Instead Morrow put down his plate and sighed. “Heroic stories aren’t supposed to end this way. The monsters never win.”
“No ideas?” Fade asked.
“I’ve been thinking about what you said.” I tilted my head at Morrow. “About how the Muties can’t swim. But I’m not sure how to use that.”
“We can’t fight in the river,” Tully said. “The current would drag us down too and make it hard to maneuver.”
“I wish there was a way to lure them into the water,” I muttered.
Spence grinned. “That would be a fantastic trick. But I don’t know if the river is big enough to drown that many monsters.”
“It would need to be the ocean,” Fade said.
“Somehow I doubt you’ll get the Muties to go along,” Tegan said.
Thornton had been quiet all this time. When he finally spoke, I hoped it meant he had something serious to contribute, as he wasn’t known for wasting words. “You might be onto something with that idea.”
“Drowning them?” I asked, doubtful.
“If we retreat to the big river to the west, we can fight with the water at our back. That means they can’t circle around behind us and if need be, we can swim for the island when they hit us in force.” He cut a look at Morrow, asking, “Would Rosemere welcome us? I know how your father feels about getting involved with outside affairs, but he’s never been known for turning away travelers.”
“Two hundred men is more than a few visitors,” Morrow said quietly.
“Your father runs Rosemere?” I asked.
“He’s the governor,” the storyteller answered, looking uncomfortable.
“Of the town?” Tegan looked fascinated.
“The whole island, but Rosemere is the only settlement.”
I pored over the map a second time, letting my dinner get cold and finally said, “I can’t find better terrain to face them. Water at our back is the best we can do.”
Tegan nodded. “I’ll go ask the men if they know how to swim.”
Tribulation
The horde found us before we reached the river.
Stalker’s scouts carried the warning that saved us. Though Company D was full of brave men and women, we couldn’t beat the enemy at ten to one odds. I called the retreat at the top of my lungs, Morrow echoed it on his pipes, then we ran for our lives. It wasn’t brave; it wasn’t glorious. But with two thousand monsters snarling, less than half a mile behind us, I did what was necessary to keep my soldiers alive.
Last night, we’d considered a last stand here, but when I saw their sheer number sweeping down toward us, I made a snap decision. There would be no battle against terrible odds; I wouldn’t give my men’s lives away. When we faced the horde, it would be on my terms. Rosemere represented safety, and while the horde was here, stymied by the river, they wouldn’t be attacking any other settlements.
“Move!” I shouted. “Gavin, leave the banner if you must. Just get across!”
“I will not,” the boy called back.
He was as stubborn as I had been, thinking that compromise was the same as losing. The Winterville brat waded into the water and hung on to the pole with one arm. Shaking my head, I watched him paddle. The current was swift, and I fought fear and despair that the water would drown half my forces. Still, they preferred that fate to being torn apart by monsters that intended to eat them, so Company D pushed on. My officers and I held the line on the shore, braced for the worst. I met Fade’s eyes and he smiled, like the memory of my face was all he needed to steel him for the long walk.
Deliberately I crossed to him and whispered, “With my partner beside me, I fear nothing, not even death.”
His answering look felt like a kiss. Behind us, men waded into the water, the monsters were nearly on us—and I felt the breeze from their snapping teeth and raking claws as I dove.
I’d never learned to swim.
Like the men struggling ahead of me, I preferred to choose my fate. I mimicked the motions of those who looked like they knew what they were doing, using my hands and feet to paddle, but the current sucked me under. The river hated me; it dashed me against the rocks and cast me back up again to torment me with a gasp of breath, only to pull me under again. My vision went dark, and I knew no more.
I didn’t expect to see the world again, but I was on the opposite shore when I awoke with Fade pounding on my chest. A gasp, a splutter, and I vomited up half the river in a retching gush, then I fell back onto the damp dirt, curling my fingers in it. I hadn’t expected to make it. Shakily, I pulled myself up and spotted Tegan circulating among the men. I couldn’t tell yet how many had made the swim, but it seemed like a fair number.
Fade pulled me into his arms; he was sopping wet, shaking, but not with cold as the sun shone bright overhead. The island was close enough to the bank that I could see distant Freaks over his shoulder. They came a few steps into the water and then retreated with bared teeth. They wouldn’t survive the crossing. If only they were stupid enough to drown themselves chasing us, that would solve our problems without the need for more dying on our part. But the monsters had become a clever, inexorable enemy, and their destruction wouldn’t come so easily.
“How many did we lose?” I gasped.
“Twenty-two,” Tegan said gently.
The officers arranged themselves around us, then Thornton said, “Some of them might wash up farther down.”
I caught Morrow’s eye and he shook his head. He was an island native, and he knew the currents. If he believed it unlikely, then I had to be realistic and count the men lost. Breathing hurt, probably from all the water I swallowed, but also from getting my soldiers killed.
“Find out their names,” I told the storyteller. “Write them down. I want to be able to tell their families where they fell.”
He got out his journal, wrapped in a treated cloth, and it was mostly dry when he opened it. “I’ll get started right away.”
“Before you go,” I added, “how far are we from Rosemere?”
“It’s a few miles to the east, all forest. I’d keep to the shore. As long as we do, you can’t miss the village. It’s built for fishing and sailing. If you catch a boatman on a good day, he’ll carry you up the coast to settlements that aren’t even on your maps.”
Tegan brightened, her eyes sharp with what I’d come to think of as her hungry-for-knowledge expression. “Would you take me, sometime?”
“Someday,” he agreed, moving off to fulfill my request.
I addressed Tully, Thornton, and Spence. “Tell the men to dry off and rest up. I want them all in solid shape before we look for the village.”
“Understood.”
Before moving off, Tully put her hand on my shoulder. “Glad we didn’t lose you.”
Against my ear, Fade made a sound of inexpressible pain. “Me too. You should’ve told me you can’t swim!”
“When would I have learned?” I asked quietly.
He seemed to consider the question, sorting through what he knew of my past. Then he sighed and rubbed his cool cheek against mine. “I should’ve stayed close to you. When you went under, my life ended. I don’t think I breathed until you did.”
“You can live without me,” I said.
“I don’t want to.”
I feared a love like this—that made us incomplete without each other. It was beautiful but treacherous, like snow that looked white and pure and lovely from the safety of your window, but when you stepped out to touch the softness, the cold first stole your breath, and then your will to move, until you could just lay down in it and let the numbness take you. Yet I didn’t want to be without him either, so I didn’t chide him for the statement. After all, I’d braved the horde to bring him back, even if Fade had believed he was broken beyond fixing.
He kissed me then in front of everyone, and I didn’t mind at all. I lost myself in his arms and his lips, his heat and his presence. This man was everything I needed, my best and brightest dream. He tangled his hands in my hair, and I dug my fingers into his shoulders without thinking.
“Sorry. I forgot—”
Fade pressed two fingers to my mouth. “Stop. There is nothing I want more than your hands on me, anywhere you care to put them.”
“Maybe you want to save that for later,” Spence observed.
Heat suffused my cheeks, and I buried my face in Fade’s chest as the men laughed. In an hour or so, the soldiers recovered enough to move and Morrow completed his census. He took down all the names of the fallen and showed them to me. After the war ended, if I survived, I would take this paper to all the towns across the territories and inform their families myself. It was the least I could do.
“Thank you,” I said to the storyteller. “Can you lead the way to Rosemere?”
The storyteller nodded.
“What will your father say when he sees you?” Tegan asked.
“‘James, what have you done now?’”
I smiled at Morrow’s answer.
The trip took two hours, according to Fade’s watch, which had survived the river and was still keeping time. Morrow was right, I thought. It’s beautiful here. Of the Evergreen Isle, I could honestly say I had never seen a more tranquil place, though part of that came from knowing no Freak had ever set foot here. I wondered if all islands were the same, havens of safety that the monsters couldn’t reach. Pale, raucous birds dove after fish and insects along the rocky coast, which gave way to dense and mysterious forest farther inland. We came around a curve to find Rosemere perched like a perfect secret.
The village stole my breath; my chest ached in a way that I experienced only when I looked at Fade. Just as Morrow had described, the place was pure beauty, neat cottages with flowers growing in boxes beneath the windows. The roofs were painted tiles in colorful contrast to the milky stone of the cottages. Though the buildings weren’t tall, they had a sweetness I couldn’t explain, as if they beckoned me to come explore the tidy cobbled streets and see the shops and markets. Everything the storyteller had said was true.
In the streets, people greeted us with friendly smiles. Many of them had coppery skin, more like Tegan’s, though that could be a result of the sunshine. Their hair came in all shades from fair to dark, and the women favored head scarves and baggy trousers wrapped multiple times around their hips. Here, the men treated the women with respect, but I heard no deference on either side as they greeted one another. There were no fences or gates or bars; the river kept these people safe. At the far end of the village, I saw the dock Morrow had mentioned with boats tied and bobbing in the current. Farther on, there was a grist mill for turning grain into flour and a long rectangular shop that the storyteller had said was for building boats.
“It’s incredible,” Tegan breathed.
She spoke for all of us. The tired faces of the men around me reflected the same wonder. I had never seen a place before that was so bright and full of joy, so utterly without fear. In a small, scared corner of my mind, I wondered if we were all dead and in a better place, as Momma Oaks believed.
