Page 42 of The Eyes of Tamburah
Orla shrugged. “Does it matter?”
“Of course. The guards just don’t randomly beat people to death. There are laws.”
“Is that so.” Orla’s cynical tone indicated it wasn’t a question. She leaned forward. “You want a reason? Then her crime was simply existing. Like you.”
Tired of the back and forth, Shyla stood. “Haven’t you heard? I’m not a crime, I’m a curse.”
Orla laughed. It was a barking rattle. A few people nearby turned and stared as if they’d never heard their leader laugh before.
Shyla didn’t have time for this nonsense. “Are you going to tell me where the black river is or not?”
Sobering, the woman nodded. “Vencel and Adair will take you.”
A weight eased off her shoulders. She reached for her coin purse. “How much?”
“Ten.”
“Seven,” she countered just to test the woman.
“Good luck finding your way out,” Orla said.
Nice. She placed ten coins inside the fixed puzzle box, closed it, and handed it to Orla, causing more cackling laughter.
“I’m starting to like you, Sun-kissed,” Orla said between gasps for breath. She waved a hand to the left. “The boys are waiting for you.”
Shyla grabbed a druk first. Vencel and Adair grunted when she joined them, but otherwise didn’t say a word as they navigated the maze of tunnels. Nor did they answer her questions about the exact location of the black river.
Finally, she refused to move until they gave her some idea of where they were going.
“There’s a hidden staircase on level seventy-eight that goes right down to it,” Vencel said, annoyance coloring his voice.
“That seems too easy,” she said.
“There’s a few twists and turns after that, but not many. No one really wants to go down there anyway.”
“When was it re-discovered?”
“Two or three hundred sun jumps ago. A couple of vagrants searching for free water found it.” He shrugged. “They told me the story, said that level might be a good place to squat.”
He said nothing more. They soon reached the bridge over the air shaft.
“You should post a guard here,” Shyla said.
Adair grunted. “We willnow.”
Vencel walked onto the plank, but Shyla hesitated.
“What are you waiting for?” Adair asked.
Courage. But she didn’t say that aloud. Instead, she strode out as if she did it every sun jump. Adair followed.
Vencel, though, stopped midway and turned around. “Do you still want to find the black river?”
Confused, she said, “Yes.”
“All right.” His arm shot out, aiming for her shoulder.
She dropped the lantern. It shattered as she deflected his strike. Then Adair’s hands grabbed her hips. He shoved her to the side as Vencel danced out of reach. Off balance, she tipped into the rushing air current.
