“Yes.” Tolemek stared down at the empty vial, rotating it a few times between his fingers. “If he mentions Tanglewood or Camp Eveningson, get the details.”
He stood to leave, but Cas stopped him with a raised hand. “What’s Camp Eveningson?”
“The Cofah equivalent of Tanglewood. And the reason I can never go home again.” Tolemek took two steps, then paused with his hand on the door latch. “I’ll be listening.”
After he left, Cas faced the control panel again. Dampness slicked her palms. Why? This wasn’t her trial. Unless the captain figured out what she was up to and shot her. She grimaced. How had she gotten herself stuck in the middle of this? And what line of questions could she ask to get Slaughter to incriminate himself? Would the truth be enough by itself? If she could make Tolemek her ally, everything changed.
The guard returned, wordlessly taking up his spot beside the door. Maybe Tolemek’s plotting would be for naught. Maybe the captain hadn’t drunk his afternoon wine. Or maybe he had taken a nap afterward and didn’t care what was going on in navigation. Maybe—
The door opened.
The captain walked in, ambled to the open chair, and sat down, kicking his heels onto the control panel. Relaxed now, was he? “How’s our progress, pilot?”
“Six hours to the capital.”
“So we’ll arrive at night? Good, good.”
Cas chewed on her lip and thought about how to bring up Tolemek’s concerns. Did she need to wait first, to make sure the serum had taken effect? Did she need to ease into the questioning? He hadn’t, she recalled. He had bluntly asked about the colonel and she had burbled out... far more than she wanted them to know. Far more than she wanted anyone to know, damn them. She could kill the captain for the mere fact that he possessed her secrets.
The guard walked out. Odd. He hadn’t asked for permission. Even odder, the captain hadn’t seemed to notice. His hands were folded across his stomach, and he continued to gaze out the viewport, a contented expression on his face.
Time to start.
“So,” Cas said, “you want Zirkander, and Tolemek wants the sword. What happens if those two mission goals end up being mutually exclusive?” She looked at Slaughter, but only so she could see the door out of the corner of her eye. Tolemek had said he would be listening. But if he wasn’t in the room, how could he? Ah, the door was cracked open a hair.
“They won’t be,” Slaughter said.
Cas looked forward again, not wanting to risk drawing the captain’s attention toward the door. “But what if they are? What if Zirkander is the only one with information on the sword, and in killing him, Tolemek loses all chance of learning about it?”
The captain shook his head. “Not going to happen.”
“But if it did... you said you’d betrayed him before.” Cas held her breath. Was that enough of a leading line? Or would he be able to ignore it?
He gave her an annoyed look, though it lacked the fire of the expressions he had launched at her previously. “For his own good.”
“For his own good? Or for yours?” She was guessing, having no idea about their past.
“Both.”
“What happened? That time you betrayed him.”
“I recruited him, you know. Heard about his disgrace in the Cofah army—it wasn’t unlike my own—and offered him a position with the pirates. I was actually a first mate then, and my own position was tenuous, but I praised him to my captain, explained what skills he could bring to the ship. I’d known him when he was a student at the proving grounds, seen that infantry was a long way from his passion and that he had only gone into the military because of his father.” Slaughter looked at her, his eyes bleary as if he wasn’t sure who she was.
Cas gave him an encouraging grunt. This wasn’t what she had asked, but she remembered how the serum had made her ramble as well and how she had—unfortunately—gotten around to sharing what they wanted. Besides, she admitted a certain curiosity in regard to Tolemek’s past.
“He should have been a research scientist,” Slaughter said. “I had a hunch that if I could bring him on board, we could team up, work together, and take the ship from the captain. I’d lost everything when I was forced out of the army, the same as him. Even more so than him. He had been discharged, and I... well, that doesn’t matter now. My plan worked. With his potions, we were able to take down the captain without much of a fight, and we made the ship ours. Mine, I should say. He didn’t care about commanding anyone again. He just wanted to be left alone to do his research. Although he did have this odd notion of being accepted back by the Cofah. Or maybe by his father. You’ll have to get him to tell you that story. I don’t know it in full. I just know he became the emperor card I kept up my sleeve. He was dangerous, and I made sure everyone knew it. People left us alone that way.”
“You were always intent on helping him then?” Cas asked, though she hoped the answer was no. “You never truly betrayed him? Were you lying to me?”
“I was always helping him, yes.”
Disappointed, Cas fiddled with a control lever.
“Even when he didn’t think I was,” Slaughter added.
“Such as... at Camp Eveningson?” She didn’t know why she picked that name instead of Tanglewood. Maybe because it meant nothing to her and the details, one way or another, wouldn’t make her gut writhe.
“Yes. He had concocted this... weapon, I suppose you would call it.” Slaughter closed his eyes, his head back in the chair. “A weapon in a metal canister, a little rocket really. It was designed to shoot up into the air over a populated area and distribute some kind of gas that people would inhale and that would kill them. He said... and I still remember this vividly, because it was a real sign of how out of touch with reality people like him can be... he said, if there were an incredibly deadly weapon in the world, something capable of destroying millions of lives, less people would die.”
“How so?” Cas whispered, chilled but wanting—needing—to understand too.
“Because if something so horrible existed, there would be no need to use it. People would give up. You don’t fight something like that. He was going to give it to the Cofah, and then they could finally bring the Iskandians back under their sway. Forever.” Slaughter gave her a big, unfriendly smile.
Cas rubbed her face. This was the truth Tolemek had wanted her to hear?
“He was still a little irked with the Iskandians for destroying his career at the time. And he wanted his life back, access to his homeland, a hero’s return to his city. He thought he’d get that if he handed them the ultimate weapon. But I knew him. Better than he knew himself. He was just a kid then. Twenty-five, I think.”
Cas debated whether to point out that she was twenty-three. She decided to keep her mouth shut. He was rambling his way toward the end of the story, from the point of view Tolemek wanted.
“He was going to arrange some test for an administrator using—I don’t know. Monkeys, something like that. He’d never tried this toxin on humans, but he thought monkeys would be close enough. We happened to have two spies in the Roaming Curse. One Iskandian. One Cofah. We’re a big outfit. Spies are common. Sometimes we even know who they are and play them against each other.” He opened an eye and grinned at her.
He didn’t know she wanted to wrap her hands around his throat and direct him back to the point.
“I told our spies about Mek’s concoction. Or rather, I told other people about it where the spies could hear.”
“Had he sworn you to secrecy?”
“Oh, yes. But I was always going around, driving terror into people on his behalf, so they would leave him alone.”
“And leave you alone too?” Cas asked.
“Yes, there was some of that. I won’t lie. I’ve benefited tremendously from having the Deathmaker at my back. This is when he got that nickname, you know. Each of the spies stole canisters from him, and each of them went out to test it on the enemy nation. I couldn’t have designed things bet
ter myself if I’d been giving them orders. This way, both governments would know exactly how effective his concoction was. Dead monkeys wouldn’t drive fear into men’s hearts.”
“I don’t understand,” Cas said. “Why would you tell both sides? Didn’t you have any loyalties?”
“Not even remotely. That’s what a pirate is. Someone too jaded for loyalties, someone who isn’t going to let some government lead him around with a bit in his mouth. You’re only out for yourself out here, and the sooner you’re honest about that, the sooner you’ll make a life you like.” Slaughter shrugged. “Looking back, I wouldn’t have done it again. It was horrible. From hearing him talk about it, I didn’t truly grasp how awful of a weapon he’d created. I don’t think he did, either, honestly. We flew to your Tanglewood—when he learned that the spies had stolen his vials, he wanted to chase after them and retrieve them. We didn’t make it in time. We saw the aftermath. And that scared me pissless. I was sure when we got down there that we’d be affected by the toxin, too, and be dead before we got back to the ship. It had dissipated by that point though. Still, it was a long time before I went into his cabin—into that laboratory of his—after that.”
Cas wondered if this was the same version of the story that Tolemek had heard. Or had he only known about the spies and not how his captain had deliberately fed them information?
“Camp Eveningson was the same,” Slaughter said. “Disturbingly horrible. Mek disappeared for a while after that. I didn’t know if he would come back—or if he would do something drastic to himself. While he was gone, I made sure the governments knew who was responsible.”
“Er, why?”
“So they would know not to bother the Roaming Curse.”
“I don’t get it,” Cas said. “Weren’t you afraid they would hunt him down for his crimes?”
“I thought they’d be too afraid to bother him. And it was mostly true. There were some bounty hunters, but the big threats, men like your pa, were too smart to go after him. That’s what I heard anyway. That someone offered Ahnsung the job, and he refused. Might just be a rumor though. All I know was that after Mek came back, nobody bothered him. And after he got over his funk, he stuck with me. He didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
Cas considered him, wondering how long she had until the serum wore off. “Are you sure that wasn’t part of your plan all along? To make sure his invention didn’t turn him into some government’s hero, or savior, or dark little secret kept in the basement? To make sure both parties were too upset to consider working with him? So that he wouldn’t stray from your side? He’s your secret weapon, after all. You need him to ensure your continued power amongst a fleet of bloodthirsty men.”
Slaughter’s eyes were closed again. He yawned and said, “You talk too much, woman.”
Please, he had been the one babbling.
“But I’m not wrong, am I?” Cas glanced toward that cracked door. She had heard enough to form her own opinion on the matter, but she wanted the captain to make a beyond-question, self-condemning statement.
“He’s my secret weapon,” Slaughter agreed softly.
Cas wondered if that had been enough of a confession. Tolemek, if he was indeed standing out there, didn’t barge in. In fact, when the door opened a few minutes later, it was the guard who returned. Cas didn’t catch a glimpse of anyone else in the corridor. Had she accomplished anything at all with her probing?
“One last question,” she whispered, hoping the guard wouldn’t hear or wouldn’t think anything of it. “What are you planning to do to my city? Besides find Colonel Zirkander?”
Boots still up, Slaughter laced his hands behind his neck and smiled. “Invade it, of course. And destroy it. With Tolemek’s help.”
Cas stared at the control panel in horror. If she didn’t do something to stop them, there would be pirates assaulting the city by midnight. She had to crash the ship before it reached the harbor. No choice.
Chapter 12
The lights of the capital came into view on the dark horizon, the bright pinpoints close and dense in the miles around the harbor, then growing more sparse as they traveled into the hills beyond. Heavy clouds had gathered in the sky overhead, but the rain—or maybe it would be snow here in Iskandia—hadn’t started yet. Winds already batted at the dirigible, and Cas had to keep a hand on the controls to stay on course.
At the northern end of the harbor, atop Pinnacle Rock, the lighthouse sent its beam seaward. The craft had already passed the lookout towers miles out in the surf, where men were stationed to give advance warning if enemy steamers or airships appeared on the horizon. No alarms had gone up, not at the approach of an Iskandian freighter.
On the butte at the southern end of the harbor, gas lamps burned along the runway and all around the hangars of the airbase. For weeks, Cas had dreamed of seeing home again, but approaching it in a stolen vessel, with Captain Slaughter rubbing his hands and smiling as they grew nearer... that hadn’t been part of the dream.
Her stomach twisted with anxiety as she eyed the controls beneath her fingers, contemplating a crash for the five hundredth time. She hadn’t seen Tolemek since the captain relayed the story of their past. She had hoped he might do something and that she wouldn’t feel compelled to crash the dirigible, but he hadn’t sent so much as a note all afternoon. Of course, Slaughter hadn’t left the navigation area for more than a minute, either. He was watching her carefully, his gun in his lap. It had been there since the truth serum had worn off, a moment she had sensed by the hard, cold stare he turned upon her. As if she were the one to have fed him the stuff. Maybe he thought she had.
She tried not to watch that gun. She would die if she crashed the ship, anyway, she told herself. What did it matter if he was thinking of shooting her? That would simply ensure the vessel’s plummet into the ocean, unless these log-heads could dock a dirigible on their own. Granted, she hoped to survive a crash, inflicting most of the damage to the captain’s side of the ship. Surviving a bullet to the head was a trickier matter.
“Take us to Air Pier Two,” Slaughter said. “It looks quiet there.”
Though she had other things on her mind, it bothered Cas that he was familiar with the harbor.
She adjusted their course slightly. She had already lowered their altitude, and the roar of the waves was audible over the soft rumble of the propellers in the back. By design, their route would take them in past Pinnacle Rock and the lighthouse. It was visible to the left side of their viewing window. She didn’t angle them too close to it, not yet.
An irritating bleep sounded on a panel to Slaughter’s left. Technically, he was in the co-pilot’s seat, even if he had yet to touch a control.
He frowned at the noise. “What’s that?”
More bleeps followed the first.
“I’m not sure,” Cas said. “What’s that label say? Something to do with the hydrogen mix in the envelope, isn’t it?”
The hydrogen was fine—she was running a routine test of the alarm systems and hoping Slaughter wouldn’t recognize it as such. He was no stranger to airships, but maybe his unfamiliarity with an Iskandian model would confuse him. She only needed him distracted for a moment. As he frowned at the display, she nudged the control lever. Ever so slightly, the dirigible’s course shifted. More of the lighthouse—and the massive rock it was perched upon—came into view.
“The levels look fine,” the captain said.
“Can you stop that beeping?”
He pushed a couple of buttons. “I don’t know. Aren’t the controls over by you?”
“Not for the balloon gases. There’s just a display up here. I think you have to adjust things in engineering.” Cas urged him to go back there for a moment to do so, or at least to talk to the engineer.
Instead, Slaughter squinted suspiciously at her. He happened to glance through the viewport too. His eyes widened, and she sighed. They were lower than the lighthouse now, skimming along a couple dozen feet above the waves, but that rock
was visible, thanks to the city lights behind it, so he would see that more of it occupied their horizon now.
“You’re off course,” the captain said. “The pier is over there.”
Cas did her best to pretend she was trying to adjust the course without actually touching anything. “Strange. It’s not responding.”
The captain’s pistol came up to her head so fast she barely had time to lift her hands from the controls. The cold metal muzzle pressed against her temple.
“Adjust the course, girl.”
Hands hovering over the controls, her rapid heartbeat echoing in her ears, Cas tried to make what might very well be the last decision of her life. If she took them to the dock, there was still a chance she could escape somehow once they were in town, report to her superiors, and warn them of the impending pirate attack. But if she crashed and killed Slaughter, the leader of this whole invasion scheme, this attack might never happen.
Cas set her jaw and dropped her hands to the controls. She made an abrupt turn, and Pinnacle Rock filled the air ahead.
Slaughter’s finger flexed on the trigger. “Wrong choice.”
Something cracked, and Cas ducked, nearly pitching out of her seat. She caught herself on the control panel. She touched her temple, even though her mind had caught up with her reflexes, and she realized that crack hadn’t been a pistol being fired. Nor had she been hurt. Slaughter, on the other hand, was crumpled on the floor beside his chair, grabbing his head and writhing.
Tolemek stood behind him, wearing a heavy cloak and carrying his bag slung over one shoulder. He lowered a truncheon clutched in one hand; he held a syringe with a big needle attached in the other.
“Yes,” he told the man at his feet. “It was.”
When Slaughter tried to get to his knees, Tolemek dropped the truncheon, grabbed him, and jabbed the needle into his neck. He thumbed the plunger down, and the red-brown liquid—it reminded Cas of blood—was pumped into the captain’s vein.
Cas could only stare, relieved by his intervention but also horrified by his method. “Will that kill him?” she asked.