Plant
The next ten minutes involved a lot of noise, a lot of running, a lot of ducking behind buildings and down alleys.
By the time they made it to New Town, Tanxi and Math were the only adult Idallik Knights with the group. Math hadn’t kept track of where he’d lost their escorts.
He didn’t care. The children were safe. That was all that mattered.
The streets were a chaotic mess as people rushed about, trying to find loved ones or collect their belongings or warn their neighbors that the Kaliri were just a few blocks up the road.
They played hide-and-seek for several blocks, avoiding the invaders except for the one time when a Kaliri who’d wandered off for some fun looting rounded the wrong corner.
Math discovered that his shield could, in fact, stop Kaliri long arms and that such weapons were just as good at blocking Tanxi’s Sun sword as anything else.
That is to say, not good at all.
Finally, they reached the address where Tanxi said the regent’s matching necklace could be found.
The building seemed innocuous enough. It looked like a hotel.
Then he noticed several people leaving the building who seemed to be in an understandable hurry to be anywhere else.
Some of them had been dressing as they ran.
“Yup,” he said. “That’s a brothel.” He put a hand out to stop Jaiik from walking forward. “You want to watch the kids while I go—?”
“I don’t think so,” Tanxi told him, rolling her eyes. “You watch the children. I’ve got this.” Without waiting for his response, she walked inside.
“What’s a brothel, again?” Iduan asked. She had her hands crossed over her chest in her most stubborn “I want something” pose. “I’m older now. You have to tell me.”
Math turned to make sure that Tanxi had already left before he turned back to the group. “It’s a sex thing,” he told them.
“Eww,” was the universal response. Or almost universal response.
Jaiik looked like he wanted to go exploring immediately.
“You’re still too young,” Math told Jaiik. “Way too young.”
Jaiik sighed and then shrugged. He didn’t seem that upset, which only proved Math’s point.
The boy was curious, not interested.
“It’s a business,” Empress Asali commented with great solemnity. “Auntie Imar says that it has to be monitored carefully, or people act weird.”
“I imagine she’s right,” Math agreed. He tried not to be distracted, but he felt a sense of wrongness coming from Kai through their link. She felt … numb. Which scared him more than pain would have.
Math had no idea how long Sanistral’s ritual would take. His gut told him he was running out of time.
Fortunately, making sure a baker’s dozen of children didn’t wander off or get into trouble took all his focus and attention, so he didn’t have any left to brood.
A side door opened. Tanxi and a cloaked figure who pulled back her hood to reveal Imar Shovan ushered them inside.
To Math’s surprise, Asali didn’t immediately become a sobbing mess, but held herself primly while gracing her regent with a solemn nod.
She seemed surprised when Imar Shovan pulled her into a tight hug.
Then the regent stared at Math and shook her head. “I thought I told you to wait for me?” She held out a hand. “Never mind. Probably as well you didn’t. Now explain everything.”
They discovered that Imar Shovan was already engaged in organizing a defense of the city, because she had ears and was just as capable of hearing the loud volleys of black-powder weapons discharge as anyone else.
Math and Tanxi filled the regent in on everything that happened at the palace, Talu’s betrayal, and the Kaliri’s betrayal in return.
The “brothel” was a cover for one of the regent’s intelligence hubs.
Imperial agents surrounded them. Math didn’t doubt that the imperial armies were already on the move.
It wouldn’t be easy—not with the Kaliri having those weapons and most of the Idallik Order members in Bashan being either dead, traitors, or dead traitors—but it was possible.
There was also the matter of the Idallik cenobiums outside of Bashan.
Math expected to see whole swaths of Idallik Knights arriving as soon as the messages were received and magic would allow.
None of which would be in time to stop Sanistral’s ritual.
“We need to find the Queen of Oaks,” Math said.
Regent Shovan eyed him coolly. “And do you have any idea how to do that?”
Math nodded grimly. “Yeah, I know exactly how.”
He reached into a pouch, pulled out an acorn he’d taken earlier that day, and handed it to his sister.