Ruins

She half expected him to give her the same little flick of violence that Loaf had been subjected to. But he only winked at her. “You can’t hurt my feelings,” he said. “I don’t have any.”

But to Param it seemed that his violence against Loaf could only be explained by hurt feelings. Vadesh lashed out when Loaf taunted him for getting all the humans in his wallfold killed. Whatever Vadesh might be, he didn’t like being accused of . . . genocide? Or failure? Whatever it was that provoked him, it was clear that he could be provoked, and by words alone. He was dangerous, and they all knew it now.

We fear him. Maybe that’s the new tool he created to manipulate us, when we could no longer be deceived. So maybe he wasn’t provoked after all. Maybe he merely switched from spoon to fork, whatever utensil was appropriate for the dish he’d been served.

Just like Mother, just like most of the powerful people she had known all her life. And if there was one thing Param had learned, it was this: She couldn’t win a game against an opponent who could change the rules whenever things didn’t go his way. All Param had ever been able to do was stop playing.

So she disappeared.

CHAPTER 5 Decisions

To Rigg, Param was not invisible—he still knew exactly where she was, because her path was new and clear. That was how he had first discovered her, back in the house where their mother lived as a royal captive. Now, though, he made a point of not looking at her path, at the place where he knew she was, because he didn’t want Vadesh to have the option of moving his metal-threaded body into the same space she was flashing in and out of. Rigg wasn’t sure how much metal the body of an expendable contained, but it didn’t take much to do serious harm to Param.

“I know where she is,” said Vadesh to Rigg. “I have a perfect sense of time, and I know exactly how far she could have gone by now, even running.”

Rigg looked at Loaf, Olivenko, and Umbo. “Param made her own decision, it seems.”

“She’s going to get thirsty,” said Umbo.

“I don’t like splitting up,” said Loaf. “We can’t help each other then.”

“One thing is certain,” said Rigg. “We need to organize ourselves differently.”

He sensed Umbo growing stiff, resistant. Resentful.

“I agree with you completely, Umbo,” said Rigg.

“I didn’t say anything!” Umbo protested.

“When we started out, I was the one with the money. The jewels.”

“Still got ’em,” said Loaf.

“Do you want them?” asked Rigg. “You’ve had them before. I’ll give them back to you.”

“No!” said Vadesh sharply, before Loaf could answer.

“You’re not in this discussion,” said Rigg. “We can’t make you go away, and we couldn’t stop you from listening even if you left, but we’re not interested in your viewpoint, because as far as we can tell, you’re the enemy.”

“Those wild facemasks are the enemy,” said Vadesh.

“You’re their ally,” said Loaf.

“Please, let’s none of us respond to him, including me,” said Rigg. “I was making a point.”

“Wouldn’t want to interrupt your point-making,” said Umbo.

Rigg ignored Umbo’s dig, for now. “It made sense for me to pretend to be in charge at first because of the subterfuge we were using,” said Rigg. “Pretending I was a rich young heir and you were my attendants.”

“Oh, we were pretending,” murmured Umbo.

“Then I was captured, and Umbo and Loaf—you were on your own and you came to Aressa Sessamo to help me, and I’m grateful. I met Olivenko and brought him into our strange set of problems, and Param is my sister and she was in as much danger as I was. But at the end of it all, what I can’t figure out is why I should be in charge.”

“You’re not,” said Umbo defiantly.

“I’m relieved,” said Rigg. “The trouble is that Loaf and Olivenko defer to me whenever there’s a decision to be made. Which makes sense, because even though they’re the oldest and one of them should definitely be in charge, they don’t have any power over time, and they spend most of their energy sniping at each other anyway.”

“He does,” said Olivenko.

“You think you’re so smart,” said Loaf.

“Thank you for demonstrating my point,” said Rigg. “It’s asinine for the two of you to keep this stupid rivalry alive. Regular army against city guard—who cares? Loaf retired years ago and began two new careers—innkeeper and Leaky’s husband. Olivenko only joined the guard because his career as a scholar was wrecked when my father—my real father—died. An innkeeper and a scholar—but both of you large and strong and well-enough-trained to make anyone think twice about fighting you unless they seriously outnumber you.”

Loaf said, “He wouldn’t scare a—”

“Yes he would,” said Rigg. “Can’t you hear what I’m saying? Grow up, both of you, act like adults, and take charge of this expedition.”

“We can’t,” said Olivenko. “Not him or me.”

“Can so,” said Loaf. “Just don’t want to.”

Rigg glared at Loaf, who rolled his eyes like a teenage boy and looked away.

“It’s actually possible for each of you to allow the other to speak without contradicting him,” said Rigg. “The fact that you don’t seem to know this is why I’ve had to stay in charge, despite Umbo’s resentment.”

“I don’t resent—” began Umbo.

“ ‘I wouldn’t want to interrupt your point-making,’ ” Rigg quoted him. “ ‘Oh, we were pretending.’ I agree with you, Umbo. I have no right to lead, and I’m tired of it anyway.”

“Your father trained you to,” said Umbo grudgingly.

“Everything he trained me for has already happened,” said Rigg. “I got to Aressa Sessamo, I got my sister out of the house, and then with your help she and I got out of the wallfold before General Citizen and our loving mother could kill us. Beyond that, I don’t know what the expendable called Ram had in mind and I don’t care, because what matters now is what we have in mind. Only I don’t have anything in mind. The past few weeks have been all about survival and nothing else.”

“I thought you wanted to find out what happened to Knosso Sissamik,” said Olivenko.

“I do,” said Rigg, “but not so much that I think it’s worth dying for. I want to get out of this wallfold, that’s for certain, because I don’t trust Vadesh here any farther than I can piss, and even on a windless day that’s not far.”

“Where, then?” asked Olivenko. “Back to Ramfold?”

“No,” said Rigg. “I mean, you’re welcome to, but Param and I can’t.”

“I can’t go anywhere,” said Olivenko. “Unless one of you time changers takes me.”

“Maybe Umbo will take you,” said Rigg. “He proved a long time ago that he doesn’t need me to time travel.”

“And you just can’t get over it, can you?” said Umbo.

Rigg heard him and despaired. “Your ability saved my life. Saved my sister’s life. Saved all of us. I admit I felt weak and foolish when you could do it without me, and I couldn’t do it without you. But now we’re even.”

“Oh, definitely,” said Umbo. “You can go back eleven thousand years, and I can barely manage six months, which doesn’t get me through the Wall.”

“And you can stay rooted in the present and always come right back to the time you left,” said Rigg. “We’re different, and we’re both amazing. Now I’m telling you I don’t want to be anybody’s boss, all right? You be boss now. It’s your party.”