“All right,” Kira said, smiling again. “Keep your hand on that revolver,” she added as she slowly, carefully stood up, still trying to recover her strength. “Just in case someone else shows up.”
Kira joined Vina, working to deal with Stimon’s most serious injuries. “Hold this tightly for me. This fellow looks like he was beaten up by a whole gang,” Vina commented, looking sidelong at Kira.
“I was kind of upset,” Kira said.
“Uh huh. It takes more than mad to hurt someone this badly that quickly. Skills are involved. Are you a soldier or something?”
“I’m a Lancer,” Kira admitted.
“Why did these two want to kill you?”
“Because… I’m Kira of Dematr.”
Vina frowned at Kira. “Of Dematr? How can anyone claim the entire world as their home?”
“It’s… complicated,” Kira said. “I guess you don’t pay much attention to news of the rest of the world?”
“Not really.”
“Then I guess the best quick explanation is that they wanted to kill me because of my mother.”
“Because of your mother?” Vina shook her head, leaning down to work on Stimon. “Everything is always the fault of the mother, isn’t it? All right. That’s the best we can do. He won’t die soon, but we need to get him better care.”
“Is there a Forest Warden station nearby?” Kira asked. “I’m afraid I have very little idea where we are.”
“You’re at Vina’s cottage. Everyone around here knows where that is. Forest Wardens. The nearest location is Station Fourteen, but that’s about a half-day’s ride and a long day’s walk.”
“Do they have a far-talker?”
Vina shrugged. “Several months back I think one of the wardens told me they had one, but I don’t pay much attention to that, either. I was never one for arrogant Mechanics and their gadgets.”
“A lot of Mechanics are nice,” Kira said, “but if you don’t have a far-talker… ” Remembering something from Cape Astra, she forced herself to her feet once more, finding the pack she’d shed while doing HBR on Jason. Digging inside, Kira found the Western Alliance far-talker she’d picked up at the site of the train ambush. “I hope we’re close enough for this to work.” Setting the far-talker switch to the emergency frequency and making sure it clicked firmly into place, she spoke clearly and loudly. “Forest Warden Station Fourteen, Forest Warden Station Fourteen, can you hear me? Over.”
She repeated the call twice before a reply came, not strong but loud enough to be understandable.
“This is Station Fourteen. Do you have an emergency? Over.”
“Yes, we have an emergency. One person is dead, and another badly injured and in need of medical care. The injured man is a criminal who will need to be guarded. Over.”
“One dead and a criminal injured? Where are you? Over.”
“At Vina’s cottage. She has not been harmed,” Kira added quickly. “I am also there, along with my—" She had been about to proudly say ‘husband,’ but remembered in the nick of time that that particular news shouldn’t be broadcast. “With my man. Over.”
“At Vina’s cottage,” the warden answering from Station Fourteen repeated. “Who are you? Who is speaking? Over.”
She’d have to face things sooner or later, Kira knew. What had everyone else been thinking as Kira acted erratically and jumped from danger to danger? It wouldn’t be long before she found out. Hopefully she wouldn’t end up in protective custody. “This is Lady Mechanic Kira of Dematr. Over.”
A pause. “Repeat that. Over.”
“I am Lady Mechanic Kira of Dematr. Captain of Lancers. The daughter of the daughter. My companion is Jason of Urth. Over.”
“We are honored to assist you and the daughter, Lady! We’ll have a team there as soon as possible. Over.”
“Thank you. I am honored by your assistance. Out.” Kira lowered the far-talker, seeing that Vina was watching her again.
The woman was trying to appear merely interested, but Kira saw skepticism and concern there as well. “Lady? Mechanic? Captain of Lancers?”
“That’s right,” Jason said, walking up to them, each step tentative. “And the daughter of the daughter. And a dragon slayer. Kira isn’t being delusional. Not any more. That’s who she really is. Doc Sino is going to be amazed that you did this, Kira. I feel a little weak, but that’s it.”
“Your body had to help,” Kira said. “I think. I’m sure that Doctor Sino has seen better things on Urth.”
“I doubt it,” Jason said.
“Where exactly on Dematr is Urth?” Vina asked. “I’ve never heard of it.”
“It’s not on Dematr,” Jason explained. “Earth is another world.”
“Another world?”
Kira laughed. “At least we won’t lack for things to talk about while we’re waiting for those wardens to show up.”
* * *
With hours to wait, Kira went carefully over the still-unconscious Stimon, finding nothing in his pockets or backpack that seemed unusual. Her search of Mage Ivor’s body also turned up nothing.
She found herself looking down at Ivor. He was shorter than she’d expected. Frozen in death, Ivor’s face held a Mage’s lack of expression, as if even dying had aroused no feelings in him. It felt strange to realize that this man had been trying to kill members of her family since before they’d formed a family.
“Are you okay?” Jason asked.
“A little numb,” Kira said. “It feels sort of unreal. Not in a Mage way,” she added quickly. “I couldn’t find anything useful on any of them.”
“Okay if I look?” Jason asked, feeling around Stimon’s backpack. “A lot of times in games they… hey, see how deep the bottom is on this?”
Kira looked. “That’s the inside bottom? Why would there be that thick a bottom on a backpack?”
Jason dug around at the inside bottom, finally finding something that gave way at his tug. He lifted out a false bottom.
She looked inside, seeing a thin, rectangular metal case. Pulling it out, she examined it. “It’s a waterproof dispatch case.” No lock sealed it, so Kira used her knife to pry open the dispatch case.
Inside was a single piece of thick paper, folded over twice. Kira unfolded it, seeing three lines of writing. “Jason, look at this.”
He leaned close, studying the writing. “Three alphanumeric codes. Passwords. Kira, this might be what we need to get into that place under Pacta.”
“Do you think this is the only copy?”
“No, that’d be stupid. They probably made more copies. Remember, they need three people entering the codes simultaneously, so somebody like this guy Stomon—”
“Stimon.”
“Right. He would have had to recruit two friends to help if he wanted to get in on his own.” Jason studied the Senior Mechanic, who had regained consciousness but, his hands and feet securely bound, could only glare impotently at them. “You really did a number on this guy.”
“He tried to force me to leave you to die,” Kira pointed out. “You’re the one who planted a knife in his gut.”
“So we’re a team again,” Jason said, smiling at her as they walked away from Stimon.
“Yeah. Better than ever, forever.” Kira carefully refolded the paper and closed the waterproof case again. “Why don’t you carry this?”
“Okay, but when we get a chance we need to make a copy that we can hide on one of us.”
What turned up a few hours later was not just a team of forest wardens with an emergency wagon, but also a full troop of Western Alliance cavalry.
Fully expecting that her “escort" would turn out to be keepers charged with bringing Kira back where she could be locked up somewhere safe, Kira was first surprised and then wary at their lack of worry over what she might do next. In fact, the captain in command of the troop asked Kira whether she wished to be escorted back to Cape Astra, making it clear that if she ordered otherwise he would comply. “What’s going on?” she muttere
“I’ll try to find out.” Jason wandered over to some of the waiting cavalry crowding the small glade around Vina’s cottage, expressing thanks and talking for a little while before rejoining Kira. “They think you’re a genius,” he whispered. “They think everything you did was designed to lure out renegade Mechanics and Mages, deliberately exposing yourself to danger just enough to make them think they could get you, but acting unpredictably enough to keep the bad guys busy trying to catch us so they couldn;t do anything else or hurt anyone else.”
Kira stared at Jason. “They think I meant to do all that?”
“Yeah. They were actually out here looking for you in case you needed their assistance in taking down more bad guys. Your plan worked.”
“Stars above, do not ever talk about that ‘plan’ again.”
Jason shrugged. “Kira, you were either a genius, or you were crazy. We both know what it really was. What do you want everyone else to think?”
“I’m not going to lie to people!” Kira paused. “But if I told them the truth I’d have to talk about the, um, powers thing, and… What am I going to do?”
“Get back to Cape Astra,” Jason suggested. “And from there get back to your parents with that stuff we found in Stimon’s backpack.”
“But—”
“Kira, in between the bad parts, and during some of them, you did some amazing, brave stuff. You fought the toughest battle ever inside yourself. You really did accomplish some important things.”
She rubbed her face, feeling unhappy but unable to dispute what he’d said. “All right. But you’re wrong about one thing. We did some amazing, brave stuff. We accomplished some important things.” Kira deliberately raised her voice so the nearest cavalry soldiers could hear her. “I couldn’t have done anything without you. We’re a team. And without you, I’d have been dead somewhere along the way to here.”
He grinned at her. “Want to get married today?”
She leaned close to whisper the answer in his ear. “We already did. It’s too late for you to back out now.” Then she kissed Jason, not caring who was watching.
* * *
Four days later Kira and Jason rode with a large cavalry escort toward the northern gate of Cape Astra. Kira was happy to be back in the saddle, but felt on display again, both because of the size of the Western Alliance force gathered protectively around her and Jason and because the three leading riders carried flagstaffs. One bore the flag of the Western Alliance, another the pennon of the cavalry unit to which the soldiers belonged, and from the third flagstaff Kira’s own banner waved. She’d unsuccessfully suggested that her banner be furled, but the captain in charge of the escort had politely and respectfully demurred.
General Shun met them at the northern gate to the city. “Welcome back, Lady! You’ve done the Western Alliance a great service.”
“I’m… glad,” Kira said, feeling uncomfortable at the praise. People were gathering on the streets to stare and applaud. She felt her face warming with embarrassment and looked down, centering her gaze on the head of the horse she was riding.
She heard Shun speaking to Jason. “She’s as modest as her mother, isn’t she?”
“Yes, sir,” Jason said, sounding proud.
“Lady Kira, I came to meet you in part because we’ve just received news regarding Lady Mari.”
Kira looked up again, gazing at Shun anxiously.
The general smiled. “You have a brother, Lady. Both mother and child are reported to be healthy and happy.”
“I have a brother?” Kira laughed, looking at Jason. “I have a brother!” Her elation tempered as another memory came to her. “I have another brother,” she told the general. “My first brother, Danel, died at birth. This is my second brother, and I’m very happy about that, but I’ve had another brother who I don’t ever want to forget.”
“No,” General Shun agreed. “Of course not.”
Her escort, by now swelled to three troops of cavalry and a troop of dragoons, filled the streets, combining with the growing crowds to slow their progress. People were pointing and looking at her, and Kira, already feeling a bit different because she was married and because she had managed to save Jason with her powers, felt even more like an unwilling attraction in a show of oddities.
The column came to a brief stop, and as Kira sat her horse a woman hauling a boy in her wake darted toward her.
“Hold!” several of the cavalry shouted, moving their horses to block the woman.
“Please!” she called. “My son leaves on his first voyage soon. I only wish that Lady Kira touch his hand to give him good fortune against the sea!”
Oh, no. Kira gave Jason a helpless glance. She knew the superstition that her mother’s touch granted sailors luck against the sea had also gained Kira as an object. But even though she wasn’t happy about that, rebuffing the woman would be cruel. She nerved herself and nodded to the cavalry. “Let her through.”
The woman came close to Kira, her son looking up at Kira with guarded wonder that further unnerved her. He looked to be perhaps twelve years old, the right age for a cabin boy set on learning the sea. “Please, Lady,” his mother said. “You’ve faced the sea’s wrath and won, and you’re descended from Jules herself.”
Feeling like a fraud, but not knowing what else to do, Kira leaned from her saddle to grasp the young man’s hand. “Good luck. May you return safely from every voyage.”
As the cavalry began moving again, leaving the relieved mother and her son behind, Kira lowered her head. “I am such a fake,” she grumbled to Jason.
“It might really help,” Jason suggested.
“How?”
“If people really believe something can make a difference, sometimes it does. The placebo effect, you know. Or the belief that your touch helps might help him do just a little more when it seems hopeless, maybe enough to survive something he wouldn’t have. That happens, too.”
“You make it sound like every person is a sort of Mage,” Kira said.
“In that way, I guess we are,” Jason admitted. “What we believe really can impact what we can do.”
They finally reached the fort holding a good part of the garrison for the city, leaving the curious crowds behind..
Officials awaited them there, representatives of the city and the Western Alliance government who wanted to render their thanks. Kira, wondering why people kept thanking her for bringing so much danger to their doorstep, kept smiling politely and deflecting their praise for her courage.
Her courage. All she could remember of those weeks was being afraid, or of being so delusional and confident that it hadn’t occurred to her to be afraid. Neither one seemed particularly courageous to her.
“There’s a warship from the Bakre Confederation waiting in the harbor to take you back,” one of the Western Alliance officials said. “We thought you’d prefer to get a good night’s rest first, but if you want to leave tonight, that’s your decision.”
“I think I would like to stay here one night,” Kira said, conjuring up her training on formal speaking from Queen Sien’s court. “The Western Alliance, and Cape Astra, now have a firm place in my heart. I’ll be sad to leave.”
By the time the door to their rooms shut behind her, Kira felt exhausted again. Bracing herself, she opened the door anyway. “Is General Shun available? I have a favor I need to ask.”
Shun responded quickly. “Anything, Lady.”
“There’s someone in Cape Astra that I need to talk to,” Kira said. “But with as few people as possible knowing.”
“We can bring that person here,” Shun said. “Quietly and unobtrusively.”
Kira and Jason were still eating a private dinner that seemed way too fancy and grand when Shun knocked on their door again. “Your visitor is here, Lady.”
Kath came in, rushing to Kira. “I heard you were back! How could you scare me that way?”
“I’m sorry. Really, really sorry. But I’m all right,” Kira said as they hugged. “I want you to know. It’s all right now. Everything is all right.”
Kath looked from Jason to Kira. “Everything?”
“Yes.” Kira grinned. “Did you hear about Mother?”
“It’s all over the place. Congratulations on your new sibling.”
“Congratulations on being an aunt again. The Aunt of Opacity. I’m going to call you that from now on. You’ll come to Tiae as soon as you can to visit, right?”
Kath made an uncertain gesture. “I wasn’t planning on coming until your wedding.”
“Oh. About that?” Kira leaned close to whisper in Kath’s ear. “We already did it. Just the two of us.”
Kath pulled back and stared at her. “Where? When?”
“In the Great Woods. A few days ago. Don’t tell anyone!”
“You ran off to the Great Woods and… Mari is going to kill me.”
“Why would Mother kill you for that?”
“She’s going to think I gave you the idea!” Kath laughed. “All right. As soon as I can.”
Kath stayed for a while, but saw how tired Kira was and finally left to be spirited back to her home.
Kira sat back, thinking. “If those codes get us into what’s buried under Pacta, do you think you’ll be able to tell how to disarm those weapons?”
“I don’t know. I have to see them first.”
“I guess we’ll find out soon enough.” She looked at their surroundings. “Fancy place, isn’t it? I think I liked Vina’s cottage more, though.”
“There wasn’t much privacy at Vina’s cottage,” Jason pointed out.
“Yeah. Pretty small.” Kira looked around again, realizing something. “We’ve got separate bedrooms, but they’re both inside this suite. So nobody will know if we… ”
“I thought you were worn out.”
“Not that worn out. Mess up the bed in your room so it looks like you slept there. Then come to mine. I’m sleeping with my husband tonight.”
* * *
The Confederation, perhaps wishing to avoid further mayhem on its lands, and knowing that many of the Mages wanting to attack Kira had either been killed or captured, had ordered their warship to take Kira and Jason all the way south to Pacta Servanda. Kira had been just as happy to avoid another armored coach ride, while Jason had been relieved that they wouldn’t be taking a train again.
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