It was as if the woman in the jackal mask had heard her thoughts. “Your father faded as we all do when we don’t live among our own.”
“I haven’t,” Zoya said. A protest? A plea? She hated the tremble in her voice. These people didn’t know her. They had no right to speak about her family.
“But think how brightly you might have burned if you hadn’t always walked in shadow.” She waved them forward. “Come with us.”
“Are they going to march us to our death now?” asked Jesper.
“No idea,” said Kaz.
Jesper cursed. “I wish I’d worn a nicer suit.”
“Might be worth playing the king card now,” Kaz said to Nikolai. “Don’t you think?”
“What king card?” asked Wylan.
The jackal’s voice carried through the mist. “There are no kings we recognize here.”
“I might find that humbling,” said Nikolai. “If I’d any practice with humility.”
They descended a long path down the cliffside as the wind shrieked up from the water. Zoya’s heart thumped wildly, a small creature caught in a snare. This was panic—skittering, mindless panic. Why? She knew Nikolai didn’t disdain the Suli. He never would. And she didn’t care what these Barrel rats thought. So why did she feel as if the rock was about to crumble beneath her feet? Just because she’d told them what she was? Was that all it took? Was this the terror of being seen?
Halfway down, they passed behind a boulder, and Zoya saw the entrance to a cave, its yawning black mouth carved into the side of the cliff.
Again the jackal spoke. “If you wish to enter the base, this tunnel runs under the watchtowers and opens in a basement beneath Rentveer.”
“Where did it come from?” asked Nikolai.
But Kaz didn’t seem surprised. “The Kerch used Suli labor to build the base.”
“We always leave a back door,” said the woman in the jackal mask. “There are two guards who patrol past the entrance to the basement. The rest is up to you. Daughter, you may use the cliffs to board your ship.”
“Why are you helping us?” Zoya asked.
“Can’t we just say thank you and be on our way?” said Jesper.
The jackal-masked woman drew Zoya aside. “Your heart does not belong to you alone. When this is over, when it is all over, remember where you came from.”
“The king—”
“I speak of queens, not kings, tonight. Remember, daughter.” Then she vanished into the shadows.
Suddenly, they were alone at the tunnel mouth. The Suli were gone.
Zoya whirled on Kaz. “You knew, didn’t you? You never planned to go through the fence at the base. You knew the Suli were camped here. You knew they had a way in.”
Kaz was already limping into the tunnel. “I don’t walk through a door unless I know there’s a window to climb out of. Jesper, Wylan, get back to the cliffs and take out the spotlights. Nikolai and I will tackle the metal shell from inside.”
“How could you be sure I spoke Suli?” she called after him.
“That was a spin of Makker’s Wheel. Lucky for me, my number came up.”
“One day your luck will run out, Mister Brekker.”
“Then I’ll just have to make some more.” He paused and turned to look back over his shoulder at her. “The Suli never forget their own, General Nazyalensky. Just like crows.”
29
MAYU
MAYU CRUMPLED TO THE FLOOR as Reyem rose out of his sleeping chamber. He still had her hand crushed in his fist. The pain was beyond anything she’d ever known, wildfire searing her veins.
Silver flashed across her vision and she saw an axe lodge itself in Reyem’s forearm.
He released her and launched himself across the room at Tamar.
Tamar hurled another axe, mere distraction as her hands curled into fists. Reyem clutched his chest, then seemed to shake off the Heartrender’s power and charged forward.
He slammed into Tamar and her body struck the wall with a terrible clang.
She hit the floor but was back on her feet in an instant.
“Get Ehri out!” she snarled at Mayu.
But how? She had one good hand and Makhi stood between her and the door, surrounded by her Tavgharad. Mayu drew her talon sword awkwardly with her left hand. She scanned the walls, looking for another exit.
“The floor,” Bergin said, his voice hoarse, as if even the effort of speaking fatigued him. “There’s a sluiceway.”
Of course. The drains had to go somewhere.
“Get behind me!” she said to the princess, and brought her boot down hard on the nearest grate—once, twice. It gave way. “Go! I’ll hold them off.”
Mayu shoved Ehri into the drain, hoping the princess had the sense to run as far and as fast as she could.
“Stop her,” Makhi commanded. “And dose the Ravkan traitor with parem.”
Mayu planted her body, trying to block the Tavgharad, but they barreled through her and leapt into the sewer after Ehri. The doctor lunged for a control panel. He pulled one of the levers, and a cloud of orange mist gusted from the vent nearest Tamar.
Tamar shouted and tried to dodge it, but Reyem grabbed her and threw her to the ground, his pincers pinning her arms as she fought to keep from inhaling the poison.
“No!” Mayu cried. She knew Tamar had antidote in her pocket, but Tamar was trapped by Reyem. There was no way for her to reach it.
“Another volunteer for the cause,” said the queen.
Mayu scrambled for Tamar.
Reyem struck her; his fists felt like rocks. They must have been buttressed with metal. He grabbed her by her collar. Mayu knew he was going to throw her. She would break her ribs, maybe her skull.
“Reyem!” she cried. “Please.”
“Dje janin ess! Sc?n der top!”
Reyem froze.
“Sc?n der top!” Bergin repeated, his fragile body shaking.
Mayu had no idea what it meant. She didn’t speak Fjerdan, and as far as she knew, Reyem didn’t either.
“What are you waiting for?” Queen Makhi shouted. “I’ll wake all my monsters if I have to. There will be no mercy. There will be no escape.” She pressed a sequence of buttons and the lids of the sarcophagi opened. “Who will save you now?”
Reyem’s head snapped up, as if he had at last woken from a long, terrible dream.
“I will,” he growled. He dropped Mayu with a thud and retracted his pincers, freeing Tamar. She grabbed a pellet of powder from her pocket and shoved it in her mouth, her body convulsing.
Reyem leapt up and seized the doctor, slamming him against the wall, smashing the controls as if the metal were driftwood. He whirled on Makhi’s two remaining Tavgharad. They strode forward to meet him, their blades flashing, but they were no match for the weapon Reyem had become.
He didn’t bother deflecting the attacks. It was as if he didn’t even feel the slash of their blades. He seized each guard by the throat and hurled them against the wall beside their queen. They slumped to the ground, and Mayu knew they would not rise again. Reyem grabbed the queen around the neck.
“Who will save you now?” he bit out.
“Locust!” shouted the doctor.
But he wasn’t Locust anymore.