The hot teacup stung her fingers, but Lapis tightened her grip on the ceramic rather than shake her hands to cool them down. Her eyes blurred at the pain, and she blinked to keep the tears where they belonged.
“Lanth.” She looked over at Jhor. He gently slid the gauntlet across the rough tech room table to its kin, then hooked his soft brown hair behind his ears. “They survived their first outing.”
She nodded and bowed her head. At least she did not have to worry about sponoil gunking up her blades, but that did not make her feel better.
A mound of sweets slid into view. Sanna tapped the edge of the plate before setting bright pink napkins next to it. “These are good food, according to Faelan,” she said. “You should eat.”
That was not a suggestion, but a pleasant-sounding command.
Jhor, to emphasize the point, selected a round roll wrapped around itself, with sweet, woody spices coating the interior and thick frosting heaped on top. He bit into the side, and a wide smile lit his face. “These are good!”
Of course they were. They were from Candycakes, and the market proudly sold tantalizing candy and pastries. Her tummy growled, and she, embarrassed, snagged a roll as well. She had eaten nothing that day, and her nosy friends noticed and acted accordingly.
“The Sugar Treat calls these woodells, because the spice they use comes from the bark of browndell wood,” she said before nibbling the frosting. “They’re also the place that created the first candycake, and the market’s named after those.”
The food gave her something to think about other than her Dentherion encounter. Three more nights had passed, she awake, Patch holding her as she sobbed into his chest. Weariness caught her in the early mornings, but she still could not rest because the nightmares continued to hound her. Lady Thais had entered the kitchen the previous morning while she sat at a table and stared blearily at a full cup of wake juice, gave her an elixir she said would knock her out without dreams, but she could not force herself to drink it.
What if the Dentherions showed up and she, unconscious, ended up captured?
“Ooooh, woodells!” Rin snatched one before her slow brain realized he stood next to her, and shoved it into his mouth. “They’s even better when they’s not squished from my pocket!”
Jhor grinned and motioned to Lyet, who snagged one as well.
“You should take some up to Lykas, Jandra and Scand,” Lapis said.
“Not til you’ve had yer fill,” Rin said. “I c’n gets extra to buy more from Faelan, iffen I needs to.”
“Extra?”
Lyet raised her hand to her lips. “He’s playing the annoying little brother to perfection,” she told her around a mouthful of pastry. “I thought Faelan would be more upset, but he seems touched by it.”
“I never would have thought a rebel leader would have his generosity,” Jhor said. “But he’s different than I imagined.”
“He brings joy to hide his tears.” Sanna stood behind the modder and studied the plate as if she wished she could partake in the delectable treat.
“He does,” Lapis agreed before eyeing the rats. “Are you here to check up on Lykas?”
“’N you.” Rin scrubbed the back of his wrist over his mouth. “Lykas’ll be fine. We knows it. Brought the younger lot to see ‘m. Gabby’s puttin’ him to sleep reading from that big knight book of hers. Jandra says he needs it, ‘cause he’s been waking up in a sweat ‘n can’t go back to sleep.”
She closed her eyes, wishing she could help. Maybe she should mention to Lady Thais he needed that sleepy-time elixir she made.
“Jest so you knows, more Dentherion janks showed up at the Eaves,” Rin said as he licked his fingers. She froze, concerned. “Don’t worry, they’s got no idea who they’s lookin’ fer, jest that three of them’s buddies disappeared. Dachs told ‘m that they’d closed early ‘cause Dani ‘n Dalia had t’ go home, ‘n they gots kicked out like everyone else. Where they went after that? Don’t know. Janks not happy ‘bout it, but all the regs said the same thing, so they’s sorta stuck.”
“Soggy sticks drip water,” Sanna said. “And when the cold nights come, they freeze, crack, and fall apart. Soggy sticks should return to their warmer home before there is nothing of them left.”
Lapis hoped the janks quickly tired of failure and retreated to Dentheria, though she had a feeling the Grey and Stone Streets were stuck with them until they decided they had lost their associates, their stake, and nothing remained but for them to report their failure.
“I guess Path needs to stay away from the Eaves until they get tired of making asses of themselves.” Jhor took another roll, then pointedly regarded the half-licked one in Lapis’s hand. Sighing, she ate, not wishing to suffer chastisement for neglecting her health. Patch’s overprotective insistence was bad enough; she had the feeling the khentauree’s guilting her into eating would be worse.
Beep beep.
Sanna and Jhor looked over at a wide screen where lines and lines of code flashed and then zipped upwards, too fast for Lapis to read. Sanna buzzed and trotted to the light sheet that covered the khentauree heads, drew it away, then planted herself in front of the second one from the left. A soft, whining whir came from her; a return whir drifted from the head.
Jhor set his roll down, slid his chair to a keyboard attached to a smaller, blank screen, and pressed the button to turn it on. He read the flashing box that winked into existence and hmphed in surprise. He slipped a band from his pants pocket, tied his hair in a tight tail, and concentrated on clacking away on the keys.
“Lanth, would you mind getting your brother?” he asked. “He’s in the comms room.”
“Alright.” Lapis jerked her chin at the rats and settled another roll for the modder on a napkin before Rin grabbed the plate. Lyet snagged the napkins, and they quietly left to the hum of khentauree.
“They’re all over the place, Faelan.”
Lapis frowned; was that muffled voice Uncle Rodas? She glanced at the rats, motioned to the stairs, and turned to the communication room. Rin’s curiosity did not match Lyet’s stern gaze, and he obediently headed upstairs rather than stick his nose into rebel business. Good; she was in no mood to argue with him about it, and she did not want to leave hard feelings between them.
She knocked on the door, and her brother called for her to enter. She slipped inside the chilly room and padded to him; he cast her a quick smile before returning to the screen. Her uncle’s face filled it, and sympathy spread across his face.
“Lapis. How are you doing?”
She shrugged. “I’ve been better.”
He nodded, sadness descending. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I wish it weren’t so, but we rebels often have to sacrifice to save others. Sometimes it’s our morals and ethics, sometimes it’s our lives, but we do it because we know a greater good will rise from the ashes. That doesn’t cure the stab of pain, but perhaps it can help create a bandage over the wound.”
Her return smile felt strained, as if the edges of her mouth had turned to clay and she had to mold them into a semblance of emotion before they cracked. “Thank you, uncle.”
Faelan snagged a chair for her, and she carefully settled next to him. “Uncle’s in Coriy,” he said.
“Looking for Mibi?” A good idea, even if the slow disintegration of the empire was a more pressing issue.
“That’s part of it,” Rodas said. “But he’s in hiding because the janks swarming Coriy are looking for him.”
She frowned. “Did he loan one of them some silver and they don’t want to pay?” Was Mibi so lost to sense, that he would loan a Dentherion money?
Faelan half-laughed. “It would be simpler if that were the case.”
“Greed would be a handy explanation,” Rodas said, his voice heavy. “One might think that, since they’ve sniffed around in the underground quarters and the seedier parts of the city, making unsubtle inquiries about a moneylender who came from Jiy a few weeks ago. But they’ve also been asking questions about Aben Moorlight. They paid for a meeting with Churle, Coriy’s Minq underboss, concerning him—ten metgal, and he’s surprised they didn’t balk.”
Lapis’s jaw dropped. Ten metgal? What did they think he knew, to willingly hand over that much? She could purchase an older mansion in the Meadows with that amount of money!
“The janks told Churle that Aben escaped Dentheria with the Drakeways synbosses, and they traced them to Coriy and Mibi. He believes they’re guessing at the link, but finds it interesting they even made a connection. Mibi, after all, is a Jiy moneylender, and as far as anyone knows, hasn’t become involved with out-country syndicates.”
Lapis sank back in her chair. “The connection makes sense, if the janks know they’re both associated with Masaalle Kez.”
Rodas nodded. “If Mibi did help, I don’t think he brought them to Coriy. No Dentherion syndicate has petitioned underbosses for safe passage in Coriy or Vraindem. If they went rural routes, that may be why. Southern Jilvayna isn’t the easiest place to travel in End Year snows. If they weren’t prepared, they may be stuck somewhere.”
Faelan leaned on his knees, his hands dangling between his legs. “The Minq in Dentheria reported that the new high counselor is interested in Aben because he wants to use him against his father. The Lords’ Council isn’t capitulating like he expected, and he thinks subduing the leaders will give him the leverage he needs to overhaul the government.” Her brother sighed. “Uncle, tell the House not to take chances right now. I’d like to find Mibi, but he isn’t worth our discovery.”
“I’ll tell them.”
“How’s the research going?”
“Better than expected.” Rodas laughed and scrubbed at his stubbled cheek. Lapis could not remember a time he did not shave, so she found it odd. It made him look more country-rugged, providing a simple way to hide noble roots from Dentherion spies. “My friend’s opened the archive at night, so I’ve been able to sift through older documents without the archivist planting his chin on my shoulder and wondering what I’m researching this time. I’ve uncovered a partial list of Taangin military bases and outposts that Groundcommander Reveerde inspected. It refers to other lists, so I know the one I discovered isn’t complete, but it’s a start.
“The bases and outposts are in the Covern Nine District, a military-centric designation which once spanned northern Dentheria, the southern bits of Hestora and Jilvayna, and central to southern Abastion. The document lists seventeen found in southwestern Jilvayna, the lands across the border in Dentheria, and southern Abastion, with Taangin map coordinates for each. The outposts were supply depots long gone or swallowed into towns, but there are three bases I think might resemble Ragehill or Torc Bedan—evacuated in haste, with equipment left behind. Larks has a mound outside town that’s in the place Taangin maps show the Torc Idall base. They have interesting folklore about blue-glowing creatures stalking the night in the eastern hills, and I can’t help but wonder if khentauree are there. The Cloister and the Shivers can’t be the only enclaves that snuck into human habitations to steal supplies.
“The next place is near Rotan, a farming settlement just across the border in Dentheria. It was a thriving community growing into a Dentherion military hub for supplies heading east, but a strange explosion a hundred years ago leveled it, and the empire abandoned the area for Chessri. If the remnants of a base exploded, there might not be much left, but it can’t hurt to look. The last is in Keev, Abastion. The Seven Gods’ Temple is inside the old base’s walls because the priests wanted a defense against the irate locals after the invasion. It wouldn’t surprise me if there’s plenty under it to explore, but the head priest is a Dentherion fanatic and getting in would be difficult.” He leaned closer to the screen. “Interestingly enough, Keev is the nearest habitation to Zaster Mine.”
Lapis perked up. Zaster was on the list of places Requet wished to visit in search of Gedaavik’s notes, which meant it might well have extant khentauree walking its tunnels.
Faelan pulled at his lower lip. “Interesting. We’ll have to wait to see what happens in Abastion before we can visit. Uncle, get the recording Ghost made for us and send it to the Larks House. They can take a peek, see if the creatures are khentauree hunting for supplies.”
Rodas nodded. “Anything else?”
“Other than be cautious, no.”
“Take care, both of you.”
Lapis rubbed her eyes as Faelan clicked the screen off. “You sent Uncle after Mibi?”
“No. I sent him as a trusted advisor to Coriy. Meinrad and Rambart still have their fingers in the goings-on there, and I want him to break them off. Mibi was a secondary consideration. Once we learned the military khentauree might reach another base, I asked if he could not look into that as well. His historical society ties give him access to records we normally wouldn’t have.”
Lapis lifted her upper lip. Did her uncle have the strength to break those fingers? Her memories of him centered on his gentleness and learning; her father had the stout personality to knock rebel heads together, while Rodas worked in the background. “Are Meinrad and Rambart in Coriy?”
“No. They’re at Rambart’s Rentriver estate outside Kavik, but they’re close enough to cause problems.” He laughed, a hint of anger underlying the words. “They think I don’t know, but they underestimate the loyalty of the local rebels to me. Have you eaten?”
The question knocked her from her resentment. “No, but something’s going on with the khentauree we recovered. Jhor told me to come get you.”
He grabbed a black square with an unlit bulb at the top from the console’s desk and followed her back to the tech room.
