Lindsay Buroker - Deadly Games

On the way out, she grabbed a few towels. Shewound one around her hair, draped another across her shoulders, andhanded Fasha a third. She found a satchel and hid her own clothingand her knife-the closest thing to a weapon she had brought for themorning training session-inside.

“Two lady athletes returning from the bathsto change before breakfast,” Amaranthe said.

Fasha sniffed at her. “Let’s hope theenforcers’ sense of smell is as poor as their sense of magic.”

“Your Turgonian is quite good,” Amaranthesaid instead of responding to the dig.

It occurred to her that this could be asetup. What if some early-rising enforcer had spotted Sicarius andher training and, knowing he could not take them on in the open,arranged a trap? More than one bounty hunter had attempted to getclose by feigning an interest in hiring them.

“I’m the daughter of a chief,” Fasha said.“I’ve been educated.”

“What did you say your sister’s name isagain?”

“Keisha.”

“And she’s how old?”

“Sixteen.”

“Why don’t you tell me more about your tribeand why you’re here competing,” Amaranthe said, heading toward thebarracks.

Fasha’s brow crinkled, but she complied.Amaranthe listened to the story and asked more questions as theywalked, seeking inconsistencies or hesitations that would suggestthe woman was making it up as she went. Everything soundedplausible, though, and by the time they neared the barracks,Amaranthe decided she was being paranoid.

Two men with short swords and crossbows stoodguard on either side of the front door. She did not recognizeeither-since Barlovoc Stadium was located on the southern end ofthe city, there was little chance of her running into someone shehad worked with-but that did not mean they would not recognize her.Though her wanted poster did not decorate the city as profusely asSicarius’s, it was out there.

Amaranthe adjusted her towel wrap and climbedthe stairs. “You didn’t run here last year, so you don’t know,” shetold Fasha, “but the sand on the track doesn’t feel very wellpacked. It might make it easy to lose your footing.”

“Uhm, yes, maybe so,” Fasha said. “Do youthink…”

One of the enforcers grabbed Amaranthe’s armas she tried to walk through the door. Cursed ancestors, she hadhoped to at least get inside to snoop about before beingcaught.

“What are you doing with her?” the enforcerdemanded.

Amaranthe blinked. “What?”

The enforcer, a young man who could not bemore than a year or two out of the academy, pointed at Fasha whilescowling so fiercely he threatened to snap a tendon in his neck.“She’s a Kendorian.”

Ah, of course. There must be quite a fewannoyed with the new policy, allowing foreigners into the ImperialGames.

Amaranthe shrugged. “She’s running in thesame events as I am.”

The second enforcer, whose rumpled uniformand bleary eyes might have meant he had been on shift all night,stabbed Fasha in the shoulder with a finger. “She was out here,spouting about magic last night. We ought to have thrown her in thewagon. And any imperial woman who colludes with her as well.”

Amaranthe groaned inwardly. She had neverseen Sicarius laugh, and she did not want the first instance tocome because she was foolish enough to get arrested for someoneelse’s crime.

Fasha lifted her chin. “I’ve done nothingwrong. You ignorant Turgonians should be ashamed of yourselves forheckling athletes.”

“Ignorant?” The first enforcer reached forthe handcuffs dangling from his belt hook. “You-”

Amaranthe pushed Fasha back and glidedbetween the enforcers. She lifted a hand to her lips and whisperedout of the side of her mouth, “I’m on it.”

“Er, huh?” The enforcers shared perplexedlooks.

“Watching the suspicious foreigner,”Amaranthe murmured. “She came to the track babbling aboutkidnappings and magic. As if either would happen at such awell-guarded venue.”

The wrinkled foreheads smoothed. “Oh. Ofcourse, that’s right.”

“You gentlemen can’t go inside the women’sbarracks,” Amaranthe said, “but I can. I can watch her andlet you know if she does anything suspicious.”

“Yes, yes, right,” they murmured. “You let usknow.”

They drew back and nodded for her to goinside. Fortunately, Fasha kept her mouth shut and did nothing toantagonize the men as they passed, entering an open bay dominatedby two long rows of bunk beds. A few held slumbering figures, butmost had been vacated. Women in various states of undress chattedand tended to their morning ablutions.

“That was embarrassing,” Amaranthe said, asshe and Fasha walked down the aisle.

“That your people are so ignorant aboutmagic?”

“That those enforcers fell for that. Academystandards must be slipping.” Amaranthe waved toward the bay.“Where’s your room?”

“Down there.” Fasha pointed toward a hallwayat the end.

Conversations ceased as they passed.Amaranthe wondered if she had made a mistake coming in with aforeigner. She might have acquired information more easily if shechatted with people independently. One of these women might verywell have something to do with the kidnapping. Another plot to oustoutsiders?

The sound of running water came from latrinesfarther down the hallway. Amaranthe would check that directionlater. The back door ought to be guarded similarly to the front,but perhaps someone could have escaped with a prisoner through awindow, especially if some magic had rendered the prisonerunconscious. She shook her head, reminding herself she had not yetdetermined if anything was truly amiss. Even if Fasha’s sister hadbeen a daughter of the warrior caste, the enforcers would not havestarted searching for her after only one night missing.

Fasha pushed open a door that lacked a lock.They walked into a simple room with footlockers, two narrow beds,and a chest between them doubling as a side table. Two tea mugs anda bag of nuts rested on top next to a low-burning kerosenelamp.

Amaranthe turned the flame up.

“I looked around to see if she left amessage.” Fasha lingered in the doorway. “But I didn’t touchanything otherwise.”

“What did you sense exactly to make you thinkthe Science was involved?” Amaranthe poked about, looking foranything out of place. She dropped to her belly to peer under thebeds, and her towel wrap flopped off her head.

“It’s hard to explain. Like a residue in theair.”

One of the tea mugs was half full. Amaranthesniffed the herbal concoction. “Is this hers or yours?”

“I’m not sure. They’re from yesterdaymorning, I think.”

“Hm.” That would be a slow-acting drug if ithad taken all day to go into effect. Amaranthe wished she had moreof a feel for what was and was not possible in the realm of magic.She might have to find Akstyr and come back to-

“Has anyone seen Anakha?” a woman asked inthe hallway.

A black-haired, bronze-skinned Turgonianwoman strode past the door, bumping Fasha without noticing. Shestrode out of sight, but Amaranthe followed her to the bay.

“Anyone?” the woman asked again. “Anakha?Tall woman with more muscles than the men.”

“Haven’t seen her since yesterday,” someonesaid.

“She never came to bed.”

Murmurs of assent came from others.

“Great grandmother’s bunions,” the originalspeaker growled and strode through the bay and out the frontdoor.

Amaranthe returned to Fasha. “Have you heardof any other kidnappings?”

“No.”

“This Anakha, she’s Turgonian?”

“If she’s who I’m thinking of, yes. There’reonly a few of us from outside of the empire.”

“Huh.” Amaranthe scratched her jaw. If thisother missing woman had disappeared in the same manner asKeisha…it would stomp out her theory of this being a plot againstforeigners.