“There were no survivors in the safe house,” Faressa said. “I was on sentry duty down the road. There’s a rooftop that has a good view of the approaches. I spotted Jaedia on her way in and signaled ahead to the house to tell them she was coming.” Her lips twisted. “She’d visited several times in the past couple of weeks, so I didn’t think it was unusual. Next thing I know, the place is on fire. By the time I got back here, Jaedia was gone.”
“No one in the house survived long enough to say what had happened?” Tanax asked.
“She didn’t leave them in any condition to,” Faressa said. “My husband was here. He was an arcanist. I found most of him about where you’re standing”—she pointed, then swung her hand to one side—“and his head and one shoulder over there. The rest were … similar.”
There was an awkward silence. Maya swallowed.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s the risks of the service,” Faressa said. “Giving our lives for humanity and all that. But getting torn apart by one of our own centarchs wasn’t the way either of us expected to go.”
“I don’t …” Maya stopped. She wanted to say that Faressa hadn’t actually seen the attack, that it hadn’t necessarily been Jaedia, but the tight lines of the scout’s face made her think better of it. She cleared her throat. “How many others survived?”
“Three of us scouts. We’ve been poking around as best we can, but there’s not much to find.” She frowned. “I told the Kyriliarch all of this when he got here. Are you three supposed to be his backup?”
“Kyriliarch?” A chill went down Maya’s spine, and her hand brushed the Thing. “Which Kyriliarch?”
“Nicomidi.” The scout’s frown deepened. “What’s going on?”
“When was he here?” Maya said. “And what—”
Faressa shook her head. “Strict orders, on Council authority. He told me all this was being investigated by the Kyriliarchs personally.” Her expression went sour. “I’ve probably already said too much. If you’re not backing Nicomidi up, what are you doing here?”
“Kyriliarch Nicomidi fled the Forge after accusations of treason,” Maya said. “By now he’s been stripped of his Council seat.”
“That’s—” Faressa shook her head. “That’s quite a story.” She glanced at Tanax. “You support this?”
“I do,” Tanax said.
The scout looked at Beq, but the arcanist’s attention had wandered, and she was examining some of the debris close-up with her lenses. Faressa shifted uncomfortably and looked back at Maya.
“You don’t happen to have any documentation of this, do you?” she said. “I haven’t had any messages from the Forge.”
“You wouldn’t have,” Maya said. “We left the day after it happened.”
“Nicomidi must have taken a swiftbird across the plain,” Tanax said. “That’d gain him three, maybe four days, if he was willing to risk having to fight plaguespawn.”
“That’s a serious risk,” Faressa said. “If the queen’s people got word there was a centarch in her territory, it’d be plaguefire for all of us. What’s so important that he’d come here?”
“I don’t know,” Maya admitted. “I don’t understand what he’s aiming for.”
“But you’ve come after him anyway?”
“We’re not following him; we’re following Jaedia,” Maya said with a glance at Tanax.
“And Nicomidi expressly instructed me to say nothing about Jaedia’s activities here to anyone without a Council warrant,” Faressa said. “Well, this is a fucking brilliant situation all around.”
“Whatever orders Nicomidi gave are invalid,” Tanax said. “He has no authority.”
“Assuming you two are telling the truth,” Faressa said, straightening up. “If you’re lying, and he’s not, then helping you might be betraying the Order.”
“We’re not—” Maya cut off, frustrated. “I just need to find Jaedia. The rest of this can be straightened out later.”
“We could send someone back to the Forge for a Council warrant,” Tanax said.
“And wait here for a month?” Maya shook her head.
“What’s your hurry?” Faressa said. “One of the boys here your brother or something? That eager to get revenge?”
“I’m not …” Maya took a deep breath. “Jaedia was—is—my master. I know her better than anyone, and she would never do this. I’m certain she didn’t kill your husband.”
“Somebody fucking killed him,” Faressa growled.
“I know. I’m not sure if Jaedia’s been … captured, or replaced somehow or … something. But I have to find her. Please.”
“Shit.” Faressa chewed her lip. “How am I supposed to—”
“It wasn’t Jaedia.” Beq, on her knees, looked up. Her pupil was a huge black dot filling the entirety of one lens. When everyone turned to stare at her, she blinked and wilted a little. “At least, it wasn’t only Jaedia. There’s all kinds of damage here.”
“It only takes one centarch to cause a plaguing lot of damage,” Faressa said.
“I know,” Beq said, “but there’s different kinds. Look at this.” She pointed to the scorched, tumbled stones of the fireplace. “See the central burst point and halo of spark burns? That’s a blaster bolt. Why would a centarch need a blaster?”
“Maybe she was feeling lazy,” Faressa snapped.
“There’s more.” Beq crawled across the floor on hands and knees and found a spot where the floorboards were stained nearly black. “This isn’t a burn. It’s blood.”
“Of course it’s blood,” the scout said. “The whole damn place was practically—”
“Not human blood,” Beq said. She pried at the wood, and part of it crumbled under her fingernails. “It’s corroded, look. That’s blood from a plaguespawn.”
“Plaguespawn?” Faressa looked uncertain. “They couldn’t get so far inside the walls without starting a riot. And plaguespawn don’t use blasters.”
“Dhakim do,” Maya said. “And a dhakim could keep his plaguespawn on a leash, hide them somehow.” She looked from Beq to Tanax. “You remember the gang in Litnin. They had the things in crates like dogs.”
“A dhakim.” Faressa shook her head. “I know the Forge likes to imagine dhakim everywhere, but they’re rarer than a clean vulpi. You really think there’s a cult here in Grace?”
“It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Maya said. “Jaedia must have come here to investigate them and gotten trapped somehow. Then they found out about this place and attacked.”
“Fucking plaguefire. If I end up locked in a cell over this …” Faressa took a deep breath. “All right. Listen. That fits. I met with Jaedia a couple of times before … all this, and she asked for information on a group of smugglers bringing arcana and dhak into the Republic. They’re a really nasty bunch, and there’s always been rumors that they’ve got a dhakim for a leader. A guy named Cyrtak, though nobody knows much about him. The last time we saw each other, I had a line on a place they might be meeting, and Jaedia was going to take a look.”