Page 77 of Queen Demon
“Some of us tried,” someone muttered.
“You’ll need to try better next time,” Kai said. Then began to tell them what he had learned about killing expositors. He would save the lesson on what cantrips to use on demons for later.
The more he talked, the more interested they all looked, until one called Knifecrest said, “How are you any different from an expositor?”
Kai felt his jaw set. They obviously knew his sore point now. He hadn’t wanted this body. He had reached for Talamines as a last gesture of defiance at the Hierarchs, thinking he and Ziede and Bashasa and Tahren and all the others were about to die. That they hadn’t was mostly luck, but it had left him like this.
He made his expression bored and said, “We’ve gone over this before. If you need telling again, ask someone else.” That wasprobably enough lesson for now, anyway. “Get some rest. We’ll be leaving by afternoon.”
As he turned away, Kai heard a step behind him. Cimeri cried out, “Hey!” as Kai felt the grit of dust on his skin. He was already exhausted with the whole idea of dustwitches, and they had a long way to go. He turned to find Knifecrest standing behind him with a challenging glare. He tapped her cheek lightly, taking just enough life to make his point. She stumbled back. Another dustwitch caught and steadied her.
Cimeri was on her feet, watching incredulously. “Stupid,” she said succinctly.
Kai let a little of his impatience show. “We have an alliance. You’re not prisoners. If any of you want to leave, go now, I won’t stop you. Honestly, I can’t wait to see the back of you.” No one left. He noticed a few, but only a few, looked at Nightjar to gauge her reaction. Her expression was hard to read, but there was something there Kai recognized. She looked like Lahshar did, when she was calculating her moment to interrupt Bashasa. She started to speak but Kai talked over her, saying, “Anyone else want to test me?”
No one apparently did, and Kai went to find a place to rest.
Later in the day, when most of the others were asleep, Knifecrest took her riding animal and left with two companions. Kai was awake to watch them go, sitting back against a tree. Cimeri curled up asleep on a bedroll beside him, their horses tethered nearby.
Another dustwitch came over to Kai, her footsteps crunching in the gravelly dirt, loud in the quiet. The day had grown warmer and even the flies seemed to be asleep. She hesitated as the two Arike horses growled at her, and Kai motioned her to come closer. She sat on her heels and, keeping her voice low, said, “We talked to Knifecrest and told her to leave.”
That was a little unexpected. Kai said, “You didn’t trust her?”
The corner of her mouth twitched in what might possibly be a smile. “We just didn’t like her.”
She started to get up, and Kai asked, “What’s your name?”
“Tangeld.” She shrugged, rueful. “I gave up my dust name.” Then she said, “The youngers ask if they can bathe in the stream before we leave.”
Kai stared at her. Next they would be asking him if they could piss and shit. He said, “They can bathe, they can do whatever they want as long as they’re ready to leave when it’s time and they don’t fall behind.”
She lifted her brows, thoughtful. “The Doyen made us get permission.”
“To bathe? No wonder you all stink.”
“You’re not fragrant yourself, Fourth Prince.” She hesitated again. “You shouldn’t trust us yet.”
“Oh, I’ll never trust you,” Kai assured her.
“Never’s a long time,” she said, and pushed to her feet and walked away.
Two days later, in the late evening as they rode by moonlight, Amabel returned from taking a message to Bashasa, and brought Hawkmoth with them.
They were riding along a low hill above a creekbed, and Kai decided it was time to rest the animals anyway. The dustwitches greeted Hawkmoth more enthusiastically than Kai had expected, and seemed astonished that she was still alive.
While Kai greeted Amabel and read Bashasa’s message, Hawkmoth stood patiently. Finished, Kai closed his hand around the rough paper and leached the life out of its fibers until it crumbed to unreadable yellow fragments. They never left anything with instructions on it intact, so it couldn’t be lost and stray into legionary hands. He said, “The Prince-heir said you wanted to come.”
“I want to fight with you and my sisters against the Hierarchs,”Hawkmoth said, earnest and aggressive at the same time. “If you will allow it. And I apologize for my previous behavior.”
Kai managed to conceal some unflattering surprise. He said, “What brought this on?”
Hawkmoth shifted awkwardly and looked very young. She threw a look at Amabel, as if asking for their reassurance. They nodded kindly and she said, “Being with Mother Hiraga and Ibel. Sister Ziede. I liked it. And I want to show you I’m worthy of their company.”
Now it was Kai’s turn to feel awkward. He said, “Well, go and join the others.”
Hawkmoth nodded seriously. “Thank you, Fourth Prince. I have apologized to Raihar and her family, I’ll go and apologize to Cimeri now.”
As she left, Amabel lowered their voice and said, “Sister Ziede said all the child needed was to get that ‘monstrous creature’s claws’ out of her head.”
