by Zen DiPietro
Her eyes dropped to her own cup of tea, which she did not reach for. She looked back up, her gaze moving from him to Izzy to Kass as she spoke with crisp authority.
“I’ve asked two people I trust to assist us. Flyn is my chief of public relations. He can compile all of the recent PR events, get lists of the attendees, and so forth. Luc and Izzy have met him. All of you already know Posey, my executive assistant and key to sanity. Izzy has checked both of them out on numerous occasions and verified their loyalty and trustworthiness.”
When Aunt Ina stopped talking, the quiet in the room was broken only by the sound of Kass taking another crunching bite of her toast.
Izzy’s lips pressed into a line as she considered. Luc’s expression remained neutral. He surely had already known about this plan.
“So what exactly are we going to do?” Arc wondered.
“Dig. We’ll be looking at official and unofficial records of schedules, travel plans, and PR events. We’ll search for any unusual patterns. We’ll even examine comm media, seeing if there are any trending messages about anyone making a move toward power.”
“Are we sure we’re on the right track? All of this is based on just one name.” Arc wondered if they should focus solely on one theory so soon. If they were wrong, they’d have wasted a lot of time and energy.
Aunt Ina shook her head. “You don’t understand. Marten Stratos is a big player in politics. He can get people elected, or ensure that they lose. He’s smart, and connected with all the right people and places that help sway votes. There are no other campaign managers who can match his sphere of influence. All of us magistrates have contracted with him at some point. He’s involved with sparkle, and that means sparkle is involved with someone’s political career. Or at least their attempt at beginning one.”
“But why?” Izzy wondered. “How do the two things relate?”
“That’s what we don’t know.” Luc harrumphed and frowned deeply.
“What about adjudicating Stratos?” Izzy asked. “Just go straight to the source.”
Kass shook her head, took a moment to swallow her toast, and dabbed her mouth with a napkin. “We need to pull together some of the threads first. Once we tip him off that we know something is up, all of the evidence might disappear. We need him in place, doing what he’s doing, while we piece things together. Only then can we start infiltrating what’s going on. Whatever’s happening, Stratos is only a piece of it. We don’t yet know if he’s the biggest piece, or if someone else is.”
Izzy clearly didn’t like that answer. Her mouth twisted and she slouched back into her chair. Arc patted her forearm in sympathy.
Aunt Ina’s hands, still on her knees, spread in a palms-up gesture. “I know it’s going to be tedious, and you’d all rather be out doing more hands-on things. But I need you here, helping me with this. I can’t risk bringing in other people.” Her gaze cut to Kass. “I’m very glad you’ve kept all communication regarding sparkle off the comm. Excellent foresight. If we’re dealing with someone who has authority, they might be able to intercept information. We’ll continue that protocol. No direct references to anything via the comm.”
Arc eyed the small room. “We’re going to need someplace to work. No offense, Aunt Ina, but we just don’t have the space here.”
Kassimeigh smiled as she began slathering a ridiculous amount of jam onto another piece of toast. “I know just the place.”
That night, under the cover of darkness, Luc and Aunt Ina arrived at the Northern Keep. A fresh-faced young shiv escorted them to the room that Kass had appropriated for them. Arc had already arrived with her and Izzy earlier in the day. He found it interesting to see all of these people so important to him joined together inside a shiv keep. It was a highly improbable situation, yet here they all were.
Posey was due to arrive in an hour, and Flyn would join them in the morning. Unfortunately, Flyn’s mother was ill and he couldn’t arrive any sooner. Arc supposed the man was deeply committed to his job, if he was willing to leave an ailing parent.
As always, Arc felt humbled by the keep. Its classic design, flawlessly maintained, gave him the feeling of an era gone by. Generations of shivs had spent their lives training and serving within these walls. He couldn’t imagine the years Kass had spent here, studying to become a full-fledged shiv, and then a justice. The years of basic living that bordered on privation. The myriad sprains, bruises, breaks, and concussions of the physical training. The hours upon hours of meditation. The devotion to strict administration of law. So few people had the kind of dedication it took. Not only did the mental discipline break many people, but the physical training was so intense that it occasionally proved fatal. Never mind the fortitude it took to personally carry out an execution. Terath’s dedication to a fair, thorough, and speedy justice demanded a great deal of the shiv order.
Kass had appropriated a room for their operation, complete with a high level of security. The door had been keyed to accept only the handprints of Kass, Luc, Ina, Izzy, and himself. The walls were soundproofed.
Visually, it was not so different from any other room at the keep he’d seen. The floors were polished stone. Not the high-tech synthetic kind, which was more durable and easier to maintain. Real stone, with all of its inherent beauty. The walls were unadorned. Only the elegance of the architecture and use of natural materials decorated the keep. A dozen desk-sized comm panels rested on workstations. The desks sat in three neat rows to one side, while the other end of the room had a cozier arrangement of couches and soft chairs arranged into a circle around a square table.
It was everything they needed, he supposed. He was looking forward to digging through months’ worth of accumulated data about as much as he’d look forward to a training session with a shiv. Actually, he might prefer the training session. He might get some broken bones, but at least it would be over in an hour or so.
Aunt Ina took a long look around the room. “This looks great, Kassimeigh. But why so many desks?”
Kass smoothed her shoka top. Now that she was in the keep, she’d switched out of her usual black and into an oatmeal-colored one, as was the custom. “I’ve recruited some help. We have some shivs here with a particular eye for detail, and a couple of them are excellent with running statistics.”
“I didn’t realize you’d invited others to work with us.” Ina’s voice remained neutral.
“Assigned. Official shiv duties. Entirely trustworthy.”
Aunt Ina’s chin lifted graciously. “Of course. Criminal investigations are your jurisdiction, so I leave that to you. The more people we have, the faster we can find what we’re looking for.”
“If you think of anything additional we need, let me know, and I’ll see to it,” Kass said.
Aunt Ina nodded. “As eager as I am to get to work, I think we’d all be best off starting fresh in the morning. Have you assigned rooms for us?”
Kass nodded. “You’ll be in the same wing as my room, but farther down. We didn’t have four adjacent rooms available, but they’re in relative proximity.”
“I’m sure it will be perfect,” Ina said.
A sardonic eyebrow raise indicated that Luc doubted his stay in shivs’ quarters would be so perfect.
Kassimeigh said, “If you need anything, ask any shiv or contact me on the comm. You’re free to roam. Just don’t enter any closed doors without either knocking or touching the chime. We have a blend of old-fashioned and modern doors here.” She paused, seeming to consider what else to tell them. “The elders’ auditorium is invitation only. The kitchen is always open if you’re hungry, and the grounds are lovely at any time of day or night. You don’t have to worry about anyone seeing you. Shivs will say nothing, and there will be no other non-shivs while you’re here.”
Luc cleared his throat. “I have to admit, it’s the perfect hideout.”
Izzy laughed. “You make it sound so clandestine. We’re not criminals. We’re . . . ” she searched for the right word. “Criminal
investigators.” She seemed quite pleased with that idea.
“Yet we’re the ones locked away,” Luc retorted drily.
Arc supposed Luc had a point.
Kassimeigh’s forehead creased. “Luc, are you missing work you needed to do at the lab with Finn?”
The manahi sighed and shook his head. “There are things I’d like to be doing, of course, but I’m not missing anything critical. After the testing on Kett, there was little more for me to do. Finn has everything handled.”
Kass acknowledged him with a small nod.
“I think I’ll retire to our room,” Aunt Ina said. “I didn’t sleep well last night and want to be fully rested in the morning.”
“I’ll go with you.” Luc put a hand to his wife’s lower back.
The couple said their goodnights and left after Kass gave them directions to their room.
Izzy stepped toward the door slowly, wearing a thoughtful expression. “I think I’ll visit the garden. It’s probably my favorite place here.”
“In the dark?” Arc asked.
“Flowers and herbs still smell good in the dark,” she answered with a cheeky grin. “There are path lights, anyway. The last time I sat in that garden, a good-looking shiv came to find me.” She raised her eyebrows high, indicating hopefulness.
Arc laughed. “I’ll see you in the morning, then.”
When she’d gone, he turned to Kass. Her eyes had taken on a dangerous, wicked glint.
“Uh-oh, what’s that about?”
She said, “I was thinking, I’m not ready to go to bed. Since I’ll be spending all day tomorrow at a desk, I think I’d like to do something more energetic tonight.”
That sounded good to him, but he didn’t think she was thinking the same thing he was thinking. Not with that look on her face, like she was ready to eat a skyscraper.
“What did you have in mind?”
“A challenge. An overdue one.”
Kass wasn’t after a simple personal challenge, Arc discovered. She meant the kind of challenge where one shiv invites another shiv to try to beat her brains in. Arc wasn’t sure he really wanted to see this, but he couldn’t quite dismiss himself to her room, either.
Instead, he watched her balance on a metal bar, holding on to another above her head for added stability. He’d never seen anything like the structure she stood on. The entire two-story room was devoted to it. Five-foot lengths of synthetic metal bars attached to one another at the ends at right angles, forming a network of squares that then formed cubes. The structure looked like a huge, square climbing frame for grown-up children who were likely psychotic. Or shivs.
Kass stood about ten feet above the floor, watching her opponent. Arc knew Eryl had been Kass’ mentor, but her relationship with the man had become complicated since her return to the keep after her exile. Arc barely knew Eryl, and she rarely talked about him.
Clearly, he was good at this climb-fighting thing though, as Arc had suspected. Eryl’s bare feet danced across the opposite side of the frame and he jumped, catching the bar above his head, turning his body upside down, and flipping neatly up onto the higher bar. All the while, he kept his attention on Kassimeigh, who never took her eyes off him.
She stepped into the interior network of bars, moving two segments in before executing the same move Eryl had, flipping up to the bar above. She didn’t stop at one, though. She repeated the move four times, until she crouched on the top of the structure.
Arc had seen her fight, but he’d never seen her move like this. No wonder she could skulk around without making a sound. If she could battle on that thing, just traveling across mere ground was nothing. He eyed the distance to the padded floor and wondered what happened if someone fell off. Padding could only do so much.
In a sudden flurry Eryl flipped up to join Kass at the top of the frame, but she ran across, causing Arc’s breath to catch in his throat. Each step was a measured leap from bar to bar.
Before Eryl could fully straighten on the top of the structure, she balanced on one foot and kicked his chest, sending him falling backward over the edge.
Arc didn’t think this was a friendly sparring match.
Eryl straightened his body and caught a bar after flipping halfway over on his fall. He’d lost three levels of height. He latched onto the fourth level and moved to the interior of the structure. Clearly, she wasn’t going to let him take the high ground from her.
Using only his arms, Eryl swung laterally from bar to bar, grabbing one with his right hand, swinging around it in an arc, grabbing another in his left hand, and so forth. He made it to the center of the structure in what seemed like only a moment. Kassimeigh crouched above, watching him.
Once at the center, Eryl flipped up to the fifth level. He and Kass glared at each other, with the space of one level between them, him directly below her. Without warning he sprang and grabbed Kass’ ankles, slamming her down to the bar pelvis first. She fell forward on her chest. Arc winced and sucked in a breath. She caught herself and kicked Eryl off, while somehow not falling from the frame.
Eryl fell down another level, but caught himself and took advantage of Kassimeigh’s pain and loss of balance by flipping up to the top level. By the time he made it, she was on her feet. She punched at his chest, but he deflected it. She swung again with her left hand and managed to graze him across the temple, which knocked him off-balance.
Now with the advantage, she swept at his foot. He didn’t fall, but he was even further off-balance, struggling to stay upright. He dropped to a crouch and rolled across a bar, then swept Kass’ feet with one arm. She lost her balance, but rather than try to catch herself, she dropped into a controlled fall. She grabbed at the bar she’d stood on a moment ago and swung herself back up, now steady on her feet, but at the edge of the structure. Arc didn’t know anything about the tactics of fighting on this thing, but he was sure she was in the weaker position, since Eryl had her backed up against nothingness.
She leaped backward into that nothingness, catching the edge of the structure when it was about level with her face. She used her momentum by folding her legs up as she rotated around the bar, then jackknifing them as she let go. She flew up between the bars on the next section, regained her footing, and leaped across another expanse. She wasn’t at the center, but she no longer stood at the edge.
She and Eryl circled each other. Even from this distance, Arc felt a deadly intent that made his stomach turn over.
Eryl tried to use his greater reach to punch Kass, but she ducked under the blow. He advanced, forcing her to step back toward the edge again. When he threw another punch, she grabbed his arm and pulled him off-balance. He tripped over the bar, falling to the next level, where the bar hit him in the chest. He bounced off and kept falling, on a collision course with the ground. Until he stopped.
Eryl floated in midair, back up through the bars, until he stood again at the top.
Kass leaped forward, and Eryl stepped back. His hands came up in front of his chest in a yielding gesture.
“Enough, Kassimeigh. You’ve already won.”
She glowered at him, then dropped her fighting stance. “We can keep going.”
He shook his head. “You have a lot more to prove here than I do. And you did.”
She glared at him a moment longer, then stepped back off the bar, pointing her feet toward the ground as she dropped. She caught herself on the bar she’d just stood on, hung for a moment, then let go. Rather than using the series of flips she’d used to climb up, she simply let her body drop down from one level to the next, catching herself with her hands after each measured fall.
Arc knew she was strong, but he’d never seen her do anything like that.
Once both shivs stood on the floor, Kass faced Eryl. Her shoulders were down and her legs were straight, but Arc could see her face. She was still ready for battle.
“You had no right to manipulate me the way you did. Casting me out of the order for the purpose of giving me a life l
esson, all the while knowing you’d draw me back in. It was unjust.”
“Are you sorry to have learned what you did? To have changed as you did?”
Her eyes narrowed. “No. I’m better off as I am now. Happier. Funnier. Occasionally spontaneous.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Not so obedient that I won’t kick your ass for using me.”
Arc had seen her look this way only once before, when she faced down the terrorist cell that had kidnapped him. Angry and menacing. Arc wouldn’t want to be on Eryl’s side of that glare.
“Far more dangerous,” she added to her list of new attributes, with an ominous timbre in her voice.
Eryl merely looked resigned. He sighed. “I admit, we did not foresee your . . . willful streak.”
“Did you make a mistake, then?”
His answer didn’t come immediately. “I don’t think so. In spite of your rebelliousness, you’re still the same at the core. Ethical, honest, loyal. I trust that you won’t betray the tenets of the order.”
“But?” She spoke the word that he left out.
“I wonder if your methods might stray too far into the unorthodox.”
“That’s what you wanted. That was the elders’ plan in inducting me. Bringing something new to the order’s leadership.”
“Be careful what you wish for,” Eryl muttered in a voice Arc could barely hear.
Kassimeigh lifted a hand to brush her hair away from her sweaty forehead, then returned it to its crossed position across her chest.
She said, “It doesn’t matter that I’m glad to have learned what I learned. You and the other elders had no right to try to tinker with who I am. I’m not a science experiment. Whatever I think of the ends does not justify your means.”
“I admit that.”
Her head tilted to the side. She clearly hadn’t expected him to capitulate.
