by Janice Hardy
“Okay.”
The gate opened smoothly. A stone walkway led to the front door. No flowers, no benches, no decorations of any kind. Bushes and grass were trimmed in neat lines. A soldier’s yard. I guess she did take us to the right place. I forced my feet to keep moving.
The yard was open and lush, the trees well spaced, planted for the best view—from inside and outside the villa—but not the most convenient spots for cover. A low row of gardenia bushes ran along the side of the building, but there were far too many windows overlooking that part of the property for anyone to hide in them effectively. Anyone inside could see us walking up.
“Where are the guards?” I asked.
“Along the perimeter. No need to post them on the interior of the isles.”
Vyand knocked on the door, and a man in a red uniform answered. Maybe they didn’t have guards outside, but he was guarding the inside.
“Did you forget something?” He eyed the rest of us with less caution than I’d have expected.
“No, but I need to see Commander Balju if he’s available.”
“I’ll see if he has a minute.” He let us in and told us to wait in the foyer. Danello gaped at the tapestries hanging on the wall. Baseeri design, which surprised me. I hadn’t thought anything here belonged to them.
“Was your home this nice?” Danello whispered.
“I don’t really remember,” I lied. I couldn’t see much of the villa from here, but what I could glimpse looked just like the outside—ready for war, not entertaining. No crystal, no blown glass, no artwork on the walls. Our villa had been filled with light and color and laughter.
The guard returned and waved us inside. Vyand walked ahead, smiling at a large man in a pose I’d seen a lot of lately. Standing at a table covered in maps, with other men gathered around him.
“Thank you for seeing me, Commander.”
“Always a pleasure.”
I glanced at Danello. Seriously?
“I’d like to introduce you to someone.” She stepped aside and Jeatar came forward.
“Saints’ mercy, you’re alive!” a man on Balju’s right cried. He ran both hands through his dark hair, then hurried to Jeatar, grabbing him in a hug. “We feared the worst when we lost track of you in Baseer.”
“Riendin, it’s good to see you too.”
Vyand raised an eyebrow. “I guess introductions aren’t necessary after all.”
Jeatar looked happy, but worried too.
Riendin let go of Jeatar and held him at arm’s length. “You’ve no idea how glad I am to see you, especially now.”
“Perhaps you should let us all in on why this is such a good thing?” Balju said. A solid man, handsome, yet hard and sharp, like broken marble.
“This is the man I was telling you about. He’s Bespaar’s son!”
Jeatar’s shoulders tensed. The rest of the men in the room gaped. Vyand got a strange look on her face. “My, my, my,” she mumbled.
Danello leaned close. “Who’s Bespaar?”
“The Duke’s brother.”
Danello coughed. “The Duke?”
“Yeah. Jeatar’s kinda the rightful heir to the throne.”
“Of Baseer?”
I nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“And why didn’t you tell me you knew that?” Jeatar said, more interested in me than in the men all talking over each other behind him. “How did you find out?”
“I figured it out.”
He stared at me, shock and a bit of pride on his face.
Balju banged his fist against the table and the room fell silent. “Bespaar’s son, here.” He shook his head as if unable to believe it. “We’ve been looking for you a long time.”
“So has the Duke. I thought it best to disappear for a while until we were ready.”
“Riendin said the Underground wasn’t dead. That even if you were, there was still hope.”
“There’s not much left of the Underground, but Geveg’s resistance is strong. That’s why I’m here, to forge an alliance between both sides.”
Balju seemed confused. “You’re working with the Gevegians?”
“I am.”
“Why?”
I opened my mouth and Danello slapped a hand over it. “Shut up and be dangerous, remember?” he whispered into my ear. I nodded, swallowing my words.
“Because this is their home,” Jeatar said for me, “and they deserve to have it back.”
The men around Balju didn’t care for that. Frowns and suspicious glances passed among them.
“You’re saying we should just walk away and hand the city over to them?”
I didn’t like the way he said them.
“I think we should save it first, then decide how to fix the mess the Duke’s created afterward.”
Balju paused, rapping his knuckles softly against the table. “I supported your father,” he said. “Fought against Verraad when he tried to steal the throne and drank my vengeance to him after he did. You should be on that throne, not him.”
“So let’s change that.”
Balju pursed his lips. “Who’s the girl? Too old to be yours.”
“She’s an Analov.”
Balju’s eyes widened. “Is she?”
Every gaze in the room focused on me. I reached for Danello’s hand, squeezed it tight. He looked at me, puzzled. Was I allowed to speak now? Jeatar didn’t say anything, or look my way, so probably not.
“Regeer’s great-granddaughter.”
More whispers in the room and strange looks on the faces of the older people.
“Onderaan with you?”
They knew him too? I looked at Danello, who seemed just as surprised as I was. How did these people know my family? Who were they?
“He is. He fights for Geveg and so do I. So does she.” Jeatar stood tall and crossed his arms. “We’ve waited a long time for this opportunity. You join us, we can fix a lot of old wrongs. You don’t, I’ll take back Geveg with the Analovs and watch while the Duke lobs his fire rocks at you.”
Riendin sucked in a breath. Balju leaned forward, eyes narrowed, but there was respect in there too. “The Analovs and the Bespaars, united again.”
Jeatar offered his hand. “Do we also have an alliance?”
Balju paused, then took Jeatar’s hand. “We do. Grab a seat—we were just about to discuss tactics.” He looked over at Danello and me. “Vyand, would you be so kind as to escort Miss Analov and her guard into the other room?”
“Certainly, Commander.”
“But—”
Jeatar shook his head. “Not this time, Nya. I’m sorry.”
Sorry? He was throwing me out and he was sorry? I had questions, so many questions.
Vyand ushered us out and closed the door behind her. The same guard waited in the foyer, talking with a girl in a housemaid’s uniform.
“How could he kick me out?”
“He had to,” she said. “Balju isn’t going to discuss battle strategy with a child in the room, no matter what family she belongs to.”
“I’m hardly a child. And I’m a de’Analov. They keep getting that wrong.”
Vyand flicked a hand at me. “Don’t be naïve. If your man there was in trouble, you’d take on the whole group and win, but that’s not the point. Balju doesn’t know you.”
“He sure seemed to know her name, though,” Danello said.
“He should. Her family founded Geveg.”
Danello paused. “You were serious about that the other night? When you said they helped build it, I thought you meant they were masons.”
Vyand laughed and Danello blushed. I wanted to strangle them both.
“There’s a park named after her, you know,” she said.
“My great-grandfather, not me.”
Danello sank onto a couch. “Wow. I knew you were an aristocrat before, but that … wow, the whole city?”
Vyand chuckled again. “I must ask. Where did you meet that man of yours
? Bespaar’s son? You do associate with very interesting—and powerful—people.”
“We ran into each other at the League.”
“Must have been some meeting.” She stared at me, who-knew-what spinning in those blue eyes, like she wanted to ask more but didn’t want to appear ignorant of anything. “Well,” she finally said, “this has been delightful, but I must go.”
“Of course,” I said, frustrated and confused and not knowing who to yell at first. Or even if I should. “Because you can’t possibly stay and fight for something worth defending.”
“Do you truly think me so callous?”
I snorted. “I think if I offered you the two bean-sized sapphires I have in my pocket, I could hire you as my personal guard.”
She grinned and held out her hand, palm up. “Deal.”
“What?”
“I accept your offer. You have my full team at your disposal.”
She couldn’t be serious. This was a joke, an insult, a way to rob me of two gems. “I was being sarcastic.”
“I mean it. I guard you, I guard your man.”
“Will you please stop calling him that.”
“Fine.” She stepped closer and the playful maliciousness vanished. Her eyes were clear, strong, and Saints forgive me—sincere. “Bespaar’s heir has aligned himself with you. That is a man worth protecting, and the only way he’ll let me is if he thinks I’m guarding you.”
“Why in Saea’s name would you want to protect him?”
She stepped away and the glint in her eyes returned. “You’re not the only one who wants to see the Duke pay for his crimes.”
TWENTY-ONE
What do you mean you hired Vyand to be your bodyguard?” Aylin stared at me as if I’d lost my mind, which maybe I had.
“I didn’t do it on purpose.”
Danello nodded. “Vyand dived at the chance. She’s got to be up to something.”
Something that involved Jeatar and the Duke—and I didn’t want Vyand even thinking about them in the same sentence.
“I’ve never seen anyone go from bounty to boss before. Are you sure it’s a good idea?”
I sighed. “It’s Vyand, so it can’t be. Maybe she won’t actually show up.” Vyand had some more “business” to deal with and had said she’d meet us later. She didn’t say where and I didn’t tell her where we’d be.
“Does Jeatar know?”
“I’ll tell him if she gets here.”
“He does plan on coming back, right?”
“He said he would.” Jeatar had come out of his meeting with Balju after a half hour and told his guards to take us back. Part of me wondered if he just wanted to get us out of the way before our frustration made us do something foolish. “He wanted to get everything in place with the Baseeri before speaking to our people.”
Someone knocked on the door.
“That’s Onderaan with an update on Tali,” I said, rising. He’d spent all day with her while we were out. Aylin said she’d kept staring at him like she couldn’t quite figure out where she knew him from.
I opened the door and Onderaan came inside. Tali looked up and started staring again. “Evening,” he said, taking a seat. “I hear you had some excitement today.”
“My life is nothing but excitement these days. Did you find anything in Zertanik’s book to help her?” I had so many other questions for him, but Tali came first. I could ask why the Baseeri resistance leader knew who he was—and who we were—later.
“Perhaps. He made extensive notes on the kragstun, but nothing about reversing the effects of it.”
“That doesn’t sound helpful,” Danello said.
“Oh, it was. I did find out the metal affects the nervous system and the brain. I don’t know how yet, but if something was done to the body, there must be a way to heal it. You did say she improved after healing Danello.”
I nodded. “She stopped trying to hurt people.”
“She may have inadvertently healed some of the damage.”
“Can she heal the rest?”
He shook his head. “I doubt it. I believe she’ll need someone trained in brain or nerve injuries to repair the rest of the damage.”
“One more reason to take back the League.” As if we needed another. I had no idea if Heal Master Ginkev was still there, but if anyone would know how to heal a brain, it would be him.
“Papa?” Tali said. She walked over, hand outstretched.
My breath caught. “No, Tali, that’s Onderaan, Papa’s brother.”
She ran her fingers across his forehead. He waited, still as stone, while she felt her way around his face. “Where’s Papa?”
“He died.”
“Soldiers come, soldiers stay, can’t you make them go away?” she sang quietly.
“That’s what we’re trying to do.”
She nodded and wandered off, her fingers trailing from Onderaan’s cheek. She found the window and curled up in front of it, resting her chin on the sill.
Danello slipped his arms around me from behind. “We’ll find a way to help her.”
I nodded, my throat too tight to speak.
Onderaan rose, sadness in his eyes. “I’ll keep researching.”
“Wait, before you go,” I said. “Balju, the Baseeri leader, asked about you. He knew who we were. Our family. Everyone there seemed to know.”
“We were close allies with Jeatar’s family. Father and Bespaar were good friends.”
“They plotted to overthrow the Duke together?” I assumed as much, but the bits of information I’d been told didn’t satisfy.
Onderaan nodded. “After Verraad took over, yes. Your grandfather helped Jeatar escape Sorille when it was burned. He smuggled him out in a grain cart, sacrificed his own life to do it. Peleven helped hide him in Geveg for a while; then we managed to get him to the farm. It was his great-aunt’s and needed a lot of repair, but it was forgotten by the family.”
“Is that why the Duke came after Geveg?” I asked, dreading the answer. But I’d heard the accusations in Baseer, in the Underground’s villa. That my family had brought the Duke down on Sorille. “Because Papa hid him here?”
Onderaan stepped closer, cupped my shoulders in his palms. “Nya, no. The Duke was already planning to invade Geveg and Verlatta. He had no idea Jeatar was here, or he’d have destroyed it too, not invaded it. He thought Jeatar was dead.”
“But not anymore,” Danello said. “He probably knows now, doesn’t he? He went after the farm.”
“He might not remember the farm. We don’t have any contacts close to him anymore, so we can’t know for sure.”
My guts said he knew, though maybe not for very long. Jeatar had stepped forward, admitted to a roomful of Baseeri who he was. Maybe it hadn’t been his choice, but if his friend had known he was alive, then others probably did, and saying that the legitimate heir was alive and willing to fight was a good way to gain support for your side.
“What if he does know?” asked Aylin.
“Then he’ll attack with everything he has.”
Jeatar finally returned and called a late meeting. Lamps brightened the map room above the blacksmith’s, the shadows of several dozen people flickering on the walls. Ellis stood on Jeatar’s right, his friend Riendin on the left as the Baseeri representative. Kione and the other newly appointed sergeants were also there, along with a few faces I didn’t know. Their scowls suggested they were part of Balju’s group. Our people scowled back.
“We have an alliance with the Baseeri resistance,” Jeatar began, though no one cheered. “We’ve contacted the farmers and ranchers, and they’re willing to fight with us as well. We took control of North Isle this morning and placed our people at the bridge guard posts. Ellis was able to convince Optel to help us, and we were able to infiltrate the alehouse. We’ve been gathering information on their troop size and movements, and we have a plan of attack.”
He picked two red stones up off the map. “The Baseeri are moving in through North and Sou
th Isles. South Isle is mostly abandoned, large portions of it in ruins.” He set the stones down at the bridges to League Circle. “They’ll be ready to move when we need them.”
He grabbed two more stones, violet ones, and placed them on the bridges to Upper Grand Isle. “The Gevegians will take Upper Grand. Kione will come in from here”—he pointed—“and Ellis from there.”
Ellis had the lower bridge, the same one we’d failed to take with Ipstan. According to the scouts, it was the harder of the bridges to cross and claim, with more troops in reserve to support attacks than on either Upper or Lower Grand Isle.
“The farmers and select troops from both sides will come in here and here.” He dropped yellow stones on the bridges to Lower Grand Isle.
“Timetable?” Ellis asked.
“We hit the Grand Isles at dawn. The Baseeri hit the bridges from North Isle to the League. Once we’ve secured the Grand Isles, then we make a full attack on League Circle. By then we’ll have control of every isle and bridge surrounding it.”
Danello tentatively raised a hand. Jeatar grinned. “Yes?”
“If we attack that many bridges at once, won’t they figure out something is up?”
“That’s a risk, but I have people at the alehouse telling the soldiers they heard another attack was imminent. Ellis will make sure some of her troops are seen massing at that bridge. I hope between those rumors and the Baseeri attacks on the bridges, it’ll draw out and split the blue-boys’ forces so we can ambush them from behind. If we get lucky, they’ll commit the bulk of their forces before they realize all the bridges are under attack.”
“The bait might not be big enough,” Riendin said. “They’re feeling cocky right now. They’d need a good reason to overcommit.”
Dread tied my guts in a knot. “Like me.”
He nodded. “Or someone posing as her. Put anyone her size in the pynvium armor and it can fool them long enough.”
“Won’t they also have the whole army trying to kill them?” Kione said, horrified.
“We could ask for a volunteer.”
One of the sergeants scoffed. “You expect us to charge in there and die as a distraction?”
“Gevegians not brave enough to make the sacrifice?” a Baseeri said.