Free Shine Light by Marianne de Pierres

Naif. ‘Fross!’

     
    Eve sent guards to meet them and to help with Brenny’s body but neither Suki nor Clash would relinquish their hold. As they made their way solemnly to the caves, the Leaguers gathered to follow their path, some crying, others swearing when they saw what had happened.
    Eve waited at the mouth of the main cave, stiff with rage, the hilt of her huge axe resting against her thigh. They stopped just below her, waiting. Angled above them, drawn to her full height, she looked terrifying.
    Clash finally handed Brenny to one of the other Leaguers. While everyone else stood back he approached Eve with bowed head.
    ‘A rogue did this?’ thundered Eve.
    Clash nodded. ‘Brenny was brave, fighting at my side. We retrieved the books.’
    Eve shook with a fury that Naif had never witnessed in her before.
    ‘Charlonge, come here!’ she roared.
    Char hurried up over the rocks to join Clash. When she reached him, Naif saw her sway with tiredness.
    ‘You say the books will tell us about Ixion? The origins of the Ripers?’ demanded Eve.
    ‘I-I believe so. But I haven’t read them all. I only found these ones some weeks ago – just before Danskoi.’
    Eve clenched the hilt of her axe. ‘Tell me they are worth Brenny’s life.’
    Charlonge looked up at her, speechless, then to Clash for help. But Naif’s brother had nothing to offer her. Silence spread across the assembled listeners.
    Naif stepped forward, compelled to help her friend. ‘We believe the knowledge in these books is worth your and my life as well, Eve, if it means we can set the young ones free. Not just those here now, but those who would come.’
    Eve brought her fierce, bruising stare down on Naif. She lifted the axe from the ground as if she might take both Clash and Char’s head off with one swing.
    Char began to cry, but Clash didn’t flinch.
    Naif stepped up further, so she was alongside him. Back straight, eye unblinking, she withstood Eve’s wrath the same way she had withstood her father’s cold indifference and the wardens’ twisted tortures; the way she’d borne the pain from her obedience strip.
    Nothing would make her cower. These books held the key to their freedom and their survival. She knew it.
    A hand touched her elbow and a sturdy frame planted itself next to her.
    ‘I’m Jarrold. I helped Charlonge with the books. I’m new here but . . . but shouldn’t we get on with it, so we don’t all end up like Brenny?’
    Something in Jarrold’s simple and sensible statement broke the tension.
    Eve lowered her axe to the floor again. ‘Wise enough words, young man.’ She lifted her gaze to the gathered Leaguers. ‘Brenny will get our highest honoured burial. In the meantime, all of you have tasks to fulfil. We have an island to take.’
    A murmur of approval spread among the Leaguers, and all but two went back to their work. Those who stayed, Naif guessed, were Brenny’s closest.
    ‘Take the books to the candle cave and find us what we need,’ Eve said to Naif and Charlonge. ‘Suki, Clash, with me.’
    With that she stepped down and went to speak more privately with Brenny’s grieving friends.

     
    Two Leaguers brought them food and basins to rinse their hands before they began. Charlonge insisted on the washing, fearful that the dirt would further stain the pages and obscure the writing.
    They sat cross-legged in a circle with the pile of books in the centre. Markes and Emilia joined Naif and Charlonge, but Liam and Jarrold begged off.
    ‘Carry them, I will,’ said Jarrold, ‘but read the frossing things? No! It’s worse than school.’
    None of them expected an explanation from Liam, and the way he stared at the books with suspicion made Naif wonder if he could read at all. From what she knew of Stra’Ha, the men existed to help provide for the women.
    Candle smoke stung Naif’s eyes as she began to skim pages. The rolling script had no punctuation breaks, and Naif strained to decipher the words. Much of it