everybody.”
“Everybody on our team anyway. They wouldn’t bother the Forge people. I doubt they’re doing anything that’s technically illegal at that meeting. In the law’s eyes, those people are stalwart citizens, while we’re… ”
“Outlaws and steamboat pirates?” Sespian suggested.
“So it seems.”
“A plan, Lokdon,” Sicarius said, in a tone that implied that if she didn’t come up with one, he would. “We did not have time to hide our tracks well. They will find us.”
Though the closest pair of enforcers had disappeared from sight, snapping foliage promised many more remained in the area.
“I know where Pabov keeps the keys to the vehicle,” Amaranthe said. “If you can provide a diversion that lures the enforcers away from the warehouse… ”
“Very well.” Sicarius parted the leaves.
“No killing,” Sespian said.
“And no lighting the entire town on fire,” Amaranthe said, remembering the incendiary nature of some of Sicarius’s past diversions.
He paused, eyeing each of them in turn, and she could only guess at his thoughts. Maybe that his job would be twice as difficult now that he’d be nagged on two fronts.
“Not even the pickle establishment?” Sicarius asked.
Amaranthe blinked and almost asked him if that had been meant as “levity.” Sespian must not have seen it that way, for he scowled.
“While the shopkeeper’s manner was almost deplorable enough to warrant such misfortune,” Amaranthe said, “I think she’s suffered enough, due to the decimation of her shelf system and inventory.”
“I will seek alternatives,” Sicarius said, then, after checking for enforcers, slipped out of the brambles.
Amaranthe planned to follow promptly, but a belligerent voice bellowed from the nearby shoreline.
“I don’t care, just find him!”
Branches broke and leaves shook as enforcers pounded through the woods to try and obey the order. Amaranthe sank lower into the thicket. Two new men ran past, this time heading in the opposite direction.
“I wonder if that ‘him’ refers to me or the assassin,” Sespian murmured.
“It’s usually Sicarius. The whole world wants him dead.”
“Understandable,” Sespian said, then, as if anticipating a frown-or a lecture-from her, lifted an apologetic hand. “If it matters, I have a similar problem.”
“You two share something in common then. Perhaps you should chat about it sometime.”
Sespian snorted. At least she’d gotten the apologetic wave.
When the uproar died down, Amaranthe whispered, “Let’s go.”
They eased out of the brambles. She led the way before she realized she was leading the way. Was it presumptuous to take charge when one had an emperor in one’s party? Sespian said nothing, though, merely following in her wake as she eased past trees, around boulders, and between bushes. They had to stop several times to avoid searching enforcers, and Amaranthe worried Sicarius would put his diversion into action before she and Sespian reached the warehouse.
Seconds after she had the thought, a boom echoed across the lake. A flurry of wing flaps came from a bush next to Amaranthe, and a flock of birds took to the sky.
“What was that?” Sespian asked.
“Our diversion, Sire.” Amaranthe tugged on his sleeve. “We need to hurry.”
Two more booms and a crash sounded before Amaranthe and Sespian reached the warehouse. They stopped behind trees at the edge of the clearing. The air stank of scorched metal and burning wood. She had a feeling the enforcers would be walking back home. The wagon that had been parked in front of the warehouse was gone, and Amaranthe didn’t see anyone, not outside anyway. Good.
“Do you want to wait here while I run in and get the keys?” Amaranthe whispered.
“That seems… cowardly,” Sespian said.
“Not if I get captured and you charge in and rescue me.”
Sespian considered her for a moment. “Do you truly deem that a possibility, or are you trying to protect me by keeping me out of trouble?”
“Yes,” Amaranthe said with a smile.
She made a gesture for Sespian to remain behind the trees and jogged toward the warehouse. She doubted anyone would see her approaching through the dirt-crusted windows, but she stayed low anyway, hugging the building’s shadow.
When she reached the front entrance, before her fingers could brush the latch, the door opened. An enforcer on his way out almost tripped over her. A crossbow dangled by his side, but he paused to look at her face, probably not expecting an outlaw to be wearing a hat birthed in the pastel section of a yarn basket. Amaranthe, on the other hand, did not hesitate.
She launched the heel of her palm toward the man’s nose. He reacted, pulling his head back, but not quickly enough. Her strike caught him under the chin, which proved equally effective. As he stumbled back, Amaranthe kneed him in the groin and tore the crossbow from his startled grip. She shoved him into the building, using his body as a shield in case more armed men waited within.
Only one other person stood inside though. Pabov. He’d yanked a knife out as soon as the enforcer stumbled backward. Amaranthe pointed the crossbow in his direction to discourage him from using it. She pushed the enforcer, who’d bent over, one hand to his groin, toward Pabov, so she could target either man.
Pabov opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He gaped past Amaranthe’s shoulder. Hoping it was Sespian and not a squad of enforcers, she stepped aside so she could check without turning away from the men.
Sespian stood on the threshold. He gave her… hm, she hoped that was an appreciative smile, not an adoring one, and said, “Nicely done. You’re a very capable woman, Am-, Ms. Lokdon.”
Amaranthe couldn’t manage a return smile for him. All she’d done was kick a man in the groin whereas Sicarius was out there dodging enforcers and risking his life blowing up boilers to buy them their requested manslaughter-free diversion.
“Is that…?” the enforcer wondered, lifting the hand that had been gripping his groin toward his chest, as if to give a salute. Confusion crinkled his features, and he turned Pabov.
“I think so.” Pabov had been studying Sespian for several seconds, and he gave a firm nod, then thumped his fist to his chest and bowed. “Sire, we are honored by your presence.”
Only Amaranthe was close enough to hear the relieved sigh that Sespian exuded.
“How may we help you?” Pabov asked.
“I understand you have a unique vehicle that we may be able to borrow,” Sespian said.
Chapter 21
Guided by Sicarius’s hands, the UWMTV crunched over the bumpy rocks and swaying seaweed of the lake bottom, scaring up schools of fish that flitted away posthaste. Amaranthe sat next to Sicarius in the only other seat, peering into the gloom beyond the glass shield bulging from the front of the globe-shaped vehicle. During the slow, underwater trek from Markworth back to Marblecrest island, she hadn’t spotted anything stranger than an eel with two tails, but they’d picked up the rest of the team and were heading for the boundaries of Forge’s “mining rights” territory now. Who knew what they might see? She hoped they had the time they needed to explore. Pabov had sworn not to mention the team’s visit to the enforcers when they returned, but the promise of the man Amaranthe had bruised had been less heartfelt.
A soft clunk came from behind her chair.
“This is intolerable,” Books said. “Someone’s ludicrous pink hat feather keeps jabbing me in the nose.”
“This isn’t a pleasant experience for me either,” Maldynado said. “When was the last time you washed that armpit you have thrust in my face?”
“My armpit wouldn’t be so close if you weren’t taking up so much room. Did you have to eat three servings of
