Defiance (Rise of the Iliri Book 3) (42 page)

"Our interrogations don't hurt, Danis," Sal told him, "but be assured that you
are
being interrogated right now."

Danis's shrugged, watching Jase.  Finally, the assassin opened his eyes.  "He does na much care fer us, Sal.  He has na realized yet tha' the reason we stink is cuz we do na smell like his prey."  Jase turned back to the Terran.  "Private, ya can na stay here.  We can na trust ya.  So what should we do with ya?"

"I just didn't want to die out there," Danis started, but Jase cut him off.

"Ya were ordered ta surrender as soon as Sal made the offer.  Yer commanding officer was as human as they come – dark skin, black eyes, and missing his tooth, here," Jase tapped his front canine.  "Ya agreed readily."

Sal leaned over the man's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Don't even try to fuck with us."

Chapter 45

"So," Blaec asked the prisoner, "what should we do with you?"

Ilija propped a foot on the table and took a long sip of the whiskey.  "Any of you able to give him a compulsion to return to Terric?"

Sal shook her head.  "We don't work like that.  We learn; we don't force.  All of our talents are knowledge and assisting, that's it."

He nodded.  "If it were me, I'd brand him with the Terran Falcon across his face and turn him loose.  But I'm guessing you won't allow that, Kaisae?"

She wanted to giggle at Ilija's bravado.  "No.  That's how we've been treated.  Someone has to give, and we're willing to do it."  She paused, thinking.  "Killer, you still have the stains you used on my skin for the ball?"

Blaec hummed thoughtfully. "Oh, now that's clever, Sal."

"I missed it," Ilija said.

Sal flicked a finger at the prisoner.  "Your idea is good.  Send him home, but a brand... that's too permanent.  Now, that tattoo across my back at the ball?  That lasts about a month.  We can give them each one of the horses collected from the field, mark them clearly, and send them away.  I'm sure there's a pack of bachelor grauori willing to escort them out of Anglia, too.  Young males like that sort of thing."

"What are you branding me with?" the man asked.

"Not branding, ya fool," Jase snarled.  "Just a warning, so ya can na lie ta the people ya pass.  I'd say the Terran Falcon across his forehead, and," Jase dipped his finger in his whiskey and drew a sprawling figure across the tabletop, "His species on his cheek."

"That may make things harder for you with the Terrans," Sal told the soldier.

"What does it mean?" he asked, gesturing to the symbol.

"It means 'Corrupted One,'" Jase said, looking at him.  "It's pronounced 'iliri.'"

"You can't mark me as iliri!"

"Why not?" Sal asked.  "You are one."

He shook his head.  "I'm human.  I've always been human."

"With green eyes?" Blaec asked.

He nodded.  "Lots of people in Gallicor have green eyes."

"Lots a them are iliri, too," Jase pointed out.

"Well," Sal said, offhandedly, "we could always just give him what he wants and send him back."

Ilija lifted his glass as if toasting.  "Yeah, but they wouldn't believe him."

Sal shrugged.  "Not really my problem, is it?"

Danis looked up at her.  "Why are you doing this?"

Sal tugged the chair around, so the man faced her, then leaned on the armrests.  "When I learned to walk, a human told me to carry her things.  When I was six, I learned how to clean up their mess.  When I was ten, I was whipped for the first time – because the plates didn't match.  When I turned thirteen, I was told to lay there and not make a noise.  When I turned fifteen, my owner charged money to see me dance.  When I was eighteen, I said no, so began the cycle again, but this time in a uniform."  Sal snarled at him.  "Humans have done nothing but take from me my entire life, and now some asshole across the continent thinks I deserve to die for it?  Did you expect us to lay down and wait for him to come?  We didn't live this long by submitting."

He stared at her in shock.  "I haven't done anything like that."

"You want to give the Emperor everything he needs to justify the persecution of our kind, you idiot.  What do you think he sent you spying for.  You think that because your skin is darker, you're somehow better than me?  You think that any of us want this?  They made us.  Humans made us, and then they hate us because they made us better than them, and you want to help them torture us.  Don't ask me why I'm doing this.  Explain to me why
you
are."

"It's not like that," Danis persisted.  "Iliri, they're ruining the economy.  They're too lazy to work.  Look how they congregate in slums, and – "

"Because you refuse to pay us.  Because we're lucky if we can get anything that resembles freedom.  Look at how lazy I've been."  Sal gestured around her.  "I did this. 
We
did this."  She indicated the men sitting beside him.  "I've given everything I have to these people, and they thanked me for it.  What have you done?  You couldn't even rise above private."

Danis slapped his hands on his legs, Sal's body holding him in the chair.  "I busted my ass to be a private.  You have no idea what I've done."

Sal shrugged snidely.  "It obviously wasn't enough.  I made Lieutenant by my fourth year in," she flicked the bars at her shoulder, "and I'm as Iliran as it gets.  Try again, you fool.  You're still a damned private because your eyes are green."  She stood up and grabbed her glass from the table, tossing the liquid back. 

Blaec gestured to one of the many guards around.  "Take him somewhere, and have him locked up.  This one's a spy.  A spy and a fool," he said.

"Yes, sir."  The guard grabbed Danis by the arm and pulled him away.

"Anymore like that?" Sal called to the grauori.

We have a few left, but no.  So far most of them just want away from the purple men.

"Let me know if it changes."  Sal sighed and sat down at the table. 

Ilija poured more mead into her glass.  "Sounds pretty bad out there, Sal.  How are we going to fix it?" he asked.

"Ya can na," Jase said. 

"Yeah, Jase," Ilija insisted, "we can.  If nothing else, we can do it the same way Sal did.  One man at a time."

Those words were exactly what she needed to hear.  Standing, she looked at Blaec.  "I'm ready.  Send Zep to babysit that man, and tell him not to let up until Danis realizes jut how iliri he is.  Have the grauori see if any of those humans want to defect.  Ask Rragri if she has some bachelors to haul the rest of them back to Gallicor – forcibly if they have to.  Then have Risk meet me at the Archduke.  Jase, you and Ilija sort the rest of them out."

Ilija nodded at her, but Jase snagged her hand.  He stood and pulled her to him, looking down into her pale eyes.  "Do na kill him, cessivi.  Break him.  Break him over and over, and when there's na a thing left to mend, put him together and send the wreck back, but do na kill him.  Do na give them anything ta use against us."

Then he took the last step between them and kissed her deeply, teasing her with his sharp teeth.  Ilija glanced at Blaec, but he watched the pair casually.  Able to feel their eyes on her, she leaned back to nip at Jase's jaw before turning to Blaec.  Her Ahnor's affection had only encouraged the defiance building inside.

"You're with me," she told her commander, striding away.

Blaec glanced at Jase and bowed his head.  "Ahnor," he said respectfully.

"She's gonna hate this, LT.  Take care a her, Dernor."

Blaec flicked his eyes to the ground.  "Yes, sir," he said, turning to follow Sal.

Still reclined at the table, Ilija shook his head.  "I missed something again."

Jase claimed the chair beside him.  "Sal does na interrogate, but she has ta this time.  She's gonna fall into the maast, and she can na be alone with Risk."

"Why not?"

Jase chuckled.  "Because she'd try to have her way with him, and she's na his type.  Blaec can na read
these
prisoners, so he needs ta go with her.  He's na really comfortable with her in maast because he does na get it himself."

"And?" Ilija persisted.

"And Sal needed ta work herself up a bit.  She does na hate, na like ya'd think.  That's a human thing, ya know?  She can protect her own, but she can na hate."

"She can't hate?"

Jase shook his head.  "Nah.  Think about it, man.  She can stalk, she can kill, she can make a logical decision to destroy someone, but she does na hate anyone."

"Always thought she hated the Emperor."  Ilija stared at the table thinking hard about the time he'd spent with Sal.  "You think that's what we get from her?  Why we all adore her so much?"

Jase flashed one of his wicked grins.  "That, her ass, who knows."

That made the Colonel laugh.  "Ok, fair point.  She doesn't cry either.  I saw that when Roo got hurt."

"Yeh.  Iliri eyes do na cry.  The rest of us can.  We have just enough human ta cry, but na Sal.  Pisses her off, too."

"I'd think it'd be a relief."

"Nah.  Does na work like ya think.  She still feels the hurt, she just can na do anything about it."  Jase suddenly changed the subject, "Ya know how ta use a knife at all?"

Ilija paused, catching up.  "Enough, but I'm no expert."

"K.  I'll teach ya a few things.  'Nough ta get the kid started at least."

"You really think he's old enough to start learning how to use that thing?"

"Iliri start younger.  My amma had me practicing stances when I was 'bout six."  Jase shrugged.  "The sooner he learns, the better he'll be, and the longer he'll live."

Ilija took a gulp of his whiskey.  "I hoped he'd grow up to be more like Dominik."

"Did ya know Dom has iliri ancestry?"

Slowly, Ilija turned to look at the little assassin.  "No."

Jase just nodded.  "Thought ya might find that int'resting.  Seems the aggression tends ta pass from the maternal side, too."  He tossed back the last of his whiskey and reached for the glass Sal left, sipping at her mead.

"Is it enough to make him a Black Blade?"

Jase refused to look at the man.  "Zep's a Blade."

"What are you getting at, Jase?"

Without warning, Jase switched to his mind.  This was not a conversation anyone needed to overhear. 
Blaec is set on removing the Emperor.  Sal will go along with it because she knows it's the right thing ta do.  Dom's offered the Blades a home here in Anglia, but she will na take it while we have a mission to complete.  When we get back ta Dorton, you're gonna officially become the Sergeant at Arms, and we'll head to Myrosica to meet up with the Conglomerate.  They'll send us on yet another suicide mission that we'll somehow manage to pull our asses out of.

Ok?
Ilija asked.

So the short answer to yer question is yeah, the kid has enough iliri to be a Blade, and they'll be needing men ta fill the ranks – if there's a unit left ta fill up.  The problem is ya can na embrace it without changing.  If the kid becomes a Blade, he'll never be a human again.

Shit, the Blades will be fine, man.  You always are,
Ilija assured him.

I'm just a Sergeant,
Jase reminded him
.  I do na handle the tactical stuff, but even I can see how this is going.  Ya need that title, but the Blades could use a little help with this, and neither Blaec nor Sal will ask fer it.  Hell, they'll refuse it if asked cuz they know what will happen when Anglia enters the war.  They see tactics as easily as ya and I see colors.

What's going to happen?

Continental war.  Ever' other nation out there is so worried about what they'll get out of it that the iliri are gonna get slaughtered in the middle.  Someone needs ta make this about them.  Someone needs ta put Sal and Blaec in a position where they can na make themselves martyrs.  Someone needs ta be worried less about sending lines of troops against lines of troops, and worry about finding a way ta help the people.  Anglia's in the perfect position ta make that happen, but a bunch of iliri can na really make that suggestion.  Ya need ta figure out real fast why ya wanna take Anglia inta this war.  Ya can na do it because ya love Sal.  Ya need ta figure out what it is ya hope ta win.

Ilija looked down at the glass he was spinning between his hands. 
And you're saying that Anglia is in a position to make a bigger difference?

Jase nodded slowly, letting that sink in. 
We're in this cuz our people are being exterminated.  The Conglomerate is in this cuz Terric wants ta take the country, and he's been knocking at the borders fer years now.  Unav has fallen and Escea was bought.  Sounds like he's taking Gallicor now, too.  Myrosica, Anglia, and Viraenova have no bitch in this fight.  Ya just pushed Terric out – and they will na come back too fast neither, so why ya planning ta poke at the nest?

Pride, mainly,
Ilija admitted
.  They came for us and we pushed them away.  It only makes sense to push them all the way back into their territory.