Calling the Change (Sky Raiders Book 2)

by Michelle Diener

  “You thought no one was listening?” Garek asked.

  She hesitated, then nodded. “I haven't had a single response to my notes. They were heavily encrypted, and I knew they were getting through, as other, more mundane parts of my requests and reports were being responded to, but nothing on the invasion. It's a relief to know someone was taking notice.” Her face went tight--with worry, and with a touch of frustration. “The liege is still not himself.”

  No, the liege was most definitely no longer himself.

  “So you were on the spot, you say, after Aidan and Garek came and went in a sky craft?” Falk prompted her. He was standing at the window, looking for any sign of the sky raiders, and she joined him nervously, tucking the sleek black hair framing her face behind her ears.

  “They wanted to know how long we'd had the sky craft. Who Garek was. How had he learned to fly it. What did I know about the trip to Shadow to rescue the villagers.”

  “What did you say?” Garek hoped she'd said very little.

  “What could I say?” She took a breath, and placed her hands on the window and leaned in a little to look down, and then up. “I was lucky enough to get to the palace before the crowds broke up, and I eavesdropped on the Cassinyan villagers as they told their stories. It sounded close to impossible, but it also sounded as if Harven was your first stop, that there wouldn't have been time for any word to have gone to Juli, let alone gone from Juli to Luf, so I pretended complete ignorance.”

  “They asked you about the sky craft, though?” Falk said, and she nodded.

  “They seemed more interested in that than anything else. Well, Faloni and Habred were. The others were amazed at how you'd gone all the way to Shadow, and rescued everyone.”

  “They probably never saw the small one you brought down,” Falk said. “They were trying to work out if this craft was the one we've had all along. Whether Vaar was double-crossing them by not telling them that we could fly it.”

  “Double-crossing them?” Deva turned to look at him, eyes wide in surprise. Then her mouth formed a thin line. “I thought so. I thought that little weasel, Vaar, had some kind of deal with Habred. The Harven ambassador and Vaar were just too cozy at the meeting I attended in Garamundo a while ago.”

  Garek remembered where he'd seen her, now.

  While he was usually assigned to walk the walls, one evening he'd drawn a rare duty as guard at the meeting Deva was talking about. She'd sat to the left of the Harven ambassador, laughing and talking to him along with Gara's town master.

  “You looked pretty cozy with the Harven ambassador yourself,” he told her.

  “You were there?” She turned to face him fully.

  “I was guarding the hall.”

  She nodded. “I was being diplomatic, but if Vaar's been on Habred's payroll, then I can understand you'd be suspicious.” She paused. “Does the liege know about Vaar? Or does Aidan, at least?”

  “Vaar was arrested this morning, along with his guard master.”

  She stared at him, mouth open. “Arrested? Did you tell Faloni just now, when he escorted you in?”

  “No.”

  She leaned back a little, expression invigorated. “It's going to be interesting to watch what happens when they get the news.” She smiled, her mobile, lush mouth lifting at the corners. It was just a touch evil.

  “You seem happy, ambassador.” Garek tipped his head to the side.

  “You don't know how hard it's been to smile and eat and drink with these people, knowing some of them are planning to invade your home.” She blew out a breath.

  “Do you know how deeply Kadmine and Fabre are involved?” Garek asked.

  She pursed her lips. “I know about Fabre. I would not have said Kadmine, which means if they're involved they've been very secretive about it.”

  “Kadmine and Fabre were always the strongest possibilities, and when Vaar was arrested, he confirmed them as Harven's allies.”

  “Sorry to interrupt, but do you have a plan about where we're going?” Falk craned his neck. “They're still following, but they're keeping back.

  Garek had deliberately flown toward the Star to make it hard for the sky raiders to see him, but now he needed a better plan. “Is there anywhere near Luf with a waterfall?” He turned to Deva. “Not a small one, something big with space behind it to fit the sky craft?”

  She shook her head.

  “Would it work if water was pouring equally over the whole craft?” Falk asked. “You could put it under a smaller waterfall, then.”

  Garek shrugged. “That would be better than nothing.”

  “I don't know of anything like that. But why? Why do you need a waterfall?”

  “Water shields the sky craft from the sky raiders. They might be able to find it from afar by . . .” Garek paused. He didn't have the vocabulary to explain what they could be using to find it. He didn't even understand it. “With a special searching tool,” he said eventually. “If they catch sight of it visually, they can find it anyway, but if I can hide it, and shield it with water, then they won't be able to use their other method . . . if they have one.”

  “Well, the West Lathorian ambassadorial residence in Luf has something that might help. The gardens at the back are extensive, and the former ambassador had a water feature installed to recreate the one he had at his ambassadorial residence in Baltar. It comprises a circle of metal pipes angled so that when water is pumped through them, the water arches up and meets in the middle. You could put the sky craft under it.”

  “How is the pump operated?” Falk asked, eyes alight with interest.

  “By treadmill,” Deva said. “I could set my staff to operate it continually. “Usually we just run it for a few hours during embassy parties, but there is no reason why it can't be run all the time.”

  It would be very convenient to keep the craft in the city, and if it didn't work, he could always fly away again and try something else.

  “Is there a way to hide the craft from above?” he asked.

  Deva thought about it. “I could set up canopies. They won't cover it completely, but they may disguise it a bit.”

  Garek gave a nod. “Thank you, I accept.”

  He hunched over the pilot's chair and made the sky craft move, curving off to the Dartalian Range. If he could skim the edge of the safe zone there, to where the warning alarm just started wailing, loop back to Luf and land in the dark, maybe they would get lucky.

  He was due a little luck.

  NINETEEN

  Garek spent the night at Deva's, lying in her garden, comfortable enough on a mattress with warm blankets, with Falk snoring quietly nearby.

  Deva trusted her staff, although he'd pointed out at least one of them had to be a spy for Habred.

  She'd smiled, but she wouldn't tell him why. “You can trust them all. I swear it. No one will tell Habred or his guards the sky craft is here.”

  She had set her staff in two rotations. One group to keep the pump going, the others to stand watch, looking up at the skies, with orders to wake him the moment they saw a sky craft.

  Despite the help, he slept lightly and woke often, checking all was well.

  Falk didn't seem to stir.

  And he must have slept eventually, lulled by the sound of the water hitting the top of the sky craft and cascading off, because he was woken by the smell of hot galal, carried over by Deva herself, with a tray of warm bread and pastries carried by a shy girl, who placed her burden near him and then fled.

  “My watchers tell me you didn't get much sleep,” Deva said, handing him a clay mug.

  He breathed in the spicy scent, and then took a long, grateful gulp. He hadn't had galal since the day he'd stolen the sky craft in Gara and started his journey to Shadow to rescue Taya.

  “What?” Falk woke with an explosive jerk, looking at them wild-eyed.

  “Morning,” Deva said, holding out a mug, and he stared at her for a long moment before he took it, and then drank, closing his eyes.
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br />   “You think the fountain is helping?” Deva asked. Her gaze was on the sky craft, surrounded by white canopies, although none could be set directly over it because of the fountain.

  The water poured off the edges of the craft like a diaphanous skirt.

  “It seems to be. I'd like to stay out here a little longer, in the light of day, just to be sure.”

  “Word is, Habred is looking for you,” she said, and there was that evil look in her eye again.

  “He'll have to wait,” Garek said, taking a pastry and biting into it between sips of galal. “And I have another favor to ask of you.”

  He had to trust someone, and so far, Deva hadn't let him down.

  She'd been crouched in front of him, now she set the galal jug down and sat, cross-legged. “Name it.”

  “Part of Vaar and Habred's collaboration was that Vaar agreed to have some of the Gara guards grab me and my intended, Taya, and bring us here, to Luf.”

  Deva stared at him. “I've heard of Taya. The Cassinyans spoke of her. She calls a Change--something unusual. Something that helped you escape?”

  “A new type of calling,” Garek agreed. “One she discovered for the first time on Shadow.”

  “What?” Falk drew the word out. “A new type of calling? What is it?”

  Garek ignored him. “Habred wants her because of those stories Luci's people told, I'm sure. Anyway, I was in Juli when the Gara guards came for us in Pan Nuk, but Taya was home, and they took her.”

  “Took her to Gara?” Deva asked.

  Garek shook his head. “They'd worked out by then that Vaar was in deep trouble, that his deal with Habred was either already known to the liege or about to come out, and they decided instead to bring her straight here, to Luf.”

  “That's why you're here.” Deva leaned back, her head tilted up to lock gazes with him. “I wondered. You're waiting for her to arrive.”

  He nodded. “The two men who have her don't know anyone here. They're guards who were helping Vaar and his guard master with whatever deal they had with Habred, and they'll be low down on the ladder when it comes to information. But they know Habred wants Taya, and that their chances of making good in Gara are over. So they're coming here with her, looking to exchange her for either money or a position in the Luf guard.”

  “You want to know where they'll likely take her, who they'll talk to?” Deva poured herself a cup of galal and topped up his and Falk's mugs. “I have some ideas, but I know who to ask for more information.”

  “What new Change does she call?” Falk asked again. “Why does Habred want her for it?”

  Garek looked over at him. Made his decision. “She calls shadow ore.”

  Falk gasped. “The element in the mountains that destroys the sky craft's ability to fly?”

  He nodded. “She took down a sky craft with a spear made of it on the Endless Escarpment. Destroyed the suits the sky raiders use to breathe on Shadow with it, too.”

  “From the stories the Cassinyan villagers told, she's a formidable weapon against the sky raiders,” Deva spoke quietly. “That is something Habred would want. Especially as you have the sky craft. It would be an equalizer, in his mind.”

  “He wanted us both, actually,” Garek reminded her.

  “And you came here anyway, knowing that?”

  He smiled, and thought perhaps the evil he had seen in her eyes was now shining in his. “What is he going to do? Kidnap me while I'm here on West Lathorian business? By coming openly and making a production out of my arrival, I've tied his hands.”

  She nodded slowly. “Agreed. But watch your back. He's capable of arranging for an 'unfortunate' accident to happen to you.”

  “He wants me alive,” Garek said, but she shook her head.

  “If he thinks that having you under his control is unlikely to happen, he'd rather you be dead than alive to fly the sky craft against him for West Lathor.”

  He granted her the point with a nod. “I'll watch my back.”

  Falk snorted, and they both turned to look at him. “I feel sorry for whoever he sends against you, that's all.” Falk rubbed at his ear with the hand not clutching his mug of galal. “The poor bastard has my sympathy.”

  GAREK HAD DODGED HABRED for as long as he could, using Deva to find out the Harven liege's movements, waiting until he was out, and only then arriving to speak to him. When Garek was inevitably turned away, he'd then disappear for hours on end.

  A few times he arrived when Habred was in a meeting with others, and after waiting for a little while, slipped out again.

  He'd managed to draw it out for two days, but eventually he knew he'd need to meet Habred face to face.

  This morning, on day three, he'd woken to a note delivered to Deva's with an unambiguous order to attend the liege immediately. He was obeying, but taking his time as he wandered through streets fragrant with the scents of baking on his way to the palace.

  Taya was still not here. Or if she was, Gaffri and Fek were far more clever than he gave them credit for. It was now five days since she'd been taken, and if they were going quickly, with nothing holding them up, they were due soon. Most likely they were a day or more away still, because Taya would have fought at every opportunity. She would find ways to delay, he knew she would.

  He only hoped they hadn't retaliated against her for that.

  Deva had enlisted every source she had, and Garek had spent hours walking the city, talking to the guards, sharing stories of life walking the walls in Gara. As many as he could speak to knew he expected some of his fellow guards any day, and that he'd be grateful if someone sent him word of their arrival when they came through the gates.

  Most asked him where the sky craft had gone, and he'd kept it vague, saying he was keeping it hidden from the sky raiders.

  Falk stood constant watch in Deva's back garden, because the sky raiders had circled the city at least twice a day since he'd been here.

  They didn't come down very low, and Garek guessed they were trying to find the sky craft by whatever mysterious means they had. Either they thought he'd returned, although he had no idea how they would know that, or they were simply going to the places they knew he'd been before on a regular basis. In which case the Nordren city of Turn, Pan Nuk and Juli were all receiving visits, too.

  He was unsure enough of his theories, though, that he and Falk had decided it was best if one of them were beside the sky craft at all times.

  Habred may well know where it was, if any of Deva's staff was a spy for the palace or had simply spoken out of turn, but there was nothing he could do about that.

  “Garek.”

  He was just outside the palace gates, and he turned at the call to see Faloni walking toward him.

  “Good morning, General.”

  “The liege has been looking for you.” The words were short, the anger in them obvious.

  “I know. I've been to speak to him no less than six times since I arrived. He's either been out or occupied with other things every time, so I assumed it wasn't urgent.” He lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “But I do need to get back to West Lathor shortly, so perhaps you can tell me when he does have time to see me today, and we can finally meet.”

  Faloni stared at him. “He can see you now.”

  “Excellent.” Garek gave a friendly smile.

  Faloni sent him another flat stare and turned into the gate. He was shorter than Garek by a head, although he was still in good shape, stocky and muscular despite the gray threaded through his hair.

  “Do you know how the villagers of Cassinya are doing?” Garek asked him, falling into step. “I would assume they've returned to their home by now.”

  Faloni shook his head. “They may be on their way back now, but the liege arranged for them to stop at one of his landholdings just outside Luf and gather livestock from his personal herds to replenish what was stolen from them by the sky raiders.”

  “That's generous of him.” Garek kept his voice cheerful. Habred had had no ch
oice but to be generous in light of his people being saved by West Lathor and returned home in a blaze of glory and spectacle in a sky craft. He'd been upstaged, and had had to come up with something to save face.

  Garek was glad Luci and her people had benefited.

  Entering the palace with Faloni had its benefits, too. The guards simply stepped aside as they made their way through the main doors and down toward the liege's chambers.

  In the antechamber Garek had come to know well in the last few days, a small group of men and women stood, talking quietly to each other, a little apart from the aide who controlled the liege's appointments.

  They looked up with a guilty start as he and Faloni entered, and Garek found himself giving his first genuine smile of the day.

  “Zek!”

  The Dartalian merchant, who Garek had dropped off in his home city of Valian after the rescue from Shadow, broke away from the huddle and drew Garek into a hug, patting him hard on the back. “Garek. What a wonderful surprise to see you here.” He looked over his shoulder at his people, and Garek thought he caught a gleam of mischief and satisfaction in the wily merchant's eyes.

  Faloni cleared his throat, and Garek saw, to his delight, that the general was unhappy. Of course, an openly friendly relationship between Dartalia and West Lathor was not in Habred's interests.

  “Sorry, General, do you know Zek of Valian?” Garek made the introductions with a smile. “Zek, this is General Faloni.”

  “General.” Zek gave Faloni a thin smile, then turned to face Garek again. “How long have you been here, my friend? When did you arrive?”

  “Three days ago, in the sky craft,” Garek told him. “I received a request from the Harven liege to talk, but unfortunately we haven't managed to do that yet. General Faloni was just escorting me to my audience now.”

  “Ah.” Zek pretended it all made sense, but the look he sent Garek was full of questions. “When you're done, hopefully we can have a meal together like old times, eh?”