Deadly Games

“Akstyr,” Amaranthe said, “what you do withyour talents is your choice, but doing it where the group is hidingout can get us all in trouble.”

He bent his head and kicked at a weedthrusting from beneath one of the rusted car wheels. “I just wantedto make some money on the side. You don’t pay us hardly nothing,and I’ve got expenses. I don’t just drink and whore like Maldynado.I’ve got to buy books and components for researching now.” Hejerked his elbow toward the car without taking his hands out of hispockets.

“Understandable,” Amaranthe said. “Nexttime…” She approached him with the kerchief. The smudge above hislips was bugging her. Since his hands were occupied, she figuredshe could clean it off before he objected. She dampened it andswiped it beneath his nose.

“What’re you doing?” he balked.

“Cleaning that smudge,” she said.

“What smudge? There’s no smudge.”

“No, there’s definitely something there.”Despite his protests, she managed to give it a good rub.

“Amaranthe, you’re tormenting the lad,” Bookssaid, though his eyes glinted with amusement.

“Huh,” she said. “It won’t come off. Oh, it’shair.”

“It’s not hair.” Akstyr stepped out ofreach. “It’s a mustache.”

“I don’t see anything,” Books said.

“That’s because you’re senile.” Akstyr liftedhis nose and smoothed his upper lip to show it off. “Anyone canplainly see that it’s coming in nicely. I’ve been working on it forseveral days now.”

“I see,” Amaranthe said. “A bit on the wispyside still.”

“Wispy and invisible,” Books muttered.

She shook her head and settled for wipingsome of the goo off of Akstyr’s face and shirt. He sighed deeplyunder this torture.

“As I was saying,” Amaranthe said, “nexttime, just come to me if you need help purchasing items that canbenefit the group. I’ll find a way to get the money.”

“And don’t be a dolt and bring your…clientshere,” Books said. “What’d you do for her anyway?”

Amaranthe wondered that, too. And how had thewoman known to find Akstyr? Honored ancestors, he didn’t haveflyers out around the city, did he?

“Healed her,” Akstyr said.

“Nothing appeared to ail her,” Bookssaid.

“Look, it was her toenail, all right? Somefungus. It was all black and nasty. Could we not talk about it?This isn’t exactly what I dreamed about when I started studyingthis stuff. It’s embarrassing. I wish I could go to Kyatt orsomewhere that I could study real Science and learn to dointeresting things.”

Leave the empire? Was that the goal to whichhe aspired? Amaranthe supposed she could understand that, given thedanger his studies brought him here, but she would have to keep aneye on him. If he planned to leave, he probably did not care aboutexoneration or accolades from the emperor. The day might come whenhis goals were at odds with hers.

“Well…” Amaranthe rested a hand on herbelly. “I’ve found your healing skills to be quiteinteresting. And useful. In a thank-you-for-saving-my-life kind ofway.”

Akstyr grunted.

“And please update your flyers to make surepeople know you’d rather visit them than have them visit here,” sheadded.

“I don’t have flyers.”

“Update whatever your promotional method is,”Amaranthe said. “Now, tell me about your research. Did you findanything?”

“Oh!” Akstyr clambered into the rail car.

“I didn’t mean to send him scurrying away,”she murmured.

“We found a fine yellow powder inside a divotin the cork,” Books said. “It was visible only with a magnifyingglass.”

Akstyr popped back out again, a hefty tomebalanced in his arms. He held it open, displaying weathered pagesfull of foreign text comprised of sweeping curlicues andcomplicated symbols. Amaranthe could not imagine writing a page inthe ornate script, much less an entire book.

“What language is that?” she asked.

“It’s Nurian,” Books said, “though acalligraphy version. It was most difficult to translate, and it didnot help that someone was impatiently breathing down-”

“Just look at the picture.” Akstyr tapped thepage.

Several yellow dots were sprinkled around ahomely brown root with more kinks and snarls than a hair ball.

“That’s the powder that was on the cork?” sheasked. “It comes from that root?”

“This might be the powder,” Akstyrsaid. “I’m…not real experienced at identifying things yet.”

“An understatement.” Books massaged histemple.

“If this is the right powder, the root it’smade from can make you sleepy if you eat it. But wizards havetinkered with it, and there’s a recipe here for enhancing itseffects, so it can knock someone out completely.”

“Is it put in food or water?” Amarantheasked.

“It can be, but it’s so fine that people havealso made blow tubes and breakable capsules for distributing it inthe air. Breathing it can be enough to knock you out.”

“So, it’s Nurian?” Amaranthe thought ofArbitan Losk. Was it possible another Nurian had come to thecapital with a plan to disrupt the empire? Or to get at the emperorsomehow? Tradition mandated he would be at the final days of theImperial Games, and there was that dinner…. She did not know howdisappearing athletes might be used against him though. Couldsomeone be getting the competition out of the way so a particularloyal athlete would make it to the end to get close to the emperor?For an assassination attempt? But, if so, why bother to kidnap somany people, across multiple events?

“Maybe.” Akstyr tossed his head, flickinghair out of his eyes. Thanks to his errant experiments, it had thesame snarls and tangles as the root today. “Maybe not. The root isfrom the Nurian continent, but it’s actually the Kyattese that madethe powder and have done most of the experimenting with it.”

“They wouldn’t attack the empire, though,”Amaranthe said. “Or would they? They’re supposedly a peaceful folkwith academic tendencies, but we did try to conquer them a coupleof decades ago. Could they be harboring thoughts of revenge?”

Akstyr looked around. “Are you still talkingto me? ‘Cause I dunno about that stuff.”

“No, just thinking out loud. Books?” sheasked, thinking to draw him into the conversation-he had wanderedaway and seemed to be looking for a cloth for his cut.

“Anyone home?” Maldynado’s voice came fromthe distance.

Amaranthe winced at the loudness of it.

“We’ve got news for-ouch!”

She jogged out of the dead end to findSicarius standing before Maldynado and Basilard. Maldynado wasclutching his shoulder.

“Lower your voice,” Sicarius said. “Enforcersare nearby.”

“You could have started with that instead ofthrowing a rock at me,” Maldynado muttered. He spotted Amarantheand said, “Mancrest wants to meet with you.”

Sicarius glared. Maldynado was lucky he hadwaited until after the rock throwing to deliver thisinformation.

“You arranged another meeting for me?”Amaranthe asked. “Are we certain enforcers and army officerbrothers won’t be involved?”

Maldynado thumped his chest. “I setthe meeting place this time. Tomorrow night, Pyramid Park. Nobodycould possibly ambush you there.”

She snorted and looked at Sicarius, thinkingof their first meeting. He hadn’t exactly ambushed her, but he hadappeared behind her as if by magic. She still did not know how hehad gotten there without using the only set of