Janice Hardy - Darkfall

Jeatar hesitated, glancing at Onderaan. Not a good sign. “Unconfirmed rumours say the Governor-General is dead.”

“Seriously?” A surprise, but it didn’t bother me none if he was. He’d been appointed by the Duke and treated Gevegians like we were trash. “Who’s in charge now? Another Baseeri or a Gevegian?”

“I’m waiting to hear from my contacts there, but so far, nothing.”

“If Geveg’s in full rebellion,” Onderaan said, “then the Duke would certainly want to end it before it inspired anyone else to fight back.”

I nodded. “Like the mining towns.” The Duke invaded us the first time for our pynvium, and he had to need more of it. I’d destroyed his foundry, stolen some, and ruined the rest of his supply of the raw metal. When Baseer revolted, he would have needed more weapons to subdue his own people, more healing bricks for his troops, using up the little pynvium he’d had left. He had to be running low by now.

Was he also running low on Healers?

He’d been kidnapping and experimenting on them for months, but with all the fighting, he had to be using them to heal his troops.

“Do you think Tali is with him?”

Jeatar didn’t hesitate this time. “Yes.”

“Can we—”

“No, you can’t go after her. The Healers will be heavily protected, probably at the centre of the army. Most likely guarded by Undying.”

The Undying didn’t scare me all that much, but the Duke’s Healer-soldiers were deadly to everyone else. How could you stop someone who could heal their own wounds, push the pain into their pynvium armour, and keep on fighting? They cut through regular soldiers like farmers cut through wheat.

“Nya, we’ll find her,” Onderaan said softly. “I owe it to Peleven to keep his girls safe.”

Papa.

He had also been Baseeri, though I hadn’t known that until a few months ago. I didn’t like to think about what that made me. Baseer had always been the enemy, but I had Baseeri friends now, Baseeri family. Baseeri blood.

“What do we do?”

“About Tali?” Jeatar said. “Nothing until we know something solid. Same with Geveg. As for the Duke, we’ll keep watching and wait to see what his plans are.”

I’d never been good at waiting. In Geveg, doing nothing got you killed. You had to find food, find work, find shelter from the soldiers. Keep your eyes open, your wits sharp. You had to move and keep moving, or trouble found you.

But I wasn’t in Geveg any more.

“Perhaps you should stay close to the house for the next few days,” Onderaan said. “Just in case people are looking for you.”

“I can’t. I have food duty.” Besides, lots of folks knew me around here anyway. A spy wouldn’t need to see me to learn I was here.

“I’m sure Jeatar can find someone to fill in for you.” He glanced at Jeatar, who paused and looked at me as if unsure whether or not to agree to that.

I bristled. I liked helping out. At least I was doing something useful and not just waiting for news. “There is no one to fill in for me. People are spread thin enough as it is. If I’m not there, everyone else has to work harder, and that’s not fair.”

“Not everyone else is in danger.”

I folded my arms. “We’re all in danger – mine’s just more personal.”

Jeatar’s mouth twitched, but he stayed quiet.

Onderaan sighed. “Well, as long as you’re careful, I guess it’ll be OK.”

As if I needed his permission. “Jeatar, you’ll let me know if there’s any more news today?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you.” I had a picnic to get back to. I’d promised Danello we’d have fun, and I wasn’t about to let him down.

Even if having fun was the last thing I felt like doing.

I made it to the kitchen garden before Danello, but I found Aylin cuddled up with Quenji on a bench under the orange trees. Thin shafts of sunlight cut through the branches and brought out Aylin’s true red hair beneath the fake black.

I cleared my throat.

They pulled apart and she blushed, but the glint in her brown eyes said I’d get the full story later. At least one of us had got kissed today.

“Oh, hi!” She giggled and glanced at Quenji, who grinned. But then he was always grinning. He’d been the leader of a street pack I’d met in Baseer and had risked his life to help us destroy the Duke’s foundry there. I think he really liked the danger, since he’d volunteered for every mission to go back and look for Tali. He was a good person to have watching your back, so I was happy to have him along.

So was Aylin, apparently.

“Sooo, how was the picnic?” she asked.

“Short.” I told her about the sainters.

“Pfft, nobody pays attention to them,” she said, waving her hand. She smiled. “But tell me, before they interrupted – anything interesting happen?”

“Not as interesting as I’d have liked.” I glanced at Quenji. Potential kisses weren’t something I wanted to discuss in front of him. “Onderaan’s trying to tell me what to do again.”

“He means well,” Aylin said.

“He’s annoying.”

“Nya, he doesn’t know how to act around you. He was probably just as shocked to find out about you as you were about him.”

“Well, maybe.” I didn’t like this conversation any better. Weren’t best friends supposed to side with you no matter what? I changed the subject. “Jeatar says the Gov-Gen might be dead.”

“Does that mean we can go home?” Aylin turned to Quenji before I could reply. “You’ll love Geveg! It’s on the lake, and there are beaches and warm breezes and the best coffee you’ve ever had.”

“And soldiers,” I said, surprised to see how eager she was to go back. To leave before we found Tali. “Don’t forget about the Baseeri soldiers beating people up just for fun.”

She flicked a hand at me again, as if she could brush off the idea of soldiers as easily as sainters. “If the Gov-Gen is dead, then the soldiers are next. They’ll probably be gone by the time we get there.”

“We don’t know what it means yet.”

“Nya!” She gaped at me. “It means Geveg is fighting back, just like you always wanted. I bet they’re kicking the Baseeri out as we speak.” She jumped up and pantomimed kicking people one at a time. Quenji applauded.

“I’ve never been to Geveg,” he said. “I’d love to go.”

“But—”

“Go where?” Danello said, slipping up behind me.

“Home!” Aylin cried.

“Really?” He stared at me with hope in his eyes. “When did this happen?”

I held up both hands. “No one said anything about going home. I’m not even sure if the rumour is true.”

“What rumour?” Danello looked confused. “You went to see Jeatar while I was gone, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but just for a minute.” I sighed and explained the whole thing. The transport ships, the Gov-Gen, not being able to go after Tali.

Aylin plopped back on to the bench. “So we’re not going home.”

I’d never realised how much she wanted to. So did I, but not without Tali. Home was wherever my sister was, and without her, Geveg would be just another city.

“Not yet, but we will, I promise.”

“If there’s a home to go back to,” Danello mumbled.

“What?” Aylin said.

“I want to go back, too,” he said. “My da’s still there. And Halima and the twins ask about him all the time.”

Danello’s little brothers and sister stayed pretty close to the farmhouse, and I’d never seen them out past the main gate. After what they’d been through, I couldn’t blame them. Kidnapped, almost killed by Undying, running from Baseer with the rest of us. They deserved to go home and be with their father again.