Page 105 of Throwing Fire

I shrug. First I’ve heard of it.

“I’ll look into it,” Kez says. “The transition to us was abrupt and some private avenues of communication may have been lost. But I certainly wasn’t ignoring you.”

Drogan nods before he goes back to his food.

“Have you any idea who else might be behind the attempts on your life?” the old man asks. “Despite our ... gift, it is surely not the Foxes.”

Kez glances at the box by my knee. The healthy pink of her cheeks blanches. I rub my hand up and down her back.

“How did you know about the Foxes?” she asks.

That’s a good question, since I haven’t told anyone but Kez what I found in the vid Payton sent me.

Flagg clears his throat as if to speak, but Drogan leans forward and looks so closely at Kez that I’m tempted to back him up with the point of my kukri.

“What do you know of us, Lightfoot?” Drogan asks.

Kez gives him the gimlet stare right back. My kitten. “I’ll be honest. Not a lot.”

“I’ve not had that luxury.” Drogan nods, black beard wagging against his leather tunic. “I have needed to know much about my neighbors to protect my brothers and sisters from those who would undermine their Faith. The Cloudlands have been my main concern, because of their proximity to my lands, and I have listened to every whisper to come from the Clouds for the last five years. You did not escape my attention, Lightfoot.” Drogan’s look turns speculative, and he’s lucky we’re all sitting around Acker’s table, or I really would back him up with my knife. “It did not escape my attention that you and your Reaper-Man were on the Clouds the night the House of Tyng fell. It did not escape my attention that the next time you came to the Clouds you were attacked.”

“Official story is the skimmer malfunctioned,” I say.

Drogan lifts an eyebrow in my direction, letting me know he thinks as little of that story as I do.

“One of the things that most distresses me about Unbelievers is how willing they are to betray their fellows for a few credits. It cost me less than the expense of travelling here to discover the creature who shot down your skimmer. A creature so without honor that returning him to Helas was a service. Bringing you what remains of him is a benefaction.”

His version of Helas is a lot bloodier than I would have expected. Maybe I can find some common ground with him. “Appreciated,” I say.

Kez nods in agreement, although she probably wouldn’t if she saw what was in the box.

“That is how I knew of Domni Fox,” Drogan says. “But that does not answer the question, Lightfoot, since I also know enough of the Blue Fox clan to know that they do not have one hundred credits to spare, much less one hundred thousand. Which begs the obvious question.”

“How Dom Fox got his paws on a mag gun,” I supply, which gets me a sharp look from Acker.

Drogan’s dark eyes flick to me and he nods.

I decide to share. Ain’t my first impulse, but I figure he and Acker have earned it. “Might be an inside job. Mag gun came from the Tyng arsenal in Hemos. I’m still figuring out how it got to the Foxes.”

“I can assist you with that,” Acker says quietly. “I have eyes and ears within the clan.”

“Thanks.” I probably should have told him before, but there hasn’t been a ton of opportunity. Or a ton of trust.

“Two weeks ago, you’d have needed no eyes and ears,” Drogan offers. “Honorable Tyng’s lieutenant here on the Clouds was so consumed by greed, he would have delivered such a weapon to the Foxes, even to be used on one of his own.”

Kimpler, who must have been playing both sides if he was having Payton establish distribution paths into the E.C. even after the Old Man gave his word to Drogan. No wonder the Old Man had Kimpler offed.

Fucking Tyngaling politics.

“That why you demanded a meet with the Old Man himself?” I ask. “Cause you knew Kimpler was playin’ both sides of the fence?”

The Horse-Man nods. “I brought the Honorable Tyng a name, a face, to prove that his lieutenant had betrayed him. The revelation was no surprise.”

“Yeah? What name was that?” I’ve got a bad feeling I already know.

“To my people, he is known as Jannox, but you know him by another name?—”

“Jaxon Mereia,” Kez says heavily.

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