Mirror Sight (56 page)

“Are you still planning to leave this afternoon?” Jax asked Cade. “With your sleepy girl, there?”

Cade nodded. “Just as soon as Luke arrives.”

Jax shook his head and shuffled to the little kitchen area, reaching for a jar of tea on a shelf. “So, it’s all going to happen. At least our end of it.”

For better or worse,
Cade thought.
For better or worse.

K
arigan wished people would leave her be and stop patting her face and shaking her. She flung her hand out blindly, hit someone, and was rewarded with an, “Ow!”

She cracked her eyes open, and there was Cade, all three of him, standing over her and rubbing his face. Damnation. She was back to seeing three of everything. “Sorry,” she mumbled, and started to drift off again.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Cade said.

He shook her again and made her sit up. She simply melted back into the mattress.

“Karigan.”

His sharp voice jabbed at her. He cradled her face in his hands and forced her to look up at him.
Hims.
“Do you remember what Mirriam told you today?”

Somewhere over Cade’s shoulder she perceived the housekeeper standing nearby. Yes. She had spoken with Mirriam—strange stories of tunnels and fire and the river. “I think it was a dream,” she murmured.

“No,” Cade said. “It was not.”

“None of it?” There had been something very sad Mirriam had told her. Karigan hated how sluggish her brain had become.
Must wake up.
But she was stuck in this perpetual fog.

“None of it,” Cade replied firmly.

The professor had died, she remembered, and she let out a little cry. “He’s gone, isn’t he.”

“Yes,” Cade replied. “And now we must leave.”

“Leave?”

“We are going to the Capital so you may rescue the Eletian, and I, Arhys.”

“Lhean.”

“Yes. We must get you to the wagon. We will help you.”

Karigan nodded, which made the room jerk up and down in nauseating waves. She swallowed down the sickness rising in her throat, closed her eyes, and wiped her clammy forehead. “My things?” she asked.

“Your satchel is in a secret compartment in the wagon, along with the bonewood.”

“Brooch?”

Cade opened the front of her jacket and guided her hand to where the brooch was pinned on her shirt.

“Your moon crystal is in your pocket.”

Touching the brooch centered her. “Good.”

Cade helped her rise, and Mirriam supported her on her other side. Jax was there, too, and he frowned at her with a sour expression, made even more sour by seeing him in triplicate. There was another man in the little house with them. He was dressed in a good suit with one of those brimmed bowl hats cocked on his head. A pair of gold specs shone on his face. She gawped at him.

“I don’t think she knows me,” the man said in a cultured voice she thought she recognized. Different, but . . .

“Luke?” she asked quietly.

He laughed. “Yes, but just as you are to be Tam Ryder, I am now Stanton Mayforte, maker of fine wine. You and Cade are my servants.”

It was not easy to make all that work in her muddled mind. “Wine? Making . . . ?”

“As you regain your senses, we shall explain.”

They helped her outside, and there was Widow Hettle’s mules and wagon, with Raven tied to the back. He whickered in greeting. The wagon was laden with casks. A space just large enough to fit Karigan was left empty in the very back. Before climbing in, she threw herself at Mirriam for an unwieldy hug.

Mirriam returned it awkwardly. “Really, Miss Goodgrave. This demonstration of affection for a mere housekeeper is a little unseemly.”

Karigan just squeezed harder. When she staggered back, there were beautiful prismatic droplets glistening on Mirriam’s cheeks. Thinking the tears could only be her imagination, Karigan shook her head and instantly regretted the motion, grabbing the tailgate of the wagon before she fell over. Cade placed his hands on her hips and started to lift her.

“Don’t carry me! I will not be carried.” She struggled wildly.

“I’m just putting you in the wagon,” Cade said between gritted teeth.

Before she could protest further, she was in a nest of straw and a blanket was drawn over her, up to her chin.

“I suggest you let her sleep it off as much as is possible,” she heard Mirriam say. “That is the only cure. And you should know there will be other ill effects, too, as she comes out of it.”

“I suspected as much,” Cade replied.

“Some hero you’ve got there,” Jax said.

Karigan had just enough energy left to rise on her elbow and stick her tongue out at him. Then she fell back into her nest, the endless blackness reclaiming her.

L
uke, in his gentlemanly attire, rode just ahead of the mules on the professor’s gray gelding, Gallant. By sheer luck, Luke had been in the city visiting his family when the Inspectors raided the professor’s house. The mill fire, with its explosive component and the pandemonium that followed, had drawn most of the Inspectors away, allowing the servants to disperse, including Luke’s loyal stableboys who delivered Raven and Gallant to him.

Cade had known that, like Mirriam, Luke had long been entrusted with some knowledge of the professor’s secrets. After all, it was Luke who drove the professor’s carriage to most of those parties that were actually opportunities for clandestine meetings. If Luke had not been of like mind in regard to the empire, the professor would never have kept him in his employ. It was natural then that Cade bring Luke into his plan. Cade had intended to play the part of Stanton Mayforte himself, but the others had protested that he might be too recognizable as the professor’s protégé. Besides, Luke had said, he knew something about the wine business after having worked at a winery—in the stables of the winery, yes, but, he claimed, one picked up a thing or two just being around it.

In the good suit, acquired from a member of their group who was a tailor, and with hair and sidewhiskers neatly trimmed, Luke was transformed into the business-minded vintner on his way to the Capital in an attempt to win favor with the Adherents in the emperor’s inner circle, and thus elevate his position in the world. One would not guess he was, in reality, a stablehand. His disguise would be tested very soon as they headed south and out of the city.

Cade guided the mules, Ted and Ned, through the streets, behind him the Old City with Silk’s excavation at its summit. He would not look back. He would not second guess the rebellion he, Jax, and the others were setting in motion. The rebellion would succeed or it would not. The only affair he had settled prior to his departure was to leave enough of his scanty savings with Widow Hettle to cover the mules and wagon. All that mattered now was helping Karigan with whatever she needed to do, and rescuing Arhys. If anyone figured out who that child was, she’d be slain.

 • • • 

They halted at the south gate of Mill City where Inspectors, with their ever-present mechanical companions, checked the papers and cargo of those entering and leaving the city. Many of the travelers drove freight wagons carrying textiles, or bales of cotton and wool. There were plenty of other goods as well, brought from various parts of the empire.

The Great Harbor, which served the Capital, was the major port for shipping. From there, goods could be moved via river, transportation canal, or wagon. Cade had considered using the canal, but then they’d have to interact more with the authorities to load and unload canal boats, go through locks, declare cargo, and generally face additional scrutiny. It was an unsafe option considering that the false bottom of the wagon concealed weapons and Karigan’s Green Rider garb.

The average citizens of the empire were not encouraged to travel, so there were few non-commercial travelers waiting in line, which kept things moving at the checkpoint. When it was Luke’s turn, he smiled broadly at the Inspectors.

“Good afternoon, gentlemen,” he said with a tip of his hat.

“Papers.” The Inspector held out his hand without even an attempt at pleasantries.

“Of course.” Luke produced a leather wallet from an inner pocket of his coat and tugged out the papers for Stanton Mayforte, vintner, Harley Dace, servant, and Tam Ryder, servant.

One Inspector gazed at the papers, while a second and his Enforcer approached the wagon to give it a close look. Cade slouched on the bench, hoping his bruised, unshaven face and work clothes served as a good enough disguise. He really hoped that Karigan remained asleep and quiet in the back.

“Where are you going and what is your business?” asked the first Inspector.

“My business should be quite obvious. I am a vintner, and I am taking samples to Gossham so I may become fully licensed.” Luke lowered his voice confidentially. “I am seeking an audience with Webster Silk himself.”

Was Cade mistaken, or had Luke assumed a very good likeness of the professor’s personal charm? It was almost uncanny.

The Inspector, however, appeared unimpressed by Stanton Mayforte’s aspirations. Out of the corner of his eye, Cade watched the second Inspector tapping the wine casks, each carefully branded with “Mayforte.” The wine had actually come from a tavernkeeper who was one of their own, and the casks re-branded. The Enforcer rose up, extending on its legs to full height, to scan the casks with its eye.

“Where is this other servant of yours?” the first Inspector asked.

“You mean Tam?” Luke glanced over his shoulder. “He got into some of the samples today. He is sleeping it off in the back of the wagon.”

“I see him,” the second Inspector said. “He’s back here. Dead drunk, I’d say.”

“I’m not telling you your business, but he sounds like a poor servant to me,” the first Inspector told Luke. “I’m surprised you’d take one so ill-disciplined with you on so important a trip.”

Luke chuckled. “Not to worry. I’ll skin his hide when he wakes up, though I expect the after-effects of the wine may be its own punishment.”

The Inspector actually cracked a smile.

“I don’t suppose you gentlemen get any fine wine here at your posting,” Luke said. “Harley, grab a cask for our friends here.”

Cade shouldered a cask he’d placed by his feet just for this purpose, and climbed off the wagon. Bribes were common enough, and the Inspectors made no protest. Cade set the cask down on the road and returned to his place on the wagon. The first Inspector handed the papers back to Luke and waved them through the gate. Cade snapped the reins, and Ned and Ted came once more to life and plodded forward. When they were through the gate, Cade almost wilted in relief. They had overcome their first major obstacle. He tried not to think of those that lay ahead.

Nor did he look over his shoulder even now, to see Mill City one last time. It was no longer home, and one way or another, he would not be returning.

 • • • 

“Wake up, Tam Ryder,” Cade said, shaking Karigan’s shoulder. She slept as one dead, and it was unnerving. He shook her again. This time she mumbled something at him and pulled the blanket over her head.

They were stopped at an inn along the East-West Highway. They’d only traveled for a few hours, since they had started late in the day. Cade had already parked the wagon beside those belonging to other travelers in the secure, walled courtyard of the inn. It would be guarded through the night. If the innkeeper could not ensure the security of his guests’ goods, he would lose custom fast, especially among the long-haulers who would spread word to their brethren. Even worse, the empire would expel him from his position and keep him from any other with like responsibility. The roadside inns were operated by the empire, which governed the management of each one. The empire did not like to lose money.

Cade had also stabled the mules and horses while Luke negotiated for rooms. There had been some question of exactly what they were going to do with Karigan, since servants generally shared bunkhouses with other servants. It was unlikely her disguise would pass for an entire night in a bunkhouse full of men.

Cade watched Luke step into the courtyard and saunter between wagons with his hat cocked at a jaunty angle, his stylish walking cane swinging at his side. He was certainly playing his role to the hilt.

When he reached their wagons, he peered down at Karigan. “Can’t wake up our Tam?”

“Not yet. What of our arrangements?”

“Well, I have a very nicely appointed room in the inn proper—feather bed, plumbing, all the luxuries. You and Tam will retire to bunkhouse three.”

“But—” Cade began.