CHAPTER 4
Brennan Scourwind whooped as he landed his skimmer, glancing along the roof of the palace and sliding sideways for a dozen feet or so before bringing it to a stop a scant few feet from the edge of a straight hundred-foot drop. He grinned and peeled his skullcap back as he hopped clear of the craft, planting his boots on the rooftop.
He stomped a few times, dancing from the heightened adrenaline rush he was still on, but came to a stop when he recognized the two people standing across the rooftop waiting for him.
“Brother,” he said, feeling like he was crashing as his brother and William walked across the rooftop toward him.
“Brennan …” Kayle Scourwind nodded politely. Kayle always did everything politely. “That was … impressive flying.”
“I’m the best.” Brennan smirked.
“You’re also reckless and stupid.” William glared at him. “One mistake and you’d have pitched to your death on that landing, to say nothing of those maneuvers.”
Brennan rolled his eyes and made a rude gesture, one that would have gotten him belted if he’d tried it with his father. William merely glowered but said nothing further.
Kayle, on the other hand, cuffed him lightly behind the head.
“I taught you better than that, flying and manners, you little fool.” Kayle chuckled. “Stop baiting William when you know he’s not going to call you on it.”
“You haven’t taught me anything about flying since I was seven, and you know it,” Brennan told him cockily. “I can outfly you any day you choose.”
Kayle smiled fondly at his younger brother, memories briefly eclipsing his annoyance. “You’re a natural flyer, Bren. I told you that the first day I took you up in my skimmer. You’re also a spoiled brat who’s been a pain in my ass ever since I qualified you on your own.”
Brennan shrugged. “What else is new?”
“I hear you can’t find a flyer to qualify you on reaction craft or heavier skimmers.”
Brennan looked away. “I’ll find someone.”
Kayle shook his head. “I’m not going to put my reputation on the line for you again, not when you’re flying like that. If I won’t, no one else will.”
“I’ll pay someone.” Brennan sneered. “There’re flyers out there who need cash.”
“None with reputations worth a damn,” Kayle countered. “Until you get a grip on your ego, Bren, you’re going to stay skimming the bottom layer.”
“As if,” Brennan snorted, waving dismissively.
Kayle sighed deeply, but there wasn’t much more he could say. Brennan hadn’t listened to him the first dozen times he’d made that speech, and the kid wasn’t about to start now. While Kayle loved both his siblings, his sister came across as a darling, while his brother was an egotistical little child. If it weren’t for the family name and his bloodline, Bren would either be out on the streets or dead after some daredevil stunt on his flyer.
“Hey, William,” Kayle said, glancing over his shoulder, “leave us for a bit, will you?”
William looked evenly at him for a long moment, then out across the open skyline beyond the palace.
“I know, William.” Kayle smiled chidingly. “But we’re on top of the palace. There’s no sharpshooter alive who can hit me up here, and you know it.”
William hesitated for a moment but then nodded. “I’ll be inside.”
The Cadreman went back inside, leaving Kayle and his brother standing out in the open. Kayle looked around. From where he was standing there wasn’t much to see really. The other city buildings were nowhere near as high as the palace, which was already sitting atop a hill in the center of the island. He could see the surrounding countryside, but it was all fifty miles away if it was a foot.
As he’d told William, not even a Cadre sharpshooter could make that shot.
So Kayle turned his attention to his little brother, eyeing the fourteen-year-old for a long moment of silence.
Brennan shifted uncomfortably under the steady gaze of his brother. “What?”
“I want you to watch out for yourself, and Lydia, Bren.”
“What are you talking about?” Brennan asked, clearly confused.
“Just stay close to Lydia for a few days,” Kayle said. “Maybe it’s nothing …”
Brennan shook his head. “Kayle, you’re a dick, and a pain in my ass … but you don’t try to scare the hell out of people for no reason. What’s going on?”
“There’s just some things happening,” Kayle said. “I can’t talk about them. I just want you to stay close to Lydia for a few days. Do that for me, all right?”
Brennan reached out as Kayle started to turn away, roughly pulling his brother back around. Kayle didn’t resist, though he could have easily.
“No. You don’t get to drop something like that and then just walk away from me, damn it. What the hell is going on?”
Kayle shook his head. “I don’t know. I really don’t, Bren. Just do what I ask, all right? For once in your life, just do what I ask.”
He turned again, and this time Brennan let him walk.
“You know what, screw you, Kayle. Go drop that turd on someone else!”
Kayle sighed, stopping in his tracks. He turned his head, seeing his brother’s turned back. “Do what I ask, Bren, and I’ll qualify you for a strato-skimmer.”
Brennan spun around to stare at his brother, but Kayle was already stepping through the door to the interior of the palace.
Kayle and William made their way down the halls of the palace, heading back toward the Imperial Family’s residential wing.
“Has there been anything new from the team the general dispatched to the Redoubt?”
“Not since we lost contact with the reaction craft,” William answered. “I think we have to assume we lost them.”
Kayle swore, shaking his head. “A Cadre team just got dusted so clean we didn’t even get a call for help. Tell me why the whole empire isn’t on alert, William? Why is my father sitting on this?”
“I haven’t been informed,” William said simply.
“Get me an audience,” Kayle growled. “Father knows something, or every unit for five hundred miles would be standing at alert by now.”
“I’ll put in the request, but you know how the emperor is,” William warned.
“Yes, I know my father all too well. Just do it. He’ll pay more attention to a request from you than from me.”
His father would, likely as not, ignore a request from his children during a crisis. Family was there to be seen, not heard.
Even a family member who wore a Cadre emblem.
Brennan Scourwind made his way toward his residence, still thinking about his brother’s rather insistent request. It wasn’t like Kayle to ask anyone else to watch over Lydia, as their sister was the real princess of the family. A real overachiever, everyone’s favorite, even if she was as spoiled as everyone thought Brennan was. Few people knew just how much trouble she could get into, mostly because Lydia was more than capable of getting right back out of it on her own. Kayle knew that.
So why is he worried?
He made a choice on a whim, turning toward his sister’s rooms.
“Lyd, you in?” Brennan asked, tapping on the side of a door as he leaned into the room and looked around.
“What do you want, Bren?” Lydia appeared from her private rooms, stepping into the common area.
“Just checking on you,” Brennan said, hesitating a bit. “Look, did you see Kayle earlier?”