She smacked her lips. “Why else do people do what she asks, kid? I owe her.”
Mend chuckled. He should have expected that answer. She went back to fiddling under his bed. “A lot of people owe her.”
“You got that right.” She grunted. “Damn. This isn’t going to work.” She got up and looked at him with a face twisted in thought. She probably wouldn’t appreciate it, but he snapped her face into his memory. Petty revenge, but revenge still. She sighed, cupping her eyes shut with her hand. “I don’t suppose you can keep yourself out of trouble till you can walk?”
Mend shrugged. “I thought that’s what I’ve been doing all along.”
She snorted. “How do you always get caught in these messes?”
“Born under the bad star?”
“Bad constellation more like it,” she said, deep in thought. “Well, I can’t do anything alone but here’s a warning for you. If I get what I’m here for before you heal enough to walk, we’re going to do this the hard—”
“Roe. She’s coming here, isn’t she?”
Her face fell. She grabbed his shoulders, hissing, “how the hell do you know that? Was it back in Landrie’s? Has she been found out?”
“Uh…uh… I’m getting into more trouble, aren’t I?”
“Explain,” she roared.
Mend flinched. “I saw it… in Siga’s mind. Her. When he mentioned there was no way to get on this island. He must have thought of Roe.” Josie studied him for a moment, before relaxing and letting go of him.
“You’re blessing, huh,” she said, eyeing him with distrust, probably thinking how quickly she could bleed him to death. “I thought only Siga could do that.”
Mend shrugged again, mostly because Josie’s hand prints on his shoulders throbbed. “I’ve seen it before,” he said. “With enough practice, learn how to use it better. Maybe I’m getting better at it. See, there is hope for me!”
“Is that all you saw,” she asked, threateningly.
He thought about lying to her. Maybe he could tease out why the Coming Shadows were so desperate to get rid of their own tyrant One-King that they’ll work for another tyrant emperor.
“Yes,” Mend said. He decided he was in enough trouble. “That’s all I saw. Your secret mission is still secret.”
She grunted, crossing her arms. “Then that’s that. If she comes back before you heal, we’ll have to drug you and carry you out on our backs.”
“Lovely.”
“Your own fault, Mend,” she said, pointing at him. “You’re lucky it isn’t like the old days; Rochelle’s gotten soft.”
“Funny, I hadn’t noticed.”
But Josie didn’t laugh; her serious do-or-die look back on full. “You better shut your mouth from now on, alright? Sig’s treatment is really amazing, but you’re going to cooperate with me and Doctor Yah’v.” She didn’t make it sound like a request but what could Mend do, except maybe push her a little bit further. It wasn’t like getting him out of here would square him with what her and Roe have done to him over the years. Whenever the Shadows needed a memorizer, Mend was there primed and ready, and how did they thank him? By using him as bait to divert guards, moving so silently, he couldn’t keep up and they’d leave him behind, and even going out their way to scare off his escape horse. …That last one might have been his fault, but no, they weren’t doing this for him; they were doing a favor to Roach.
He looked over her blue nurse outfit and failing hair dye. It didn’t make sense to him. Siga already hired Roe, so why was Josie hiding? Unless…. “Alright Josie—"
“Lora,” she corrected him.
“Alright Lora. Siga hired Roe, right?”
She frowned even more. “None of your business.” She tipped her head suddenly, listening outside.
Mend chuckled. Perfect, just the reaction I was looking for. “So… Siga doesn’t know you’re here, huh? He thinks he hired Roe, but he doesn’t know he got two for one on this contract, does he? Come on. You can tell me. What are you really after, Jo —Lora? Another assassination? Really original there….”
The door opened, but before Mend could turn, Josie’s hand met his face with a loud crack in his ears, sending a painful sting contorting his face into spasms. His eyes shut tightly, and lips cramped shut.
“What…what’s happened,” someone shouted, but Mend could barely make it out through the ringing in his ears.
“I…I don’t know, doctor,” Josie said, innocently. “He just started to have an episode.”
“We need to put him under. Nurse! The sedative! Quick.”
Like ripples flowing from a disturbed pond, Mend felt his muscles cramping one by one down his neck, across his chest and back, down to his stomach. He felt a needle jab into his neck, a hot breath close to his ear. “I won’t let your stupidity ruin this for us, hero,” Josie whispered.
“Bitch,” he tried to mouth, but darkness took him.
12
Rowena Lions: Araa and the Major
“Hello there, little girl.”
“Hello.”
“What’s your name?”
“Rowena.”
“Rowena, huh? You a very special girl, you know that? For having such special parents—"
“Don’t you talk to our daughter! Rowena, come hold your mother’s hand; we’re going.”
“Garth! Madelina! You know the Oaths. No one leaves, and no one betrays the Shadows. Come home now and face your Matriarch. Don’t test us. We have this place surrounded. Your children too. Now come home, arms, hands out in front. Don’t make a mess of this.”
“Rowena, listen to your father. I want you to sit here on the ground as still as you can and cover your ears and close your eyes tight. Your mother and I will be right back. Here, put this between your teeth and your lips. Don’t swallow it, but if anyone grabs you, bite them as hard as you can. OK?”
“OK.”
“Good girl. Madelina, my dear, would you care to dance?”
“I’d love too.”
“Finally, you two are listening to reason…Hey! Slowly now! Hands in front I said! Stop, damn it! Don’t—"
-Conversation between Roe, her parents, and a Shadow Agent.
Roe awoke, gasping for breath, her head pounding to the rapid thrumming of her heart. Lying on a cot, her muscles threatened to cramp like being on the edge of a sneeze. One move and they might knot up. Not that she wanted to move; her entire body felt so fatigued and weighed down as though she lay under a pile of mattresses.
“Araa, are you alright?” The words didn’t make sense at first as a blue glow of a man shined through her eyelids. He stood near her cell door, the image stinging her eyes and threatening them to water up. “Araa?” She remembered now. They carried her into a jail cell to isolate her —more likely so she wouldn’t tell anyone what she saw. Another Shard of the Almighty, here, awesome in its red and foreboding in its black, calling out to her from some mysterious depth. Her. Him. No suit. No protection. Naked with divinity.
So, it came to quite a shock to her that she was still alive, and it disappointed her. Why should she be alive? No one survived exposer to divinity. Maybe she had died, and this was her judgment: to live on enduring her nightmares. Or maybe the worst was still coming, the insanity. She would have to be put down like a beast with the Chills. She saw that happen too many times to too many friends back home. I will not go out that way!
She heard the jostling of keys. “Yea, I’m fine,” she answered through her burning throat. She sounded like rusty nails scrapping wet rocks; her tongue was thick and dry, clinging to the roof of her rough mouth.
“Need anything?”
“To leave,” she said.
“No, silly,” he laughed a soft comforting laugh. “You’re definitely not going back to work. You want anything to make you more comfortable?”
“Water.”
“Water’s fine, doctor’s permission,” he said, unlocking the cell door and opening it. “Uh, you better shut your eyes.
I’m going to need light to see.” She didn’t bother telling him they were already shut. Not that it made any difference. As soon as he lit the lantern, the brightness pierced through her eyelids anyway, making her winch and turn away. “Sorry, Araa. I’ll set this lantern down at the far end.” She heard him move closer to her, bending down. He lifted a cup near her and with his free hand lifted her head up. “Go on, drink.” She gagged. Ice cold, and the water had a sweet blueberry taste that torched its way down into her stomach. An odd blend of cool refreshment and disinfectant-like burning that had to be medicine, but she was in no way able to object to it. “Just take your time.”
Her throat did moisten enough for her to say, “Thank you,” in a clear, but weak voice.
“You’re welcome,” the man said as he laid her head back down. He wasn’t one of the Major’s soldiers; soldiers weren’t fond of ‘pleases’ and ‘thank yous.’ She wished she could see him more clearly, but her eyes were too sensitive to keep them open for any length of time. Instead, through her eyelids, she saw the outline of what must be a brim-hat on his head with something feather-like sticking out of the band, the only thing distinguishing feature on him.
“So now you know, huh,” he said, standing up.
“Know what?”
“Let her rest,” another voice said, a woman. Roe peeked her eyes but shut them from the lantern’s light. “She still has a long way to go.”
“You now know what’s here,” he insisted. “Do you remember?”
Despite herself, she smiled. Of course, she remembered; she remembered everything. Mission Accomplished. And no one had to end! Her cheek muscles fluttered but she didn’t care; it was so rare for her missions to go so flawlessly. She just wasn’t good enough, not yet at least, or maybe now, not ever.
"Our shift’s over,” the woman said with disappointment. Roe saw her now, coming into view around the left bend outside her cell. She walked inside and stood beside him, blocking the lantern’s light. Roe could barely make out their faces, blurry blue dots for eyes and a strange dancing line for mouths. The woman’s hand extended toward her but then a distant click made her stop.
They both looked at each other. “Next time, you,” he whispered to her. If not for Roe’s blessing, she wouldn’t have heard it. He then addressed her again, “Araa, we have to go. Our shift is up, and the next medic will take care of you.”
He turned, picked up the lantern and snuffed it out. Pausing at the door, he seemed to be waiting for the woman who lingered, staring down at Roe’s helpless body. She had half a mind to say something snarky, but that wouldn’t be ‘Araa’s’ style. And it wasn’t needed; she soon followed the man who locked the the cell door behind her before they both disappeared to the right beyond view.
That was odd, Roe knew, but she’d have to expect a lot of odd things now. Maybe they were local nobles checking on the secret of their ‘investment’? Or part of the investigation? There had to be one now. People of all sorts would be coming to visit and ask her questions. Those in power —the Major, particularly— would need to get to the bottom of what happened and how she got exposed. Her Islander persona might be useful after all.
She read up on the Major’s past. Part of the reason she chose this persona was that he once had an Islander under his command. The first death under his command. She’d have to find a way to use that fact to get out of here —while she still had her mind intact. She had to get to Cyne. She had to get the Shadows those runic suits.
A bright light flashed from around the left bend along with, “Araa, it’s me, Medic Rek’ferd.” The military medic assigned her, his blue silhouette popped out from the left with his hand uncomfortably close to his sidearm. “Good morning. Sleep well?”
“Who were they?”
He titled his head.
“Those people just here. Two of them. Man. Woman.”
He gripped his hand-cannon and looked down both ends of jail hall. “No one’s been in here,” he said before leaning on the cell bars. “Don’t worry, Araa. We’ve got a great doctor. He’ll—”
“I didn’t imagine it,” she tried shouting, but it came out like a weak whimper.
“It’s fine. I believe you.”
“Who were they then?”
“I don’t know,” he said, obviously lying. Maybe she imagined it. Was she losing her mind already? If that was the extent of it for now, she could manage. Just ignore the oddities and focus on getting out of here.
“When’s the doctor coming?”
“He’s still setting up. We’re very careful here, so it’s not everyday someone gets exposed to that Beast…uh, oh sorry. You people worship those things, don’t you?”
She peeked one eye open only to shut them from the brightness. He wasn’t even carrying a lantern. How was she even going to manage getting out of here? “Don’t you worship them too?”
“Me? Nah. Those huge things are just the Almighty’s last embers. The sky’s a big place. You know. We’ve got to go to other gods to protect us,” he said slowly as if trying to peek Roe’s interest. He reminded her of J’rek and Taylor’s whisperings back in Central Office; something about gifts from gods other than the Seven, rituals and summonings, transformations and symbols of lines, curves and shades. Roe supposed anyone not born with one of the Seven’s blessings would easily take to superstitions to grant them such abilities. If they only knew the cost that came with the honor….
But what other gods there were in the skies, ‘Araa’ wouldn’t know and neither did Roe herself. And in her present situation, neither did she care. Don’t panic, just plan this through, she told herself, remembering Josie’s training. A way will open. “But, anyway,” the medic drew out, disappointingly. “You had some visitors last night, but I had to turn them away. Words getting around that you had an accident in the mines. Don’t know why they didn’t bring you to the barracks; it’s a mess of a crowd outside but anyway, two people came here long before the crowds and I think they were asking for you.” Araa’s heart skipped. Two people? Those two! They finally caught her after following her on every mission, always two steps behind and a heartbeat away. They were right here, in this room, talking to her, giving her —she gasped, but it came out as a croak. That man fed her a burning blueberry liquid. Poison. It had to be, she realized with a sinking feeling. She would have done the same, the perfect place to reach her, the perfect situation to end her without suspicious, the perfect time to get their vengeance for one of the twenty eight she ended in her missions. It had to be one of them, probably one of the early ones. She wasn’t as good back then; a few of her early marks suffered for days. One woman and one man: more information than she had before.
“What did they look like,” she asked, searching her body for any sign of the poison manifesting, but with how badly she felt, she doubted she’d notice any difference for a while.
“Ah, no one you know. They didn’t even know you’re name.” Araa tried breathing deeply to slow her heart rate, slow the poison’s progression through her body —as futile as it was. Her abdomen threatened to cramp. “Asked for a ‘Rowena.’” Her eyes shot open, the brightness overwhelming them to tears. “What? What is it? You recognize that name?”
“What did they look like? Their faces,” she tried shouting, wanting to raise her exhausted arm to grab at him.
“Uh, well. Man, woman. Older people. Both with scars on their necks. Big mustache, curled up at the ends. The woman was dark-skinned, had her hair done real pretty with hair clips. Uh, I don’t remember much more. They got through the gate, so I’m sure there’s a record.” No, there wouldn’t be. Fake names, probably.
Roe closed her eyes, relaxing as much as she could. He didn’t give her much of a description, but it was more than she had before. She almost laughed; she wasn’t crazy after all. Somehow, they were tracking her every move, and knew her real name. Loose lips back home, she thought. They all didn’t believe her. Josie said everyone goes through a paranoia phase, but this wasn�
�t paranoia! This was real, and someone was a snitch back home. That had to be it. No one outside of a few knew her real name, and there was a reason for that! Her parents betrayed the Shadows by not following through on an important mission to end two marks that bastard One-King was grooming—
She winced; there was someone else who knew her name. That idiot, Mendeleyev ‘Ticktock’ Mendevoch. How he found out still reddened her cheeks, but the next time she finds him, she’d make that clock run out by wringing his neck…if there was a next time.
“What did they wear,” she asked. It made little difference; clothes could be changed as easily as weapons, but she still wanted to know.
The medic startled at the sound of a knocking from some other part of the jail. “Uh, just regular clothes, I guess,” he answered, glancing back down the jail hall. “Tans and browns. Wrinkled and worn like they had been working. The man had a cane and wore one of those old-style brim hats. You know, with a band around it, holding three black leaves I’ve seen foreigners wear.”
She narrowed her eyes, thinking back. Her father had a brim hat stored in a display case back home. She only learned after joining the Shadows that it belonged to one of his marks, someone from the King-Maker’s lands. Her father used a very slow acting poison back then. Was that it? Her parents were dead, so revenge for one of her parent’s marks fell to her? Poisoned because he used poison. Her only choice now was to hope Zeth’s inoculations worked against it. It damn better for all the pain she went through from his supposed immunities.
She cursed under her breath, tears running off her temples. Immobilized in a jail, exposed and poisoned, living didn’t seem like an option anymore, but she still had to try to get back to the Golden Island. How long did she have? Assuming Zeth’s immunity treatments worked —or at least delayed the poison— she should have a good month before hallucinations took over …at least from what others have told her. More than enough time to get back. She just had wake her body up and get moving! For the Shadows, for the Veiled Goddess, for her home’s liberation from the One-King.
Call of the Chosen- Broken Kingdoms Page 32