Darkfall

“There are some folks hurt in the outer camp,” I said. Probably some in Little ’Crat City, too, but I wasn’t worried about them. They’d march right up to the farmhouse and demand healing if they needed it. “They might need some looking after.”

Lanelle nodded. “I’ll head over when Tussen comes in.”

“Make sure you take some guards.”

“Always do.” She put the pynvium brick back into its cabinet and relocked it. “You hear about Geveg?”

She couldn’t mean the Gov-Gen. Jeatar hadn’t confirmed that, and even if he had, I doubt he’d tell Lanelle about it. “Hear what?”

“They’re chasing out the Baseeri.” She shrugged. “At least, that’s what I heard.”

“From who?” Danello asked. He sounded suspicious.

“People in the camps. They do talk to me, you know.”

“There’s a lot of talk in the camps,” I said, “but you can’t believe half of it.” Still, if Gevegians really were chasing the Baseeri out, maybe the Gov-Gen rumour was true.

Lanelle huffed. “All I know is that there’s a lot of homeless Baseeri around, and not all of them are from Baseer. They want to go home as badly as we do.”

Strange to hear Lanelle say she wanted to go home.

“Anyway,” she said, rubbing her eyes. I hadn’t noticed the circles under them before. “I’ll take care of the people in the camps.”

“Thanks.” We left Lanelle alone in a room of cots. I shivered, picturing the last room she’d overseen. The cots there had all been occupied. A room filled with suffering.

I sighed. “When did everything go so wrong?”

Danello paused. “The day you helped me.”

“What?” Did he blame me?

“No! I didn’t mean it like that,” he said quickly. “It wasn’t you, it was just that day. The ferry accident. All those people hurt. That’s when it started.”

I exhaled, but my heart was still racing. “OK. That’s when we found out about the Duke’s experiments, but you know, I think it started before that.” I looked at him, and understanding flickered in his eyes. Sadness, too.

“Five years.”

I nodded. “Five years.”

When the Duke took over and invaded our homes. And until he was gone, nothing would ever be right again.

“Nya,” Aylin whispered sometime in the hours before dawn. “You awake?”

“Yes.” The wind had woken me a while back, gusting against the farmhouse like waves on rocks. No forests or mountains to stop it, I guess. Just open farmland.

I missed waves. And water. The caw of lake gulls riding the wind.

Aylin shook me. “Are you listening?”

“I’m sorry. What?”

She blew out a sigh. “I asked how long you were going to look for Tali.”

“Until I find her.”

“What if you don’t?”

I didn’t want to think about that. Or talk about it. Silence stretched in the darkness.

“I’m not trying to be heartless or anything,” she continued, “but if the rumours are true, if Geveg belongs to Gevegians again, well, going home would be a good thing, wouldn’t it?”

I swallowed, but my mouth was dry. “Yes.”

“And I know Danello wants to, though he’d never tell you that. He worries about his father. So do Halima and the twins. They really miss him.”

“Maybe you should go without me.” It hurt to say, but how could I keep them all here, knowing they wanted to go home?

She snorted and thumped me on the arm. “I’m not saying that. I’m just saying, maybe you should start thinking of ways to find Tali that don’t involve putting yourself in danger all the time.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. Hire a tracker? I hear Vyand is good.”

I swatted her with my pillow. “Aylin! How could you even suggest—”

Something thunked against the outside wall, harder than just wind. Aylin popped up.

“What was that?” she whispered.

I slipped out of bed, careful not to rustle the covers or squeak the frame. Jeatar had good furniture, so it rarely made a sound. I was equally quiet on the carpet as I made my way to the balcony doors.

Another thunk, then scraping like metal on wood.

I tugged back the curtains just enough to peek out. Moonlight lit the balcony, reflecting off… a grappling hook?

A hand slapped the railing, then a leg. I turned to Aylin.

“Someone’s there,” I said. “Get out of—”

Glass shattered behind me, then hot pain pierced my back.

Chapter Four (#ulink_a04f3a38-8a5a-5017-a4d0-3b6d59f70107)

I yelped and dived forward, away from whatever had clawed me. I hit the floor, but something else landed beside me. Small, and it moved, skittering back towards the doors. It snagged on the doorframe but broke through and caught on the balcony rail.

A second grappling hook.

“Aylin, get out of here!” I scrambled back to my feet as the first intruder kicked open the doors. More glass cracked, and a piece grazed my arm. It didn’t sting nearly as much as my back.