“Homsgud!” I said in surprise, before adding quickly, “sir,” as I bobbed my head. I was surrounded by Inyene’s guards, after all, and all I felt like doing was snarling at them. You have to be careful around these people, I told myself. I was never quite sure how to refer to these guards—as they were technically workers in the employ of Inyene, not Overseers or Chiefs or Nobility. But from the look of murderous rage on Homsgud’s face, I thought it best to be prudent.
Pick your quarry, I remembered an old adage from the Plains. No sense trying to hunt a full-grown bull Bison, was there?
“Navigator,” he said icily, using the official term Abioye had given my new role that Abioye. As far as the other guards were concerned, it meant that I could talk to Lord Abioye with a modicum of freedom—but that was as far as my authority went.
Homsgud looked terrible. It wasn’t only his sandblasted face, it was the fact that his clothes were little more than rags, and the fact that he was using two cut-down tent poles, their ends wrapped in cloth and leather, as crutches. He needed them clearly, because one leg was heavily bandaged where the raider crossbow bolt had hit it.
Ah. I remembered how I had snatched his cudgel and leapt over his moaning body instead of pausing to help him. He likely remembered that, too.
“He was trying to kill you,” Ymmen counseled me. “I’d say that he’s lucky that I couldn’t fly in the storm!” I got a sudden image of the dragon scooping Homsgud up with one snap of his powerful jaws, and it filled me with a kind of savage glee.
“Ssss!” Ymmen had other ideas for Homsgud’s comeuppance apparently, as his disgust at the thought of actually biting the horrid little man filled me. “I’d use my claws, please. Or just squash him. He doesn’t look worth sharpening my talons for!”
I hid my sudden grin as I let my hair fall in front of my face, looking down at my feet to pretend that I was indeed just the Navigator. I couldn’t let any of these guards suspect that Abioye and I were up to anything.
Especially not anything like stealing the Stone Crown for ourselves to keep it away from Inyene.
“Yeah. Looks like your luck’s changed, hasn’t it?” Homsgud snarled at me, before raising his voice to the other guards. “This one let our horses go! I caught her trying to escape!”
I could sense the change in the atmosphere as the guards all around me stiffened slightly and shifted their attention towards me. It was the kind of attention that I knew would start with surly questions and probably end with a beating…
“I wasn’t!” I said quickly—although I knew that it was already useless to try and change their minds.
“And, from the look of your arms, you’ve already insulted Queen Inyene what, four times over now?” Homsgud limped forward on his crutches into the center of the circle in front of me. He winked at me evilly. “Fifth time’s a charm, ain’t it lads and lasses?” He raised his head to the guards, who started to walk forward towards me, their eyes dark.
On the fifth attempt they disappear you, for good. I knew full well how Inyene’s rules worked. They even went ahead and branded you the fifth time anyway, before they dragged you off—never to be seen again…
“Little Sister, I am coming back!” Ymmen filled my mind with rage.
I was suddenly unsure of what to do. Was this really where it was going to end—here in the dirt in front of a bunch of ignorant but fanatical guards? I could feel the map inside my tunic. What would happen when they found it?
Wait! I threw the thought at Ymmen as I remembered what Abioye had said. “Inyene doesn’t like failure,” I said out loud, earning a scowl from Homsgud ahead of me.
“That’s kinda the point…” he snarled at me, nodding his head to my already-visible four branding marks.
I pressed my case quickly. “If you kill me, then that’s it—you’ll have no Navigator, no one who can interpret the map—” I prayed that they didn’t already know that the map had been torn in half, and one half stolen, or how difficult it was for me to be sure of what the icons and drawings represented in the map.
“—you’ll have to go back to the Queen empty-handed, with no Crown, and no Navigator to help her get it,” I said, as the first of the guards’ gloved hands grabbed my shoulder. “And the Queen has never liked failure!” I said desperately…
“Stop,” Homsgud grunted, before any more of the guards could grab me. “The little rat’s got a point, damn her. We need to keep her alive to get this bleeding Crown…” There was a muttered groan from at least a handful of the assembled guards. I noted the fact that there was already some friction coming from the guards. That might be useful later…
Homsgud raised his voice in a guttural bark of command. “But it doesn’t mean that we have to go get it right now, the day after we had our butts handed to us, does it?” he said loudly. He talked their language, and this time there was a chorus of chuckles and agreement from the crowd.
“I know what Lord Abioye said—and the family of D’Lia have the strength of my sword arm for as long as they want it,” he said. I doubt that very much. I thought that Homsgud was just trying to curry favor with the more fanatical and loyal of the guards. “But if this expedition is to survive, we need provisions. Water and fresh food and safe lodging. Isn’t that right?”
This time, the chorus was mixed, but I could see the more relieved look from several of the guards around me. Homsgud had already turned to me, leaning heavily on one of his crutches as he thumped me with the other one.
“You’re our great Navigator, right? Navigate a way to some fresh water and food. Now.” Another painful thump on the chest.
I heard a low murmur from the other side of the guards—it was some of the other Daza, and they sounded angry at seeing one of their own encircled and rounded upon. As much as my heart swelled with pride for the slaves’ contempt—I couldn’t let them decide to act on their rage!
I took a deep breath to calm my anger, relieved at least that there hadn’t been a total mutiny. In fact, in some ways what had just happened was good for Abioye and my plans. If the guards were wondering how much this trip was worth, by the time we reached the Vault, wherever it was, it might be a lot easier to steal the Stone Crown when—and if—we ever found it.
“There’s a river not far from here,” I said, remembering the lay of the land. It was a little way off of our course, but not by much. “There’ll be fresh water and fish, but…”
“Then go already,” Homsgud grunted, interrupting me. “Half the guards and half the workers go with you. The rest of us are staying here!”
“Homsgud,” I tried to point out, “Sir—the raiders who attacked us last night—they might be tracking us; they could come back…” It was important for me to hear that he understood the dangers, and that he was prepared to do something about it.
“Are you a guard? No.” Homsgud sneered at me. “It’s not your job to worry about the expedition!”
It really is, I thought, seeing the worried and nervous faces of the other Daza, still sitting on the sand. But what can I do with a man like this? I nodded as the guard released me and gave me a rough shove to get me moving (not that he needed to) and I wondered what Abioye, with his newfound indignation and rage, would do when he returned on the mechanical dragon and found that Homsgud was setting up to defy him… I had to tell Abioye as soon as I saw him, I thought anxiously.