voice sit flat and lifeless, Dora could hear the snarl behind it. Well, she could see the anger unfolding in Keshnu's logic. Perhaps the fraying of her own logic was translating that image to sound.
"Ashtenzim stands on Talerssi accrued from the removal of fourteen boons granted in the First Realm." Again, Van Raighan held his voice sharp-edged and cold, enunciating every syllable. He sounded like a Wilder struggling with the language. Maybe that was the idea. But why? He continued, "Ashtenzim offers to stand surety for the communities of Polten, Fosket, Af, Veliar, Edarrin, North Edda and Labrelet."
Frantic communication scattered back and forth between Keshnu and Taslin. Pevan exchanged a grim glance with Van Raighan. Whatever was going on, they'd clearly practiced it closely. How long had they been working together? Would Keshnu be able to decipher their plan? Dora hugged herself, trying to shrug off the tension in the air and failing. Sparks danced on the faint breeze, leaping from the auras of everyone present.
Keshnu said, "I cannot accept."
Taslin and Pevan spoke at once, their voices mixing too tightly for Dora to make out the words despite Pevan raising her voice till it rang from the ceiling. Taslin finished first, leaving Pevan to bawl, "-for the hidden communication before me."
Keshnu must have understood more, because this time the Second-Realm edge on his curse drove Dora to her knees, then bent her over, gagging, to press her forehead onto the cool concrete. She felt as if she had rats in her gut, fighting for freedom. Shivers raced across her every which way, up and down her back, across her shoulders, through her face. She sneezed, then gagged again. Her own mucus reeked of bile.
The spasm passed, and Dora looked up to see Pevan a half-step closer, Van Raighan's hand tight on her arm. As if she'd tried to come and help, and the thief had stopped her. Nice to know the girl's instincts hadn't been completely corrupted. Still, the way she turned to face Van Raighan, nodding in humble apology, suggested she was heavily under his influence.
Taslin's arm settled over Dora's shoulders, the Wilder's compassion smoothing away the psychic taint of Keshnu's anger. She could do nothing for the taste in Dora's mouth, but at least the relief enabled Dora to sit up and breathe again.
Dora put a hand up to push the hair out of her face and turned to Taslin. "What's going on?"
The Gift-Giver glanced up at Keshnu, then toward Van Raighan. "I can't explain right now. I'm sorry." Dimly, Dora felt the tingle as Taslin sent another weary message at Keshnu.
"I offer Talerssi for the interruption." Keshnu's voice opened up in tone, whispering back from the Abyss. "Taslin of the Gift-Givers will stand as my executor."
Van Raighan glanced at Pevan, for the first time looking worried, some of the tightness draining from his face. Had they expected this? Dora put her hand on Taslin's shoulder, steadying herself to push back to her feet, but a look at the Gift-Giver's face made her think better of it. Taslin was watching Van Raighan as a cat might watch a snake, equal parts fear and ferocious need to attack.
The air blurred with a haze of blue-white sparks as the moment dragged. Dora blinked the impression away, but not before she saw the flow of the tide against Keshnu. The Gift-Giver's composure was beginning to fray. Stiffly, he said, "I renounce authority to Relvin Atcar."
Van Raighan let out a long, slow breath and turned to Pevan, but the girl's attention was fixed on Dora. Dora glared back as best she could.
"Taslin." The humanity came back to Keshnu's voice, authority balanced perfectly with parental gentleness.
Taslin found Dora's gaze for a moment, and behind her eyes, Dora saw an appeal for patience. She nodded. Taslin pushed to her feet, facing her superior. Not wanting to risk disrupting the moment, Dora held to her crouch.
"Keshnu." Taslin matched him, tone for tone, warm but formal.
"I stand on Talerssi accrued for your interference in the exchange with Ashtenzim and Lienia of the Separatists." Was that regret in Keshnu's voice? His tone had grown throaty as he spoke. It had to be deliberate, but for whose benefit? Van Raighan watched askance, his eyes narrowed, his skin pale. Taslin just nodded. Keshnu said, "You are to take the responsibility of surety for Relvin Atcar."
"Gladly." Taslin's smile was hard, her eyes dark gems.
"Hang on, what does that mean?" Pevan stepped forward, every contour of her face standing stiff with consternation. "Rel goes free, right?"
"Yes, Rel goes free." Keshnu's voice seethed with frustration, though the Gift-Giver held his face steady. "But Taslin will have the authority to censure him should he take any action she deems threatening to the peace. At her sole discretion."
Pevan glanced back at Van Raighan. He muttered something that didn't carry, and Pevan nodded in response. The thief stepped forward, his voice dropping back into its usual lazy drawl. "Very well. I was instructed to oversee Rel's release."
"Come with me." Keshnu's tone could have cut rocks. Would have, if Dora's Sherim or the one in the old research facility were leaking Wild Power. "The Gatemaker stays here."
Dora took the opportunity to push to her feet. She caught Pevan's eye and glared, hard. To her immense relief, her voice came out steady enough to match. "Yes, Pevan, you're going to explain what on Earth you're playing at."
"No, I have to go with Chag." Pevan swallowed, her face set with tension. "T-to oversee Rel's release." Dora resisted the urge to smile. At least one of her Gifted still respected her.
"No such obligation exists." Keshnu's voice burrowed through the air like a drill made of ice. "You are not the bearer of Ashtenzim's Talerssi. Your part in the exchange is finished. I suggest you do as your Four Knot bids you and explain." The Gift-Giver turned his scowl on Van Raighan. "Come."
"She's not my Four Knot anymore!" Pevan's voice actually quavered.
"I am getting deeply sick of hearing that from people." Dora took a step forward, then another. Pevan shuffled back a little way, glanced quickly over her shoulder. She looked so like her brother when guilty and afraid of retribution. It brought back memories of stabler times. Dora drew strength from the rush of satisfaction and continued her advance. "Do you think I've forgotten what I learned in five years as Federas' Four Knot? You owe me your life half a dozen times over. The very least you could do is give me the truth."
Keshnu patted her on the back. The touch caught her by surprise, spreading a tingle across her shoulders and around her ribs, but she didn't flinch. His support steadied her from within as he walked past, headed for the tunnel up to the caves. Taslin stepped up to Dora's shoulder, and Dora needed no contact to feel her loyalty and the pride in it.
Van Raighan looked from Keshnu to Pevan and, incredibly, his face tightened in pained concern. Though he still drawled, the indolent, confident tone had gone from it. He sounded like his heart was breaking. "I have to go, and I don't think we can risk a fight."
"Go. I'll catch you up." Pevan sounded like she didn't believe it. Van Raighan nodded and set off after Keshnu's retreating back. Pevan pulled herself up, squared her shoulders, and glared at Dora.
She lasted a bare handful of seconds before beginning to blink. Dora took another step forward, stopping a couple of yards short of where she might stand for a normal conversation. Pevan would either have to come closer herself or endure the uncomfortable feeling of being in breach of the norm. Keep her off-balance. It was all coming back to Dora, and again, she had to smother a vindictive smile.
She clenched her jaw, narrowed her eyes, and said, "Explain."
Pevan's mouth opened and closed silently a couple of times. She swallowed, then met Dora's eyes again. "The Separatists want to recruit Rel. They won't come to the First Realm, so they sent us."
"Who are the Separatists?"
"I- They..." Pevan's eyes flicked to Taslin. Dora didn't look round, but she could feel the Gift-Giver's anger. Pevan said, "They're a group of Children of the Wild. They want to separate the Realms. Like, literally. Not just an end to us and W- Children of the Wild cooperating, but freeing the First Realm from the Second
completely."
"They are rebels and treaty-breakers." Venom dripped from Taslin's every word. Dora half-expected to see knives flying past her shoulder. "Fools, too."
"Think about it, Dora." Pevan's voice turned wheedling. "No more constant vigilance, no more fighting with monsters that could kill you with a touch. Life could go back to how it was before the Crash."
"And how was that?" Dora poured scorn into the words. Pevan made it sound tempting, but Dora had spent too much time in the ruins of Vessit, wondering if the old city had made sense to its occupants. And she remembered the Gatemakers in Nursim, effortlessly shifting quarried stone around, doubling the output of the quarries. "Are you prepared to give up your Gift, Pevan?"
Pevan flinched, opened her mouth, but Taslin spoke first. "It is irrelevant. The voice of the Separatists was heard when the Treaty of Peace was drafted, and again when it was ratified. They agreed to peace and collaboration. Their crimes against that treaty will not go unchallenged."
"Shouldn't we have had a say in that decision?" Pevan's voice rose in pitch and volume, echoes racing away into the darkness of the Abyss.
"Don't be stupid, Pevan." Dora folded her arms, set her shoulders just so, the pose she'd perfected to show impatience with childish, petulant Gifted. Particularly childish, petulant Gifted of the Atcar family.
Thinking of Rel was a mistake. The