Chapter 34

The battle was over, but Katrin and Shavala hadn’t made an appearance yet. As soon as Corec could get away, he went looking for them, heading into the building where they’d been positioned, taking the stairs as quickly as he could in his armor. Reaching the top, he found Marco sitting alone on the floor with his head in his hands.

“Where are they?” Corec barked. Had something happened?

“Katrin’s helping Shavala back to the camp. She got hurt during the fighting.”

“Hurt how?”

“I don’t know. She said she’s fine, and that Katrin’s worrying about nothing.”

Corec let himself relax. It couldn’t have been serious, then. “Where’s Nedley?” he asked in a calmer tone.

“He went with them.”

“What’s wrong with you?”

Marco’s eyes met his. “Are you serious? We could have all died today! I work for a trading company, not a bloody army! What the hell is going on?”

Corec couldn’t blame him for his reaction. The mercenaries had been more capable than Corec had expected, and the rest of their opponents had been completely unwilling to surrender or flee. He’d underestimated the true scale of the battle, and only the arrival of the Travelers had saved the day.

“Hopefully we’ll find out soon,” he said. “Boktar and Treya are looking for any wounded that we might be able to save. We should have some prisoners.” And, with any luck, perhaps the Travelers had been successful too. If they’d managed to catch the Seeker, he was likely to know more than the mercenaries did. The priests wouldn’t be an option—they were both dead.

Marco grunted but didn’t say anything.

“I need to go back down and help. Can you get back to camp on your own?” They’d positioned the battle several blocks east of the structure where they’d set up their camp.

Marco sighed. “Yes,” he said, getting to his feet.

Corec nodded and left him to it, returning outside to find Treya checking on Bobo again. The other man was still sprawled out, unconscious, in the cross street.

“How is he?” Corec asked.

“I still don’t see any major injuries,” Treya said. “He’s just asleep. Razai insists it’s drain shock.”

“What? He’s not a mage.”

“She says he’s a priest.” Treya hesitated. “Or, at least, that he was using divine magic.”

Before Corec could respond, Nedley came jogging up. “I found the carts and their packs,” he said. “They left them in the plaza.”

Corec grimaced. “Ned, some of the mercenaries escaped. What would have happened if you’d run into them? I thought you were with Katrin.”

“I was careful!” the boy insisted. “Katrin didn’t need me, but on my way back here, I saw some of them getting away, so I followed them. They grabbed their packs and some things out of the carts, and then went east. They didn’t see me.”

Well, Corec had wanted Nedley to start taking more initiative. And regardless of the boy’s questionable judgement, the information was useful. “How many?”

“Three.”

“I’m sure more than that got away. You didn’t see any others?”

“No.”

“That must have been the last group, then,” Corec said. “Or maybe some of them forgot to stop and grab their things. They’ll have a rough trip back to civilization if they didn’t take any food. We’ll need to watch and make sure they don’t try to sneak back here.”

Sarette would know more once she returned. She’d gone up the mountain slope for a better view, to count how many mercenaries were fleeing and track which direction they were headed.

Just then, Josip returned from checking on the wagon drivers. “That woman from the ruins was there,” he said. “I thought she was going to take my head off. Couldn’t understand a word she was saying. Looks like a group of mercenaries tried to head her way and she dealt with them.”

“Well, that’s something, I suppose,” Corec said. Ariadne had done as he’d asked after all. “The drivers are safe?”

“Seemed to be, but I don’t know what I’m going to tell their fathers. The boys are all excited—I guess they watched the woman fight—but something scared them enough to keep them hiding in the building, at least.”

Corec sighed. “I should have figured out a way to get them home. At least they’re alive.”

Leena joined the little group then, but before she could speak, there was a shout from the far end of the block.

“Hey!” Boktar called out. “I’ve got another live one here!” He’d been checking through the bodies.

Treya looked worried. “I’m about to pass out. I don’t think I can do much more healing.”

“Then stick bandages on them and see if they make it until morning,” Corec said. “Focus on the ones who have a chance, and check on Shavala as soon as you can. She might have been hurt, but it doesn’t sound serious.” It was standard battlefield triage—help the ones you could help, and help your own people first.

She nodded. “I wish Bobo was awake. He’s better at this sort of thing.” She headed in Boktar’s direction.

Leena got Corec’s attention then. “We captured the Seeker,” she said.

He blew out his breath. “That’s a relief. I’m not sure any of the others we’ve found will know anything. Is he talking?”

“Not yet, but we were going to try again. Do you want to be there?”

“Yes, but...” he gazed around the battlefield. “Josip, Nedley, we need to start getting these bodies farther away from our camp. Help Boktar look for live ones, but don’t get too close to any buildings until he checks to make sure no one’s hiding in them. Drag the dead ones as far as you can manage. Take them to the plaza if you can, and bring the carts and packs back here. Belt pouches, too.”

“What about the rest?” Josip asked. “Armor, weapons?”

“Leave the weapons where they are; I’ll look them over later. If the armor’s heavy, you might as well take it off before you try and drag the fellow. See if you can get Sarette and Razai to help you. Sarette’s looking for high ground to watch the mercenaries who got away. I’m not sure about Razai. She was here earlier.” He tried searching for Razai through the warden bond, then remembered her bond was no longer active.

The guide shrugged. “I haven’t seen her either. We can get the mules and some rope, though. That’ll be easier than dragging the bodies ourselves.”

“Oh, right. That makes sense. I’ll join you as soon as I can.” Corec turned to Leena. “Let’s go find Ellerie and then see what your Seeker has to say.”

Leena introduced Corec and Ellerie to her Uncle Rohav and to Pavan, the younger Traveler who’d helped catch the Seeker. The rest of her people were gone. Those with enough strength remaining had teleported the others back to Sanvar.

“Thank you for coming,” Corec said. “Without your help, I don’t think we could have succeeded.”

Rohav stared at him expressionlessly. “We didn’t come here to help you, northerner. We came because these men, or others like them, slaughtered hundreds of our people.” Then he sighed. “But for your aid, you have our gratitude.”

“And the gratitude of all the Zidari people,” Pavan added.

Corec nodded, then glanced down at the prisoner, who was lying on his side, still tied up. “Have you learned anything?”

“The traitor refuses even to tell us his name or what camp he’s from,” Pavan said. They’d checked the man’s tattoos before Leena had fetched Corec and Ellerie, but the ones to identify his camp and family had been removed, scarred and abraded enough to leave only indistinct smudges.

Ellerie drew her rapier and rested the tip against the Seeker’s throat. “What if, for every question he answers, he gets to live a little longer? If he stops answering questions, he dies.”

The prisoner swallowed, and his eyes darted back and forth between those standing over him, but he didn’t speak. Ellerie pressed down just enough to draw blood.

“If he’s dead, he won’t be able to talk,” Corec pointed out. “We can find a place to lock him up inside the ruins. He’ll have plenty of time to change his mind. There’s nothing else to do down there.”

Leena wasn’t sure whether Corec was playing along with Ellerie’s bluff, or if he didn’t realize it was a bluff. Was it a bluff? Leena had grown closer to the elven woman, but she didn’t actually know that much about her. They spoke frequently, but they’d always kept their conversations from becoming too personal.

“That won’t be necessary,” Rohav said. “We’ll take him back to Sanvar. The empress’s palace has warded cells. He won’t be able to get out, and no Traveler will be able to get in. No Seer or Seeker will ever be able to find him. In the meantime, our own Seekers can track down his family and friends. I’m sure they’ll be interested to know he’s responsible for murdering so many of our own people. They’ll probably be willing to tell us what else he’s been up to.”

“No, wait!” the man said, his eyes going wide. “I’ll tell you anything you want! Just don’t tell my family what I did!”

Ellerie pulled her sword away from his neck.

Rohav glanced around at the others, then back down at the prisoner. “Then who are you?” he asked.

“Davir of the Parsha camp, but I grew up in Sebin Township,” the Seeker replied in Zidari. Sebin was a rural region in western Sanvar.

“Trade tongue,” Pavan said sharply, “so our new friends can understand you.”

The prisoner repeated his statement in the trade language.

“Who are the people that attacked us?” Corec asked.

“You attacked us!”

“Don’t be stupid!” Ellerie snapped. “We knew you were trying to kill Leena before you ever got here.”

The man’s eyes darted to Leena, but he didn’t speak.

Rohav said, “If you lie, the deal’s off. Shall I head back to Sanvar now and look for your family?”

“Wait! I’ll tell the truth, but you have to protect me! They’ll kill me if they know I told you!”

“That’s not something you need to worry about. If the empress allows you to live, no one will ever find you.”

Davir swallowed, and screwed his eyes tightly closed. “They’re followers of the Snake.”

Rohav and Pavan exchanged confused glances. “Who?” Pavan asked.

“It’s one of the countryside sects, but bigger than most,” the man said, opening his eyes again.

That made sense—there were always little religions springing up outside the cities. The empress had functionaries dedicated to tracking them to make sure they weren’t up to any mischief.

Pavan seemed to realize that too. When he spoke next, his voice was cold. “If there’s a cult that worships a snake, why didn’t anyone in Sanvara City tell us that when we found those knives?”

He’d been talking to Rohav, but it was Davir who answered. “Their wizards and priests have warded all their members. No one can find them.”

Rohav shook his head. “That would stop us. It wouldn’t stop her Imperial Majesty’s government. Not for a cult that’s large enough to have wizards working for them. Either our questions didn’t make their way to the right people, or...” He left the obvious unsaid. If someone in the government was a member of the sect, he or she could have made sure the Zidari didn’t get the answers they’d sought.

“Where did the priests come from?” Corec asked Davir. “Which god did they follow?”

“They said they followed the Snake. Their people believe there were four old gods, not three.”

Corec snorted. “Even if there were, the old gods don’t have priests.”

“I only know what they told me.”

Rohav’s voice cut through the conversation. “Why murder the Travelers?”

Davir’s face grew anxious. “They didn’t tell me what they were going to do! I swear! They just wanted to know where they all were.”

“That’s not what I asked!”

“They didn’t say why! The priests said it had to happen, but they wouldn’t tell me anything else!”

Leena spoke up for the first time. “You claim you didn’t know they were going to kill the Travelers, but then you kept working with them afterward?” She had to discover what he knew, and when he knew it.

“They forced me to! They would have killed me if I didn’t!”

“What did I tell you about lying?” Rohav asked him.

“We found this on him when you went to get the others,” Pavan told Leena, holding up a coin pouch. He untied it and turned it over, letting dozens of golden coins fall to the floor.

“Money?” Leena asked, feeling sick. “You betrayed the Zidari for money?”

“It was that or a knife through the ribs!” the Seeker said.

“Then you picked the wrong choice,” Rohav said.

“Razai overheard part of a conversation while she was scouting their camp,” Ellerie added. “From what she told us, it didn’t sound like he was there against his will.”