“Describe it,” Neslan prodded. Kora obliged.
Lanokas said, “That’s the Northeast Tower. Zalski changed some things: the doors, for one. But the floor plan matches.”
Neslan agreed. “We can’t get to them from inside. What about the exterior? Are there windows?”
“Slits of a window,” said Kora. “But the captives are still in the Palace. I can’t transport them out. No one can. Zalski’s blocked….”
Lanokas said, “Blow a hole in the wall. Dissolve it, don’t you have a spell for that? You dissolved the boulder in that cave.”
The color drained from Kora’s face. “I’d have to work from the roof. I can do that, though. For them I can do that. If there’s a foothold of some kind, we just might get them back.”
Hayden, who had taken over Neslan’s role of pacing, stopped cold. He said, “I’ll go with you if you want. Any one of us would.”
“No,” said Kora. “No, chances are that as soon as I touch the roof, one of Zalski’s crystals alerts him. Speed’s what counts. A second person would be in the way.”
Neslan said, “Hold on, just hold on. We found a way in. Maybe we can utilize this for more than a rescue mission.”
“How?” said Lanokas. “With five measly men, how? We can’t invade the Palace from the roof. By the time we’re inside, Zalski’s there with fifty guards to toss us out. Beyond striking fast to save Bennie and Zacry….”
Kora said, “I have to do this. I have to get Zac away from there. Should we talk this over with Laskenay?”
Neslan said, “Zalski won’t be pleased we did this. He’ll come after the League and come hard.”
Lanokas replied, “There’s no League anymore to destroy. Let Laskenay be. Didn’t we pledge this evening to make Zacry our cause? Well, we may be able to rescue him. I vote Kora attempts this.”
“So do I,” said Neslan.
“And me,” echoed Hayden. Kora took a deep breath. She arranged her thoughts, put a plan of action together. “When are you going?”
“Now.”
Hayden coughed. “Now?”
“Before it hits me how crazy this is.” Kora used Mudar to bring her sack to her. She pulled out her chain to spy on Zalski: he and Malzin were eating dinner.
Neslan asked, “Is the tower guarded?”
“It doesn’t need to be. Those two are going nowhere on their own, and as far as Zalski knows, we haven’t the foggiest notion where they are. This is worth the risk, especially for me. We’re talking about my family.” Kora rose to her feet. “Listen, I don’t want to be morbid, but if I don’t make it back, thank Laskenay for all she’s done. I’d say to tell her Menikas is a miserable excuse for a person, but she doesn’t want him mentioned, does she?”
Lanokas took her hand. “Be careful,” he said. “Careful, you hear me?”
She nearly shook, thinking of Sedder. He had always spoken like that: Sedder, Zacry’s role model. Kora steeled herself. “Careful and quick,” she said. “That’s the plan. Which direction does the Palace face?”
“North, as luck would have it.”
Neslan said, “Wish we could help on this one.”
“I know. I’m taking Zalski with me if he takes me out, that’s a promise.”
Hayden said, “Good luck.”
“Despareska,” said Kora. Invisibility. “Trasporte.”
She found herself on the street outside the Crystal Palace gate. The nearest guard was fifteen yards away, and no civilian walked the road. The spring night was damp in Zalski’s capital; the moisture and pollen in the air stung Kora’s nose, and she almost betrayed herself with a sneeze. She turned her gaze to the Palace itself and found the Northeast Tower. The roof was cone-shaped but sloped gently enough for a person to hold his footing.
Why did that person have to be her? To perch atop Podrar’s Old Town Hall was one thing. The pinnacle of the Palace was something different altogether.
I have to do this. This is for Zacry, for Zac and Bennie. It can’t really be as high as it looks.”
Kora summoned her courage and transported one more time. She threw herself to the tower’s shale shingles as soon as her feet touched them; she felt more secure that way. She ignored her dry mouth, her spinning head. There was no time to lose. She peered over the edge, directing her voice to the first window slot she saw.
“Bennie? Bennie are you there?”
Bennie came to the window. “Kora? How did you…?”
“I’m blasting a hole in the wall. Get under the bed.”
“Kora, Zacry’s across the way.”
“I know. Hurry, they might already know I’m here.”
Bendelof rushed away. Kora shut her eyes and timed fifteen seconds, just to make sure she had taken cover. Then she focused her sight on the wall below.
“Polvassay!” she cried, and a man-sized section of the wall fell away with a force like an explosion. The soldier below issued a yell as Kora swung herself to Bennie’s room. She pulverized the door; pieces of metal flew everywhere, one slicing her arm, another her foot, cutting through her sandal as she ran into the hall. “Aperta!” she cried. Zacry’s door swung open. The boy shrank back in horror.
“It’s me, Zac, it’s me. Come on!” He rushed out when he recognized his sister’s voice, and she grabbed his arm. They jumped over the pile of metal bits that seconds before had been Bendelof’s door. Bennie had crawled out from her bed; Kora yanked her up and took her hand. “We have to jump.” They ran to the ledge. Zacry forced them to duck as four arrows whizzed above their heads from the ground below.
“Pulgaqua!”
The spell came from behind. Kora crossed her arms, conjuring a crimson shell around herself and Zalski’s captives, resisting the magical force that was pulling her around. She glanced over her shoulder as a jet of water bounced harmlessly away. Zalski charged her.
“NOW!” Kora yelled. They plunged down the side of the tower, to land hard on a pile of hay on Wheatfield’s loft.
“Kora?” called Lanokas. He scrambled up the ladder, Neslan at his heels. “Kora, is that you?” She gasped in response. The landing had knocked the wind out of her. “Kora!”
“It’s me. It’s me, guys. I’m all right. Desfa…. Desfazair.”
Hayden clambered up last to see three bodies in a heap. “She did it! They’re all here!”
Zacry sat up, wide-eyed and pallid. Kora saw him by the light of a taper Lanokas held, saw his panic, and she threw her arms around him, holding him so tightly she feared she caused him pain. He did not protest. Neither did he wipe his sleeve, which her tears were soaking through; his arms were occupied, once the initial shock had passed, holding her with just as much force as she him.
Neslan made to help Bendelof up, but she recoiled. “Who touched me? Who’s there?” Neslan told her who he was. She let him take her arm. “Who else?”
“Lanokas and Hayden. And Kora and Zac.”
“That’s all?” Bennie had partly risen; now her knees collapsed, and she fell back to the hay. “That can’t be all! What happened to…?”
“Laskenay stepped out, she’s around somewhere. Menikas is….”
“Dead.”
“No,” said Neslan. “He left, for good, with Ranler, Bidd, and Hal.”
Zacry glanced at Bennie, confused at first. Kora let go of him, reluctantly, and he pulled his fellow captive from the straw. “You’re blind, aren’t you? That monster blinded you!”
“I’m lucky, Zac. He could have done much worse.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to frighten you. Are we…? We’re really gone from there, aren’t we?”
Zacry hugged her, and Bendelof returned the gesture. Then he turned back to his sister to say, “Thanks. Thanks a ton.”
“You thought I would leave you in that place?”
“I thought you’d never find us.”
Bennie reached out for Kora’s hand, so Kora took hers, giving it a squeeze before throwing a sisterl
y arm around the girl’s shoulders. Bennie said, “Bless you, Kora. You were brilliant. Brilliant. Was that Zalski I heard before we…?”
Kora said, “We cut it close.”
“You don’t know how close,” said Zacry.
Kora told Bennie, “I can try to reverse what he did to you. I can’t say I’ll be successful, but I’ll try.” Bennie nodded. “Desfazair.” When the incantation had no effect, Kora repeated it twice before Bendelof stopped her.
“It’s all right. Really.”
Neslan said, “We need you here, Bennie. We missed you something dreadful.”
“Things weren’t the same,” agreed Lanokas.
“I won’t be of much use anymore,” she said.
Neslan told her, “You were the soul of our group, our stabilization. No one would dispute that. Listen, the League fell apart without you.”
“And I’m sure that had nothing to do with Zalski finding headquarters.” No one contradicted Ranler’s former apprentice. “Let’s face it, I’m worth nothing now. I’ve never felt this jumpy.”
Lanokas said, “You haven’t been out in the open yet, around people. Give it time.”
“I don’t know time will make a difference.” A trapped air overcame the redhead, as though she longed to flee, to distance herself. Kora’s asked:
“Would you like to speak in private?”
“You should be with your brother.”
Zacry said, “I’ll be here when she gets back.” Bendelof assented after that, and Kora transported them outside.
“Where are we?” asked the girl.
“Back at Wheatfield.”
“Outside the barn, no? I feel the wind.”
“What’s bothering you? Is it the blindness, like Lanokas said? Is it Kansten?”
“Not exactly.”
“You weren’t raped?”
“No. Heavens no, nothing like that. I was lucky, all things considered. I meant that when I said it. I was blessed somehow. I joined the League to be the Giver’s Instrument, and the Giver took care of me. I didn’t suffer, not really. They gave me decent food. Malzin didn’t even mock me. She never came near, and she was awful to Kansten. She murdered Kansten for God’s sake, in front of me. I just feel so ashamed….”
“That she didn’t kill you too?”
“Of being so scared. No, terrified, even now. Especially now. Every day I thought he’d find the Librette. That he’d kill me. I could never be sure some guards weren’t on the way up to have their way with me, or that he wasn’t there, in the room. I couldn’t sleep because of nightmares. His face…. His face was the last thing I saw, and I can’t wipe it from my mind. I don’t think I ever will. I’m not strong enough, I’m not strong enough to risk going back there. Kora, he won’t be kind next time.”
“He wasn’t this time.”
“You know what I mean. Everything I feared, every minute he held me, it would happen if he captures me again. And without my sight I’m a sitting duck.”
“We’re all afraid, every one of us. Nothing we do can change that. The way to cope is to keep on, wherever we are. To keep on, like you did these past days.
“I can track Zalski now, you know. I can’t transport into the Palace, but I watched your confrontations with him, I watched you plead for Zacry. Bennie, I’m so grateful. So glad Zac had you with him. You’re more than a fellow combatant, you’re a friend. Hell, you’re family. You did everything we could have asked of you, under pressure I can’t even imagine. No one expects you to give more after what you went through. We’d be wrong to. You have every right to walk away, and with your head held high, you earned that. Whatever you decide, we’ll support it, but you can’t let what happened make you feel shamed. Listen, I’m one of the few of us who’ve met Zalski since he rose to power. I know what his mere presence does to people, and I was with him for maybe half an hour. You lived in his shadow for days, not to mention the thought that his guards could have…. It’s enough to shake anyone’s confidence. Anyone. You’re not weak because he got to you.”
“You’re not just saying that?”
“I mean every word.”
“Thank you. Thank you, Kora.” Bennie embraced her. “That brother of yours, he’s a special kid. He actually gave me courage, do you know that?”
“No more courage than you gave him. As for what’s next, you don’t have to decide anything right now about whether to leave or to stay.”
“I guess that’s true. What I know is we should probably go back in. It’s safer, and I’m sure you want to talk to Zacry.”
Kora took her upper arm and transported back to the loft. Zacry motioned for his sister to follow him down the ladder, and they moved to the far corner for some privacy.
“I’m glad you’re my sister,” he said. “And I’m sorry if I thought you were stuffy and dull, ‘cause you’re not. You’re not at all, I was worried I might never get to tell you that. Kora, I should have listened to you more.”
“Listen to this, then: I’m so proud of you. I think you’re braver than I am. I know how you stood up to Zalski, in the apartment. In the Palace too. Bennie told me all about it. I just wish Sedder could have seen you.”
Zacry breathed sharply, and drew back. “Was Sedder fighting an officer when he died? No lies.”
“The officer was Malzin, and she definitely held her own.”
“So Zalski told me half a truth. I figured it was something like that. Did he really want you to work for him?”
“When he learned I was a sorceress. I may not have asked to be here, but the time passed long ago when Zalski could call me a victim of chance. I’m in a lot of danger because of that.”
“I know what he did to Kansten. And to Bennie.”
“You know what happened to you the last time we were together. We have to find a place for you, someplace secure, far away from here. You understand?”
Zacry’s eyes glinted. His arms grew rigid. “I’m not going anywhere, not this time. Look, that man blinded Bennie and I want to make him pay.”
“He had his reasons. I’m not saying they were justified, I’m not defending him, but he had reasons.”
“He had her cornered! Tied up! He would have let me rot with her. I have the right to be angry, and I’m fighting back, with or without you.”
“He won’t just imprison you next time, Zac.”
“I realize that. I’m not stupid, I just don’t care. Look, I’ve gone from being stuck at Auntie Mader’s to that God-forsaken orphanage to Zalski’s hospitality, and I’ve had enough. Enough. I’m not hiding anymore.”
“Zacry, I can’t lose you. I won’t lose you, not again. You’re all I have left.”
“And you think I have some other family? You think I like you risking your neck?”
“I’m not twelve.”
“And I’m not a baby! I’m proven myself, and I’ve got the right to join the resistance after what he did to me.”
“There is no resistance. We’re not resisting, we’re struggling just to feed ourselves. Tonight was the first decent meal I’ve had in I don’t know how long, and…. Zacry, let’s discuss this more tomorrow, what do you say? I’m so relieved to see you I can’t argue now. I don’t know whether to burst with pride or to smack you upside the head for provoking that man. He could have killed you.”
“He wouldn’t hurt me. I’m too valuable.”
“You still pressed your luck.”
“I owe you one, that’s for sure.” Zacry’s face turned red. “That doesn’t mean I’ll give in and go sit somewhere like a pet dog, I mean it.”
“Tomorrow, Zac.”
Zacry lowered his voice. “Is something wrong with Bennie? Besides….”
“She’s just shaken, that’s all. You can understand that.”
“I’m worried about her. She never mentioned being blind, not once. And we talked a lot back there.”
Kora did not keep watch that night. Hayden took double duty to relieve her, and she appreciated the gesture, bu
t in reality she might as well have let him sleep—she got no rest herself. Her heart had not stopped pounding since she looked up at the tower; it nearly had cracked her ribcage when Zalski cast that spell from behind.
I was invisible. I could have been Laskenay, he had no way to know before my shell appeared, and he didn’t hesitate. He would’ve had no qualms about drowning his own sister. I used to wonder if she was safer than the rest of us….
If he’d cast that awful spell at her back, God only knows what he’ll do when he gets his paws on me. Zacry can’t stay. He can’t be within a hundred miles of me.
But would distance keep Zacry safe? Kora could not see how. Zac refused flat-out to sit quietly, and his mind was set. He would never survive striking out on his own for revenge. He deserved revenge, she understood that; his determination alarmed her, but was nothing to fault him for. Maybe to keep him with her, beneath her supervision, would be best. She could work with him, could channel his passion once again into defensive training. If only she could teach him enough to stand some kind of chance against Zalski!
He’ll come after us. After me. A hole that size in the Palace wall’s like….
Like an open mouth she had deliberately spit into. It was an insult on that scale. She had pulverized a tower; no spell she ever heard of would be able to fix the damage, surely not Desfazair. Restore the dust to a solid somehow? The wind would have scattered it for miles. The Palace’s gaping wound would be visible to all until Zalski had it sealed the old-fashioned way, until new stone had been cut from a quarry. Maybe magic could speed the process, but manual labor would be involved, and Zalski….
Kora tossed beneath her blanket, imagining the sorcerer’s rage. The chain of red gold lay stowed in her sack, at her fingertips, or, literally, at her feet. She would not have used it for a banquet. Some things were better left unknown.
We’re all sitting ducks, Bennie. It’s a matter of weeks, maybe days.
What most frightened Kora was seeing Bendelof broken. Bennie had always been the one with perspective, the one who carried on without romanticizing the League’s fate, or Herezoth’s, as Neslan did when he swore someone would pick up the League’s banner when it fell. As Lanokas did with his absurd ideas about the Marked One. Maybe that was why Kora set such store on the girl’s unique optimism; it was not founded on desperate dreams or empty discourse. Hadn’t Bennie predicted Zalski dying in his bed? Dying naturally at a ripe old age? If anyone could hold the balance between accepting a bleak future and not underrating small victories, it should have been Bennie, the Leaguesman who fought on principle, who held that filling a stranger’s stomach was worth risking a guard cut out her own.
The Crimson League (The Herezoth Trilogy) Page 47