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

by White, Gwynn

  Dark Cave…a series of caverns where they isolated their prisoners. Felix and Katrina were there, too. So were Zav and his daughters.

  “Where are you now?” Axel asked.

  “I’m about to hit the Main Tunnel.”

  “Good. You’re close. Come to the stealth hangar. We’ve lots to discuss. I’m going to get Chad, Jerawin, and your father to join us. I want Clay there, too. I’ll let him know where to go”

  Clay and Axel were almost closer to each other than she and Clay were. And since Axel had lost both Heron and Magridal, he and Clay had pulled even tighter together.

  Still, she silently cursed Xipal. If it hadn’t been for his stupid attack, Axel would have at least spent some of the evening relaxing. Now it was all work, work, work. “On my way.” She signed off and made her way to Main Tunnel, one of the busiest, well-lit thoroughfares.

  It heaved with people. News of the attack must have spread throughout the mine. Hardly surprising. In such close quarters, it was almost impossible to keep secrets. People huddled together, talking of nothing else.

  Treygan grabbed her arm. “Any news?” He walked with her.

  “Five of ours are dead.”

  “That I heard. Is this going to affect the attack on Cian?”

  She shook her head. “It shouldn’t. But I’m meeting with the warlord and the three kings now. No doubt, by morning everyone will know what’s happening.”

  He stopped walking. “Please make sure I’m on Nicholas’s team.”

  She paused to smile at him. “You and everyone else around here.”

  He smiled back. “But no one fights nearly as well as I do.”

  She laughed. “Says you and everyone else around here.”

  He had enough modesty to grin sheepishly. “I won’t let him down. I give you my word.”

  “I’ll bear it in mind.” He’d find out soon enough that she and Axel had already allocated him a position on Nicholas’s team. She started pushing her way through the crowd, then stopped. “You know that a few hundred urchins and some of Xipal’s Blades have been taken to Dark Cave?”

  A headshake. “News to me. But then I’ve been at the party.”

  It was unlikely that they would pose a risk to Felix and Katrina, or Zav and his daughters, but she wasn’t taking chances. “Keep an eye on things.” She grimaced. “I don’t care if they cut Felix’s throat, but I don’t want anything to happen to the others.”

  “I’m on it.”

  She pushed on through the crowd.

  More hands grabbed for her, and voices called. Anxious to get to Axel, she flicked her informa into light mode and escaped down a narrow, little-used tunnel. After five minutes of climbing over rough terrain, she reached a side entrance into the hangar. This door was always kept locked. She rapped the wood. Moments later, a bolt scraped and the door swung open.

  Axel pulled her into his arms. “Please don’t dash off like that again. I was really worried about you.” He kissed her. It wasn’t a gentle kiss. His beard stubble scratched her face, and his lips and tongue were demanding.

  She leaned in for more. Who knew how long they had together? Anything could happen in the coming weeks.

  “When you two have finish snogging, maybe we can get this meeting started.” Only Clay would dare speak to them like that.

  She smiled through their kiss.

  Axel broke away from her. “Clay, for that, you can lock the door.”

  Clay grinned as he bowed. “My pleasure.”

  Axel took her hand. “I’ve already briefed everyone on the attack. So this meeting is about the book.” He led her to a table in the briefing cave off the main hangar. It was here that she and Axel would meet with the flight commanders of each of the airships before they loaded their troops and flew to Cian.

  Her father, Jerawin, and Chad were already seated. They stood up from their stools as she drew closer. All three of them dipped their heads at her.

  “Oh stop it,” she groused. “Sit already.” For some inexplicable reason, they all insisted on treating her like the empress of Chenaya. She plunked down onto a stool next to her father. Axel sat next to her. That left one stool for Clay.

  Her throat tightened. The spots where Heron and Magridal would have been were glaringly empty. Tao was also missing. Everyone in this room, plus Tao, Heron, and Magridal had been amongst the first to take up arms against the Empire. For almost two decades, they’d fought unrelentingly against Lukan and Felix, and their ice crystal tyranny.

  She swallowed, not wanting to get lost down a rabbit hole of grief for missing friends. Not when action was required. Best to focus on the living. That opened another pain. How she wished Nicholas could be here. He’d suffered most of all. He deserved to be here. But how could they risk it with Lukan watching?

  Clay dropped down onto his stool. He pulled the book out of his pocket.

  Before he could show it to them, her father spoke. “A moment, please. I know that is very important, but you’ve all seen the stealth ships. I’ve been waiting all day, and have seen nothing I came here for.”

  Lynx squeezed his arm. “I’m so sorry you couldn’t meet Nicholas.”

  Her father lifted her chin. “I will see my grandson when the timing is right.” He never seemed to age. Only the deepening of the crow’s feet next to his sharp blue eyes indicated that he was getting on in years. “For now, we have to trust the Winds. If we do all that we can to win, they will give us victory.” He stood and pointed at the hope of the alliance—their thirty stealth ships. “Give me a tour of what we have here.”

  Axel took her father’s arm. Lynx joined them as they walked out of the briefing cave into the main hangar. They stopped at the closest ship. Unlike any airship she’d ever seen, instead of a pod suspended beneath a balloon, this monolithic craft crouched like an insect with swept-back wings.

  “We worked off Felix’s design they used for the Dragon’s Fire drone except that ours are powered exclusively by ice crystal.” Axel pointed to the closest wing. “The shape makes them almost impossible to see. And we’ve painted them silver underneath and green on top to avoid detection.”

  Her father ran his hands across the rivets. “Not very smooth. That won’t interfere with airflow?”

  Axel shrugged. “I’m not claiming that they’re master built. We didn’t have time. Or money. But they fly. Not very fast, I’ll admit, but they only have one job to do—get us to the palace undetected.”

  “And there is no chance that Lukan will see these coming?” her father asked.

  Axel shook his head. “We’ll be like ghosts. The ships will be over the palace before his early warning system even knows that the air around it has moved.”

  “Spirits!” Chad called from the table. “I always said it was the Spirits who helped us survive for long enough to see the Chenayans leave Treven. They won’t stop now. They’ll help us win this final battle.”

  Axel laughed derisively. “That wasn’t what you said to me when I first came here offering to work with you.”

  Chad’s green eyes twinkled. “Ahh... but it’s what I meant, and that’s what counts.”

  Jerawin clapped his hands together. “Winds. Spirits. Stars. It matters not. All that we know is that we are poised for greatness.” He waved at the airships. “They will help. No question. But it’s the actions of the stout-hearted that will win the day.”

  “No shortage of stout hearts amongst my raiders,” her father said. He turned to Axel. “How will you transport them to Cian?”

  Axel caught her eye. Both their eyebrows rose. Axel spoke for both of them.

  “I can’t. Only the raiders here in the mines can go.”

  Her father frowned. “That’s not what I promised the seer. In Oldfort, I made him an oath that he’d have the crossbow of every raider in Norin.”

  Axel shrugged. “In the future, I suggest you discuss your oaths with me first. It’ll save a whole lot of confusion.”

  Her father’s lips pulled int
o a thin line. “Not funny. I will have to take their place on the battlefield. It’s the only way to win back my honor. And if I die, then Wolf will finally get the throne he never wanted.”

  Lynx’s stomach curdled. If she survived, she wanted to go home to her father. She grabbed his hand and pulled him back to the table. “Plenty of time to worry about that. Let’s hear what Cricket left for Nicholas.”

  Her father’s eyes narrowed. “I will not be deflected, Lynx.”

  “No deflection.” She sat and patted her father’s stool. “Just sit and—”

  “Read,” Clay said sharply. His scarred face twisted with the same distress she felt.

  “I’m ready for it,” Axel chimed. He sat next to her.

  Only her father remained standing. He brushed his feather and braids from his face, then pointed at the closest airship. “I will be on that craft when we fly to Cian. And that is final.” He sat heavily. “Clay, the book.”

  Clay pulled it out of a pocket and held it up for everyone to see the cover. Lynx’s weren’t the only eyebrows to spike at the title and cover image. They all knew what Dmitri looked like. She had seen him many times during the years in the forest when she and Tao had been alone raising Nicholas. The others had seen him at the conclave in Oldfort on the night that Lukan had tried to gas them all with Dragon’s Fire. The night her father had made his oath.

  Clay flipped through the pages. Someone had painted intricate, but gruesome pictures on each right-facing page. Opposite it, a verse of calligraphy flowed.

  “Poetry?” Axel asked, canting his head.

  “Everything except the first page. Did you expect something else?” Clay asked.

  “I’m not sure what I expected. I didn’t even know this book existed.” Axel looked at her. “Did you?”

  “Not until today.”

  “So, what does this book of poems say?” her father asked. His hand dangled as if he were angling to snatch it out of Clay’s hands to read it himself.

  Clay pulled the book to his chest. “I’ve gone through it,” he said. “To be honest, I wish I could say to you that it spells out in chapter and verse exactly what we are supposed to do, but it doesn’t. It’s cryptic. The best I can do is to combine the illustrations with the text.”

  “Then do it,” Axel said with his usual impatience.

  Clay started to read.

  Twenty-Five

  Thwarted

  Meka gaped at the ten men dressed in guardsmen’s uniforms. One of them had hair the color of rubies. Another was blond. The rest had hair in different shades of brown. One of them had skin as swarthy as Aljesh’s. Only one of them had a jasper next to his eye. It was a seven-day wonder that they’d fooled anyone into believing they were guardsmen.

  “The dead must have a hand in this,” he said flatly to Father.

  “It wasn’t me or Cricket.” Father’s eyes twinkled. “That leaves Dmitri. Maybe he bent the light.”

  One of the newcomers cleared his throat.

  “How rude of us.” Father bowed. “Welcome to the Hive. My name is Tao Avanov, and this is my son, Prince Meka.” He stepped aside. “Please, come in. Make yourselves at home.”

  If the visitors were shocked to see Father’s glowing body, they gave no sign of it.

  The blond soldier thumped his chest. “Captain Beaver, at your service.” He waved at the others and rattled off a list of names. He bowed to Meka. “Your Highness, our orders were to locate you and then take you to a place of safety.”

  Like hell were they moving him anywhere while there was a chance that he could help the alliance with his informa knowledge. Blatantly ignoring the comment, he asked, “My name is Meka. So none of this ‘Your Highness’ crap, please.”

  Captain Beaver’s lips twitched.

  “Are there any programmers here?” Meka demanded. No one had yet moved away from the door.

  Four of the guardsmen put up their hands. One of them wore a jasper. He dipped his head at Meka.

  Meka ignored that, too. “Excellent. Very pleased to have you.” He started down the passage. “Follow me.”

  None of the men moved.

  Meka stopped and looked back to see what was holding them back.

  Captain Beaver’s breath hitched as if he were about to speak.

  “Relax,” Father said. “I was the one who asked the warlord to send troops to protect Prince Meka. I’m here now and nothing will befall him.”

  Captain Beaver studied Father for a full minute. Finally, he said, “You’re the dead bloke the warlord said would meet us?”

  That explained their lack of reaction to Father.

  Another bow. “That’s me,” Father said with infinite patience.

  Captain Beaver cocked his thumb at his men. “Go with Prince Meka.”

  So much for ditching his useless title.

  Four of the dark-haired soldiers broke away from the group.

  Meka strode down the passageway to the room with the informas. He stopped at the door and grinned at them. “Confession. I didn’t catch your names.”

  “I’m Ivarr,” the man with the jasper said in perfect Chenayan. He punched the programmer closest to him. “This is Padrak. And—”

  “Kawhi,” the swarthy programmer interrupted. He was probably from Kartania.

  “And I’m Vance,” the fourth man added. Meka didn’t recognize his accent.

  “We’ve been unable to contact Axel because of Lukan,” Meka said. “He’s compromised our systems. Do you have informas?”

  Ivarr nodded. “We do. We have orders to contact the warlord.”

  Meka’s heart thudded his chest. “Then let’s do it. Let’s call him.” He flashed his eye at the scanner and slid the door open.

  Ivarr stayed rooted to the spot. “My prince, first I need some information. Who’s in command? What systems do you have? Are they still functioning?”

  Meka swallowed his impatience and quickly explained the situation in the Hive.

  “The big question is,” Ivarr said, “do you have access to the Light-Bearer’s Final Word?”

  “Yes and no,” Meka replied cautiously. “We can see what he’s doing, but we have no control over the actual ice crystal. Only Felix can control the ice crystals here.” Meka called to Father. He and the rest of the soldiers were just a few paces behind them. “Unless, of course—”

  “Unfortunately not,” Father answered. “Dmitri will not agree to us destroying anybody’s ice crystals. As it was, it took an enormous amount of argument to get him to agree to free you, Shale, and Kai Lin.”

  Ivarr and the other three programmers spoke quickly in Trevenese. Then Ivarr said, “Prince Meka, we’re ready to start work.”

  “In here.” Meka stood aside to let them see the informas floating above the dozen workstations. Shale was still standing guard over Dip and his crew. As if he had the pox, String sat alone. He called to Shale, “Axel’s people.”

  Shale smiled at him. It didn’t reach his bloodshot eyes. He looked exhausted.

  It reminded Meka of how tired he was. He pulled in a breath, hoping it would keep him awake until they called Axel. Forcing a spring in his step, he led Ivarr and his team to Kai Lin’s workstation.

  As usual, she didn’t look up from her work. He may have been obsessed with informas, but this girl had a serious problem. He nudged her shoulder. “We have visitors.” Still no reaction beyond a frown. He tried again. “They come from Treven.”

  Kai Lin jumped off her very uncomfortable chair and clapped her hands together. “By the seventh heaven, this is very good news.”

  Meka shook his head. “You mean you heard what I was saying but you ignored me?”

  “Just like I’m doing now,” Kai Lin said with a huge smile. “Welcome to our nightmare. Can you contact the warlord?”

  Ivarr looked around the room. “Before we do that, we’d very much like to see if we can break into Nicholas’s Final Word.”

  “That’s my program,” Shale called. “I’ll do what I
can to help you, but we don’t have access to much of the basic programming.”

  Meka loped over to Shale and lifted the rifle into his own hands. “I’ll watch Dip and his buddies. You go and help with Nicholas’s crystal.”

  Shale squeezed Meka’s shoulder and then strode across the room to his workstation.

  Dip hissed at Meka. “You can’t keep us here like this. It’s just not right.”

  Meka pointed his rifle tip at the pile of tin foods. “Where did you get these?”

  “Like I would ever tell you,” Dip said. The little tyke folded his hands across his chest.

  Meka hid his admiration for Dip’s stubborn bravery behind a shrug. “No skin off my nose. But until you prove to me that I can trust you around my brother, you’re not getting out of here.”

  Dip plopped down onto the floor.

  String crawled over to join them. “Please, Dip,” he said. “About Prince Grigor… It’s not what we thought it was.”

  “You just let them get to you. That’s all. You’ve become a traitor.” Dip’s leg lashed out.

  It caught String’s shin. He yelped and pulled back.

  Meka slapped Dip’s arm. “Cut it out. I’m trying to listen to Shale.”

  “Yes,” String said. “They’re trying to get them things that made the crazies de…” His nose scrunched. He looked at Meka. “What was that funny word you said in the tunnel?”

  “Deactivated,” Meka said. “It means to turn them off so people stop being crazy.”

  Dip’s eyes narrowed. “You can do that?”

  Meka rolled his eyes. “That’s what I’m trying to hear. If you’d all shut up, I might be able to listen in.”

  Instead of grousing, Dip sat dead still. Even his boys were quiet. Not even a shirt rustled.

  Meka turned his whole attention to Shale. “So as you can see,” he was saying. “We can hear his thoughts. See his health status… blood pressure, temperature, organ function. All those things. But we can’t interfere with the crystal’s parameters.”

  “Can you switch it off?” Ivarr asked.

  Shale’s straggly blond hair swished from side to side. “The only thing I can do is block the flow of the images. But if Lukan is listening in, he’ll still hear Nicholas’s thoughts.”