by Janice Hardy
I’d heard a few folks talking about the League break-in, so we pretended to be investigating any suspicious people who might have been seen around the foundry. No one knew much about the delivery schedule or saw anything unusual, though one of the sand runners at the glassmaker said a carriage came and went most nights.
“What time?”
“Late, after midnight,” she said, casting a careful glance into the shop. “I know I’m not supposed to be here that late, but I lost my room a few weeks ago and the foreman said it would be okay if I slept down here ’til I found another.”
“It’s okay—we’re not worried about that.”
She looked relived. “Thanks. Hope you catch the thieves.”
We kept walking, but every side of the foundry looked as fortified as the front.
“You think he’s really making pynvium armor in there?” Danello asked.
I nodded. “Weapons, too, I bet. That might be what the carriage is there for. Picking up weapons to deliver them to the palace. Who’d notice a carriage driving around these fancy streets? Probably everyone has one.” We’d seen plenty this morning already, and they were all painted in different colors like the servants’ uniforms.
“Wonder what that is.” I pointed to a tall stone bridge that ran right over the rear of the foundry, sitting above the city on arched columns. It looked like it started outside the main wall and ran all the way down to the harbor.
“I think it’s an aqueduct.”
“We need to find out where that goes.” If it started in the less-guarded quarters, we might be able to climb up on it and follow it right to the foundry.
“Jeatar might know.”
“Let’s get back.”
Servers were just dropping off lunch plates when we got there.
“Where does the aqueduct start?” I said.
Jeatar’s brow wrinkled, as if trying to figure out why I wanted to know. “At Lake—”
“Nya!” Danello said, his gaze darted sideways. “Vyand just walked out of the foundry. She’s heading this way.”
FIFTEEN
I hunched over my plate, face turned down and away. “Has she seen us?”
“No. She’s talking to that big guy she had with her before.”
Stewwig.
“Act casual, everyone,” Jeatar said, taking a sip from his drink. “Don’t give her a reason to look over here.”
“What’s she doing?” My back was to the street.
“I think she’s here for lunch.” Danello lowered his head. “She’s two tables over,” he whispered, so low I barely heard him.
But I could hear Vyand.
“…care what he thinks—she’ll be here.”
Stewwig rumbled an answer, but not loud enough for me to catch.
“She went after the jail, didn’t she? Trust me, she’s not going to leave her—” She stopped as the server arrived at the table.
I glanced at Jeatar. Was she talking about me? I went after the jail, and there was no reason for a tracker to be hanging around a foundry. Wasn’t like there were any Takers there. Unless…Trust me, she’s not going to leave her—Leave her what? Sister? Friends?
Saints! Tali might be behind those walls, fifty feet away.
“She’s tough, and she doesn’t run,” Vyand said after the server left with their order. “She has to still be in the city, so throw a few crumbs out there and see if she follows them. Tell our contacts to spread the word that we have her sister. That’ll bring her right to us.”
I gripped my fork tight. Danello and Aylin looked at me, their eyes wide and hopeful. Jeatar watched me, but he seemed worried.
Did she really have Tali, or was it a trap? Did I care? We had to break in no matter what—even if it was all a trick.
We left after Vyand returned to the foundry. I fought the urge to run, anxious to find the way inside, and prayed Vyand hadn’t been lying.
“Do you think Bahari and Jovan are there too?” Danello asked, the same look in his eyes as mine probably had.
“Maybe.”
“It’s got to be a trap,” Jeatar said. “Why hold Takers at a foundry?”
Aylin shrugged. “They’re not just Takers, they’re bait. And the place is hard to get into.”
“Which is why it has to be a trap.”
We all quieted as we reached the gate and handed over our seals. We kept walking for a few blocks; then Jeatar pulled us to the side of the street.
“Nya, I understand how badly you want to believe this, but think about it. There are other places Vyand could have set up her ambush that would have been a lot easier for you to get into.”
“I don’t think Nya would have trusted something too easy,” said Danello. “I know I wouldn’t have.”
Jeatar scoffed. “If it involved Tali, yes, she would.”
“I don’t think it’s a lie,” I said, annoyed at Jeatar, but there was more than a bit of truth to his comment. “Because it is hard to get into, and Vyand has to know even better than we do how hard. She wouldn’t have chosen the foundry unless there really was something in there I wanted.”
“Unless she’s lying about it.”
“No, wait,” Aylin said, holding up her hand. “Nya has a point. If she found out where Tali was really being held, she’d just go there. The only reason for Vyand to be at the foundry is if she thinks Nya will go there anyway.”
Danello nodded. “Nya found us at the jail. Makes sense that Vyand would think she has a way of finding out where Tali and my brothers are too.”
Jeatar didn’t answer right away, then blew out an exasperated breath. “You might be right. But I still think it’s a trap.”
“Well, yeah,” Aylin said. “That part’s obvious.”
He frowned at her but looked at me. “I can’t talk you out of this, can I?”
“Not a chance.”
“She knows you’re coming.”
“But not that I know she’s there.” I smiled. “That gives us the advantage.” How much of one I didn’t know, but it had to count for something.
Aylin grinned. “Soooo, what’s the plan?”
I looked up at the aqueduct. “You said that went to a lake?” I asked Jeatar.
“Yes. It starts there and brings fresh water down to the city. There are two cisterns, one by the citadel, the other on the far side of Baseer.”
“Can we get up on it?”
“On the aqueduct?” He seemed shocked I’d even asked. “It’s a good fifty, sixty feet high out here and can’t be more than four feet wide.”
I’d walked ledges smaller and higher than that.
“Vyand probably has guards all over the foundry,” Danello said.
“We could wait her out,” said Aylin. “She’ll have to give up and leave eventually, right? Then we’d only have the almost impossible guards to get past, who aren’t expecting us.”
No one said anything. They could wait her out, but I didn’t have that much time. And neither did Tali and the twins if they were being used as bait. The Duke might let Vyand use them for a little while to get me, but he had plans for them himself.
“That won’t work,” I said. “They might move them, and I won’t be helpful in a day or two even if they didn’t.”
We walked in quiet for a while until we passed through the gate to Onderaan’s villa.
“What if we shared the pain?” Aylin said.
“It’ll still kill everyone who carries it.”
She shook her head. “I don’t mean we all take it at the same time. I take it today, Danello takes it tomorrow, Jeatar the day after, then back to you. Once it’s gone you’re fine, right? So we can carry it a day at a time.”
“Would that work?” Danello asked, looking hopeful again.
“I don’t know.” Pain overworked the body, but once it was gone, the body had nothing to stress it. “But it would cause some damage every time, and I’d have to heal that each time I shifted. It’ll keep getting worse the longer we carry it.”
“I think so.”
“I’m willing to try,” Danello said.
Aylin nodded. “So am I. Let’s do it. Set me up with some pillows and a few books, and I’ll be good for a day.”
Most of me wanted to say no, but Aylin’s determined look said she wouldn’t let me. Even though it meant hurting my friends, I really didn’t want to die. I’d prefer another way to save myself, but the drowning man grabs the closest branch.
“Okay. Thank you.”
“What are friends for?”
Jeatar unlocked the villa and we went inside, through the fancy kitchen and down the spiral staircase. The main room was crowded today, thirty, maybe forty people gathered in clumps. Siekte rose as we walked in, followed by three others.
“Back so soon?” she said, crossing her arms. The others mimicked her.
“We found out what we needed to,” Jeatar said.
“I’m sure. The Shifter isn’t welcome here.”
No one was supposed to know about me, and she’d just announced it to the entire Underground. And from their muted reaction, they already knew.
“That’s nice,” said Jeatar, “but since Onderaan’s is the only vote that counts, she stays.”
“The Duke is looking for her. That makes us vulnerable.”
“The Duke is looking for Onderaan too. Want to kick him out?”
The briefest of smiles flickered across her lips. “Of course not—he’s a good leader,” she said, though I doubted she meant it. “But he’s risking us all by protecting her.”
“We’re all at risk just being here.”
She glared at him. “You know what I mean. Why give the Duke a legal excuse to search all the houses he thinks are part of the Underground?”
How many were there? I’d assumed just the one, but if they had villas like this all over the city, there could be hundreds of people, if not thousands. Wasn’t that enough to oppose the Duke and drag him off his throne?
“Siekte, you can’t—”
“Yes, I can. This isn’t a personal vendetta for us. We’re not trying to make some point and prove our family was right all along. We want the Duke gone, and there are easier ways to accomplish that.”
Jeatar scowled. “We’re not assassinating the Duke.”
“We have people in place who can do it.”
I glanced at Danello. Kill the Duke? Maybe Siekte wasn’t so bad after all.
Jeatar shook his head. “We’ve talked about this, Siekte. Exposing him is the only way to avoid bloodshed.”
“Protecting her protects us,” Neeme said from the corner of the room. I hadn’t noticed her on the couch before. I didn’t see her friend Ellis, though. “If we throw her out, then the Duke can find her a lot easier.”
“He already knows she’s in Baseer! She shifted and flashed and did whatever it is she does, and the whole city is whispering about it. It’s only a matter of time until they track down where she went.”
“She knows where we are,” Neeme said simply. “Even a heartless eel like you can see that’s a problem if she gets caught. Keeping her here is safer for all of us.”
Wait a minute…I was all for protecting me, but keeping me here? I had aqueducts to climb and Takers to save. I couldn’t be stuck here.
The others started whispering, nervous looks casting about. I guess no one had thought about that part. Even Siekte hesitated.
“Fine, she doesn’t leave here.”
I stepped forward. “That’s not—”
“Demand whatever makes you happy, Siekte,” Jeatar said, clamping a hand over my mouth. “It’s Onderaan’s call in the end.”
“Swear you won’t leave,” Siekte told me, as if I were the one in the wrong here.
I held out my hand. “How ’bout we shake on it?”
She stepped back, her eyes wide. “Just don’t go anywhere.”
“Just my room.” For now. No way was I letting her tell me what to do. And from Jeatar’s expression, he wasn’t either, even if he had backed down here. Siekte was clearly reaching above herself, and without Onderaan or his own supporters, I guess Jeatar couldn’t really take her on.
Jeatar walked with us as far as the door to the guest quarters. “Stay put for now. I’ll let Onderaan know what’s going on and he’ll deal with her. She means well—she’s just a bit aggressive in her tactics.”
“No kidding,” Aylin said.
“How many safe houses does the Underground have?” I asked.
“Twenty-three. Some larger, some smaller.”
“Can we go to one of those?”
“I’d prefer to keep you here with me.” Something in his tone worried me.
“Why?”
“Siekte isn’t the only one who’s unhappy with what Onderaan is doing. They think he’s being too passive.”
“They all want to kill the Duke?”
“Not all, but more than I’d like.”
“Is Onderaan losing control of the Underground?”
Jeatar nodded. “We lost a lot of support when the Undying appeared. Onderaan was caught off guard. We never even knew the Duke was creating them. It’s caused…difficulties.”
Looked like more than that from what I’d seen. Onderaan had his own civil war to deal with before he could stop one in Baseer. “What about Tali?”
“We’ll stick to the plan for now. Keep trying to figure out a way in, and maybe by then Onderaan can calm Siekte down. If we manage to get pynvium and some Healers, it’ll go a long way toward proving Onderaan really can stop the Duke.”
“And if Siekte does something first?” Danello asked.
Jeatar looked grim. “Then Nya might get lots of opportunities to get rid of that pain.”
I ran a comb through my hair, my stomach twisted from more than just the pain I was carrying. It had gotten worse overnight, and this morning I felt as if I’d eaten bad food. “I hate this, I really do.”
“We had to do it,” Aylin said. “Vyand knows what you look like, and you needed another disguise.”
“I wasn’t talking about my hair.” Although I hated that too. Aylin had used the last of the dye to darken my curls. I tried not to notice it was the same black as Onderaan’s.
Aylin waved my concerns away. “I can handle a little pain for a day.”
“What if something happens to me? You’ll have no way to get rid of it.”
“I’ll live,” she said, even though she wouldn’t if that happened.
“What if Siekte really doesn’t let us out of here?” Danello said.
“Let’s hope Nya’s new disguise works on her.” Aylin started braiding her long hair. “Hand me that cord.”
I picked up the leather cord and passed it to her. “At least with the bounty hunters I knew I was a prisoner. I’m not so sure where I stand here.”
“Jeatar will figure out something, or move us somewhere safer,” Danello said. “He must have a home somewhere in Baseer. Unless you think he lives here all the time?”
“I don’t know. I think he travels a lot, so maybe.”
“Knife, please,” Aylin said.
I gave it to her. “I don’t think he’d leave us here if he thought we were in danger. And it’s not like Siekte can force us to—Aylin, what are you doing?”
She had the knife blade against the base of her head, just under the top of the braid. She squeezed her eyes shut and sawed through.
“Aylin!” I gasped.
“I told you, you need a new disguise.” She brought the braid over to me. “Now hold still while I tie this into your hair. It’s long enough to hold it.”
“But you love your hair!”
“It’ll grow back.” She didn’t sound as casual as she probably hoped. I heard the catch in her voice, saw the shine in her eyes as she looked at the braid in her hand. A tiny sacrifice compared to what else she was doing for me.
“You didn’t have to do that.” I meant so much more than her hair.
&
nbsp; “To keep you safe, I’d shave my whole head.”
I hugged her, trying not to cry. “Thank you.”
“You find Tali and Danello’s brothers and we’ll call it even.”
“Deal.”
I sat still while she wove the braid into my hair. A good tug would rip it right off, but it would stay put otherwise. She darkened my eyebrows as well, and lined my eyes with black powder.
“Where did you get all this?”
“From Neeme. She’s the only one here who’s actually nice.” Aylin held up a mirror. “What do you think?”
“Wow.” Danello whistled. “Doesn’t look like you at all.”
I looked older, darker, Baseeri. “Is that good or bad?”
“Good for a disguise, but I like how the real you looks.”
I blushed.
Aylin stole the pillows off my bed and propped herself up on hers. “Okay, fill me up before you go sneaking for the day.” She shoved her sleeve up and held out her bare arm.
I took her hand, placed my other hand on her arm. “Are you—”
“Come on, let’s see what Danello’s been whining about all this time.”
I pushed into her, slowly at first, letting her get used to it before I added more. She yelped and gritted her teeth but kept her arm still. I kept pushing until it was all gone.
My chest loosened and it was instantly easier to breathe.
“How do you feel?” I asked. Danello poured her a cup of juice from the pitcher he’d brought.
“That maybe all that whining was justified.”
“I can take it back.”
“No!” She held up a hand, winced, and lay down. “You need to find a way into the foundry, and you need a clear head and strong backs to help you. You’re better off with Danello and Jeatar than me anyway. I’ll see what I can do here. Maybe Neeme knows something. They tend to ignore her, but I have a feeling she doesn’t miss much.”
“We’ll be back soon,” I said. “If it’s too much, I’ll take it from you, okay?”
“Go already. You’re wasting good sneak time.”
We left the room and shut the door behind us.
“I asked Halima to check in on her,” Danello said.
