Set it up quickly and you will be king before the month is out.”
Izo couldn’t help grinning at that thought. “There, at least, we agree,” he said, stomping down the stairs from his throne. “I’m going to make the rounds. We meet at sundown. I want both of you there.”
Neither of the men answered, but Izo just kept walking. He was king here, not them, and he would not stoop so low as to look back to see if they would follow. Instead, he pushed his way through the iron gate and stomped into the yard, yelling for his guard. Tonight, everything needed to be perfect, for tomorrow he was going to make himself king.
Sted watched the iron gate swing closed with a deafening clang. “He’s older than I expected,” he said when the sound of Izo’s shouting had faded. “Shorter, too.”
“Izo has been the Master’s servant for many years,” Sezri said. “Our numbers are greatly increased by his ambitions.”
“Who cares about your numbers?” Sted snorted, shifting his arm beneath his cape. “When do I get to face Liechten?”
“That depends on you.” Sezri’s voice was decidedly colder this time. “Follow the plan and you will have everything you desire. Be an idiot and I’ll rip the seed right out of you and give it to someone more worthy.”
Sted gave the skeletal man a sneering smile. “Is that what the voice tells you to do?”
Sezri’s eyes glowed brighter than ever. “He doesn’t have to,” he said, his voice carrying a hint of the strange double harmonic Sted had come to associate with well-entrenched seeds. “Unlike you, or the girl who had that seed before you, I am an obedient servant of the Mountain. In the end, the Master’s desires will be fulfilled. I suggest you make sure you’re on the right side.”
“I’ve only got one side,” Sted said, shifting his arm below the cloak again. “Mine.”
“So I’ve heard,” Sezri said. “You should watch yourself, Sted.”
“I do,” Sted said, turning away. “Better than anyone.” He stepped sideways, slipping into the shadows. “See you at the briefing.”
He gave the thin demonseed one last smirk before vanishing into the shadows. Sezri glared a moment at the empty space where he had been, and then vanished as well, disappearing like a puff of smoke on the wind, leaving the great hall empty and dark as the sun began to set behind the mountains.
CHAPTER
12
Josef woke up to horrible, blinding pain. His back felt like someone had removed his spine and replaced it with a hot iron rod, and the rest of him didn’t feel much better. On the off chance his lungs worked, he took an experimental breath. It hurt. Powers, did it hurt, but not more than anything else. That gave him hope, and, very slowly, he opened his eyes.
He was lying in a bed in a cabin. Dappled sunlight streamed in through the open window, bringing with it the smell of mountains and trees. Josef frowned. He dimly remembered Eli and Nico moving him. After that, things went blank. He could tell from the light that they were no longer high in the mountains, but where?
Taking another deep breath in an attempt to clear his foggy mind, Josef began the serious business of finding his sword. He unclenched his aching hands and began to feel along the bed frame, careful not to make a sound.
“It’s on top of you,” said a familiar voice.
Josef’s head shot up, sending waves of pain down his back, and he cursed loudly as Eli’s smug face appeared in the air above him.
“Good morning, sunshine,” Eli said. “Glad to see you up.”
Josef glared murder at the thief and moved his hands to his chest. Sure enough, the Heart was resting directly on top of him. At least that explained the feeling of having a boulder on his ribs. He relaxed down into the bed with a long breath. “How long have I been out?”
“About three days,” Eli answered, pulling his chair closer to the bed. “And I’ve got the crick in my neck to prove it. You’ve been hogging the only bed. I’ve had to make do with a spare cushion on the floor.”
Josef was not sympathetic. “What about Nico? Where is she?”
“Who knows,” Eli said. “Out.”
Josef was startled by the hostility in his voice. “What happened?”
Eli shrugged. “The usual. You went down, Nico went crazy, I got us out. We thought you were going to die on us for a while, but the Heart did an excellent job patching you up. You look like you usually do after one of your fights now, which is miles better than the bloody mess you were when we laid you down.”
“And what about Nico?”
“Powers, Josef!” Eli cried. “Can you think about something besides the girl for two seconds? I go out on a limb, not even a limb, a twig, to save your hide, and when you wake up all I hear is Nico this, Nico that. I don’t even get a thank-you.”
“Thank you,” Josef said. “Don’t get angry about it. You can take care of yourself, but Nico has a hard time with that right now. So when you say she’s ‘out,’ like you don’t even care—”
“Maybe I don’t,” Eli snapped. “Maybe you shouldn’t either.”
Josef stared at his friend. In the four years he’d known Eli, he’d never seen the thief this upset.
Eli looked away and took a deep breath. “Josef,” he said, more quietly. “When you found Nico, did you ever wonder why she was out there naked on the mountain?”
“Of course,” Josef answered. “But I figured she would tell me when I needed to know. I’m not concerned with people’s pasts, Eli.”
“Maybe you should be,” Eli said, running his hands through his dark hair, which was getting long and scruffy. “You know how oddly she’s been acting, right?”
Josef nodded.
“When I was in the mountain, I heard things,” Eli said. “I’m not someone to trust everything I hear, but this made too much sense to ignore. You’ve heard of the Daughter of the Dead Mountain?”
“I’ve seen the posters.”
“Who hasn’t?” Eli said with a shrug. “Two hundred thousand gold standards, the second-highest bounty ever posted. It’s twice as high as mine.” Eli scowled. “I think that’s what bothers me most. All this time, and she didn’t even have the courtesy to—”
“Stop,” Josef said. “Just stop. I know where you’re going. Nico is the Daughter of the Dead Mountain. So what? The Lord of Storms told me as much, but you can’t hold it against her. She lost her memory, remember? Maybe she didn’t even know.”
Eli rolled his eyes. “Come on, Josef. You’re stubborn, not stupid. Do you really believe all that garbage? Memory loss,” Eli said and snorted. “She remembered well enough how to get back to the mountain.”
“Yes,” Josef said. “To help us.”
“She lied to us.”
“She kept a secret,” Josef corrected. “You’re hardly in a position to blame others for keeping secrets, Monpress.”
Eli said sullenly, “This is too big. She should have told us.”
“And what would you have done?” Josef said.
“Not what I did,” Eli said. “She lied to us, Josef. We let her take off her manacles. I took her to Slorn’s house, to Nivel. Do you know what she could have done?”
“I never heard of her doing anything,” Josef said. “And I never heard her lie. I never heard her say anything about the Daughter of the Dead Mountain, that is, when she could say anything at all without you taking up all the breathable air.” He glared at Eli. “Whoever she is, whatever name you give her, it doesn’t change the last year. She’s still the same Nico who put her life on the line dozens of times for your stupid thefts, who risked exposing her past to help you find your bear-headed friend, which was more than you did, I could add. So if you have something to say about that Nico, unless it’s how you’re going to go find her and tell her I’m all right, then I don’t want to hear it.”
