“The last of them,” he said, then tapped his head. “My memories. The things the delvers have forgotten on purpose. I do not know what that last portal holds—but it is the thing they don’t want you to see. The thing they fear the most. I fear it too, but not so much as I once did. We two, we explore so well! Even exploring what I once was! Ha!”
I smiled as he wiped his eyes, grinning like a fool. In the distance, I felt something. The delvers? I turned toward the lightburst and expanded my senses. Searching, listening. I could hear the stars.
The delvers were projecting concern. They knew I’d walked this step on the Path, and they were cautious. But they had allowed this. So far I hadn’t broken the truce. Well, I hadn’t accepted it either, technically. Even though they felt I had. For now, there was balance.
Except…I was stronger than I’d ever been. What were they really thinking?
I could only do this because they were deliberately trying to project worry toward me—they saw it as encouragement for me to keep to the deal. But I was able to kind of…ride the signal they were sending, and quietly use that opening to read what they were truly thinking.
They were terrified of me still. That was what I expected. But there was something else… They were planning?
Scud. They were planning how to destroy Surehold.
I blinked in surprise, as I could picture it specifically. The delvers were going to bring in fragments from the somewhere. Ten of them. A dozen. Then they were going to slam them into Surehold while everyone was sleeping. They thought it might fool our scanners if the fragments appeared suddenly.
“Scud,” I whispered. “They were going to immediately break the truce. They don’t care. They’ll do anything to kill me.”
“What?” Chet said.
“They’re planning it now!” I said, pointing. “I can hear them doing it!”
“I didn’t know, Miss Nightshade,” he said. “I promise you, when I asked you to travel with me, I didn’t…”
Every instinct I’d had about them was right. “We need to leave,” I said to him. “Before we put the people here in danger.”
“How long do we have?” he asked.
“A day or so,” I said. “They will wait until everyone is asleep—but still, I think we should be long gone by then. Hopefully drawing delver attention to us, making them abandon the attack on Surehold.”
“Agreed,” Chet said. “So, it is onward, then? Today?”
“Today,” I said, striding out of the hangar to where M-Bot sat on the tarmac. “Recall the drone,” I said to him. “And Hesho. We’re going to be leaving soon.”
Nearby, several ships were landing—our ground crews, fetched from the Broadsider base. Peg and Maksim were walking up to meet them.
“I should say goodbye,” I said to Chet.
“It is well,” Chet said, climbing onto M-Bot’s wing. “Though, if you will, pass them my regards. I should not like them to see me in my state of disorder. An explorer of my renown must maintain a stoic reputation!”
I rushed over to Peg. “I’m leaving,” I said to her. “I’m sorry.”
“So soon?” Peg asked. “Not even an evening to celebrate?”
“I’m afraid not.” I didn’t mention the delvers—there seemed to be too much to explain. I’d send them word if the delvers continued with their planned attack, but I strongly suspected they’d abandon it as soon as I left Surehold.
They didn’t care about these others. It was me they feared. Scud, why were they so afraid of me?
“It was an honor, then,” Peg said, holding out a hand to me in a human gesture. “Plant that fruit somewhere grand.”
“I will,” I said, taking the offered hand—though hers dwarfed mine.
I gave Nuluba a few circular gestures I’d learned, a grateful goodbye. She excitedly returned them. Shiver and Dllllizzzz were already there in their ships. “I haven’t forgotten my promise,” I said to Shiver. “I continue to resonate with it.”
“You resonate with more than that,” Shiver said from her cockpit. “Fare well on your journey. And thank you, for all you have done.”
I gave Maksim a hug last of all.
“Thank you,” he said to me. “For showing me that we can fight without being monsters.”
“There are others who could teach you that better,” I said. “I hope to be able to introduce you someday.”