"A Jadorr'a is among them," he said. "But the Order does not deal in metallurgy."
Metallurgy. The word kind of lodged in my brain, like I should know what it meant but I couldn't quite grasp it.
The creatures shuddered to a stop. The sand settled. Thick black smoke belched out into the sky, mingling with the inky swirls of darkness from Naji's block. Their skins shone in the few beams of sunlight that made it through, like the side of a knife, like–
Like metal.
"They're machines," I said numbly.
Naji dug his fingers into my arm. "Killing a snake isn't going to save you this time."
Under any other circumstance that would've pissed me off, but I was so busy trying to overcome my panic that I didn't care.
The creatures stood there for a long time, creaking and heaving and letting off smoke. Naji murmured to himself, casting magic.
"Why aren't they doing nothing?" I whispered.
He chanted a little louder. The machines stared us down.
Then, like that, he stopped.
I didn't like not hearing his voice. As long as he was chanting, I felt like nothing could hurt us.
"Can you use a sword?" he said.
"Of course I can use a sword."
He slid his sword out of its scabbard and jabbed the hilt at me. His sword was even more mean-looking than his knife, thick-bladed and curving a little at the end.
"When they attack you, fight," he said.
"Planning on it."
"Try, please, not to get yourself hurt. Don't do anything foolish." Then he took a deep, bracing breath and walked off.
Just like that. He left my side and walked straight into the smoke, disappearing into the haze. I tried to call out to him, to remind him that he didn't have his knife neither, but the smoke got in my lungs and made me cough.
Then one of the machines opened up, its top peeling away like a lemon. More smoke poured into the air. I promptly forgot about Naji.
I used his sword to cut my dress away above the knee so I wouldn't trip on the skirt. Then I held the sword up the way Papa'd taught me a long time ago.
A figure dropped down to the sand.
A man.
Tarrin of the Hariri.
I gasped and faltered, stepping back without meaning to, but I didn't lower my sword. My thoughts felt like poison, turning me to stone out there in the light and smoke of those horrible machines. The Hariris. How long had they been tracking us across the desert? How long had they had this kind of magic at their disposal?
Tarrin was all decked out like a Qilari noble, the long coat and the knee-high boots and everything. He slipped off his hat as he walked up to me, clutching it next to his heart. His handsome face didn't fit the backdrop, all that dark smoke.
"We don't have to fight," he said.
"You sent an assassin to kill me!"
Tarrin's expression darkened. "No, I didn't. My parents did. I warned you."
My heart pounded hard and fast inside my chest. Sweat rolled down my back. I hardly noticed the heat, though. I didn't allow myself to. Part of me wanted to attack Tarrin then and there, just lay into him, even though it wasn't the nicest thing in the world to attack a man not holding out a weapon, but then I remembered Naji told me not to do nothing foolish. Laying into Tarrin, what with those machines backing him up? I wouldn't call it foolish, but I knew Naji would.
"Besides, he hasn't killed you yet," Tarrin said.
"Trust me, I noticed."
Tarrin frowned. "Mistress Tanarau, my parents are willing to give you one more chance. I talked them into it. Father lent me his landships and everything."
"That's what those are?" I squinted up at them, gleaming bright in the sun. Landships? Of all the abominable things.
"Please, just come back with me to Lisirra. We can get married on my ship – the wedding sails are still up – and if you come back as my betrothed, Father will let me fly his colors." He smiled at me, as dazzling as the machines behind him.
I thought about it. I really did. Marriage was still the furthest thing from what I wanted, and I didn't even know what I wanted. But it would have made things easier, to climb aboard one of those creaking monsters and let Tarrin whisk me back to sea, away from the sand and the dry desert heat. There was an appeal to it, is what I'm saying.
I lowered the sword, and let it hang at my side. My arms ached from holding it up over my head, and besides, I wanted to seem as unthreatening as possible when I asked what I had to ask.
"Could Naji come with us?"
Tarrin scrunched up his face. It made him look prissy. "Who's Naji?"
"My traveling companion."
Tarrin got this look liked I'd suggested we share a bowl of scorpions. "What? The assassin? Why would he come with us?"
"Look, I ain't too happy about it neither, but I can't just leave him."
"Of course you can."
I frowned. I thought about Naji screaming in pain when I tried to walk out of the Snake Shade Inn. What would've happened if I kept going? That scream was the scream of a dying man.
"It won't be forever," I said. "Just until we can get him cured."
"Cured? What are you talking about?"
"He got this curse on account of me, and until he finds the cure I pretty much have to stay around him. It won't be that big a deal. Just lock him in the brig."
"Are you insane? Do you have any idea what he does?"
"Kill people for money? Come on, you'd do it too if the price was high enough."
Tarrin scowled. "That's not what I was talking about." He lowered his voice. "You haven't dealt with the assassins the way my family has. They're dark. The magic they use – it isn't right. Isn't natural."
"Haven't dealt with them? What do you call walking across the desert for two weeks with one? He wouldn't use magic on your boat, I'm sure of it. Just as long we helped him cure his curse–"