The Tattered Lands

by Barbara Ann Wright

  The twins lay in the hall, both breathing hard. Vandra’s parents stumbled upstairs, Papa holding the small fireplace bellows, and Mama brandishing a candlestick. Everyone started talking at once, and they were soon joined by three more of Vandra’s siblings, all those who still lived at the house, and everyone wanted to know what was going on.

  “Hush, hush!” Mama called. “Everyone back to bed.” Papa led the twins downstairs, looking over their scratches. Mama crooked a finger in Vandra’s direction and picked up the candle from the bedside. After she kissed Sita and tucked her in, she led Vandra downstairs.

  While Papa tended the twins, Mama made a pot of tea and handed cups around. When she was settled, she gestured toward Vandra. “Now, I always knew you children snuck out of the house from time to time, but sneaking in?”

  Vandra couldn’t smile, and she couldn’t lie to them, not with a five-year-old sister upstairs who might have been murdered. After a deep breath, she started with Ariadne walking into her office and sending her on a quest and ended with the news that Ariadne had been murdered.

  At the end, Mama gave her a long look but said nothing. Vandra bet she’d hear about the lies one day when everyone was less tired. Papa came around the table and embraced all of them in turn.

  Their cuts clean, the twins checked the rest of the house, and when they returned with grim faces, Vandra’s stomach shrank again. She thought they might try to hide whatever they’d discovered, but Papa noticed their looks. “Tell us.”

  “The back door was unlocked,” Pietyr said.

  Fieta stared at nothing, rage on her face. “And one of the bushes was flat where someone scaled the back wall.”

  The blood roared in Vandra’s ears. While they were coming in the front, someone had been picking the back door? Maybe they’d already been inside. Maybe they’d watched her listen to her parents breathe. The thought chilled her to the core.

  She breathed deep, telling herself that everyone was all right. She could picture the enemy’s movements: finding her apartment empty, they’d come here, seen that Vandra wasn’t present, and left, smart enough not to go into Sita’s room and alert the cat. But everyone was all right.

  Everyone but Ariadne.

  Vandra felt a warm touch. Mama held her hand. “If you don’t want to do anything more with this, you don’t have to.”

  Vandra had to smile, knowing her mama was offering to hide her from her responsibilities, no matter that hiding might destroy the world. “I can’t stop now. I don’t want anyone else to be hurt.”

  Mama smiled. “I’m proud of you, Vandra.”

  Vandra had to duck her head, pleased but so undeserving of praise.

  “I need to go before the assembly like Ariadne wanted,” Vandra said. “I’ll tell them everything. Maybe people won’t oppose Ariadne for political reasons now that she’s…” A lump moved in Vandra’s throat.

  Pietyr put a hand on her shoulder. “We should leave now, get there before the assembly opens.”

  “The Watch needs to know there’s a murderer on the loose,” Fieta said. “Captain Killian can be trusted.”

  Vandra had heard the name before, a commander both of them liked. “I want to check Ariadne’s office in the Assembly House. If she had any proof to present, it’s there.”

  Mama offered to go with them, and by the looks she exchanged with Papa, they were thinking about bundling up the entire family and taking them along. Going to a Watch House didn’t sound like the worst idea, but now that they were awake, Vandra knew they could guard their own home, especially since she wouldn’t be there to put them in danger.

  After many promises to stay in contact, Vandra and the twins took their leave, sneaking through the streets again. Their first stop was the Watch House. Vandra waited while the twins spoke with Captain Killian, going on about clues and such. They asked the captain about the best way to get past the guards on the Assembly House and up to the offices, but those guards were part of the official Palace Guard, separate from the Watch. Cooperation between the two groups could be iffy, but the captain offered to go along and see if he could talk their way into the offices while one of his trusted lieutenants held Ariadne’s crime scene.

  The Assembly House was part of a larger, imposing structure, even at night. The bottom half was boxy, designed more for business than beauty, but the rectangular structure helped support four impressive spires, the twisting cones topped with graceful statues, each depicting the goddess of justice in her four forms: child, adult, elder, and the winged soul that existed in all people.

  Vandra wondered where Ariadne’s soul had gone, if it stared uncomprehendingly at her body. Priests and priestesses said that the soul couldn’t remember how it died, but opinion was divided on whether a soul focused on the good or bad parts of its life as it lingered on earth for three days before flying to the stars, free to explore other worlds. Some said that souls never departed, torn because they hadn’t finished all they wanted to do on this world.

  If Ariadne had the choice, Vandra bet she would go to the tattered lands and find out the cause of the pylons’ destruction in the hopes of telling the living. If anyone could find a way to communicate from the afterlife, it would be Ariadne.

  The thought made Vandra dip her head from more than fatigue. Their love had never set the world aflame, but it had been good. Real. Each had been what the other one needed. And their relationship had real affection behind it, just not enough to make either of their hearts leap, not like when Vandra thought of Lilani.

  She sighed at the thought of the seelie delegation. Without Ariadne, was there any hope of the seelie being received well? Vandra would have to will the spirit of Ariadne to speak through her. She’d have to make the assembly see the benefits of cooperation. They’d want to talk and talk, and she’d have to make them act.

  Captain Killian talked the assembly guard into letting them wait inside the public receiving room instead of on the street, but he didn’t seem happy about it, and he wasn’t inclined to let them go farther. Captain Killian himself left to attend to Ariadne’s crime scene.

  As the assembly guard led Vandra, Fieta, and Pietyr to the waiting room, he grumbled about people who didn’t want to follow the rules. Vandra’s temper spiked. Their world might be on the brink of ending, people had been murdered, and this useless donkey was worried about following the rules?

  She looked to the twins, wondering if they could knock the man unconscious, but he’d arrest them when he woke up. On the other hand, Ariadne’s enemies wouldn’t wait for a lawful way into the assembly offices. Time was the enemy.

  Vandra spied a small kitchen to the side of the room and put on a smile, hoping it didn’t look too false. “Why don’t I make us all a cup of tea?” she said brightly.

  The guard fell silent, blinking at her.

  “Unless you’d prefer coffee?” she asked as she poked her head into the kitchen. She tried to summon the way Ariadne could feign cheerfulness. “It’s the least I can do for interrupting your night.”

  The guard fidgeted and muttered something about the contents of the kitchen being for guests, not guards.

  Vandra didn’t let her smile slip. “We won’t tell anyone.” She decided to try a wink. “Maybe I can find a few cookies as well.”

  The guard grunted, but a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. Fieta looked back and forth between them. Pietyr frowned until Vandra waved for him to follow. She gave Fieta a pointed glance and nodded to the guard.

  “Um, let me help,” Pietyr said as he followed. Vandra found the kettle while Pietyr lit a fire in the small stove. “What’s the plan?” he whispered.

  She looked through the tins of tea until she found a strong blend. Then she dug in her bag, glad she hadn’t unpacked. Her reagents box had ground poppy and valerian root. She sprinkled a bit of both into a mug.

  Pietyr looked at her in shock. After a glance out at the guard, he stuck out his tongue and let his head loll to the side, miming death. When he focu
sed on her again, his eyes held a question.

  She gave him a dark look, mouthing, “Of course not.” She put her folded hands to her cheek, closed her eyes, and put on a dreamy smile. Pietyr seemed relieved, and she wanted to kick him for even thinking she’d casually commit murder. Instead, she dug through the cupboards and found a tin of cookies. When they had the tea brewed, she and Pietyr carried everything back.

  “Here we are.” With a smile, she handed the guard his cup.

  He bit his bottom lip. “Sorry I was so…” He cleared his throat. “I really shouldn’t. We have our own kitchen.”

  Vandra felt her smile go brittle. Pietyr leaned around her, holding out the plate. “Our mama taught us better than to hog the brew. If anyone asks, tell them we insisted.”

  “Please, join us,” Fieta added as she took a cup. “Then we won’t feel so bad for disturbing you.”

  With a shy smile, the guard took the tea. Vandra fought the urge to sigh. They’d wasted too much time already. She eased out of the conversation, and soon everyone fell silent. Dawn was still some ways off. Vandra set her cup to the side and put her head back as if drowsing. The guard began to yawn, saying, “Excuse me,” each time, but everyone else pretended to sleep. When at last his head leaned back and didn’t rise again, Vandra sat up.

  The guard began to snore. Vandra waved for the twins to hurry. Hopefully, the guard would be so embarrassed when he woke up that he’d say nothing. They took his keys then ran through the door, hurrying through the darkened halls of the Assembly House.

  As a junior assemblywoman, Ariadne’s office was on a higher floor, and Vandra’s legs cramped from running up the stairs. The twins had to put a hand under her elbows and haul her up the last few flights. At last, they were behind Ariadne’s office door, and Vandra leaned on the desk and breathed hard. She wasn’t built for this much running around.

  They risked a candle. Fieta stuffed a small rug into the crack beneath the door, trying to block the light in case of patrols. This room was as tidy as before. Maybe whoever had killed Ariadne hadn’t gotten in here. Or they’d straightened up before they left. Vandra sat at the desk and began going through papers.

  “What are we looking for?” Fieta asked.

  “I’m not sure. Anything that has to do with the tattered lands or the seelie or…” She didn’t know what else. The reason Ariadne was murdered seemed simple. Whoever had sabotaged the pylon didn’t want her to tell anyone else about it. Vandra was her proof, so someone was after Vandra, too. But how had Ariadne learned about the pylon in the first place, before everyone else? If she could find out, she’d have more proof to back up her claims tomorrow.

  But would the assembly assume she was lying? Maybe because of politics. It might have been politics that led to Ariadne’s murder, and Vandra felt justified for hating them.

  She scanned paper after paper. The twins pulled books off the shelves and leafed through them, but Ariadne wouldn’t keep secrets where anyone could find them. The desk drawers held nothing save pens and ink, pencils, and sheets of parchment. Vandra pushed aside blotting paper and Ariadne’s seal and wax. She found spare candles, a magnifying glass, and a clean cup and saucer. Ariadne had always been particular about her drinkware. This one had a pink swirl amidst the cream-colored clay. It bore the mark of Ariadne’s mother, a potter from Westside. Ariadne could have afforded something with gilt, but she’d never forgotten where she came from.

  Vandra felt the heavy hand of grief as she put the cup back. She’d met Ariadne’s mother once, a chance meeting at the market. She’d seemed friendly, happy to see her daughter out from behind her books. Vandra tried not to picture her face when she found out one of her children had been murdered.

  Vandra glanced up and spied a painting on the opposite wall. She hadn’t noticed it earlier. A watercolor, it depicted Westside in all its dank glory, with the houses crowded together, but the artist had focused on splashes of color: a cart selling flowers, a few pots and vases, an orange cat lying in the sun. In the distance were gulls and the tall masts of ships in the harbor. Through a gap in the buildings, the sun winked off the water. The artist had managed to find the beauty in Ariadne’s childhood home. It seemed a perfect hiding place for something important.

  Carefully, Vandra took the painting down and turned it over. Brown paper covered the back, but it had a slit along one edge. “Look here.” She shook it gently and heard the soft sound of paper sliding inside.

  Fieta cut a bigger hole in the back. A letter slid out, and Vandra caught it. The script was flowery, dramatic. The paper seemed old though the ink looked new.

  “It’s about the pylon dying,” Vandra said as she read it. “The sender heard of Ariadne’s interest in the pylons and thought she was the person to tell.”

  “Who’s it from?” Pietyr asked.

  “It’s unsigned, and the language seems…archaic. Some of the grammar’s old, too.” She turned it over, but the other side was blank.

  “Some of us aren’t as good at spelling and such as you are, Van,” Fieta said.

  Vandra ignored that. “The handwriting is perfect, even beautiful.”

  “So, the sender is used to writing, but not in the language of Citran?” Pietyr asked.

  Vandra nodded. “And since there aren’t any other human languages anymore, I don’t think this was from a human. It’s seelie, but Lilani acted as if her people hadn’t contacted ours for years.”

  “Maybe she doesn’t know,” Fieta said.

  Pietyr shook his head. “She said her mother was the empress. Wouldn’t she know everything?”

  Vandra turned the letter over and over. “Seems like everyone is keeping secrets lately.”

  Outside the window, the sky was lightening, and Vandra fought the urge to lie down under the desk and sleep for the rest of her life. But the assembly would be gathering soon for a long day of bickering, and Vandra had to be there. She stuffed the letter in her pack beside the lead-lined box. She didn’t know when Ariadne had put her on the schedule or if she was meant to be a surprise. Should she return to the waiting room or barge into the assembly chambers? The guard would miss his keys as soon as he awoke. Best to give them back, then. Vandra couldn’t start the day with yet another person wanting to murder her.

  Vandra didn’t know whether to laugh or weep at the macabre thought. She was too tired for either. “Come on. Let’s get back to the waiting room.”

  The guard was still asleep when they arrived. They put the keys back on his belt, then Fieta and Pietyr sat, pretending to sleep while Vandra shook the man awake. He snorted and sat up, his eyes bleary. He smacked his lips and tried to focus on her, but his pupils were dilated.

  “The building will be open soon,” she said. “You’d better wake up.”

  He blinked before his eyes widened, and he sat up hurriedly, looked at the sleeping twins, then at Vandra again. “What happened?”

  “We all drifted off. Must be these comfy chairs. Don’t worry,” she said as he stood. “We won’t tell.”

  He seemed confused as well as embarrassed, and she hoped that was enough to keep him quiet. He hurried out, and a moment later, the inner door opened, and a secretary stepped inside. She stared as if she hadn’t expected to see anyone waiting so early.

  “Assemblywoman Ariadne Bahn added us to the schedule,” Vandra said, her voice shaking a little over Ariadne’s name. “It’s important.” When the secretary still seemed confused, Vandra put her hands on her hips, too keyed up to wait anymore. “One of the pylons has gone out. I think the assembly needs to know that.”

  Chapter Eleven

  When everyone gathered together in the Court, Lilani was reminded of how few of them were left. Nearly a thousand sounded like a lot in her head, but to see them together, she realized how much trouble they were in if they’d truly stopped breeding.

  Especially since someone seemed determined to murder at least one of them. Lilani shivered. Would the killer have gone after her mother, too? Did the
y want the seelie to be without leadership? Lilani had cousins, both close and distant, but none had ever expressed interest in claiming the throne.

  The trail from the night before had led into the square then disappeared amongst the traces of everyone else. Now that the entire Court had awakened to investigate the fuss, the trail grew even colder. The last attempted murder among the seelie was far in the past, and everyone seemed mystified about what to do. Lilani peered at all the people she thought she knew. In the dim light, all of them seemed sinister, capable of being anyone else at a moment’s notice.

  When a hand rested on Lilani’s shoulder, she jumped, her magic roaring within her.

  Faelyn held up his hands, eyes wide. “It’s me.”

  She breathed out. Yes, him and her mother, the only two people who certainly didn’t want to kill her, at least not at the moment. Faelyn had been asleep when she’d seen the shadowy figure, and her mother had come rushing to defend her. She didn’t think it could be any of the Guard, either. One of them had known she was sleeping in the orchard, and the others were too good at shrouding to have been the bumbling seelie who’d attacked her.

  Unless they wanted her to think they were bumbling, when in reality—

  She put her head in her hands. “I’m going crazy.”

  “Breathe. The Guard is questioning everyone, but it’s been a long time since they’ve had to conduct an investigation, and no one is happy to be accused. The last crime we had was a theft, and that stemmed from a feud a long time in the making.”

  “If someone was angry with me, they’d have spoken to me rather than try to kill me in my bed!” She fought the urge to bite her thumb, a nervous habit she’d done away with years past. “I can’t stay here. I won’t need to be guarded if the murderer can’t find me.”

  “So, you propose to camp somewhere away from the Court?” he asked. “Oh good, then if the murderer does find you, they’ll have no trouble killing you without any pesky witnesses.”