He eyed the solid metal walls and the sparseconfines of the cabin. It would not be easy.
Amaranthe swept dust and food crumbs off thetop of the lookout car. Despite the busy night, she had sleptpoorly when she, Maldynado, and Books returned to their camp in theboneyard. She had woken at dawn, the lump on her head throbbing,and frequent yawns had been tearing her gritty eyes ever since.Morning sun beat against her back, making the night’s rain a faintmemory, but the warmth failed to cheer her. Akstyr had notreturned, and she was beginning to fear he had been captured, too.Or worse.
She could not stop picturing Fasha’s deadbody in her mind. Though the girl had never officially hired herteam, or asked for protection, Amaranthe knew she had failed her.She should have kept better tabs on the girl, or at least warnedher not to go hunting for clues on her own.
She swept more vigorously.
“Amaranthe?” Books called. “Are you upthere?”
She swept a walnut shell off the edge,sending it clanging against the rail car on the far side of theircamp.
“Must be a yes,” Books muttered as he climbedup. He frowned over the top of the ladder at her. “I can seecleaning the cars we’re dwelling in, but the tops of them? Is thatnecessary?”
Books held a napkin full of food, andAmaranthe stopped sweeping. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her thatmany hours had passed since her last meal.
“Someone ate walnuts up here and left shellseverywhere,” she said.
“Yes, but is it necessary to cleanthat?”
“No, it’s not necessary, Books, but this iswhat I do when-” She broke off, not wanting to start ranting overnothing. He was not the one upsetting her; it was the cursedsituation and the fact that she was losing men every time sheturned around. “This is what I do.”
“Sorry,” he said. “I just thought…youshould get more rest.”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“Ah.” Books cleared his throat, glanced down,and seemed to remember he held food. “Breakfast?” He offered her acouple of hard-boiled eggs and a slab of ham.
Amaranthe drew her kerchief from her pocket,found it soot-stained, and sighed. She set it aside to wash laterand grabbed the food barehanded. “Thank you.”
“It’s an all-protein breakfast,” Books said.“I believe Sicarius would approve.”
She tried to smile. “He’d add seeds and rawvegetables to counteract the saltiness of the ham. Or maybe they’reto keep morning movements regular. I think I’ve finally got hisdiet down, but I can’t remember all the reasons for all therules.”
“I just know we’re lucky to have food at allwith Basilard gone. What are we going to do next to find them?”
“I’m not sure.” Which meant she had no idea.“They know we’re looking for them now. I wish we had some soldierfriends at Fort Urgot, so we could ask if anyone knew whatTaloncrest was last working on.” Amaranthe took a bigger bite ofham than normal, tearing it off with a savage chomp.
“Yes, soldiers have that tedious tendency totry and capture us when we get close. Or shoot us on sight.”
“We were this close….” She held upher thumb and forefinger, a millimeter between them. “I don’t knowif that was their hideout or simply a transfer station, but thefire surely destroyed any evidence left behind. They must haverealized there were witnesses to Basilard’s kidnapping. Or maybethey intended him to be the last person they stole, and they didn’tneed the fire brigade building any more.”
“I know it seems bleak now,” Books said, “butwe can’t give up.”
“Of course not. We’re just…” Amaranthetouched the lump on her head, eliciting a stab of pain. “Recoveringfor a few hours.”
“Anyone home?” a familiar voice called.
Akstyr. Amaranthe rose to her feet andstepped to the edge of the car roof. He slouched into camp, hisspiky hair drooping, and dark circles beneath his eyes. He appeareduninjured.
Amaranthe knew it was uncharitable, but shewished it were Sicarius striding into camp instead. Akstyr mighthave information though. She waved for him to come up.
“Busy night?” she asked.
“Boring night,” Akstyr said.
That didn’t sound promising. “Did you learnanything?”
“Enh.”
She circled her hand in the air, implying hecould explain further.
“I spotted the woman and the man running outof the smoke and into an alley,” Akstyr said.
“Woman and man? From inside the carriage?”Amaranthe asked. “What did they look like?”
“The woman had red hair and she was nice andcurvy. The man was older. Short, gray hair. Looked like a soldier,but he was just wearing a black shirt, so it was hard to tell.”
That sounded like Taloncrest and the womanthe young thieves had described. Amaranthe nodded. “Go on.”
“I followed them, figured you’d want to knowwhere they went.”
“Yes, I do. Thank you. And?” Sometimes sheappreciated that Maldynado launched into the whole story at thetiniest prompting. Surely soldiers could get information out ofprisoners of war more easily than she could dig it out of Akstyr attimes.
“Stayed back in the shadows so they wouldn’tsee me. Almost lost them a couple of times, but I found ‘em againon the docks. They went out on Pier Thirteen to a warehouse at theend.”
Amaranthe frowned at Books. “That’s theBolidot’s Imports warehouse, isn’t it? She has a huge business witha big turnover, and cargo ships go in and out of there every day.Kidnappers needing to maintain a low profile couldn’t use such abusy place.”
“Agreed,” Books said.
“They never came out,” Akstyr said.
“That seems unlikely,” Books said.
Akstyr stepped toward him, chest puffed out.“You thinking I’m blind? Or lying? While you were sleeping, I wassitting there watching and waiting for them to come back down thedock and they never did. I stayed until workers showed up and wentinside. What’d you do? Come back here and snore all night?”
“Four hours, perhaps,” Books murmured.
Amaranthe rested a hand on Akstyr’s arm,drawing his attention to her. “Is it possible they slipped away ina boat?”
“Don’t think so,” he said. “I thought of thatand checked how many boats were around. Didn’t see anydisappear.”
“I guess we can take a look,” Amaranthe toldBooks.
Akstyr yawned. “You two do that. I’m going tomake it thunderous in the sleeping car.” He emulated a noisy snore,then jumped to the ground.
“Akstyr,” Amaranthe called. She stifled atwinge of annoyance that he had dismissed himself without asking ifshe needed anything else. He had to be tired after staying up allnight, and he was surly even on a perky day. “We need you tocome.”
“What?” he called up in a whiny voice a fiveyear old could not have bested.
“I’ll bet you ten ranmyas Taloncrest and hisforeign lady aren’t working out of that warehouse.”
“So?”
“So, if you didn’t see them leave bymundane means, isn’t it possible they used the mentalsciences?”
“Oh,” Akstyr said. “Well, yeah.”
“Then we’ll need you to stick yourmagic-sniffing nose in the corners,” Amaranthe said, “see if youcan catch a scent.”
“I’m not a hound, you know.”
“We know,” Books said. “Hounds work alot harder for a lot less incentive.”
“You’re not helping,” Amaranthe said.
“We can’t go until night, right?” Akstyrasked. “Lots of people will be working, so we can’t sniff arounduntil they go home.”
Amaranthe leaned over the edge of the roofand smiled down at him. “I’ll get us in. Have some breakfast, andwe’ll head over. You can sleep later.”
Akstyr stabbed a finger at the open door ofthe sleeping car. “Does Maldynado get to stay here?”
“That wouldn’t be fair, would it?” Amarantheasked. “You better go wake him up.”
“Good.” Akstyr smiled for the first time andleaped into the car with zealousness.
“Misery is more palatable when shared withothers,” Amaranthe noted to Books.