Hearts & Minds: Book Six in the Crown of Blood series

by White, Gwynn

  “Having fun terrifying hapless guardsmen?” a dry voice asked. Dressed in his usual blue robe spangled with the Light-Bearer constellation, Dmitri stood on the roof of the abandoned warehouse—the actual building that ran the length of the road.

  Tao scowled. “Not really. I’ve never approved of the Dreaded. Unlike you, I don’t like sporting with people. Hapless or otherwise.”

  Dmitri showed no sign of offense at the jibe. “As long as it keeps the guardsmen at bay.”

  “It’s worked so far.”

  “And into the future?”

  Tao didn’t know why Dmitri bothered asking when he probably already knew the answer. Still, he replied, “It’s not sustainable. Without Felix here, the Hive is running out of food. Lukan’s cut the water supply. Things in there are becoming dire.” He threw up his hands in despair. “But they’re all so mind-controlled, they don’t even know they’re suffering.”

  “It’s not just here.” Face like stone, Dmitri looked out over the city. “The whole city is in trouble. More and more guardsmen are arriving each day, and nothing has been prepared for them. No food. No proper accommodation. Unless Lukan uses some of his trains to bring in supplies, a lot of people are going to die. Only the young and nimble stand any chance of riding out this storm.”

  “The young and nimble?” Tao asked in surprise. Usually, it was the children who suffered most in these situations.

  “The street rats… Or at least the immune amongst them go where no one else can. They’ve found a way of surviving.” Dmitri didn’t make small talk, so there had to be a reason he’d chosen to mention the urchins. Tao tucked that information away.

  “And of course Felix has a well-stocked larder hidden in his private apartment here in the Hive.” Dmitri scoffed. “There’s enough food there for him to dine like a king for a month or more.”

  More gems tossed casually into the conversation. Tao was about to quiz him on it, but a low rumble of engines filled the sky.

  He and Dmitri glanced up.

  Backlit by the noonday sun, a dragon-shaped airship bristling with cannons powered toward them. It was one of many Lukan had sent to destroy the Hive. As the dragon’s shadow enveloped the revolving parade of buildings, its cannons roared.

  Balls of flame roared toward 24th Street. They hit the shield and fizzled out. Sparks no bigger than a fire-flies fluttered harmlessly to the ground.

  “Lukan has to be desperate,” he shouted above the noise. “You’d think by now his cameras would have shown that cannonballs don’t work.”

  Not sensitive enough to detect the dead, they had left Felix’s hidden cameras outside the Hive running in the hope of frustrating Lukan with a steady stream of failure.

  Dmitri waved his hand dismissively. “Meka,” he said sharply against the exploding shells. “I assume by your presence out here that he is responding well to your influence.”

  Forget Lukan’s frustration at his failures; Tao had his own to lament. Four days ago, Dmitri had instructed him to stay with Meka. The plan had been to talk to Meka in the hope of undermining the programming of his ice crystal. Meka had steadfastly ignored him. Felix hadn’t designed his ice crystals to be neutralized by mere words.

  It hadn’t helped that today, for the first time since his beating, Grigor was lucid. In contrast to Meka, Tao’s dark-haired boy was actually pleading for him. Unable to leave his post to go to Grigor, he had done the next best thing—talked into Grigor’s head.

  Grigor hadn’t heard a word he’d said. Dmitri was probably to blame for that.

  After pacing the Hive for hours in a flare of sparks, Cricket had offered to watch over Meka while he came outside to cool off.

  It hadn’t helped.

  He doubted any of this was news to Dmitri.

  The airship dropped another salvo of cannon balls, easily deflected by the shield.

  He waited for the noise to abate, then said, “I don’t like you sporting with me any more than those guardsmen appreciated our Dreaded sporting with them.”

  Dmitri threw up his hands. “So what would you have me do?”

  He’d probably fall into a trap by answering. “Let me destroy Meka’s ice crystal. And not just his.” He waved a hand out to include the whole of Cian. “We could neutralize every single ice crystal in the empire. That would end the war before it even started.”

  “Aye,” Dmitri said. “We could indeed.” He gathered his softly glowing light around him. “I wish to see Meka.” He flickered, then vanished.

  Tao sighed but followed.

  The bond between him and Meka pulled him to Meka’s workstation.

  Unaware of Tao’s presence, Meka perched on an impossibly hard chair with no back support. His shoulders drooped, and his back arched, where a heavy rifle was slung. Kai Lin had issued them four days ago when she’d feared Lukan’s guardsmen would invade the Hive. With no knowledge of the protection he and Cricket provided, Kai Lin hadn’t rescinded the order.

  Meka’s dead eyes were fixed intently on the stream of text flowing from a dozen informas floating around his station. They cast eerie green light on his gaunt face and straggly blond hair. Tao cursed Felix; Meka’s ice crystal had stopped his mind registering pain.

  Cricket crouched on the floor at Meka’s knees. With the light bent around her, only the dead could see her. Feathers and braids ringed her face as she looked up at Tao and Dmitri. “Still nothing.” Her voice carried above the hum of Meka’s informas. “I’ve been talking to him, but it’s like Tao says… he hears, but he doesn’t understand the words.”

  Lips pursed with disapproval, Dmitri folded his arms and appraised Meka. “The lad has aged since his capture.” Dmitri—and Tao—turned to study the other programmers in the room.

  Half buried behind their informas, they also worked with utter focus. But seen through Tao’s eyes, a miasma of exhaustion hung over them, too. So palpable, the air in the over-heated room almost dripped with bone-crushing fatigue. Felix had programmed their ice crystals for calmer, more certain times. It wouldn’t be long before their ice crystals failed. That would mean only one thing.

  Death.

  An unacceptable risk that stalked even Meka. There was a simple solution to all of the programmers’ problems—destroy the ice crystals before it was too late to save any of them. And all that was needed was for Dmitri to give the command.

  He hadn’t.

  Tao didn’t bother hiding the sparks of fury firing off his body. “That’s what happens when you’re expected to work sixteen hours a day with no respite for days on end. You know as well as I do that they’ve been in crisis since that idiot Lukan destroyed Zakar.”

  Dmitri’s hand fell onto his arm. “You see no good in this situation?”

  Although Tao felt no pain of his own, he was conscious of how firmly Dmitri gripped him.

  A warning.

  He measured his words. “I cannot deny that Meka has mastered the One Weapon, One Bullet system in an astonishingly short time.”

  Dmitri eyed him expectantly.

  Tao cleared his throat. “And he’s had a crash course in encryption. That will probably be very useful.”

  Still that eagle-eyed stare from the seer.

  Tao squirmed. “Okay. I admit it. He’s learned more about informas and Felix’s systems in the short time he’s been here than he ever would have in months spent in more peaceful, kinder circumstances.”

  “Thank you.” Dmitri pulled his hand away. “Remember that when you next want to castigate me for my so-called cruelty and neglect.”

  Cricket shot to her feet. “It’s not that we want to criticize.” She glanced at Tao. “But now that Meka has learned so much, why can’t we free him?” Her blue eyes darkened as she looked around the room. “And everyone else.”

  A long sigh from Dmitri. “Tell me, both of you, what are we fighting for?”

  Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Cricket, Tao waited to see if she would reply.

  She squeezed his hand.
“Any time you’re ready to answer…”

  “For the freedom of Chenaya,” he said flatly.

  “And the destruction of ice crystals,” Cricket added fiercely.

  “Really? That’s what we’re fighting for?” Dmitri sat down heavily on the floor. “If you think that, then you’re deluded.” He patted the space around him. “Listen and learn. Both of you.”

  Tao shrugged, then sat. Cricket sank down next to him. Now it was their turn to stare unflinchingly at Dmitri.

  “Hearts and minds,” Dmitri said. “That’s our quest. Without them, we have no army.”

  “What’s that got to do with Meka? He’s shown his worth. And rest of the people with ice crystals?” Tao demanded. “Don’t tell me that they won’t support us if we free them.”

  “You’re sure of that?” Dmitri didn’t wait for a reply. “As you say, I could destroy every ice crystal with a—” He clicked his fingers. “And yes, they would be free. But to what end? To be compelled to serve Nicholas and the alliance? To serve us?”

  Tao bristled. “Compelled? Of course not. But many of the people in here were stolen from Treven. They had already declared their allegiance to the Light-Bearer when they joined Axel’s army.”

  “And what if they’ve since experienced a change of heart?” Dmitri pointed at Aljesh, a swarthy man in his early twenties. Circled by informas, Aljesh sat across the aisle from Meka. His ink-black eyes flickered, and he moaned. Clear and unfettered, his longing for a village at the edge of a lake spilled into the turgid air. The door to a cobbler’s shop stood open. Inside, a middle-aged man with equally dark eyes sat at a cluttered workbench stitching leather. Similar in appearance, it had to be his father. Aljesh swallowed, and the light in his eyes died. He continued working as if nothing had happened.

  Tao’s whole body stilled.

  Cricket’s knee, pressed against his, trembled.

  If freed, would peer pressure force Aljesh, who longed for his home and his father, to continue fighting a war for which he’d lost the heart?

  “We will not follow in Felix and Lukan’s footsteps,” Dmitri said softly. “The only hearts I want in my ranks are those who fight with all their might to be there.” He soared to his feet and stopped behind Meka. “And that includes both him and his brother.”

  Now the world around Tao stilled, too.

  “My Light-Bearer has endured trials sufficient to equip him for my call upon him,” Dmitri said. “He has made his choice. He will take this fight to Lukan even if it kills him. His cousins, Meka and Grigor, must now go through the same fire. Only then can they decide if the shoes I’ve prepared for them are indeed a pair they choose to wear.”

  “And if they don’t?” Cricket asked the question for Tao.

  “Then we move on without them.” Dmitri’s hand hovered above Meka’s brow. “Tao. Cricket. One hour. That is all I’ll give you. Use it well.” His fingers fluttered across Meka’s skin.

  Meka twitched in his seat.

  Movement rustled across the room as the other programmers shuffled. It was louder even than the hum of the hundreds of informas.

  And then silence.

  “My work here is done. Now if you will excuse me, there are three other people whose lives I still need to rattle.” Dmitri jabbed a finger at Tao. “I suggest you work quickly.” A flash and the seer vanished.

  If Dmitri doubted Grigor’s heart, was Grigor’s life about to be rattled? The last time Dmitri had “rattled” Grigor’s life, the boy had been whipped mercilessly. What fresh horror did he have planned for Grigor?

  He closed his eyes and focused on Grigor. But when he tried breaking into Grigor’s head to warn him, he failed.

  Cricket’s soft fingers brushed his cheek. “One impossibility at a time, don’t you think?”

  “But Grigor—”

  “I know. He’s next. No doubt about it. But can you change anything?”

  She knew the answer as well as he did.

  “Then let’s get to work on Meka. Already a couple of our precious sixty minutes have gone.”

  Heart heavy for Grigor, he took her hand in his and kissed her fingers. “Of course. Let’s see what Dmitri has left us with.” Almost too scared to hope that the seer had neutralized Meka’s ice crystal, he brushed Meka’s thoughts.

  Nothing new or profound rippled the concentration in Meka’s head.

  And then Meka yawned.

  Without stifling it, Meka pushed his chair back and stood. Looking neither left nor right, he lumbered to the door.

  No one challenged him as he flashed his eye at the scanner and staggered from the room.

  Tao’s heart soared.

  Even though only fifty-seven minutes of his hour remained, with this new Meka, he could make every second count.

  Three

  Garlands For A Prince

  Nicholas walked in stilted silence next to Mom and Axel to an open-topped vehicle parked at the edge of the darkness. It had two passenger benches and a seat up front for the driver.

  “First stop, the hospital,” Mom said. “The doctors need to get that ice crystal out of your neck.” She hopped up onto one of the benches, leaving space for him to sit next to her. “Axel will drive.”

  Axel leaned into him. “Once we’re away from here,” he whispered, “I’ll pick a well-lit route.”

  So much for keeping his fears to himself.

  He looked around for Farith. With no available clothing on the airship, she was still dressed in the robes Xipal had given her. She, Aunt Malika, and his three cousins strode down the passageway toward a second vehicle parked next to his. “I’d like Farith with me,” he said to Mom. “She also knows how to remove ice crystals.” He hesitated, then added, “and Anna.” For no other reason than his pulse spiked deliciously whenever she was nearby.

  Lithe as a deer, Anna walked next to his uncle, Clay. While mobile, Clay was taking it slowly thanks to a bullet wound in his shoulder inflicted in the battle in Atlaca. A battle waged not just for his release, but also for Farith and Anna’s, who had also been captured by Xipal. For some reason, their parents hadn’t been at the hangar to greet them.

  He winced at his selfishness. Those reunions took priority over his own needs, no matter how important those needs were to him. He cleared his throat. “Unless Farith and Anna need to—”

  “Happy to hold your hand, Cowpat,” Farith interrupted.

  Some of the tension oozed from his taut muscles at the normality of the nickname only she called him.

  His cousins glared at her. Sebastian, who was about his age, even jabbed her with his elbow. Seemingly awed by the Son-of-Prophecy thing, they hadn’t really opened up to him yet, and that saddened him.

  Farith elbowed Sebastian straight back and broke away to join him.

  He spoke over her head to Sebastian. “I really don’t mind the nickname. It makes me feel normal.

  “Er…but you’re the Light-Bearer. You will never be normal,” Sebastian said stiffly. He even dipped his head.

  Nicholas sighed. Every conversation he’d try to initiate with his cousins and Anna had ended as abruptly as this one had. No one could see him for what he was, rather than the title he carried. It made Farith’s friendship even more precious. He slung his arm around her shoulder. “Aren’t you going to see your parents first? They must be worried about you.”

  “Nah. They know we’ve arrived safely. They’d expect us to look after you. And…”

  Us.

  His eyes drifted to Anna. With her heart-shaped face, long, heavy braid and tall, winsome body, she was without question the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen.

  Farith punched his side, just a little harder than necessary.

  He glared at her. “What?”

  “I was still speaking to you. For someone with such good ears, you can certainly be deaf when it suits you.”

  Embarrassed to be caught mooning, he grinned sheepishly at her. “What were you burbling about?”

  Although her gr
imace deepened, she didn’t pull away from his side. “You’re such an idiot. I wouldn’t miss watching you squirm with a knife at your throat for anything.”

  “You mean the Blade Furnace wasn’t enough for you? And, as I recall, the knife was at your throat.” He sniggered, partly to block out the horror of the memory.

  Farith laughed, too. “Not for long, it wasn’t. Anna’s darling betrothed picked the wrong Trevenites for that stunt.”

  Anna joined in their laughter, surprisingly. A ferocious sound, it warmed him to the core, even though she didn’t make eye contact with him.

  “Like Farith says, I’m coming to the hospital with you,” Anna said.

  He perked up.

  Anna glanced back at Clay. “You should probably have your shoulder checked while we’re there.”

  Clay shook his head. “I’m fine. Nothing the doctors can do for me that Farith didn’t already do on the airship. I just need time to heal.” The smile he embraced Farith with made her flush hot against Nicholas’s side. He then nudged Anna. “Go, grab a seat.”

  “What about you?” Anna asked Clay.

  “Stop fussing. I’ve already picked out my spot.” Clay nudged her shoulder for second time. “Get in.”

  Anna pouted at him and then laughed. She skipped up to him and Farith.

  Goosebumps broke out over his arm where her pale skin brushed his.

  She jumped back. Her face cleared of all expression other than the deference he had come to hate. He almost expected her to salute him. Instead, she tossed her braid over her shoulder and mumbled, “Sorry. Didn’t mean to bump you.”

  He opened his mouth to answer but could produce nothing intelligent. Worse, he croaked.

  Like a frog.

  Only his pride stopped him from slinking into the darkest corner he could find in this benighted place.

  Farith rolled her eyes. “Oh please. Maybe they should sever your jugular when they remove your ice crystal. It’ll mean one less idiot in the world.” She pulled out of his embrace and clambered up onto the bench behind Mom.

  He gave her a lopsided smile. “You offering to do it?”