Wick helped Ancantha to her feet and the pair moved gingerly toward Lojen.
“Now what?” Lojen asked.
“We have to proceed to the mines. Just like Emre had planned.”
“Shouldn’t we wait for the others? Emre? Finn?”
“Look around, drakken.” Wick spread his uninjured arm, the other held between his furred chest and Ancantha, who clung to him. “We may have been lucky enough that we’ve been knocked cold for as long as we’ve been and not discovered. But that won’t last long.”
“Protocol aboard Gargantua would stipulate search parties starting with the immediate area and spreading,” Ancantha added.
“How do you know this?”
“Ancantha’s been our spy aboard Gargantua for more than five years. She’s been a direct servant to Solanine.”
Lojen nodded, satisfied. But something still knackered his craw. “What happened to Emre? He and the Dunleiths were to meet us at the rendezvous point after blowing the tethers. Something must’ve gone wrong.”
“You’re right about that one, Lojen. Something got cocked up.” Wick spoke into the communicator earpiece, “Emre, copy.” No response. The lapin tried again. “Emre, copy?” More silence. “Val? Finn?”
“Where are they?” Lojen was growing not only impatient, but intensely worried.
“I don’t know why they are radio silent. For all we know they could be in a dangerous spot. I vote we just go to the mines. Continue the plan.”
“What about Ru? I can’t leave her.”
“She knows where to go.”
“No!” he yelled suddenly, his shoulders tense. “I won’t leave until I know she’s safe. Radio her.”
Wick sighed, pressed the button in his ruined ear. “Ruane? Copy.” The lapin was silent for a long time before finally speaking again. “You all right? Good. Have you seen the others? Oh slag. Really? That’s not good.” Anger in Wick’s voice. “Fine. I’ll tell him. Copy, over and out.” Lojen faced him with hope. “She’s fine. She’s in the process of performing her final task for Emre.”
“She’s safe?”
Wick nodded. “She’s fine. Says to be safe, Scurred Hatch.”
A huge weight lifted off Lojen’s shoulders. Relief set in. But then the thought of Emre gone dark brought him back down again.
The Fallen had to pay.
Anger rolled through his body. The same feeling as when the automaton had attacked. It simmered within him, making him feel rage. It raced through his blood, searing him on the inside.
“Lojen?”
He wanted the Fallen dead. The man deserved it. Long had he made those Lojen cared about pawns in his game. The man deserved nothing less than death.
“Lojen?”
“What?”
“We’ve got more bad news.”
“How could it possibly get any worse?”
“Emre’s been captured.” That’s how it can be worse. “But that’s not all.” If Wick’s shredded ears could wilt, they would be doing so right now. “It was… it was Valeria.”
“What!”
“I know,” Wick growled. Anger in his tone. “She’s betrayed us all. I knew Emre was putting too much faith in Val. She played us, played Emre for a fool to trust her.”
That couldn’t be true, it just couldn’t. Not Valeria Dunleith. She had spoken to his father in the Meadows. His father wouldn’t have found her if she was turned to Nocturne. It couldn’t be. Could it? “So, what do we do?”
“Continue to the mines. That was the plan.”
Lojen was at a loss, he didn’t know what to do. Father? No, he had to continue with the plan, that’s what his father would have done. The loyal wardkeeper. And Emre was his ward now, whether the humir lived or not, Lojen was bound by his honor to see through Emre’s goal. His ward’s goal was his goal until it was completed, or death took him.
But first, “I lost the Seal,” he admitted, full of shame.
“Buggers, you’re right,” Wick breathed. “That will complicate matters.” Wick began to limp toward the pilotbox of the airglider. He rummaged about and pulled out a wheellock pistol, a length of rope, and a few other odd assortments. “We need to move. Lu Har and his scourges are not going to give us a head start.”
“But without the Seal, all this was for naught.”
“Probably useless now. Lu Har’s probably had the remaining bombs disarmed at this point. But the plan is the plan. Emre will have to take it from here. We can only hope his daughter will prevail.”
“Wait, his catalyst is his daughter? By the Arbiter, this keeps getting better and better. Then how can we even hope to fight the Fallen with nothing but sand? And do you trust in Emre enough to put our faith in a girl who only recently discovered who she is?”
“I don’t know, Lojen. But Emre was insistent on going through with this. So, we’ll keep going.”
“I saw the aftermath of what Emre’s daughter can do,” Ancantha said. “She killed a scourge with nothing but her hands. A scourge who could wield aetheurgy. The girl has a stout heart, drakken.”
