As the food ran low and the landscape became more bleak, Finn became straighter and stronger. His chin was up and his white hair seemed to mark him as different and special instead of defeated and war-torn. This part of Eura seemed to feed him.
It wasn’t feeding Rollan, though. He reckoned it was probably time to make peace with the probability of starving to death.
Then, on the day Rollan ate his last piece of jerky, they came to Glengavin.
Like Trunswick, it was surrounded by a stone wall, which they could see over from their high vantage point. But that was where the similarities between the cities ended.
For all its old-fashioned details, Trunswick had reminded Rollan a lot of the cities in Amaya. Those cities were all skinny streets and crowded buildings, and people using the roads to relieve themselves, and flies collected on top of things that used to be food. Merchants and thieves and drunkards. And bundles of filthy orphans like himself, of course. Cities were full of opportunities, most of them opportunities for bad things to happen to you. And they all sort of looked the same to Rollan. No matter how different a city’s architectural flesh was, he could see the bones of desperation underneath.
But not Glengavin. In the center was a massive stone building. A fortress, or castle. Or perhaps palace was the best word for it. An older central bit had clearly been built with defense in mind. But the extensive stone wings on either side had clearly been constructed for beauty and luxury. They were studded with stained-glass windows like jewels. Gargoyles and carvings hung from every stone overhang. Deep blue flags flapped from poles and hung beside doors.
It was shockingly different from the rugged landscape outside the wall.
“Am I really awake?” Conor asked. “It looks like a dream.”
Rumfuss, Rollan just thought. This looked like a place a Great Beast would be.
Abeke, the small black cat perched on her shoulders and Uraza standing by her side, just shook her head wordlessly.
Meilin and the panda regarded Glengavin pensively. “The gardens remind me of home,” she said with uncharacteristic wistfulness.
The stone manor was surrounded by acres of manicured plants and crushed gravel paths. Every bush was trimmed into a geometric shape. Every rose was pleasingly groomed. Lavender plants cut into squares led the way to the front entry.
The entire thing made Rollan feel a little strange inside. Since he’d become a full-time orphan, he had worked pretty hard to never be impressed by anything — hard to get disappointed that way — but he thought, maybe, he was impressed. Or excited even. Or possibly he was just hungry.
“Lady Evelyn said the Lord of Glengavin would welcome us,” Conor said dubiously.
“Yeah, we saw how well that went back in Trunswick,” Rollan replied.
“Maybe you could send Essix ahead,” Finn suggested. “She might be able to let us know if she thinks something is amiss.”
Rollan tipped his head back. Essix was sailing around overhead as usual. Within earshot. Not that that guaranteed she’d comply.
Meilin had crossed her arms and turned to stare at him expectantly.
Great, he thought. An audience always makes this easier.
Really casually, he said, “Hey. Essix.”
The falcon kept circling. Her head was turned a little bit toward his voice, though. She heard him. But she wasn’t going to do anything about it.
A little louder, Rollan called, “Essix.”
Still more circling.
Now they were all looking at him.
“Problems?” Meilin asked, sweetly sarcastic.
“No,” Rollan replied. He twirled his hand as if this is how he had meant it to go. “I don’t tell her what to do. She doesn’t tell me what to do. We have a great bond. Awesome. You know what? I’m going to go check out Glengavin myself.”
Hiding his annoyance, he ripped loose the knotted rope around his waist and began to slip down the slope toward the wall. He only made it a few feet before Essix cried out and flapped off ahead of him.
Finn laughed — a rare sound from him. “Well, you two contrary animals are well matched, aren’t you?”
“Oh, you know,” Rollan said. “We like to keep the relationship fresh.”
“It seems pretty fresh all right,” Meilin murmured.
With a wrinkle of his nose, Rollan replied, “I’m going to choose to be the better man here and not say anything about how fresh you and your spirit animal smell.” Meilin actually didn’t smell — Rollan suspected girls didn’t sweat — but the panda did have a distinct musky odor.
Rather arch, she countered, “Really? That’s what you have? Smells bad?”
“We all could use a bath,” Finn cut in. “Hopefully the welcome at Glengavin will be warm enough to afford us such luxuries.”
It seemed as if that might be a possibility too, because when Essix returned, she looked unconcerned. Reassured, they approached the gate. Over it stretched a plaque that read: THREE UNDENIABLE TRUTHS: LOVE, DEATH, AND THE LAW OF GLENGAVIN, KNOW ALL THREE WELL.
Rollan felt it wasn’t the most inspirational of mottos. Love was all right, he thought, but death wasn’t incredibly tempting. It was hard to say which side the Law of Glengavin came down on, but he guessed it probably wasn’t the hugging one.
The three guards, however, were not just pleasant, but actually excited to see them. After only the briefest of explanations from Finn, the group was brought inside.
“We are proud to welcome you to Glengavin,” one of the guards said. He had an enormous red beard and equally enormous red eyebrows. Rollan thought that they could all take cover in his facial hair in the event of an emergency. Even more impressive than his beard, however, was his leather armor. It was more intricate than any leatherwork Rollan had ever seen. Every inch was etched with tangled artwork, much like Finn’s tattoos. It seemed like the sort of thing that should be displayed on a shelf, not worn every day. Both guards also wore tartan kilts and leather sporrans — fancy pouches that hung low around their waists. Short knives rested in scabbards tied at their ankles.
War is so pretty here, Rollan thought. He thought again of that plaque over the gate.
“We had heard rumors of four heroes,” the hairy guard said. “But we’d heard that one of them had summoned a black wildcat.”
“You heard wrong,” Meilin said coldly. “As you can tell, these animals are the Four Fallen.”
Finn, in a much milder voice, said, “There is much darkness on the move too. Where there are heroes, there are always villains. We’d all be wise to be wary of opportunists.”