Adrian Tchaikovsky - Empire in Black and Gold

‘Got a runner out there, too,’ Hokiak added. ‘You want her for Tark, to go spy on the Waspies. You let her know what’s what, and she’ll be on it. Her name’s Skrill, and she’s a squirmly little creature, but she’ll do for you.’

‘Everything’s accounted for,’ Khenice reported. ‘Look’s like you’re set to go, as soon as your man comes back.’

‘When he does, yes.’ Stenwold fought off a sinking feeling, knowing that Salma was still absent on his madman’s errand. I have taught these youngsters badly, that they are so bold. ‘You’ve been a good friend, Hokiak.’

‘Ain’t got no friends. Just got customers and business associates,’ the old Scorpion muttered, shrugging it off. He did not look at Stenwold when he said it, though. ‘Mind, can’t say for sure which one you are, so maybe that makes you as near a friend as I’m like to get these days.’

Totho had watched Che for about as long as he could bear to, as she conversed in low tones with the Moth-kinden. It was not right, this. It was eating at him. She had met the man only once, some fleeting business at Monger’s place before the Wasps seized her. Now it was just as though he was some long-lost childhood friend. Totho neither liked nor trusted him. The man’s featureless eyes, his skulking manner, the way he kept his cowl raised up so much: it made him look like an assassin.

Stenwold was packing up his own kit when Totho approached him. ‘I need to speak with you, sir.’

‘Go ahead.’ Stenwold had his toolstrip still unrolled, and Totho’s eyes flicked over the surprisingly extensive collection there.

‘It’s about the Moth, sir.’

‘Achaeos?’ Stenwold’s hands stopped moving.

Totho knelt by him. ‘I don’t trust him.’

‘Totho, you had valid concerns before. We didn’t know him from Finni, as the Flies say. If he was going to sell us to the Wasps, though, he’s already had his chance. As I understand it he did good work for us, there in the palace. He’s no Wasp agent, whatever else he is.’

‘Then what is he?’ Totho asked. ‘Why are the Wasps the only. . the only ones for us to worry about? What about his own people? They’d love to see Helleron burn, and you know it. They hate us.’ He was not sure what he meant, by that ‘us’. ‘How do you know he isn’t just. . worming his way into your confidence. They’re subtle, they’re clever, everyone knows.’

Stenwold smiled. ‘Well yes, they are that, and I can’t swear to you that there’s no chance of what you suggest. There’s every chance, in fact, whether Achaeos becomes a part of it or not, that his people will not be our allies in this business. I have to trust Scuto to scent that out for me. As for Achaeos, though, he has earned his place amongst us until proved otherwise. I’m certainly not going to drive him away because of the colour of his eyes.’

Totho bit his lip and made to get up, but Stenwold stopped him with a gesture.

‘Yes, sir?’

‘You spoke to me earlier, before we met Chyses and the others. You recall?’

Against his will, Totho’s eyes flicked across the room towards Che. ‘Yes, sir.’

‘Not “sir”, not “Master Maker” — just “Stenwold”, please.’ Even as he said it, Stenwold knew that it was a faint hope. ‘I want to apologize for my reaction then, really. I’ve no right to judge, least of all regarding a man’s heritage.’ After all, I myself have been raising Tisamon’s halfbreed daughter all these years. ‘I will not stand in the way of any man that Che favours. Unless he’s a Wasp, possibly. Or a Scorpion.’ With a wry smile that Totho failed to catch, Stenwold sighed. ‘But I won’t promise her to anyone, either. I know it’s a custom, and even though I’m not her father I know I could, but I won’t. She has a mind as fine as anyone’s, and it’s hers to bestow along with the rest of her. You understand why I’m saying this. I’m not blind, Totho. I have seen the way things have fallen, since the rescue.’

‘I. . understand, sir.’

And after that discussion it was just a matter of waiting until she was alone. Totho, who had gone into the palace of the Wasps without shuddering, and clung to the hull of the fixed-wing, starting its engine even as it fell, barely had the courage for this. He had no other path to take, though, that would not lead him further from her.

Achaeos was elsewhere, or at least Totho could not spot him there, which he supposed was no guarantee. He had found Che standing at one of the upper windows, staring out at rain-dashed Myna. She was worried about Salma, he knew, and he supposed he should be, too, but there was only room in his head for so many worries at a time.

‘Che-’

She turned, gave him a weak smile. ‘You really don’t have to come to see how I am. Or did Uncle Sten send you?’

That ‘Uncle Sten’ — a child’s abbreviation — cut him sharply. He knew that there were only a few months between their ages, but Che always seemed younger than him, certainly younger than Salma or Tynisa. ‘No, I. . I just wanted to talk. . but if you don’t want to. .’

She was looking out of the window again. ‘I can’t understand the man,’ she said. ‘I can’t believe he’d just go off like this. He thinks they can’t harm him. If they catch him now, they’ll kill him. The Wasps have no patience with escaped slaves. We witnessed that ourselves.’

Silently, Totho sat down close to her, within arm’s reach.

‘And all for a woman he’s barely met,’ she added. ‘I know I shouldn’t believe this but. . it really is like he’s under a spell or something.’

Quite , Totho thought, then said slowly, ‘There are ways to. . catch someone’s attention that aren’t Art or magic. The Spider-kinden are renowned for it, weaving their webs, making people believe all sorts of things. . As are other kinden, too. .’ He made this last observation as pointedly as he could but she did not take the hint.

‘I don’t care about the woman at all, but I hope he’s safe. He never did take things seriously enough.’

‘Che-’

‘Yes?’ She turned to him. There were spots of damp across her face and for a moment he thought she had been crying. It was just the rain, though, blown inside past the lop-sided shutters.

‘I. . When you were captured. . We’ve known. . For a long time, we’ve known each other. .’ His voice, to his own ears, sounded like someone else’s, some stranger rehearsing a conversation like an actor going over his words. But this was the performance. This was him. ‘What do you think of me, Che?’

She blinked at him, and she smiled slightly, and his heart leapt, but the hook had not caught. He was no Spider-kinden, no sly Moth mystic, to set such snares.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘You’re right. You did as much as anyone, and I’ve been so wrapped up in myself, I never thanked you. For coming to rescue me.’

‘It’s not-’

‘Totho, I know you sometimes feel like an outsider. I really don’t care about who your parents are. You’ve always been a good friend, ever since in Mechanics when you helped me with my notes. I know sometimes you’ve not felt right, what with Salma and Tynisa fighting so well, and being. . being who they are. Believe me, I’ve felt the same. You can’t imagine how it felt, growing up with Tynisa there and always in her shadow, but it’s different now — that’s all behind us. You’re as much a part of this as anyone.’

‘But-’

‘But you’re more than that, to me,’ she told him, and he found that he suddenly couldn’t breathe. It was not hope that clutched him so. He felt the words about to emerge as though he was himself a seer.