“If you know anything about where he went or if you’ve seen the witch, we’d need to know about that, ma’am. For your sake and his. There’s no telling what he might do in this state.”
In this state, really. Ridge didn’t know if Sardelle was monitoring his thoughts, but he probably felt indignant enough that they would ooze out of his skull so that even Duck knew how he felt.
Probably, Sardelle agreed. Ridge? What happens when your mom figures out… I mean, there’s not much chance that she won’t see that I’m the witch they’re talking about.
An inside door creaked open, followed by a few more thumps.
My guess is that she’s in there rolling her eyes at the notion of witches and being exasperated that these men are intruding on—
“I did not give you permission to search my home,” came his mother’s voice through the window. “What do you think? He’s hiding inside a kitchen cabinet? My son is tall. I fed him well when he was young.”
Even though she sounded more irritated than distressed, Ridge shifted his weight, wanting badly to go in there and put an end to their questions. Maybe he could tie everyone up, steal the wagon, and head into town before they could report back.
I would think that would get you into more trouble, Sardelle thought dryly. More tentatively, she added, What happens when I end up using my talent in front of her or she figures out the truth? Do you still think she’ll be asking me about our plans for babies?
Yes.
She twisted to look up at him. Are you really that certain?
She wants grandchildren. Didn’t you see all of the cats? If I brought home a fertile baboon, Mom would be lobbying for babies. She had all but given up on me. Ridge paused. That was perhaps not tactful. My mother would find you far superior to a baboon.
Is it hard to believe that it was your charisma that originally drew me to you?
Nah, I was surrounded by horny soldiers and hornier inmates at the time. They probably made me look good. I just have to hope you never find any men who are truly charming.
The back door opened. Ridge cursed himself for being distracted by the conversation and dropped a hand to his pistol at the same time as a young soldier stuck her head out. She looked toward the field behind the cottage, then straight at Ridge and his men. He held his breath. He knew Sardelle had said she would hide them, but what if she had been as distracted by their conversation as he had been? The soldier was less than five feet away. She couldn’t possibly fail to see them, even with magical intervention.
The soldier squinted toward him, her mouth parting slightly, then shook her head and leaned back inside. The door closed.
“Seven gods, that’s creepy,” Duck whispered. “She looked right at me.”
“Aren’t you used to women looking at you and ignoring you?” Apex asked.
“You’re thinking of Pimples. I get plenty of loving.”
“Sh,” Ridge murmured. “Window’s open.”
But the soldiers seemed to be done with their questioning. After a couple more thumps and an irritated, “No, you can’t have any pie,” from his mother, the cottage fell silent. The sound of the steam wagon drifted back to them as it chugged down the dirt road and turned onto the highway.
“We better split up and gather our intelligence as quickly as possible.” Ridge stifled a yawn. He wanted to order everyone to rest—none of the pilots, in particular, had slept since leaving Owanu Owanus. But time was not on their side.
“I’m ready now,” Kaika said.
“Do we meet back here?” Tolemek asked.
Ridge hesitated, worried that being here could bring danger to his mother. Would she let him send her off to visit Aunt Lavender? He let his head clunk softly against the wall. Or maybe he should just report in so the soldiers wouldn’t bother her again. Was he being crazy? Running around the countryside and possibly ruining the careers of all of these young officers? But something was very wrong within his chain of command if steadfast and loyal General Ort had been relieved of duty. He had to believe that he was making the right choice, going with his instincts. No, this wasn’t just instinct; it was logic.
“Meet back here,” he said. “I’ll send my mom away so she’ll be safe. Once we know more, we’ll figure out what to do from there.”
• • • • •
The towering cement wall at the back of the army fort rose up three stories with a fence of pointy iron stakes thrusting from the top. Strong lamps burned in the towers, their illumination focused on the walkway behind those stakes. Now and then, the jangle of a dog’s collar and the clomp of boots drifted down from above as soldiers patrolled the barrier.
Ridge wished he could have brought Sardelle along instead of sending her off with Kaika, but he believed he could sneak into the fort without magical assistance, whereas infiltrating the castle would take more skill. He had ultimately decided to send Ahn on that mission, as well, since she was a natural at sneaking around and could scout ahead or watch their backs. Ridge just hoped he hadn’t made a mistake in acceding to Kaika’s wishes. She had a brash and impulsive streak—he knew how to recognize that since he had one himself. Perhaps he should have tried harder to rein her in. If the others were caught, the entire squadron would be in more trouble than it already was. And Sardelle… He hadn’t seen any of the notorious posters yet, but they probably ordered people to kill “the witch” on sight.
Sighing, Ridge fiddled with his rope and looked up and down the street from the shadows of an alley. It was a couple of hours until midnight and chilly, but people were still out, staggering home from the pubs. Tolemek, who was supposed to be creating a diversion, should have rejoined him by now, but maybe he had struggled to come up with something. Earlier, they had found his lab locked and chained, with the contents emptied, so he hadn’t had access to any of his usual chemicals. With the king gone, things had clearly changed. Ridge felt like he had been gone for months instead of weeks.
As he listened to another soldier walk past on the wall, Ridge debated whether to try getting in without a diversion. It would be hard to climb up and sneak between those spikes unnoticed, but if he was caught, he might come up with an explanation for his clandestine entrance to the fort. Maybe he could even talk himself into being dragged over to explain himself to General Ort.
Ridge flexed his shoulders and shook out his rope, preparing himself for the climb. Before he had gone more than a step, a faint throat clearing reached his ear. He paused, sinking back into the shadows of the alley. A cloaked figure with shaggy hair approached from the other end. They needed to get that man a hood. That hair alone would identify him at fifty paces.
“Not going somewhere without me, are you, Zirkander?” Tolemek grumbled. Even though they had rescued his sister and saved a dragon from certain death, his mood hadn’t improved, at least not noticeably. Maybe he saved his giddy moments for Ahn.
“You’re late. I thought you might have decided you didn’t care about visiting Ort or Therrik. Or spending time with me, though that’s hard to believe. I’m fun.”
“You’re delusional.”
“That’s what makes me fun. Travels with me are an adventure.”
“You sound like the sword.” Tolemek stopped at the mouth of the alley and looked toward the high wall.
“Jaxi, right? You’re not talking to the glowing green one, I presume.” Ridge hadn’t caught more than a few seconds of Ahn practicing sword katas out in the front yard, but the glow of that blade had disturbed him, if only because it would be hard to keep his mother in the dark about magic if swords were beaming at her from the flower beds.
“I don’t think it talks. I am somewhat concerned that Cas has been sleeping with it.”
“Jealous?”
“No, but it’s getting crowded under the blankets. I already had to share her with her rifle.”
“Perhaps when all of this is over, you two can shop for a flat with room for a big bed.”
“When all of this over, I don’t
even know what I’ll do with myself. I was just starting to like that lab, damn it.” Tolemek thumped his fist against his thigh.
“We’ll find the king. He’ll get you your job back.” Ridge waved toward the wall. “Are you ready to go in? Do we have a diversion coming?”
“In less than two minutes. Do you think your general will let me use his kitchen and lavatory supplies? I can’t make the truth serum without access to a lab stocked with the chemicals I need, but I can make some crude knockout potions with household items.”
Ridge frowned at the idea of trying to interrogate Therrik without any drugs to make him cooperative. He wagered the thuggish colonel had endured all kinds of anti-interrogation training. He probably thrived on pain. And as much as Ridge loathed Therrik, he wasn’t going to tear the toenails off a fellow officer.
A soft boom sounded from the other side of the fort, followed by flashing blue and yellow lights that brightened the cloudy night sky above the wall.
“I assume that’s our cue.” Ridge forced himself to wait a few seconds, in the hope that the guards on this side of the fort would be drawn away, then he jogged for the wall with the coil of rope and a grappling hook in hand. “Not a bad diversion considering all you had access to was the lavatory in that pub.”
“I am a talented scientist.”
“Modest too.”
Thanks to Sardelle, Ridge knew some of Tolemek’s alchemical talents were enhanced by his dragon blood and the magic it let him tap into, but he didn’t bring it up. He was too busy swinging the rope and readying the hook for a throw.
“You know,” Ridge whispered, choosing a target at the top, “this would be much easier if we had a dragon to carry us over.”
“I imagine there are many things that would be easier with a dragon. What’s the matter? Don’t they teach pilots how to throw?”
Ridge narrowed his eyes, then lofted the grappling hook toward the top of the wall. It wrapped around two of the iron stakes on the first try, which was good, but the noise from Tolemek’s diversion had already died down, and the clank the hook made sounded painfully loud to Ridge’s ears. He did not want to be shot trying to sneak into his own fort. Nor did he want to have to hurt anyone up there. That would be unacceptable.
Still, he took the half second to give Tolemek a smug look. “First try.”
“Yes, yes, you’re a paragon of athleticism. Now, go. Your general’s lavatory is calling to me.”
“You’re a strange man, Tee.”
Not waiting for a reply, Ridge started up. They might not have much time. He skimmed up the rope quickly and squeezed through a gap between two of the stakes, sucking everything in to avoid getting stuck. A jangle floated to him as he dropped down onto the parapet, and he stifled a groan when he spotted a soldier and a hound running toward him.
He faced the dark figure and spread his hands. The soldier had a slight figure. A woman?
“I’m unarmed,” Ridge said quickly, in case that might keep her from firing. He believed standard operating procedure was to capture intruders, rather than shooting them, but officers didn’t pull fort guard duty very often.
“Step into the light,” the soldier said, stopping ten feet away. Definitely a woman’s voice.
Ridge did not know if that would help him or not. Based on his past experience, he would be more likely to lure a male soldier away from duty with the promise of a beer and a story. The growling dog, restrained only by the leash its handler held, did not look like it would be won over by alcohol.
Ridge walked a few steps toward the pool of illumination surrounding a lantern. He deliberately kept his arms wide, trying to block the view of the wall behind him. Maybe if Tolemek was able to crawl over without being noticed, he could do something. What, Ridge wasn’t sure. He had been almost as disappointed as Tolemek by the locked and stripped lab. Even if Tolemek carried the dubious label of “Deathmaker,” his potions and drugs had a tendency to allow for more peaceful solutions than shootouts did.
“Colonel Zirkander?” the woman asked, her mouth sagging open as she stepped closer to the light. She wore a sergeant’s rank and looked to be in her thirties. He highly doubted he would convince her to abandon her post for a beer.
“Yes,” he said after throwing away a half dozen complicated stories that he had been working out while waiting for Tolemek. He decided for a simple one that was only slightly untrue. “I heard my house had been blown up. Going in through the gate didn’t seem wise.”
“Er.” The sergeant shifted the pistol away from him. That was promising, but she did not lower it entirely. She wore a conflicted expression, no doubt torn by the need to do her duty and the knowledge that shooting an officer might not be wise.
“I don’t suppose you could forget you saw me?” Ridge suggested, even though trying to suborn a soldier made him uncomfortable. She might get in trouble later for not reporting him. How many careers had he already put at risk this month? Starting with his own? “I’m on a mission to rescue the king and gather intel, but I’m not supposed to reveal my presence, lest the people behind his kidnapping suspect I’m coming.” No need to mention that he had assigned this mission to himself…
“A mission from whom, sir?”
Whom, indeed. At least she had called him sir instead of immediately ordering him to place his hands on the wall for a search. Tolemek must still be dangling from the rope—his shaggy head had not yet popped up.
“The queen,” Ridge said. He almost elaborated, giving her some spiel about how the queen was being forced to pretend to command the nation by some nefarious outfit that was blackmailing her, but that newspaper at his mother’s house had been four days old. Since he had no current intel yet, he might say something contradictory.
“Oh.” Did that oh sound enlightened? Or skeptical?
The dog growled again. Maybe it could smell the hairs his mother’s cats had decorated his trousers with. The dog sniffed the air a few times, then put its paws up on the wall between two stakes. Uh oh. Tolemek was about to be noticed.
“I know your duty is to capture me,” Ridge said, stepping forward, risking getting close to the dog, “but I’m not sure if anyone else is looking for the king. I’m here to check with General Ort, try to get any information he has, then find him.”
“They say you’re being controlled by a witch, sir. That she has you under her charms.” The soldier backed away a few steps, the pistol rising slightly again. She leaned toward the wall so she could see over the side while keeping an eye on him.
If not for the dog, Ridge might have lunged and tried to disarm her. But even if he managed that, what would he do then? He couldn’t hurt her or kidnap her, and tying her up would only keep her silent for a short time.
“Come up,” the soldier said, directing her words over the wall.
“I’m not being controlled by anyone,” Ridge said. “That’s the city’s new scientist. He definitely doesn’t have me under his charms.”
Tolemek grunted as he crawled over the wall. Ridge did not look back at him. If Tolemek had some potion in hand, he did not want to draw the sergeant’s attention to it.
“I never believed that story, sir,” she said, surprising him. “I have to report this, especially since I’ve been out of the tower for longer than I normally would be, but, ah… I’m not really known for my penmanship when I fill out my reports. My superiors sometimes have trouble reading them. Sir, when you’ve rescued the king, would you mind coming to visit my son’s school? He and a lot of his friends are mad to be pilots and they idolize you.” She lowered the pistol.
Ridge blew out a slow breath, lowering his hands. He hadn’t dared assume that his reputation would help him here, especially with so many people certain Sardelle was controlling him now, and he considered himself lucky. This never would have happened while sneaking into a Cofah outpost. “I would be happy to do that.”
“Good. Can I come to the hangar later to set something up?”
“Absolutely.??
?
“Come on, Fang,” she murmured, pulling the dog to turn him back in the other direction. She walked away without looking back.
“Does being a national hero and getting preferential treatment ever get tedious?” Tolemek asked.
Ridge bit back a caustic retort—he kept hoping Tolemek would get tired of taking shots at him if he didn’t respond in kind. All he said was, “Nah, and you should be tickled about it. You can now have your date with Ort’s lavatory.”
He pulled up his rope and unwound the hook while he talked, then affixed it and lowered it on the other side of the wall. They couldn’t count on the next soldier having a flier-loving son.
They descended without further trouble, landing behind a row of barracks. Ridge had chosen this spot for a reason. The general’s house was only two blocks away. Sticking to the back routes, he led Tolemek down a well-lit, tree-lined street. Not many people were out, especially in the officer housing area, but Ridge kept his cap pulled low and the collar of his jacket turned up, doing his best to hide his face.
They cut across a lawn, the grass damp with water droplets, and walked to the back of the general’s two-story white house. Ridge did not spot the light of any lanterns, but Ort ought to be in bed at this hour. He was not known for late nights out at the pub, nor did he have any family living with him. His three daughters were grown, and his wife had passed away. The lack of lighting was not ominous, or so Ridge told himself.
He knocked softly on the back door while hoping that it didn’t mean anything that the dragon luck mat on the stoop had slid off into the flowerbed. When nobody responded, he knocked again, more loudly. Tolemek shifted from foot to foot, watching a pair of soldiers walking up the street behind the house. Alas, there weren’t any nice alleys to skulk in inside of the fort. Ridge and Tolemek leaned into the shadows and stood quietly, waiting for the men to pass.
“Let’s go around to the front,” Ridge whispered when they were gone, though he was not sure if there was a point. He was starting to accept that the general wasn’t home.