Page 42 of The Merciless Ones
I gust out a frustrated breath. “All right, then. The way I see it, we have to make a way. We’re stuck here and completely out of options – so we have to rescue our friends and find a way out of Hemaira…while also capturing Elder Kadiri and learning more about Idugu and his powers.” I glance from one friend to the other. “Sound like a plan?”
Britta nods. “Sounds like a plan. Conquer or die.”
Asha does the same. “You know Adwapa and I are already prepared for this,” she says.
“Us too,” Li says, motioning to all the other boys.
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” I say, relieved. “Now, how about we find new disguises?” I ask, wrinkling my nose as I look down at my torn and dirty clothes. Certainly can’t make my way across Hemaira wearing these.
As it happens, we don’t have to go far to find disguises. Lamin simply vaults onto the next rooftop, where he liberates – well, steals – an assortment of male clothing from the lines strung across its pillars, as well as copious amounts of food from the kitchen below. For a boy so large, he’s a very stealthy person. I wish I knew more about what his full history is, but even among the other uruni, Lamin has never been much of a talker, especially not where his past is concerned. Once everyone has eaten and the girls have wrapped ourselves in enough robes to hide every discernible female feature from view, we’re ready to proceed. Keita, who’s the most familiar with Hemaira, since he lived here the longest, takes the lead.
“All right,” he says, pointing at the rudimentary map he’s made on the roof’s red tiles from dirt collected from the garden. “We sneak out of the marketplace and use this bridge to cross the Agbeni River here.” He points to the spot on the map. “From there, we can hide in the park until dark; then we use the caverns to enter the Warthu Bera. Assuming everything goes well, we can start liberating everyone tonight.”
“Mehrut,” Adwapa rasps, her voice hoarse. “We free her first.” There’s such hope in her eyes, such raw longing. Asha quickly reaches out to hold her hand.
Keita nods. “We free Mehrut first, along with any karmokos we may find.”
“You think they’d come with us?” Acalan scoffs, already seeming to be back to his usual haughty self, thank the goddesses.
“And why wouldn’t they come with us?” I ask. “They’re human women who trained alaki who rebelled. I can only imagine the punishments that have been inflicted on them since we left.” Especially the most beautiful of them, Karmoko Huon. They’d have special punishments for her. The thought fills me with anxiety.
“What about us, what do we do?” Nimita slips down from the side of the tower, a languid white shimmer descending into light.
I blink. Nimita has this stillness sometimes that makes it easy to ignore her. But the moment you do so, she appears, as if out of thin air, to slice you straight through the gut.
Keita looks up at her. “Can you follow us from the rooftops?” he asks.
“Of course, son of man.” The sleek deathshriek seems almost offended by this question, although it might be just the fact that the boy once notorious for slaying deathshrieks is addressing her.
I feel a twinge of sadness at the thought.
Katya seems offended as well when Keita turns her way, but with her it’s simply because she’s offended by his implication. “I know how to be stealthy, Keita,” she sniffs, signing out her words so he can understand her.
“All right,” he says, putting his hands up to show he’s not arguing.
“But what about getting across the river?” I’ve never crossed the Agbeni, but I’ve seen it from a distance. It’s huge. And the deathshrieks can’t just walk across the bridge, blending in, the way we intend to do.
“Strong swimmers even in deep waters,” Nimita replies, unconcerned.
“Or we could just crawl under the bridge,” Katya adds thoughtfully.
“Very well,” Keita says with a nod. “So we all know what we’re doing. Let’s head out.”
I nod, but as I rise, a prickle travels down my spine. My senses narrow as the combat state abruptly falls over me. I whirl to the corner of the tower, where a faint light is flickering like a reflection of the sun off water. I tense, my muscles coiling. Could it be a door? But no, I don’t feel the telltale sensation of energy coalescing around me. And it can’t be Idugu either. That awful foreboding, that oiliness I associate with his presence, is missing. Even more markedly, Ixa isn’t on the defensive. He bristled when Idugu was near in Zhúshan, but now he just seems curious. He pads over in his kitten form to sniff at the light.
“Deka?” Keita asks, staring at me. “What is it?”
“I don’t know,” I reply, eyes still on that corner. “There’s something there…”
“What do you mean?” He squints at the shadows, confused, even though the flickering is clearer now – so clear, in fact, I can see it’s a figure. A woman. A very dark woman. My eyes widen when I recognize her.
“White Hands?” I ask, frowning, when she appears in the shadows. “How are you here?”
“I’m not,” she says, stepping out so I can see the light passing through her.
Gasps sound – the others finally glimpsing her.
“But how?” Britta asks, frowning.