"What have you packed for the journey?"
"Nothing." Dante squinted at him, her head slightly tilted. "What does that even mean? 'The Tsar summons us'?"
Ketil grabbed her arm, shushing her a little. "You have to be quieter than that, I don't want Anubis to figure out anything. Dante, look at me."
She did, her eyes widening as he grabbed onto her slight shoulders. "Ketil?"
"There is something terrible afoot." He stared into her eyes that mirrored her innocence. Despite the fact that he was maybe five years older than her, she still retained that strange and childish blind trust. Half of it was a damn good facade, but the rest was genuine. "If this at any point gets bloody, you need to run."
"I'm not running," she crossed her arms. "No one is forcing me to run, I can fight. I can fight."
"Then you can't hesitate," he bent down until their faces were close. He could see his reflection in the multi-colored lines in her brown irises, could see his pale face looking right back at himself. He held his breath for a second before exhaling. "The royal guards won't hesitate to kill you. You are a riesun to them, no matter how old you are. You can't hesitate to fight and kill."
"Ketil, what's going on? You haven't given me a straight answer."
He shook his head, "I don't know. None of us know. Just know that there is a big possibility that this is all a trap. There is a possibility that we are all walking to our deaths. If you don't want to come, don't come. Nobody will blame you."
"You saved my life." Fear marked her face and Ketil bit his lip.
"Just remember that names have power. You are not Zorada Comtois. Your name is Dante—just Dante, okay?" He straightened up, hands falling to his sides. "Just stay next to Raziel and stay smart. Alright?"
"You don't have to protect me," she looked up at him. "I just don't understand why you can't tell me anything."
"I don't know anything besides what I've been told. Pack warm clothes and your bow. It's going to be a cold trip and our reception in Dastberg will be even colder." He released her and she walked away.
"Why have I been told nothing of our incoming journey to Dastberg?" Ketil spun around as Vasco clapped him on the shoulder.
Ketil stammered, "wha—"
Vasco ran a hand over his chin, stopping when it struck the thin growth of stubble there. "I have contacts in Dastberg, you know. I have been inside some of the finest inns inside the city and have some very well placed connections."
Ketil backed up a step, "I don't believe Anubis is interested in where we are staying."
"It's going to be rather cold, don't you think? Snow coming off the Rejslan mountains pushing into the valley and freezing over the Jalta—it should be downright freezing." Vasco pressed his back against the wall, waving his hand through the air as if to conjure up some ghostly apparition. "I have no idea what you are dealing in, but I can see that something rather odd is going on here."
"Odd?" Ketil took another step back, his heel striking the wall. "I wouldn't say odd exactly."
"Are you afraid of me? Why are you backing up? Or are you just afraid of getting trapped in a lie?"
Ketil could only think one thing. Drass. He did not however, just think the curse, but yelled it louder than the constant thrum of the clock's noise above him.
"Ah, so you're going to curse at me now?" Vasco took another step forward, effectively pinning him against the wall. "What are you hiding, Prince?"
"I am not hiding anything."
"Why is your face so red? Excuse my bluntness in regards to your nationality, but isn't that a Polarian tell? Blushing?"
"I am not hiding anything," Ketil said again, a bit of fear causing his heart to pound faster. "I don't know anything."
Ketil pressed a hand against the larger man's chest, ducking underneath his arm. He slipped from the common language to Polarian, his face burning.
"I know you all are hiding something!" Vasco yelled grabbing his arm.
"I would stop right there, Mr. Dracon." Raziel stepped into the hall, eyebrows lowered. His two-toned eyes lowered at Vasco. "Let him be."
"What are you all hiding?" He jerked Ketil's arm again.
Raziel took a step forward, arms now uncrossed. "He does not want to be touched."
Vasco released Ketil's arm and Ketil fell back into the wall. He silenced himself, looking to Raziel as he adjusted the gloves on his hands. "Anything he does know, he has been forbidden to reveal by mandate of Anubis herself. If you have any questions, take it up with her."
Vasco turned to him, dark eyes narrowed. "I believe I am owed an explanation. I believe as a member of this team, I deserve to know what she's planning on doing in Dastberg."
"If you must know," Anubis said, her gloved hand touching Ketil's shoulder. Vasco turned to face her, eyes widened with a certain amount of justified fear. "I don't know why I have been summoned to Dastberg in particular. It might be a trap. I don't know. It's best to be prepared, I believe. Do you have any objections to my methods, Mr. Dracon?"
He shook his head quickly, obviously biting his tongue. "If you think it's a trap, why are you going?"
Anubis took a step forward, laying a hand on Vasco's shoulder. "That Mr. Dracon, is my own secret." She turned to the rest of them. "There has been a change in plans. We leave today. I have word that the Inquisition is poised to enter Kantloe by sundown."
"You think they will find us?" Ketil whispered. "Even with the—"
"I will take no chances," she thrust her other hand out, eyebrows knitted together with determination. "Gather Dante and anything you might need for the journey. We leave in an hour. Mr. Dracon, can I trust that you won't question my actions or motivations?"
His lips formed a small protest before he nodded. "Yes."
"And I can trust you?"
He straightened up in an almost military pose, his heels clicking together. "As long as I can trust you."
Anubis' mouth stretched into a smile. "Then we won't have a problem, Mr. Dracon. Raziel, if you would, outfit Mr. Dracon in winter clothes. For now you are our team, but I am not one for making unnecessary risks." She took a step closer to him, her heels heavy against the wood floors. "If anyone or thing become an unnecessary risk, I will have to eliminate that risk."
Vasco's eyes followed her as she turned back to Ketil, but did not address him. "Don't disappoint me and we won't have this talk again, is that understood?"
Vasco's eyes glanced back at Ketil and then to Raziel, his mouth open to say some sort of retort, but he remained silent. "Don't let your mouth hang open, you'll catch a fly." Anubis patted his shoulder, "now Ketil, if you will."
She took his arm as Raziel and Vasco disappeared into a corridor. "Walk with me."
Ketil nodded, the blush beginning to fade from his face. "I don't think this is a good idea," he whispered as Anubis grabbed a lantern from the walls, walking down stairs. She lifted her skirts with the other hand.
"Ketil, I don't have a choice. I want to run as much as everyone else. I know this choice is not the wise one, but I am afraid it is the only one." She stopped on the staircase, pulling him into another room. "Mikhail sent another letter."
Ketil stared at her as she placed the lantern on a hook in the wall. She shut the door behind him, locking it. She pulled a folded piece of paper from her cloak pocket. "He wrote it in Rajsend and for good reason. He has an idea about why we were summoned." She handed it to him as his eyes scanned the paper, trying to make sense of Mikhail's thin Rajsend.
He stopped when he reached his own name. "Me? Why does he think it has anything to do with me?"
"The Tsar is the only person besides Mikhail who knows you're alive." Anubis took the letter from his clenched hands, slipping it back into her pocket. "It seems your sister has began planning some unsavory plans for war."
"War?" Ketil felt his heart stop. "Aslaug wouldn't. She isn't that type of person."
Anubis' hand hovered over his scarred chest, one eyebrow raised. "Would she? I don't think you know your sister as well as you think."
He took a step back. "What do they want me to do about it? I can't go back to my people." He paced the small, empty room, hands against his head. "Anubis, I can't go back!"
"Ketil—"
"They obey the Elder Laws without hesitation and the fact that I died the first time doesn't mean that I'm exempt. Drass! Do you know what they could kill me for? I'm a lusccan, I have collaborated with Rajsend, I have stolen, killed, and the fact that I'm alive! I can't go back to them!" His hands shook as he threaded them through knotted curls. "Drass! They'll kill me! I am unfit to live!"
"We don't know what he wants specifically. All we know is that there is something going on with Polaria. I am on your side you know."
He nodded, silent.
"I'm not going to let you go in alone. Mikhail thinks it's something to do with you, but it could be anything. We don't know. Just prepare yourself for whatever happens, do you understand?"
He nodded again, hands slipping down his face.
I can't do this.
I can't do this.
He nodded again despite the thrum of his heart yelling otherwise.
I have to do this.
Anubis picked up the lantern, the sickly amber light casting a glow around her dark eyes. "Steady yourself and get ready. We leave in the hour."
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