Encrypted (25 page)

Tikaya smiled. So, he had also been the
youth who did not fit in. Maybe more so than she, since it sounded
as if there was less educational infrastructure for precocious
children in the empire.

“
Surely, you’ve long since
outgrown those troubles.” She yawned, folded her arms over her
journal, and pillowed her chin. “I’m sure you could entice women of
any age now.”

The pencil paused, and he bent down to peer
into her eyes. “Hm, I’ve been meaning to ask you about that. How
old are you?”

“
Thirty. Does it
matter?”

Humor glinted in his brown eyes. “Just
wondering if my fantasies have been downright scandalous or merely
lacking in propriety.”

If Tikaya had been less tired, she would
have laughed at the idea of being someone’s fantasy, but she smiled
blearily, her eyelids half shut. The thought, like the applejack,
left her with a warm contentedness.

“
How old are you?” she
murmured.

“
Forty-three.”

“
As far as my people are
concerned, it’d be more scandalous that you were a Turgonian
military officer than that you’re older than I am.”

He had never told her he was an officer, but
he did not deny it now. Glum acknowledgment replaced the humor on
his face, and Tikaya wished she could retract the comment.

A knock sounded at the door, and the guard
walked in. He blinked in surprise at Tikaya, probably expecting her
to be naked, then focused on Rias.

“
Skeldar’s team checked
that mining camp like you asked,” the marine said. “It’s ten miles
out. The men there were dead, same as everyone here. Same time ago.
And the lookout tower at the bottom of the pass seems the same. The
scouts saw no fire, no one moving.”

Rias scribbled a note. “Distance to the
tower?”

“
Fifteen
miles.”

“
Thank you, private.
Dismissed.”

Grimness hooded his eyes, and he did not
watch as the marine walked out. Tikaya shifted in her seat, waiting
for him to finish, or waiting for an opportunity to ask him his
thoughts. But she already sensed the problem. If people fifteen
miles away had been killed by the same rocket...

“
Ancestors help us.” Rias
sat back, eyes closed.

“
What?”

“
The rocket detonated in
the air over the fort, sending those cubes in all directions where
they opened of their own volition to release their contents. I can
only guess at the exact nature of the substance, but based on all
the data points I’ve received, we’re looking at a weapon that can
kill everyone within twenty miles of the detonation point. That’s
more than twelve hundred and fifty square miles.” He stared at her.
“Can you imagine what would happen if a weapon like this was
launched in a populated area? Our capital city has more than a
million people.”

“
Ninety percent of the
Kyattese population lives on our main island, and it’s smaller than
that.” Tikaya thought of such a weapon in the Turgonian emperor’s
hands. Why worry about subjugating her people when one could just
kill them all and claim the deserted island for
colonization?

CHAPTER 13

The door opened with a bang, and cold air
flooded the room. Tikaya sat up. Wan morning light silhouetted
Bocrest.

Confusion disoriented her for a moment. She
remembered falling asleep at the desk with her cheek pressed
against the pages of her journal, but now she sat in the bunk, a
blanket pooled about her waist. Rias lay on the floor before the
stove. He rolled his head toward the door, eyes slitted.

Bocrest looked from the nearly full
applejack bottle on the desk, to Tikaya, and finally to Rias. “This
is pathetic. You’ve got a private room, a bed, booze, and a woman,
and you spent the night on the floor like a hound.”

“
Ass,” Tikaya grumbled,
wondering if she was too old to hurl pillows at people.

Rias yawned, stretched, and rolled to his
feet. “Careful, Bocrest. You’re starting to sound like your brutish
sergeant. Officers are supposed to be an influence on their troops,
not the other way around.”

Bocrest snorted and walked to the desk. He
picked up the top sheet of paper and scrutinized it, appearing as
enlightened as a rock. “Did your big genius brain figure out where
that rocket was launched from?”

“
Yes.”

“
And?”

“
I’ll lead a team to the
location, but I have conditions. I want ten men who have taken the
mountaineering course. Give me a tracker too. I need a rifle, a
pistol, a knife, and I want these chains off.” Rias rattled them
for emphasis. “Permanently.”

Bocrest gaped at this list of demands. “Is
there anything else this humble captain could lay at your feet,
Master Prisoner? Perhaps I could grovel while I fulfill your
wishes?”

“
He wants me to come too,”
Tikaya said.

“
Absolutely not,” Bocrest
said.

Rias arched his eyebrows at her. “Are you
sure? It’d be difficult even without an injury.”

Tikaya hesitated. She did not want to make
more work for him, but what if they found a cache of weapons and
needed help disarming a rocket poised to launch? “You may need me
up there.”

“
As you wish,” Rias
said.

“
Emperor’s spit,” Bocrest
said. “She’s got you leashed, and you’re not even screwing
her.”

The manacles ensured Rias’s punch was not
pretty, but he got a fist on the captain’s nose all the same.
Bocrest saw it coming and partially blocked it, but the force still
sent him staggering backward. His own fingers curled into a fist,
but he snorted and released them.

“
You’ll have your team.”
Bocrest unclipped keys from his belt and tossed them to Rias. “But
she should go with the main force to set up the base camp. What’s
she going to do up there besides be a liability?”

“
She’s found more ways to
be useful than any of your men thus far.” Rias beamed her a proud
smile.

Tikaya smiled back, ignoring the captain’s
disgusted huff.

“
What’s she actually
translated?” Bocrest asked. “Did that rocket say
anything?”

“
I’m still working on what
appear to be instructions,” she said. “I believe the simple phrases
on the side say ‘caution’ and ‘this side up.’”

Bocrest snorted. “That’s as useful as goat
spit. Great.”

“
Captain...” Rias
warned.

“
Whatever. I don’t care.
If she needs to be carried, none of my men are doing it. She’s your
responsibility.” He stalked out the door, not bothering to shut it.
“Team leaves in fifteen minutes!”

Tikaya slid her legs off the bed and grabbed
her boots. It was the only thing Rias had presumed to remove before
tucking her into bed. Her heart ached. Even if he had not leapt to
her defense, she could have loved him just for being a gentleman up
here in this savage land so far from the mores of civilization. She
almost confided her suspicions to him, her fear that Bocrest’s
mission would prove less about saving the Turgonians and more about
getting the emperor a stockpile of terrifyingly powerful
weapons.

“
Something wrong?” Rias
sat beside her to put on his own boots.

How could she tell him? A man whose every
choice proved he still felt loyal to the empire, even after they
had taken everything and exiled him. “I’m worried I made a
mistake,” she said instead of bringing up the weapons. “I spoke
hastily. I don’t want to be a burden on you. Maybe you could just
copy any runes you find for me.”

“
Do you want to
go?”

“
Yes.” A self-deprecating
laugh spilled from her lips. She had never craved field work; she’d
always preferred to stay in the lab, letting agile adventurous
sorts bring their finds to her. When had that changed? “I don’t
want to miss anything.”

“
I wouldn’t want that
either.” He smiled, but it soon faded. “Besides, I’m concerned
about your assassins. The bodyguard may be tortured and dead, but
if the wizard is still around, he’ll feel he’s running out of time.
It’ll be dangerous on the mountain, yes, but I’d prefer you with me
rather than with a bunch of men who don’t care.”

By now his admission that he cared was no
surprise, but hearing him say it almost brought tears to her eyes.
If only he weren’t a Turgonian.

She leaned against his shoulder. “I care
too.”

“
Good.” He leaned back.
“About me, right?”

She grinned and swatted him. She thought
about doing more, but a pair of marines tramped past the door,
pausing to peer inside. Then Bocrest hollered for his guide.
Sighing, she finished tying her boots.

* * * * *

Tikaya eased along the narrow ledge, her
metal crampons scraping and clinking against the ice. Sheer granite
towered to her left while equally sheer rock plummeted on her
right. A snowy canyon stretched hundreds of feet below. Though the
white drifts appeared soft, she had no illusions of a landing being
anything but deadly. Wind buffeted the face of the cliff, tugging
at her thick braid and whipping stray strands of hair against her
spectacles. Frost crystals glittered on the scarf snugged over her
nose.

“
We’re close,” Rias
called, voice muffled by his own scarf.

He led the single-file
squad of marines inching along the cliff face. Tikaya came second
with Bocrest third. At first, the captain’s presence had surprised
her, but a few curt words here and there had given her the
impression he was there to remind everyone ‘Prisoner Five’ was most
definitely
not
in
charge of the team, even if he led.

A shadow fell across the group as a black
raptor as large as a man sailed overhead. This was its third
appearance. The way it coasted past made Tikaya think it was
scouting the group. Her imagination, no doubt.

The sun glinted off sharp ebony talons as it
flexed its legs to land on a perch a couple dozen feet above the
ledge ahead of them. It cocked its head to stare at her through a
calculating black eye.

“
I’m getting tired of that
bird,” a marine grumbled.

“
We could make a meal out
of it,” another said, voice loud and threatening, as if the
creature would understand and leave.

Tikaya caught Bocrest glancing at the bird,
but he otherwise paid it little attention. He did, however, carry
his loaded rifle in one hand, barrel leaning against his shoulder.
Earlier, he had worn it strapped to his rucksack.

The hair on the back of Tikaya’s neck rose
as they walked under the creature’s perch. She had not felt the
tingle of the mental sciences being used since the night the
Nurians attacked. She paused to study the bird.

“
Quit gawking,” Bocrest
said.

“
What species is that?”
she asked. “Are they common?”

“
How would I know? Do I
look like I keep a summer estate here?”

“
Ice condor.” Rias turned
and held up a hand to halt the squad. “They’re predators but
scavengers too. It’s unlikely it’ll attack a group of armed men.
It’s probably just waiting to see if one of us falls.”

Lovely thought. “They’re usually natural
creatures, then?”

“
Of course, it’s a
natural
creature,”
Bocrest said. “What else would it be?”

Tikaya pointed at it. “This one’s a—”

The condor dropped from its perch, plunging
straight at her, beak agape, talons extended.

With nowhere else to go, Tikaya smashed
herself against the cliff. The giant bird filled her vision, wings
pressed against its body for speed. She raised her good arm to
guard her face.

A rifle cracked. Someone pulled her up the
path.

The condor squawked, clipped the edge of the
ledge, and bounced away. Rock crumbled and fell into the canyon.
The bird flapped its wings and recovered before tumbling far, but
blood spattered the ice on the ledge. The condor sailed on a draft
and disappeared from sight before Tikaya recovered.

“
Thanks,” she
rasped.

It was Rias who held her, Bocrest’s rifle
that smoked.

“
That was peculiar,” the
captain said.

“
More than that.” Rias
checked Tikaya for injuries and released her. “A
familiar?”

“
That’s...” She mulled
over the Turgonian word options. “Close enough. I’m guessing it’s a
regular creature that someone is manipulating with thought
control.” She remembered the snatch of conversation she had
overheard the night the Nurians attacked her; the practitioner had
read someone’s thoughts to find her. If he had studied telepathy on
humans, controlling animals was not a stretch.

“
How would you know?”
Bocrest asked. “I thought you weren’t a wizard.”

“
I’m not, but I’ve grown
up around practitioners. I can sense when the mental sciences are
being used nearby.”

Bocrest scowled at Rias. “Get moving. I want
to finish up and get off this mountain quick.”

When they reached the top of the cliff, long
shadows darkened the snowy plateau despite the early afternoon
hour. They had climbed less than halfway up the mountain, and
another granite wall rose to the rear, blocking the sun. Nothing on
the plateau caught Tikaya’s eye, but the fantastic view to the
north made for a memorable perch. Miles of unbroken tundra
stretched to the horizon with ridges and swirls roaming like
striations in stone.