The number of corpses on the walls was growing.

  The pirates weren’t attacking, not trying to repeat the failed assault of New Year’s Eve. Instead, they moved across the plain, carefully clearing redoubts and fortifications from snow, performing maneuvers. Part of them worked to rebuild a bridge—not in the old spot, but a few miles to the north, far enough that the city’s shells couldn’t reach. Down there, despite the freezing cold, life buzzed. Drills were conducted, a vast army marched, loaded strange equipment, lit bonfires, and the sight made the sentries above chatter their teeth and curse everything under the sky.

  The sentries envied the pirates, who had plenty to eat. The sentries grew careless, and the nurses always had work, because the pirates weren’t sleeping. Their arquebuses were loaded, and bullets flew quickly and precisely, even at night. Anyone who dared peek out over the parapet, whether by accident or to show off, was met with death.

  Rita returned, exhausted. Around midday, Viggo had come by to ask where Kairu had gone. She didn’t know. She was also curious where he could have disappeared to, along with Woody and Dalid, after the Cassians’ meeting she herself hadn’t been able to attend—no matter how she tried to get out of work, she’d been swamped in the hospital that day. So she spent the whole day restlessly waiting.

  Dusk was falling. She and her friend were heading back to the hospital, struggling to carry a stretcher, pausing for breath every few steps. Several other pairs of girls moved alongside them, hauling wounded soldiers from the walls. Rita already knew perfectly well that the man lying on the sheets behind her wouldn’t survive—he had multiple gunshot wounds, a pierced lung and shoulder, and one ear torn off. And still, she dragged him. That was her job, and she couldn’t do it half-heartedly: her upbringing and conscience wouldn’t allow it.

  Rumors had already been spreading that something was brewing down there. The cannons were shifting positions, the pirates moving in tight formations, maneuvering to approach as close as safely possible. It meant another assault might come that night.

  She caught her breath and gathered herself for one last push. The snow crunched and broke underfoot, the frost bit her cheeks and made her squint, and the sky was a piercing, dark blue. Beyond the trees, the lights of the hospital appeared. They quickened their pace and reached the doors, where tired healers met them.

  Inside, it was warm. Rita heard the firewood crackling in the many hearths. No expense was spared on heating the hospital, Mainor had stocked up in autumn. Her eyes drooped with fatigue, but she already knew she wouldn’t be sleeping any time soon.

  The wards were lit with bright white light. Answering questions briefly and wearily, she passed by doctors and familiar nurses and nuns who had stayed on as medics for the winter. Avoiding conversation, she slipped through several corridors and quietly opened the door to her small cell. It was dark inside, only the moon casting pale streaks through the small glassless window. Rita squinted, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the cold twilight, but didn’t light a lamp. She sat on the bed, staring at the wall, and flinched. She squinted into the far corner of the tiny room, slowly reached for a candle.

  "You’re getting ready to sleep already?"

  "Kairu! You scared me!"

  She lit the candle after all, nearly dropping the flint in the process. Kairu stood up from a stool and slowly approached. He was slightly trembling, wrapped in his fur-lined uniform cloak.

  "I didn’t dare light the stove, and you’ve got a damn draft in here," he said in a half-whisper, glancing around.

  "Why did you take so long? And how did you get into my room?"

  "Sorry. I didn’t know where else to go, so I climbed in through your window. The thing is... I’m in deep trouble. I’m not even sure I can go back to the Twelfth Regiment."

  "Tell me everything."

  "I’m hungry," Kairu said, moving closer to the stove and holding out his hands.

  "Cold corned beef and bread. I’ll put the kettle on."

  She listened silently, crunching on dry biscuits soaked in water from tin mugs. The fire gradually grew stronger, the room noticeably warmer, and it was approaching ten in the evening.

  "Why did you run?" she asked flatly when he finished. "You reckless fool, just like you’ve always been... except now you’ve learned to kill. I don’t know what they would’ve done to you for being at the meeting. No one could’ve proven anything: you’re new in town, and there was no evidence on you. Jeremy Conenti’s father is an officer, he could’ve pulled you out of the noose, even now. But for killing a soldier... If they catch you, they won’t even bother with a trial."

  "I know. What should I do?"

  "You’re asking me? If you want, hide somewhere in the hospital, I’ll find you an empty cell. I don’t have room for two in mine..."

  She thought he was smiling slightly.

  "You ruined all my plans for the evening," she said angrily, already knowing that he had noticed her anxiety and unease. "I don’t know what to do with you. I really don’t. You say you ran home and changed into your uniform and armor?"

  "I thought it might throw them off the trail…"

  "You thought right. There are a few options. First: everything quiets down in a couple of days, they don’t find you and stop looking. Then you quietly return to your regiment and take up your duty like nothing happened. I’ll smooth things over with the guys. Second: you go back right now, and if they come after you, you say, ‘It wasn’t me, and that’s not my horse.’ Jeremy will whip up some kind of alibi for you."

  "I’ll stay the night at your place. If you don’t mind."

  "I was planning on going out."

  "Then I’m going with you. Because how will I explain myself if they find me in your room? They’ll drag you into it too. Ah, if only I knew where Woody is right now…"

  "It’s dangerous, Kairu," she said in a trembling voice. "What if the night patrol catches you?"

  "Don’t worry. I’ll try not to do anything stupid."

  "Kairu…"

  "Just a short walk! Rita, I really need to talk to someone. Just heart to heart. Where are we going?"

  "To the Evergreen Gardens," she gave in.

  ***

  The gardens were one of Mainor’s landmarks, drawing tourists from all over Aktida. The trees here didn’t shed their lush emerald leaves even in winter, despite the frost, and now they stood covered in a thin layer of snow. They had been growing taller for almost six hundred years, and there were few sources left that could say what kind of plants they were or who had planted them long ago. The night was clear and cold; wind swept through the deserted paths of the vast gardens, which spanned several square miles. There were few lanterns, the gardens were barely lit due to strict fuel conservation. They walked in silence; the streets were deserted, and they didn’t meet a single soul until they reached a tall iron fence. Kairu had passed by it before without ever looking inside, where the quiet, evergreen, and eternally empty park lay. There were hardly any people left in the city who could afford to stroll through it.

  The fur cloak didn’t keep out the cold. The city was silent, most houses weren’t heated, and the walls showed little sign of life. Rita took the absence of the usual night patrols as a bad sign and quickened her pace. A lone streetlamp greeted them, dusted with snow and etched with frost, lit only to keep the occasional passerby from getting lost in the dark. But the moon above shone brightly, illuminating the path ahead.

  "Do you come here often?" Kairu asked softly as they moved slowly down a narrow path deeper into the Gardens.

  "Yes. Sorry. I didn’t want you to come with me. Now wait a bit. And be quiet."

  "I don’t mind."

  Rita slowly approached the end of the path, which led to a dead end. There was a low iron fence, and behind it, surrounded by trees, in a tiny clearing, stood about a dozen grave markers. They stood in complete darkness, the starlight barely penetrating the thick canopy. Rita leaned on the fence, looking at the nearest gravestone. Kairu didn’t know what to say and stayed back.

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  This grave was poorer than the others. Just a small stone with the inscription: "Here lies Amalia, daughter of Conrad, from Petista." At its base, on a small snow-covered mound, lay a few wilted bouquets.

  Kairu swallowed.

  "This is…" he began as he came closer.

  "Yes, this is my mother." Rita trembled slightly, and Kairu realized she was crying, struggling to hold back tears. Unable to help it, she suddenly and hastily wiped them away with her sleeve.

  "I’m sorry," he said quietly.

  "It’s okay. You just don’t understand. You came back to your village with a bunch of gold, your beloved and loving family welcomed you home… And I didn’t even get to see her before she died," she finished with a sigh. "You’re lucky… I didn’t know what envy was before. I never envied anyone because I believed I could achieve the same things and stand on equal ground with anyone. But you can’t bring back a father or a mother."

  "My mother died of the epidemic six years ago," Kairu said dryly. A lump formed in his throat, and he suddenly remembered that time, so long ago, when they were all together, and nothing could disturb their quiet, peaceful life. It was as if the loss of his family had suddenly returned to him, a long-closed wound torn open, bleeding more than ever. "And my father was killed by Orwell Cassander just before the battle of Nalvin. When I came back, I found only the ruins of my home and a mass grave. I buried him with my own hands. That’s why I came here. Long ago, I made the greatest mistake of my life. Now I want all of this to mean something."

  Rita turned to him. She had come out wearing only a fur-lined nurse’s robe. She was shivering hard.

  "You never said…"

  "You never asked. And I didn’t want to burden you with those thoughts. You were always so busy, so serious, and during the expedition you barely talked to us. Then there wasn’t time. And now I just want to say that I wasn’t any luckier than you."

  "I’m sorry…" she whispered. "Your parents… I didn’t know… How stupid I am. You probably think I’m a fool? A vain, arrogant, selfish fool? Maybe that’s how I came across in Petista… That’s life. Only the grave fixes a hunchback, and I’ve always kept my distance from people. They’ve done me too much harm…"

  She fell silent, unable to go on.

  A silence settled between them. She didn’t look at him, just quietly trembled.

  "You’re cold," Kairu said to break the awkward silence. He took off his fur military cloak and wrapped it around her, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. She was indeed shivering; it seemed she didn’t even notice it herself.

  "You don’t have to…"

  "Keep it until tomorrow. Give it back then. I’m not cold, really."

  "Thanks. Let’s walk. I want to talk. I need to get it out. I’m tired of all the grief and sorrow. And I see now, you haven’t been spared from it either."

  "If it’s too hard, don’t say anything… Let’s just walk together. It’s been a long time since we did that."

  "To be precise, we’ve never walked together before," Rita said with a weak smile and started back down the path. "But you stay quiet and listen. You’ve probably wondered why I live alone and have been earning my own living since I was twelve? My parents separated when I was six. She moved to Mainor. Sometimes, once every couple of years, she would come visit us in Petista. Sometimes my father and I went to visit her. But the visits were always short, just a few days… I barely remember her face; we don’t even have any portraits left."

  Kairu stayed silent, shivering slightly in the cold. The snow crunched underfoot. No one had swept these paths for a month.

  "I remember them shouting at each other at night…" Rita continued. "I remember my mother trying to take me with her, then giving up and leaving, and my father hugging me and saying we’d have to live just the two of us now… And in Mainor, I found letters—they’d been writing to each other constantly until his death. And he signed them, ‘Your loving Axel.’ I realized they’d lied to me. Maybe they had to. I don’t know why."

  "Then my father began to teach me how to navigate in the mountains, find trails, read the tracks of animals and birds. He also taught me to read and write, and even helped me learn the language of the ancient Nocturns. We had this terribly old book with hieroglyphs. For some reason, he considered it very important that I learn to read that language… I also memorized all our maps, knew every bush within a hundred miles of Petista, and had walked all those places with my own two feet… Then I started taking on jobs, guiding people into the mountains. It was enough for me and my father to get by…"

  "Then one day, I went with a caravan to Vaimar, across the pass. For some reason, my father was very eager for me to take that job. Now I understand that he just needed to get me out of the house. And when I returned, I was told he had gone into the mountains with some strangers. I waited. After a month, some friends even helped me with money, and we searched the mountains together, but we never found him. I realized I couldn’t wait any longer. I gritted my teeth and began looking for work."

  "Without my father, no one trusted me. I barely got by with odd jobs. No one wanted to entrust me with caravans carrying money, because I was just a twelve-year-old brat… A year passed like that, and I realized I had no way out. No one needed pathfinders or guides, no one cared about someone who could read the runes of the ancient Nocturns… I even began to consider working at the nearest brothel… But chance saved me. That’s when I met Petros."

  Kairu held his breath.

  "He helped me… He needed someone who could guide him into the mountains, who knew all the secret ways out of Petista. And he needed the daughter of Axel, the granddaughter of Conrad. He said he owed my father something from long before I was even born, and now he wanted to repay the debt to his daughter. He fed me, clothed me, and gave me shelter at his own expense… And then he and Yuffilis, they got me this job on Nubel’s expedition."

  She took a deep breath and fell silent, as if sifting through the memories of those days. Staying close to her, Kairu turned onto a long, well-lit street.

  "I often come here and think about many things. About what we’ve gotten ourselves into, if so many people have already died because of it. And about how many lives are intertwined, how many events hinge on chance. If only my mom hadn’t moved to Mainor, if only Petros hadn’t find me on time… If only… if only…"

  "A familiar feeling," Kairu said quietly. "But as they say, what’s done is done. We can’t change the past. And we can’t always foresee the future."

  "But you do foresee it," she smiled faintly.

  "Yes. But only what is inevitable."

  Rita was silent, not looking at him.

  "The Lake of Aktida…" she said finally. "Maybe that’s our chance? Those crossroads of time? Maybe Petros also wants to fix something in his life, that’s why he’s been searching for the diamond for so long?"

  "Don’t mention him anymore," Kairu asked. "I don’t want to think about that Lake of Aktida. After all, it’s where all of this began. Because of a stupid trinket we found under the Olmaer Ridge. And I’m fighting against what is happening now. Against the horde under our walls. I don’t care how many people die before I get to Orwell Cassander… and then to Saelin. Because all of this started because of him."

  "No matter how much I think about it, I still don’t understand," she said. Above them, stars sparkled in the sky, the moon had rolled to the side, and it was almost as bright as day. "It’s so foolish… What is Saelin trying to achieve? Aktida was a flourishing land, and now half of it is ruins and ashes. What’s the point of all this? Why is this happening to us? Is it our fault that the king is paranoid? That Saelin is attacking us because of our endless feuds and disunity? I don’t understand what he’s fighting for. I don’t know why Cassander is fighting either, or why so many people are willing to kill and die under someone else’s sword… All I know is that we’ve been caught in the gears of something massive, grinding hundreds of lives around us. It’s already taken our parents, and it’s a miracle we’re still alive."

  "It is foolish," Kairu agreed. "And Petros warned us to stay away from the war. But I can’t. Not after what I saw in Nalvin… I don’t believe in fate. But I know one thing—this stupid war must be stopped. And if it’s in my power, I’ll stop it. If I have to fight—I’ll fight. If I have to sneak into Saelin’s fortress and steal the Lake of Aktida—I’ll do it, if it means ending this nightmare. But first, I want revenge for my father and brother."

  "We’re so lost…" Rita whispered. "I’m ready to do anything too, if it will end this nightmare. But I don’t understand why I’ve already paid so much, and how much more I’ll have to give, when I have nothing left but my miserable life…"

  "Your life isn’t miserable, Rita," said Kairu, his heart pounding. "Don’t say that. You’re the bravest person I know."

  He was looking only at her. In the ghostly moonlight, she seemed like a vision. The Rita he once knew had vanished while they were walking together… and suddenly she looked right at him, shook her hair, brushed a fiery lock from her forehead, and laughed a little breathlessly.

  "Me? Brave?" she said cheerfully. Kairu realized her tears had already dried, and for a moment she had forgotten her grief. "You really don’t know me at all, Kairu… But you’re right, I won’t pity myself. Not now. Better look: how beautiful it is!"

  Kairu suddenly realized they had stopped, having walked all the way through the Evergreen Gardens and now standing at the northern gate. The fortress wall was close, though hidden from view. There was no wind, and snow was falling silently from the sky, large flakes swirling in the cold light of rare lanterns, forming a shifting, living, glowing, shimmering veil around them. It settled on their hair and clothes, resting there a long time before melting. Rita was silent, and so was Kairu, barely feeling the cold, afraid to break the spell of the moment, afraid to wake and find it had been just an incredible dream. Shivers of awe raced down his spine again and again, his thoughts drifting into nothingness.

  "Strange," Rita said suddenly. "It’s so quiet here… so beautiful. It’s hard to believe that not far from here guns are firing, arrows whistling, gunpowder smoke rising… Perhaps people are dying." The sound of guns and cannon fire had indeed been audible for a while now, but neither Kairu nor Rita had noticed. "These Gardens, this sky, this snow…"

  "Are you glad we came here now?" he asked in a whisper.

  "Of course." She turned to him.

  Suddenly, moved by impulse, he hugged her tightly. He whispered, closing his eyes:

  "Thank you."

  "For what? I didn’t…"

  "You don’t even realize how much you’ve done for me."

  Rita didn’t speak, but her hands embraced him so tightly that Kairu could feel how fast and desperately her heart was beating. Silence wrapped around them; he heard nothing but that rising sound from both their chests. It felt like the moment would last forever, and he didn’t know how much time had passed before the rustling of trees in the wind brought the clanking of armor, and he heard a voice:

  "Hey, kids! Over here, damn it! Hurry, before that pretty boy runs off! That’s him, I’m telling you! The guy who killed Hemmiken in the slums!"

  Rita flinched, Kairu turned. He was furious and reached for his sword hilt, wondering how they could have recognized him in this darkness and different clothes. But it was too late—a dozen pikemen surrounded them, led by one of the patrolmen who had caught them with Woody and Joanna that morning.