The Devil Incarnate (The Devil of Ponong series #2) (29 page)

Voorus winced as he
stretched out on the cot. “That’s only going to work for so long, you know. We
have these tiny victories – you don’t incite a rebellion and I make a
gesture that might have been interpreted as tears – but eventually we’re
merely little sailboats facing a typhoon. From what you’re saying, Zul can keep
upping the stakes. Have you felt the tension in town? It’s simmering and ready
to boil over.”

He’d understood the
important part of this conversation. She had to be grateful for that.

“It’s been steadily
building over the past few months. Kyam felt it. So did I. We couldn’t figure
out the source.” They hadn’t tried. Would it have made any difference?

“What good does it
do to know who is behind it or how long this course has been charted? As
Captain Voorus points out, Grandfather’s next move might ignite the oil. How do
we stop it?” Hadre asked.

She’d given him time
to accept the truth, but she wouldn’t let him get away with keeping his secret.
Hadre had to confess.

“You know very well what this is leading up to, Hadre. If we
give him what he wants, maybe he won’t make that next move.”

“Never!”

QuiTai shook her head. She didn’t see any way out of it.
Kyam would have understood. He wouldn’t be happy about it, but he’d offer to
make the sacrifice. She closed her eyes for a moment. “There are worse things,
Hadre.”

“Worse what?” Voorus asked. “What does he want?” He looked
from Hadre to QuiTai.

“The message Grandfather Zul traveled all those miles to
deliver personally to Hadre. The message he couldn’t trust to a farwriter.” Her
gaze met Hadre’s and held it. She knew she had the right answer. Kyam could
laugh all he wanted to at her guesses, but she was right much more often than
she was wrong.

“Would you stop talking in riddles and meaningful glances?
Just tell me,” Voorus said.

“Grandfather Zul wants Governor Turyat to be forced out of
office so the king will name his grandson Kyam Zul as the next governor of
Ponong. He ordered Hadre not to interfere.”

“If only Kyam had listened to me, or Voorus, or you, Lady
QuiTai,” Hadre whispered.

Voorus snorted.
“That’s it? A rich, privileged member of the thirteen families gets a cushy
position with a fat salary? Where’s the tragedy in that? Why are you trying to
stop it? Let the old man have what he wants, for the love of the Goddess of
Mercy, before blood runs in the street.”

Tell
me what happened today. TtZ

This was more like it. A simple request for information.

The price of rice
doubled. Rumor has it there was a fight in the marketplace when a mob of
Thampurians attacked a merchant’s stall. No verification, but there’s another
rumor that a group of Thampurians broke the windows of a rice merchant’s shop
on the edge of the Quarter of Delights, beat him, and looted the store.
Colonial militia is keeping a lid on rumors, but of course there’s talk.

Thampurians rioted?
TtZ

He smirked. Yes, you old bastard. Thampurians. The
farwriter’s bell rang before he could compose a reply.

Why did it happen? Why
did the price go up? TtZ

People panicked on a
rumor. The rice merchants took advantage. People got angry and fought back.

He envisioned Zul pacing an elegant room with high ceilings.
The floor would be a rare wood or expensive stone. The furniture would be
delicate and graceful.

Bring me QuiTai. TtZ

Bring?

To this farwriter. TtZ

He gulped.

It’s raining heavily.
The streets are flooded.

Then get wet! Bring me
QuiTai tonight! TtZ

His hands shook as he picked out the letters.

She’ll kill me when
she finds out I’ve been spying on her for you.

Do you think I can’t
have you killed tonight? TtZ

He sank into his desk chair. At least Zul would let him die
quickly. QuiTai wasn’t the kind to dabble in mercy.

I’m not sure where to find her.

Then you’d better start looking. TtZ

Are you sure you wouldn’t rather talk to the
Devil?

It took him a long
time to decipher the reply. When he did, he dropped the scrolling paper and
backed away from it. Zul was laughing.

~ ~ ~

 
The Dragon
Pearl was uncomfortably quiet. Many employees hadn’t come for the evening
shift. LiHoun knew it wasn’t the rain. Addicts would drag themselves through
waist-high water to get to a pipe, but even the dens upstairs were deserted.
Fear had settled over Levapur. It had him in its grip too.

He sat on the back veranda near the street and rolled a kur
with trembling hands. QuiTai’s meeting with her local lieutenants earlier in
the evening had been contentious. One of them had been attacked by Thampurians
when they caught him with a bag of rice, despite his bodyguard. She’d told them
to stop selling rice to Thampurians. They’d countered that most of their
business was with Thampurians. A few bags of coins had quieted most of their
grumbling, but he could tell QuiTai was still worried. So was he.

He inhaled the floral smoke from the kur. Instantly his blood
heated and he felt the rush of energy. He held it in his lungs until it felt as
if they would burst. As he exhaled, deep coughs shook his shoulders.

He watched the water
flow through the street while he took another puff. What should he do? He
didn’t know. He blinked as he thought he saw a ghostly shape move toward him,
but then he heard the splashes and cursing and knew it was no spirit. He braced
himself.

Kyam Zul came up the
steps.

“Good evening,
uncle. Have you eaten?” Kyam asked.

LiHoun watched him warily.
“Yes. And you?”

He nodded to LiHoun
as he wiped rain out of his eyes. “I need to talk to QuiTai.”

LiHoun put his
finger to his lips and shifted his gaze to the open shutters behind him.

Kyam squatted next
to LiHoun. He ran his hand over his hair, pushing his straight black bangs out
of his eyes. He bowed his head and winced before speaking. “I’m taking her
offer.” He finally looked up. “You’ll pass on my message?”

LiHoun exhaled
relief. “Yes.”

Kyam nodded again.
He turned to watch the rain pour down, sighed deeply before rising, and headed
back out into the rain.

~ ~ ~

Hadre and Voorus stumbled into Hadre’s cabin aboard the
Winged Dragon
like two drunks. Hadre
sent for the doctor as they crossed the deck.

“We should have stayed at the compound,” Hadre said.

Voorus plopped into a chair and pulled off his boots. “You
would have gotten just as wet, and I didn’t fancy staying there alone.”

“You don’t trust Lady QuiTai?”

Voorus’ gaze sharpened. “You do?”

Hadre nodded. “In this, yes.” The farwriter’s bell dinged.
He ignored it.

“Why?” Voorus unbuttoned his uniform jacket and pulled it
off. Bruises mottled his arms.

Hadre tried to think of an explanation. Finally, he
shrugged. “I admire her.”

The bell rang again.
He swore it sounded impatient. Once a message had been received, it would keep
dinging until he acknowledged he’d received it.

Voorus gestured to
the farwriter’s cabinet. “Are you going to get your message?”

“It’s from
Grandfather, so no. Not yet. I’m too angry with him right now.”

Voorus shed his trousers.
“Sorry, but I want to crawl into bed. Where’s your ship’s doctor?”

“He should be here
soon.”

“Speaking of QuiTai, she never referred to the Devil
tonight. Does he allow her that much freedom? I thought she was completely his
creature,” Voorus said. “And can you imagine that woman working for you? The
Devil must be brilliant if she bows to him.”

Hadre hadn’t noticed, but now that Voorus mentioned it, it
struck him as odd. Not that QuiTai had talked about the Devil much when she was
on board the
Golden Barracuda
.

Voorus yawned loudly. “Maybe she doesn’t hate your cousin as
much as I thought. She didn’t say anything bad about him. I kept expecting her
to, because – well, if you’d ever seen one of their disagreements, you’d
know how she usually speaks to him.”

“That’s not how they were when they were on the
Golden Barracuda
. She was much the same
as she was tonight. All business.”

He wasn’t the kind
to delude himself, but maybe Voorus was right. Maybe she had left the Devil.
She wouldn’t talk about something like that with men she barely knew, she
wasn’t the type, but she had been in that cabin with Kyam. They certainly fit
together well. If she cared for Kyam more than she admitted, she’d help him
escape the island. Wouldn’t she?

The farwriter bell
clanged again.

Hadre spun around. “All right! I hear you.” He gave Voorus
an apologetic glance. “One of these days, I’m going to stuff that bell with
cloth.”

He unlatched the door and folded down the shelf. Hadre
ripped off the paper and waved it.

“Grandfather asks for a report. ‘Tell me what happened
today,’ he says. Good luck with that, sir.”

“Caught between QuiTai and your grandfather. That can’t be
comfortable.”

“I’d rather face plague and pirates, but no one ever asks
me.” Hadre winked at Voorus.

Another message was already appearing on the page. It was
time-stamped two hours after the first message. Hadre read it. Dread settled in
the pit of his stomach. He turned to Voorus.

Voorus sat up, eyes wide. “What is it? Bad news?”

“He says to bring him QuiTai. Now.”

~ ~ ~

LiHoun jumped when Lizzriat ran out onto the veranda.
“Sorry, sir. I didn’t think customers would see me here tonight.”

“Never mind that.” Lizzriat knelt next to him and gripped
his forearm. “I must see QuiTai tonight. Now!”

“QuiTai?”

“Don’t play stupid with me. I know you’re one of her
favorite informants.”

He’d never seen Lizzriat upset, worried, or angry before.
Now his curly red hair was in disarray, as if he’d gripped it tightly, and his
eyes were hollowed with fear. His lacy shirt hung open at his throat.

“Tomorrow, I can arrange a meeting.”

“Tonight! Don’t you hear me? It must be tonight!”

LiHoun tensed from the rising panic rolling off him. “I
don’t know where she sleeps. She’s very secretive.” He tried to pull his arm
away and long, curved fingernails dug under his skin.

“You don’t
understand, LiHoun. Zul will kill me if I don’t bring her here tonight to talk
to him!”

“Zul? Kyam Zul?”

“No. The
grandfather.”

“He’s here in
Levapur?”

“No!” Lizzriat
covered his face with his hands. At first, LiHoun thought he cried, but when
his hands dropped, LiHoun saw it was fatalistic laughter. “By farwriter.” He
took a shaky breath. “I’m dead. I’m dead. That’s all there is to it. I’m dead.”

“Grandfather Zul told you that he wants to speak to QuiTai.”
He wanted to make sure he had the message right.

“Yes.”

LiHoun mulled over that for a while. Tonight, everyone
wanted to talk to QuiTai, even he. There was no putting it off any longer. He
rose. “No promises, but I will do what I can.”

Lizzriat pressed his hands together and bowed until his
forehead touched his fingertips.

“She’ll be very angry with you if she comes here in this
rain only to find you dead. I suggest you don’t disappoint her in that manner.”

“You sound like her.” Lizzriat managed a wan smile, but it
had no staying power.

~ ~ ~

LiHoun honestly
didn’t know where QuiTai might be. Her paranoia wasn’t unreasonable, given her
history with the Devil and the colonial militia, but it was damned inconvenient
right now. She probably hadn’t left Levapur after her meeting with her
lieutenants. Not in this rain. But even in Levapur, she could be anywhere.

He knew of seven of
her safe houses. At least that was a start. He didn’t want to lead anyone to
her, though, in case he were followed, or to show them where to look for her in
the future.

 
He scratched his head. If only he could
think like her. She’d been disguising herself as a Thampurian lady since she’d
left RhiLan’s apartment. Where could a single Thampurian lady rent a room
without sparking gossip? Where would she be left alone?

~ ~ ~

The corner of QuiTai’s mouth curved up as she gestured to
LiHoun to enter her room. “Am I this predictable, uncle?”

Water dripped off him. His legs ached and he couldn’t stop
coughing. Her smile turned to concern. She took his arm and led him to the
small bed in the sparsely furnished room.

“Lie down.” She went to the chest at the end of the bed.
“Here’s a blanket. If you want something dry to wear, there are a couple of
sarongs in the wardrobe. And, you’ll be glad to hear, I don’t have tiuhon tea,
so you’ll just have to make do with a bottle of rum and cold rice.”

He shook his head.

“Something has happened. Tell me.”

“Lizzriat says Grandfather Zul wants to talk to you.
Tonight. If you don’t come, Lizzriat will be killed.”

“Trap?”

“Possibly, but he looked truly frightened.”