Calling the Change (Sky Raiders Book 2)

by Michelle Diener

  Garek ignored him, his eyes going to the wall Vaar had been aiming for.

  He tried to care about the possibility of a secret passage, about the greed and the graft obviously going on here, even about the treason. But he just wanted to find Taya.

  At a shout outside the office, he turned.

  Nostra was pushing her way back through the crowd, and for a moment, his heart lifted at the thought she might have found Taya in the cells she'd gone to investigate, but the person she was dragging behind her was someone else entirely.

  “Falk,” he said.

  The town master's scientist, who'd been trying to work out how to fly the sky craft when Garek had stolen it to go looking for Taya.

  “You know him?” Nostra shoved him into the room. “He was trying to sneak onto the sky craft. The guards caught him.”

  Typical.

  “Garek. You're alive.” Falk sounded unhappy about that. “What did you do with my sky craft?”

  “I swopped it for a larger model, as you must surely have seen.”

  Falk chewed on his lower lip. “How? How did you get it?”

  “I took the small craft up, found the mother ship, stole onto a craft going to Shadow, where the prisoners were being kept, and engineered an escape with them and Aidan. We came home in the sky craft you were just trying to break in to.”

  Behind him, Vaar gasped and Garek turned around, eyebrows raised. He'd thought Vaar had been lying earlier when he claimed he didn't know why the Harven wanted himself and Taya. “The Harven ambassador didn't tell you? Some of the prisoners were Harven and I took them home to Luf. I even spoke to Habred, Harven's liege, for an hour or so.”

  Despite his circumstances, the look in Vaar's eyes was of fury. “You flew a sky craft to Shadow? And that bastard wanted you for himself?”

  Aidan laughed at him. “It doesn't matter what Habred wants, what you want. Even what I want. Garek suits himself.”

  Garek turned his back on them all and walked to the wall Vaar had been so interested in, pushed the wall hanging aside, and found a narrow passageway behind it.

  Aidan came to peer inside it with him. “What now?”

  Garek turned to look out the window, saw the light was fading. “The evening opening of the gates must nearly be over. I'll go wait at the cells Vaar said they would use, and if they don't come by tonight, I'll go hunting again.”

  Aidan nodded. Then turned sharply as Nostra shoved Falk in their direction.

  “What do I do with him? He says he works for you.” She looked disbelieving.

  “I offered him a job,” Aidan admitted.

  “And I accepted. I was packing up when the sky craft landed.” Falk shrugged out of Nostra's hold.

  Aidan nodded at her, and after a hard look, she turned back to see where she could be of assistance.

  “Nostra.” Garek reached out a hand, and she turned back to him. He knew she would have said straight away if there had been any sign of Taya, but . . .

  “She wasn't there,” she said simply. “But others had been in those cells recently. Given the location, and the effort to make it look like the area isn't in use, I'd say whoever was kept there wasn't charged under Illian law.”

  Aidan rubbed a frustrated hand through his hair. “You didn't see anyone there at all?”

  “There were no guards on duty, and I thought it would be best to slip in quietly so I didn't spook anyone. We want them to think all is still well so they bring her there, don't we?”

  Garek nodded. “Find someone called Esme. She's run the cells, the legitimate cells, for a long time, and I think she's trustworthy. She can keep her mouth shut, too, and she's no friend of either Utrel or Vaar. She can tell you which guards have been wandering down that way, maybe even who's been kept there. Tell her I sent you.”

  Nostra nodded, looking suddenly animated, and she whistled a little tune as she strode out the room.

  Because Garek watched her go, he noticed the slim guard, loose golden brown curls pulled back from the warm bronze of her face, hovering uncertainly just outside. Her gaze was fixed on him as if willing him to notice her.

  “Cara?”

  “Garek.” She blew out a breath in relief, motioned him over.

  He motioned her in, instead, to get her out of the crush of onlookers. “You were looking for me?”

  She walked into the room nervously, as if intimidated by the people inside, although only Aidan was paying them any attention, and she knew Aidan as well as she knew him. “I heard secondhand from some of the guards that you'd landed in a sky craft, that you were looking for your intended. That Utrel had sent Gaffri to take her.”

  He felt the hunter's instinct rise at the hint of a scent. “Yes.”

  “I was on gate duty when Gaffri left, and I know Janu was with him. The thing is,” she wet her lips nervously. “I've just come off gate duty now, and I thought you might be interested to know I saw Janu slip in through the gate at the start of the evening opening.” There was no mistaking the dislike for Janu on her face as she spoke.

  “Who was with him?” Garek gripped her shoulders. “Did you see Taya?”

  She shook her head. “I saw Janu waiting at the front of the line and kept an eye on him until the gates opened and he walked in. I'm sorry, Garek. He was alone.”

  SIXTEEN

  They had definitely reached the Dartalian Range.

  If the cooler air and steeper paths hadn't given it away, Taya had started to catch glimpses of The Finger.

  She'd seen it before, flying in the sky craft when they'd taken Luci and her villagers to the Harven capital of Luf.

  She closed her eyes and turned away from it. Before, it was a wonder she had never seen, another interesting footnote on her adventure. Now, it meant they were moving closer to Luf, and the Harven liege.

  She had a good idea what he wanted from her, and she wasn't prepared to give it.

  Luci and her people would have shared the stories of their rescue with the citizens of Luf, and there was every chance the liege's spies and informants had reported back to him.

  In normal times, Taya knew her particular ability would be prized by any state, but it was even more valuable now, because the element she called was so effective at bringing down sky craft.

  No one could physically force her to do it, though.

  Habred would really have only one way to get her cooperation, and that was to blackmail her, holding the safety of her family, or of Garek, over her head.

  He would have to take West Lathor first, of course, and he was far from doing that. And she would not help him.

  So there would be uncomfortable times ahead for her.

  Not that she was living a life of luxury right now.

  The very thought of that made her fight back a smile.

  She was still being carried, and thankfully both men were holding an end each, so she wasn't being dragged.

  The pain in her head had softened to a dull ache, but she still felt nauseous and dizzy if she stood.

  It had been nearly two days since she'd been struck, and she knew they'd made excellent time.

  Fek and Gaffri may be traitors and scum, but they were fit and well-trained scum.

  Perhaps their growing dislike of each other contributed to it, as well, pushing them to show the other up.

  Gaffri, who was in front, stumbled, jolting her and forcing her to grab the sides of her stretcher to stop herself falling.

  She opened her eyes, and while she was looking straight up, she saw a sky craft, high above.

  Fek must have noticed her sudden focus, because his gaze went from glaring at Gaffri's back to looking straight up.

  “Sky craft,” he called.

  Gaffri stopped, and they set her down, both crouching, heads tipped back.

  “It's high. It can't see us.” Gaffri didn't sound convinced of his own statement.

  Taya tried to make out which kind it was, whether it was the larger transport Garek had stolen on Shadow, or the s
mall, nimbler fighters that raided the merchant trains and villages to provide for their prisoners.

  “What do we do if it flies lower?” Fek asked, deferring to Gaffri for the first time since the earthquake he'd caused.

  “What can we do?” Gaffri kept his gaze on the sky.

  The sky craft that she'd hoped had been Garek had been flying high, too, Taya remembered.

  She hadn't tried to call her Change since her accident, but now she did, and sensed again the small but well-spread presence of shadow ore in the rocks all around them.

  They couldn't come lower, she suddenly realized. It was too dangerous. Shadow ore interfered with the systems that ran their craft. She didn't understand how the systems worked, but she knew that if too much shadow ore got too close, it burnt out or broke.

  She scanned again, looking for a bigger deposit, because she knew it would be better for her to find more shadow ore--her current stocks were meagre.

  Again, the sense she had was of tiny flecks of it, mixed through the granite, and then she caught hold of something bigger.

  She latched on to it, the urge more instinct than deliberate action, and realized it was right beside her.

  Gaffri's pack, which he'd set by his foot when he'd crouched down, fell over toward her.

  It was inside his pack.

  She tried to hold back a gasp, failed. Her knife. He still had her knife!

  She'd thought it had been lost in the earthquake but it hadn't. Gaffri had had it all this time.

  Gaffri's hand reached out, grabbed his pack and pulled it back toward him, his gaze going to her. “What is it?”

  She stared at him blankly.

  “Why did you make that sound? What did you see?”

  Oh. She shook her head. Said nothing.

  He watched her suspiciously, but the sky craft had gone, and they had to move.

  She watched the sky after that, not hoping to see a craft this time, but hoping she didn't. While the spread of shadow ore she could feel was thin, it was all around them, the mass of it significant, and she didn't know what effect it would have on a sky craft.

  Garek wouldn't know about the shadow ore, and he wouldn't hesitate to come down to get her, even if he did.

  She gave a bitter smile. They didn't know it, but suddenly not being seen by the sky craft was just as much her objective as it was Fek and Gaffri's. There would be no running into the open, waving her arms again, no matter what the cost to herself.

  THE HUNT WAS ON.

  It felt good to move, to act. Garek had thought he'd chase Janu down on his own, but Kas, standing to one side of Vaar's office, watching on with impatience and bemusement, had insisted on coming. So too had Lynal, as well as Lorn, one of the guards Nostra had lent Kas at the start of their race to Gara.

  Noticing Garek's surprise at her offer to help, Lorn had shrugged. “I don't know Taya, but I'm invested now. I want to bring them down as much as you do.”

  Cara joined them, too, leading them through the streets to the West Gate where Janu had come in, and then to the left, toward the Eighth Wedge, the darkest, poorest slice of Garamundo's pie.

  Cara stopped when they came to a small square that was used as a food market during the day. “This is where he dropped out of sight. This is as far as you can see to from the gate towers.”

  It was almost fully night now, but Garek could see the top of the gate tower was just visible. “You were really keeping an eye on him,” he said.

  Cara's lips twisted. “Darla and I are friends. I knew she'd gone out with his unit. It made me wonder why he was coming back on his own. I was worried about her.”

  “I'm grateful you were, or we wouldn't even know he was here, let alone where to start looking for him.” Garek took stock of their position. They were still in the First Wedge, on the main road through to the Eighth.

  The tenements stretched high here, although they were better kept than their neighbors just a few streets away.

  “Do you think he went to ground here, or in the Eighth?” he asked Cara.

  She tipped her head from side to side, considering. “I'd say he'd stick to the First, just because it's safer and cleaner, but I'm not sure. He strikes me as someone who'd have connections in the Eighth, and he knows it would be harder to find him there.”

  “Well, if you heard we were looking for him, he's probably heard the same thing by now,” Kas pointed out.

  That was true. If Janu had spoken to one of his friends in the guard, he'd have heard the news of Utrel and Vaar's arrests.

  “We all know what he looks like,” Lynal said. “Why don't we split up and wander around, keeping our eyes open. Unless he's holed up in a room somewhere, we'll find him.” There was a suppressed excitement about Lynal, and Garek realized it was probably his first time in Gara, that he saw this as an adventure.

  His suggestion made sense, though. “All right. We'll meet back here to report in an hour. Try not to draw attention to yourself. We don't want him to realize how close we are, because if he does hole up somewhere in fright, it will be even harder to find him.”

  Harder but not impossible. Because Garek was not going to admit defeat.

  He waited while everyone chose a direction, then started out himself, heading straight for the heart of the Eighth.

  He knew the whole of Gara well, he'd patrolled it all in the two years he'd spent walking the walls, but he'd kept out of the Eighth if he could.

  There were some inhabitants in the Eighth through no choice of their own, but others made their place there because of its narrow, twisting alleys and crowded, hostile tenements.

  It was hard to chase a criminal into the Eighth and have any luck catching them.

  The windows all around him lit up one by one, as the last light of the day faded. The street lamps in the Eighth were no longer lit at night. Most of them were smashed, and would be smashed again as soon as they were repaired. The gangs and criminals who lived here made sure of it.

  He wandered in and then out of a few small eateries and taverns, careful not to leave too quickly, and always buying something.

  He picked up a few followers after the second tavern, but one small push of air against their faces had them scurrying off.

  It may be hard to run someone to ground here, but they knew better than to poke at the Gara guard on purpose, either.

  Up ahead, a door swung open and light and noise spilled out into the night.

  This tavern was already in full swing.

  Garek looked up, but there was no sign over the door. Like a lot of businesses in the Eighth, it preferred to remain nameless.

  As he stepped inside, he sensed the quick, furtive looks of those closest to the entrance.

  He knew he looked at least as disreputable as they did.

  He hadn't slept in over a day, he hadn't shaved or bathed in even longer and his clothes were dirty and stiff with sweat.

  There was perhaps a longer pause than he'd have liked, but the patrons went back to their conversations.

  Garek moved through the room toward what those from Gara called the central spin, the circular bar from where the staff took and filled orders.

  He saw Janu almost right away.

  The guard was leaning close to a woman in a tiny booth toward the back of the room.

  She was shaking her head, and he obviously didn't like what she was saying. He leaned back with a scowl on his face.

  Garek looked down, noticed his hands were shaking, then he started across the room, pulling his Change to him.

  A man grunted in surprise as he passed his table, and he guessed he was flickering in and out of view.

  Janu looked away from his companion, temper souring his features, and then saw Garek coming toward him.

  He half-rose from his seat, and Garek used the air above him to shove him down.

  It took Garek a moment to notice the wind rattling and whistling around the room, the stricken and fearful faces of the patrons, and he pulled back just a little.<
br />
  “How is this going to go?” he asked.

  Janu's mouth was slack. “Weren't you . . .” He shook his head. “Weren't you in Juli?”

  “I was. When I heard what you'd done, I came here.” He settled the air completely, and silence fell in the once-noisy tavern. “Where is she, Janu?”

  “Gaffri's taking her to Luf.” Janu laid both hands on the table, head bowed. “I'll tell you everything I know.”

  The woman opposite Janu shook her head. She didn't say anything to him but Garek thought he saw anger and pity in her eyes.

  Unfortunately for him, Janu would get no pity from Garek.

  No pity at all.

  SEVENTEEN

  “I've never felt so torn.” Kas leaned against the window of the sky craft, looking down as Pan Nuk came into view in the early morning light.

  Garek held his gaze. “Luca needs you. So does Pan Nuk. You know I won't rest until she's safe.”

  Kas nodded. Looked down again, and gave a wide, relieved smile when Luca had come into view, waving his hands wildly in welcome.

  Garek paused only long enough for Kas and Lynal to disembark, and then rose again.

  “This is your village?” Falk asked.

  He'd been quiet since they'd lifted off from Garamundo as dawn was breaking.

  The night before, after he'd brought Janu in to the Tower, Garek had had to get some sleep. He was useless to Taya without it.

  He'd eaten a meal in the Towers and washed up, found a bed for himself, while Falk had followed him around, arguing for the right to come along.

  Sometime between closing his bedroom door in Falk's face and getting up this morning to collect Kas and Lynal and leave, Falk had persuaded Aidan that he should go.

  They both knew Garek wasn't happy about it, but also that he was in too much of a hurry to argue any more, and Falk had wisely keep his mouth shut from the moment he'd stepped into the sky craft until now.

  Garek took the question for what it was, an effort to ease the tension, and ignored it, tipped the left wing, and flew as slowly as he could over the path below.