Page 85 of A Thief to Die For

‘What?’ Lucky shouts.

‘You have maggots,’ I say. ‘In the wound.’

‘Maggots!’ he shouts. He whips around, trying even harder to see, and something about it, about all of this, brings me to my knees. I drop my forehead to the cool forest floor. I can’t catch my breath. Tears suddenly fill my eyes and spill down my face, soaking into the dirt.

Why do we live in such a cursed place?

My breaths grow louder, turning into sobs that I don’t know how to stop.

‘It’s just some worms, Mare,’ Lucky ventures, tentatively. ‘It’ll be okay.’

But it won’t be. Nothing is okay.

And nobody is coming to make it better.

When I finish weeping, my mind is finally still. There’s a blissful numbness to it. I should really let myself cry more often.

Lucky sits – somewhat lopsidedly – beside me, staring at a tree. It’s the longest I’ve ever been around him without him saying a word.

‘What are we going to do about your wound?’ I mutter.

‘Leave it for now. You’ve got enough to deal with.’

‘That hardly seems like a good plan. You should go back to Grendle.’

A raven swoops down to the ground from a branch. Benedict. He hops closer, pauses, then changes direction. He’s nervous with Lucky here. We watch him continue the pattern until he’s only a dozen feet away. He cocks his head. Then drops something metal from his beak.

‘Did that bird just bring us something?’ Lucky asks.

‘Looks that way.’ I study the shape of it but can’t make it out.

Lucky rises to retrieve the gift, and Benedict flaps away. ‘It’s a key.’ He examines it. ‘Mare, you know this is a sign, right?’

‘It’s really not that deep.’ I sigh. ‘That’s Benedict, the raven. This is what he does. I feed him and he brings me things.’

‘But is it always a key?’

‘No.’

He holds it higher. ‘Then it’s a sign. I’m serious. Ravens are intelligent and otherworldly.’ He hands it to me. ‘But a sign for what? The raven dropped a key, and then he flew away.’ His eyes tick back and forth, thinking. ‘The raven … left. Maybe that’s what he’s telling us: the key is that we need to leave.’

I scoff. ‘We need to do the opposite of leaving. We need to stay … and start an uprising.’

It’s so painfully obvious to me now.

‘What?’ Lucky looks aghast. ‘Th-that isn’t what the key means.’

‘Think about it,’ I say softly. ‘Nothing’s going to change with Atlas. How long can we continue like this? Not just us, but the Dresden. They deserve so much better. Even with all Atlas puts them through, they’re the best people. Physically, they’ve got next to nothing and yet it feels like they have … the only things that matter. Kindness. Gentleness. Love. They care for each other, living like family. Doesn’t that feel like they’re rich in a way we’re not? Don’t you wish you could be around them all the time? That’s what we should be protecting. That’s what we should be fighting for.

‘But then there’s Atlas,’ I continue. ‘And Soren. Even so many of the guardsmen are selfish arseholes. What if we just …’

‘What?’

‘I don’t know.’ I bite my lip. ‘Let’s burn down the compound.’

Lucky gasps. ‘What?’

Now that I’ve opened the floodgates, ideas rush in. ‘We could empty the armoury. To arm the Dresden.’ I’ve always thought that the Dresden needed food and essentials most, because they had no choice but to stay. But what if what they really need is a way to fight back?