Chapter 25 Cero #3
“Let me do the talking,” he said. “If we don’t manage to get something out of the Raanis, we’re stuck, and this entire endeavor will have been for nothing.”
“For you, maybe,” Karinna muttered. But at Cero’s confusion, she shrugged, and he couldn’t dwell on it because Linh was ushering them into a room.
It was bare but for a rickety table and a bookshelf with a few scattered tomes on it, gilt writing visible on the spines.
Cobwebs hung thick in the corners, and the windows were dirty.
The woman awaiting them was perched on a table and wore a Raani’s ornate headdress, though her light purple gown, long sleeved and cinched tight at the waist, was simple. She fidgeted, as if she wished she could be anywhere else.
“Light of the Spires, Cero bet-Dafra,” the woman said. “I am Raani U’qaya. What brings you to us?”
Cero glanced around, confused. “I—I hoped to speak to all of the Raanis—”
“Alas, they are engaged elsewhere. You have a request, I am told.”
“I seek a map to Old Kegar,” Cero said in a rush, thrown off by the woman’s clipped tone and the strange location of the meeting.
Raani J’mila had told Cero she’d send for him.
Perhaps this was what she intended. “I wish to know if my old homeland still exists, and if my people can go there, so that we might end this war with the Empire.”
“What makes you think we can help you?” Raani U’qaya’s voice was strained, just on the edge of belligerent. Perhaps she saw this all as a waste of time. “Did someone tell you to come here?” she went on. “If so, who?”
Cero wouldn’t give up Kade’s name. It was clear he feared the Jaduna. But the Jaduna might see through a lie. Cero was about to speak when Karinna stepped forward.
“Don’t play with us,” she said. “You have information. We need it.”
“My dear child,” the Raani said. “We have no such map. I would not know where to begin discovering the first thing about Old Kegar.”
“Rubbish,” Karinna said. Cero cleared his throat pointedly to get her to be quiet. She ignored him and kept talking.
“You’re magic-users,” she went on. “Aren’t you supposed to know everything?”
“You are a magic-user yourself,” U’qaya said coolly. “Do you know everything?”
“I’ve only just discovered my power,” Karinna said. “Your lot have been practicing for millennia. And you haven’t managed to map the world? Bit pathetic, wouldn’t you say?”
Cero, holding his tongue until now, finally lost his temper. “A moment, please, Raani,” he said before pulling Karinna into a corner and lowering his voice.
“Were you raised by bleeding wolves?” he whispered between gritted teeth.
“The Tribes, actually.” He heard a shing and before he could blink, she had a hand at his throat, a blade sprouting from it like a sixth finger. “And I’d thank you not to insult them!”
“You are the most miserable human I have ever met,” Cero growled at her, shoving the blade away. “And I lived in bleeding Dafra slum, so that’s saying something. Could you please, for five minutes, not antagonize the people I am begging for help?”
“That woman’s hiding something,” Karinna whispered, and he was confused to find that while she’d once again lifted the knife to his throat and had a snarl on her lips, her eyes were calm.
“She’s met us in the Jaduna equivalent of a dark alley.
” Karinna’s voice was barely above a breath.
From U’qaya’s perspective, it would look like she was hissing threats.
“She’s rushing. Jumpy. Watching the door, like she’s worried someone will catch her here.
When you said map, her entire body tensed.
She has what we want or I’m not my father’s daughter.
” Karinna pressed the knife in closer and brought her lips to Cero’s ear.
“Don’t let her kick us out. Buy us time here. ”
Cero stared at her in astonishment. She shoved him, and instantly, Linh was behind her, disarming her.
“Cero bet-Dafra.” U’qaya cleared her throat delicately. “Perhaps we might speak alone.”
“Absolutely not,” Karinna said. “He’s too—too formal and stuffy to be direct with you, but my parents taught me all about the Jaduna.”
“Actually.” Cero’s mind raced as he took in what Karinna had told him. “That might be best.”
Linh summoned the two Jaduna guards outside and they entered and took Karinna’s arms. When she resisted rather convincingly, they nudged her toward the door with small flickers of light that made her yelp.
“Stop—” Karinna roared. “I’m going—ow—I will break that hand—”
A moment later, the door slammed behind her, though Cero could still hear her protests. She was an impressive actress and in far better control of herself than he’d given her credit for.
“I come to you on behalf of my people.” Cero spoke slowly, attempting to stall. If U’qaya wanted to hide his presence, then he’d drag this out. “They have been pulled into a war they don’t want by Aiz, who calls herself the Tel Ilessi. Do you—ah—know the Tel Ilessi? She is—”
“I’ve heard of her,” U’qaya said impatiently. “But we can’t help you. Now, I really must—”
“Please,” Cero said. “My people are being tempted to stay in a land they have stolen because the homeland we came from offers us nothing but death by cold or starvation. I know the Jaduna would not sit idly by when they could help. There must be something.”
U’qaya shrugged, her face artfully blank. “I wish we could help you, but the Jaduna rarely have dealings with the Kegari.”
“And yet,” Cero said, his temper sparking, “it takes only one look at your script to see that perhaps, that was not always true.” He grabbed a book from the shelf. He’d noticed the writing on the spines the moment he walked in.
“There are few Kegari texts,” he said. “Most of what we’ve written has been lost or taken. But I learned it from the clerics as a child in Dafra cloister. Our script is similar.”
U’qaya opened her mouth, no doubt with another excuse, but before she could speak, Cero went on.
“I also know what it says in the tunnels beneath Dafra cloister, which was the first building ever constructed in Kegar: The oldest betrayal is that which is between blood.”
He put into words the suspicion that first awoke in his heart when he was at Kade’s house. U’qaya blanched; he’d hit on something.
“You know more about my people than you’re letting on. Your city reminds me of Kegar. And some Jaduna, I know, have been inordinately interested in the Kegari. Yet you’ve never offered the Kegari help or goods or food. Why? How are our people linked?”
“I—” Whatever Raani U’qaya was expecting, it was clearly not this. Cero could see her changing tack before his eyes, see her decide it was better to throw him a bone than have him question her further.
“I wish to help you,” she said. “You are welcome to search our libraries. I give you leave, and the other Raanis will not question my judgment. The head librarian can translate anything in Jadne. Perhaps you will find what you are looking for. But”—she gave him a pointed look—“we are not used to having strangers in our land. You have three days. Then we will ask you to leave, whether you’ve found anything or not. ”