Darkfall. Janice Hardy

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СКАЧАТЬ Three Territories.

      If the Duke knew he was behind the rebellions, he’d destroy every town he suspected Jeatar of being in, just like he’d destroyed Sorille.

      I couldn’t put all those people at risk. Not until we were ready to fight.

      “Is he going after Geveg?” I asked.

      Jeatar let out a held breath and nodded. “That’s a reasonable guess. He’ll want to make Geveg an example, quell the other rebellions, and eliminate any support the aristocrats have gained.”

      More guards came in and Jeatar turned away again.

      If the Duke was going after Geveg, then the rumours about the Gov-Gen had to be true. Maybe all of them were. Geveg was fighting back, kicking out the Baseeri. Once they were gone, Gevegians would regain control of the pynvium mines, reclaim what was stolen from us.

      The Duke would never allow that. He’d do anything to keep those mines, keep the pynvium. Even destroy us.

      And when he was through with Geveg, he might go after Verlatta. Then there’d be no safe place to run to in the Three Territories. There wouldn’t even be a Three Territories any more. I tried not to picture it, but the images came anyway. Flaming pitch arcing through the air, splattering against roofs and buildings, fire spreading through the city.

      Geveg might not even know the Duke was coming. Someone had to warn them.

      Someone like us.

      Which meant abandoning Tali again. Stopping my search for her. If you stop the Duke, you can get her back for sure. The odds of that were just as slim as finding her with no idea where to look. But Tali was probably with his army, and his army was headed to Geveg.

      “We have to tell Geveg they’re in danger,” I said to Danello and Aylin. “They can’t possibly know the Duke is coming.”

      Aylin gaped at me. “You want to go home now?”

      “She’s right, we have to,” Danello said. “The more time they have to prepare, the better chance they’ll have of defending the city.”

      She hesitated, lips tight, then she nodded. “OK, I’ll tell Quenji. Knowing him, he’ll love the idea of running into certain death.”

      “Are you going to tell Jeatar?” Danello whispered.

      I glanced over at him, deep in conversation with his soldiers. “I’ll tell him before we leave. He has more important things to worry about right now.”

      “I want to go with you,” said Lanelle, cornering me in the dry-goods storeroom.

      “Go with me where?” I’d been running around like everyone else on the farm, gathering supplies. I’d sent Quenji after a horse and wagon, since he was the most likely person to actually find one. I did warn him against stealing it from someone who needed one, though.

      “To Geveg.”

      I nearly dropped a bag of goat jerky. “You do know it’s about to be invaded?”

      “They’ll need Healers.”

      Even ones who’d betrayed them? Maybe Lanelle saw this as her chance to redeem herself.

      “I’m sorry, but—”

      “Please, Nya.” She grabbed my free hand. I fought the urge to yank it away. “I can help, I really can. I know people, and I know things about the League you don’t. The Elders talked around me, even about things they shouldn’t have.”

      Because she’d helped them. But she did have a point.

      “You’re not going to get over there and join the other side?”

      She actually looked hurt. “No, swear to Saint Erlice I won’t. Baseeri lie – I know that now.”

      Not all of them, but it was a step over the right bridge.

      “Please, Nya?”

      I sighed. Aylin was going to kill me. “OK, you can come.”

      The heat from the forge wrapped around me as soon as I turned the corner. Hammer strikes of metal on metal rang out, mixed with duller thuds and some impressive swearing. I still hadn’t come up with a story as to why I needed pynvium, but since I’d stolen it in the first place, I figured some of it was mine.

      Smiths banged away, no doubt trying to get the last of something made before we had to leave. Weapons maybe, or tools. Maybe just metal ingots that would be easier to carry. Onderaan worked in one corner off to the side. I cringed. I’d really hoped he wouldn’t be here.

      “Onderaan?”

      He turned, frustration on his face. He seemed surprised to see me. “You shouldn’t be wandering around alone.”

      The forge was on the farm grounds, but it wasn’t connected to the house.

      “I know but I, uh, needed some pynvium.”

      “I think the weapons have already been packed, but I’ll see what’s here. There might be some pain-filled scraps left.”

      “Any healing bricks?”

      “Bricks? Why would you need – oh, Nya.” He sighed, rubbed his eyes. “What are you going to do?”

      “Warn Geveg. I know it’s dangerous, but I—”

      “You sound like your father.”

      “I do?”

      “Not the warning part,” he continued, “but the going-where-it’s-dangerous part. Going to Geveg where it’s dangerous, specifically.” He sighed and sat on a corner of the unfinished forge. “But you need to go, just like he needed to go.”

      “He went to Geveg?” I’d always thought he’d been born there. I should have known that wasn’t true as soon as I’d learned he was Baseeri.

      Onderaan nodded. “When he was nineteen. Our grandfather was governor then, and his ore finders had just discovered a huge pynvium vein in the mountains. Geveg needed enchanters to smelt it, and Peleven wanted to go help. I asked him not to leave, but he didn’t listen.”

      “Why didn’t you want him to go?” Geveg was safe back then – no Baseeri soldiers on the streets, no Duke telling them what to do.

      “It was a lot of pynvium. Mountains of it, and Verraad was already making a fuss out of claiming it for Baseer, trying to get his family to listen.”

      Verraad. The Duke, before he was Duke. Was that when he first started thinking about killing his father and brothers?

      “It made Bespaar nervous, and when he was nervous, our father was nervous. Bespaar knew too much about what his family argued over, how different their politics were. Your father should have been nervous too.”

      “Who’s Bespaar?”

      “The СКАЧАТЬ