Page 65 of Queen Demon
Dahin grimaced in defeat and dug in his pocket. He pulled outa round palm-size stone, with a Blessed metal inset in the center. It had the icy touch of Thosaren on it, more so than any other Blessed tools Kai had come in contact with. Still he held it up and raised his voice to say, “Sura, is this the key?”
“Yes!” she called back. Ramad and Arnsterath stood a little distance away, Ramad watching Kai with a furrowed brow and Arnsterath looking off toward the path.
“I know you’re angry,” Dahin began.
Kai put the key in the pocket inside his coat and started away. He headed toward Sura, possibly because she was the only person here he didn’t want to kill, or at least maim, or leave abandoned in a remote part of the forsaken hills of Sun-Ar. He had no idea what he wanted to do next; the anger and the misery of the trip, and the fact that he couldn’t trust Dahin, had made a hash out of any tentative plans.
Sura had moved to the top of the path, one hand lifted to shield her eyes from the glare. Kai reached her side and looked out over the plain that was mostly scrubby yellow grass and flowering sedge in light-colored sandy dirt, dotted with the occasional low, spiky, wind-twisted tree. Not far in the distance was a line of rocky hills and bluffs, sand-colored again with darker brown and gray streaks. The path curved a short distance down the shattered caldera’s slope, toward a small camp, tucked close to a ridge of debris to shield it from the wind.
It was a group of sturdy tents reinforced with wooden poles, their oiled canvases painted with Belithan florals. Five riding animals grazed nearby in a sprawling makeshift corral made of the spiky tree branches; it didn’t look sturdy enough to keep an Arike horse in control, but these animals were stocky and placid, with long shaggy coats and short curving horns, similar to the winter ox of the Enalin highlands. Two slight figures in padded coats were tying down a canopy over what was probably a pit dug to keep supplies. Some folding wooden camp stools had been arranged around an unlit central firepit, but there was no sign of anyone else.
“That’s Timai and Rohas, our drovers. We hired them when we reached the lower mountains and needed riding animals accustomed to the climate,” Sura said, a tightness in her voice. “But there’s no one on watch. And the animals, so many are missing. The others must have gone somewhere but that would be almost everyone—”
Kai suppressed a growl. They could be too late already, even with their precipitous arrival.
Ramad came up behind them and stopped, several prudent steps away, as if he suspected Kai would not react well to being startled. He said, “What’s wrong?”
Kai left Sura to explain and started down the path. The wind whipped at his coat and he pulled it closed and buttoned the tabs. The others followed, Ramad questioning Sura about the state of the expedition when she had left seven days ago. “Everything was fine,” she was saying, her tone growing more anxious. “There was a site they were going to explore to the south, but they were still making preparations. But not everyone was going, that doesn’t make sense. We have two work groups, and one always stays behind—”
To the south,Kai thought,where Dahin thinks the Well is. The ground around the camp was gravelly and he didn’t bother to try to walk quietly. If something had gotten in here and killed most of the expedition members he would rather fight it outside than in a tent. Though the fact that the two drovers had survived seemed to weigh against that.
One heard Kai’s approach, looked up and called out. Then the flap on a tent near the firepit flew open and a figure burst out, calling, “Hello!” in Belithan.
Kai stopped, waiting. The person was short and sturdy, bundled up in a padded coat and fur hat, and their face had similar tattoos to Sura’s, which should indicate that she was a woman. As she started forward, her gait was uneven; she wore a woodenbrace over her right knee. Then she saw Kai and their gazes met. She halted with a startled cry.
“It’s all right! Veile, it’s fine!” Sura ran forward, her steps loud on the gravel. “They’re from the Rising World.”
“Oh,” Veile said, still struggling with the shock. Her hands trembled. The two drovers ran to join them, wide-eyed and staring. With an obvious effort, Veile dragged her gaze from Kai to Sura. “I apologize, I—”
Ramad started to speak and Kai interrupted, “It’s perfectly all right.” He spoke in formal Belithan and Veile blinked at him in surprise. “No harm was done.”
Sura made hasty introductions, hesitating when she came to Arnsterath, who said complacently, “I have no title yet.”
Kai turned to look pointedly at Ramad, who set his jaw. Dahin muttered, “Oh.”
Sura finished, “This is Veile, she is in charge of the camp. But where are the others?”
“Ilhanrun led a group to the southern tor, the one we scouted before you left. They were supposed to come back… no, it’s been another day. Three nights ago.” Veile wiped at her face, clearly more distraught than she was trying to appear. “There was a storm the first night, so we thought they’d decided to take shelter where they were instead of trying to make it back here. But the next day there was no sign of them either. Colibar led the second group after them, thinking they must be trapped somewhere.” She made a helpless gesture. “They haven’t returned either.”
Kai hoped they were trapped somewhere. “How far is this?” he asked. “Is it near the earthwork you already found?”
“No, that was off toward the west,” Veile said, pointing. She still sounded distressed, but she was over the shock of Kai’s appearance and now seemed to be hopeful that they could help. “We hadn’t done much surveying to the south yet. Ilhanrun and Scholar Niera wanted to get it at least a little done before we hadto leave. In a month or so, the season will start to change and the winds rise, and we’ll need to be gone by then.”
“Can you show us?” Dahin stepped up, shifting his bag around to pull out his map.
While the two drovers got riding animals saddled for them, Dahin planned their route, and Ramad took Arnsterath off to talk about whatever it was they talked about. Kai took the chance to speak privately to Sura by the corral gate.
First, he took out the anchor key and put it in her hand. “Take the raft and go back for Ziede Daiyahah and Tahren Stargard.”
Sura’s pinched expression shifted to relief as she tucked the key away, probably because the return of it was a sign the expedition had not been completely taken over by demons and Rising World vanguarders and Lesser Blessed with obscure and devious motives. “I’ll have to unload the supplies, but the drovers will help and it won’t take long. I’ll be gone at least two days, to get there and back.” She looked up at him, her brow creased with worry. “Do you think the others were attacked by expositors?”
“Possibly,” Kai said. He wanted her and Veile and the young drovers to be warned, to be careful. He didn’t addor worse,because from her expression she understood the danger very well.
She nodded sharply, then hesitated. “Fourth Prince, you said that Arnsterath would hold me hostage.” Her expression had all the weight of Belith’s history with demons, the ones enslaved by the Hierarchs to put down attempts at rebellion in Belith and Palm. “If she’s that dangerous, why is Vanguarder Ramad giving her parole? Did the Rising World really agree to it?”
Kai kept his wince internal. “There are a lot of people who make up the Rising World council, and I don’t think most of them will know about this yet. The vanguarder is acting under orders from… one official in particular.”
Sura watched him carefully. “Not you.”
