All The King's-Men (The Yellow Hoods, #3) (23 page)

Tee gave Franklin a fake smile and nabbed a piece of toast from his plate.

“My toast!” said Franklin, scrambling to get it back from Tee, but she dodged him easily.

“This? This is just bread,” said Tee.

Elly closed the inn door and smirked at Franklin, who was shaking his head as Tee headed upstairs to wash.

 “You guys were loud for a bit last night. What happened?” he asked, leaning forward. He could tell by the expression on Elly’s face that while the gulf between them had shrunk, something was still there.

Elly glanced at the stairs, and then back to Franklin. “Tee had a nightmare. A nasty one,” she said, smiling.

“A nightmare?” repeated Franklin in disbelief.

Elly nodded, her eyes going wide. “Yup. Tee dreamt you tried to kiss her.” Elly made an ick face.

“Very funny,” said Franklin, crossing his arms.

“Horrifying, really,” said Elly, nabbing the other piece of toast and heading up the stairs.

Franklin growled. “Fine then! I’m going out for a walk. I’ll be back in an hour.”

“Knock yourself out,” said Elly. “Please.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Karm'ing Home

“Just over this next hill,” yelled Christina to Mounira as the King’s-Horse raced over the grassy plains. Even though they’d been riding the entire day, the ride kept having new thrilling moments. 

They’d stopped three times to rest and check how the King’s-Horse was doing. On the first stop, Mounira watched Christina do the diagnostics and tighten some of the belts and bolts. By the third time, Mounira was the one doing it, and Christina smiled with pride and took the time to answer questions until she’d completely exhausted her patience. 

“What’s that?” yelled Mounira as a ruined castle came into view.

Christina tilted her feet backward, slowing the King’s-Horse down. “Welcome to my home. This was once the castle of the great city of Karm. Now, it’s just Karm, a place long-forgotten.”

“Are we in Belnia? I noticed we turned south when we bolted past that second border patrol,” said Mounira, remembering the excitement.

Christina chuckled. “That was a bit fun, wasn’t it? We’re in the kingdom of Myke. It’s quite different than its neighbors, but it’s home.”

Only the ruined castle remained to rise above the grassy plains of what had once been Karm. At the fringes were old forests. It gave the castle a haunted appearance.

“It looks like a giant came along and kicked down the front wall, then hit the towers with a tree. How long ago did this get smashed?” asked Mounira.

Christina brought the mechanical horse to a trot. “That battle was probably three hundred years ago or so.” 

“You live in a ruined castle in the middle of nowhere? There aren’t even any roads to here,” said Mounira, remembering the route they’d taken.

“Would you search here for a group of illegal inventors, scientists, and engineers?”

“No,” said Mounira, shaking her head as she looked about. 

“Exactly,” said Christina, dismounting. She opened the King’s-Horse’s mouth and held the trigger, allowing her to pull it forward.

Mounira sniffed. There was a burned metallic scent in the air. “What’s that smell?”

Christina stopped and sniffed the air, then touched the heart-panel, confirming her fear. It was red-hot. “Yig, I think we may have fried the engine.” She smiled at Mounira. “You don’t know what that means, do you?”

Mounira wore a cheeky expression. “Yig? No. But you seem guilty, so I’m going to think it’s a swear.”

Christina shook her head. “No, not at all. It’s, um—”

“You know, you’re a bad liar,” said Mounira. Christina went to help her off the King’s-Hors. Mounira pulled away and acrobatically dismounted. “
La la
!”

“Only when I want to be,” replied Christina with a half-smile. She then put her fingers to her lips and gave a shrill whistle.

Mounira tried to cover her ears, realizing for the first time that she couldn’t with only one arm.

From behind overgrown shrubbery and huge stones fallen from the crumbling castle walls appeared a dozen warriors, armed with crossbows and rifles.

“Mounira, I’d like you to meet my… family,” said Christina, not sure how to put it in Frelish.

“Family? I suppose,” said a towering, bald man with a chest like a tree trunk. The pointy orange beard at the end of his chin made it look like his fierce face shot fire. “I’m Remy Silskin,” he said, bending down on one knee and holding out his hand, palm up, towards the petite Mounira.

Mounira looked at Christina and then at him. There was a look between the two adults that told her they had some bond, but she didn’t recognize it. “Um, I’m Mounira of Catalina of Augusto.” She studied Remy’s hand and wondered. Shrugging, she pointed at it and said, “I don’t know what that means.”

“Oh,” said Remy, smiling and glancing up at Christina. “My palm is facing up, meaning I have nothing to hide, and my fingers are apart, meaning that I am half of the greeting. You complete the greeting.”

Mounira smiled and burrowed her brown. She’d never heard of such a thing. “Where I come from, I’d usually slap it or shake it.”

“Slap it?” said one of the women with a crossbow, shocked. “That’d get you shot around here, little lady.”

Remy shook his tattooed head. In the blink of an eye, his fierce green eyes transformed into the gentlest Mounira had seen. “Don’t mind Angelina. She’s wary of strangers.”

“You’re all strange to me,” Angelina replied, chuckling.

Mounira put her hand palm down on Remy’s, and spread her fingers. Gently Remy curled his fingers up, locking them together, and they shook gently before he released her grip.

“You pick up things fast,” said Christina as she slung her backpack over her shoulder and re-closed the saddlebags.

Turning to Angelina and the others, Christina asked, “Can you get this King’s-Horse downstairs? Canny and Sonya are going to have a field day with it if the MCM isn’t melted. Also, I left something special for them.”

“MCM?” asked Remy, staring at the mechanical horse in shock.

“Mercury-copper-magnetic engine,” said Mounira proudly. “It’s really got some kick to it!”

Remy frowned at Mounira and then Christina. “You found one?”

Christina smiled. “Actually, I found two. The other isn’t even sealed. I left it in a saddlebag.”

Mounira watched Christina. It was almost as if she was a different person. The hardness that had inhabited her face and speech was missing here. Mounira could tell that Christina was among her family.

“That’s… unbelievable,” replied Remy. Christina leaned over and gave Remy a kiss on the cheek. He nodded in appreciation. Mounira again detected something, but wasn’t sure what it was; it was something she’d not run into before. There was no romance, almost as if they were two magnets that pulled in opposite directions, but still had a bond.

Remy’s high-cheekboned face went solemn. “You heard about the palace?”

“That they were bombed from the air, yes. That’s why we rushed back,” said Christina, very businesslike.

He turned to Mounira, thinking. “I mean no disrespect, little lady, but Christina—why did you bring her here?”

Christina paused, not ready to share why, particularly with
that
audience. “She’s by herself, she’s smart, and she reminds me of a young Luis.” Everyone stopped and stared at Mounira.

“Because she’s a Southerner?” asked a male voice in the background.

“No,” snapped Christina, “because she’s got that spark. She helped me assemble this rocket-cart that we flew off a cliff and used to save some friends.”

“She did that?” said Remy, rubbing his chin. “Well, Little Luis, welcome.”

“She has done more than that, but let’s not get into it,” said Christina.

Mounira saw the heads bob in acceptance, bringing a big smile to her face.

 “Well,” said Remy, putting his hand on Mounira’s shoulder, “if you’re going to follow in Luis’ shoes, you’re going to need bigger feet.”

“Are you Christina’s husband?” Mounira asked, stunning everyone and making Angelina burst into laughter.

“I love this kid!” said Angelina, doubling over.

“Ah…” said Remy, glancing at Christina, confused.

Christina rubbed her forehead. “She asks a lot of questions.”

“Can I keep her?” asked Angelina.

Christina watched the members of her various teams stream into the grand hall. It had been a very busy twenty-four hours since she’d returned, and she was anxious to get the all-hands meeting over with. If she was lucky, she’d be able to catch up on some sleep before they had to leave in a few days.

Christina smiled as Mounira came into the room with Remy. Her avowed protector and her sidekick, together. It made her smile deeply for a moment. Her thoughts then turned to Tee. Christina hoped she’d judged the girl correctly, and that she’d find some way to get to Costello safely. It had been a calculated risk—one that, if it went wrong, would have far graver consequences than her personal feelings of guilt.

Christina waved to people she hadn’t seen in months. It was strange. They lived in the equivalent of a small town, yet despite there only being two hundred of them, there were some people she didn’t see regularly.

She’d given a lot of speeches in the grand hall over the years—some of them uplifting, some of them chilling. All of them had brought her group together more tightly.

The stone floor and high-beamed roof made the great hall feel more like a secret cavern than a place for a royal banquet. The simple pine tables had been pushed against the walls, making it a huge open space. Here they’d celebrated many vow exchanges and births, and mourned too many deaths.

Christina climbed onto the pine table behind her and waved at Mounira. “Come up here with me!” she yelled over the gentle roar of the crowd. 

Mounira, surprised, made her way through the crowd and joined her on the table.

Christina paused a moment, appreciating the support from her sidekick.

Mounira offered a sheepish smile. “Don’t worry, I won’t ask any questions while you’re talking. This is just like when one of the royal family would talk to the crowd. I know how to just listen.”

Christina was relieved and put her fingers to her mouth, whistling for silence. She quickly scanned the crowd.

“Sonya, is everyone from E.L.F. here?” asked Christina, unable to find a few people.

“Yes!” yelled a brunette, some hundred people back.

“What? You have elves?” said Mounira, chuckling. She suddenly felt all the eyes in the room on her.

Christina’s eyes went wide.

Remy stepped forward from the first line of the audience. “The engineering lab is located in the Lower Front. We have different work areas set up in and around, as well as under, this old castle. Each has a name. The folks from E.L.F. are often… tardy,” said Remy.

“Not our fault! We’re at the other end of this hulking mess!” yelled Sonya, arriving in time to hear Remy’s remark.

“Oh,” said Mounira. She smiled at Christina. 

“Are you done?” asked Christina, annoyed.

Mounira nodded and then suppressed her urge to ask just one more question.

“Is anyone missing?” Christina asked the crowd.

 “Matt and Doug are working on something new in the back. They’re running late,” said a voice in the back.

Christina shook her head. “As long as nothing explodes this time, I’ll be happy,” she said to spurts of laughter.

“Do they blow up a lot of things?” asked Mounira, her mouth twisting cutely as she realized she was failing at not asking questions.

Christina realized she was being unfair to Mounira by asking her to act against her nature. Relenting, Christina answered, “Yes. A lot of things. They’re our experts in taking something seemingly innocent and turning it into a big mess.”

Mounira made a mental note to go and meet these guys. They sounded interesting.

“Okay,” said Christina, clapping her hands to calm the crowd back down. “I think almost everyone has met Mounira.”

“She reminds me of Luis,” said someone.

“She’s getting that a lot,” said Christina, smiling. “Moving on. Yesterday we returned with two King’s-Horse MCM engines. We’ve gone from them seeming like items of myth and legend, to having two in our possession.”

“Why—”

“BEFORE anyone asks,” said Christina, cutting off the question, “the plan was to make our way here with both unused. Then I got this note and it changed everything.” She took out a piece of paper from her green vest pocket, and her expression darkened.

A door slammed shut in the back and the room turned to stare at the latecomer. The man’s face was covered in black powder, and his hair looked like it had tried to explode away from his face.

“Matt, where’s Douglas?” asked Sonya disapprovingly.

“Um… he’s not dead, if that’s what you’re asking… well?” he paused, pretending to think about what had happened. “No, no, I’m sure he’s fine. He’ll be here soon. We had a little… accident. He’s just cleaning up, I think. But, carry on!” said Matt, pointing at Christina.

Mounira smiled. It really did feel like a family. Everyone she’d met so far reminded her of a mix of Anciano Klaus and his wife: some were the explorers of knowledge, and some helped the explorers plan and focus. They were all cogs in a machine they’d built, each helping the other. They were passionate people and full of ideas and opinions. Mounira loved the mealtimes, when they’d gather in large numbers and laugh and fight as much as eat or discuss food. It reminded her a lot of home.