As the Crow Falls | ✔

Chapter Thirty-Six

Isaiah checked just to be sure, but Niccola had not returned to Verde's house, nor to the one where she'd worked as a serving-woman. Freed to grapple with the worst-case scenario, he strode towards the central office of the City Guard, glad of Talitha the head guard of the palace parting the crowd before him. The evacuation of the lowlands was well underway. He'd sent the order by crow this morning, one of several correspondences released in such quick succession, the crow-keeps had needed to hold their birds just to let the previous messengers clear the mail-room window. Now the City Guard's office was only blocks away. If the first of those messages had been read and obeyed, the Pereira family's best wayfinder would be waiting to meet him there.

Or rather, waiting to meet his mother. He'd both signed and sealed the message with the Calisian royal stamp to erase the possibility of it being discarded by guards instructed to ignore his orders. That seal normally came from his mother. Now he was to walk into the office and correct the misconception, then win over the City Guard's loyalty if he was lucky.

Isaiah caught that thought and corrected himself. Not if he was lucky. If he had the loyalty of his people like Niccola said he did. If they weren't kind to him out of sympathy or obligation, rather than because they actually believed in his orders. There was no room for the former in a situation like this, but if the former was the case, he would have a fight on his hands.

Dread gripped him at the possibilities. His mother might have ordered the City Guard to arrest him if he turned up here, or at least report him to the palace. He had Talitha here to vouch for him, but she would be one against many, and he didn't know where their loyalties lay. He thought he knew, but he'd long ago had it beaten into him that the two were not equivalent.

He had to believe in this. There was no other way to stand his ground in a fight, and he couldn't cave. Not when the fate of the realm—and likely Niccola's life as well—lay in the balance. Pekea pressed close against the side of his neck. Isaiah rubbed her head, then jumped out of the way of a cart that rattled up the road towards him. It passed in a chorus of panicked clucking. They were emptying the coops. He'd ordered as much, once again anonymously. If Dinah emerged from the forest, there must be no people or animals readily reachable at the Talakova's edge.

"A hand, your highness?"

Isaiah startled. Talitha had moved back to walk beside him. "Yes, thank you," he said, wincing as a child's scream pierced the ambient cacophony. He was losing his ability to navigate in the chaos, a tapestry of shouting and guards' orders, crying children and frantic chickens, horses' hooves and rattling carts. He took Talitha's proffered arm, but kept his cane in hand. Obstacles left by evacuating citizens littered the roadway.

There would be no more hiding that Calis had a necromantic on its borders. Dual citizens with Madeira were uncommon here, but present, and would no doubt be sending letters to their loved ones by the end of the day. If he couldn't fix this, there were more than lives at stake.

The tinkle of wind chimes sank dread through his body a moment before Talitha stopped. They were here.

"Are you ready, your highness?" she said.

The answer was no. Isaiah managed a smile. "After orchestrating a coup against my own parents? Surely you can feel my hands shaking."

"They will listen to you."

She sounded so sure of it. Isaiah took a breath that nearly shuddered as he drew it, then swung his cane around to find the path up to the City Guards' office. A rattle of cobblestones—just a thin band of them, rough against the beaten dirt—marked its start. He strode up it. The guards that flanked the door snapped to attention.

"Your highness?" said one. "We were—"

"I'm here to see Gideon."

For half a heartbeat, he was certain the guards would disobey—sneer at him, dismiss the order, call for a superior—but they jumped smartly aside and hauled the door open. Silence dropped dead over the room inside. Isaiah tucked his cane beneath his arm and stepped into it with Talitha close behind him. He knew the layout here by heart. He could also tell the place was packed: murmurs swept around the room, and someone at the far end gave a startled, "Your highness." Gideon, head of the City Guard.