BlackWing: First Ordinance, Book 3 (4 page)

"Not exactly, and I believe he intends to move—that's what I saw in his servant—the one who came to Gungl to convince the residents to attack the outlying villages," I replied. "I imagine the disappearances of his quarry will facilitate a faster move. It'll be difficult for any of your men to find him, because he's constantly switching bodies."

"I knew that already," Kooper dropped his gaze and stared at his hands for a moment. "That's why I never sent anybody there, although we suspected as much. Who the hell is going to recognize him, now?"

"I will," I shrugged.

"Yes. I heard that, too."

"I dislike the idea of you getting close enough to recognize him," Justis said.

"She—we—may have no choice in the matter," Kaldill scolded lightly.

"Ah. Well, she will have us with her, then. The bastard should prepare to die, should she point him out."

"He has a warlock with him—never forget that," Kaldill said. "The warlock is keeping the bastard alive by transferences."

"Any warlock willing to do that will have no qualms about killing any one of you." Lissa walked in, accompanied by her warlock mate and their son, the King of Karathia. He it was who spoke, as he would know as well as anyone what warlocks might accomplish. Karathia was filled with warlocks and witches.

"King Warlock," I stood and inclined my head to him. "Queen Lissa."

"How the hell does she know these things?" Rylend, King of Karathia, asked with a smile. "Hello, Quin. My mother speaks highly of you."

"What? Nothing for me?" Erland, Rylend's father, teased.

"Mighty warlock," I nodded to him. "May your spells never fail."

Erland stopped in his tracks. "Bugger me," he sighed. "My father used to say that."

"Quinnie Bee," Lissa said, "I have it on good authority that your official age is twenty. Here's your Alliance ID, showing you're a citizen of Le-Ath Veronis, in good standing and entitled to those things afforded to all citizens of this world."

She handed a small envelope to me. I frowned—I knew what it contained—a tiny chip that would identify me on any Alliance world.

"It will not harm you," Daragar said, reaching out to take the envelope. "I shall place it."

"I've placed a special spell on it—it'll only be found on Alliance worlds," Erland grinned. "Everywhere else, nobody will even know."

"You're not telling me everything," I said.

"True," he laughed. "Does that upset you?"

"No. I understand you only want to protect us." He, Lissa and Kooper could find me anywhere, with the small chip that Daragar employed power to place under the skin of my wrist. There was no pain—my Larentii saw to that. I hugged him afterward, which he enjoyed.

Our conversation continued after that. Lissa sat on a nearby sofa, between her warlock mate and her son. I understood their reasons for being there—we'd have to find Cayetes' warlocks, just as we had to find Cayetes. He had an army of loyal soldiers and servants about him, and that could take time.

At least nobody attempted to dissuade me from looking for Cayetes. Somehow, they understood that this was my mission. Fortunately, Kaldill and the others intended to go with me. I was grateful, as they had more experience at these things than I did. After all, I'd never set out to intentionally harm anyone before.

Cayetes, however, was an abomination. In order to save others, he had to be destroyed. "You've already started training her?" Justis pointed his question to Lafe.

"Yes—mostly self-defense; we haven't had much time."

"I was worthless the first moon-turn," I mumbled. "I thought you were dead. Berel, too."

"Back to business," Lissa interrupted. Justis was ready to rise and move everyone else aside to get to me. "Kooper and I wish to arm all of you—in a way that will make it easier to protect yourselves. I want to give mindspeech to those who don't have it, too. That means you, Berel, and you, LaFranza."

"I'll have mindspeech?" Berel's voice held reverence.

"I can give you that, at the very least," Lissa smiled at him. "I think Dragon and Crane will have something for our master swordsman, there. Terrett, I'll have something special for you, too. I expect you to use it wisely."

Terrett nodded respectfully to Lissa, his appreciation shining in his eyes. In all his life, nobody had ever given thought to him. He'd been a mute convenience and disregarded most of the time.

"Our Sirenali will ensure that none will find our party by scrying or using power," Kaldill nodded. "That in itself will be a welcome asset."

"You," she turned to Berel, "Kooper and I have this for you." She held out her hands, in which a carved, wooden case appeared. "Inside is a ranos pistol. Only you may handle it. It will identify with you and only fire for you. Anyone else it will destroy. Do you understand?"

"I do. I've done my research," Berel's lips curled in a small smile. I understood, then, that Berel had trained with Lissa's troops and knew hand-to-hand combat and how to fire weapons. He'd been busy for the past five years.

"I'm sending one more with you," Lissa said. "Yanzi?" she called out.

Another appeared in her library, employing the ability to fold space as Kaldill and Daragar could do. My breath caught.

They called him a reptanoid. He was so much more than that. A smile spread slowly across his face as he studied me. I smiled back—I couldn't help myself.

"I wish to go, Grandmother."

Someone else had come.

"Bel?" Rylend, King of Karathia, stood immediately. Bel, the new arrival, was his son and only child.

"Father, you said yourself that I am an accomplished warlock. Who better to send to recognize the work of other warlocks?"

"Honey?" Lissa stood and held out her hand.

Bel Erland Morphis, Prince-heir of Karathia, was in his mid-thirties, but I could see that he chafed at the protectiveness of his father and grandmother. I worried about him, too—his life was very precious.

For many reasons
.

"If you go, you will only be an equal, not a prince," Erland, his grandfather, wisely pointed out.

"I know that. I look forward to it," Bel replied, giving his grandfather a slight nod. "I don't really need someone to clean my clothes and pick up after me. I know how to do that for myself. I can cook, too—Mom made sure of that."

His mother was Reah, and he was here with her blessing. He looked more like his father and grandfather than his mother or grandmother, though.

"Quin?" Lissa turned her eyes on me.

"You want the truth?" I asked.

"Yes."

"He should come," I sighed. "He will be in no more danger than the rest of us."

"I watch," Yanzi grinned, causing Bel to laugh. They knew one another—very well.

Gurnil, Ordin, Dena, Wolter, Orik and Deeds
wish to see you
, Justis sent. I understood that he'd notified Jurris of my survival. I also understood that Jurris wanted to see me, too, but Justis wished to keep me away from Avii Castle, in case the Orb might be lurking there.

All of them—that I could read, at least, were worried about the Orb. Something blocked all the information from reaching me, however. I couldn't explain that and resolved to ask about it later.

Will they come here?
I sent mindspeech back to Justis.

They are coming
, he closed his eyes slowly to acknowledge my sending.

I want time alone with you—and the others
, I said.
I missed you so much
. That admission made me want to weep, but I forced tears back—Kooper was still speaking.

"Since you will have mindspeech, I expect to be contacted if you find Cayetes. He's turned into a bigger monster than his brother ever dreamed of being."

"He has a mercenary army," Lafe reminded him. "Bleek almost took my arm off."

"Bleek has four arms and four swords," I said, defending Lafe.

"Cayetes has a Blevakian?" Lissa asked.

Terrett nodded—he'd seen other Blevakians, it appeared. I wasn't surprised—he'd seen plenty of criminals during his enslavement.

"They usually don't get involved in someone else's war," Kooper observed. "They have enough of their own to fight."

"You think he may have been coerced?" Lissa asked.

"No idea. I've never heard of him before," Kooper replied.

"I've never seen him, so I can't tell you anything else," I said. "If that changes, I'll let you know."

* * *

Kooper didn't keep us long after that; when we walked out of the library, I found Dena and the others waiting for me. Dena wrapped her arms around me and wept, she was so happy.

Kaldill insisted that we resume our reunion inside his suite, which wasn't far from mine, as it turned out. Gurnil was bursting to tell me about the new information he'd gathered for the library; he'd studied constantly since his arrival on Le-Ath Veronis and was now well-versed on the Reth and Campiaan Alliances. Ordin was overjoyed that he'd been allowed to study with some of the best physicians in the capital city and had learned much, including Alliance common—both written and spoken.

Dena, Wolter, Orik and Deeds ran the tour boats for Jurris, receiving a generous salary for doing so. I didn't say it, but Jurris was so much better, now that Halthea was gone. He doted on his son, too; I learned that from Justis.

Still, Jurris worried that his son might not have red wings when he turned nine. That shouldn't matter, but royalty was royalty, no matter where you might find yourself.

"I hear from Amlis and Rodrik, now and then," Berel said quietly when he was able to get a seat next to mine. "They're doing well. Rodrik's wife is pregnant with their second child."

"I know she's happy about that," I sighed.

"She is. Do you wish to see them, sometime?"

"Maybe. I'll consider it. You understand that we have
history
, as Terrett is fond of saying."

"I'm astounded that Terrett had mindspeech all this time and none of his captors had any idea."

"I'm grateful they were never able to exploit him further than they did," I replied. "You'll have mindspeech too—soon, if I understood Queen Lissa correctly."

"I look forward to it." Berel's smile illuminated his face. I looked forward to private conversations with him, too.

Too soon, those from Avii Castle had to leave. Perhaps it was just as well; I was nearly asleep on Berel's shoulder by that time.

"Quin?" Justis lifted me away. My arms draped around his neck. He was just as strong as ever as he carried me away from Kaldill's suite. I wasn't surprised to learn that not only Justis would spend the night in my suite, but Terrett and Yanzi, who'd become fast friends, would also stay there. At least they had the other bedrooms inside my suite, although I wouldn't have minded if Terrett had let me sleep with my head on his shoulder.

That didn't happen—I was left alone in my bed. A part of me was glad—it stopped my worry that someone might demand a coupling, when I was concerned about my inexperience in the matter.

* * *

Terrett

I was never taught to read or write when I was young—I'd learned those things with difficulty later in my life by teaching myself. When the shining woman and Queen Lissa visited me early the following morning, I had no idea what they might offer.

It left me stunned, that gift, and I promised both that I would only use it if there were no other choice. I learned valuable things at the end of that meeting, too—and those things only made me more determined to protect Quin's life with my own.

* * *

Quin

When I opened my eyes the next morning, I blinked sleepily at Yanzi's other form. He was a lion snake shapeshifter; his large, triangular head rested on the edge of the bed, where he blinked at me as if he were happy to see me wake.

"Sir Yanzi," I reached out to stroke the top of his head. I could see he took pleasure from my touch—he closed his eyes, begging silently for more.

"Want breakfast?" I asked, sitting up and swinging my legs over the side of the bed, taking care not to disturb him.

Breakfast—yes
, he informed me in mindspeech. I watched as he dropped his head to the floor and snaked away, heading toward the door.

"I'm not dressed yet," I pointed out.

You fine
, he said.
Come. I feed
.

Feeling somewhat self-conscious by walking through the royal wing of Queen Lissa's palace in what she called pajama bottoms and a backless top, I shook my wings to unkink feathers and followed Yanzi to the kitchen.

* * *

"She want oatmeal," Yanzi directed the moment he became humanoid inside the kitchen. "Milk. Fruit."

He settled beside me at a table, where we were served breakfast. He had sausage and eggs while I ate a slice of the most wonderful fruit I'd ever eaten.

"Gishi fruit. From Avendor. Eat," Yanzi coaxed. He didn't have to convince me—I ate all the fruit first, before dipping into the oatmeal. It was flavored with maple syrup and brown sugar; I hadn't had such luxury in months.