Should have known I couldn’t hide anything from her, but I bunched the cloth in my lap, anyway.
“The Guild is no longer your concern.” Haki either didn’t notice or ignored my predicament as he lifted a pack off the floor. “But Xumi will not forgive the death of a son. She will come after you.”
The arm lifting the pack was streaked with the blood of that unworthy individual, as vicious a Dragon as had ever walked the earth. He’d matched his mother, who had spent the last few weeks leasing me from the Guild. Supposedly as a bodyguard.
Emphasis on supposedly.
“Xumi will find me, no matter where I run.” My voice rasped, a mere fraction of what it used to be. Summed my current state up rather well. Except for what the cloak hid, anyway.
“We have a plan for that. A way to buy you time.” Kala was all business, and my respect for her, already high, grew. My eyes widened as she explained to me the plan that she and Haki had concocted.
Crazy. But it could work.
Haki threw me the heavy pack. As I hefted it, I arched a brow at him.
“Your stuff from the Guild,” he said simply, and then he handed me something I thought I never would see again.
“How?” I breathed as I took it from him—a long, narrow sword in a battered sheath that showed only a fraction of its immense age.
“Her son had it. The knife, too. He won’t be needing it anymore.”
He handed me the harness, which I clipped the scabbard to before slipping it over my shoulders. It was as though a piece of me was returned along with it. I straightened and then shouldered the pack as well.
“We have to go,” Kala said.
I pulled the cloak on and adjusted it automatically, ensuring that the sword hilt would be accessible—I could push back the hood and draw it in one move. The knife would be a quick grab along my ribs. The routine soothed me, as well as my body.
Haki made his own expert adjustments to his cloak as he trailed Kala.
Minutes later, we were walking along the street. I scanned the buildings, the sparse pedestrian traffic, the furry beasts used as mounts and wagon pullers, and finally, the three moons overhead.
“Mandis realm?” I asked
“Yeah. The City of Drista. But we can’t linger.” Haki replied.
I understood. Nowhere in the underworld would be safe for me.
Nowhere.
I took a step closer to him. “What about you?” What if Xumi came after him and Kala?
“No one that saw me is still walking,” he declared. “She has no idea I was involved. Kala and I will stay at her parents’ place for the next week, just in case. If Xumi wants us, she’ll have to go through the Empire to get us.”
I nodded. Even Xumi wouldn’t come after them there. There was only one other organization that might give her that kind of pause. Kala’s plan was daring, but also brilliant.
So long as I could pull it off. At one time, I would have had no doubts. But that person seemed like someone else now.
We turned into a back alley, and the crystal in my blood sensed the gateway. A slim figure in a trench coat awaited us.
“Hello, Jacques,” I greeted, dismayed by how my voice still shook. “They pulled you into this, too?”
“Monsieur, believe me, if she wasn’t paying me handsomely, I wouldn’t be here.” The Satyr’s dark eyes gleamed from the depths of his hood. “Can we please hurry? I have arranged our passage.” He gestured to the burly gate guardians, who watched us from the shadows.
Kala stepped closer to me. “Jacques will take you the rest of the way.”
I swallowed. Would I ever see them again? I owed them everything. I faced Kala. “Thank you.” The words seemed inadequate, and they were.
“For you, anything,” she said, and she meant it. “You’re my brother, now, Talakai.”
