Sky Raiders

by Michelle Diener

  Garek said nothing to that.

  “So it'll look like a natural death?” Kas asked. “The fact that we haven't heard anything means that might be their conclusion.”

  “I hope so. The guard arrived while he was still alive, and I managed to draw more air from him while the guard was standing over him. It may have appeared to be a fit or seizure.”

  “That's good,” Kas murmured. “That's actually very good. It was one of the reservations I had about sharing information with the Kardanx. Ketl was always going to be a problem.”

  There were nods around the circle, and Taya hugged him a little closer to her.

  He looked down at her. “I went back to check if he was dead, and saw the guard carrying him away like a thing, not a person. I'd rather not have had to kill him.”

  “He was his own worst enemy,” she said quietly. “There were so many times he could have chosen a different way, and yet he always took the most destructive path.”

  “Some people can't help themselves,” Min said into the silence, and they watched the fire leap and dance for a while.

  “So what now?” Quardi asked at last.

  “Aidan and I will go check out the tower, as discussed.”

  “When are you leaving?” Taya's question was soft.

  “As soon as everyone is asleep.” He wanted more time with her, but he'd have all the time he wanted when they were safely back on Barit. He refused to even contemplate failure.

  “You got supplies?” Kas asked and Garek nodded.

  Quardi had closed the forge early today, telling the guard the tools he'd made needed to cool overnight before he could work them again, and he and Pilar had put together food and water for two days, just in case he and Aidan got lost or were delayed.

  He'd also given them canvas to sleep on, and warm blankets to wrap themselves in at night.

  “What are you going to do if it is a communications tower?” Kas asked. “Are we ready to make our move now?”

  Garek had thought about it all day. “Taya says it took her and Min about four hours to walk from the tower to the mine. That's not insignificant, but it isn't that far, either. Unless an opportunity arises that we just can't turn down, I think we should simply find out as much about it as we can, come back and discuss it, and formulate our plan.”

  There were nods of agreement all around.

  “Don't forget to bring back the shadow ore Min and I brought from the cave. It's near the mine site, and I'll tell you exactly where.” Taya looked over at his father. “We'll need to find a way to transport it back home without sending the transporter's systems crazy. Maybe an iron box, or something? Because now that I've called the Change, I think I need it.”

  “We also need to talk about the Harven and Dartalians.” Aidan leaned back on his elbows, his plate on his knees. “The way you speak, you're including them with you in a rescue.”

  Kas nodded. “They're our friends. We don't eat together, but that's more a logistical issue than anything else. We are friends in the mines, and that goes for the day and night shifts.”

  “Do they know what you're planning?” Garek asked.

  Kas nodded. “I've discussed it with Luci, the town master of the Harven village that was taken. She also speaks for the Dartalians, because they were on their way to her village for trade when they were taken in the mountains. They know her and respect her.”

  “Does she know that the liege of Harven has plans to invade West Lathor?” Aidan asked.

  His words were met with blank incomprehension.

  “Invade?” Taya asked, and there was something in her voice that told Garek this wasn't the first time she'd heard this.

  “What do you know?” Kas asked her, and Garek realized he'd also heard the change in tone.

  Taya shrugged. “Dom told me, when I spoke to him in the mine. The rumor in Kardai is that West Lathor is no longer the buffer to invasion it used to be. That the liege,” she shot a quick look at Aidan, “the liege's grief has caused the other Illian lieges to consider trying to expand into West Lathor, and when they do, the way to Kardai is open to them.”

  “That's . . . not good,” Noor murmured.

  “No.” Kas eyed Aidan. “Are you saying we shouldn't help them because their liege wants to take advantage of your father's situation?”

  Aidan shrugged. “No. They most likely have nothing to do with it, and may not even know what's being planned. However . . .”

  He looked upward at Barit, and Garek could see the way his mind was working, as clear as if it were written on his forehead.

  “You want to make sure the liege of Harven knows who rescued his people and how,” he guessed.

  Aidan looked at him, surprised. “Well, yes. And I was thinking along the lines of having as many people as possible in Harven witness their return. It would make it very difficult for their liege to advocate attacking us after we managed such an amazing rescue.”

  Taya laughed. “A neat solution, and one with no blood shed on either side. I like it.”

  “Me, too.” Kas seemed thoughtful. “But that means we'll have to deliver them to the Harven capital, not their village.”

  “They may not be averse to that. They'll need help from the liege anyway, to get their village back on its feet again. All their leviks were taken, same as ours. Their homes will need repair.” Pilar shrugged. “It's better for them to go straight to their liege.”

  “I'll sell it to Luci that way.” Kas nodded. “And the Dartalians?”

  “Same thing.” Aidan smiled. “They're further from West Lathor, their liege is less likely to be involved, but at least she'll think twice about lending her support to another liege who wants to invade.”

  “What about the Kardanx?” Min asked. “We know we'll be taking our allies, but what about our enemies?”

  “That depends.” Garek didn't know if it was his place to say this, but everyone looked at him expectantly. “From a pure strategy point of view, you'd have to decide if they can listen to orders, if you trust them. And if we decided to do this quietly, with as few people as possible to maximize success, then I would say we leave them out of it.”

  “That's the thing,” Min spoke, her voice quiet. “I don't trust them in general, but to get off this planet, to get back home, I think they'd do whatever they had to.”

  “Will they?” Taya was the one who spoke now. “Some of them are very conflicted about what they did to their women. And there are factions and power struggles within their camp that aren't in ours.”

  There was silence as they thought it through.

  “What it comes down to,” Noor said, “is could we look up into the sky at Shadow every day when we're safely back home, and be comfortable with having left them here.”

  “No,” Taya whispered. She swallowed. “No.”

  “Perhaps what we need,” Aidan said, “is two transporters. One for them, one for us, so we don't have to deal with them.”

  There was more silence. “We'd have to have two anyway, if we're taking them,” Kas said at last. “One wouldn't be big enough for all of us. We'd need to steal one of the big provision ships Garek and Aidan arrived on for us all to go together.”

  “If we take two transporters,” Garek looked over at the Kardanx side of the camp, “they can be responsible for themselves. I got the feeling last night they want to be more involved than simply being rescued.”

  “It's their pride,” Min said. “But I would make it clear they need to follow our lead, or we'll leave them out.”

  “They came to us, asking in, so yes, they'll have to follow our lead, but I don't know if we can trust them to do that.” Kas rubbed stiff fingers along his temples.

  “Well, why don't we ask?” Garek wanted to go into the camp anyway, get a sense of what was happening, what the guards had told them about Ketl. “Nothing like the direct approach.”

  “Now?” Quardi seemed surprised.

  “Best Garek and Aidan know now what type of plan we're co
nsidering before they head out to find that tower,” Kas said.

  Kas agreeing with him was so strange, Garek didn't say anything straight away.

  “And if we can't trust them to help?” Quardi asked.

  “Then we get both transporters by ourselves, and hand one over.” Garek looked around the fire. “We have decided we have to help them leave, yes?”

  Everyone nodded.

  Garek stood. “Who's coming with me?”

  Aidan stood, as Garek knew he would, and so did Kas. But when Taya did, Garek shook his head.

  “Taya, no.”

  She angled her head up to look at him, and he saw shock, and hurt, in her eyes. “Yes.”

  “Why?” He couldn't see any benefit to it, and she would be putting herself in possible danger. “Aidan, Kas, and I all trained as guards. If things get ugly, we can fight our way out of there.”

  She was silent for a moment, looking down at the ground, and he thought he'd won the argument. Then she looked up, eyes narrowed, and he realized his mistake.

  “I want to come because I have strong feelings about them. Because I've agreed to help save them when everything in me wants to leave them behind to rot, beside the women and Dom, and perhaps a few of his friends who've stood by him. I've already made some progress talking to Dom, the only man over that side worthy of the name. If he thinks the others won't cooperate, I'd rather he came over to our side with his mother and her friends, and we can save just them rather than risk us all dying here because of those bastards.”

  “That's true,” Min said, standing and walking over to Taya's side. “She and Dom talked about it the day Garek arrived. I don't think he'd easily trust anyone else.”

  Garek looked over at Kas. He stood, arms crossed, face hard to read. “The Kardanx don't listen to women, usually. No matter what we all might think of that, it's their way.”

  “I don't care about their way,” Taya said, her voice quiet. “I'm not trying to soothe their cultural feelings. We're saving them despite what they've done. They can accept it, or be left out, but they are the ones who will need to adjust, not us. Why should I pretend to be less to make them more compliant?”

  Why indeed? Anyone who needed Taya to be less was a fool. “I just know you've never had to fight, Taya, and I want to keep you safe.”

  She looked at him, and he thought he was forgiven. “If they can't deal with me now, in this camp, how are they going to deal with me when we escape? If I'm not safe with them now, when will I be?” Taya tilted her head in query.

  Kas blew out his breath. “Good point.”

  Garek reached over for her hand, brought it to his mouth. “Promise me you'll get behind me if things go wrong.”

  She had put on the headband he'd included in the things he'd taken from outside her door for her bath, and now she fiddled with it, pulling out a sharp-looking needle.

  She threw it upward, but instead of falling it hovered in the air and then floated over to him, spinning lazily as it did.

  He heard Aidan gasp and he jerked in surprise.

  He'd forgotten.

  In his defense, he'd only had one day to get used to the idea that she could call the Change.

  He'd even nodded when she asked him to remember to bring the ore she'd found, but still hadn't thought about it in real terms, especially as his own Change was dampened here, not nearly as strong.

  He lifted a finger in awe and touched the tip of the metal shard. Blood welled.

  “Maybe,” she said, “you should stay behind me.”

  Chapter 32

  Kas and Garek strode ahead, leaving Taya to walk behind them with Aidan of Juli.

  Taya didn't recall him from his sister's wedding, but if he'd been walking the walls of Gara with Garek, that would explain it.

  She used the time to take off her headband and pull out the shadow ore needles. She didn't think the Kardanx would be foolish enough to cause trouble, but then she couldn't believe most of what they'd done so far.

  “You call an interesting Change,” the princeling said, his eyes on the shadow ore in her hand.

  She shrugged. “I would never have known it if I hadn't come here. If there is shadow ore on Barit, it's nowhere near Pan Nuk, or buried too deep below the ground.”

  “It makes you wonder, doesn't it? If we can all call a Change of some kind, and those of us who can't, simply haven't found our calling yet.”

  She nodded. “Finding myself able to do it this late in my life has made me think the same.” She looked over at him. “But you must call a Change already, surely? You wouldn't have walked the walls without it.”

  He grimaced. “The water Change. But not as strong as Garek.”

  “Who is?” she asked softly.

  “No one that I've met or heard of,” he conceded.

  “You should try to call the water Change here. The water is different. Min calls it, too, and she can't do it as well here. It may be the opposite for you.”

  He gave a nod and then she noticed his demeanor change as they walked past the jousting tent and into the Kardanx camp. He went from casual, almost laconic, to watchful and dangerous.

  A man who hid behind a mask of irreverence and studied indifference.

  The Kardanx must have some system of keeping watch, because she could hear the change in tone of the murmured conversations around them.

  They had been spotted.

  Garek slowed, looked back at her, a quick glance to make sure she was all right. He stopped and so did Kas, waiting until she and Aidan were right beside them.

  They were in an open space, a misshapen area onto which six or seven doors opened, with a narrow walkway leading out to the main cooking and washing area on the Kardanx side of the river's loop.

  “Why are you here?” someone asked from the darkness.

  Kas spoke for them. “We were invited.”

  There were murmurs, and then Fayda appeared.

  “I'm pleased to see you. Come, let's talk by the fire.”

  Garek put a hand on Taya's shoulder, holding her back when she was about to step forward. He studied the crowd.

  “Please walk behind me.” His face gave nothing away.

  She hesitated, then nodded, moving behind him and letting him lead the way.

  Kas was ahead with Fayda, and Aidan brought up the rear.

  Their positions spoke of distrust and suspicion, which she supposed was fair enough. That was how things stood between the Illy and the Kardanx.

  When they were free of the crowded huts and shacks, Taya saw the open area was similar to their own, except there were more fire pits, and each one was smaller.

  Fayda led them to the biggest one in the center of the space, and indicated the low logs and crates they were using as seating.

  No one, it turned out, wanted to sit.

  “I don't see Dom,” Taya said after a long moment of silence.

  There was a mutter at her words, a low rumble, and Fayda turned to Kas.

  “She speaks for you?” His voice held a challenge, as if Kas's masculinity was somehow on the line if he answered yes.

  She laughed at the same time as Kas did. Fayda's eyes widened.

  “You find it incomprehensible that an intelligent, brave, and loyal Illian would be tasked with speaking for us?” Aidan asked into the silence.

  “They can't see past the fact that she is a woman to any of her attributes,” a voice said from the darkness of the river bank, and then Dom stepped forward, dripping wet, as if he'd been in the river. “I hear you're looking for me?”

  He looked like he'd been beaten. His cheek was swollen and his lip was split. But they hadn't had it all their way. His knuckles were bleeding, so he'd gotten some punches in.

  Fayda blanched visibly at the sight of him. “Who beat him?” he asked, looking at the crowd that had formed around them.

  No one said anything.

  “This is a problem,” Taya murmured.

  “We thought you didn't want them talking to him
,” someone called to Fayda from the back of the crowd.

  “I beat him.” A man stepped forward, looking as rough as Dom, with a swollen cheek and a hand against his ribs.

  “Dar-nagel . . .” Fayda shook his head, and there was a slump to his shoulders. “He is your son.”

  Taya watched the prayer man, cynical about his every move, but she thought he might actually be genuinely saddened by this.

  “What's your plan?” Dom ignored his father, looking at Taya instead.

  “We are going to investigate something we think can help us escape. If it's what we think it is, we'll put a plan in place to steal two transporters, and leave.”

  “How will we fly the transporters?” someone called from the crowd.

  “I'll show Dom how to do it,” Garek spoke up. “So it would be to all your benefit if he is fit and able to be your pilot, because he's the only one I'm prepared to share the secret with.”

  “You're the one who flew here to rescue your village?” another man called.

  “I am.”

  “And your companion is West Lathor's liege?”

  “The liege's son,” Aidan said.

  There was the buzz of voices.

  “What is it you are going to investigate?” The man who asked the question had been one of three who'd come with Fayda last night.

  Taya shook her head. “That's not something we're prepared to share with you.”

  A number of men blinked at her, too astonished at her refusal to even respond.

  “You don't trust us,” Fayda said.

  “No. Why should we?” Kas asked, looking from face to face in the crowd. “You have not been our friend, even far from home, with a common enemy.”

  “I'm surprised you're helping us at all. Why not just leave us behind?” one of the men asked, sarcasm heavy in his voice.

  “We discussed that.” Kas's words caused absolute silence. “You killed your women, which we find abhorrent. You tried to assault and then kill the women in our camp, which we find unforgivable. To all of us, they seem the acts of men who are morally bankrupt, who need to hurt or denigrate to make themselves feel strong. That an entire culture can accept this as perfectly reasonable is an anathema to us. And yet, we've decided our consciences will not be easy if we leave you here. We've decided we will help you. But for our plan to work, we need people we can trust on our side, and we had doubts before coming here about your trustworthiness. With this recent attack on Dom, the one person you knew we were prepared to deal with, that has turned out to be a valid doubt. I'm not sure where we go from here.”