A nearly empty league, now.
“Huh! There’s no one here,” Ferkudi said.
The others looked at him. Big Leo cursed under his breath.
“Can I push him off the wall?” Winsen asked. “Please?”
“He’d probably survive,” Ben-hadad said.
“You’re right, that is a problem,” Winsen said.
“Not the first time he’s been dropped on his head, I’d wager,” Big Leo said.
“Question is,” Tisis said, “if he landed on his head, would that set him right, or make him more Ferkudi?”
Some scowled. Some shuddered.
“Yeah,” Winsen said, “best not to risk it.”
“Ah, come on, Ferk,” Cruxer said, hugging the hurt dope around one boulder-sized shoulder. “You know we love ya.”
It was a beautiful morning, sunny and clear. The forests were a green to make your eyes ache, rolling to the Cerulean Sea which was still and dark as wine from last night’s glass at this early hour.
“But they’re gone,” Ferkudi said, re-restating the obvious. “There’s no boats. Am I the only one surprised by this? Are you telling me we hurried for no reason?”
Ben-hadad was staring through a far-glass. “There are some people still here. Looks like they left most of the camp followers behind. At least, I hope that’s most of them. If Daimhin Web’s telling us the truth, though, that’s only those who haven’t already left.”
“But no army,” Winsen said.
“They’re already gone,” Kip said.
“What’s that mean?” Ferkudi asked.
“It means we have to race them,” Tisis said. “We didn’t make it in time to stop them. We—or our messengers—have to warn the Chromeria.” She glanced at Kip like, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’
“All of us,” Kip said. “We’ll join the fight.”
Tisis sighed. “I know. Sorry.”
“It’ll be our last stand, won’t it?” Ferkudi asked. He looked at the grim faces around him, then bobbed his big round head. “All right.”
“Something occurred to me,” Cruxer said. “Your half brother.”
“Yeah?” Kip asked. He suspected where this was going.
“He’s a straight-up murderer. No boundaries at all. And he’s the Prism-elect. Prism fully in less than a week.”
“On Sun Day, yep,” Kip said.
“And he’s got the Lightguard, which have already committed atrocities for him.”
Kip nodded, as everyone looked harder at them both. He knew where this was going.
“We’ve got no evidence for what he did here,” Cruxer said. “But he’ll worry we do.”
“Uh-huh,” Kip said.
Tisis took his hand and squeezed. “I didn’t say anything, I swear.”
“I know,” Kip said. “This was going to come up sooner or later.”
“We’re heading back to the Chromeria with purely good intentions,” Cruxer said. “But men with impure eyes see dirt everywhere they look. We’re headed for two kinds of fights, aren’t we? And one of ’em isn’t the kind where we can save you.”
Kip looked from face to face: these boys he’d watched become men. He said, “I didn’t know who he was then, but High General Corvan Danavis half raised me, and he used to say politics are more dangerous than sharks or sea demons. We have to be ready to make sacrifices,” Kip said. “That doesn’t just mean you. It means me, too.”
“If we go back, Zymun will kill you,” Cruxer said.
“Nah,” Kip said with a wink. “My grandfather will kill me first.”
Chapter 58
“I will have my vengeance, Ravi.”
“Shh, no names, no names!” the man whispered.
Though she was nearly dozing behind a curtain, Teia’s ears pricked up immediately.
“In my own home?” Lady Aglaia Crassos scoffed.
Teia had been following Lady Crassos for days now. She’d learned all sorts of things about her, from her numerous lovers to her far more numerous business associates. The last few years had been disastrous for the Crassos family, starting with the death of Aglaia’s brother at Gavin Guile’s hands, so Aglaia had been cobbling together allies and coin in ways she’d never paid attention to earlier in her life. Teia couldn’t even tell where the lines between lovers, business associates, and political allies might be drawn, either.
She’d made no secret of her hatred for the Guiles, though.
Which might have been why some of the men who met with Aglaia wanted to do so privately.
Teia had endangered herself unnecessarily at first, when she’d presumed a furtive little banker who was meeting with Aglaia must be in the Order. That had been merely an assignation: the man was married, and the only conspiracy he seemed to be part of was disguising the true extent of his fees from his clients.
So Teia tried not to get too excited as she drafted paryl once more—when was she going to go wight on this stuff? She’d been using so much!—and peeked out.
Aglaia was checking the jewels glued to her fingernails. “I only joined your little club to get vengeance on the Guiles, Ravi. And I want that magnificent asshole Murder Sharp to serve me. I want him to be the one who does it, and I want him to know he’s serving me. Where is he? How do I hire him?”
Oh, so that was why Aglaia had been screwing a banker. She was angling for a future loan.
But Teia was only trying to feel matter-of-fact. This was her lead!
Ravi was a little beaver-faced man who fretted with his hat. “It doesn’t work like that, and don’t let them see you with that attitude. I’ll . . . I’ll speak with the priest on your behalf.”
“The high priest, and I’ll speak to him myself.”
“I have no idea who that is!” Ravi said.
“Fine, then, the priest. Which one is he?” Horse-faced though she was, with her perfect braided blond hair and her tiny vest worked with coins, Aglaia could be attractive, Teia had to admit, and Ravi had certainly noticed her cleavage and the familiarity of her wearing house clothes in front of him.
He made a pained noise. “It doesn’t work that way, really. Even I’m not supposed to know who he is, and I’ve been in the Order for three years. Each priest has several congregations and they’re always very, very careful.”
“If you figured it out, then I would have, too, within a few more weeks. I won’t tattle on you, Ravi . . . sweetest.”
“A little fear is appropriate. These people aren’t safe.”
She leaned forward, clasping her hands and making the most of her cleavage, and did she pout her lips just a little? Regardless, she waited until Ravi’s eyes flicked down to her breasts, which only made it more withering when she said, “Get some stones, dear man. We are these people now.”
His jaw twitched with momentary indignation, but then Teia saw that he was the small kind of man who, when insulted, tried to prove he didn’t deserve the insult. “I suppose . . . maybe they’ll forget that I was the one who brought you in. He’s of medium height, thin . . .” He seemed to lose his nerve and stopped.