Free Of Dreams and Rust by Sarah Fine Page B

like Anji was, one of the unlucky?
    It takes us only a few minutes to reach the narrow pass below the crest of the hill, but by then I am huffing, my breath fogging, too warm even in this frosty air. My fingers are stiff with cold, and I shove them into the pockets of my overcoat, the one on the left side already stuffed with my father’s cloth-wrapped scalpel. My fingers curl over the bundle, and in it I take a measure of comfort. I’m not entirely defenseless, but I will have to be smart about how I use this, my only weapon and tool.
    The trussed soldiers plod along, occasionally stumbling, while their Noor captors maintain a tight grip on the ropes that keep them under control. We enter the pass, a long, narrow trail bounded on either side by sheer cliff faces. As soon as I step into it, a shot rings out down below. The Itanyai soldiers in front of me look around in alarm as we hear another, then another. Their eyes are wide with horror.
    It takes me a moment and one shot longer, but the jagged puzzle pieces slip into place and I realize what is happening.
    I cry out and spin around as the cracks fall silent, colliding with Melik as he steps forward.
    â€œNo, Wen,” he says quietly, taking me by the arms. “Keep walking. Keep walking.” His grip on me is as hard as the rocks enclosing us.
    â€œThey’re shooting them, Melik! Leye and the other . . .” Then I catch the look on his face. “You knew. You knew! You told him he would not be killed if he surrendered, and—”
    â€œThey could not walk,” he replies in a tightly controlled voice. “Commander Kudret gave his orders.”
    My tears, absent until now, spring forth, flooding my eyes and spilling onto my cheeks. I kick at Melik’s shins and slap at his chest, stupidly trying to get back to Leye, even though I know it is too late and he will never smile again. “They were just boys!” I scream, the savagery of the day ripping the sound from my throat.
    â€œNo,” Melik says, standing solid and immobile as I pound on him with all my might. “They were soldiers.”
    â€œHow could you be a part of this?” I sob, grabbing handfuls of his shirt over the spot I so carefully stitched up all those months ago, when I prayed that he wouldn’t die, when I was willing to risk anything to save him. “I believed you to be so much better than that. How could you not say one word to prevent it?”
    â€œWhat do you think those soldiers would have done to us if they had had the chance?” he shouts. “You’ve witnessed what they’re willing to do to people like me!” Melik gives me a shake that rattles my bones. “This is a war, Wen.”
    I stop fighting him, anger running quiet and poisonous through my veins. “And you are a soldier too.”
    His mouth forms a taut gray line, and he nods.
    I look up into his eyes, eerie and pale and giving nothing away. “If your commander gives orders for my death, will you pull the trigger yourself, or will you ask someone else to do the job?”
    He lets me go and steps back, his nostrils flaring as he sucks in a sharp breath. Someone behind him mutters a question.
    â€œSusmaye!” Melik barks, and the raider’s mouth snaps shut. I stand there, waiting for him to answer my question. Waiting for him to say he would not kill me, that he would never allow anyone to hurt me, that he does not want to be a part of this at all.
    But instead he points at the trail. “We are falling behind,” he says, cold and calm again. “Start walking.”

Chapter
Seven
    SOMETIME IN THE last several hours I tore my dress on a sharp stone, and it is the one thing that went right today. I pull at the tattered fabric as I huddle near the fire, my face warm and my spine tingling as the wind places cold kisses on the back of my neck. When we arrived at this ridge, there were more Noor waiting. There appear to be at