He leaned into her touch, but there was still tension in his shoulders. “The purple stuff is cloud dust,” he said at last. “Some Zhee warriors use it to blind their opponents in a fight, but apparently its use has spread up here. My squad was out on a mission, and… someone flung the stuff at me.”
“To blind you?”
“Sure seemed that way.”
Kali frowned. “But why? What were you doing?”
He did not reply.
Disappointment settled in Kali’s heart once more, but she concentrated on his right shoulder, trying only to savor the firm muscles beneath her palms. If he didn't want to discuss something, he didn't have to. Besides, she hadn't exactly been forthcoming about her magical manipulations of Eris' collar.
But even so, she could not keep her curiosity at bay. “How are things going with your squad?”
“Good, actually.” He turned to regard her, a faint smile tugging his mouth. “Much to my surprise.”
Relieved to have elicited an answer, she smiled back. “I'm glad to hear that. Da always said a good squad is the difference between life and death. Have you settled into life as an officer? How did you come by a promotion, anyway?”
His expression grew shadowed and he looked away from her again. “Commander Talon offered it to me upon my arrival.”
“You don't sound pleased.”
“I should be pleased. I want to be pleased. It's just...unexpected.” He was quiet a moment. “I always thought my brother Drake would be an officer, not me.”
“I don't think anything ever turns out as we expect,” she said as she continued to knead. “I suppose all we can do is try to keep our feet.”
“Aye.” He leaned into her touch again, a little harder than before, but not enough to topple her over. “Our mission today took us to the Jessamin. I thought about you.”
Memories flitted through Kali's mind and she grinned. “What in the stars brought you back to the Jessamin?” Another memory struck her, banishing her smile. “Seren’s light… it wasn’t thralls, was it?”
“No thralls today.”
Kali shuddered. “Good. I hate the thought of those… things out there, killing people, or taking over their souls, or whatever they do. I wish I could help stop them.” She had fought the creatures before, after all. Surely her magic could be useful again. “You should bring me with you next time your squad goes out to hunt them,” she added.
Stonewall’s body tensed once more; with effort, he relaxed. “You’re safer here,” he said at last.
Safe and caged. Kali tried to ignore the bitter edge to the thought. “Are you really going to keep silent about whatever happened to bring you here, tonight?” She kissed his ear to show she was teasing. “I just want to know how cross I should be with you for disturbing me.”
He was silent and she thought she’d truly lost the battle. Then…”We had orders to capture a Sufani and bring them back to the garrison.” Kali lowered her hands, too stunned to do anything else but stare at a straight, pale scar across his back. He turned to face her, but did not meet her gaze as he continued. “The High Commander thinks the Sufani and the Assembly are working together, so he sent an order for us to…collect a Sufani nomad to be sent to Lasath for questioning.”
It took great effort to keep her voice neutral. “And did you?”
Again, he was silent, clearly thinking over his words. “Aye, we captured one. A woman. But…” He sighed and rubbed his forehead, smudging a lingering trace of purple dust. “I couldn’t do it, Kali. Those orders were wrong. We caught her, but once my squad left, I let her go.”
“You…” Kali took a deep breath. “Let her go? How?”
“Well, I untied her, first,” he replied, a touch of wryness in his voice that made Kali’s heart ache. Perhaps seeing that she was upset, Stonewall touched her knee. “It was the right thing to do, though Talon will make me pay for it.”
“The right thing to do?”
He frowned at her tone. “Was I supposed to keep her captive for no good reason?”
“That’s what sentinels do,” Kali said before she caught herself. At his look, she grimaced. “Sorry. That wasn’t fair.”
“I can’t help what I am,” he replied. “Any more than you can.”
“I know.” She toyed with the ends of her hair, considering her next words. She’d only just got him talking; if she lashed out now, he might never share anything again. To help her get a better sense of him—in every way—she examined the particles that made up his muscles. They slipped from her mental grip, but not before she got a sense of them: tense, tight, aching. In her imagination, the mass of the tiny specks glowed an angry red. Well, no wonder he was in a dark mood.
“That poor woman,” she managed at last. “Sentinels can be very intimidating, especially when they’re working against you. I can imagine how frightened your prisoner was.”
He looked away from her again, rubbing his hands as if trying to clean them. “I let her go, in the end. Besides, she or one of her friends gave as good as they got. Flint’s going to have a new scar to prove it.”
“An eye for an eye, then?”
He did not reply right away, though the muscles of his jaw worked and he took several deep breaths. At last he shook his head once and met her gaze, albeit with reluctance, she thought. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“I’m glad you did.” Kali motioned to him to turn again so she could continue to knead. “I was getting tired of badgering you to talk to me. And I’m hoping,” she ensured her words were light, “you’ll keep talking. This mission of yours is much more interesting than anything I’ve heard today.”
“You’re not angry with me?”
Stars and moons, he sounded almost… frightened. Kali kissed the back of his neck; one of the few places she’d found on him that bore no scars. “I’m not angry with you, Stone.”
“Disappointed, then?”
She hesitated, searching for the right way to phrase her feelings. “I wouldn’t have made that choice,” she said at last. “But I think my father might have. What you did doesn’t make sense to me, but then, I’m no sentinel.”
“She wasn’t harmed,” Stonewall replied. “Just frightened. And if I could go back and erase that fear, I would. But I did what I had to do to protect her and protect my team.” He sighed heavily. “Perhaps one day, she’ll forgive me.”
“Perhaps she’s just happy to be free,” Kali said. “After all, it sounds as if she didn’t exactly leave your squad unscathed.”
He gave a low chuckle and leaned into her hands. “Flint will be fine, thank the gods.”
“Thank your mender, too.” Kali rubbed a particularly large knot. “Though I imagine Talon isn’t thanking you for anything.”
“I’m looking at a month’s worth of stable duty because of this… incident. That’s on top of my regular duties. So this might be my last visit for a little while.”
He said the last bit with an almost tangible remorse that made Kali’s heart tighten in sympathy and in disappointment.
“What else happened on this eventful trip to Oreion?” she asked when she could trust her voice to be light.
“Well, there was something...strange when we encountered the Sufani. One of the men seemed… familiar.”
“He wasn't one of Aderey's family?”
Stonewall shook his head. “Not that I recall. I'm probably imagining things, but it looked like… my brother.”
Kali searched her memory for Drake’s birth name. “Bahar?”
“Yes, but he’s dead,” Stonewall said, too forcefully. “Right after he died, I used to see him everywhere. It was always just a trick of my mind.”
“Our minds can conjure all sorts of pictures,” Kali replied. “Especially those we want to believe are real.”
His shoulders sagged. “I’m sure that’s what happened today.”
When he said nothing more, Kali focused on his pa
rticles. The hematite in his blood dulled her focus, but only a little bit, not nearly as much as it should have. When was his last burn? She considered asking, but as she thought over the most tactful way to phrase the question, an idea struck her. She'd done magic in the presence of hematite before; perhaps it was time to try again. The effort would most likely be futile, but she was still invigorated from her magic with the vines.
“Is this all right?” she asked him as she rubbed a spot of knotted muscle with her thumbs.
He made a sound that she thought was a yes, though it was hardly coherent. She continued to knead and focused on the particles of his muscles. They were strung taut, so gently, carefully, she coaxed them to loosen, pouring in some of her own energy to help the process along. At first his body resisted. However, after a few moments, the tension in his muscles eased a tiny bit, so that Stonewall sighed deeply and leaned into her hands. Swallowing tightly, Kali tried to urge his muscles to relax further, but she pushed too hard this time and her efforts met only a blank wall. Now she felt the void created by hematite; an empty place in her senses.
So it'd worked, even if only a little. Was it wrong of her to feel pleased?
A soft touch against her arm made her look up to see Stonewall regarding her. “What is it?”
The shadows beneath his eyes had faded a little, he seemed more alert, and despite his slight frown, there was only concern on his face. Her heart constricted at his earnest expression, so she looked away from him, at the moonlight spilling onto her bed. Stonewall had come to her room and shed his armor, and she'd used magic on him – without his permission.
“Kali?” His voice was hesitant. “Have I upset you?”
“No,” she managed, though her voice was a whisper. “No, you're… fine. As you said.” She added a wry smile to let him know all was well, though her stomach was suddenly in knots and her throat was filled with words she could not give voice to.
He frowned as he continued to study her. “Something's wrong.”
She opened her mouth, ready to deny it all again, but speech died in her throat. If she wanted him to be honest with her, she needed to do the same. “Please don't be angry.”
To her surprise, he chuckled. “Not much could make me angry right now.”
“So you say.” Kali moved to sit beside him, folding her right knee as she kept her left extended and resting on the floor. A little time and rest had ebbed the worst of the pain, but she didn't want to push her luck. She twisted her fingers together as she thought over how to explain. At last, she blurted, “I did magic on you.”
“What?” His brows drew together and he looked down as if assessing his body. “When?”
“Just now. It wasn't much,” she added quickly, unable to meet his eyes. “You were troubled and tense, and I just wanted to help you relax, so I tried to loosen your particles. Just a little, you know? It worked a tiny bit, but not more than that. I'm not sure if that's because you've not taken hematite in a while, or something else. I doubt you even felt anything. But I still did it without asking, and I'm sorry.”
He was silent.
Kali took a deep, shaking breath and dared to look up at him. Again, he surprised her, for his expression revealed only curiosity as he studied his hands, flexing and unflexing his fingers. “Stonewall,” she said, drawing his gaze. “I'm sorry.”
He dropped his hands and regarded her. “What are particles?”
“The place where magic lives,” Kali replied, too stunned to think of a clearer explanation. “They make up everything in the world.”
Stonewall nodded slowly, considering. “I haven't taken a dose since we traveled here. I'm due for another in a month or so. That could be why your magic worked even a little.” He leaned back on her bed, still thinking. “Magic can affect sentinels. It just takes a lot more magic than it would for non-sentinels.”
“I wouldn't know,” Kali said slowly. “I've never purposefully tried to do magic on a sentinel.”
Now he looked at her again. “You should have asked me.”
Her cheeks burned. “I know.”
“But,” he went on, “I do feel better – physically.”
“That's good.”
He sat up and held his arm out to her. “Try again.” When she gaped at him, he gave her a half-smile and said, with complete solemnity, “I trust you, Kali.”
Her mouth opened but no sound came out. It was all she could do to nod mutely and take his forearm in her hands. Dense muscle lay beneath brown, scarred skin, with a dusting of dark hair. There were so many scars. Though they'd had a few pleasant interludes by now, she'd never examined him so closely; she traced his sentinel mark with her fingertip before turning her attention to his particles.
Tense, taut, throbbing deep orange from constant exertion; a reminder, as if she needed it, that his body was a weapon, that he was always prepared for a fight. Kali took a deep breath, and another, and coaxed his particles to relax once more. Deep orange faded to cream, then pale blue; the colors of those first moments before dawn. Stonewall sighed again.
When she opened her eyes, he was smiling at her. “You're very good at that.”
She grinned back. “Happy to be of service.”
He rolled his shoulders, apparently still savoring the after-effects of her magic. “I feel a thousand times better.”
“A thousand times better, you say?”
“Aye.”Stonewall's eyes gleamed as he carefully pulled her into his lap and drew her tunic over her head and arms, revealing her chemise and smallclothes. The room was cool and her skin prickled, more so when he gazed at her with the intensity of a starving man at a feast.
“I'm not certain I believe you,” she replied, still smiling despite her own increasing desire at the look in his eyes. “That seems a bit of an exaggeration.”
“It's no exaggeration,” he said, almost to himself, then wrapped his arms around her waist and dropped his mouth to the soft skin of her throat, sending a thrill through her entire body. He tilted his face up to hers again and murmured against her mouth. “Let me prove it to you.”
Fifteen
Drake sat beside Ben and kept his gaze on the dancing flames of their campfire. After Brice's abduction—and baffling return—the Assembly and Sufani had regrouped several leagues from the White River, in a much more isolated spot than before. Since Drake, Ben, and their Assembly cohorts could not afford to linger in one place for too long, they possessed little more than tents and traveling packs. The Sufani were more adept at the nomadic lifestyle; their wagons rested in a ring around the Assembly camp, their horses and oxen tethered nearby. Dusk and deep woods provided some security, though Drake knew he would not be truly at ease for some time yet.
Aderey sat at another fire, smoking a thin biri and speaking in low tones with his wife, while the other Sufani stuck together just beyond the perimeter of the Assembly's tent village. Aderey’s daughter, Leal, stood near Ben and the other Assembly folk, arms crossed as she listened to the married women’s bickering.
“For the hundredth time, I'm fine, Ril,” Brice said wearily. “The sentinel even apologized!”
“That's not the point!” Rilla's blue eyes flashed with fury as she marched to Drake, standing between him and the fire, her body blocking the heat and light. “The sentinels knew we took their hematite and came looking for us. This is your fault.”
Heat swam through Drake's blood. “Blame me all you like, but it won't change anything. I’m sorry Brice got shaken up, but we must move forward.”
“Drake's right.” Ben's voice was soft against the crackling of the fire. “Rilla, if the sentinels had meant to punish us for stealing their hematite, why would they have returned your wife, unharmed?”
“Why take her in the first place?”
“Well, I did hit one with an arrow,” Brice said wryly. “Maybe that upset ‘em.” The red-haired woman bore only a bruise on her arm from that morning's encounter with the sentinels,
which she now rubbed idly as she considered. “But if not hematite, they must have come for something. Last time I checked, none of us are mages.”
Edel shuddered. “Thank the gods for that.”
Anxiety hit Drake like an arrow, but he tried to keep the emotion in check. “The sentinel who freed you,” he said to Brice. “Did you see his face?”
“Only a little. The sod was wearing his helmet and someone,” she lifted an eyebrow, “threw cloud dust all over him. But he had an accent like yours.”
Drake’s stomach churned. “What else did he say?”
She shook her head. “Nothing other than what I’ve already told you. He checked me for weapons, apologized a couple times, and said something about how they—his squad, I suppose—were just following orders.” She looked at her hands, resting in her lap. “The fellow sounded… sad, or something. I almost felt sorry for him.”
Rilla groaned. “You’ve a heart like cotton, love. Only you would feel sorry for those bastards.”
“I said almost.”
Edel cleared his throat. “If the sentinels truly believed that we stole their hematite, no doubt we’d all be in their custody.”
Brice nodded, her expression thoughtful. “Aye. They might’ve sent more than a squad after us as well. Perhaps they had some other reason to seek us out.”
“They’re sodding bullies,” Rilla muttered, wrapping one arm around Brice’s shoulders to hug her close. “Nabbing you just to let you go again, like you’re a trout that’s too small to bother with.”
Brice rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “It could have been worse. I really thought I was done for.”
Drake took his seat again and ran his thumb over the tattoo on his right wrist: two triangles, reminiscent of hiltless sentinel daggers, pointing toward one another, the tips barely intersecting. The lines were faded, but he remembered receiving the mark as if it'd happened yesterday. When he glanced up, he caught Aderey studying him through a haze of biri smoke, though the Sufani man said nothing.
“Perhaps the attack was meant as a warning,” Ben said. “In any case, if the sentinels have taken an interest in us, we should leave the province.”
Catalyst Moon: Breach (Catalyst Moon Saga Book 2) Page 18