61
Julien stared at the library, taking in the tablets built into the walls and the neat rows of manuscripts and textbooks.
"Let me know if you need anyzing," Zerek said from his place next to the young man. "I trust you slept vell?"
"Of course I slept well—the tea you gave me last night was drugged," Julien pointed out, trying to keep his tone neutral rather than accusatory.
"I like to know my guests are vell rested. Ze bed vas comfortable?"
"I am fine, Zerek." Julien turned to meet the scientist's eye. "This is all the research you have on elemental power?"
"Elemental and Oni power, yes. I have combed over it many times...but I applaud you for vanting to expand your own research before ve get started."
"How do I know you have not already begun?" Julien demanded. "You had Colby restrained on a surgical bed last night, with I.V's in his arms."
"Your friend is very anxious," Zerek pointed out gently. "Ze I.V was put in place to keep him calm. He had a series of panic attacks after arriving to ze Laboratory."
"Can you blame him?" Julien asked angrily.
"It makes sense zat he feels apprehensive, but he need not be so concerned. Ze drip vill help curb ze anxiety."
"You are drugging him to keep him compliant."
"He vould be restrained regardless. I don't vish him to harm himself, trying to break free." Zerek moved into the library, swiping at one of the tablets. "Everyzing in ze libarary is categorized in zese tablets, and zey also house all ze electronic text I have collected. I hope it vill be easy for you to find vat you need."
"You have to promise that you will not experiment on Colby until I am done."
"I cannot make such a promise, or you vill drag your feet in researching," Zerek pointed out with a small smile. "Your friend has gone through a few preliminary tests last night, and vill continue to be observed today. Zat should give you enough time to research before ve begin tomorrow."
"You are only giving me a single day?"
"You are a smart young man...you do not need more time. Do not try to make me believe you do." Zerek went to leave the room, and Julien turned.
"Zerek, wait. I do have something else I need."
The scientist turned with a raised eyebrow. "Yes?"
"I would like Agatha to come work on this with me."
Zerek looked thoughtful. "Do you zink she vill?"
"If I explained to her why we were doing it," Julien said. "I need her help...especially if you are only giving me a single day to get through all of this research."
"I can have Ms. Axel brought here, Julien. But I vould hope zat you vould work on ze research, and not plot a vay out of Estyeer. It vould ultimately prove to be a vaste of time, and you vould go into ze procedure tomorrow vizout ze background you had hoped to gain today."
"I will research the powers...I said I would," Julien said. "But we work better as a team."
"As you vish," Zerek said. "But it vill be you, and not Miss Axel assisting me tomorrow. Remember that."
"I know."
Zerek smiled as he nodded. "Good luck, Julien."
Pippa woke to someone grabbing her arms, and she immediately fought back. Her neck felt stiff, and she couldn't feel her butt or legs. As she thrashed and heard Teag's complaints behind her, she remembered that she was chained to the idiot at the wrists.
"Leave me alone!" she snapped as she blinked blearily. The tent was filled with a dim light—it was early. The trader laughed before pulling her to her feet.
"Quazier doesn't want you relieving yourself in the tent," the trader said, working at the chains on her wrists. "He assumed you'd have to go by now."
Pippa glowered, waiting for the trader to get her wrists free. The second they were, she tried to rip out of his grasp, but the trader seemed to be expecting it. The blow left her ears ringing, and then her wrists were being forced behind her back as the chain wrapped around them again. Pippa thrashed, but then the trader was talking into her ear.
"Quazier said you need to behave yourself if you want to see your cousin this morning."
Pippa deflated at last, her heart beating with fear. "Where is Raiyn?" she demanded.
"He spent the night with Quazier. Unlike you, the kid knows how to behave himself. Do what you're told, and Quazier said you can eat breakfast with them."
Behind Pippa, another trader was getting Teag to his feet and binding his wrists. Unlike Pippa, the dreadlocked boy wasn't fighting back at all. Wimp, she thought angrily, but then they were both forced out of the tent into the sunshine. Pippa was humiliated as the trader took her to the area of the camp where she was expected to relieve herself in front of him. She complied, but only because she really did have to go badly.
Though it was early in the morning, the traders were already milling around the camp. Pippa glowered at any of them that met her eye as she was dragged through the tents, and most of them smirked in return. At one point, she caught sight of the lanky trader that Teag had called Dee—the one that had to be his brother. She glowered at him hardest of all, and he looked away.
They made it to a large tent, and Pippa grudgingly allowed the trader behind her to cart her inside. She noticed that Teag had arrived before her, already sitting on the ground with his wrists chained. In front of him, Quazier was sitting on a large cushion with Raiyn sitting at his feet, completely unrestrained. The toddler had his cheeks stuffed with some fruit or another, and he looked up as Pippa and her guard came in.
"Pip-pip!" the toddler exclaimed around the food in his mouth, and Pippa sagged in relief when she saw that he seemed to be unharmed. Raiyn went to stand, no doubt to run over to her, but Quazier reached out and grabbed the young boy's shoulder to stop him. The boy turned with a quivering lip. "Please? Raiyn go please?"
"Take a seat," the trader ordered gently, and Raiyn's expression crumpled. He did as he was told, however, and Pippa felt a flash of fury.
"Don't tell him what to do!"
"Sit down, love," Quazier told her easily. "We're discussing your future."
"You have no right to discuss my future," Pippa growled as one of the traders forced her down onto her knees. "I'm taking you down, you fat idiot."
Quazier's smile faded a little, but then he laughed. "So much spirit in this one. Chained up at my feet, and you're still as volatile as ever." He leaned forward, studying her with a look that Pippa hated. "Did the two of you decide who's staying and who's going?"
Pippa glanced at Teag, but he didn't say anything as he glowered at Quazier, as quiet as ever. He hadn't said much last night, either, and Pippa was beginning to wonder what he was thinking about. Did he have an idea for them to escape, or was he just being stupid and quiet for no reason?
When neither of them answered, Quazier tsked, reaching out to fiddle with Raiyn's hair. The toddler froze, and the leader turned to the traders at the door of the tent.
"Go get everyone together. Seems we're going to have our duels after all."
Zerek studied the unconscious elemental master carefully before looking back at the monitors. After a few minutes, he took a few notes into the tablet he was holding. The boy's vitals were stable, and he seemed healthy enough. They had completed a series of tests on the different elements of his health and found him to be healthy, apart from being a little overweight. But that should not interfere with the procedure...not if Julien unlocked the key to using the chronosteel.
"Bring in ze sample," he ordered, and one of his staff stepped forward with a small piece of the steel. Zerek took the small cube, looking at it up close. It didn't seem any more special than any other metal...but then again, neither did Vengestone. The alloy in his hand worked opposite the black metal, however. While one blocked power, the other drew it in.
"Prepare the monitors," he said, and the staff members on hand did so. "Ze infrared cameras are running? As vell as the energy trackers?"
"Affirmative," a staff member said.
"Let us begin," Zerek mused. He moved to the freckled young man, who was peacefully sleeping on the cot. The streaks of tears were still visible on his face, but Zerek felt little sympathy for the specimen as he moved the cube of chronosteel to touch the boy's exposed skin on his arm. Nothing happened, and Zerek carefully moved the cube from place to place across the boy's body. There was no change in the boy at all, until he moved the cube directly over the elemental master's heart. The boy's expression flickered, and there was the slightest change in the infrared trained on him. Zerek removed the cube only to replace it in the same spot, but there was no change the second time. The scientist pursed his lips as he finally drew back, setting the cube off to one side.
"Results inconclusive," he murmured, typing into his tablet once again. "Ze monitors vill be carefully examined for change, but it seems my hypothesis is correct and chronosteel cannot act by touch alone. It is different from vengestone in zat vay. It appears to need some kind of catalyst to draw out ze power." He finished his notes and set the tablet off to one side as he looked at his staff. "This concludes our preliminary testing. Vake ze boy and feed him. If he refuses to eat, force him to—we need him at full strength tomorrow."
"Pippa's hoofer is gone—Myrah said that the stable hands don't know when they last saw it. She's got Raiyn out on a hoofer somewhere in the realm." Syn dry-washed her face, the light coming through her window not comforting her at all.
"Hershel's taking people to search the West, and I'm going with a party to the Central Province," Tolan assured her.
"I'm coming with you," his wife insisted. "Did you find anything at the Hidden Village? Did they stop by there yesterday?"
"No one has seen them," Tolan admitted, struggling to sound calm when his own chest felt tight with worry. He tried to remind himself that this was hardly the first time Pippa had run off, and she had always come back before. However, something about this felt different, even if he couldn't quite put a finger on why.
"I shouldn't have been so short with her," Syn lamented as she and Tolan made their way to the stables. "This is my fault."
"No. She needs to learn that she can't act like this...and she can't just run off when people get upset with her. She becomes more like Theo every day."
"At least Theo's a grown man—Pippa's only twelve years old."
"Freak's hardly a man," Tolan argued, but then he sighed. "We'll visit the central fortress—it's no secret Pippa's still got a thing for Theo. I wouldn't put it past her to try to visit him there."
"What if we can't find them, Tolan?" Syn asked, her voice breaking with worry. He reached out to take her hand.
"We will."
Julien typed in another long string of code into the tablet, but upon hitting enter, nothing happened. He groaned softly, and Agatha looked over from where she was flipping through a large textbook.
"Still nozing?" she guessed softly. Julien resisted the urge to smack the tablet.
"I cannot hack it," he admitted. The confession left him feeling both useless and frustrated. "Zerek has made it impossible to do so. He must be a genius at technology...I have never been unable to hack into something."
"Vat is it you're trying to do?"
"Get online somehow. Send an S.O.S to the outside world...but there is no familiar operating system on these tablets, and they are locked into the library organization program. It is as if the system does not even understand the code I am typing into it."
"Zen vat else can ve do?" Agatha's voice had a waver to it, and Julien stared at his reflection in the tablet as its surface went dark.
"I do not know," he admitted. He turned away from the tablet at last and lowered himself to the floor next to her. "I have never met someone like Zerek...I am used to being the one who is two steps ahead."
"He is a genius...zo, it seems you vere right about him being a mad von," Agatha said softly as she looked down at the books.
"We are going to have to play his game." The realization left Julien feeling cold all over, and Agatha reached over to squeeze his arm.
"He just vants you to research for him, right? Is zere harm in telling him zings zat he has already read himself?"
"He does not want me to merely read over his collected information. He wants me to crack the secret of chronosteel."
Agatha's eyebrows raised. "Zat vas ze package he ordered from ze mine," she remembered. "But Julien...many tests have been done on chronosteel, and all have reached ze same conclusion. It is useless in robotics and technology. It absorbs power, so it immediately breaks down circuits."
"Chronosteel has one real use," Julien admitted, scanning the books and manuscripts piled on the ground. "To steal elemental power."
There was silence as they both processed that. "So...he means to take ze elemental power from your parents?"
"He means to take it from us. Not me, because my father never transferred it...but the rest of my friends have already inherited their elements." Julien's throat grew tight, but he forced out the next admission. "He already has Colby. He wants my help to draw the elemental power out of him."
"You vould never do zat," Agatha said, her grip tightening on his arm. "Experiment on your own friends? Your family?"
"I..." Julien trailed off, and he could feel his girlfriend's gaze on him.
"You agreed to it?" her voice was hushed with horror, and he finally looked up to meet her eye.
"He believes that I would know more than anyone else about elemental power, because my father has researched it. Frankly, I do not think I know more than Zerek, given this library of research that he has collected...but if by taking part I can somehow protect Colby..." Julien shook his head miserably. "Zerek does not care about him. He does not care if he lives or dies. I have to be Colby's advocate in all of this, if only to keep Zerek from going too far."
"But vat if somezing goes wrong?"
Julien looked away, and Agatha must have seen the tears forming in his eyes because she sagged.
"Zere is no vay out of zis...is zere?"
"Not that I can think of."
"Zen ve must figure out how to withdraw ze element as painlessly as possible," Agatha determined. "As awful as it is, ve must protect Colby, even if we cannot protect his element."
"That is the conclusion I reached as well," Julien admitted. "But the problem is, I have no idea how to even go about using chronosteel. In all my knowledge of the realm and elemental powers, there were only ever two instances where someone managed to steal powers from others. One involved sorcery, using some kind of staff of unknown make and origin...and the other used blades made from chronosteel."
"Blades? Vat...you have to stab ze power out?" Agatha asked in horror.
"No...I don't know if it really was necessary for the chronosteel to be made into weapons or not. More important were the wielders of the blades—Garmadon and Wu. In the history my father told me, they were able to revoke powers from corrupted elemental masters by virtue of their relation to the First Spinjitzu Master. But if that is true, then there is no way for Zerek to take Colby's powers—we are not sorcerers, nor are we related to the First Spinjuitzu Master."
"Zen tell him zat...tell him it's impossible!"
"He's not going to believe me." Julien dry washed his face. "He's set on this...obsessively so. That much was clear, Agatha. If he can't draw the elements out using precedented ways..." He trailed off, his heart clenched with anxiety. Agatha was silent, and they sat together on the floor for a few minutes longer. At last, she shook herself and reached for the closest book.
"Ve have been stuck on projects before, Julien. Togezer, ve have figured out many problems. Togezer, ve vill figure out zis von."
62
Zerek was lost to his own calculations as he wandered down the western hallway, so he wouldn't have even noticed Matilda had she not thrown herself directly into his path.
"Director Zerek!" she snapped, and he looked up at last. He took in her frustrated stance and blinked.
"Hallo."
"I've been calling your name for the last three minutes...and I've been trying to meet with you for two days. I do not appreciate being ignored."
"My apologies...zere has been a lot to vork on."
"I brought the boy...the one with the water powers."
"Yes, my staff informed me. Ze testing is already underway."
Matilda's expression flickered at the word testing, but she powered on regardless. "I ran into a few problems getting him here. It was not as smooth of a transition as I was hoping."
"Vat's amiss?"
"His girlfriend decided to pull some action-movie stunt and followed us...in the end, I had to bring her as well."
"No matter," Zerek assured her as he went to walk away. "I have plenty of holding cells."
"It's not your ability to house her that's the problem!" Matilda snapped, stepping into his way again. "It was already going to be hard enough to explain the boy's disappearance without raising suspicion, but I had all but figured it out. Now they're both going to be missing, and I need your help in figuring out how to keep the authorities off the trail."
"Do not vorry. I am handling it...zo, viz your understanding of social media, I do believe you could come in handy."
"Social media?"
"Ve are currently housing more zan just ze master of vater and his girlfriend," Zerek explained calmly. "At ze moment...zere are six people whom ve must cover ze tracks of."
"Six?" Matilda looked aghast.
"Indeed."
"Why do we have six?" she demanded. "Who exactly do you have locked up here? I told you I would handle the water boy...and only because you were adamant that everything would fall apart if you didn't get him here ASAP."
"Amber and her friend vanted to come visit the MIRI," Zerek said unapologetically. "It vas like an opportunity I couldn't pass up."
"Amber who?"
"Amber ze Xinta," Zerek said. Matilda's expression was still blank, and Zerek raised an eyebrow. "Ze Oni girl."
Recognition finally flared across Matilda's features as she reddened. "Are you insane?"
"Vat? As powerful a creature as a Xinta could not be passed over..."
"Do you realize how high-profile she is? This isn't some nobody disappearing during a college tour in a different country...this is the disappearance of one of the most known people in Ninjago!"
"Zat didn't stop you from targeting her a few years ago," Zerek pointed out calmly. Matilda scowled.
"Yes, thank you so much for bringing that up, you crusty scientist. That was different—that plot was built on the fact that she and her family were high profile and there weren't any laws in place to protect them. At this point, they are heavily protected, and the buzz isn't as negative as I would like it to be." Matilda wrinkled her nose, as if thinking about it disgusted her.
"I can see you are concerned, but you do not need to be."
"How can I not be concerned? You've got six people locked up here! The more you pull into a plot, Zerek, the more trails are left behind for people to follow. Who are the others you've taken?"
"Ze ozers are employees of mine."
"Great. So they're directly linked to the company. There's no way that we're going to make it out of this one, you distracted idiot!"
"You are not seeing ze bigger picture." Zerek's voice gained an edge. "Each of ze people I have brought to Estyeer is here for a reason. I am closer zan ever to cracking my energy research."
"Yes...the energy that you can use to make better technology than any found in Ninjago. I invested in you because of your grand schemes to make revolutionary machinery that will make us both rich—"
"I am not doing it for ze money."
"Regardless, I only got involved in all of this because you promised results...but 'cracking the code' is going to mean nothing if we get taken down by authorities before we can ever sell what you've discovered."
"Ze six prisoners are all directly linked viz each ozer," Zerek replied calmly. "Friends of each ozer, who all happened to be visiting Metallonia for different, seemingly unconnected reasons. It vill not be too hard to get ze public to believe zat zey set out on an adventure togezer zat vent awry."
"You're...what? Going to frame their deaths?" Matilda scoffed, but he could see her thinking about it. "That could work, except it's going to be suspicious for them to have apparently died in some accident with no bodies or other evidence."
"I never said zere vould be no bodies." The scientist once again tried to leave, but this time, Matilda grabbed his arm.
"You're going to kill them?"
"Not all of zem...but zere are zoes important to my research and zoes zat are not."
Matilda's expression darkened. "If you botch this, we'll be sunk. Kidnapping is bad enough...if you get us charged with murder..."
"I have it sorted," Zerek assured, meeting her eye. A staff member appeared behind the woman, and Zerek gestured to him. "29 vill take you to our computation lab. From zere, you should be able to connect to ze internet."
"And do what?"
"Set up ze scene for zeir disappearance, so zat zeir families have a false trail to follow ven zey realize zeir children never returned home after zeir academic break."
"Set up the scene how?"
"29 vill give you ze details." Zerek nodded at the staff member, who moved to take Matilda's arm. She balked out of his reach.
"I am capable of walking myself," she told 29 coldly before turning back to Zerek. "You had better be as smart as you claim you are...or we're both going to be going under."
"Do your part, and zere vill be nozing to be worried about," he assured. "Now if you vill excuse me, I have to go see about a shipment zat is long overdue."
The band of traders wasn't quite as big as Teag had thought it would be, considering how many tents there were in the ravine. Then again, some of the tents had to be housing slaves, not traders. In total, he counted about twenty or thirty traders standing in a ring in the open desert. Pippa continued to fight and curse as they were dragged out there, and Raiyn had started whimpering from his place in Quazier's arms. Teag wasn't sure why the man insisted on keeping hold of him, but Quazier seemed to think it amusing each time Raiyn begged to be put down or squirmed in his grasp. Teag kept waiting for Raiyn to flash out of there—he knew the young child could transport. He didn't dare tell Raiyn to do as much, not wanting to reveal that the young boy did have powers after all. But despite the fact that Raiyn could have saved himself, he didn't seem to be willing to leave. A few times, he tried to reach out to Pippa or Teag, but the trader leader always stopped him.
"Here we are," Quazier said as they reached the crowd of traders. Teag didn't say anything as he and Pippa were forced through the crowd to the empty center of it. There was a shallow ring dug into the dirt that the crowd seemed content to stay behind, and Teag caught sight of a cushion set up along the outskirts of the ring. Quazier headed right for it, taking a seat with Raiyn still captive in his arms.
"Bad man let Raiyn goooo," the toddler whimpered, but the trader just laughed.
"You've got to stay with me, kid...if only to make sure your cousins behave themselves."
"I'm going to kill you!" Pippa yelled, and Quazier chuckled as he bounced the small child on his knee.
"Focus that energy onto your new target," he warned. "Since you two couldn't seem to decide which of you should stay and which should go, I think a slave brawl will give us the answer."
"What are you talking about?" Pippa demanded, but Teag had a feeling he knew how this would end. His stomach clenched as Quazier turned his attention to him.
"You versus your brother there..."
"He's not my brother!" Pippa snapped, turning to glower at Teag. "He's a stupid mop-head who should never have been here."
The trade leader continued, apparently not caring what the relation between the two powered kids was. "Normally I give slaves the options to use weapons...but in your case, I want to see which of you is more skill with this aural power of yours. The buyer doesn't seem to particularly care how trained their victims are...but I do. The stronger fighter will have ranks with us." Quazier's smile grew slightly as he glanced between Pippa and Teag. "I have a feeling I already know which of you will win...but we might as well get some entertainment out of proving my hypothesis correct."
Pippa finally seemed to understand what Quazier was proposing. "I'm not fighting him!" she snapped, turning to glower at Teag. "He wouldn't last two minutes against me."
Teag narrowed his eyes, and Quazier laughed. "We'll see girly." He gestured to a few of the nearby traders. "Go take the chains off of them...and before they get any ideas about using their power to escape, they should remember that their little friend here is at stake." Quazier drew his dagger, holding it against Raiyn's small neck. Teag and Pippa both stiffened in anger, but Raiyn didn't seem afraid. If anything, his expression looked distant.
"Daddy sad..." he whimpered. "Mommy and Daddy looking for Raiyn."
Teag furrowed his brow as he processed what the kid had said, but then a trader was grabbing his wrists, roughly removing the chains. Across from him, someone was doing the same to Pippa. Teag knew Pippa wanted desperately to launch into the crowd and rain carnage down like a feral sniffer, but the threat against Raiyn was enough to keep her in check. She glowered hatefully at the man holding her cousin, and Quazier smiled.
"Go ahead and begin. Winner earns place among the illustrious inner circle. Remember that."
Teag looked around the ring, and he caught sight of Dee in the crowd. The young trader met his eye and raised his eyebrows meaningfully, and Teag looked away.
Pippa's fists were clenched as she faced Quazier, aural wind whipping around her now that her arms were free. "I already told you, I won't fight him!"
Quazier's smile faded as he looked over at Teag, and the boy folded his arms defiantly as well. He couldn't try to escape...not with Raiyn on the line...but that didn't mean he was going to attack the idiot girl standing across from him. For a moment, the leader looked like he was going to threaten further, but then he relaxed. "Very well...If you don't think you'll get enough of a challenge with each other..." He whistled. "Alba, Blade. Get in there."
The one named Alba turned out to be a massive trader, and he growled threateningly as he pulled a large sword off his back and stepped into the circle. Dee—or, Teag supposed it was Blade now—paled immediately.
"What? Get in the ring?"
"Sure," Quazier said. "If they want a better challenge, then I might as well send in my best, huh? Whichever kid holds out the longest against my forces, wins. How about that?"
"But they've got that freaky magic stuff," Blade pointed out as he tentatively entered the ring with the others, glancing over at Teag. With the strange black chains no longer blocking his perception, Teag realized there was a whiff of fear coming off of his brother. Is Dee afraid of me? he wondered.
"You can use your sword," Quazier said dryly. "Surely you don't think a weaponless snot-nose can beat you...powers or not." He leaned forward, fixing both traders with a long look. "If you beat the kids, you'll get a higher rank within the inner circle. Lose...and you're out. Understand?"
There was definitely fear coming off of the scrawny trader now, and Teag watched as his brother pulled his sword from its sheath, gripping it like a lifeline. When he looked back at Teag, the dreadlocked boy knew Dee had made his decision. Quazier seemed to have realized as well, and he smiled.
"What are you waiting for? Brawl already!"
The one called Alba immediately launched into battle, but Pippa was quick to dodge. Her eyes blazed violet as she glowered at him, seemingly eager to take down the behemoth and release her thinly-veiled rage. Teag watched the girl launch attack after attack as she dodged the large weapon that continuously sliced after her. However, as Blade swung his own sword down, Teag had to stop watching Pippa so he could focus on his own battle.
"Nothing personal," the youngest trader muttered under his breath as Teag managed to get out of the way. Teag didn't reply as the trader attacked again. Teag didn't even bother powering up as he dodged the various attacks, feeling numb. However, by merely dodging, he was able to study his brother closely. He realized that Blade's breathing was labored, even though they hadn't been fighting for long...and his hands were shaking.
Teag dodged another attack, but then his brother kicked out with his leg. Teag grunted in pain as the foot made contact with his ribs, and he stumbled backward. His hands flashed with power out of habit, but then he forced the aura to fade. Blade's expression twisted when he saw it, and he swung toward him again, backing Teag up against the wall of traders.
"Fight back." The words were barely a hiss, and Teag narrowed his eyes. He dodged another wild swing before backing away again.
"I'm not going to fight you, Dee."
His brother sneered. "That's not my name," he growled as he began attacking with more vigor. Teag continued to dodge, but the circle wasn't that large, and he had to be careful not to cross into Pippa and Alba's heated battle. Teag managed to dodge his brother's weapons, but in his anger, Blade was starting to lash out more with kicks and punches. A few hit home, and Teag's adrenaline begged him to use his powers to defend himself. Memories of the past sprung up...other times that his brother had cornered him and made him feel powerless. A dark part of him realized that this was his chance to make up for those times—he was stronger than Dee. Even without the aural powers, he had been training in a blacksmith shop for a while now. Fist to fist, he had little doubt he could hold his own against his scrawny older brother. However, each time his aura flared up, he forced it down. Rather than make Blade back off, however, the obvious restraint of power seemed to make him angrier.
"Fight back!" he demanded.
"No."
"You little idiot," Blade swung the sword again, and Teag finally let out a blast of power. His brother's eyes widened as the sword was ripped from his hands by the attack, and the weapon sailed through the air before landing a few yards away. The young trader immediately froze, and Teag felt another wave of fear come off his brother.
"I'm not going to fight you, Dee," Teag repeated, and his eyes faded back to green as he studied his brother with a firm look. "I can tell you're scared."
Blade's fists clenched. "I'm not scared of you, snot-nose."
"You are, but I'm not going to hurt you. We can both get out of this...we can help each other." He was keeping his voice soft, praying that the other traders wouldn't overhear and interfere. "We can both get out of here."
"I don't want out!" Blade was inching toward his fallen weapon, and Teag swallowed.
"Quazier didn't throw you in here because he thinks you're a good fighter. Your technique sucks, Dee. He threw you in here to watch you get blown apart by me."
"You're wrong. He put his best people in—"
"You really think you're as good as that guy?" Teag asked, gesturing to Alba who was trying to step on Pippa with a large foot. "Quazier doesn't care about you...he just wants to see what I can do. Let's both show him that—"
"You're such a liar!" Dee launched for him with nothing but his fists, knocking Teag to the ground.
If she had been allowed to have a sword, the battle would have been over quicker. As it was, Pippa let her unbridled rage manifest in blazing attacks. The trader's own attacks became slower as the battle wore on him, but he was large, and it seemed he wasn't going down without a fight. He swung his huge battle sword one last time and Pippa dove between his legs. Turning on the ground, she sent a huge wave of power blasting upward, which threw the trader off of his feet. Alba yelled out, and Pippa grinned darkly.
It's like Dad always says—the bigger they are, the harder they fall, she mused. She was getting onto her feet to prepare for the trader's rebuttal, but it seemed Alba was out of it as he groaned on the hard dirt. She was about to go for the finishing blow when she caught movement in the corner of her eye. She turned to see that mop-head thrashing on the ground while his attacker whaled on him with his fists. Pippa stiffened—from what she could see, Teag wasn't even using his powers to defend himself.
"Dee, stop!" the boy begged as he tried to free himself, and Pippa felt a wave of anger. Alba forgotten, she launched toward the two brothers. There was a discarded sword on the ground, and she picked it up as she charged. Right before she hit, the one called Blade noticed her charge, and his eyes widened in fear. He managed to scramble out of the way as she swung toward him, and Teag panted on the ground as his attacker finally left him alone.
"You coward!" Pippa accused as she launched for Blade. One of the traders behind him passed him Blade a sword, and he only barely managed to block her attack. His arms were shaking as he gave a sloppy return slash, and Pippa nearly smacked the blade out of his hands completely. "When I'm finished with you stupid traders, you're going to wish you were never born!"
Power from Pippa's hands began to leak up the sword, and Blade's eyes widened as he watched her weapon become engulfed in power. His whole body shook as he lifted his sword, backing away.
"Quazier!" he called out, but the leader didn't step in to help as Pippa went flying at him. In a series of two swings, the sword went flying from his grasp, and with a firm kick, the young trader dropped down into the dirt. Pippa let out a war cry as she swung downward, happy enough to finally end one of the villainous cowards that had dared take her captive. The trader lifted his hands in a desperate attempt to save himself, but then Pippa was being ripped off her feet as someone hit her from the side.
"Stop!" Teag ordered, and Pippa gasped as she hit the ground, the sword leaving her grasp.
"You idiot!" she screamed as she squirmed. Teag had her pinned, and her hands immediately flared with power as she tried to burn him to get him to let go. He glowered down at her.
"You almost killed him!"
"He almost killed you!" she shrieked back. What was Teag doing? His nose was dripping blood from his brother's attack, and yet he was siding with him instead of her!
"You have to calm down!" he yelled at her. "It's not good to fight from rage!"
"Shut up!"
"Anger leaves you open for control!"
"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" Pippa screamed, furious that he would dare quote her uncle right now, when they were surrounded by villains who needed to be destroyed.
Teag opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly, he gasped in pain as his expression clouded. Pippa froze as the teen suddenly fell off to the side, and she caught sight of Blade standing behind him, a sword in hand. All at once, her vision went red.
"What did you DO?" she screamed, launching toward him. The trader's expression immediately became fearful again, but then she heard another scream from the sidelines.
"PIP-PIP!"
She froze, and the chaos died down as Quazier called out. "That's enough...brawl over."
Pippa was still shaking, but she risked a glance over at her cousin. She was relieved to see him looking concerned, but unharmed. The Leader was fixing his fighters with a cold look. At his command, Blade had stood down, and the young trader wiped his nose as gestured to where Teag was lying in the dirt.
"I won. I beat my opponent...like you said."
"You idiot," Quazier replied as he stood. "You better not have killed him...he's worth far more than you are."
Blade paled and physically winced at the accusation. "I...I didn't kill him," he assured desperately. "I hit him in the back of the head with the hilt—honest."
Quazier had passed Raiyn to one of the other traders as he crossed the circle quickly. Blade had retreated back to the wall of trader's, his head lowered like a sniffer with its tail between its legs. Pippa watched as Quazier dropped to the dirt to roll Teag over. The teen groaned, and Pippa sagged a little as she saw that the Teag was in fact still alive. He was even awake, though his expression was tight with pain. The trade leader reached behind his head, no doubt feeling the large welt that had come from the attack, and he whistled low. "That was quite the blow."
"You told me to beat him...so I beat him," Blade whined, and Pippa turned to glower at him, her eyes blazing with anger.
"That's your brother, you maniac!" she accused.
"I don't have a brother," he hissed back.
"You're a liar and a coward!" she yelled, moving to attack him once again.
"Stand down, you firecracker," Quazier ordered. He gestured to someone, and Pippa screamed in rage as someone suddenly wrapped the black chains around her again. As Pippa fought against her new captors, the trade Leader stood to face the group of traders. "Well...I can't say I'm surprised by the results." He looked down at Teag, who was being forced into a sitting position as traders bound his wrists with chains again. "Though, I know you could have done better. I'm disappointed that you still weren't willing to show us what you're really worth."
Teag's expression darkened through the pain, and he looked up to meet Quazier's gaze. "You don't get to decide what I'm worth," he muttered, and the trader scoffed.
"You've got better restraint than your friend here, that's for sure," he said, gesturing to where Pippa was still thrashing. "Restraint is valuable...but I can't do a thing with you, if you've got no ambition." Teag didn't reply, his expression stony as ever. Quazier finally shrugged. "The buyers won't care if you give them the silent treatment, boy. In fact...I think they'll prefer you with no ambition." He turned to look at Pippa, and Pippa wrenched desperately against the chains. "Looks like I've got my work cut out for me...but that's all right. It'll be worth it, when you've been trained."
Pippa's reply was cut off as someone started screaming from the sidelines. She turned and panicked when she realized it was Raiyn shrieking as he thrashed in the grip of his captors.
"Tent-men!" he blubbered. "Tent-men! NO!"
Pippa furrowed her brow, not sure why her cousin was so distraught, as it seemed like the trader holding him wasn't hurting him. However, a sound echoed across the ravine, sounding like a cork popping from a bottle, only a hundred times as loud. Pippa turned as a whip of wind crashed into the crowd. Quazier turned as well, his expression pensive.
"Well, they've finally sent the transport," he muttered. "Of course they had to send it right now." He turned and immediately began giving orders. "Go get the slaves ready for transport, you lot. Yotta, take the powered kid to get washed up—they're not going to be especially happy about how beat up he is, but I honestly thought he'd be able to hold his own no problem against that idiot." Quazier nodded at Blade, whose expression crumpled. The leader continued. "Take the firecracker to my tent and try to keep her quiet. It's going to be better if they don't know we have her, or they're going to insist we sell them both powered brats. Bring me that little one, would you?"
Pippa watched as the traders dispersed, and she thrashed again as she watched Quazier take back the sobbing Raiyn. "Leave him alone!" she snapped, and Quazier turned to give her a cold look.
"You behave, and I'll let him stay here in the inner circle with you...but if you won't take orders, I'll ship him out with the rest of the slaves. I don't know that I'd get that much out of him...so you be a good girl, and I'll bring him back to you after the sale, all right?" Pippa's heart sank, and Raiyn continued to cry as he grabbed Quazier's shirt. The leader looked down at him with annoyance. "Calm down, kid," he ordered.
"If you sell him, I'll kill you!" Pippa screamed. "If you don't stop, then—"
"Let it go, Pip-squeak." Teag spoke at last, and she turned to glower at him. Quazier chuckled before heading off with Raiyn in tow, leaving Pippa and Teag behind as their captors dragged them back to the village.
"You're a coward," she accused. "You didn't even fight back...you let them win."
"You don't get it, do you?" he muttered. "Hershel's coming, stupid...he's looking for you and Raiyn, and I'm sure your parents are too." Thinking of her parent's made Pippa's heart pound, and she wasn't sure how to respond. Teag continued, his voice thick with bitterness. "They're going to get to this place eventually, and when they do, it's you and Raiyn that they're going to want to find. So just make sure you guys last long enough for them to find you, all right?"
The trader behind Pippa began dragging her a different way than the rest of the crowd, and she watched the dreadlocked boy give her one last hard look before he disappeared behind a row of tents.
63
Rook threw the last of her shuriken desperately, but the Heir used an aural attack to shield himself. Rook scowled as Theo launched back toward her, and she used her black dagger to block his attack.
"No fair—you can't use your powers," she chided. He grinned.
"You said it was going to be sword to sword," he reminded as they parried. "If you're going to start chucking throwing knives, you've got to be prepared for me to pull out my arsenal."
"My shuriken are merely extensions of my sword," she pouted. Theodynn jumped backward, smirking as power erupted around his own blade.
"Same," he pointed out, and Rook cursed as he began fighting her with his newly upgraded weapon. After another minute, he had finally disarmed the last of her weapons, and she panted as she lifted her hands in irritated surrender.
"I still think that using power in a sword fight is cheating," she pointed out as he finally sheathed his own weapon.
"Want to go again? Or do you think four defeats is enough for you to admit that I'm better than you?"
Rook scowled. "Someone's feeling cocky."
"It's not cocky if I can back it up."
"Who taught you that? Tolan?"
Theo laughed, and Rook smiled. She moved to start picking up her various weapons from where they were scattered around the sparring ground, and the Heir moved to help her. "You fight well," he offered as he gathered her shurikens. "It's impressive that you've retained so much from when your father taught you."
Rook's smile faded as she sheathed two more daggers. "Yeah, well...I've been practicing since then."
"Clearly."
"Why is it that you're so good at this?" she asked. "Don't you have like a whole army that could guard you in battle? Considering that your parents don't even let you out of sight, it's strange to me that they'd insist on you being so well trained."
Theo shrugged. "Both my parents grew up with fighting instilled in them. They were warriors of sorts, though their backgrounds were very different. Plus, Tolan insisted on training me from a young age, whether or not my parents realized how intense he was about it."
"Interesting." Rook followed him as they left the sparring field, heading into the shade now that the morning chill was beginning to fade to the afternoon heat. "So, what next? Please say lunch."
"It's a little early for lunch."
"You're the Heir—lunch is whenever you decree it to be." She bumped him with her shoulder. "So decree it for right now, because I could eat a whole hoofer."
"You know, I'm beginning to think that's not an exaggeration, based on what I've seen you eat."
"Very funny," she said. There was a bit of dirt on his tunic from one of their scuffles, and she moved to wipe it off. "Too bad it wasn't warmer this morning. The real reason I kept losing was because I hoped if I kept challenging you to further battles, you'd eventually have to take your shirt off."
"Nice try," he said as he grabbed the door handle into the fortress. Rook raised an eyebrow as he opened it for her. "The only time I fought without a shirt was in the Pit, and it ended in disaster."
"Oo...do tell. In graphic detail, please."
"You're so strange," he chided, but she didn't miss the flush creeping up his neck. He looked away as he changed the subject. "When we get to the Eastern Market tomorrow..."
"Woah, we agreed that this was our day off," she reminded, coming to a stop.
"That's why I said tomorrow."
"No talking about business on days off," she said, folding her arms. "Besides, why are we going to the markets?"
"Because that's where we're most likely to pick up clues. We still haven't figured out why that confidant from the south told us we'd need boats."
Nearly forgot about that. "Well, we'll get farther searching the lakeshore than the markets," she tried. When Theo didn't seem convinced, she went for the low blow. "And aren't you afraid of running into your old flame again if we go to the markets?"
Theodynn's expression immediately darkened, but then he shook his head. "I doubt Haiven will be there. I was shocked to see her there the day we ran into her."
"Why?"
"She doesn't leave her home village much," Theo explained as they headed for the cafeteria. "I'm actually proud of her for going to the markets by herself...I wonder if she's still selling her work."
"She's some kind of artisan?" Rook was beginning to regret bringing up the other girl as she noticed how wistful the young man next to her had become.
"She embroiders. She's really good at it."
"You're doing it wrong."
The Heir looked over in surprise. "Doing what wrong?"
"You're not supposed to talk positively about past flames," Rook explained. "Here, I'll demonstrate: the first man I ever tried to be with is named Fersa, and he's the most disgusting, despicable Oni to walk this earth. There's a reason that he will turn and go the other way if our paths ever cross— I let him know in full detail what I would do to him if he came within fifty feet of me."
Theo's expression flickered as he looked away. "I'm not going to talk bad about Haiven."
"Why? It's not like you're together anymore."
"Because I care about her."
"She threw a rock at your head."
"I didn't say she was perfect, but I don't feel comfortable bad-talking her." He gave her a look that told her that it was the end of the conversation, and Rook huffed.
"Why aren't you guys still together, if you both still care so much?" she finally asked. "If she was mad enough to throw a rock at your head, and you won't even talk bad about her—"
"It just didn't work out." They had reached the dining hall, and Theo gestured at the door. "Go grab something to eat. I'm going to go shower."
"Mmm...maybe I'd rather come with you, then."
"Rook—"
Whatever he was going to say was cut off by someone shouting down the hall. "Theo!"
They turned to see Tolan making his way toward them, accompanied by a short woman with curly hair and freckles. Rook frowned in annoyance, but Theodynn seemed more surprised than anything.
"Syn? Tolan? I thought you were taking the day off. Jaqah said that you left yesterday because..."
"Have you seen Fluff?" Tolan interrupted.
"You're looking for Pippa?" Theo asked, obviously surprised.
"And Raiyn," the woman added, her concern evident on her face.
"I haven't seen them," Theo admitted. "Why did you think they were here?"
"We don't know where they are," the woman admitted. "We're checking everywhere, just in case."
"How long have they been missing?" Theo asked. "Don't they go off adventuring a lot?"
"They disappeared yesterday," Tolan said grimly.
"And Pippa never stays out overnight," the woman added. Theo frowned, and Rook wished she could escape the conversation into the dining hall after all.
"I'll help you look for them," the Heir promised, and Rook felt a stir of annoyance. Sure, she had only asked for this day off to give herself a break from distracting Theo, but he had promised to spend the day with her. She wanted to say as much, but the Heir was already turning to look at her. "I have to go."
She wanted to point out that they were supposed to be taking a day off, which meant no working of any kind, but she stopped herself just in time. If she insisted they keep the sanctity of her day off, the bodyguard might wonder what it was they were taking a day off from.
"Fine...but then our today plans are getting moved to tomorrow," she said at last. Theo blinked in surprise, and she gave him a pointed look. "If we're going to be out scouring the realm on a hoofer today, then I'm not riding one tomorrow, too."
"You're not coming." Tolan's voice was cold, and Rook turned to glower at him. Before she could say anything, Theo put a hand on her arm.
"You wouldn't really know what you're looking for," he pointed out. "Plus, you're awful on a hoofer, and you'd only slow us down."
"Gee, you really know how to flatter a woman," Rook muttered.
"We'll spend more time together tomorrow," he promised. The assassin wanted to protest more, even though she wasn't sure why. If he's distracted in some random search, then I can still take the day off from distracting him. I should be grateful—It's been a while since I got a day completely to myself.
"Fine. I guess I'll see you tomorrow," she said as she turned to leave the fortress. She didn't even bother going into the dining hall—for whatever reason, she no longer felt hungry.
Without Pippa slowing them down, Teag and his captor managed to catch up with Quazier quickly. Raiyn was still screaming, and by the time they reached them, the trade leader looked ready to shut the toddler up for good. Teag shouted out as he noticed Quazier's frustration.
"Hand him to me, and he'll stop!"
Quazier turned to sneer at Teag, but as Raiyn let out another ear-piercing wail, the trader finally scoffed. "Shut him up," he ordered as he shoved the hysterical toddler into Teag's bound arms. Teag nearly dropped the child as Raiyn went dead weight, and it was difficult to hold him with his wrists connected by the black chain. Teag managed to get ahold of the child, and he wondered if he should be concerned about how silent and lax Raiyn immediately became. Quazier seemed relieved that the child had stopped screaming, though he eyed Raiyn with annoyance.
"You little wailer," he chided before looking at Teag. "I'm not sure we have time to clean you up after all. Let's just go get this sale over with already, and see how much we can get out of you."
Teag narrowed his eyes, but he didn't say anything as he was moved forward. They were heading back to the mountainside of the shallow ravine, with the tunnels that led into Kahzym's Fall. Teag realized suddenly that he could see a group of people standing off to one side, and his heart started to pound. A small portion of the crowd were slaves—there weren't nearly as many of them as Teag thought there would be. They were chained and seemed frightened, but the traders were yelling at them and keeping them docile. It was the newcomers that really made Teag's blood run cold, however.
The men had yellow skin, and the closer they got, Teag could make out odd coverings over their eyes. Their clothing was strange—they had on coats that were pure white—whiter than any cloth Teag had ever seen. The coats were long, stretching down to the ground, and as the wind caused the thin material to snap open, it almost looked like the outsiders were wearing tents.
"Ah...Zere is ze man of ze hour." The speaker was the only outsider not wearing coverings over his eyes, and Teag realized that his eyes looked like Prince Theodynn's. The boy with dreadlocks got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach as Quazier approached the man with the strange accent. He sounds like a Raviner, Teag realized, thinking of Yotta's accent. But he's obviously not from around here.
"Sorry, we were having a bit of fun out in the desert," Quazier said, coming forward. The strange outsider nodded slowly, his gaze flicking over to Teag. Something about his expression made Teag want to shrink away, but he stood his ground as his grip around Raiyn grew tighter. The toddler didn't say a word; somehow, he had fallen asleep, his breathing shallow.
"Vat have you brought me?" the man asked, his voice thick with interest. Teag met his eye for a moment and had to look away, and Quazier chuckled.
"You've been after powered slaves for so long...and we finally managed to catch one for you. Sorry he's a little beat up—one of my newest traders got carried away."
"It is indeed my lucky day," the man mused softly. "To have gone so long vith nozing, and now you've finally managed to bring me not von powered soul, but two. And right ven I need zem ze most."
Quazier stiffened, and Teag took a step backward. "Uh...I'm afraid it's just the boy," the leader tried, chuckling awkwardly. "Did you hear that we had some other powered kid lying around?"
"Ze two boys," the stranger corrected, gesturing to Teag and Raiyn. Teag's heart fell to his feet and his arms started to shake. Quazier turned in surprise.
"Which two?"
"Ze vons you have subdued vith vengestone," the man said, seeming amused at the trader's confusion.
The chain. Teag felt a lurch of panic race through him—if Raiyn really did have powers, then the chain had to be affecting him, just as it had affected Teag and Pippa. Suddenly, Raiyn's lack of energy made a sick kind of sense, and Teag struggled to figure out what to do. The stranger was coming closer, and Teag bolted. It took his captors by surprise, given that he hadn't fought at all since being chained up the first time the day before. He could hear them crying out as he tried to sprint to safety, but then he felt something hit him in the back. He grunted as he dropped—whatever had hit him, it blazed like an insect sting. Raiyn rolled out from his grasp as Teag hit the dirt, and now that the child was free from the chain, he blinked groggily awake and looked at Teag.
"Get out of here," Teag ordered. He tried to stand, but his vision was swimming. He could barely make out Raiyn's concerned expression. "Transport home. Find...Hershel..." Words slipped free, and Teag grabbed at his head. It was still throbbing from Dee's blow, and now it felt a hundred times worse.
"Raiyn stay with Teag," the child said softly. "Tent men hurt Teag..."
Rough hands grabbed the dreadlocked boy, but his consciousness was fading. The last thing he heard was the stranger once again addressing Quazier.
"I vill pay you handsomely for these two, but there is someone in your realm zat vill fetch a higher price zan all of zese slaves combined..."
Rook lit a fire as the sun began to set. After the flames began licking the air, the woman sat on her threadbare sitting mat. She looked around her tent, taking in the sparseness of it. She had always prided herself in not owning much—her general rule was that if she couldn't strap it to herself, it wasn't worth lugging around. However, after trying to drag out cleaning her small tent the entire day, she found she wished she owned more. A thin bedroll, this worn-out sitting mat...a tent that had definitely seen better days.
Buy better stuff, a voice in her head commanded. With the money the Heir gave you, you could afford to be living much better.
It wasn't a bad idea, and Rook glanced over at the pouch sitting in the corner of the tent among dented pots and dishes. She had been thrilled to have been given the money, but she realized suddenly that she had spent hardly any of it. With the day off Theo had given her, she could have traveled to the Eastern Markets, or even perused the Central ones. If nothing else, she could have lightened that pouch and gotten a few nice weapons out of the exchange. Instead, she had opted to sit here in her tent alone the whole day.
"Too late now," she muttered as she poked at the fire. The stalls generally closed a few hours before sunset—she had lost her chance. Maybe I can go with Theodynn tomorrow, she decided. If he insists on dragging me to the Eastern Markets, I should at least be able to get stuff out of it.
For whatever reason, the thought made her feel better and she finally stretched. She grabbed her dusty water bucket and headed for the well—she was starving, and she might as well get supper going. However, as she opened her door flap, she froze.
Quazier smiled at her look of shock, pushing himself into the tent. "Surprised to see me? I would have sent someone, but after you were so rude to Imgloss last time, I thought it better that I come to talk to you myself."
"What do you want?" Rook demanded.
"What's with the tone?" he asked, seeming genuinely surprised. "Not excited to see me?"
"You're going to blow my cover," Rook said, but she set the bucket down so she could face him, arms folded.
"Do you have anything to eat?" Quazier looked around the tent with a critical look. "It was a long journey from the Ravine."
"You came all the way from the Ravine?"
"I have important news," Quazier moved over to where the pots were, and Rook didn't get to them fast enough. He raised his eyebrows as he discovered the bag of money. "Ancients...how long did it take you to swipe all this?"
"That's mine," Rook snapped, moving to take it from him. Quazier pulled it out of her grasp, chuckling.
"That's cute," he said as he tied it to his belt.
Rook felt a familiar wave of anger, but she forced it aside as she studied him coldly. If she just waited him out, he would say what he needed to say and leave. "Did you come all this way just to rob me?" she asked.
"It's not robbery—you work for me. Your gain is the Inner Ring's gain...same as always." He found her store of dried fruit and dug into it before going back to claim her sitting mat. He ripped into the dried fruit and grimaced. "With that bag of money you had, I'm surprised that you're still living like this."
Rook stiffened. "I don't spend a lot of time here," she said. "Ever since you stuck me on babysitting duty, I've been spending most of my time in the fortress."
Quazier smirked. "So it worked? The Prince bought your doll-eyed act?"
"If he didn't, I probably wouldn't be alive to have this conversation."
"No need to be bitter...I come bearing good news."
Rook's heart suddenly pounded with hope. "You've finally come to fulfill the promise you made me?"
The trader's expression clouded. "What promise?"
"You said if I did this last job, then you'd cut ties. I'd be free to leave the Inner Ring...remember?"
Quazier snorted. "I didn't promise that."
"You did!" Rook's fists clenched. "Quazie..."
"Don't get bent out of shape...I've got a new job for you, Rookie. If you do it well, we'll all be rich as kings."
"What new job?" Usually, Rook felt thrilled to be told she could move on from stagnant assignments, but at this moment, she felt strangely hollow. "Don't you still need me to distract the Prince? He's even better than you give him credit for, Quazie. If I wasn't here distracting him all these weeks..."
"That's the best part. After this, we won't have to worry about the nosey Heir anymore."
Rook stared. "You...want me to kill him?"
"No. We need to capture him." Quazier grinned, as if he had just announced the most excited thing in the world.
"Excuse me?"
"The transport came today," the leader explained. "Took the last lot of slaves, including a few powered brats that stumbled into our camp."
"What?"
"A story for another time." The bejeweled trader waved his hand as he got back to the point. "They paid us well enough for the powered brats, and about the same as always for the others. But then the buyer tells me that he's not going to buy slaves anymore...he's through."
"And this is your good news?" Rook demanded. "You realize that without a buyer, we have no business, right?"
"Would you just listen?" Quazier said. "I obviously tried to talk him out of his decision, but he said he can't fit any more slaves. I was getting a little bent out of shape, but then he tells me that if I could get him one specific person, that he'd pay us more than everything else he's paid us so far." Quazier's eyes swam with greed. "That's years of payments, Rook...enough that the entire Inner Ring wouldn't need to do any business for the rest of our lives. We'd all be living like royalty!"
"That sounds too good to be true."
"Maybe if it was coming from someone else, but this bloke has never broken his promises with us. He's an honest Asahkar, if an odd one."
"So we get him one more person, and he rains riches down on us?"
"Not just any person. He wants the Heir."
Rook stared at her employer's covetous expression for a few moments before shaking her head. "No."
Quazier's expression immediately soured. "Rook..."
"I said no, Quazie!" she snapped. She turned her back to him as she grabbed a few tubers to start chopping for her belated meal. "Do you realize how impossible and risky this job you're proposing would be?"
"Come on, love...you've already got the prince wrapped around your little finger."
"He's not completely stupid, you know...and they never let him leave the fortress. He's basically a prisoner in his own home, unless he takes a fleet of guards with him."
"I think you've missed what's on the line here, Rookie."
"It would be easier to kill him than to get him to the ravine alive," Rook snapped as she chopped furiously. "What am I supposed to do? Knock him out?"
"You could drug his food," Quazier sniffed. "Honestly, it wouldn't be—"
"And then what? Somehow carry out his unconscious body out of the fortress without anyone noticing? Drag it all the way to the Ravine without him waking up?" The tubers on the board were basically becoming pulp, but Rook didn't care. "I mess this up, and I'll be executed on the spot. It's too risky."
"A lifetime of riches, Rook!" Quazier grabbed her arm, and she ripped free. He met her eye, as if by staring hard enough, he could make her understand. "You're a smart girl...you could figure out how to get him there."
"It's easy for you to make everything seem simple when your neck isn't the one on the line," she hissed as she threw her knife down into the dirt before storming toward the doorway. She snatched the bucket and went to leave, but Quazier grabbed her arm. She tried to pull out, but he wouldn't release her. "I've got to go get water for supper," she snapped.
"Something's off with you," Quazier accused.
"Because I don't want to get beheaded for treason?"
"The only thing you love more than money is a good challenge," Quazier pointed out as he studied her closely. "Something else is making you balk at this."
"I just don't think it's fair for you to keep putting me on the most dangerous assignments."
"I do it because you asked me to," he pointed out. "You practically begged for the honor to slaughter the prince, and you messed that up. Now here you are..." He trailed off, his eyebrows raising. In the next moment he was laughing, and Rook flushed at the demeaning look he gave her. "Oh...Rook. Don't tell me you've gone and caught feelings for the boy?"
Rook stiffened. "Of course not," she hissed.
"Is he that good in bed you aren't willing to risk the pay of a lifetime?"
"You sick vargal," Rook snapped, ripping free from his grasp. "This has nothing to do with how I feel about the idiot. If you asked me to slit his throat, I could do it in an instant...but this scheme of yours is far too risky and there's no way to pull it off!"
"The Rook I know would have a solution after a day," he countered. "What do you think will happen if you keep your 'relationship' up? You've done a fine job distracting him...but do you really think the Rulers would let you be with him long term?"
"You're impossible." Rook turned to leave, but Quazier just spoke louder.
"You can't keep your little charade up forever...and even if you did, they aren't going to crown some unpolished slave girl."
Rook froze. "They did once," she whispered, the words slipping out before she could stop them. A cold silence fell, and she waited to see what Quazier would say.
"So, that is your plan, then? Get bound to the softheaded Heir and live in the fortress for the rest of your life, while the rest of the Inner Ring fades into oblivion?" He didn't sound angry—he sounded amused, which was almost worse.
"I don't have a plan...but you promised that this would be my last job." Rook turned to fix him with an angry look. "You said if I distracted the Prince, you'd finally let me leave the Inner Ring."
"I said we would talk about it," Quazier corrected. "I didn't raise you to be a fool, girly. How long do you think you'd last in the royal courts once they find out who you really are?"
Rook's fists clenched, realizing from his expression that he was threatening to expose her. "You'd only oust yourself by ousting me," she pointed out coldly.
"Please...the Prince receives anonymous tips all the time...and he follows through with them. I know that much from experience."
"You wouldn't dare!"
"You're either working with me, Rook...or you're working against me. Either we both get rich, or I'm stuck without my biggest payday and you're executed for plotting against the crown."
"So, those are my choices?" Rook demanded. "Get killed trying to kidnap the Heir, or get killed because I refuse to? I might as well choose the one that will screw you over, just for the satisfaction!"
"Don't get all worked up," Quazier said, studying her coldly. "Look...let's make this arrangement work for the both of us. Your charade with the Prince won't last much longer, even if I have to make sure of it...and I'm not going to get my payday without your help."
"So we're at an impasse."
"Not quite. If this payday goes through, I won't need your services anymore. We'll all be rich enough to retire and stop scrounging for slaves and slinking under the crown's nose." He leaned forward, getting the look on his face he always got when he was about to make a deal. "You do this last job for me, and you're free. Deliver that prince on my doorstep, and I won't ever come looking for you again. Though, I would say stick around long enough for the bloke to pay us, so you can get a good sum of money to take with you as you set out to who knows where to start your new life."
Rook stared. "So...you're saying..."
"Do this last job, and you'll be rich as a queen as free as a bird, Rook."