She no longer knew if she wanted to find out either.
Until then, she had to face the real enemy, like the Mothers had said.
Using the wall to push herself to her feet, she continued on the path toward the Tower.
27
Light flashed ahead in short bursts as she climbed a set of steps dug into the tunnel floor just beyond the cavern. She stopped counting after one hundred steps, her legs burning with the exertion. One more torch hung halfway up the set of stairs, and by its light she checked Fayes’s notes, trying not to dampen them too much with her wet hands. Whoever had written the note had drawn the stairs leading outside, with arrows pointing up. She didn’t know what the arrows meant, but she had a hunch, and a pit of dread opened in her stomach.
Steeling herself, she walked up the rest of the stairs. Wind blew in steady gusts past the opening, which was tall enough for her to walk through hunched over. Goose bumps rose on her skin at the sudden chill in the air from the wind ahead. All she could see through the opening was sky; no trees were visible from this height. Moving to the edge of the opening, she peered over, then looked up the side of the Tower wall, and then whipped her head back inside, her pulse racing.
“You have got to be kidding me,” she muttered to herself, her voice disappearing in the gusts of wind.
She was at least one hundred feet in the air, facing the plains north of the Tower. Handholds and footholds were gouged into the Tower’s surface, completely unnoticeable unless you were the one scaling it. No entrance above was visible.
Quickly drying her hands on her clothes, she hesitated for a moment. She wasn’t afraid of heights, but one hundred feet above a flat ground with barely anything to hold on to was no joke. Her limbs still ached from the run through the city yesterday and jumping out of the theater. She gulped, not knowing if she’d be able to hold on long enough to make it up this treacherous path.
Then, turning back to the opening, she tried not to think about what she was going to do. Whenever she’d taught Johana, Markus, and Kushik to scale the city’s walls, fear was the first thing to get rid of. It could crumble even the most skilled and knock them to their deaths. Instead of fear, she kept Bautix at the front of her thoughts; the man who’d destroyed half the city and would do more if she didn’t warn the Sentinel.
As she climbed, carefully deciding which holds she would reach for next before even moving, she kept her eyes peeled for some sign of the outer defenses of the Tower. She noted Diamond Guards standing at intervals all around the bottom of the Tower, with multiple gathered in clusters where there must have been doors. She couldn’t have made it through any of those doors without being caught, if she’d approached at ground level.
The handholds curved around the side of the building and she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw a crack in the wall ten feet above. Once she reached it, she crawled inside and collapsed against the wall. Every one of her muscles ached, and all she wanted was to pass out.
This path was as narrow as the first one, but at least there was no water. Now she had to be somewhere in the middle of the Tower’s thirty floors, based on the height from the ground. Diamond Guards would show up soon, especially once she entered the main halls. Keeping her steps and breath as quiet as possible, she traversed the hall and came to a narrow door. No light peered through the cracks; the room on the other side was dark. Pressing her ear to the crack on the side of the door, she strained her ears, but heard nothing. When she was sure the room ahead was empty, she pushed the door open.
It nearly hit into another door in a very cramped space. Frowning, she looked up and down to see if she should climb to anything, but there was only the other door ahead. No sounds or light came from beyond. Shrugging, she pushed open that door too and stepped into an empty locker room.
A locker at the very back had been painted a deep emerald color to blend in with the wall. The floor was white tile, and her footsteps echoed across it as she darted through the room. From the uniforms hanging over the benches and open locker doors, she assumed this was for Diamond Guards. When she reached the exit, she stood on her toes to look through a small window set in the door, and saw a hallway somewhere in the middle of the Tower.
Slipping out of the locker room, she glanced to each side, pondering where to start. Mariya Okubo was the only member of the Sentinel she’d ever been on slightly good terms with, since Mariya knew that Aina, Ryuu, Raurie, and Teo had come to the Tower last month to expose Bautix’s plans to murder a foreign princess. If anyone would listen to her and Kohl’s plan to stop Bautix again, it would be Mariya. But with the assassination of Gotaro and the attack on the city, Mariya might not even want to talk to her.
Unless Aina gave her no choice.
Choosing to go left, she walked down the hall at a steady pace. All the Sentinel’s personal quarters were on the top two floors of the Tower. All she had to do was find a staircase and avoid any Diamond Guards.
When she turned the corner, a door stood open ten feet down the hall, with a stairwell visible halfway through. Boots clicking against the marble floor approached from the opposite end of the hall, probably a Diamond Guard. She slipped into the stairwell before they could turn the corner, then ascended the stairs as quickly as she could. Ten minutes later, she arrived at the second-to-last floor. Bending over with her hands on her knees, she took a few deep gulps of air.
A window was cut into the door, and peering through, she noticed how empty these top floors were. Instead of a hallway, it was a circular, open floor with four doors interspersed around the curving walls—one of them with a window cut into it like this one, probably leading to the stairwell on the opposite side of the Tower. No one guarded the other three doors.
Just then, the door to the opposite stairwell creaked open. Eirhart, one of the surviving Sentinel governors, stepped through along with an escort of two Diamond Guards with rifles slung across their chests. Eirhart led the way to one of the doors, which must have been his personal quarters, and entered alone. The Diamond Guards took up a post outside.
Stepping back from the door, she continued up to the highest floor. These were definitely the Sentinel’s rooms, but she wanted to draw as little attention as possible now that she’d nearly reached her goal. She would check the last floor before starting a fight with these two guards.
The final floor was empty as well, but this one only had three doors set around the circular walls: the door to the opposite stairwell ahead, and two more. She walked toward one of them, quieting her steps so they wouldn’t echo across the marble floor. An obsidian plaque hung on the door she approached, but instead of Alsane Bautix’s name being etched into it, diamonds were studded to spell out his name. Aina rolled her eyes at the sight. The Sentinel likely hadn’t bothered to change it since no one had yet been hired to fill his position.
She walked toward the other door and exhaled in relief when she saw Mariya Okubo’s name. Instead of diamonds and obsidian, there was a simple brass plaque with her name etched across it. Aina turned the doorknob and entered.
She’d expected luxury, but this was surprisingly bare bones. Forest-green carpet lined the floors and shimmering gold curtains hung halfway draped across the windows. In the office, there was only a desk with a chair, while the sitting room had a fireplace, a sofa, and a low table with a plate of fresh, colorful fruit. No decorations covered the surfaces, no paintings or statues lined the walls. The fire blazed low now, keeping the room warm. Even though it was summer, a chill permeated these higher floors, so she supposed the Sentinel kept their fires blazing year-round.
Only a lamp, a single pen, and a framed photograph stood on top of the desk. All the drawers were locked, as she discovered when she tried to open them. Mariya was much more organized than Aina had expected, and definitely not as luxurious as most Steels.
Aina glanced out of the floor-to-ceiling windows behind the desk. In the distance, the city had the look of a war zone already, with crumbling buildings and smo
ke billowing above to blot out the sun. At least the Sentinel was forced to watch whatever destruction occurred in the city from these lofty heights.
Turning away from the view, her gaze landed on the photograph on the desk. Sunlight from outside shone on it, highlighting the image of a Natsudan girl with the same round face and long black hair as Mariya. She looked a few years younger than Aina, with the view of trees and a river behind her. She was smiling, her eyes bright but wary. Aina picked up the frame, wondering if this was Mariya’s daughter, or maybe a younger sister. If so, where was she?
The door began to creak open and Aina darted behind one of the sofas in the sitting area, the picture frame still in her hands. She peered around the edge of it, watching Mariya enter and wave away the Diamond Guards who’d escorted her to her door. She shrugged off a white blazer and kicked off her shoes, leaving her in a blouse and a long skirt. Her eyes, with dark bags underneath and lines like spiderwebs at the sides, peered out of the window, and Aina could see the curling smoke over the city reflected in the glassy, deep brown color.
As Mariya stepped toward her desk, she frowned and stopped in her tracks, as if she’d already noticed something was amiss. Her ears perked like a rabbit being hunted, and she turned to face the rest of the room. Deciding this was as good a time as any to reveal herself, Aina stood. Mariya startled, taking a step back, and opened her mouth.
“Is this your daughter?” Aina asked quickly. The sight of the photograph made Mariya’s words catch in her throat, and Aina was just grateful she hadn’t called for the guards outside her door. “Is she dead?”
Mariya flinched at her words, and Aina knew they were harsh, but she had to keep Mariya’s focus on her instead of the guards outside until she could explain why she was here.
After a long pause, Mariya spoke, the words breaking out of her in short, clipped tones. “My husband took her to Natsuda the year the war started. He knew I had to stay here, with my position being what it is, but we wanted our daughter to be away from it all. She was a baby when the war began. I’ve only seen her twice since.” She cleared her throat, her shoulders tense, her eyes glimmering a little with unshed tears. “Recent events in our country have not done anything to persuade my husband to bring her back.”
“And you wouldn’t go there to be with them?” Aina asked, walking back to the desk and placing the photograph where it had been.
“This is my home, and I have a duty to protect it,” Mariya said simply.
At least I chose the right person to come to, Aina thought, then turned to face her. “Do you know how I got in here? Bautix has built secret entrances into the Tower.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out the notes. “I used one of them and no one saw me. You’ll need these to seal up as many entrances as you can before he brings in his men through them.”
Mariya stepped forward in one smooth stride and took the notes, holding them gingerly like they were some kind of weapon instead of information.
“How did you find these?”
“The Blood King and I are working on taking out Bautix, and we found a rat in the Tower.” As Mariya’s eyes narrowed sharply at the mention of the Blood King, Aina continued, “You remember that day your colleague got assassinated, and I saved the rest of you because your guards are useless? I killed Arin Fayes on that ship, and I got these notes off him. He’s been constructing these entrances into the Tower for Bautix.”
Mariya let out a long sigh as she riffled through the notes. For a moment, the crinkling and shuffling of notes were the only sounds as she read a few of them. Then Mariya looked up her shrewdly. “Thank you for getting us this information. It’s very useful. But I know that the Blood King has been working with Bautix for years. Is he on your side now?”
Biting her lip, Aina didn’t quite know what to say to that. “We’re both against Bautix, at least,” she finally answered. “He’s pretending to still be on Bautix’s side to get information.”
Mariya nodded once. “We won’t be able to close all the entrances in time, but we can close some and at least post guards at the others. There’s also the matter of the Kaiyanis rebels Bautix has hired and promised to help with the coup of their king. Did you know about them?” When Aina nodded, Mariya sighed and said, “Their king advised me to watch the ports for a sign of them, and we’ve caught some, but we must have missed others. He’s sending soldiers to help out. But he expects a favor in return. He wants the Kaiyanis Inosen who are still imprisoned here to be sent back as a sign of good will. If the soldiers arrive at the port and see no one ready to be sent back, they’re instructed to leave immediately.”
Thinking of Tannis and the Sacoren she’d introduced them to, Aina asked, “And you’re doing it?”
“We’ve checked the prison, but only a few are still alive,” Mariya said with a slow shake of her head. “It would be a joke if we only sent three people; the soldiers would turn around and leave.”
“Only a few are still alive?” Aina repeated, unable to keep the anger from her voice. “And whose fault is that? Don’t say Bautix. Maybe he’s the one who made the laws to arrest every Inosen, but all of you stood back and let him.”
Mariya clenched the notes in her hand, not saying anything for a long moment. “I can acknowledge that there is room for change, and that I should have done more to stop it. Years ago, we made the Inosen an enemy because that made it easier to stop Verrain from destroying the country.”
“From what I know, he and a few others attacked one factory, and then you sent the entire army after him and everyone who shared his religion,” Aina scoffed. “You Steels worship money and industry so much, you’ll stamp out anyone in its way. Maybe you’ve learned something since then, but maybe you’re just desperate and are saying what you think I want to hear. I’ll make a deal with you, Mariya. I’ll find enough Kaiyanis Inosen to send to the ports and I’ll tell you what I know of Bautix’s final plan, if you and the rest of the Sentinel free every Inosen in prison and lift the ban on their religion.”
Mariya nodded stiffly. “We have a deal. But you must know we’re outnumbered—we’ve had to dismiss any Diamond Guard we suspected might still have connections to Bautix. Whatever you know of Bautix’s plans, I’m not sure we’ll be able to stand up to them. The fighting will only become more intense soon. What we need most of all is time and people we can trust, but we’re not getting either.”
“I’ll send reinforcements from my tradehouses to be your security here,” Aina said slowly, already dreading the arguments she would likely have with them about it. None of them liked the Sentinel, but they all liked having a place to live and sleep, so she’d find a way to make them comply. “Bautix is planning to stage negotiations with you and poison you all instead while his men sneak through the secret entrances. I’m preparing the poisons as well as antidotes. The Blood King and I will get the antidotes to you. You’ll keep the real ones for yourselves, and Bautix will have a fake. He’ll drink the fake one and succumb to the poison while you all live.”
“That’s too risky,” Mariya said then, shaking her head. “Inviting the enemy into our home.”
“That’s why it works: Let him think he’s winning, and then you take advantage. If you don’t invite him, then he’ll find a way in and catch you off guard. Better to keep him where you can see him.”
“And if he figures it out before we can even try?”
“We have a fail-safe. If his plans change, he’ll need weapons and fighters to take over the Tower. I’ll go to the ports to stop his last shipment of weapons and take out Bautix’s men there. The Kaiyanis will be able to pass through, so you’ll have more soldiers to help, and Bautix won’t get his firepower. This will all happen the day after tomorrow.”
“You have the Blood King’s confirmation on all this?” When Aina nodded, Mariya said, “I can only hope he wants Bautix dead as much as we do.”
Aina’s gaze trailed toward the window. She looked toward the south of the city and remembered the ghost o
f the flames in Kohl’s eyes.
“He does,” she said finally. Then, remembering the caves she’d gone through and the climb up the side of the Tower, she said, “One more thing, tell your guards not to shoot me on the way out. I’m going through the front door this time.”
28
The next morning, Aina woke to the sounds of someone moving around on the bed across from hers. She was slow to open her eyes, her whole body aching from everything that had happened in the past two days: the bombings throughout the city, jumping from the theater window with Teo, and traversing the caverns to the Tower.
Yesterday, she’d told Tannis, Teo, Ryuu, Raurie, and Lill about Bautix’s plan to poison the Sentinel and how she’d sneaked into the Tower to warn Mariya—right before closing her eyes and falling asleep immediately.
Had the Mothers really appeared to her, or had those rocks hit her hard enough that she’d imagined it?
“Aina?” came Tannis’s voice from nearby, and Aina opened her eyes to see that Tannis was already dressed for the day. “I spoke to Ryuu this morning. He said we can move into the new manor. Mirran and the recruits will come once they wake up and he gives them the news, but I can’t wait any longer. Come with me?”
Aina pushed back the sheets and stood, for a moment wondering if she’d misheard Tannis. “He fixed it up already?” Weak morning sunlight shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows—she couldn’t see the city from here, but she imagined it, still smoking and in rubble. “When did he find the time?”
Tannis laughed, then gestured around the expansive bedroom Ryuu had offered them. “When you have this much money, time isn’t really an obstacle.”
She shot Aina a bright smile, and Aina returned one, her spirits lifted for the first time in a while. If they could start over, build a new Dom … a spark of hope shot through her, daring her to think maybe they could still win this.
Shadow City Page 24