Heart Fortune

Only some outer feathers singed, but I do not think I can go into camp. Trago wants to kill me.

Trago!

Yes. I saw him. I think he has a hate for you. You made his mate leave him. Most males do not like that. A pause. I would not like that. Nor would you.

The idea of, say, Andic luring Glyssa away twisted Jace up. Worse than her leaving on her own.

But he hadn’t realized Trago had thought of Symphyta as his woman, his mate.

Critical mistake on Jace’s part.

And he could have defended himself with the fact that Symphyta had made her own decision, but obviously Trago blamed Jace.

He winced.

What are we going to do? asked Lepid in a small voice.

Can you recall the corridor well enough to teleport beyond it? Share that image with me?

Lepid paused, then shook his head. In fact, his whole body trembled. I have been down many hallways, most look alike. I can’t remember this one, where the boxes and sacks and other things are, how far apart the doors are.

Or which doors are open or closed, Jace ended for him. He tried to remember each end of the hall, but couldn’t recall, either.

Lepid shivered. I don’t want to teleport accidentally down, down, down into the ship.

Not good, Zem said.

I don’t blame you, Jace said.

Then Lepid’s ears perked up. We can go to the entryway, where the ramp is! Yes, we can do that! His lower jaw opened in a foxy grin and he wiggled in Jace’s grasp.

Jace held him tight, mouth flattening as he replied telepathically. No, we can’t. Someone threw a boulder at me and it broke into big pieces in the entryway, moved the ramp a little. The light is strange from the ripped tarp. Had he been the target, or had changing the parameters of the entryway for teleportation been the goal? Probably both.

Either way he felt like he was lagging far behind Trago—who he’d definitely underestimated.

Oh, no! Lepid said.

Continues to be not good, said Zem.

How are we going to get out? Lepid demanded.

I don’t know, Jace said.

I will think on this, Zem said. I am going fishing in the lake, then back to my nest.

We all will figure this out, Jace said. He walked over to the bed, sank onto the hard cushion. Lepid hopped down from his lap and began to pace, but the fox didn’t seem to be as afraid as he’d been before.

But this time they really were trapped. The spell light Jace had been using faltered and he boosted it, but he wasn’t accustomed to holding an ongoing spell throughout the day. Even though the energy wasn’t too much, it was enough to drain him if he kept it up for more than a septhour or two. Soon they’d be in the dark.

His fingers slid into his pocket and tightened on the tool with a wisp of hope that it could cut them out of there. “Let’s see if this will get us out.”

He strode to the door, put his hand against it. No heat now, the fire had died fast. He stared at the large piece of sliding metal, not really sure how it worked. He didn’t recall seeing any protruding lock in the side of the door. Maybe it locked at the top or the bottom. With regular doors you could bash at the hinges. And was it just shut, or shut and locked, or even worse, fused to the jamb?

Applying his tool to the tiny crack where it set into the wall, he sent a steady Flair to the cutting edge.

He scratched the surface, no more.

Lepid yipped. Uh-oh.

“Yeah, not so good.” He would burn himself and the tool out before he dented the door. “Let’s look around for something to pry. Break the wall.” Probably futile. “Open the door.”

Tail wagging, Lepid said, Fun!

As the fox shouldered himself into the closet and began to paw around, Jace scrutinized the control panel again. It, too, was cool. Fried stuff, hole opening at the bottom of the wall that he couldn’t fit his hand into. Now he could feel lingering Flair from the timed explosion.

He checked the wall on the left side of the door, no heat. He banged on the wall and the door, set his hands on the door and tried to slide it open. Nothing.

The area still smelled of unwholesome smoke.

I found a pretty! Lepid said.

Jace abandoned his worthless efforts at the door and folded the accordion door to the small closet completely open. Lepid turned and trotted out, something gold in his mouth. Jace hunkered down. “Let’s see.”

Lepid dropped it in Jace’s palm, wet with drool. The filigree brooch was beautiful, of no design that Jace had ever seen. In the center of the gold was a black stone and on that a white carving of the profile of a woman. “Beautiful,” he breathed. Fabulous find. This piece of jewelry could be sold for a huge amount of gilt. T’Ash, the blacksmith and jeweler, would like it, Jace was sure.

And it could start a whole new fashion trend.

Lepid sat, grinning. We can give it to FamWoman.

Jace nearly dropped the piece. Bitterness coated his tongue. “This belongs to everyone who signed up to share in the venture. We have to give it to the Elecampanes.”

Lepid’s ears drooped. Really?

“Yes. And FamWoman and I are . . . not together anymore.”

With a large sniff and a swish of his tail on the floor, Lepid said, Just argued.

Jace’s jaw clenched. No, it hadn’t been a simple argument. Glyssa had walked away. But he had worse things to think about than that. “A beautiful brooch.” He laid it in front of Lepid’s paws. “But it won’t get us out of here.”

Nosing it toward him, Lepid said, You keep it for FamWoman. He turned and pawed at a built-in unit containing drawers.

Reluctantly, Jace picked up the brooch and pocketed it. “How many other items have you found?”

Lepid scrabbled faster at the top drawer, didn’t look at Jace. Not many.

Which meant more than one. “Did you give anything to Glyssa?”

No. I gave a string to Zem for his nest.

Lord and Lady knew what the “string” was. “And the others?”

Nothing much that humans would like. Now the young fox abandoned the drawers, ran and hopped up on the bed, sniffed along the outline of the mattress.

“Where are the other things you took from the ship?” Jace winced at what the scholars who liked to viz everything in its place would say.

Lepid finally looked at him, twitching an ear. They are cached.

“With your cached food?” He hoped he didn’t sound as appalled as Glyssa might have been.

No, other caches. I think I remember them all.

Great.

Not only had Trago been thieving, but so had the fox. Jace and Glyssa had been accessories to Fam theft.

Jace bent and opened the first drawer, nothing. He pulled out the second.

I took some rags, Lepid confessed, sitting on the bed. The people took most of their good clothes.

All of the drawers were empty. Jace glanced at the pegs in the closet that held a couple of forlorn-looking pieces of clothing for someone smaller than himself.