“ I don’t know how they got to that point. Sure there were some undercover enforcers about, but I avoided them just fine.” Akstyr tapped his chest. “I don’t know why they didn’t stay with me. Anyway, I went behind the stage at the circus performance and into the crew area. I went all over that first deck, like a hound sniffing after a ’coon, but I couldn’t get close enough to the source. There were always bulkheads and locked doors in the way. I thought the artifacts might be upstairs, but Basilard found me and made me come with him before I got to finish looking.”
“ You can search more tonight when most of the boat is asleep,” Amaranthe said. “Right now, I’d like the details on Maldynado and Yara, please. You said they were fighting enforcers. Where are they now?” She wondered if she’d need to plan a brig breakout.
Akstyr and Basilard exchanged looks, and Amaranthe knew she wouldn’t like the answer.
“ You saw it,” Akstyr muttered. “You tell her.”
I only saw Maldynado, Basilard signed. I heard fighting sounds, but I was coming down the steps at the far end of the deck, and it took me a moment to reach him. He was finishing up a couple of enforcers, but some had miniature crossbows and were trying to shoot him. His back was toward me, and I don’t think he noticed me running toward them. He threw himself over the railing.
“ He what?” Books asked.
“ You didn’t see Yara?” Amaranthe asked.
It was hard for me to stop to look, because when the enforcers saw me running up, they turned their attention toward me. I had to sprint back the way I’d come and lose them on the second deck. But I glimpsed Maldynado swimming down the river, and I thought I heard him call out her name.
Amaranthe rubbed her forehead. How had such a simple task turned into such a mess? She found herself staring at Akstyr.
“ It’s not my fault,” he repeated, balling his fists and stuffing them into his pockets. “It’s not. I’m sorry though. I didn’t mean for them to get caught. I was just concentrating on what I sensed.”
An apology was an improvement from him, but it didn’t get her team back together. Should they all gather their gear and find a lifeboat to steer to the shore? To see if they could meet up with the others? If Yara was hurt, Maldynado wasn’t the most knowledgeable person when it came to medical skills. And they wouldn’t have any food or gear.
“ Did you see which side of the river they headed to?” Amaranthe asked Basilard.
He shook his head. By the time I eluded the enforcers and had a chance to look back over the railing, we’d gone around a bend. I never spotted them again.
So, even if the team went after Maldynado and Yara, finding them would be a matter of luck. The steamboat was due to reach a town in the morning, docking there for a few hours. Maybe those two could catch up on their own. Besides, there was the matter of these artifacts Akstyr had sensed. Were they what the circus troupe had purchased? And had the Forge women been the ones to provide the funds and instruct them to do so? What if they were tools or weapons meant to aid Ravido?
“ Why are all these enforcers on board?” Books asked.
Amaranthe had thought he’d already have his face buried in his self-appointed work again, but he was listening, and he raised his brows when she met his gaze. “Good question,” she said. “The steamboat has its own security team.”
Basilard shrugged.
“ Because they’re always around to harass us,” Akstyr said. “We’re their special hobby.”
“ No, if they’d boarded because they suspected we were here,” Amaranthe said, “they would have searched the vessel the first day.”
“ We could be experiencing heightened security due to the potential for trouble in the capital,” Books said. “We saw that in Sunders City.”
“ Even allowing for that,” Amaranthe said, “wouldn’t the military have been tasked with accompanying a steamboat upriver? We’re passing in and out of several enforcer districts, and patrollers aren’t usually assigned work that involves encroaching on other districts’ territories.”
Basilard signed, Some sort of investigation?
Akstyr snapped his fingers. “Maybe they know about the artifacts.”
Amaranthe doubted enforcers would recognize magic if they saw it performed before their eyes, but perhaps someone had reported suspicious activity from the circus troupe, and a team had been assigned to trail them. “We better figure out exactly what these entertainers are hiding then. I’ll find Sicarius and Sespian, and we can split up and search. All of us.” If they could find what they sought that night, maybe they could steal the items, sneak ashore at the next port, and wait for Maldynado and Yara there. She didn’t like the idea of delaying the team’s return to Stumps-Forge and Ravido already had far too much of a lead in enacting their plans-but it couldn’t be helped. “Basilard, you were keeping an eye on those Forge women, right? Did you find any more of them?” As much as she preferred gentler means of dealing with people, maybe she should grab Sicarius and go to interview those ladies.
No, Basilard signed. And they’ve left their cabins.
“ Left? As in they’ve moved to other quarters or they snatched a lifeboat and floated away?”
Basilard shrugged. All I know is that the rooms were empty of people and belongings. I was checking around the ship, looking for familiar faces, when I ran into Maldynado’s fight.
“ All right,” Amaranthe said. “I might send you and Books to keep looking for them while Sicarius, Sespian, Akstyr, and I search for these artifacts.”
Books lifted a protesting hand. She scowled at him. He wasn’t going to object to helping with the search, was he? His new government-design avocation was fine when they had nothing else to do, but they needed everyone tonight.
“ What about Maldynado?” Books asked.
“ I guess you won’t have to worry about where he’s sleeping tonight.” The words came out snippier than Amaranthe intended, but she’d heard from Maldynado about how Books had accused him of colluding with his family and being untrustworthy. Even if Maldynado’s actions had been a tad suspicious at times-she’d been a little concerned herself for a while-he’d proven himself a dependable ally again and again and hadn’t deserved ongoing mistrust from the team. He’d even saved Books and Akstyr’s lives in some Forge trap.
“ They won’t have any money or supplies,” Books said, “and unless there are female trees in the forest, Maldynado won’t be able to charm those things out of the boughs.”
“ You’re actually worried about Maldynado?” Akstyr asked. “I thought you didn’t like him.”
Books blinked. “I don’t… dislike him. He’s just immature and grating.”
One wonders what colorful adjectives you have for people you do dislike, Basilard signed.
“ We’ll reconnect with them as soon as we can.” Amaranthe waved for Basilard and Akstyr to head outside. Before heading out herself, she told Books, “You should let Maldynado know about your… lack of dislike. You’ve been crusty with him of late, and I know it’s stung him.”
“ I’ve been crusty with everyone. I’m busy.” Books waved at the paper stacks.
Amaranthe raised her eyebrows, letting him know she didn’t accept the excuse.
Books’s arms drooped. “I need this, Amaranthe. I’m a washed up professor who can’t look at a bottle of wine without craving it. Even when I was working, I wasn’t… respected by my peers. Few of my papers passed review and made it into the archives. This…” He pointed at his documents again. “This is my chance to do something that matters. To contribute to the world. To…”
“ Earn a spot in the history books?” Amaranthe asked.
He hesitated, then nodded warily. As if he feared she’d think him foolish. How could she when she had similar delusions?
“ To shape humanity’s future,” Books said.
“ I understand, trust me, and it’s a noble pursuit. But I don’t believe you can improve humanity’s future by being so obsessed with your work that you ignore the human beings around you. You might want to make your peace with Maldynado before we enter Stumps. Given the odds we’ll be facing… I think it’s a good idea not to leave words left unsaid, things you might regret later.”