Chapter 32
A Cold Dawn
Everyone from the outpost had gathered for the graduation ceremony on Aeridor beach.
A long raised wooden platform had replaced the towering arches from the start line, festooned with vibrant flowers.
I recognized the wrinkled petals of hibiscus and subtle gradient of King Protea, but none of the others.
Aphids. caterpillars, and resplendent beatles snacked on the floral arrangements.
Nature had blessed the occasion with a reprieve from the constant rain of the wet season. It was still a gloomy overcast day, but we were all mercifully dry.
While I waited for the ceremony to start, Yeshar came over to stand beside me, hands clasped behind his back. Discomfort and wariness lent rigidity to my spinal ridgeline. He stepped up close beside me so we wouldn’t be overheard. “Why is Nikolach still alive?”
I shrugged. “Alive? I mean, if you want to interpret things that way…”
His calculating gaze zeroed in on every shift of my expression. I fidgeted under the scrutiny. The sour stench of dust heavy on his breath. It reminded me of Nikolach. I shuddered in revulsion.
“He’s still breathing.” Frustration etched itself into the permanent scowl wrinkles on his face.
“What I’m trying to understand is why you let him go.
I practically gift-wrapped him for you, and you still managed to bungle things up.
I delivered him to you high out of his mind, there is no way he could have posed any real threat. ”
I turned wide eyes toward him. “What?”
His voice was low and threatening. “I’ve tolerated him clawing for my scraps for years, because he is so predictable. Having a simple-minded thug for a rival works wonders to keep smaller fish out of the pond. Just leak information about the location of anyone he dislikes and poof. They’re gone.”
Icewater replaced the blood in my veins.
I’d been wrong about Yeshar. The threat Nikolach had posed to me was finite, and contained to the physical harm he’d threatened me with.
But Yeshar had been orchestrating their entire relationship, allowing Nikolach to compete with him for his own convenience.
He’d been controlling him from the start.
And like an idiot, I’d drawn Yeshar’s attention while I tried to safeguard myself against the lesser threat Nikolach posed. There was no way of knowing how far Yeshar’s reach extended.
“Customers don’t just go away when your product supply gets seized.
And customers have needs. Plans were set in motion to have you remove the problem Nikolach poses, and it would be a simple matter of retrieving his supply to replace mine after.
Squash two flies with one swat.” His expression worsened.
“But you didn’t play your part. Why didn’t you kill him? ”
I almost did.
“I did plenty to him,” I thought of his crumpled bloody form. “He won’t be doing much for a good long while.”
“You behaved unpredictably. Illogically.” Yeshar began tapping a finger against the fist of his other hand. “There were multiple reasons for you to have dealt with him permanently. You’ve derailed things.” A tendon throbbed in his neck.
“What do you want me to say? Sorry I didn’t do your dirty work for you?” I shifted between feet, fighting the instinct to flee.
“An apology is woefully insufficient.” Yeshar scowled. “You’ve always been a wild card, and I don’t like unknown variables. I don’t know, or care, what your involvement was with Nikolach and the missing Sentinel. Operating smoothly is difficult enough without adding in the chaos you create.”
I frowned. What chaos?
“As it stands, you’ve made yourself into a much bigger problem than Nikolach.”
I pressed my lips together, stomach churning. This was exactly the type of attention I'd hoped to avoid from Yeshar when I approached him at Docksiders. “I don't mean to be.”
“Don’t lie to me.” Yeshar gnashed his teeth together. “Did you think stealing the contact list would protect you from me?”
My brow creased. “What contact list?”
“My contact list,” he said. There was a cadence to his finger tapping.
Four taps, a pause, then repeat. “Leveraging more information to the Ascendancy about me is a fast way to meet the Devourer. You’re lucky I found it before you did anything with it, or you’d have already been dealt with.
” He smiled to himself at some private joke, teeth gleaming like a blade.
I took a step back, holding my hands up between us. “Woah, I don’t know who told you otherwise, but I never stole your contact list. And I definitely don’t intend to tell the Ascendancy anything about you or your contacts. Or to meet the Devourer anytime soon.”
His eyes narrowed. “Do you know what's most valuable for someone in my position?” He didn’t seem in the mood to appreciate a joke, so I resisted the defensive instinct to crack one.
“Reputation. And right now, I look like a giant fool for expending the time and effort to compromise Nikolach and put him in your path, only for you to spare him. I shouldn’t be wasting any time at all on you, when all you do is steal and lie. ”
“I’m not lying!”
“Oh, but you are.” His nostrils flared. “The stolen list was no rumor. I found it among your possessions.”
What?
“I swear, I have no idea what it even is.”
“You’re a convincing liar, I’ll give you that.”
One, two, three, four, pause.
“Fortunately for you,” he continued, “You’re bound up too tightly in the scheme of things.”
Yeshar’s tapping fingers were becoming frenetic, feverish.
I frowned. “What are you talking about? I’m a nobody.”
“Oh, don’t be modest. You managed to achieve plenty inside the Reformatory.
And you stole my contact list right out from under my nose, with no one the wiser.
You’ll soon be a graduated Voyager, complete with Skinscript brand and direct access to Arcs, Starshells, and everything else on the outer isles. ”
Continuing to argue with him about having not stolen the list was pointless. “So is everyone else here. Including you.” I gestured around to the other attendees.
“Yes, but none of these other graduates have your history. Only one other is a former Apostate, and he is rather incompetent.”
One, two, three, four, pause.
“You tried to trick me into killing Nikolach so you could take his dust supply because you think Henrik isn’t capable enough.” I shook my head. “That's insane.”
“No, it’s logical. Alas, plans don’t always work out. I am still considering the wisdom in keeping you around at all.”
I took a wary step away from him. “Because of this contact list I presumably stole? Which I knew nothing about?”
He glared at me. “There is that. And because you are too unpredictable. Wherever you go, my plans unravel. I try to plan without your involvement, you prevent my greatest rival from taking the bait I laid out for him, keeping him locked up for another two months. I try to plan with your involvement and you fail to finish the job. And you’re wrapped up too closely with too many other important people.
You’ve made yourself too valuable a piece to lose just for my convenience. So, we are at an impasse.”
“Pity.” It was the best type of pity, the type that kept us at a stalemate instead of with him actively trying to kill me.
Yeshar gave me a cold, unblinking stare. “Oh, I’ll still benefit from using you. For now, that will have to suffice.” He frowned. “I still don’t understand why you didn't kill him.”
If he knew I’d tried to, would he see me as a bigger threat and try to kill me?
“Call it an attack of conscience.”
“Fine time to grow one. You'd kill a Sentinel, but not an Apostate.”
“Nikolach killed the Sentinel, not me.”
He sneered, leaning forward toward me. I jerked backwards. “Don't ever mistake me for a simpleton. If your claim were true, Nikolach wouldn't be out for your blood.” I struggled for calm, my heart rattling against my ribcage.
His eyes were hard. “Don’t cross me again.
Don’t even consider stealing from me again.
Nothing on this island, not the Voyagers, not the Ascendancy, not even the Devourer can help you if you make yourself into my enemy.
Stop stirring shit up. I will run out of reasons to keep you alive if you keep kicking hornet's nests. As for the rest…” His hands relaxed at his sides.
“Consider it restitution for the stolen list.”
My stomach dropped. “The rest of what?”
“Well for starters, today.”
He turned and stalked away.
Before I could ask him anything else, Instructor Weavir stepped onto the platform and began to extol the virtues of becoming Voyagers. For over an hour, with lots of gesticulations and gusto. Something about our Tides, the Devourer, and what an auspicious day this was for all of us.
With Voyager service now a reality, my childhood nightmares of Krakens had returned to haunt me.
Unable to sleep last night despite my exhaustion, I had slipped in a brief nap after the final exam.
My mind was half-dreaming while still technically awake, so focusing on the details of his speech was impossible.
Instructor Penbrook approached the podium with a large bottle of shimmering ink as the speech wore down.
Show time.
I hoped I’d be given the Fortitude Skinscript. It was the best for keeping me alive once they sent me out on operations. I hadn’t seen Zevrial since receiving my first two glyphs, which had left me with no opportunity to ask for it.
And right on cue.
From the edges of the treeline, I spotted his telltale form. Dark eyes swept over the crowd, snapping to mine. His eyebrows pulled down in a frown.
Nice to see you, too.
“Benji Westbrooke,” Instructor Penbrook called out. “Receiving Agility.”