Chapter 13: Entering the Game
Before dawn, Violet called everyone to the center of camp.
"I'm going to Silver Spring today."
Finn's mouth opened and shut. Darryl's brow furrowed.
"Alone?" Darryl asked.
"Alone."
"You're insane. Astrid is waiting for you to walk right in."
"She's waiting. So I shouldn't keep her waiting too long." Violet tucked Leon's blade into her belt. "Gray Bone is in her hands. Leon too."
"What can you do alone?"
"Open her granary."
Darryl's eyes narrowed.
"East granary. Guard rotation around sunset. Fifteen-second gap. The guard captain has taken my bribe. He knows where the drainage ditch is."
She looked at Darryl.
"You wait outside. When you see water coming out of the drainage ditch, charge in."
"Water?"
"There's a water gate inside the granary. I open it, water flows out the ditch. You see water, you know I'm in position."
Darryl stared at her. "You go in alone, you won't come out."
"That's why I'm not planning to go in alone." Violet stood. "Wait for me outside."
She turned and walked away.
Darryl's voice came from behind. "Cecilia. Come back."
She didn't look back.
---
Afternoon. Silver Spring.
Violet stood outside the gates. The gray stone walls were taller than she had imagined. Two guards stood at the entrance. Neither looked at her.
She walked in. She followed the route on Gray Bone's map and found the east granary. The mouth of the drainage ditch was blocked by stones. But the stones were loose. Gray Bone had crawled through here.
She turned into the alley beside it. Waited for sunset. Waited for the shift change. Waited for fifteen seconds.
As the sun sank, a man walked into the alley. Gray cloak. A scar across his face.
The guard captain.
He looked at her. His eyes were full of fear.
"You came."
"You were waiting for me."
"I wasn't waiting. I didn't know you would come."
"You knew. You loosened the stones over the drainage ditch."
The guard captain's face changed.
"You let Gray Bone in." Violet said. "You let him draw his maps. You let him run. Then you captured him and took credit with Astrid."
The guard captain's lips trembled.
"You help me, Astrid kills you. You don't help me, I tell Astrid you've been stealing grain. She kills you too."
She looked at him.
"Help me. I'll take you with me."
The guard captain's eyes went red. "You can't take me anywhere. This is Silver Spring."
"I have Gray Rock Tribe. Water. Wells. Things Astrid doesn't have."
"Like what?"
"Victory."
The guard captain stared at her. A long time.
The changing guards walked past the alley entrance. Footsteps. Fifteen seconds.
The guard captain turned and walked toward the granary. Violet followed.
---
Inside the granary it was dark. Piled high with grain sacks.
"Where are they?"
"The cellar."
The guard captain pushed aside the grain sacks, revealing a wooden door in the floor. He pulled it open. Darkness below. The smell of blood.
Violet climbed down. When her foot hit the ground, pain whited out her vision. She felt along the wall. Found chains. Found a man's arm.
"Leon."
"You shouldn't have come." His voice was low.
"I know. But I'm here."
She felt the iron chains around his wrists. Iron. Couldn't break them.
"Where are the keys?"
"Astrid has them."
Violet's fingers tightened on the chains. She couldn't take him with her.
She tore a strip from her skirt and wrapped it around his wrist. The chains had worn the skin raw. Flesh peeled back.
"Why did you come?" Leon asked.
"You owe me. You haven't paid."
"What do I owe you?"
"You owe me coming back alive."
Leon said nothing. In the dark, his fingers found hers. Held them. His hand was cold.
"Gray Bone is next door. He's still alive."
Violet stood and moved to the next cell. Gray Bone leaned against the wall. One finger missing from his right hand. The stump was wrapped in a dirty cloth. Swollen and shining.
"Can you walk?"
"Yes."
She helped him stand. Gray Bone's body swayed. He clenched his teeth. Didn't fall.
The three of them climbed out of the cellar.
"The water gate?" Violet asked the guard captain.
"Open."
"Darryl sees water, he'll charge in."
The guard captain's lips trembled. "Astrid will kill me."
"Astrid can't kill you. Because you won't be in Silver Spring anymore."
Violet pushed open the door.
Someone stood outside. Golden hair. White dress.
Astrid. Behind her stood twenty men. Blades already drawn.
"Cecilia." She smiled. "I've been waiting a long time."
Violet's fingers found the blade at her hip.
Astrid watched her shaking hand. "You can't even hold a blade steady."
"I don't need one."
Violet pulled the map from inside her coat. Silver Spring's map.
"Kill me, and this map spreads across the North tomorrow. Every tribe will know where your granaries are. Where your barracks are. Where your hidden passages are."
Astrid's face changed.
"Kill me, and your secret won't stay buried. Your mother will be executed."
Astrid's hand lifted. Her fingers trembled.
"Let me go. At the Trade Market, I'll face you fair."
Shouts rose in the distance. East side. Darryl was charging in.
Astrid's face went pale.
"Go." Violet said. "Let them go now. You can still save face."
Astrid stared at her.
"At the Trade Market, I'll be waiting. You win, I kneel. I win—"
She looked into Astrid's eyes.
"Your granary is mine."
Astrid's hand dropped.
"Go."
The twenty warriors parted. Opened a path.
---
They walked out the gates of Silver Spring. The setting sun burned the wasteland the color of blood.
Darryl and his men charged in from the east. He saw Violet. Saw Leon. Saw Gray Bone. He stopped.
"Go." Violet said.
Darryl turned and led his men out.
Leon walked beside her. "You let her go."
"I'll wait for the Trade Market."
"She'll be ready."
"So will I." Violet looked ahead. "She let me go today because she was afraid. She's afraid now. Fear makes people do more wrong things."
Leon looked at her.
"You're interesting."
"You've said that."
"I know." He took his blade back from her belt and sheathed it at his own. "But today, you're especially interesting."
The corner of Violet's mouth moved.
She looked back at the walls of Silver Spring. Beneath the east wall, water still flowed from the drainage ditch.
Three months. At the Trade Market, she would return.
---
End of Chapter Thirteen
She gambled and won. Leon and Gray Bone are free. They walked out of Silver Spring alive. But the real contest isn't the granary. It isn't the severed finger. It's the Trade Market. Astrid won't let this rest. And Violet—she's already laying her next piece. Waiting for the countermove.