As Dixon’s feet landed in the midst of Marshall’s camp, he let go of Aliza, even as Lucy appeared at their side, with Clementine.
Several people ran toward them all.
“Dixon!” Basha cried. “You’re back!” She threw her arms around him. “Welcome home!” Pulling back, she greeted Lucy and Aliza.
“Thank you,” he said. “It’s good to be here.”
“Yes!” Lucy agreed.
Basha’s brow dropped. “Where is Mara? Where are the twins?”
Quickly, Dixon explained the situation.
She glanced at Trumble, now standing at her side, and then back. “Felicity has had us in prayer since early last night,” she said. “As you know, she speaks in riddles, but Trumble felt certain there was a prison break in the making.”
“What did she say?”
“She rattled on about how we were to pray for the truth to win out—for the earth to shake with it. What happened, anyway?”
He told her of how Broden had sworn an oath, causing the release of their blades and the prison doors to break open.
“Broden swore an oath?”
“He did.”
“Do you remember, Lucy” she said, addressing her, “how we all worried that because he’d never sworn a life oath for the twins’ benefit, that we couldn’t count on him? And do you recall how everyone was angry with you for not having seen to that detail earlier on?”
“I do.”
“Just think. If he’d done so all those years ago, then things wouldn’t have happened as they did for you today.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“It’s true then,” Aliza piped up.
“What’s true?” Trumble asked.
“Ehyeh really does take all things and use them for good.”
Her fellow Oathtakers nodded their agreement.
“Mara should be here soon,” Dixon said. “She was to take Carlie to the palace to Nina, and then return to Chiran for the twins. Dear Ehyeh,” he added, almost as an afterthought, “I hope they made it out!”
“They did,” Basha said. “I’m sure of it.”
“How can you be?”
“Because Felicity is resting easy for the first time in days.”
Upon landing in the vestibule of the palace, Mara released her hold on Carlie. Bending over, her hands on her knees, she struggled to catch her breath. Everything had happened so quickly. When she pulled back up, her knees buckled. She fought to remain upright.
“Nina!” she cried as she grabbed Carlie’s arm for support. “Nina!”
Adele entered, her heels clicking on the hardwood floor. Bane, at her side, growled as he approached the visitors. He sniffed at their feet, and then upon recognizing them, broke into a great grin and wagged his tail.
“Oh, it’s you, Mara!” Adele exclaimed. “You’re back! And— Carlie. It is you!”
“Get Nina,” Mara ordered, her chest heaving. “Please, hurry.”
At that moment, someone headed down the staircase toward them, casting shadows on the walls through the flickering candlelight.
“Mara!” Nina called out. “Is that you I hear?” Then, “Carlie!” she cried on sight of her daughter. “Oh, Carlie!”
She rushed down the stairs. When she arrived at her side, she threw her arms around her. “Oh, Carlie!” she cried. “I thought we’d lost you!”
“No, Mama, I’m fine.”
From a hallway on the right that led to the conference room that the palace security team used, Jules approached. “Is everything all right here?” he asked. Then, noticing his daughter, he ran to her. “Oh, thank Ehyeh, you’re home!”
Nina pulled back, tears streaming down her cheeks. She held her daughter’s face in her hands for a long moment. Finally, she released her, then reached for her old friend who stood, faltering, at her side.
“Mara,” she clasped her hand, “I should have known you’d rescue her. I should never have doubted you.” She threw her arms around her. “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry! Oh, goodness, the terrible things I said!”
Once again, Mara’s knees buckled. Leaning on Nina for support, she murmured, “It’s . . . all . . . right.”
“But I said such horrible things!” Nina held her even more tightly. “I said you couldn’t understand. But of course you could.”
“What did you say to her, Mama?” Carlie asked, her eyes narrowed.
“I’m ashamed of myself, but I was so worried for you! I told Mara that because she’d never had one of her own, she couldn’t possibly understand my pain in losing you.” Nina shook her head. “It was wrong of me,” she said, releasing her friend and turning back to her daughter.
Without Nina’s support, Mara’s eyes rolled up and back, her energy gave way, and she started sinking to the floor.
Jules, quickly assessing the situation, steadied her from falling hard.
“Even more so since Mara has experienced exactly that pain, Mama,” Carlie said.
Nina stared at her, then dropped to her friend’s side. “What is she talking about, Mara? What happened?” Tears welled in her eyes.
“Never . . . mind,” Mara whispered, struggling to get each word out.
“Are you all right?”
“I can’t— I have . . . to get . . . back.”
“You’re not going anywhere like this,” Jules said.
“I have to get . . . the twins.” Her words sputtered out slowly and slurred.
“What’s the matter with her?” Nina cried, clutching Jules’s arm.
“I have no idea.”
“She was fine when we left,” Carlie offered. “But, of course, she’s been mistreated and underfed for weeks. Goodness, Mama, look at her!”
Mara could hardly catch her breath, but was determined not to dwell on her pain. “We’ll talk . . . later,” she managed to sputter out. “But I have . . . to return for . . . the girls.” With that, her head dropped to the side, and she lost consciousness.
Jules glanced at Nina. “Help me get her to the infirmary,” he said.
The two of them, along with Carlie, brought her to the suite Lucy had set apart for healing purposes. Gently, they laid her on a cot.
Carlie took Mara’s hand. “Mara? Can you talk to me? Wake up, Mara.”
She groaned.
“I’ll go get one of the healers,” Jules said.
“But the twins are waiting for her! In Chiran!” Carlie cried.
“She’s not going anywhere like this,” Nina said. “Go, Jules. Hurry!” she cried. “Oh, goodness, I can’t believe the things I said to her. Carlie, what happened?”
“Mama, don’t worry about that. You’ll have plenty of time to make amends. Now help me get her washed up and changed into some clean clothes. Then we can put a cool pack on her forehead.”
The twins, Broden, and Dax, rode through the chaos. As soldiers madly dashed about, as women ran screaming and crying, seeking the means to get away, they dodged through the mayhem, past the city gates, and out into the countryside. They were left unmolested, as others, seeing Dax and Broden with the black masks over their faces, believed them to be members of the succedunt, while the twins were invisible to everyone.
Reigna and Eden removed the shawl from over their heads shortly after passing through the city walls.
Not long later, they slowed. A mist in the air surrounded them. Above, the scant light of a partially cloud covered half-moon, shone.
“We should be close now,” Eden said.
Just then, an unexpected sound met their ears even as the nighttime animals and insects, having returned with spring, stilled.
They halted.
A palpable silence surrounded them.
A moment later, out from the quiet, came again the sound they’d heard earlier. It was the softest sigh.
The leather of the twins’ saddle creaked, as Reigna leaned forward to peer into the darkness.
When an owl hooted, she, her twin, Dax, and Broden, all froze again.
Several long seconds passed before the crickets chirped as before, but almost immediately, they went still again.
“Someone’s here,” Reigna whispered.
“That was a horse sighing,” Eden added, her voice low.
Dax and Broden put their black face coverings back on.
A horse’s whicker, then the sound of crunching gravel, sounded out.
“We should be near the river,” Reigna whispered.
“Maybe it’s Mara,” Broden suggested.
The twins dismounted.
Immediately, Reigna unsheathed the great sword. She held it, two-fisted, prepared for battle. Eden, at her side, armed herself with a dagger that Dax had given her earlier. It was one he’d taken from the guard he’d killed back at the prison.
Dax and Broden jumped down. Now, armed with swords that they’d retrieved at the prison, each stood to one side of the twins.
Reigna stepped out. In the wan light, through the surrounding brush, she pointed toward glistening water and two tall, cylindrical, rocks.
“I think you’re right, Broden,” she whispered over her shoulder. “It’s likely Mara. This is where we told her we’d meet her. Be careful now.”
Suddenly, out from the quiet, came the sound of a slap. Then a horse ran out from the brush.
“This way!” Dax ordered as he hurried off.
Water splashed. Gravel crunched.
“Stop right there!” he cried upon reaching the water’s edge.
Just ahead, in a boat, sat three people, unrecognizable in the wan moonlight.
“We need that boat,” Dax said. “Out!”
As Broden drew near it, then stooped down to grab the rope hanging from it, someone came rushing out at him from the nearby brush, slamming him to the ground. Water quickly rushed up and over his face, as a man straddled him.
“You’ll not take us!” a woman screamed.
Broden grabbed his attacker’s arms. He struggled to pull his head back up through the water, and when he did, he gulped in a quick breath of air. Almost immediately, his head was submerged again.
He fought even harder. Water splashed wildly about him and his attacker.
Just then, Dax charged Broden’s captor, pushing him off.
Broden surfaced and sputtered, trying to catch his breath. “Yasmin,” he managed to get out, “it’s me!”
“Broden?”
“Stop!” he cried as Dax raised his blade over the man who’d attacked him, now on the ground beneath him.
Dax’s arm came to a halt. He glanced Broden’s way. “Who are these people?”
Broden pulled the black covering off from over his head. “It’s all right,” he said. “I know them.”
“It is you, Broden!” exclaimed the man on the ground.
Satisfied, Dax stood and sheathed Immunis.
Reaching down, Broden offered his hand to the man on the ground. “This is Striver,” he said to Dax and the twins.
At that moment, as the cloud that had been covering the moon moved away, the light increased, allowing for greater visibility.
Turning toward the women sitting in the boat, now able to identify them all, Broden said, “And that’s Yasmin, Farida, and Ghazala.” He gestured toward each of them in turn. “In truth, we owe these four our lives.”
Quickly, he explained to Dax and the twins, the part his friends had played in their escape. Once done, he told Striver and the others how Carlie and Clementine had been rescued.
“We’d best get moving,” Reigna said after she and her twin had expressed their appreciation. Then she looked at the boat in which the women sat, frowning, her brow lowered.
“There’s another one,” Striver said, noting the concerned look on her face. “Another boat, I mean.”
“Oh?”
“We hid it when we heard you coming from some way off. We’d hoped to keep anyone from pursuing us. I’ll get it now.” With that, he headed back into the brush.
Seconds later came the sounds of a boat scraping the ground, followed by a splash when it hit the water’s edge.
Broden stepped toward Dax. “Thank you. You, too, saved my life tonight.”
He shrugged. “That goes both ways, son.” He caught Broden’s eye. “You know, you are Select. Even if I didn’t owe you my life for all you did to free us earlier tonight, I’d do anything to protect yours. On my honor, on my life, I swear—I would die for you.”
At that very moment, the earth shook. The rocks to which the boats were earlier roped, broke way and crashed to the ground. The water rose in rippling, white frothy waves.
Striver and the Chiranian women all cried out.
Within seconds, things returned to normal.
“Oh my!” Dax exclaimed.
Reigna and Eden approached their cousin. Both smiling, they patted his back.
“I never realized, Broden!” Dax cried. “No Oathtaker had previously sworn for your safety?”
He hung his head. “I’m sorry, Dax, no.” He looked back up, his eyes misted over. “I guess you’re stuck with me.”
Dax put his hand on Broden’s shoulder. “Stuck? No, son, I’m not ‘stuck.’ I am honored.” With that, he put his arms around him. “I am honored,” he repeated as Broden returned the embrace.
For long seconds, no one spoke.
“Would someone please explain what just happened?” Striver finally asked.
Reigna chuckled. “We will—while we’re on our way—but we have to hurry. Come on now, you two,” she motioned toward Dax and Broden. “Something must have held Mara up. So, we’ll continue on toward Aliza’s former camp.” She paused, then added, “Maybe there’s something good to eat there.”
Eden laughed. “Yes,” she said, “if you all are hungry, just follow Reigna. She’s sure to nose out anything edible. Now, let’s get out of here before we have any more surprises.”