by K. F. Breene
The guard barked a couple of words and threw his thumb over his shoulder. It stupidly occurred to Leilius that none of them spoke the common language in this land, nor did they speak Graygual. How the hell would they communicate?
Before Leilius could glance back to make sure everyone was accounted for, the clomp, clomp of hooves on cobblestone caught his attention. Coming their way were two large, shiny stallions pulling a grandiose coach. The coach driver sat primly, dressed in tailored silks.
The driver yelled something, his harsh voice hinting at vulgarity rather than high class. His scowl had Leilius moving to the side and hunching. Alena bumped into him a moment later, muttering an apology and scurrying to his other side.
“They have dirt-poor farmers feeding the nobility. Disgusting.” Maggie’s eyes flashed.
“Welcome to the real world.” Xavier’s stiff walk perfectly toned down his large frame. “That’s how things work in places like this.”
“The Captain will sort it out. C’mon.” Leilius motioned them away from the crowd and into a large street. He skirted to the side quickly, slinking into darker patches beside buildings. “Let’s get to cover and we’ll figure out what to do next.”
People of all types wandered the streets, from the downtrodden, bringing in their meager wares to try and get a day’s bread, to the hard-eyed merchants looking to fatten their purses. Occasionally men in tailored clothes walked ahead of fine ladies and men, pushing and shoving people to make room for the rich folk. Their eyes were vicious and their manners coarse, much like the driver they’d just seen. Those in their path quickly scurried out of the way or were subject to a rap on the head and tossed to the side.
One such man, his fat stomach pulling at the seams of his bright blue garment, yelled at an older woman in his way. The woman, a frail thing leaning heavily on a cane, gave a start and immediately tried to shuffle toward the wall. Other people had already made the move, however. She hesitated, looking around her, trying to escape.
He yelled again before baring his teeth.
“We have to help her.” Xavier took a hasty step toward her.
“They’d report us!” Ruisa punched Xavier to stop him as the servant in blue bore down on the old woman.
In a fit of violence, the servant swung the back of his hand across her face. The force whipped her head around. Her body crumpled. Her cane skittered across the street, and under the feet of the crowd hurrying by.
The servant walked on with a sour look. A lady dressed in the same blue, with a dress that billowed out in a show of tailored excellence, altered her course by three steps in order to avoid the downed woman. Her hem barely brushed the still figure lying in the street. The rich woman neither slowed nor looked down.
Leilius felt a push, only then realizing he’d stopped and was staring at the limp woman lying in the road. The breath was trapped in his chest as unexplainable emotion tugged at him. That could’ve been his nana. It could’ve been her who hadn’t gotten out of the way in time, and had been shoved aside.
“Move!” a gruff man said in the traders’ language.
Without thinking, Leilius turned toward the man and dug two hard punches into his ribs. He brought his elbow across the man’s face, smashing into his jaw and knocking him to the ground.
With defiant eyes, he stared down another man pushing into him, begging him to make a move. When the man didn’t, Leilius shoved Ruisa out of the way and glared at Maggie, daring her to say something, and stopping the flow of people in the street. He bent to the old woman before placing two fingers on her neck. A feeble pulse pushed back.
“C’mon,” he said in Shanti’s hacked-up language. His accent wasn’t great—he hadn’t been learning long—and she probably wouldn’t understand him, but he didn’t care. It felt right. “Me help.”
Her rags moved and twisted as he lifted. Soft whimpers left her lips. She was as light as a bag of bones.
“Are you okay?” Leilius asked in the traders’ language.
The woman, head naturally shaking in the way of the old, looked up at him in wonder. Tears rolled and fell down her wrinkled cheeks. “You must go. You’ll get in trouble.”
“Are you hurt?”
A shaking hand touched her hip, making her wince. “I don’t think it’s broken…”
Leilius dug into his pants. He pressed a gold coin to her palm before curling her fingers around it. “Get yourself healed, get some food, and then get out of the city. The Wanderer is coming.”
A flash of hope shone in her eyes. Her fist tightened before another tear slipped down her cheek. “Go,” she said softly. “Go. You are not safe here.”
Leilius patted her hand before grabbing the nearest person. A ruddy-faced woman with thin lips pressed together stared up at him with awe and fear mixed together.
“Help her home,” Leilius said in a rough voice he barely recognized as his own. “See to her.”
“Yes, sir.” The woman called a teenage boy with a flare of defiance in his eyes to her. His brow lowered and his jaw clenched. He gave Leilius that open look Leilius had seen a million times before from the Honor Guard each time S’am taught them something new.
That was when Leilius felt all the eyes on him. A busy street in a large city had stopped to watch Leilius see to an old woman. This was the opposite of all he’d been trained to do.
“Let’s go. Quick.” Leilius tried to slink into the crowd. Instead, it parted for him, allowing him to pass through easily. More eyes were on him now. Curious eyes.
“Hurry!” Leilius yelled behind him, half running now.
“This way.” Xavier swatted him, pushing him right.
“Xavier!” Ruisa called.
“Leilius, wait!”
Leilius tried to stop and turn around, but bodies were all around him. He’d created a huge bog of congestion with his bleeding heart. Hands pushed at his body.
“Ow!” Leilius swam through sweaty chests and bony elbows. He reached the side and flattened himself against a rough wall. The crowd moved slowly and people either tried to peer over their neighbor to see what the hold-up was, or stared ahead lifelessly and stooped, half-dead and complacent.
A curly head followed by Xavier’s face bobbed above the people for a moment. Then again. He was jumping to try and find Leilius.
Taking note of his location and the speed of the crowd, Leilius threaded into the bodies once again, squeezing through cracks and shoving through barriers. “Xavier!” he yelled.
“Here!”
A boot came down on his foot. Leilius threw an elbow as punishment. He slipped by a man in silk with a big gut and couldn’t resist. Stumbling, he bumped into the man. Leather slid across his fingers as Leilius reached into his pocket. A grunt later, he’d unhooked the purse then staggered into someone else. A lean bag of coin jingled in his palm before he could tuck it away close to his body.
“Here!”
Leilius ducked around a woman in a wool dress and shot out a hand. His fingers clutched threadbare rags covering a heavily muscled body. A fist came down and smashed into Leilius’ forearm.
“Ow! Damn it!” Cradling the injured arm to his chest, he elbowed Xavier.
“Sorry. I didn’t know that was you.” Xavier patted his shoulder. “The girls have gone. I lost them.”
Leilius put his hand to Xavier’s back and applied pressure, trying to get the big lug off to the side. “We won’t find anyone while we’re in the thick of things.”
“You created this, you know. Not that I blame you.” Xavier tried squeezing in between two women, but he didn’t squeeze so well. Instead, he jostled them out of the way. “Sorry.”
“Don’t say anything. You’ll give yourself away.”
“What are you doing, then?”
Leilius gritted his teeth. Suddenly the game where they tried to steal things without talking made a whole lot of sense.
Breathing heavily, they made it to the side then slid along the wall. As they reached a corner, a wave o
f blistering pain tore through their minds. Like acid poured down his skin, fire and agony blanked out Leilius’ thoughts. He looked down in panic, but all he saw was his clothes, perfectly intact.
“Inkna,” Xavier whispered painfully.
Everyone in the road groaned or cried out and sank to the ground. Children started screaming. Loud wailing sounded up the street in the way they’d come.
“We did this.” Xavier squeezed his eyes shut. “This is what happens when someone defies them.”
Leilius took a deep breath and let the pain consume him. He felt it tear through his body and drip down his middle, becoming a part of him. He gave a moment for total surrender before taking another deep breath, tolerating the agony.
Xavier stared at him with pain-soaked eyes, in the same frame of mind. Sanders’ training had come in handy.
“Let’s go.” Staying low, making sure not to raise any part of him above the cowering crowd, Leilius half crawled around the corner and away from that main street. The crowd immediately thinned and the pain subsided enough to where he was no longer in survival mode. Another deep breath and they were around another corner, into a narrower lane with broken-down shops and shabby buildings.
“That Inkna seemed pretty strong,” Xavier said, lifting a pant leg to check his skin.
“All Inkna seem strong to us. Let’s hope he doesn’t seem strong to S’am.”
“What do they do with female Inkna?” Xavier wondered as they straightened up to the height of those around them. Lowered brows over eyes tight with fear scanned the way ahead as people slowed in their progress. More than one person looked at Leilius and Xavier, clearly wondering what was happening up ahead.
“Go around,” Leilius said, shaking his head. He motioned away left in case they didn’t speak the traders’ language. “Inkna.”
A man’s eyes widened briefly. He glanced at the woman next to him, who was staring in shock. The man looped his arm around her shoulders and directed her away, both of them hunching as if they were walking in a hailstorm.
“I think Inkna women are breeders,” Leilius said as he took a small-scaled map out of his pants. He hunched against the wall. “And we probably shouldn’t talk to anyone from now on. These people don’t seem that friendly.”
“Big city.”
“Huh?” Leilius glanced up.
Xavier fished a small brown sack from inside his pants. He jiggled it and grinned. “Big city. People aren’t as friendly. Look what I stole.”
Leilius shook his head. “That was risky. You shouldn’t be trying to rob people. You’ll get caught.”
“You’re just mad because you can’t do two things at once.”
“Oh, you mean like find you in a crowd, make my way to you, rob someone of a bigger bag of coin than that, get us away again, and now plan our day? Yes, Xavier, you are a true marvel.” Leilius shook his head and pointed at their rough location on the map. He traced it back to where the girls separated. “Should we try to find them?”
The grin melted off Xavier’s face. “We planned to separate anyway. We have different tasks. Now is as good a time as any. My only worry is them getting caught. We might need to make sure they get away.”
“They didn’t get caught.” Leilius straightened and slipped the map back in his baggy clothes. “You don’t know Maggie. Seriously. That woman is crazy. No wonder she came up with that exploding thing—she is probably going insane after all these years without a proper way of working out her violence. Can you imagine what S’am would be like if she was a stay-at-home wife?”
“Maggie wasn’t married.”
“Exactly. She didn’t even have a man to distract her. No, she’ll be fine, trust me.”
Xavier rolled back on his heels as he looked down at his toes. “I hope they’re together.”
Leilius thought of Ruisa and Alena. Ruisa might be able to handle being alone as she had been through the Shadow Lands. She at least had some experience. Alena, though…
“I do too,” he said.
18
“Are they in?” Rohnan asked, facing the gate, watching the various comings and goings.
Shanti kept her eyes closed, her face pointing at the dying sun, lightly monitoring the most inexperienced members of their group. She barely connected with Xavier and Leilius, their minds whirling with determination. Ruisa and Maggie revealed a completely different swirl of emotions. Fear, anxiety, and worry pulsed out of them.
“Something has gone wrong.” Shanti prevented herself from tensing up. It wouldn’t help the situation. She needed all her focus to maintain an extremely light mental touch within those walls. If even one Inkna got a whiff of her power, the whole city would clamp down.
She found Alena away from the others, drifting out to the east of the city. It felt like she was alternating between fear, uncertainty, and steadfastness.
“Whatever triggered the compassion from Leilius acted as a catalyst. The group remained stationary for a moment, and then drifted apart. Each of them holds some kind of fear.” Shanti considered using a fraction more power in order to lay a supportive blanket over Alena’s mind. It would help her confidence and decision-making, but too much and she might grow too adventurous. In that city, adventurous might get her killed. “There are three groups now. Alena is on her own.”
Kallon stiffened. “Do we go in after them?”
Shanti shook her head and repeated her calming technique, trying to keep Kallon’s turbulent emotions from building on her own uncertainty. “We will wait and see what they do. Judging by the feel of them, they aren’t in immediate danger.”
“Here comes the coach.” Sonson straightened enough to move toward the hedge near the road.
“Did you see why they stop?” Mela asked. “I not watch.”
“They were adjusting their baggage, I believe.” Sonson took out a knife. “Does anyone want to walk around the city as a noble?”
“Yes.” Mela laughed. “Why not?”
“You would stick out,” Tanna said offhandedly.
“I wouldn’t even know how a noble from this place might walk?” Denessa said as she fingered a knife.
“That is an idea.” Shanti lifted until she could just see over the hedge. Well-bred horses walked up the lane, pulling a gorgeous coach with all the finery and embellishments that money had to offer. “That will be a Graygual. No one else would have that much wealth in this place.”
“Well, then, using their clothes or not, I say we kill them.” Sonson took out another knife, one for each hand. “I’d hate not to pay them back for what they did to my people.”
“Cayan has always wanted to dress me like a doll. Maybe I’ll see if the way of life fits me…” Shanti pushed forward, excitement at the prospect of actually doing something surging within her. “The question is, even if we wear those clothes, won’t the Graygual still notice us?”
“Maybe. We can work that out later.” Sonson peered over the hedge.
Shanti moved in beside him, careful to keep her body away from the dead holes in the foliage. “I can’t condone killing those who have not killed, no matter where they came from.”
“Then we’ll take their money, their horses, and their clothes,” Denessa said. “They can sit in the cold, naked and tied up, until we can figure out what to do with them.”
“Good compromise.” Shanti took out her knives and moved along the hedge. When the others had taken their positions near one or more gaping holes from dying plants, they waited.
The coach ambled along the way. The driver stared straight ahead with a stiff back and arms. He was playing a part, even though no one could see him from inside the closed carriage behind him.
Shanti felt the minds inside, not at all surprised to feel a Gifted among them. She met Sonson’s eyes after the discovery, making sure he had reached the same conclusion. His nod was slight as the coach came up alongside the empty farmhouse. It didn’t slow, and the mind within didn’t reach out to search. They were comfortable in the
ir superiority.
A rush of irritation had Shanti rising just a little, ready to engage. As the horses passed, she plowed through the foliage and wrenched the horses’ minds. Their eyes rolled before they screamed. Hooves flashed out as Shadow and Shumas burst from the side.
The driver recoiled, half cowering. A moment later he reached toward his feet, coming back with an ornate blade.
“That’s enough for me,” Shanti said. She threw her knife. The blade stuck in his gut as Denessa jumped up onto his bench. She raked her knife across his throat and pushed him out of the way. She grabbed the reins and pulled back to steady them while Sonson ripped open the coach door. A hard blast of mental power singed him before filtering through their merge. The power was sucked in and fought, Sonson easily putting down the attack.
A moment later, two men and a woman were torn from the coach interior. They wore stern expressions and more wealth than Shanti had ever seen on a person.
“Bandits don’t fare well in this part of the land,” the lady said with an air of superiority.
It took Shanti a moment to realize she was speaking in the traders’ dialect.
“Neither do Graygual,” Shanti said in the woman’s native tongue.
The woman sneered and haughtily looked at the man standing beside her. “They learn a new language and think they can rule the land.”
“You are not afraid of dying?” Shanti asked, walking closer.
The woman sniffed, refusing to look directly at any of her captors. “Why, because you have a wilder among you?” She laughed. “You have already committed yourself to a public hanging. Do you also want your family, your children, your friends, and your entire town burnt alive?” The woman sneered before finally meeting Shanti’s gaze. Her face froze as she formed her next word. Her body became rigid and all the blood drained from her face.
“You have already killed my family, my friends, and burnt my entire town. And, as I am sure you know by now, we are not wilders.” Rage boiled within Shanti, who realized that this was one of the social elite among the Graygual. She had thrown lavish parties for officers to celebrate their victories. She had probably dined at the same table as the Hunter, and maybe even bowed and gushed over meeting Xandre. She was filth, and disgusting, but she didn’t have blood on her hands. Not directly.
