Spellbreaker (36 page)

“I don't kill them. I have told them all what I am and what we are hoping to accomplish. They knew the risks.”

Francesca ignored this weak justification. Her mind was busy reinterpreting the last few days. “So … when Lea takes a new neodemon into her cult and hides them from the pantheon, it isn't always so neat is it? Sometimes the neodemon's devotees pray to her and that makes the neodemons more like her. And that is why, when Nicodemus fooled the River Thief into attacking him and he saw her…”

“She was wearing Leandra's face,” Holokai finished. “The River Thief was a member of the Undivided Society. Her cult resides mostly in the river villages, and they prayed to her for equitable theft from all the trade that flows down their river. So she stole from the merchants and smugglers alike. Some of her takeaway she gave to the river villages, but most she gave to the Undivided Society.”

Francesca nodded. “And the River Thief knew Leandra would never come after her because she was in Lea's service. It was only because Nicodemus lied to Lea that she made the mistake of attacking him.”

“That's it. With the River Thief taken down, it will be a season or more until she's reincarnated. It's a big problem because she brought in so much of our coin. We need the funds now that we're using so many more godspells from the smugglers.”

“Godspells?”

“Lea can't smuggle deities out of the empire without circumventing imperial spellwrights. The only way to do that was to use the same spells that they were using. I don't know how that fancy spellwrighting works. But she started buying godspells from special smugglers from the empire. Recently she's bought a spell from a smuggler who's still in Chandralu. The spell lets her know things about an hour into the future. That's how she knew her father would rescue her in the throne room. She sensed that she would be intensely irritated and then grateful for him.”

Francesca frowned. “And what of the attackers wearing the Perfect Circle tattoo? How's that connected to Lea?”

“It isn't. They're not connected to us. Hell, a pack of the bloody fools, attacked us on Utrana Way earlier today. Lea thinks they're a bunch of thugs trying to scare people by pretending to be the Undivided Society.”

Francesca pressed three fingers against the bridge of her nose as she thought. “Whoever they are, if the empress knew half of what Lea's done, she'd attack the league with everything she has. It'd be a war to destroy all of humanity before the Disjunction even began. How could Leandra do this? How could she risk weakening us before the demons from the Ancient Continent cross the ocean?”

“What's the point in saving a corrupt society? Empire or league, they're both unjust.”

“You can't be serious.”

“Hey, Francesca, does it look like I'm joking?”

“No. No it does not. God-of-gods damn it all! How are we going to get out of this?” She paused. “How was Lea planning on getting out of this?”

“Can't say that I know her plans, especially as she's just learned what you just said in the throne room, that the shape-shifter we smuggled into Dral has been caught by the empress. But I can say that her plans were to meet again with the smuggler from the empire. She was thinking of buying another godspell from him, maybe she still is, but I think she's now planning to try to pump him for information about what's going on with the attacks on the deities and how soon we might expect an imperial attack.”

Francesca drew in a sharp breath. Reliable information from that smuggler that would be invaluable. Francesca had thought to end Leandra's independence, but that might scare away an informant who could help them survive a war with the empire. Francesca focused on Holokai again. “Where is she going to meet this smuggler?”

“The Lesser Sacred Pool at dusk. Four-arms and I will patrol the place before and after.”

Francesca nodded, thinking rapidly. “If she and the smuggler have an arrangement, I had better not interfere or I might spoil the exchange. And … as I told you … I was too heavy-handed with her before. This time, let's see if she can't get out of her own trouble. You won't mention this conversation to her. I will position myself to observe her exchange with the smuggler, so that I can protect her if necessary. No, don't worry. I can take precautions to make sure that neither the smuggler nor Lea notice me.”

“There's something else you need to know.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“When she first put on the prophetic godspell, she saw a day forward into the future. She foresaw that sometime early in the coming morning, she is going to have to choose between dying and murdering someone she loves. And so far, her primary suspect—”

“Me.”

Holokai grunted. “Not hard to guess, yeah?”

“Not hard.”

“Any way to avoid the prophecy?”

“She foresaw that if she runs, everyone she knows will die. She talked to a rogue wizard down in the upper Naukaa about a spell that could stop her from loving as a way to escape those possibilities, but I don't think anyone's suspecting that will work.”

“Can't imagine it would.” Francesca nodded absently and then reaffirmed her decision. “All right. We'll see what Leandra can learn from this smuggler. Where will Lea go after meeting with him?”

“I imagine to the family compound.”

“Good, I will be there as well. After she's met with the smuggler, you are to slip away. Just get outside of the compound and I'll find you. Depending on what she discovers, I may talk to her then or see if she can, by some miracle, pull this off on her own. If something unexpected happens and you have to leave the city, I'll post a messenger on the city docks. He'll be the one holding a plumeria branch in one hand. Be sure to get news back to me before morning or I'll assume you've broken trust with me. Understood?”

“Yes, but what about my son?”

Francesca looked down at the water. Both Lolo and Tam had returned to the floating pavilion. The boy had lain down in the shade, his head on Kenna's lap. He seemed to be sleeping while the twins talked. “I will take him to the compound. Keep me informed and my daughter alive until the imperial threat has past and I will return him to you. I will start teaching him now that your duties have kept you away but that you love him and want to take him to his native island.” She smiled. “You see, this doesn't have to end poorly. I can't say I was perfect, but I learned a thing or two about raising a child with particular potential.”

The shark god looked her up and down. “Just make sure you're not kidding yourself, Francesca. That sounds like a pretty story to hide an ugly thing.”

“Then you do the same for yourself, Holokai, when you think about what happened to your son's mother.”

He rolled his muscular shoulders. “I won't break trust with you. But I want you to think about all the stories you ever heard about dragons. Every story you ever heard from when you were a little girl to now. You ever hear a story about a dragon who wasn't destructive or greedy? Because I never have. Maybe you ought to rethink how good your plans are.”

Anger flushed through Francesca. “It turns out that when you are the most powerful dragon around, you don't have to worry about the past stories because you get to write your own God-of-gods damned story. Now get away from me before I decide to rewrite your ending.”

He stared at her, his face suddenly alive with hatred, eyes darkening. She didn't move a muscle. Any sign of weakness would be an invitation to him to break their agreement.

At last he scowled and went away.

Her legs feeling weak, Francesca turned back to the lake and put her hands on the railing. “Lea, how are we all going to get out of this alive?”

Most likely, not all of them would.

*   *   *

The door to Thaddeus's room had been hastily repaired. When Leandra knocked upon the freshly cut wooden planks, the door swung slightly ajar. Outside the winehouse, the volcano's shadow was stretching across the city as evening approached.

There was no answer from Thaddeus's room, so Leandra knocked harder. Her gut still ached and deep breaths still produced chest pain, though less intensely so. Embarrassingly, fatigue had forced her to hire a palanquin to carry her from the Floating Palace to the Naukaa.

She had discovered one consolation: Roughly half an hour previous, she had felt many of her future selves experience surprise and confusion followed by strange euphoria. There were shades of relief and satisfaction in this odd future emotion. Leandra hoped that it heralded a success from Thaddeus.

Ever since she had first sensed this strange euphoria, other possible future emotions had become harder to sense. Perhaps these possible moods were becoming unlikely. Or perhaps something would alter her ability to experience mood in general. Given their goal of casting a spell to prevent her from loving long enough to escape the prophecy, she guessed the latter.

At last Thaddeus called, “Enter.”

Leandra pushed the door the rest of the way open and then stepped inside. Thaddeus had never been neat; during periods of intellectual fascination, he had lived in personal disarray. But the sight before Leandra was a new height in scholastic squalor. Opened books and scrolls flopped across his desk, bed, floor. Reams of paper lay over many books and a half-eaten plate of curry. Even the drawer where he kept his opium paraphernalia was stacked with books.

Sitting at his desk, Thad didn't bother to look up but gestured. “Give me a moment to finish checking…”

“Thad, I have come—” Leandra started to say.

“Wait, wait.”

Surprised, Leandra closed her mouth. Behind her, Dhrun picked her way among the clutter. Holokai stood by the door.

“Okay … and…” Thad mumbled while running a finger down a blank page.

Suddenly Dhrun froze. The action made Leandra look at her. The goddess pointed to a small codex opened to its back cover. Something was smudged across it. Squinting, Leandra realized that the smudge had come from a boot heel. No one in her party wore boots. She looked to Dhrun, who gave her a four-shrugged shrug.

“Done!” Thaddeus pronounced and stood. His chair scraped against the floor, displacing several books. His expression shone with confident excitement. His collar was open and Leandra saw that he had a new dark patch of skin near his collarbone. A bruise? Thad's smile fell as he took in the rash on her face. “Lea?”

“I'm fine. Were you able to do it?”

He blinked.

“Thad, your spell?”

“Right … well, I can't promise anything.” He looked at his papers. “But revisiting the text I saw all the mistakes that I must have gone over a hundred times before.” His smile filled Leandra with memories. She had loved his passion for his work even though she had hated how it made him a single-minded, inconsiderate ass. But that was the past. “So it will work?”

“I think so. At least I'm certain it's safe. I've added several subspells to disengage if anything goes amiss.”

“It's not like you to be certain about safety, Thad. You love the danger of experimentation.”

“So I do.” He winked. “I don't have any bad habits, only—”

“Full-blown addictions,” Leandra finished for him. “But this spell is different? It's safe?”

“I might be reckless with my own head, but I never endanger anyone else. You know that.”

What he said was true.

Thad touched his right hand to his heart and his left to his forehead in a Cloud Culture gesture of prayer. “I swear on my mother's grave that this spell is safe.”

“Swear on something you care about.”

“All right, I'll swear on a week's worth of opium.”

Leandra grunted. “Will it stop me from being able to love?”

“Only one way to find out.” He flashed his handsome grin, dimples pronounced. He looked at the books strewn around his room as if noticing them for the first time. “Why don't you lie down on the bed?” He began to shift the clutter from his bed to the floor.

When his back was turned, Leandra caught Dhrun's eye. Quickly she pointed to Thaddeus and then to the spot on his collarbone where he had the discoloration. Holokai noticed the exchange and quietly pushed the door shut behind him.

Thaddeus motioned to the bed, and Leandra again glimpsed the discoloration on his collarbone. It seemed to extend down his chest.

“All right,” Leandra said as she made for the bed. “It was surprisingly humid today.” This was the secret expression for her officers.

“You thought so? I didn't notice,” Thaddeus murmured while turning back to his desk. Leandra watched as he reached for one particular sheet.

Seeing this sent a thrill through Leandra. She made up her mind. Quickly she held up her hand, balled it into a fist and then splayed out all her fingers—the prearranged gesture for “Begin an infiltration game.” Then she waggled her pinky as if it were injured and pointed to herself in the gesture for “Play a Wounded Bird game. I'm the bird.”

Both of her divinities balled their right hands into fists and then splayed out their fingers to indicate that they understood.

Thaddeus moved his hands in a complex pattern over his desk, pulling a spell from the paper and helping it fold. “I will need you to hold very still. In fact, why don't you lie down?”

Leandra put her head back on a pillow, which smelled of Thaddeus and pipe smoke. Her heart was racing.

Thaddeus leaned over her, began to extend his hands. Suddenly four muscular female arms spread out behind him. The lower two snaked under his armpits to wrap around his head in a double shoulder lock. The left upper arm held both of Thad's hands to one side. The right upper hand grasped his throat and squeezed.

Thaddeus's eyes widened the instant before Dhrun twisted into a hip throw. He struck the floor with a crash.