Palace of Lies by Haddix Margaret Peterson

Author:Haddix, Margaret Peterson [Haddix, Margaret Peterson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Adventure
ISBN: 9781442442832
Goodreads: 27220842
Publisher: Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published: 2015-04-07T07:00:00+00:00

21

In the morning when Janelia came to wake me, I considered saying, You can take the sheet down and I can eat breakfast out in the open with the rest of you. I’ll travel today sitting up on the stretcher, with nothing covering my face.

But the world looked different by the light of day. I saw the pile of rocks I might have fallen into the night before, and they really could have destroyed my face. How could I bear seeing the dangers all around me every moment of the day?

Gradually, I told myself. Tog said the soldiers he knew worked up to facing their fears gradually. So that’s how I’ll do it too.

Janelia peeled the bandages from my feet and examined the wounds.

“Oh, everything is healing so well!” she exclaimed. “You’ll be able to walk again long before we get to Fridesia.”

Then she glanced up, wincing at her own words.

“I mean—when you’re ready otherwise,” she added.

“I’ll start going without the sheet over my face for short periods of time today,” I told her. “I’ll be able to go completely without it by the time my feet heal.”

It was strange: Back at the palace, I had made a habit of keeping my plans to myself. Even after Cecilia and the others arrived, I shared very little. But something about Janelia’s hopeful, expectant expression made me tell her things.

The other three packed up and moved out before the sun was fully over the horizon. I knew this, because I’d peeked out from the sheet soon after I’d settled onto the stretcher.

And I’d managed not to scream.

I also noticed, in that glimpse, that Herk and Tog were working incredibly hard to erase every trace of the fire, every sign that four people had camped there.

Of course, I thought. They don’t want anyone following us. They don’t want anyone knowing which way we went . . . or that I’m going to Fridesia at all.

It was so boring lying flat on the stretcher for hours on end, unable to see a thing. When the others took their first break, I asked hesitantly, “Do you suppose I could weave my basket sitting under the sheet, while we travel?”

“Of course,” Janelia replied, her voice seeming to come from so far away, just from the other side of the sheet. “Why would that be a problem?”

“I don’t want to make the stretcher any harder to carry,” I replied.

“Having you sit up and work won’t matter for that,” Tog said, almost brusquely. I could hear the weariness in his voice.

At least if I weave baskets, I’m doing something, I thought.

I was able to finish not one, but two baskets by the end of that day of walking.

“But—they’re exquisite, Desmia,” Janelia said, examining them that evening.

This night we were all camped out in a cave together. They’d given me a section off to the side, which Herk kept calling the palace room.

“So we’ve got three baskets to sell?” Tog said, coming into the cave with a pile of firewood on his shoulder.

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