Lindsay Buroker - Encrypted

“ Walk?” Five suggested gently.

“ Dear Akahe, yes.”

She departed the scene at a vigorous pace, and Five, with his long legs, easily matched her. His guards fell in behind. At least they proved stolid and silent save for the clatter of gear and synchronized thump of boots on the deck.

“ I must thank you for this.” Five gestured at himself, encompassing the clean uniform and haircut. “I got the story from Corporal Agarik. It was kind of you to include me in the reward for your wager.”

“ You’re welcome,” she muttered, knowing her thinking had not been purely altruistic. “Though I’m surprised the captain let you out, lost bet or not.”

“ He made me promise not to make trouble during the exercise periods.”

“ Ah.” Interesting that Five’s word was enough for the captain to trust him. She glanced at the guards. To some extent anyway.

“ It was worth it.” He stretched his arms overhead, then windmilled them, something the confines of his cell would make impossible. “I almost feel like a human being again.”

It had certainly improved his mood. She thought of the silent, brooding man she had spoken to the first day and could not help but feel pleased her request had lightened his spirit. She gave him a smile and missed a step when he smiled back. Oh, that was nice.

Stop it, Tikaya, she chastised herself. Prisoner or not, he was one of them. That uniform fit him like he had been born into it. Best get some answers from him while he was in an affable mood.

“ Given the reception I’ve gotten here, I’m surprised you aren’t…” She watched him sidelong. “Does my wartime hobby not bother you?”

“ Actually…” He met her sideways gaze. “It impresses me. A lot.”

“ Oh,” she breathed, then looked away, not sure she wanted him to see her reaction. She had wanted an ally; she had not expected an admirer. She was not sure how to deal with that. Parkonis, though he had loved her personally, had been a little jealous of her professionally. They had worked in the same field, with her discoveries often eclipsing his, and his praise had always sounded grudging.

They passed under men in the rigging, adjusting sails to take advantage of the wind. Only a faint smudge of black wafted from the smokestack today.

“ As far as we’ve heard,” Five said, “cryptography isn’t taught on Kyatt, so I just assumed what we called the cryptomancer was a team of mathematicians learning as they went. But your specialty is linguistics, right?”

The question sounded casual, but a trickle of wariness returned to her thoughts. Just because he pretended to be an admirer did not make him one. Maybe the Turgonians had simply decided to substitute honey for vinegar, and had talked him into delivering it.

“ Yes,” she said. “Philology, really. I work with the anthropology and archaeology departments in the Polytechnic.”

“ Interesting. How many languages do you know?”

“ Sixteen modern, and I can read a few dozen dead languages.”

“ Few dozen?” Five halted and gaped at her. “You must be a genius.”

The proclamation startled her, and she lurched to a stop beside him, conscious of the guards’ gazes on her back. “No, no, trust me I’m not. It’s just something I’ve a knack for.”

He lifted a single skeptical eyebrow.

Tikaya shook her head. “A world-exploring uncle gave me a copy of the Tekdar Tablet when I was a child, and I fell in love with solving language puzzles. My parents encouraged it, so I had a head start when I started formally studying in school. That’s all.”

Five was still standing, gazing at her, and when she met his eyes, she found that admiration there again. It was disarming. Maybe he meant it to be. What had the captain told Five to convince her of?

“ Hm.” He resumed walking. “My family gave me swords and toy soldiers when I was a boy.” Bemusement laced his tone.

“ You would have preferred something else?”

“ Oh, yes. I kept asking for drawing pads and building materials. I wanted to design a treehouse with a drawbridge to my room and a steam-powered potato launcher for defense.”

“ Sounds like every boy’s dream.” Despite her determination to remain chary with him, the change of topic set her at ease. She could not reveal something she shouldn’t if he was talking about himself.

“ Alas, this was not a paternally approved childhood activity, so I had to find my own building materials.” Five scratched his jaw. “I took it upon myself to chop down some of the apple trees in my family’s orchard, trees that my great grandfather had grafted from cuttings painstakingly acquired when he was a marine sailing around the world. I, being about eight at the time, was unaware of this bit of history.”

“ Oh, dear,” she murmured.

“ Yes. There was a lot of yelling that summer.”

She chuckled.

“ What is engraved on your name plaque?” Five asked as they started on their second lap of the deck.

For a moment, the context of the question eluded her, until she remembered her earlier comment. “You don’t know my name?”

He spread his arms apologetically. “Nobody’s told me much.”

The salty breeze gusted, and water sprayed the deck ahead of them. A lieutenant bellowed at the men aloft.

“ Your name for mine,” Tikaya offered with a smile. “I can’t keep calling you Five forever.”

He glanced at the guards trailing them. Maybe, as part of his punishment, he was forbidden from using his old name.

He lowered his voice. “My friends and family, back when I had them…” He grimaced. “They called me Rias.”

“ Rias?”

Tikaya had a feeling that was a nickname or a truncation. Regardless, it gave her no hints as to his identity. Since she had decrypted all the communications her people had intercepted, she knew most, if not all, of the Turgonian officers with enough rank to command a vessel, and she could not think of any name with those syllables.

“ My name is Tikaya,” she said. “And, now that we’re on a first-name basis, maybe you can tell me what you’re supposed to convince me of, Rias.”

Their route had taken them to the archery lane. Rias paused by the rack of staves, and the guards tensed, their fingers finding the triggers of their pistols.

“ No weapons,” the lead man said.

“ Captain,” Rias called. “May we shoot?”

In the center of the exercise area, Bocrest knelt on a young officer’s back, with the man’s arm twisted in a lock. The captain scowled over at them.

“ May you shoot? What is this, the Officers’ Club? Perhaps I can get you some brandywine and lobster too?”

“ Captain, are you inviting me to dinner?” Rias rested his hand on his chest. “I’m touched.”

Red flushed Bocrest’s face, and Tikaya wondered at the wisdom of teasing the man. If the captain had a sense of humor, she had not detected it. But he waved a disgusted hand at the guards.

“ Let them shoot.”

“ Sir?” The lead guard’s mouth gaped open.

“ You heard me,” Bocrest barked.

“ Yes, sir.”

Tikaya eyed Rias. “It seems your word means something to the captain.”

“ He knows it’s all I have left.”

Bleakness stripped away his humor, reminding her that pain lurked beneath the facade he was showing her today. He caught her watching and reaffixed his smile.

“ Tikaya,” he said slowly, trying her name out, then nodding to himself as if he approved. “To answer your question, despite his threats — ” Rias scowled, “-the captain has doubts about your intentions. He believes I should convince you to help him wholeheartedly with his mission.”

She selected the bow she had used the day before. “Why, when he’s keeping you chained in the brig, does he think you’d be inclined to speak on his behalf?”