The Olive Conspiracy (22 page)

Shulamit chuckled when she noticed the orange
mush down the front of Aviva’s shirt, on one of her shoulders, and
across both her and the baby’s faces. “Now
there’s
a woman
worth daydreaming about!”

Aviva smiled back at her. “I don’t know… today,
maybe I’m a woman, but maybe I’m a sweet potato.” She gestured at
her trophies.

“
The crown wishes to investigate
further.” Shulamit beckoned, and Isaac got up to make room for
Aviva on the sofa.

Bootsteps announced Rivka’s presence again.
Shulamit spun around, her fingers already laced with Aviva’s.
“Anything?” Then she furrowed her brow. “Is that Tova’s
kitten?”

“
It was!” Rivka barked, cradling
the tiny, black shape with a tenderness that would have surprised
strangers, although not her loved ones. “Not anymore. She can’t
take care of it; she’s not keeping it clean. Besides, I can’t deal
with the urine smell in there anymore, either.”

Shulamit looked at Aviva. “I bet she wasn’t
happy about that.”

“
Then we’ll have to capitalize on
her anger,” said Isaac. “
Malkeleh
, are you feeling
better?”

“
I don’t care how I’m feeling,”
said Shulamit, leaning in to hug Aviva one more time, then getting
up to follow him. “I have a kingdom to save.”

19. State’s Evidence

“
Majesty, I’m telling you, look in
the law books,” Tova insisted, twisting her hands together as she
glared over the queen’s shoulder at Rivka. “Look in the books. He
had no right to take that kitten away from me. No right at
all.”

Shulamit, holding her scarf over her nose in a
vain attempt to block out the smell of cat urine and other
unpleasant, sour odors, observed Tova with detached fascination.
She really wasn’t that much bigger than Shulamit was herself, but
yet, so much hatred and disagreeableness emanated from her that she
may as well have been Isaac’s size—in his dragon form. If all the
stories were true—most of them from her own mouth!—she’d disowned
most of her family, harangued her son, and tormented most of her
neighbors.

“
I did it for the cat, you
meshugannah
—”

Tova interrupted Rivka’s growling with a snarl
of her own. “
Him
? What does he know about animal welfare?”
She shook her finger frantically in Riv’s direction, but her words
were directed at Shulamit. “He imprisoned a
dragon
and is
using it for transportation and
warfare
! Dragons aren’t
meant to be under human control. They’re intelligent animals.
Just—”

Shulamit’s mouth dropped open and hung there.
Was she even hearing this? “The dragon is—”

“
Meant to be flying free, in the
skies, in the mountains!” Tova’s arms were outstretched, presumably
to the skies and mountains.

“
You do realize the dragon’s just
the wizard in one of his serpent forms,” Shulamit blurted, rolling
her eyes.

“
That guard’s just tricking you.”
Tova shook her head. “Look in the books. Look in the
books.”

“
There’s nothing in the books that
say a suspected traitor is allowed to take a kitten into the cell
with her in the first place,” Rivka pointed out.

“
Oh, sure,
he’d
say
anything! This
place
.” Tova sighed dramatically.

“
Listen, you
shtik drek
.”
Rivka’s eyes narrowed, and Shulamit held her breath, unable to
repress a smile. “That kitten is the most innocent thing in this
palace, and you are literally
the most guilty
. It’s trying
its best to stay as clean as it can, but you wouldn’t let it go
outside when it needed to, so it messed all over you, and itself,
and it’s going to get infected, and none of this is relevant
because you’re
hurting my country
and we’re standing here
arguing over a
kitten
. Meanwhile, nobody can breathe in here
because of the cat pee smell—”

“
Yes, that’s right, that’s just
what Rui said,” Shulamit interrupted suddenly.

“
What?” Tova’s eyes blazed, and she
abruptly sat up straight as if a thorn had appeared on her
seat.

“
Rui,” said Shulamit smoothly. “The
Imbrian. He also said your house smelled of cat pee, so I suppose I
should have expected the cell to get that way too.” She wrapped the
filmy scarf closer around her face, hoping it was opaque enough to
block out her gigantic, ghoulish grin.

Rivka looked at her, and Shulamit got a kick
out of watching the spark appear in her captain’s blue-gray eyes
when she understood. Of course, neither of them had ever spoken to
Rui or knew anything about him, beyond what was written in Ezra’s
notes. But Tova didn’t know that.

“
It most certainly does not! He
said that?” Tova slammed her hand down on the table.

“
He also said you had too many
cats.” Shulamit’s heart raced. She was praying Tova’s anger would
snap and she’d sell out the Imbrians before her brain caught up to
her and realize that if they’d spoken to Rui, they wouldn’t need to
know where he was.
Maybe I can say they said this stuff in
Ezra’s notes… if she catches on…

“
I do no—That’s a lie! What’s ‘too
many,’ anyway?” Tova was on a roll. “How does he know what’s too
many? Nobody has a right to say ‘too many cats.’ Too many for what,
anyway? Like to see him run a household all by himself. Him and
that André. Who says they’re so clean, anyway? Pair of dirty
assholes.”

Shulamit caught the name and shot a glance over
to Rivka. She’d caught it too. André—the other name on the
list.

“
Should I tell you the other thing
they said?” Shulamit wished she was the one holding the kitten
because she was terrified that her bluff wouldn’t work and
desperately wanted something to bring her calm.

“
What?” Tova shouted.

“
They said that must be why your
son doesn’t visit.” Shulamit felt like a baby bird flinging itself
out of a nest. Would these wings work? They were really rather
terrible wings, when you thought about it. Rivka had bragged to her
mother that they didn’t torture prisoners here in Perach, but this…
this
was
torture, sort of.

Tova exhaled slowly. “
Pieces of shit.
”
She glared around the room. “They’re in Ir Ilan, at the house at
the back end of Grapefruit Street. And they can go fuck themselves.
I don’t need this shit.”

Then there was silence in the room, punctuated
only by Rivka’s kitten, which had begun to purr loudly while
massaging her leather tunic with pulsating paws as it looked for
milk.

***

Rivka and Shulamit stepped out into the
sunlight and made sure they were a safe distance from Tova’s cell,
then chortled to each other with effervescent glee.

Shulamit shook her fists in front of her in
excitement. “I can’t believe that
worked
!”

“
Everybody, watch out—the Queen of
Perach is coming,” teased Rivka.

“
So can you get there tonight? It’s
still early.”

Rivka looked up at the sun and considered the
brightness and angle. “With men on horses? I’d say we’ll get there
when it’s dark, but that’s actually better. We can surprise them,
and they should all be at home.”

“
Better send Isaac in there first,
lizard-wise, to make sure Tova didn’t double-cross us.”

“
I doubt she has the faculties for
that.” Rivka shifted the kitten in her arms. “Ooh,
shayneh
ketzeleh
!” She leaned her face down toward it, and it batted at
her mask with its paw. “Oops, no, bad idea.”

“
She’s a warrior, like you,”
quipped Shulamit. “I’ll go find Isaac—you get everyone else you
need.”

Rivka watched the queen stalk off purposefully
back toward the salon, then headed for the barracks. As she passed
by the room she’d given to the newcomers, she heard unmistakable
noises of weeping. Was that Halleli?

“
Oh! Captain. I’m sorry; I didn’t
see you.” Halleli sniffled and wiped away her tears.

“
I didn’t mean to disturb you,”
said Rivka, peering into the doorway. “Do you like
cats?”

“
Sure, I—”

“
Here. She’s yours now if you want
her.”

Halleli looked surprised but accepted the tiny
creature into her arms. “She’s adorable!”

“
I’m sorry for your loss,” said
Rivka.

“
I’ll be all right. I don’t mean to
seem ungrateful, after everything you and the queen did to make
sure we landed on our feet. I mean, you’ve given Hadar this amazing
opportunity, and Yael is going to let me draw the patrons in the
restaurant to make extra money.”

“
But your feelings are real, and
you shouldn’t have to feel guilty about them,” Rivka reminded
her.

“
Thanks.” Halleli wiped away
another tear. The kitten buried its nose in her armpit. “Awww! I…”
Halleli smiled. “I think I’ll call her Olive.”

20. The Conspirators

High above the cloud cover, the queen’s dragon
made for Ir Ilan. The air here was barely above freezing, and
between the speed Isaac was flying and the ambient moisture, he
felt cold inside his bones. At least here, though, he knew he
wouldn’t be spotted on his approach to the city. If the whole point
of him riding on ahead, especially without Rivka, was espionage via
lizard, hiding his flight was vital.

A wizard’s life of adventure meant that he was
no stranger to physical discomfort, but neither did that make this
any more fun. Steeling his numbing wings against the chill, he
entertained himself with thoughts of hot soup, of tea, of mineral
baths, and finally, Rivka. Possibly even Rivka feeding him soup in
a mineral bath, his fantasies growing more decadent as he fought to
ignore his chapping snout.

The rushing, wet air bit him ferociously and
brought him back to faraway times and places. He was a young wizard
in a fur coat and hat, tearing through a frozen battlefield with
his hands outstretched in magic spells. He was a novice, standing
outside in the wizard stronghold watching his breath fog up and
practicing his newfound magic by shaping it into the four letters
of his name. He remembered his hands growing numb with cold as he
persisted;
yud
was easy, of course, but at first he kept
getting stuck on the intricacies of
tzadik
.

The dragon snorted. Now he could write an
entire message in the sky with floating leaves just by thinking
about it.

His mind sank even further back into memory. He
was a young child hiding in the corner to get away from all the
yelling. It was cold inside the house, and dangerous too—dangerous
if you said the wrong thing to one of the adults, or even one of
the older boys. Mammeh couldn’t help; she was even more cowed than
he was. He wrapped the old blanket around his shoulders and wished
he was invisible. Don’t tell them anything anymore. It’s not safe.
If they know what you’re thinking, you’re not safe.

Pushing this unsettling reverie aside, Isaac
realized it was time to check his flight path. Dipping below the
clouds, he did his best to mimic the chaotic, prey-driven behavior
of a wild dragon, one that didn’t have a human soul lurking inside.
The sudden warm air enlivened him and jolted him back to his
tropical present, rich in warmth both literal and
emotional.

He scanned the grasslands for deer to pretend
to chase—not that a real meal wouldn’t be welcome after all that
flying in cold!—but his real mission was to study the road and the
rivers. Not too much longer, now.

Once he landed, Isaac had to make his way
toward Ir Ilan in lizard form. He crawled methodically through the
grass, inhaling the clean, alive smell of green growth and dirt.
After the misery up in the clouds, he was determined to enjoy this
part of the journey even if it was annoying that he couldn’t do it
ten times faster in human form.

The marketplace that ran down the central road
of Ir Ilan was closed up for Shabbat, but there were still people
strolling around taking in the late afternoon air. Isaac scurried
back and forth on the road avoiding their feet. Here and there he
crawled across the walls of buildings instead, when the way seemed
easier.

Grapefruit Street was relatively empty compared
with the activity on Orange Street and King Asher Boulevard. The
houses grew farther apart as the road wound and curved between the
trees, and Isaac stopped seeing people in the path. Veiled in
greenery, the calm neighborhood didn’t seem like it would harbor a
gang of Imbrian spies nor any kind of conspiracy more serious than
a chicken hiding her eggs.

When Isaac had the final house in his sight, he
fixed his eyes on it and ran. He was so single-minded that he
nearly ran smack into—another lizard!

They stared at each other, lizard and
shapeshifter. Isaac cocked his head. The other lizard replied by
unfurling his great red dewlap. A challenge.

I don’t have time for this.
Isaac did a
couple of lizard push-ups and showed his own dewlap, never taking
his eyes off the other lizard.