Chapter Eight

[cityofthehand]

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CHAPTER EIGHT



Seven intruders, all counted. She peeked over the roof only when nerves overcame her, compelling her to look again, check that she hadn’t been discovered. Between those moments, she calmed herself with reviewing, step-by-step, her plan for getting the hell off the roof and to somewhere safe.

Stay put. Stay safe. Bide time. Wait until time to meet Naran came. Run like her ass was on fire. Assuming all that worked, ask him for a talisman or a spell to protect herself with. The one he’d used to stun her would be perfect. After that, go straight to Motswa and tell her everything. Then watch as Motswa ran these seven fuckers to ground like rats chased by a cat.

She looked down at her chest again, touched it lightly. Such an important thing not to feel there. She forgot it for hours at a time, but never completely. Those prefects would have ripped her open to claim it, these seven would do the same, she assumed. There is rested, inside her and it had been mere inches from the prefects. Naran, Motswa, the agents Yena and Kei-Zi had been so close to their answered and none knew.

Suddenly, the thought of continuing to carry it even for a few more days made her desperately weary.

By noon, the seven gave up and cleared away from her apartment. Stiff from sitting and crouching so long, Maira wanted to leave the roof but didn’t dare. She checked her pocket, obsessively counting the coins there and totalling up, once again, what she could buy with them. A week in a cheap rent-room if she wasn’t picky and could tolerate bugs. Less if she couldn’t.

She mapped it out mentally. The Gehene District could offer something. A generally cleaner part of the Palm, she had contacts there. She knew some of the maids and prostitutes whom she traded interesting stories, occasional treats, and free deliveries with. They liked each other. One of the prostitutes would surely know of an empty room or be willing to put her up for a night. Maybe more than one if she agreed to do cleaning or chores for them.

Tenetia came to mind. Kind hearted and tough enough to take care of herself. She didn’t mind helping people out and she had the smarts to hire very sharp look outs and do business with customers who didn’t mind trading non-sexual favors. Not a bad place to hide for maybe a week. No longer than that.

The seven were the beginning, not the end. If she went home, even with Iyemi and the others looking out, she’d be dead. Worse yet, she’d be daring those seven and those like them to kill people to get to her. Anywhere she stayed would become a target if she didn’t move on quickly.

The sun and water clock at the Tayeland’s center counted down the slow passing hours. Accurate to a fraction fo a second, the marvel of machinery and metal was a gift from an Asna’isi craftsman and a source of pride for all the neighborhoods. Unfortuantely, it’s accuracy meant it wouldn’t speed up though she desperately wanted it to. Hours remained until would meet Naran and the roof remained the only safe space. Nothing to do but attempt to relax and stay alert.

Relaxing, however, turned into drowsing in the sun. She didn’t even realize she was asleep until the sound of gritty footsteps and laughter jolted her into consciousness. The painful quickness of going from sleep to waking set her heart racing. She looked up. Three young children, none older than ten, laughed at her behind their hands.

“Why you sleep ‘pon we roof, big sister?” they asked her, in charming patois drawl.
She spared them a grin and sat up, getting to a crouch so she could peek over the edge of the ledge. The intruders had not returned, but two other figures - maybe not human - had taken their place. The two studied the rope coming out of the window. Maira squinted and leaned on the ledge, recognizing them.

The lieutenant and captain from last night, the Red Hand agents. Yena Lookinghard and Kei-zi Tutenga. She hestitate a moment, then thought better of letting them go without saying something. They might also offer protect and better yet, keep killers from coming to the Tayeland. They’d treated her humanely the night before. If she had to chance trusting someone, they would be the ones to trust.

“Just waiting for someone,” she said cryptically to the children and stood at full height. They gave her confused looks but shrugged and went on with what they were doing as she passed them by and went down the ladder again, grunting with the pain her hands all the way down. Once on the ground she stuck her hands into her jacket pockets and jogged to the backside of her own building, warily glancing in all directions as she went.

She approached so quietly they did not hear her. Yena stared at the rope and her partner crouched on the ground, his skirt pulled up to allow the motion. Hairy knees poked out between his hem and knee-high shiny red leather boots.

“Well, there’s no signs of a fight. No blood. Just lots of track. Less than a dozen, more than half, what say?” Kei-zi asked, putting a painted-nail hand to the ground in the middle of a footprint.

“I counted seven,” Maira told him. They instantly turned her way, shocked for only a half second. Yena’s surprise morphed into a warm, knowing smile.

“You don’t look like you’ve been in any fights recently, so I’m assuming you didn’t battle them off yourself. I’m glad to see you safe, Maira.”

“Well, given the circumstances,” Kei-zi added, crossing his arms. His long dark grey jacket fluttered in the breeze that kicked up dust.

“You saw them before they saw you, you’ve been watching,” Yena said, very certain of herself. Maira lifted an eyebrow. Had Yena seen her? “Crouching on a rooftop. Smart.”

“How’d you know?”

Yena pointed at her feet. “Your shoes are dusty, but the dust is white. The dirt around here is brown, but the roofs are white. That means a rooftop. The fact that it’s also on the elbow of your jacket and your knee suggest you were crouching. Also, you came from that direction, and the tallest building around is that direction. You’re smart, and it would give you the best vantage point.”

“You really do work for the Red Hand.”

Kei-zi chuffed. “She’s just showing off. She does that. Never mind her. These people what did they look like?”

Maira gave the basic description and watched Yena’s face as she talked. The woman seemed thoughtful with each new detail, her eyes blanking out as if she were so deep in thought she’d retreated inside her brain.

“So, they blended in well enough that they didn’t alarm the local patrols and they care enough not to anger Motswa Bara. Interesting,” Yena said. She tapped a single index finger to her lips and then sighed. “But not helpful.”

“Most people take care not to piss Motswa off. It’s a bad move,” Maira supplied.

“Has anyone else come around, asking questions or looking for you?”

She shook her head immediately. She wasn’t ready to make a fugitive out of Naran, even if telling Yena might yield answers about what a Tract lord would want with an insignificant human from the Palm. “No one else. I can’t stay here. They might be back. Whatever the professor knew, they’re convinced I know about it, too.”

Yena’s eyes narrowed, knowing and curious for more, in a way that made Maira’s stomach twist.
“We can protect you,” Kei-zi said. “The Red Hand’s got safe places all over the city.”

“Why bother? I don’t know anything.”

“You’re the only witness. The killer’s still out there, and for all we know, that’s who sent this lot after you.”

Maira nodded. Knowing Naran wasn’t a bad man made it hard for her to remember she should still be scared of him. “Do you have any idea who it was?”

Yena shook her head. “Unfortunately, Professor Decaran had many enemies.”

“And even more secrets,” Kei-zi said. “Makes it hard to pin down anything. We’re quite spoiled for choice, actually.”

“Have you thought of anything since we last met? Maybe you’ve remembered details you didn’t think of at first? I know last night was extremely difficult,” Yena said, approaching so that she was close enough to reach out and softly touch Maira’s shoulder. The sensation of her brief touch lingered for a long time, the weight of her hand there even when it wasn’t.

“Nothing,” she answered. “I told you everything.”

“We know, but after what you went through anyone would have a hard time thinking straight. If you want, we can take you somewhere. You might be able to remember something if you had a safe place to rest,” Yena told her.

She sighed. “Then you’re out of luck. I just got fired, I can’t afford however much this safe place is going to cost.”

“Your boss fired you for this?” Kei-zi asked.

“No. For being a liability. Zie can’t afford a messenger that might get snatched off the street at any moment.”

“It won’t cost you anything,” Yena said, coolly, but Maira detected sadness. Her eyebrows got lower, just for a moment. Maybe Maira had offended her in some way, but all she’d done was tell the truth. People didn’t go around offering safe places to sleep at no cost just to be kind. Perhaps in the Tayeland, if you knew the person - but Yena was definitely not Taye.

“For how long? Until I come up with something?”

“As long as you’re in danger.”

“And how long will that be?”

“If I knew that, you wouldn’t be in danger at all,” she replied. “Are you going to come with us?”

Maira looked up to her window, with the rope dangling from it. She wondered what the intruders had tied it to inside her apartment to get it to stay there and support a grown person’s weight. “Can I get a few things first?”

“Of course,” she said, but her face did not match the tone of her voice. She put a finger to her lips to signify silence and then pointed up to the window. Maira understood immediately. There might still be someone up there, lying in wait.

Yena took the lead, walking slower than normal and Kei-zi stayed very close behind. Once they came to the front of the stairs leading to the second floor, Yena unhooked a length of black chain hanging from her belt. A pointed, heavy brass dart dangled from the end. Behind her, Kei-zi pushed aside his long coat and drew a pair of thin, sharp-pointed stiletto knives.

They took the stairs slowly and quietly. Yena stepped so lightly she made no sound, and stopped at the door. She stood listening for a long while before she nodded. Maira fished the key out of her pocket and unlocked it. Kei-zi gently elbowed her to get behind him as Yena pushed open the door with her foot. Maira hardly breathed as she waited. She glanced at Kei-zi. Was he really prepared to get between her and a blade?

Yena called from inside, “It’s all right. They’re gone.”

Maira entered her apartment and stopped short at the sight of the mess the intruders made. Tea leaves littered the floor and the broken jar rested next to an overturned chair. The remnants of her few plates and cups sat in a pile of clay shards. Racing to the bedroom, she saw more of the same. Her drawers had been emptied, clothed dumped on the floor. Her mattress had been shredded and over turned, it’s rag-and-wool stuffing blowing in the breeze the open window let in.

By the window, her one luxury - a loose sheaf paper binder - had been opened and papers flapped around with crisp fluttering noises.

She held back her anger with a grunt in her throat and rushed to collect them. As she stooped to pick up the binder, she saw the two charcoal sticks she used for writing had not only been broken but crushed into unusable dust under someone’s boot. Such spite stunned her. To ruin even that one simple thing, to take the time out of an attempted assassination to destroy her charcoal sticks.

Whoever the professor had been, he had earned hateful enemies. And now so had she.

Yena and Kei-zi helped her. They crouched and collected papers, stacking them neatly before handing them to her. She flipped through the pages to check for anything missing. Maira lacked three - two maps and a page of sketches and numbers - missing and looked up. Yena held it in her hands and studied it with narrowed fire-orange eyes.

“Is something wrong?” asked Maira.

Yena shook her head. “Did you do these?”

“Yeah. When I can afford paper and charcoals and I can’t sleep.”

“You do this when you can’t sleep?” Kei-zi asked and he gave a huffed laugh more a snort than anything.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Very unusual maps,” Yena said, coolly, as if at a market trying to get a better deal by seeming uninterested in the wares. Then she turned one of the sheets over. “Seems you invented an entirely new system of measurement and mathematics to design new roads where you think they should go. Or at least not one I’ve ever seen before. Interesting chart of the stars, too.”

Maira turned her face away to cool her growing frustration. Her eyes fell on the spot Naran had laid the day before. Good thing he hadn’t seen these. Or at least hadn’t mentioned it. She knew his soul and he had nothing but laughing scorn for those he considered stupid. With his education, these pages would be children’s scribbles to him.

Yena handed what she held over to Maira. She snatched them away quick and held them close to her chest with the binder, frowning. Her face burned hot with shame and rage. “You don’t have to make fun of me, you know. Not everyone gets to go to an academy and have tutors like you. I had to learn my numbers and writing on my own. Doesn’t mean I’m dumb.”

“Who said we were teasing? This would be extraordinary work for someone did have tutors.”

The flush of humiliation lingered. Yena’s compliment pricked like an insult. Maira hurried to get all the pages in the binder and tie the brown twine tightly around it. Once she secured it, she went to gather up her clothes and put them in her hidden run-away pack, hidden behind the cabinet. She pushed the heavy wood thing aside with her shoulder enough to pull out a simple sackcloth satchel that contained a knife, bandages, a skin of wine, a small pouch of Domain money, and dried meat and fruit rations.

“Maira,” Yena called, more sharply than before.

She snatched a shirt up excessive force and shoved it in the satchel. “Like I said, it’s just something I do when I can’t sleep. I didn’t meant for anyone to see it.”

“I’m complimenting you. Doing that on your own tells me you’ve got a keen intelligence. You should nuture it.”

“Right now I’d like to nurture my ability to stay alive and fed,” she snapped and then sighed. Get a hold of yourself, Maira, she scolded inwardly. Even angry she knew pissing off the only two people offering a safe place to hide was deeply, deeply foolish. “I’m sorry, that was disrespectful, Captain.”

Yena nodded gracefully. “You were a workhouse child, weren’t you? You were sold when you were older, though. You must have made a very daring escape to get here.”

Maira stood up to full height, sucking her breath in hard. “How did you know that?”

“You figure it out. How do you think I knew?”

“Yena, don’t. She’s been through enough, let’s just get to the safehouse with out starting a fight, yeah?” Kei-zi said, leaning against the wall and rolling his green eyes.

Yena persisted. “You don’t need pity or unnecessary softness. You need the truth, and you need to make the most of your mind. So look around. Tell me, how do you think I knew?”

Maira stared into those brilliant orange eyes and forced herself to meet the challenge with a smirk. If Yena could do it, she could do it. So she looked at herself, her clothes, her body. Yena took clues from that last time, so that had to be where to start. Whatever Yena noticed, it was on or around Maira herself.

Immediately, she looked down to her right arm and the old, nearly faded remnant of an infect chain sore. All the children got them eventually from being in chains all the time. Some lost hands or arms if the infection spread. Luckily Maira healed faster than most and all she had to show for it was a slightly knotted groove in her skin.

Fine, that was that. But how could Yena know the age? Maira bit her lip, then cocked her head and stared at Yena further. She hoped the agent’s eyes would flick to something, give a clue, but they stared back like steady flames.

She bit down harder and the answer came. Teeth. Maira had all her teeth and in good condition except one she’d chipped when she fell a couple of years ago. Not just teeth, bones. Short as she was compared to the Taye, Maira stood taller than most workhouse children ever got and her bones were not bowed. She’d been hungry as the rest, but before the workhouse the orphanage had fed her enough that she grew normally.

Uncertain as she was, Maira still put all her confidence into her answer. “You looked at my arm, and my teeth, my height.”

“Excellent,” Yena said and she rewarded Maira with a bright, genuine smile. “You should bring your papers along. I’d like to take a closer look at them, if you don’t mind.”

Maira cast at the binder, uncertain, but then scooped it up and put it in the satchel along with her stockings and extra breast binders.

“All right,” she said and glanced out the window at the tower clock. The clock! Naran! “Wait,” she said, turning around. “I’m supposed to meet a friend later today, can I still do that?”

“Of course. You’re a witness, not a prisoner. Can I ask where you’re going?”

She thought quickly and then lied. “The Archways.”

Yena nodded. “Kei-zi or I can go with you if you like, for safety.”

“I’ll be safe enough. It’s in the Tayeland. Nobody would try something in the open on Motswa’s turf. We should probably tell her what’s going on.”

“Don’t worry,” Kei-zi said and smiled. “Taken care of. Trust me, we wouldn’t have made it this far if we hadn’t. For a criminal, she’s not half bad. I like the woman.”

“She’s not a criminal,” Maira snapped, suddenly protective of Motswa though she knew it wasn’t necessary.

“It’s not an insult. Lots of lovely people are criminals. Some of them even become Red Hand agents,” he replied, giving her a wink and a smile.