Chapter 28
It was three weeks before Daniel and Matt returned from the mountains with a sack full of delicate mistflower stems. A couple of others had already responded to Lukal’s messages by coming to Woolport, and they had formed a sort of council in exile. Naval ships still hovered in the waters beyond the harbour, and they’d failed to communicate any further with the island headquarters: the first time Lukal had tried to swim back, he’d been seen and had returned with an arrow in his shoulder. After that they’d been more cautious.
Daniel found Eleanor at Violet’s bedside, Isabelle playing at her feet and Martin asleep in her lap. She jumped up when she saw him and pulled him into as a tight an embrace as she could manage with Martin still in her arms.
“I’m so glad you’re back,” she said. “You have to help Violet, I’m afraid we’re losing her.”
Daniel looked down at the bed. “What happened?”
“Just a few cuts, I thought, but this one’s deep and it’s gone bad.” She peeled the bandages away from Violet’s shoulder to reveal the wound. The surrounding flesh was swollen and red, and thick yellow pus had leaked into the dressing. Violet moaned a little, but didn’t open her eyes.
“Violet?” Daniel patted her cheeks, and lifted her eyelids one by one to look into her eyes. “Violet, can you hear me?”
“She’s been delirious for a few days,” Eleanor said.
“She has a fever,” Daniel said, as if he thought she might not have noticed. “Tell me everything you have done.”
“I washed it as soon as we got here, bandaged it up with woundwort, and gave her poppy milk for the pain. Then the baby came, but Sally’s been changing the poultice every day. It looked like it was going to heal nicely, at first.”
“Go and ask Sally for the strongest spirits she has,” he said. “I will wash it again and cut out the rotten parts. Then all we can do is wait.”
Since Violet had been incapacitated, Sally had taken over her role in the revolution’s infant navy, co-ordinating the volunteer sailors and commandeered ships. They didn’t yet have anywhere near the force they would need to break the siege, but Sally had thrown herself into the work with a level of dedication known only to those who are trying desperately to keep their minds away from some other train of thought. She returned every night, to burn prayer offerings and sleep on the floor beside Violet’s sickbed, but during the day she would be out negotiating with half-drunk sailors in the taverns around the harbour or – as Eleanor found her today – shut away in her tiny office poring over charts of the archipelago.
“Daniel’s taking a look at Violet’s shoulder,” Eleanor said. “He wants the strongest bottle of spirits you’ve got.”
Sally picked up a small, dark bottle from beside a half-empty glass. “You won’t get much stronger than this,” she said, holding it out across the desk. “This stuff is the only thing keeping me sane through all this.”
“Thanks.”
“Will she...” Sally started, but thought better of the question. “Just tell him to look after her for me, okay?”
“He’ll do everything he can.”
Eleanor took the bottle back to Daniel. He poured a slug of liquid onto the wound, scraped at the skin with his tiny herbalist’s knife, and then doused the area with spirits again. Violet moaned and her eyelids flickered, but she still didn’t respond to her name. Eleanor watched as Daniel spread a thick layer of honey across her shoulder, sprinkled bright yellow powder on top, and bound the whole thing with fresh bandages.
“Will she be okay?” she asked, voicing the question Sally had been too afraid to ask.
“There are no guarantees,” Daniel said.
“But you’ll keep trying?”
“I have done what I can. But now we have a war to win – I cannot afford to spend all my time tending one woman.”
“She was helping me to rescue Bella,” Eleanor said. “We owe her for this.”
“I heard about this.” Daniel didn’t look at her as he packed his things back into his apothecary case. “I wish you would learn to think before taking such risks.”
“Risks? I had to rescue our daughter – how can you possibly doubt that was worth the risk?”
“You knew Lauren was in the Shadows. Had you not brought her to the heart of the Association, this would not have arisen. As it is, you have traded one of the best sailors we had – for a toddler.”
Eleanor stared at him. “Are you saying I should have left Bella with them?”
“I am saying you have made a lot of mistakes.”
She wanted to argue – wanted, really, to shout and scream and rail against him – but there was nothing she could think of to say. There was too much truth in his words. If she hadn’t been so totally taken in by Lauren’s act, Bella never would have needed rescuing in the first place.
“That doesn’t change anything,” she said at last. “None of that was Violet’s fault. She just helped me to get Bella home.”
“And I have tried to help her.” Daniel said. “Now come away, she needs rest.”
He took Isabelle’s hand in his and led her from the room, leaving Eleanor to carry Martin after him. Matt and Lukal were sitting in the small lounge, making toast on the fire.
“Council tonight,” Lukal said, handing a slice of toast to Eleanor and skewering a fresh piece of bread on his fork. “We can see if Matt and Daniel have any more thoughts on breaking this siege.”
“You do not need to come,” Daniel said to Eleanor.
She eyed him suspiciously. “Why don’t you want me there?”
“I know you are tired,” he said. “You should stay here with the children.”
“Either you’ve completely lost faith in my decisions,” she said, “or you’re planning something I won’t like. Which is it?”
He shook his head.
“I know you better than you think,” she said. “And if you don’t tell me, I’ll definitely have to come along to find out.”
“We need to reexamine the question of outside help,” he said at last.
It took her a moment to catch his meaning. “Taraska. You want us to sell our souls for a little extra manpower, is that it?”
“A lot of extra ships,” he said.
“Slave ships,” Eleanor said, but she could tell she’d lost him. “You’re mad if you think I’ll let you discuss this without me.”
“Eleanor.” He rested a gentle hand on her arm. “You will be outvoted whether or not you are there. Your presence will change nothing.”
She glared at him and shook off his arm. “I’m coming with you. I have to make it clear just how strongly I oppose this idea.”
“Everyone knows how you feel,” he said. “We know you were hurt. But you are taking it personally – you cannot expect kindness from an enemy.”
“They’re inhuman. You weren’t there – you can’t begin to understand.”
“Then how can you expect to persuade the council?”
He almost looked sorry for her, which made her feel nothing but angry. If her own husband thought she was being unreasonable, what hope was there that the others would understand? But she couldn’t just let this one go.
“I’m coming down,” she said. “And that’s final.”
“You will only tire yourself.”
It was true that she wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep, but this was more important. It was almost more important than the whole of the revolution. What good was winning if it came at the expense of everything they thought they were fighting for?
“I’m coming,” she repeated.
They finished their toast in silence, and made their way to the drying room, a vast space downstairs at the back of the workshop where they’d taken to having these not-quite-council meetings. The old hierarchies had been thoroughly disrupted by the siege. Doubtless the official council was still meeting across the water, making plans of rationing and defence and, possibly, occasional attempts to get someone to the mainland ??
? though no such attempt had succeeded, not since Tal had swum across to see what had happened when Eleanor didn’t return. But the decisions here in Woolport were being made by those who had turned up, meaning that a lot of votes went to youngsters like Matt and Lukal who’d never come close to a real council seat.
When Daniel suggested they approach Taraska and request their help to break the siege, Eleanor put forwards all her usual arguments, and then – when the others seemed far from persuaded – she tried to tell them that they had no right to make decisions on behalf of the whole Association.
“You should have thought of that when you made the one decision that got us into this mess,” Daniel said.
“And the others are in no position to negotiate anything,” Tal added. “So we’ve got no choice but to do it for them, have we?”
Eleanor knew then that she’d lost. She felt tears welling up, and blinked them back. She couldn’t afford to cry. But she thought of Isabelle and Martin, and the world they were going to grow up in, and she could barely manage to suppress her sobs.
There was nothing else of importance to discuss. Daniel put himself forwards as the best person to approach the representatives of Taraska, and everyone except Eleanor voted in favour of his proposals. He would go to them and ask their assistance to break the siege around the island, and in exchange they would get all the payments and taxes that they’d demanded.