The Shadowhand Covenant (30 page)

I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if Kolo had succeeded in blowing up the Palatinate. But that didn't mean I could watch him die either. “Tell her where it is, Kolo.”

Kolo looked right at me and smiled. He must have known that if he didn't say something right there and then, I would blab everything I knew. He did the only thing he could to stop me. He muttered, “
Volo ser voli
,” and his hand shot up to grip the tingroat. A sound like ice cracking filled the room. A transparent shimmer turned his hand to glass, then raced up his arm and across his body. A moment later, it was all done.

Nalia spun around, as though noticing me for the first time. The smile disappeared from her face as once again our eyes locked. “It was wise of you to ask him to reveal the Vanguard's location. It would also be wise of you to tell me where it is . . . if you know.”

The Palatinate had secretly acted to weaken the security
of the royal vaults, hire someone to steal magical relics, eliminate the thieves responsible, and incarcerate the Sarosans who spoke out against them. I had no idea what that all meant, but even if I'd known where the Vanguard was, there was no way I was going to tell her.

“Sorry,” I said. “He didn't tell me.”

She wasn't convinced. “Then why did he ask to see you as his last request? What were you discussing?”

I thought of Kolo's last words:
Volo ser voli
. A par-Goblin proverb I'd never really understood. It meant “Yesterday is today.” Back when I first met him, Kolo asked me what I knew about the Great Uprisings. He seemed to think it was important I learn more about that hidden period of history. I had a feeling the answers to my questions would be clear if I did as Kolo suggested. True, information about the Uprisings was forbidden knowledge. But I was a Grimjinx. Forbidden? No such thing. I had some work to do.

“History,” I told her. And I walked out of the cell.

“Exile is but the next great adventure.”

—Parika Grimjinx, first explorer-thief

^“
W
e should get back to the castle.”

I sat on a bench near the docks, staring out over the vast Kroallis Ocean. The ports of Vesta bustled with activity: ships unloading imports from faraway lands, other ships taking on cargo for a long voyage ahead. A light breeze dotted my glasses with bits of sea mist that froze in the winter air.

Maloch stood with his hands in his pockets, pacing back and forth. “Just a minute. They're here somewhere.”

He looked up and down the pier, where a long row of mang-drawn wagons had lined up. Each wagon was packed with Sarosans, newly freed from Umbramore Tower. The High Laird and his council had decided that while the evidence suggested the Sarosans had had no hand in the actual thefts from the royal vaults, they were still guilty of resisting arrest and the High Laird's will. It didn't seem to matter that the arrests were unwarranted.

The Dowager had argued ferociously for the Sarosans. In the end, the High Laird had decreed that the Sarosans were banished from the Five Provinces. As the wagons arrived, the Sarosans were escorted onto a waiting ship that would take them all across the ocean.

“We've been looking for them for an hour,” I said gently. “I wanted to say good-bye to Reena and Holm too. But they could have found their parents. They might be on the ship already and—”

“There they are!” Maloch said, charging into the crowd. I jumped up and followed him. We wove between the masses until we caught up with Reena and Holm. They were looking around frantically. When they spotted us, they stopped.

“We can't find them,” Reena said nervously.

“Wagons are still arriving,” I said. “They'll be here.”

Maloch, who'd been so eager to track the siblings down, suddenly found himself speechless. “I think . . . I think it's stupid that you're being banished. You didn't do anything. It's not fair.”

Reena put her hand on his arm. “This isn't the first time we've been turned away. It's why we've always wandered the Five Provinces. No one wants to hear what we have to say. Even when we're proven right. It's part of being a Sarosan. No one understands us.”

Maloch swallowed nervously. “I like to think . . .
I
understand you.”

Holm and I shared a look and rolled our eyes.

Maloch's hand dove into his pocket. “Before you go, I want you to have something.” He pulled out a silver triangle pendant.

“Hey,” I said, “you stole that from the Dowager.”

In his other hand, he held the red gem that went with the pendant.

“Hey,” I said, “you stole that from me.”

Maloch held out the pendant. “You don't really know
where you're going. It could be dangerous. And even though you're getting your family back, you might . . . I dunno. Get lonely. I thought this way we could, maybe, talk. Keep in touch. If you need someone to talk to.”

Reena eyed the pendant queasily. “Thank you, Maloch, but . . . it's magic. It goes against everything the Sarosans believe. If I got caught with that . . .”

Maloch looked at his feet. “What if
I
need someone to talk to?”

His hard face softened, and Reena couldn't take it anymore. She looked around to make sure no one was watching, then slipped the pendant into a pouch at her waist.

Maloch turned to Holm and smiled. Lashing out, he threw a hard punch directly at the boy's head. But Holm deftly sidestepped the incoming blow, grabbed Maloch's arm, and flipped the bigger boy onto his back. Then he crashed onto Maloch's chest with his knee, sending the air shooting from Maloch's lungs.

“Not bad,” Maloch said as Holm helped him up. “I expect you to be teaching me moves the next time we see each other.”

All four of us fell quiet. We were all thinking the same thing.
If
we see each other again.

“You're moving in with Jaxter's family?” Reena asked Maloch.

He nodded. “Mr. and Mrs. Grimjinx are going to continue my training as a thief. When my father gets released from the shimmerhex, I want him to be proud.”

Reena leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. “He will be.”

We all hugged. Then, from across the dock, we heard, “Reena! Holm!”

The siblings turned to find a man and woman, both tall and dark-skinned, waving frantically from the back of a wagon. Without another word, Reena and Holm ran to their parents. I leaned on Maloch's shoulder.

“You didn't tell her about what Ma did.”

When Ma proposed that Maloch live at our house, she had more than kindness on her mind. During the fray when the Provincial Guard had stormed Kolo's camp and rescued my parents, Ma had used the confusion to slip the Shadowhand Covenant into her blouse. She showed it to us only last night, saying that even though she wasn't
technically a Shadowhand anymore, she was the only one left to revive the organization.

“It's going to take a while to get things up and running again,” she'd said to Maloch. “You're a mite young. Not sure the other Shadowhands would approve, but then they're not exactly in a position to protest, right? I could use some help recruiting and need someone besides myself who can enter the Dagger without setting off the defenses. You up to it?”

Maloch hadn't hesitated. He'd taken the quill Ma offered him, signed the Covenant, and joined the ranks of the Shadowhands like his da. Like he'd always wanted.

So it was decided that Da would return to his job as Protectorate and Maloch would continue to be Aronas's apprentice, and they would both use their positions in the Vengekeep government to divert suspicion away from Ma as she went about re-forming the Shadowhands.

Maloch rubbed the red pendant gem between his fingers. “Yeah, well, I figure that since the Shadowhands got her people banished, Reena probably wouldn't want to know I just joined. I'll tell her once there's an ocean between us.”

We waved to Reena and her family as they walked up
the plank to board the ship. Then Maloch and I turned and started the trek back to the royal palace.

In the promenade outside the palace, two mang-drawn carriages were preparing for the long trip home. One would take Ma, Da, and Maloch back to Vengekeep. The other would bring the Dowager and me back to Redvalor Castle. Footmen scurried about, loading up supplies for the journey. I hugged Ma and Da.

“You doing all right?” Ma asked, brushing my cheek with her hand.

“You mean because the man I idolized turned out to be crazier than a sanguibeast during solstice?” I asked. “I'm fine. His research will go on. The Dowager and I will see to that.”

I had no guarantees that returning to Redvalor Castle meant the Dowager and I would argue any less. We might disagree, but the Dowager and I saw eye to eye more than Kolo and I ever did.

“Do us proud, son!” Da said as he helped Ma into the carriage.

Maloch shuffled up to the carriage door. “Thanks. For loaning me your room.”

I frowned. “Don't touch my stuff.”

“I don't want your ratty old stuff.”

I held out my hand. “Good luck, Maloch.”

He hesitated, then gave my hand a firm shake. “You're a lousy thief, Jaxter. But the rest of you's not too bad.”

He climbed aboard the carriage, the driver cracked his whip, and they pulled away, Vengekeep bound.

The palace gates swung open, and the Dowager emerged. She was back in the blouse and slacks she wore when we worked in the laboratory. She rubbed her neck. “I think that will be enough official functions for a while. Can't stand to wear those formal uniforms. I think they squeeze my neck. Can you tell? Is my neck smaller? I think my neck is smaller.”

“Don't worry,” I said, “a couple of days sleeping in the back of the carriage will take care of that.”

The Dowager giggled, then looked at me sadly. “The Sarosan camp was thoroughly searched. No sign of the Vanguard, I'm afraid.”

Of course, we didn't know what it looked like, so who
really knew if it had been found? I suspected it was well hidden. And with Kolo gone, we might never know what it looked like. Or what it did.

The Dowager added, “My brother has given the Palatinate free rein to take whatever measures are necessary to recover it.”

Whatever measures are necessary.
I'd never cared much about the Palatinate before, one way or the other. Given everything I'd learned in the past few weeks, the idea of them being given that much power by the High Laird worried me.

I took her hand and helped her into the carriage. As we got under way, I pulled Tree Bag from under my seat. The Dowager's eyes lit up. I divided the papers between us and we started going through them, making notes and sharing ideas for how we'd continue the work.

“I don't condone what Kolo tried to do,” the Dowager said sadly, “but I will say that he was brilliant.” Then she turned and glanced out the window of the carriage. “You were thinking about it. Weren't you?”

“I'm sorry?”

“Quitting as my apprentice to study with Kolo.” Although
she watched the passing landscape, I could see her studying me out of the corner of her eye. Somehow, she knew. One of these days I'd learn that she was always one step ahead of me.

I fumbled, trying to find just the right lie that wouldn't hurt her feelings. But the Dowager didn't deserve lies, not after everything she'd done for me. Instead, I just hung my head.

“I saw the way you paged through the notes for Kolo's new book,” she said, smiling slyly. “You looked so happy and excited. Like when we first started working together. I don't blame you. The chance to work with a botanist as amazing as Kolo would be too good to pass up.”

“I guess,” I said slowly, “the apprenticeship wasn't
exactly
what I thought it would be.”

“No one said being an apprentice was easy. In fact, I recall telling you it would be hard work. You can't give up the first time things get difficult. And I think you'll agree that while other opportunities may appear inviting on the surface, it's not so simple to see what lies beneath.”

I nodded. The par-Goblins had a similar expression:
Aeris vul heshla noressa laneer
. It meant “Scratch the gold to find the tarnish.” And
that
meant you had to dig deep to
find true worth. From the first day of my apprenticeship, the Dowager had always been honest with me. And even though studying with Kolo may have seemed like a better situation, I knew now that I couldn't trust him. I hate that it took almost giving up a good thing with the Dowager to realize that.

The Dowager folded her hands in her lap and spoke softly. “I'll make you a deal. In a few months, you'll have been my apprentice for a year. If, after a full year, you don't want to continue, I'll do my best to help you choose another vocation and find a new mentor. But I hope we continue working together. I think we still have a lot to teach each other.”