Broken Devices

by Karen Myers

  His broad smile brought some answering chuckles, foreigner though he was. “We all of us went to visit this Rin Tsugo, the teken in charge of the chained wizards that gathered as refugees in Yenit Ping. That was… yesterday. We included Char Dazu to witness for his uncle, and Gen Jongto to witness for Imperial Security, and Penrys to extend an invitation for the chained wizards to join the process. We were attacked.”

  The hall was silent.

  “More than a hundred wizards broke the compound doors and invaded. They killed eight of the chained wizards, they killed three of my colleagues—foreign envoys—and they kidnapped several more, including your own Char Dazu. Many of them died, and many of the chained wizards escaped, but that was only the first foray.”

  He surveyed the hall. “In Rasesni we have an expression—‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend.’ Do you know who these wizards are? Are they your friends or your enemies? When they come to seek guild endorsement, will you grant it to them?”

  He shook his head. “I am only a foreigner, but if the tekenga lupjuwen come, and it were me, I would make myself stronger by the alliance.”

  “What good are they?” Penrys couldn’t see the woman who spoke.

  Char Nojuk stepped up. “I came afterward and was told that most of them were killed by Penrys here, through the special lup of a teken. I believe it.”

  Penrys grimaced.

  He overrode the disbelieving noise of his audience. “I saw the dead, but I didn’t know them. Kigaliwen, all of them. They’re not here among us today, nor do I expect to see them. Who are they, and what do they want? They have taken my nephew, and others.”

  A disturbance at the entry to the audience hall drew all attention. Rin Tsugo entered, his high-necked tunic unbuttoned to reveal his chain. Behind him came at least a dozen of the chained wizards, in all of their variety of appearance, and Dar Datsu, whose eyes sought out Penrys and Lai Tsumai on the platform. All had let their chains be visible. They walked boldly through the crowd, which parted to let them pass, and Rin Tsugo left them at the base of the steps to join the other leaders on the platform.

  Where’s Munraz? Wasn’t he with them? Penrys couldn’t ask at this moment, but it worried her. Maybe there were other groups that had escaped and he was with one of those.

  She walked forward to perform the introduction, since Char Nojuk had never met him. “This is Rin Tsugo, the leader of the brotherhood of chained wizards in Yenit Ping.”

  He was the first chain-bearer the crowd had seen with Kigali features, and it made a difference to them. This was apparently one of their own.

  He cleared his throat and addressed them. “We were told of the extraordinary announcement on the steps of the Imperial Security building, of the emperor’s establishment of the guild for lupjuwen. The lupjuwen in our gewengep hereby notify you of our intent to join with you, for mutual aid and growth.”

  And, with that, the room erupted into debate and argument.

  CHAPTER 19

  Munraz tried not to look down.

  He’d waited until Rin Tsugo left in a hurry with a bunch of the others, and then slipped away out of the building in the confusion and hastened toward the edge of Tegong Him, jutting out to its southern point.

  Crouching as he burrowed through the brush around the building, he’d tried to keep out of sight until he was far enough away to be truly concealed.

  The chained wizards had put no guard around him, though he thought Kit Hachi might have been left behind to keep an eye on him, to judge by the looks she had directed his way when she was talking with Rin Tsugo before he left.

  He’d dictated the note to Talqatin at her suggestion, though who could tell if they’d actually sent it? They’d taken his weapons once the other chained wizards had joined them from their escape routes, though they hadn’t bound him. He liked Kit Hachi well enough, but he couldn’t stay as their almost-prisoner if there was an opportunity to get away, so he’d shaken off the uncomfortable feeling that he was somehow betraying their trust and waited for the right moment.

  He looked up now to judge his next footholds, and spared a moment for self-congratulation. They’d searched for him, all right, but no one ever thinks to look up. The side of the tip of Tegong Him was very steep but not quite a cliff, and there was sufficient vegetation to keep him concealed. He’d followed plenty of game up hills like this in sarq-Zannib, and his prey hadn’t seen him until it was too late, either.

  There was no question about where he was in the city—Tegong Him made an unmistakable landmark—but he knew he would be easily marked as a Zan in daylight, and that the search would concentrate on the obvious routes back to the Zannib embassy.

  And then he’d thought about the upper city, Juhim Tep. It ought to be possible to go up Tegong here, work his way south to the actual point, and then descend again. By then it would be dark, and he thought he could sneak back to the embassy from there, if he waited long enough. He had a little money in his pockets, but there was no way to conceal his Zannib clothing or appearance.

  He’d removed his anah im-ghabr before he started his climb and stuck it in his belt—no sense having his silhouette so obviously recognizable if someone glimpsed him. No useful weapons concealed in it, not like Najud’s. Next time he’d listen to his jarghal when he suggested something like that.

  If his jarghal was still alive. Or Penrys. He swallowed. They were still alive and fighting when Kit Hachi dragged me away.

  He shook his head to banish the worry. One foot after another, and alternate hands. Concentrate on the climb. Even if you’re alone in Yenit Ping, Talqatin will help you. You just have to get there.

  Two hours of guild birthing pains were enough for Penrys.

  They hadn’t shouted Rin Tsugo off the platform and that was enough for her. It wasn’t her country, it wasn’t her problem, they weren’t her people. They had to settle all of this for themselves.

  She had family to find, and she needed solitude to do it in, or at least less noise than this.

  The little group of chained wizards huddled as closely together as they could, off to the side of the platform steps. They held their faces as expressionless as possible, while the Kigali taste for organizational details played out with their future at stake.

  She turned to Chosmod, and told him, “I’m leaving. We still have a search to do.”

  “I’ll stay, brudigna. They’ll be finished with this eventually, and then I can recruit some help. Where will you be?”

  She shrugged. “Not a lot of choice. Back to Tun Jeju, I suppose. See if you can find out why he didn’t bring Munraz, if he has him.” She cocked her head at Rin Tsugo, speaking to the crowd above her head.

  “Is it wise to travel alone through the streets?” he asked.

  “It’s only a few blocks, and with this many wizards here, should be easy to notice any strays where they don’t belong.”

  She worked her way along the edge of audience until she found a door halfway down the hall, and used it to slip out into the corridor. The sound of the meeting with its debates was muffled and the lonely hallway was a relief, though she held her shield in place all the way through the building to distance herself from the unbridled emotions of the wizards.

  At the top of the steps outside, she paused and scanned for other wizards in the vicinity. It was emptier than usual except for the temple itself. No surprise—anyone who heard about this would have come running to participate.

  The walk of a few blocks to Imperial Security was uneventful. Her mind was on the search she needed to make. She couldn’t just look through the entire population, the way she’d been doing in her first panicked attempts. Think about it logically. How would you quarter a city this size to identify a concentration of wizards? There are wizards everywhere, and they live in groups.

  She wasn’t paying attention, and almost ran into someone who didn’t move out of her way. She stumbled to a halt, and blinked. It was Kit Hachi, with worry all over her face.

  �
�What’s wrong?” Penrys blurted out. “You want Rin Tsugo? He’s over there with the other wizards, getting the guild going.” She waved her arm back the way she’d come, to the south.

  “No,” the woman said. She took a breath. “I’ve been looking for you. It’s Munraz.”

  A chill traveled Penrys’s spine. “Not… dead?”

  “No, it’s not that.” Kit Hachi plucked at her sleeve, and tugged her close to a building so that they’d be out of the way of traffic.

  “I pulled him along with us when we escaped.” She glanced apologetically into Penrys’s face. “We couldn’t fight those wizards—no weapons, no training…”

  Penrys sliced her hand through the air in front of her chest. “You did the best thing, all of you, and I’m grateful you took Munraz with you.”

  “Maybe not, when you hear the rest,” Kit Hachi muttered. “We had a rendezvous… We took his weapons away, it was easier to do that than fight about it with some of the others. I tried to explain he wasn’t a prisoner, but it wasn’t safe for him to walk the streets alone and we couldn’t escort him—we’d arrange something.”

  She glanced down. “It took us all the rest of the day to settle the stragglers down and set up security. Get dinner. You can imagine.”

  When she looked up again, Penrys nodded.

  “Then I helped him with that note this morning—did you get it?” Kit Hachi asked.

  “Yes, from the Zannib embassy. Thanks for that.”

  “Well, I guess Munraz didn’t believe we’d bring him back. When Dar Datsu showed up with the news, he snuck away in the excitement. We’ve lost him. We searched, but…”

  “Yrmur!” Penrys said, with feeling, then she focused on the problem. “Where, exactly?”

  Resignedly, Kit Hachi gave her the details. “See the point of Tegong Him?” She pointed north and both of them looked at the busy face of the steep cliff, with the movement of its traffic hauled up and down barely visible. “Our rendezvous is to the east, well around the tip.”

  “How can he hide, a Zan in Yenit Ping?”

  Kit Hachi spread her hands in reply. “I imagine he’s lying low until dark, but it’s still a long way.”

  Penrys shook her head. She could feel the truth in Kit Hachi’s account, and it some ways it was just like Munraz—slow to trust, used to relying on himself. What have you gotten yourself into, nal-jarghal?

  “All right, you’ve done your duty, minochi. I don’t know what else you could have done. I’ll just… add it to my list.”

  She looked into Kit Hachi’s face, still worried, and told her, “Why don’t you go see Rin Tsugo making history?”

  Responsibility warred with eagerness in the woman’s mind, and Penrys resigned herself. “Come, I’ll take you there.”

  Half an hour later, Penrys was back in the Imperial Security building. The guards passed her through without any fuss and she returned to the empty room that had been cleared for them just this morning.

  The thick walls one level underground reinforced the quiet, a welcome relief after a repeat dose of the turmoil in Suimiju’s temple. She closed the door and made herself comfortable.

  So, Munraz on the loose, hopefully, and all the captives. How do I find them? I can’t just clear sectors—people move around.

  The area Kit Hachi had described east of the point was within her range, but if there were chained wizards left behind there, she couldn’t find them. Shielded? Maybe. Does the massive rock of Tegong block me? Don’t know.

  Certainly she couldn’t pick out one stray Zan over there.

  She closed her eyes and composed herself to try one more sweep through thousands of people looking for Zannib wizards. She focused on the embassy—no wizards there but could she at least recognize Zannib people in that direction?

  Yes, and no. Knowing where to look and what she expected to find, she thought she could detect a Zannib presence, but she could be fooling herself. Wizards, she was sure of—ordinary folk, maybe not. Not in this swarm of Kigaliwen.

  And even wizards, if they were shielded, would probably escape her notice. It was hopeless.

  A knock on the door broke her concentration, and she got up to open it, and then stepped back to let Tun Jeju in. He closed the door behind him.

  “You know,” she said, by way of greeting, “I would be glad to go see you, if you summon me. No need for you to make the trip.”

  A smile flickered over his lips. “Fewer of my people can find me easily this way.”

  He gestured her toward a chair and chose another one for himself. “I don’t imagine the new guild is done talking yet?”

  Penrys rolled her eyes. “Maybe this week, sometime. Maybe not, too. The good news is that Rin Tsugo did come, and he was still among the potential leaders on the platform when I left, so it looks like there will be a united guild when they’re done, wizards and chained wizards.”

  “Even though some look like foreigners? That is good news.”

  “That part made them uncomfortable, but I don’t think it’ll matter in the end. Chosmod and I pointed out that they have actual enemies to focus on instead, and that willing allies should be welcomed, whatever they look like.” She reconsidered. “Might matter later, once the euphoria wears off.”

  She glanced at him. “Chosmod’s still there, but there wasn’t really anything left for me to do.”

  He made no reply, so she ventured a question that had been puzzling her all day. “Notju-chi, how is it that you were able to get that declaration from the emperor so quickly, and the cooperation of the temple? I can’t imagine what it took to do that.”

  “It helped, though, didn’t it?” Tun Jeju replied.

  She waited patiently for an actual answer, and he almost obliged her.

  “There were reasons, minochi. Yes, there was some pre-arrangement, but I can’t discuss it with you.”

  “Hmmph.” She’d have to be contented with that.

  “And how are you progressing with your search for the captives?” he asked her, in turn.

  “Badly. Too many Kigali wizards, as you are discovering for yourself.” She allowed herself a brief smile. “Simple brute force is not going to work. I need a way to sort them out categorically…” Her voice trailed off as she thought of something.

  “Tell me, notju-chi, does this building have a flat roof?”

  Tun Jeju raised his eyebrows. “It is peaked in the middle, but a flat walkway extends on all sides.”

  Penrys smiled broadly. “And I can get onto it, this evening?”

  “Does this have anything to do with the wings I heard about?” he asked.

  “Well, I can hardly launch from the street, out in the open and all,” she said.

  The evening meal was the first one Najud was awake for. A well-shielded wizard brought two pitchers of water and a pot of stew with bread on a tray, and unloaded it all onto the floor just inside the doorway. He was careful not to stand within reach of more than one of the tethered captives—Gen Jongto, nearest to the door, who carried one arm in a sling.

  He’d placed his lantern outside the door in a corridor, and it was difficult to make out his back-lit features, but Najud thought he was a Kigalino.

  “If you lost your spoon or broke your bowl, you’re just out of luck.”

  “How long do you plan to hold us?” Vylkar inquired, politely.

  Najud could see the man’s toothy grin. “As long as it takes. We ain’t in no hurry, us. Better settle in for the long haul. If’n you get sick, that’ll just be too bad.”

  He picked up the tray and the empty pitchers and pot from the night before. “You don’t make us no trouble, and we’ll keep the food and water coming.”

  The door clanged shut behind him, and Najud heard the key turn in the lock.

  The pottery bowls and cups were passed all the long way around to Gen Jongto, and he carefully filled all the cups with most of the contents of the first pitcher before starting them back the other way via Char Dazu. He emptied the pot
of stew entirely, being as scrupulously fair as he could be. The rest of the water would sit there for breakfast and lunch, unless requested. It was up to each of them to decide how much of the stew to eat at once, and how much to save—there had been no more than one meal offered per day, so far. The bread was broken into pieces and handed around with the bowls.

  As he passed the cups and bowls back around the circle to his right, Najud reflected on the day’s activities.

  Ijumo was their clock. He claimed he could tell the rough hour of the day from clues in the air, the smell of the plants. He also said he thought they weren’t in the city itself—something about the difference in the plants. Najud had no way to judge his accuracy, and there was no source of natural light to contradict him. Still, he’d predicted the mealtime today, so perhaps he was accurate.

  On the other hand, he was also clearly ill. He’d been in a constant sweat, sleeping uneasily for long stretches.

  Gen Jongto was patient and reticent. He took his role as the only non-wizard in stride and watched the rest of his cellmates as they grappled with their options.

  Char Dazu had stopped blustering about the trouble their captors had called upon their heads and begun to worry. He was the youngest there and clearly out of his depth, but willing to cooperate with any plan the others put forth.

  Vylkar remained detached and quiet, muttering verses softly to himself as he worked on the tribute to his fallen colleagues. Najud thought he’d also sustained injuries during the fighting, but he’d been patched up before Najud had woken, and refused to discuss them afterward.

  The thick wrapping around Mrigasba’s leg attested to his part in the fight, as well as the blow on his head that rose to the surface as a spectacular black eye visible even in the dim light from the outside corridor.

  Najud, unconscious, had been the last to join the discussions among the wizards the day before but had made up for the delay by using a pick from his turban to unlock his own shackle and then traveling around the cell to do the same for everyone else. Each man let the shackle lie around his leg in place but unlocked. It wasn’t a ruse that would pass inspection, but then no such check had yet been carried out.