The Fifth City (5 page)

Six

The streets of Lightcity were still barren in the early light, and Sylvia’s quick pass by the Scouts’ barracks told her they had not left yet, what with the amount of shouting their captain seemed to be laying on them.

She quickly returned to Neve, who stood in the shadow of a villa by the edge of the wall.  The somewhat older girl had taken Sylvia aback last night with her show of emotion at the stories of Skycity’s treachery—and straight out shocked Sylvia when she demanded to accompany her.

But Neve’s resolve seemed authentic, and Sylvia couldn’t have stumbled across a more valuable font of information—just the information she was seeking, seconds after she had infiltrated Lightcity.  Now she had a new mission.

They would follow the Scouts at a distance, careful to avoid their trained beasts, who would no doubt be protecting them through the wilds.  Sylvia was sure they would lead her to the fifth city—the place that had drawn the eye of Greyling, and drawn his heart down into a place where he could justify enslaving and attacking his fellow cities.  Sylvia was genuinely curious as to what was so special about the foreign city, and with any luck, she and Neve would find out.

Neve had suggested they use this part of Lightcity’s wall to make their departure.  No one was allowed out of the city—what with the lies Greyling had spun to make them believe this was all in defense—so there was no getting out of the gates.

Sylvia studied the wall as she readied her rope, which had a multi-pronged hook at the end.  Lightcity’s wall was built of stone and glass; the alternating bricks wove a pattern of smooth and coarse, light and dark.  She had scaled it easily enough last night—until she was discovered, anyway.

With a glance over her shoulder—though Neve was supposed to be watching her back—she hurled the spike over the wall.  Neve had brought her to a quiet industrial neighborhood, where she had promised they wouldn’t be noticed.

Sylvia gave a strong tug on the rope.  With a grating noise, the hook stuck, anchored into rock on the other side.  Sylvia looked back and waved Neve over, wanting the dark-haired girl to go first.

Neve’s eyebrows pinched together, but she took a steadying breath and came over.  She grabbed the rope, pausing for a moment as she worked out how to get her feet up on the wall.  Sylvia turned to face the street.  Still empty.

After a few minutes, Neve hissed down to Sylvia, “What do I do now?”  She had reached the top and sat with her legs on either side of the wall, holding the rope.

“Keep the tension on the rope, and then—well—jump,” Sylvia offered, keeping her voice from carrying any further than Neve’s ears.

The rope came down and Sylvia grabbed it, pulling to keep the tension on the hook.  She watched Neve slip from the top of the wall, and heard her land seconds later on the other side.  She could see vague shadows through the thick blocks of glass in the wall.

Sylvia was eager to get out of sight, and on with the mission.  With one last glance over her shoulder, she swiftly placed foot after foot on the wall, and was over and on the other side before the blink of an eye.  She landed with a
huff
and caught her balance.

She pressed her eye to a glass block in the wall and tried to see if there was anyone in the alley.  Through the thick glass she couldn’t make out any detail.  She would have to assume they hadn’t been seen.

Neve was staring out at the wide open plain.  With half a smile, Sylvia wondered if the older girl knew what she had gotten herself into.

“Let’s go,” the Rider said.  “We need to get across the plain before the Scouts see us.”

“Now,” she barked, and broke into a run.

*   *   *

The ornate glass and stone gate of Lightcity sparkled in the mid-morning sun as the contingent of Scouts and their beasts finally marched out onto the plain.

Sylvia could hear their boisterous shouting and guffawing from where she and Neve crouched behind a scattering of bushes.  The grassy plain that surrounded the city was a swath of grey that rippled in the slight breeze.  Only a hint of green had begun to emerge now that winter was over.

Sylvia toyed with the dagger at her waist as she watched the Scouts head south.  Then she held her breath as she saw the wolves and the mountain lions sniff the array of scents on the gust of wind that wove across the plain.

She pulled up the hood of her knit cowl to protect her ears from the stiff breeze, which still blew in the best direction as to hide their scent.

Neve sat crouched next to her, looking fierce for a girl who just last night decided to leave the safety of her city’s walls.

They watched in silence as the men slowly marched across the plain.  As the Scouts became smaller and smaller in the distance, Sylvia saw some of the beasts bound off, free of their tethers, and she cringed.  They would have to be very, very careful following them.

As the last Scout shrunk to a small dark pinprick on the plain, Sylvia and Neve stood.  Sylvia reached up to the sky and stretched her muscles out;  her back cried out in joy to be free from the cramped position that they had held for over an hour.

With one last glance at Lightcity’s gate, they headed south, following the Scouts to the fifth city—the place Governor Greyling thought was important enough to start a war.

Seven

The Scouts had stopped for a rest, so they did too.  Their journey had already led them through the wilds between Riftcity and Meadowcity, and Sylvia knew they must be getting closer to the fifth city as they traveled south.

Thoughts of home had beckoned as they passed the area she knew to be close to Meadowcity.  A pair of Scouts had separated from the group at that point, but they headed west, presumably for Riftcity.

Riftcity’s plight still lurked in the back of Sylvia’s mind, but Meadowcity’s needs always overpowered it.  Sure, she had seen firsthand what the Scouts had done to Riftcity: the violent destruction it had left on the beautiful city’s structure, and its people, but Meadowcity was her home.  She must protect it, and those inside.

And Meadowcity would burn much faster.

Neve was proving to be an admirable traveling partner.  She managed to keep quiet as they moved about, unlike those last two memorable traveling companions, Flint and then Ember, who had both seemed committed to making as much noise as they could as they moved through the wilds.  Neve didn’t talk much either, and Sylvia could tell she was struggling with something inside—perhaps she felt guilty for leaving her uncle?  It sounded like he was the only family she had, from what little they had spoken so far.

The first night tailing the Scouts, Sylvia had been too nervous to sleep, and had taken watch all night.  It was still her first time back on the trail in months, and she had a hard time trusting a girl she just met to watch her as she slept.  But she knew she couldn’t continue that habit.  Without
any
sleep she would be useless on the trail.

So she had been forced to place her trust in Neve the next night to keep watch.  It reminded her of the hasty journey back to Meadowcity with Ember—a girl she had barely known at the time.

Back home, she couldn’t get rid of Ember these days—she was living in the villa, helping to train Luna, even playing with Sonia at times. The girl was always trying to stay busy, and Sylvia knew she didn’t like staying cooped up in the unfamiliar city.

Sylvia wished she could have brought Luna with her, but when she left, the plan had been to infiltrate Lightcity.  At the time, she had no idea how long she was going to be inside the city, gathering information.  She certainly hadn’t expected to leave the next morning.

Through the dark trees, Sylvia could see several camp fires flickering from the Scout’s camp.  Sylvia and Neve couldn’t light a fire, or any lamps, but they were used to it by now.  She settled in, pulling her dinner out of her pack by the dim light of the stars and moon, trying to think of something to talk about.

She had already told Neve the whole story of Meadowcity and Riftcity’s involvement in the war, about Flint’s escape and his warning, and the battle at Summer’s End.  Each new fact made Neve’s jaw drop a little more.

Sylvia wondered what it would have been like if Gero had accepted Greyling’s demand for submission—if she would have been as oblivious as Neve, their whole city kept in the dark and blindly following Skycity’s instructions.  But if all three cities had given in, then it would be the fifth city that was in danger.

She was sure Greyling’s true campaign of terror would have surfaced at some point—surely even the cities that willingly submitted to him would suffer.  Food supplies and medical treatments would decline if everyone in the city was forced to do labor, and she was sure Greyling’s plan didn’t include fair treatment of his workers.

He seemed to have been set back with Meadowcity’s refusal, though, since apparently he needed to wait for a sufficient amount of boats to launch whatever scheme he was brewing.

Sylvia couldn’t possibly imagine what the fifth city would be like, or why Greyling would risk so much to obtain it.  She hoped she could convince them to offer some help if they could—they seemed to be the indirect cause of it all, anyway.

After a wide space of silence, they quietly agreed that Sylvia would take first watch, and Neve second.  The Lightcity girl ducked under a blanket and her cloak, wedged against a fallen tree for warmth.

Sylvia purposefully shunned her blanket, needing the cold to help stay alert.  She sat propped against a tree, and pulled out her new dagger to examine the carvings again in the cold moonlight.

There had been a short note inside the box Ven had given her:
A piece of Meadowcity, from me to you. 
She figured he had carved it from some of the fallen trimmings of the treewall.  It was a marvelous gift.

She shrugged her shoulders tighter on herself as she thought of Ven.  Now that her original mission to Lightcity had been so easily rearranged, she truly couldn’t predict where the war would take her next, nor what would happen between her and Ven.  She didn’t even know when she would return to Meadowcity.

They had passed Meadowcity only the other day, and Sylvia had briefly entertained the idea of sending Neve there to let them know her change of plans; but it wouldn’t be smart—or safe—to send the girl on her own through the wilds.  Not when so many beasts lurked in the forest.

Sylvia had finally given Neve a blade the other day, perhaps so that Neve would feel safe, or because Sylvia thought she could use all the help she could get if something went wrong.

She studied the wolf’s head dagger, her ears alert for any sound of danger.  Ven’s carving was beautiful.  The wolf’s jaw hung open, with tiny teeth rising out of its mouth.  She knew Ven carved in his spare time, but she had never expected anything this good.

Maybe there was a lot she didn’t know about him.

She let out a sigh, refusing to let herself feel guilty for her tepidity with him.

It’s better this way
, she told herself.  Not making any promises meant not hurting anyone’s feelings if things changed.  And her world was full of change right now.

In a bitter mood she went back to dutifully studying the dark woods around them.  The Scouts’ fires glowed dimly orange through the black silhouettes of trees that separated the two camps.

Eventually it was time to wake Neve for her watch.  The girl took out the knife Sylvia had given her and sat in the shadow of a tree, a fierce gleam in her eye.  The girl looked wide awake.

Sylvia finally curled up under her blanket.  She pulled her hands into the sleeves of her knit jacket, with one hand still gripping the hilt of her dagger.  She fell asleep on the forest floor, with silence and darkness pressing in all around her.