feeding the horses that had inadvertently led to the discovery of the most likely disease vector. “And I am not Healing him, because I am here, leading the effort to kill every rat in the city. We have to save the city, remember? Isn’t that why you came to us in the first place?” Natalie turned and walked away from Anli to count the number of traps made so far that day.

  “People should make sure to keep cats about,” Onlo added, inspecting one of the traps.

  “And snakes,” Anli added, shocking Natalie.

  Snakes. Oh, the parents of Roseharbor were going to love her.

  At the end of the session, the children each received a collection of empty traps and instructions on how to bait them, where to place them and what to do once they caught a rat.

  “Do not ever touch the rats or their droppings,” Natalie said. Some of the children giggled and Natalie grinned. “Empty the rat out and burn it. If you can’t get the rat out, burn the trap, rat and all. Make sure you have an adult help you. Other animals good at hunting rats are cats and snakes.” Several children perked up at this. Natalie held up her hand. “Please, only collect non-venomous snakes like black rat snakes. Meet back here at the same time tomorrow and we’ll make more. Tell your friends to come, too. Thank you all so very much, you did a great job.”

  One by one the children filed out. Natalie and Siaraa each slumped in a chair.

  “My workroom is a disaster area,” Siaraa said mournfully. “What am I going to do?”

  “The only thing we can do,” Natalie said, letting her head fall back and staring at the ceiling. “Wait to see if this stops the damn disease from spreading.”

  Onlo’s bass voice brought Natalie back to the present. “Natalie. We must speak with you. Alone.”

  Chapter 23

  R

  N

  atalie nodded wearily. “All right. I’m going to help Siaraa clean up first. We need to organize for tomorrow’s trap building. Do you mind pitching in? We can talk sooner that way.”

  Between the four of them, they cleaned the space, using lessons learned from the morning’s efforts to organize the supplies in a more efficient manner.

  She left with Anli and Onlo, and she’d never been happier to have Jake trotting at her side. Onlo helped her mount his horse behind him.

  “Let’s ride to the campsite,” he said in a low voice. “I don’t want to risk being overheard.”

  That sent a frisson of panic through Natalie’s stomach.

  They rode the city streets toward the road out of town. Natalie spotted several signs instructing citizens to kill all rats and advertising the daily trap building sessions for children. She drew comfort from the city’s support for her efforts; perhaps there was a chance of saving Roseharbor after all.

  Passing the palace on the way out, Natalie nearly begged Onlo to stop, but she knew if he did, she wouldn’t leave Jules’s side. So she tightened her arms around Onlo and turned her face away from the palace and rested her cheek on his long, thick cords of hair.

  Reaching the campsite, Natalie dismounted and sat near the dead campfire while Anli and Onlo tended to their horses. She helped herself to rations from her pack, sharing some with Jake, while she waited.

  “Aldworth was not at the Abbey,” Onlo began, sitting down next to her.

  “I know; he’s here,” Natalie told them of Aldworth’s near discovery of them in the palace.

  Anli nodded. “We quickly figured out he’d left for Roseharbor. What we wanted to know was why. From all Jules told us, he doesn’t seem to be the sort to get his hands dirty with actual work.”

  Natalie snorted in agreement. “No, his visit that day was more a show of power.”

  Onlo shrugged. “So, we made some discreet inquiries. About the Council and Aldworth. Headmistress Gayla and Healer Hawkins, according to our sources,
are honest people we can trust.”

  Natalie nodded.

  Anli continued for her friend. “Aldworth, of course, is not. Since we already know his plans in terms of building and Activating a megalith in Lorelan, we wanted to see if we could find anyone working for him.” Anli grinned like a feral beast. “We succeeded.”

  “Well, partially,” Onlo qualified.

  “Have you ever heard of the New Mages’ Guild?” Anli asked.

  Natalie knitted her eyebrows in confusion. “New Mages’ Guild? Mages died out soon after the Five Mages created the megaliths on each Isle. Mages haven’t existed since. Only their magic is left behind.”

  “So we’ve all been told. Aldworth is the head of this guild and he—well, they—seem to think they can train to be mages.” Onlo said.

  Natalie let out a sharp bark of laughter. “Did he even read history? Mages were born, not made. You either had the power or you didn’t. You couldn’t just learn it from books in the library.”

  “Nonetheless, they are trying and experimenting,” Onlo continued, a sober expression upon his face. “Some experiments don’t go so well—look at what happened to Jules.”

  Natalie swore.

  “Indeed,” Anli agreed. “And here’s where it gets interesting. The Guild, while aware they are not actual mages, believe an actual mage is alive right now. Finding that person is the sole focus of all their current efforts.”

  “I know. Gayla told me.”

  Anli and Onlo raised their eyebrows. “Did she tell you why?” Onlo asked.

  Natalie shook her head. “She says she has people she trusts looking for the mage, but they haven’t found anyone yet.”

  “If Aldworth finds the mage, he will be able to create his megalith for Lorelan with ease. It’s likely the mage will die in the process. The Isles will then be able to invade Lorelan. And we will become a country of conquerors.”

  Bile rose in the back of Natalie’s throat. She loved her island home; why had Aldworth and—didn’t Jules say the King and Queen support him? —want to invade Lorelan? To change the nature of the Isles forever? These people did not stand for what she believed in. It was violent and horrible. “How do we stop them? How do I find the mage? I’m already trying to Heal at the palace and build the rat traps.”

  Onlo chuckled. “We’ll search the city for the mage. You work on the disease. To communicate with each other, we’ll place a rat trap just inside Siaraa’s front door. We can put written updates in it for each other. It will be less conspicuous than meeting up.”

  Natalie nodded. “Sounds good. Would one of you mind giving me a ride back to the palace? I’d like to check on Jules and help them out until it’s time to build more traps tomorrow.”

  To Natalie’s relief, she found Jules still slept and coughed, but had not declined further. A small ember of hope glowed deep inside her, but she hardly dared acknowledge it. Throughout the rest of the day, she helped her fellow Healers tend to the patients in the ballroom. She also gave Gayla an update on the rat eradication plans for the city. She asked the Headmistress to start keeping track of the number of new patients each day. Tomorrow, she would tally how many rats the children caught. Surely—hopefully—as the number of dead rats increased, the number of new patients would decrease.

  That evening, Natalie and Jake curled up next to Jules’s side. Natalie gently kissed his brow and told him of her day—leaving out the bits the Obfuseltans discovered, since she didn’t know who was listening. She was just drifting off to sleep when Jake growled. Natalie jumped awake, trying to find the source of his alarm.

  She heard a soft, “Miss?”

  Natalie placed a calming hand on Jake.

  A teenage girl in a dark cloak was in the hall with her. A pale face with stunning silver eyes the likes of which Natalie had never seen stared out at her from under the hood. “Miss, I’m sorry to bother you. Are you a Healer?”

  Natalie wished she knew where Jules’s dagger was. “I am.”

  The girl removed her hood, revealing hair so blond it was silver-white. “Please, I need your help.” Jake leaned forward to sniff the newcomer.

  The girl smelled of woods and travel and her boots were caked with mud. Her eyes implored Natalie to trust her; Natalie could find no deceit there. “Are you sick?”

  “No. I … well, it might be best if I show you,” the girl rubbed her palms on her cloak. “May I take your hand?”

  Natalie hesitated, then placed her hand, palm up, between them. The girl clasped it and Natalie gasped as her own energy and the girl’s merged as easily and powerfully as hers and Jules’s did.

  “You’re a Healer?” Natalie hissed. “I don’t remember seeing you at the Abbey.” Natalie didn’t know everyone at the Abbey, but she was certain she’d recall someone this powerful and striking.

  “I am, but I could not go to the Abbey to study.” The girl’s face fell.

  “Why?” Natalie said, dumbfounded.

  “My name is Charlotte Fairisles, princess heir to the throne of the Isles. My parents, that is the King and Queen, do not know I’m a Healer.”

  Natalie’s mouth gaped open like a landed fish. Manners, she reminded herself after several seconds of uncomfortable silence. “Pleased to meet you, Your Highness. How—why did you leave your parents? And did they take the fever with them when they left the city?”

  “No, no one is ill at the other palace. And I left because I needed to find … people like me. To help me learn about what’s happening to me and how to control it. Things have been … much harder since I had a mild bout with the sweating fever. There’s more, you see,” Charlotte continued, swallowing hard. Taking a deep breath, Princess Charlotte held her right hand in a tight fist, and quick as a flash, unfurled her fingers to reveal a small ball of white-blue light hovering above her palm.

  “You’re the mage,” Natalie breathed.

  Princess Charlotte nodded, silver eyes wide as saucers.

  “Why did you seek me out?”

  “Please help me. I am being hunted.”

  Natalie put the heels of her hands in her eyes. “I know, I know. But why come to me?”

  “I returned to the palace two days ago. I’ve lived here since I was born. I know almost all the secret passages. I’ve spent all my time watching and waiting to see who best to approach. None of the Healers are ever alone, except you. Every night, you are here by yourself, tending to this man. You are the only one I could approach without risking greater exposure.”

  Natalie closed her eyes for a moment. “I know people who can help you. They are people I trust and they are from Obfuselt. They can get you out of the city and hide you. I just need to find a way to get you to them in the morning. But I’ll be honest with you—one of the men hunting you is also hunting me and my friend. And he’s already been here once already. Plus, you’ll need to start hiding your hair. The Five only know what we can do about your eyes.”

  The princess hung her head. “I don’t even know a spell to hide their color.”

  “Hey,” Natalie lifted her hand and put her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “The only people who could have trained you died two thousand years ago. Go easy on yourself. For now, you can sleep in the alcove next to ours. I’ll go find some blankets.”

  The princess heir tucked in for the night, Natalie lay next to Jules’s side and stared at the wall for a long time before falling into an uneasy sleep.

  Natalie kissed Jules goodbye in the morning, and then she, Jake and the Princess left the palace for Siaraa’s. Natalie found a spare Healer’s cloak for Princess Charlotte. Fortune favored them: it was drizzling, so no one looked twice at two women with hoods pulled over their heads. When they arrived at Siaraa’s, Natalie dashed off a note to Onlo and Anli and left it in the rat trap inside the front door. Princess Charlotte sat at the worktable, unsure whether to trust Siaraa.

  Siaraa, on the other hand, was not one to be put off. “Who is this?” she demanded.<
br />
  Natalie explained the basics of the situation, leaving out the bits about Charlotte being a Healer and mage.

  Siaraa rolled her eyes. “Save the city, save the princess. I knew it, I’m stuck in some third-rate tavern bard’s song.” She stomped off to double-check the supplies for the day.

  Natalie burst into a fit of giggles, earning her a strange look from the princess.

  “Healer Desmond?”

  Natalie waved at her weakly, tears streaming down her face. “It’s Natalie, please. And it is rather like some awful made-up bard’s song, isn’t it? The city is dying while we try to kill rats to save it. Now we must rescue you, Princess. Knights with sh-sh-shining r-rat traps!” Natalie collapsed in a chair in a fit of mirth.

  The humor lost on the princess, she selected one of the traps and examined it. “Why are you trapping rats?”

  Natalie explained their theory that rats transmitted the sweating fever and how the children of the city assembled every day to help build and disperse the traps.

  Alarm washed over the princess’s face. “When will the children be here?”

  “Any minute now, I expect. Are you all right?”

  “I must hide.” The princess’s voice sounded tight and nervous. “The children will recognize me. I’ve tried to—well, it doesn’t matter now, where can I hide?”

  “Upstairs,” Siaraa commanded as she returned to the room. “Follow me.”

  The princess’s cloak disappeared up the stairwell as the first child entered the door. Natalie schooled her face so as not to show her relief. “Good morning,” she addressed the little boy, who must have been around eight years old. “What’s your name again?”