"I will find help for you—three days out of eight." Farzi nodded to me and walked out.
"How long are we going to be here?" Xiri hissed as soon as we were alone.
"No idea," I said and started washing plates.
"Thank goodness we get decent food, now." Haral was gazing angrily at the six courtesans—that let me know who it was that had been ordered into the kitchen while Xiri and I had been off. The women didn't take Haral's criticism well. If he'd been bedding any of them, his favors might have just dwindled. I didn't have any expression on my face as I handed out plates of food.
Farzi hired six locals to cook three days out of each eight-day. They went home at night, too. I thought that was a good thing. Teeg was overjoyed to have three days each week to spend with me. Things might have worked out, if spawn hadn't come.
* * *
"They killing my workers," Farzi moaned as he walked into the kitchen one morning.
"What? Who?" Xiri and I were staring at Farzi immediately. Ande and Malin had also stopped peeling fruit to listen.
"Those creatures—we not know how bad they could be." Farzi was pretty upset, I could tell.
"Demons," Arvil snarled as he and his wizards came in, carrying crates of ranos rifles. I wanted to correct him but didn't. Arvil hadn't seen a demon. Yet.
"We'll go out tonight—Reah, go get some sleep."
"Why does Reah need sleep?" Farzi didn't understand.
"She's the best shot we have," Delvin said. "We have to get these charged up." He pulled a rifle from a crate, along with the solar charger.
"A cook can kill those things? I am puzzlement." Farzi went off, mumbling to himself.
"Reah, what are you doing back here?" Teeg was sanding wood in front of our bungalow.
"They found spawn out in the fields. I have to go shoot them tonight."
"Are you joking?"
"Teeg, that's one of the reasons they grabbed me to begin with. That and another thing I can do," I grumbled. I wished I was anywhere except where I was, and I wanted to take Teeg with me.
"What other thing?"
"Teeg, don't ask."
"Reah, we love each other. Tell me."
"Teeg."
"Reah."
I wanted to tell him. Everything. But he worked for Arvil San Gerxon for some reason. I kept forgetting that. Lendill hadn't gotten back with me either. What was I supposed to do—work for Arvil for the rest of my life?
"Reah, if Arvil already knows, what harm can it do?"
"I don't know that Arvil knows. Delvin knows." I walked inside the bungalow.
"And he's the one who snatched you. From where?"
"Teeg, I don't want to say that. I don't know what you know or what Arvil knows. I have to protect myself, Teeg."
"You don't trust me to protect you?"
How could I tell him that I could protect myself just as well as anyone else? How could I tell him that if it weren't for being enslaved by the ASD, I could skip away in a blink. "Reah, answer me." Teeg grabbed my arm.
"Teeg, would you trust anyone who worked for Arvil San Gerxon?" I jerked my arm from his hand and stalked toward the bedroom.
Teeg didn't speak to me when I rose later and dressed in my black leathers. I didn't know what to say to him—I'd pretty much said that I didn't trust him. I wasn't treating him very well and I knew it.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it the way it sounded," I said before walking away from him and heading toward the main house.
* * *
"Mine have some effectiveness, our others do not," Farzi and the other reptanoids had come with us. I suppose what he meant was that he and others like him could see spawn. The locals couldn't. I made a mental note to ask Lendill about it. I was seeing the drakus seed fields for the first time, too. I wondered if Farzi was completely aware of what it was. I couldn't ask.
"All workers, missing." Nenzi used that word a lot.
"He means they've gone—they've been ordered out of the fields," Delvin walked up beside me. "Heard you and the carpenter had a little fight."
"We're good," I muttered angrily. Did Delvin have eyes and ears everywhere, or did Xiri have his gossip lines open? How was I to know? I picked up my usual two rifles to start with. Arvil had come with us again, but I had no idea why—he was only a target since he couldn't see what we fought.
"Enemy not close—we can tell," Farzi said. I guessed that he could scent them somehow.
"Then I want to inspect the crop," Arvil said.
"Reah, like to see our river? It is this way," Farzi pointed to our left—I could see a line of trees there. He was probably directing me away from his and Arvil's illegal cash crop, but I didn't want to see that anyway.
"I'd like to see the river," I said. That's how Arvil and his wizards went in one direction, Farzi, Nenzi, six other reptanoids that I had no name for and I all headed toward the river. We were about halfway there, too, when the firebombing began.
The first blast blew everything high into the air and set the fields on fire. Farzi and the others ran. I stood and stared as hovercopters burned everything in their path until I was jerked off the ground.
What do you do when you find yourself disembodied? That was the only explanation I had for it—I was flying over the tops of trees while more firebombs exploded behind me. If I could have screamed, I would have. I had no mouth, no limbs, no body, even, to struggle against what held me.
More explosions sounded behind me and then I was flying over the plantation house. My body was released suddenly and I hit the water of the pool hard; it nearly knocked me unconscious. Struggling to rise to the top to catch my breath, I heard the firebombs hit the plantation with a muted boom. Someone landed in the water next to me, clamped a hand over my nose and mouth and pulled me back to the bottom.
Chapter 8
Red was all I could see from the bottom of the pool. I struggled against the one holding me. I also struggled to take a breath, knowing that if I did I'd only draw in water. Things began to go dark and still there was red light—and heat.
* * *
"Reah?" Someone was calling my name. I coughed up water as I rolled over. Feeling was finally coming back to my arms and legs. I lay on a hard surface—I knew that much. "Sweetheart, open your eyes, please." Teeg was with me. I opened my eyes and every other part of me awoke and began to ache.
He helped me sit up; I blinked at my surroundings. Everything was gone—All of it burned to ash around us. The flagstones beneath us were cracked and blackened. The water in the pool had been vaporized—it only held a small amount of moisture in the bottom, now.
"It lasted long enough to keep us alive," Teeg muttered, holding me steady as I wavered beside him. He was covered in ash and soot, just as I was.
"Where are the others?" I asked. My voice was barely above a whisper and speaking made me cough again. Teeg waited for the fit to be over before he answered. "Everybody died, except us," he said. "At the plantation, I mean."
"Xiri?" I wanted to cry. I couldn't.
"Dead. Jazal, his wife and the cousins—dead too. The six women and Xiri's assistants are gone. I can't say whether any of the staff was here. I haven't gone searching for other bodies." I stared at Teeg. His face was covered in black smudges; his hair looked wild and stood on end.
"Love," I reached out to wipe a bit of black ash off his face.
"Reah, we almost didn't make it." Teeg sat next to me and pulled me close. That's where Farzi and his seven reptanoid brothers found us later.
"Our little cook lives. And the carpenter."
"Pool," Teeg jerked his head toward the nearly empty concrete hole.
"We take river—much thankful we are that current is slow at this time." Farzi knelt next to us. He was covered in ash and cinders. He and his people looked worse off than Teeg and I, but then they'd walked through blackened fields and burned jungle to get back to the plantation. What was left of it, anyway.
"What about the others?" Teeg asked.
"Not knowing. We not find any piece of them. We look, as soon as heat gone." Farzi's common speech was more garbled—I felt it was the aftereffects of nearly being killed. I knew, even if the others didn't, that the firebombs were courtesy of the Alliance. Regular Alliance Army, or RAA, used them to destroy drug fields. I wondered if it had been ordered by the ASD. Had Lendill learned where we were and sent in the bombers, thinking I was expendable? It wouldn't surprise me.
* * *
"I wasn't able to contact Reah last night, and now I learn that the RAA has firebombed Urdolus?" Lendill wanted to yank his hair out.
"They're not obligated to contact us if they find something and have the ships nearby," Norian snapped. He was nearly as frustrated at the news as Lendill was. "All our agents know the risks."
"Reah didn't."
"Well, there wasn't much time to tell her."
"We didn't because we're cowards."
"There's that." Norian raked a hand through his hair. "I can only handle that accusing look for so long."
"Aurelius will kill us."
"No. Aurelius will kill you. Tory will kill me. He's High Demon and immune to poison. Have you tried to reach Reah again?"
"I was afraid to."
"Try."
* * *
Nothing was left—of the plantation or anything around it. I'd heard that about firebombing—that only skeletons might be found, if that, and perhaps melted or twisted metal. Anything else flammable would be reduced to ash. It shocked me as I kicked ash aside in the ruins of Xiri's bungalow. His bones were there and I found them just as Lendill's mindspeech found me.
Reah? I thought for a moment about not answering.
What? I'm sure he read the sullenness in my mental voice.
Reah, thank the gods. I thought the RAA may have bombed where you were.
They did. A moment's silence followed my statement.
Reah, were you anywhere near that?
In the middle of it. Somebody shoved me into the pool. The whole thing went to steam before the heat abated. Just about everybody else died.
San Gerxon?
Not sure. He was surrounded by wizards.
Reptanoids?
Still here—all of them. They went into the river.
Reah, I know you're not happy with us right now, but we didn't order the firebombing. RAA moved without consulting us.
And I'm supposed to believe that?
Reah, you're being disrespectful with a superior. I didn't answer him. If he knew how disrespectful I wanted to be—I was staring at Xiri's bones, after all. I sobbed. Reah? Reah, are you still there?
You be respectful, Vice-Director, the next time a friend's bones lie beneath your hand. I cut off the communication. Lendill didn't try again.
* * *
"She's still alive, but didn't tell me what her condition is," Lendill looked at Norian. He didn't say that Reah had cut off the mindspeech. "She doesn't know about San Gerxon—the reptanoids are still alive—they jumped into the river when the bombing started.
"Who'd have guessed about Urdolus?" Norian sighed.
"I guessed about Urdolus." Gavril stood in the doorway to Norian's office. "If you'd read the message I sent on your comp-vid two days ago, you'd have known, too." Gavril looked as if he were ready to cry. He ran down the hall.
"How did he?" Norian lifted his comp-vid and scrolled through unread messages. Selecting the one from Gavril, he opened it. "Fuck," Norian shouted.
"What?" Lendill came over to look. He found a list of all the fruit Lendill had given him, combining those elements with the green nuts and palaca meat, then listed all the planets where those items were available in the same location. Six held too much population to harbor drakus seed fields. That left only Urdolus. Gavril had sorted it out—Lendill had ignored it.
"Fuck," Lendill sighed.
* * *
"I don't have any tools to bury Xiri," Teeg knelt beside me. I nodded; I wasn't able to speak at the moment.
"Farzi, I'm so glad to see you're alive, my friend." Arvil's blustering voice came from behind. Teeg pulled me to my feet. Arvil's eyes widened as he saw we'd made it, too.
"The river, Master Arvil," Farzi stepped over piles of ash and rubble to reach Arvil, who was (no surprise) surrounded by all his wizards. "That one," Farzi indicated Teeg, "pool saves him." Farzi included me with the river jumpers. Just as well; I couldn't explain how I'd gotten to the pool the night before.
"My brother?" Arvil knew the answer before we told him. He didn't sound heartbroken.
"Reah, we'll find more help for you," Arvil was back to bluster. "We can go home, now—I hear the Alliance is looking elsewhere. Better to be away from here, anyway; they may come to inspect their work."
Arvil didn't even ask Farzi and the other reptanoids if they wanted to go back to Campiaa; his wizards took us there before we had time to think.
"Take two days off—we'll eat at the casino," Arvil told us. I nodded blankly, feeling numb. Teeg, who kept a hand and a close eye on me, herded me through the door. We got plenty of stares as we made our way to his apartment.
"Reah, we only frightened small dogs and babies on our walk here—they'll rebound." Teeg's head appeared above mine as I stared at myself in the mirror. "Come on, sweetheart, let's get cleaned up and go to bed."
* * *
I don't think I'd ever appreciated clean sheets and a soft bed so much in my life after spending the night on burned and cracked flagstones. I must have been unconscious most of that time—I couldn't remember anything other than pain and discomfort. My lungs still felt coated in soot, and I coughed at times. Teeg didn't—I suppose he'd gotten it all out of his system already.
"Go to sleep, baby," Teeg's words were whispered against my skin. My eyes closed immediately.
* * *
"Sweetheart, your stomach is growling." That was such a romantic statement to wake to.
"Is it keeping you awake?" I stretched against Teeg—he was leaning on an elbow and looking down at me.
"Reah, I'm tempted to ignore our hunger and love you instead."
"I'll fix you something." I sat up in bed. It hit me, then. All those people. Still just as dead.
"Don't think about it," Teeg pulled my hand away from my forehead and slid me across the sheets until I was huddled against him. "It'll be all right," he soothed. I hoped he was right—even if I had no idea when everything might be all right. "You don't have knobby knees," he smoothed a large hand down my legs. "You lied to me."
"Teeg, I was trying to keep everybody from knowing I was a girl." I slid off the bed.
"I know." He was right behind me, running his hands beneath my sleeveless pajama top. We ate soup after thawing it in his zapper. With crackers. "We can go to the market later," I said. I felt too weary to move after we'd eaten.
"We'll go later." Teeg carried me back to bed.
* * *
The eight-day that went by after I returned to cooking (and bodyguarding) for Arvil went without mishap. I found a flower shop in Campiaa City early one morning, bought a bouquet of blossoms and tossed them in the ocean. "For you, Xiri," I whispered. "Wherever you are." I wiped tears away while I walked to Arvil's palace.
* * *
"Arvil wants to see you," Delvin came into the kitchen on seven-day afternoon. Almost asking what Arvil wanted, I decided not to put my worries into words and followed Delvin up two levels of stairs and into Arvil's private study. His private office was enormous and decorated with every luxury one might imagine or wish for. I wished at that moment that Teeg had mindspeech—I was worried about what Arvil wanted.
"Sit down, Reah." Arvil sat behind a desk large enough to serve as a bed for two people. Richly carved in dark wood and polished until it shone, the desk was still dwarfed by the size of the room. A comp-vid lay on one side; otherwise, the desk was clean.
I sat on one of the chairs in front of the desk. "Her feet barely reach the floor," Arvil pointed. Delvin snickered at Arvil's attempted
humor. I wanted to get up and hit him. He'd gotten me into this mess and I still owed him for that. Not in any good way, either.
"Reah, you know I lost my family," Arvil began.
"I'm very sorry about that, Lord Arvil." I was. Even if they weren't the best family, they were family. I'd feel sad if one of my brothers died. Well, actually they were my uncles and not my brothers. I'd still feel sad. Mostly for what could have been, but it would grieve me, just the same.
"I know you are. That's why I asked you here. Because you seem to care about things like that." Arvil rose from his chair and stared out a rather large window behind his desk. It overlooked the pool and gardens on the spacious grounds below. "Do you know how old I am, Reah?" Arvil's back was still turned toward me.
"No, Lord Arvil."
"I am more than two hundred. While I come from a race that lives to be three hundred or more, well, things happen." He was right about that—his brother and cousins had been wiped out in a blink. Even though he'd told me to kill them if they threatened him, he'd felt something, I suppose.
"I know how old you are, Reah Nilvas." He turned around, lifted the comp-vid in his hand and scrolled through information. "Conscripted by the Alliance. Fell in with the drug crowd—involved in a drug war—considered a traitor now. See, I have your information. You don't have to hide it anymore." He turned the comp-vid around so I could see that he did indeed have my records. The false ones. I still flushed and lowered my head.
In my entire life, I would never do what those records said I did. Lendill had done this to me. He and Norian Keef. I wanted to slap them. Call them names. That was childish. How was I going to get out of this? How? Even if my records were cleared when I returned, there were too many people who'd seen the newsfeeds and found these records. They'd still think I was criminal, even though I wasn't.
"Teeg is here as requested, Master Arvil." His new housekeeper—a male this time, showed Teeg through the door. I shrank back in my seat. Arvil was going to show that garbage to Teeg and he was going to think I'd done all those things, too. I wanted to weep.
"Teeg, sit down," Arvil nodded toward the seat next to me. "This is information on our little girl, here." Arvil handed the comp-vid to Teeg. His mouth was set in a frown as he read the information. The comp-vid was handed back as soon as Teeg finished reading. He didn't look at me.
Demon Revealed (High Demon Series #2) Page 12
