Beneath the Surface

CHAPTER 5

Before Evrial hit the bottom, the blackness swallowing her was complete-as was the icy chill paralyzing her limbs. She was vaguely aware of a current passing over her, but she might as well have been encased in a glacier for all that she could move or escape. Her lungs ached for air, but she couldn’t push off the bottom, couldn’t do anything. If she died down there, nobody would ever find her body. Her family would have no idea what had happened to her.

Something prodded her. What new insult? A giant river fish to eat her alive?

No, that was a hand groping about. Hope sprang into her mind. Maldynado?

The hand caught her beneath the armpit. In a burst, Evrial found herself rising to the surface, water rippling past her body. Her head broke the surface, and her lungs still worked enough to suck in a great gasp.

Water streamed into her eyes. Lights burned in the distance, but she couldn’t tell if they were on shore or belonged to the steamboat. Was that it pulling away? She tried to raise a hand to wipe the water away, but her limbs wouldn’t respond.

“ Just relax,” came Maldynado’s voice near her ear, the words barely recognizable over his chattering teeth. “I’ve got you,” he said, then added, “Blast, it’s cold enough to freeze a man’s love apples right off.”

All she could concentrate on was breathing as he swam, not toward the lights-they were pulling away too quickly-but toward the dark shoreline. Trees loomed along the banks, thick evergreen branches outlined with snow. Of course they’d picked this fight out in the middle of nowhere without a town in sight. There would be no hotels or even farmsteads where they could recover. Tremors coursed through Evrial’s body. If the poison on that dart didn’t kill her, the cold might.

No, she told herself, don’t think like that. She wasn’t going to die on some wild forsaken shore.

“ Lo-oo-ve ap-ples?” she stuttered, trying to distract herself.

“ Sure. They’re terribly important. A man’s most prized possessions, you know.”

Water continued to stream past as they drew nearer to those towering trees. Finally Maldynado shifted position-his feet must have found the bottom. He released her armpit, and terror flowed into Evrial, a fear that she’d slip away and float-or sink-into the darkness again. But Maldynado was only changing his grip. One arm slipped beneath her shoulders and the other beneath her knees. He lifted her from the water and carried her to the bank.

The snow made the night seem brighter than usual, but Evrial still couldn’t make out Maldynado’s face, just his dark form above her. It shouldn’t matter, but she wished she could see his face. Somehow it felt important. He’d just saved her life.

“ It’s darned inconvenient that we lost Akstyr,” Maldynado said, teeth chattering as he climbed away from the water. “He does know how to make fire with his mind. I can’t say that I thought to bring matches to a dinner show. Not that they would have survived a dip in the river anyway.” He paused to look around. “No chance of catching the steamboat, I don’t think. They’ve already disappeared around that bend up there. Though sprinting to catch up might keep us warm.” He gazed down at her. “But you don’t look like you’re up to that.”

“ Bastards shot me,” Evrial said, though it came out muffled, and she didn’t know if he could understand.

“ With one of those crossbows? The poisoned ones?”

Evrial nodded.

Maldynado growled and looked around again. “If those shrubs come ashore on this side of the river, I’m going to pound them into the ground like a jackhammer.”

He laid her down, and a grunt of protest escaped Evrial’s lips. Being pressed against his chest had been the closest thing to warmth out there. At least she found-by inadvertently dropping her hand onto the cold snow-that she could move her arms now.

“ I’ll be back in a minute,” Maldynado said. “I’m going to try and find a cave or nook or something where we can huddle until you get the feeling back in your limbs. You should probably, uhm, take your clothes off.”

Having been born in the country, and seen any number of people caught out in the area’s harsh winter elements, Evrial knew the dangers of hypothermia well enough and was already trying to pry open her trouser button, but she did manage a moment of wry amusement over the way he fumbled the statement. Funny to think that a man who had doubtlessly told dozens-maybe hundreds-of women to disrobe would find it awkward to do so now.

“ I don’t think it’s much below freezing,” Maldynado said, “and the snow will be insulating, but that water was cold enough to shrivel up, well, you know.”

“ Love apples?”

“ Precisely so.” Maldynado jogged into the forest. “Be right back!”

It took Evrial five or six hours-or so it seemed-to remove her soggy boots, socks, and trousers. The shirt and jacket came last. Shivers wracked her body, but she knew that was better than if she stopped shivering. She would have liked to leap to her feet and run to warm herself, and maybe catch that steamboat, but her limbs were still heavy and slow to respond. Fortunately, the trees sheltered her from some of the frosty northern wind that had been gusting downriver, battering the boat with horizontal flakes.

The snow crusting her bare, numb backside convinced her to see if she could stand. Even using a tree for support, her leaden legs barely held her weight. After a moment of standing on the snow, she chanced sticking her bare feet back into her boots. She draped her clothing on branches to dry, though more likely they’d freeze into stiff sheets of ice. With luck, morning would bring thawing temperatures. She just had to survive the night.

“ Now there’s a unique fashion style.” Maldynado jogged out of the forest and waved toward her boots, or perhaps he was noting the lack of anything except boots.

“ Fashion,” Evrial said, irritated by her chattering teeth, “has never been a pri-priority for me.” She tried a haughty sniff, but her nose was running, and it sounded more like she was trying to tame wild phlegm. “If you don’t like my outfit-”

“ Oh, no. I approve.” Though the darkness hid his face, he winked. She was sure of it. “Come, my lady.” Maldynado extended an arm. “Time to get cozy for a spell.”

“ I suppose there’ll b-be touching.” Evrial couldn’t manage her usual grumble for that word, not with frostbite threatening. She stumbled into Maldynado’s proffered arm and was fortunate that he caught her. She wanted to protest when he swept her off her feet and against his chest again, but it seemed like too much work. Besides, her trembling body betrayed her by snuggling closer.

“ Only in a medically approved manner,” Maldynado said solemnly. “Unless you decide you require vigorous exercise to warm your blood.”

“ What I require is a big furry blanket.”

“ If you wanted furry, you should have been stranded with Books.”

“ What’s that supposed to mean?”

“ Just that I’m perplexed as to why he’s always accusing me of being the one with simian ancestry.” Maldynado stopped before a sheltered nook between two huge gnarled roots protruding from the base of an ancient cedar. He set her down and waved to a pile of boughs stacked in the hollow. “These will be almost as nice as blankets. Cozy branches with the snow shaken free.”

“ Cozy, huh?” Evrial wrapped her arms around her torso and squatted, gingerly resting her rump on the pile. Meanwhile Maldynado shucked his wet clothing. There wasn’t much to see in the dark, and she found herself regretting that, though she made a show of settling herself in on the branches. She certainly didn’t want him to think she was watching.

“ Comfortable?” Maldynado tugged his boots off.

“ The water dripping from my hair down my back is like icicles licking my skin, my shoulder feels like feral cats are biting their way out from the inside, and there are frozen pine needles stabbing my nether regions.” And she wished he’d hurry up and join her. If she got any colder, she’d turn into an icicle herself.

“ So, that’s a no?”

Evrial snorted.

“ Just checking. You’re tough; you might appreciate those sorts of hardships.”

Maldynado slid into the nook, distracting Evrial from whatever retort she might have come up with. He lifted an arm, hesitated, started to put it around her, then ended up propping his hand on the ground behind her. His arm barely touched her back.

“ What’s that supposed to do to keep us warm?” Evrial asked.

Too cold to worry about modesty, she flung her legs over his, crawled into his lap, wrapped her arms around his torso, and buried her face in his shoulder. She hoped he’d get the idea and return the embrace, because the shivers coursing through her were threatening to shake her teeth out of her jaw.

Maldynado hesitated again, but finally encircled her with his arms. “Sorry, I’m damp.”

“ Isn’t the woman supposed to say that?” Evrial asked before she could think better of uttering the silly line.

Several heartbeats thumped past-she and Maldynado were pressed close enough that she could feel them-before he said, “Uhhh. Normally I’d say yes, and that there shouldn’t be an apology with the statement, but… was that a joke?”

“ Maybe.”

“ I haven’t heard you make one before. You’re almost as humorle-, er, taciturn as Sicarius.”

Evrial didn’t have a response for that. Being compared to a cold-hearted assassin stung, but could she blame him? She knew it was partially true, that she was on the blunt side, but…

Evrial thought of Amaranthe’s suggestion that she lower her defenses, and that maybe Maldynado would lower his in turn. “Sorry,” she said. “I’m not always so… grouchy. It’s just that when I first met you people, you were clearly The Enemy.”

“ Me?” Maldynado sounded so innocent she almost laughed.

“ I thought I was done with you all until, months later, Lokdon showed up on my family’s doorstep with her assassin. That got me in trouble with my family, and my brother reported the visit to my commander, so I’m not sure if I’ll have a job when I get back. For all I know, there’ll be a wanted poster hanging in headquarters, right alongside of Sicarius’s. I went down to Forkingrust against my better judgment, largely because I felt compelled to help the emperor, though I clearly saw Lokdon manipulating me into that situation. Part of it, too, was that I guess I hoped that by helping him, I’d end up with another recommendation or commendation that would erase suspicion back home. But as it turns out, he’s not the emperor, and now I’m running around with outlaws with no hope of having those suspicions cleared, and I fear I’ll dig myself into deeper trouble by being with you. I don’t particularly want to see this Ravido of yours on the throne, but I’m not convinced we have any right to pick who does take the throne.” Evrial sank deeper against Maldynado’s chest, worn down by the long ramble. She hadn’t meant to say-to reveal — so much. Especially not to someone who was as likely to make a joke out of it all as anything.

“ All right,” Maldynado said, “I can see some reasons for grumpiness in there, but… are you not having any fun at all? That train fight was exhilarating. Especially the part where we survived it.”

Evrial may have cringed at the idea of a joke, but somehow his actual words lightened her heart, and, her face once again buried in his shoulder, she laughed. Curse Amaranthe, maybe she’d been right about that as well. Maybe she did need more humor in her life.

“ I won’t try to tell you what to do,” Maldynado said, “but I’d be terribly put out if you wandered off and left us, leaving me with only Books to trade barbs with. He’s been too busy for it of late anyway, what with his political scheming. Oh, you should ask him about it, if you can stand a lecture. That might help you make up your mind about whether you want to back our efforts or not. Knowing Books, he wants to do something noble, democratic, and tormented-dead-ancestors boring.”

Evrial lifted her face from Maldynado’s shoulder. That actually… wasn’t a bad idea. If she knew what Amaranthe and the others wanted to replace Ravido with, she might know if this should be her fight or not.

Though night hadn’t relinquished its grasp, her eyes had long since adjusted to the dim lighting, and she could tell Maldynado was watching her. However offhandedly he’d said it, that he didn’t want her to leave… it meant something. She didn’t know exactly what yet, nor did she want to examine the feeling too closely, but she lifted her hand to his hair, letting her fingers trace the contours of his muscular back on the way. She probably should have chosen a moment when his wavy brown locks weren’t crunchy with ice to touch them, but one had to act when inspired. And, though she’d never admit it to him, sitting on the lap of someone who, despite his comrades’ teasing to the contrary, did have a physique that would be very flattering if immortalized in statue forum, was quite… inspiring.

“ You’re wiser than you let on, Maldynado,” Evrial said.

“ Mmhmm, remember those kind thoughts when you’re sitting through hour three of Books’s explanation.” Though he said the words casually, his body had grown very still; he scarcely seemed to be breathing. Surely Lord Cocky and Confident wasn’t having doubts about what to do next? “How’s your shoulder?” he asked.

“ It wasn’t that big of a quarrel, and I pulled it out right away.”

“ Does that mean the feral cats have quieted down, or you’re just too tough to be bothered by them?”

It meant she wanted him to stop talking and kiss her. She couldn’t quite bring herself to blurt that out though. Even though she was ninety-nine percent certain he wouldn’t reject her, she still feared he’d lose interest after he achieved that goal he’d been pursuing. That would hurt. A lot. But he’d saved her life tonight. She owed him something for that.

Oh, please, Evi, she thought. He was gorgeous, adorable, and who wouldn’t be curious to know if all that supposed experience of his equated to masterful bed play? Besides, those frozen pine needles had been the most interesting things to poke her nether regions in she didn’t know how long.

“ My shoulder is better,” Evrial said. “How are… your love apples?”

The strangled noise that came from Maldynado’s throat might have been a laugh or an exclamation of surprise. Both, perhaps. “They’re better now too. They’ve been nice and warm since you climbed into my lap.”

“ It’s good to know that they’ve recovered.” Evrial trailed her fingers from his hair to his shoulder, tracing the rounded swell of his muscles, and breathing in the mingling scents of cedar boughs and his warm, clean skin. She watched him watching her, expecting him to kiss her at any moment, but he hadn’t moved yet. He was still holding utterly still. Almost as if he’d developed a shy streak. No, he was probably afraid she’d snap at him if he touched her. If so, she had only herself to blame for that.

“ Maldynado?” she asked.

“ Yes?”

Evrial smiled at the hint of squeakiness in his voice. She didn’t imagine that he usually hesitated with women, and thought maybe, just maybe, he cared more about the outcome here. “I’m trying to seduce you,” she said.

“ Oh, good. That’s what I thought, but I was afraid you’d give me a huffy, ‘no touching,’ order if my fingers went exploring.”

“ Tempting, but I think it’d be more fun if we both engaged in touching. Just this-”

The last word disappeared beneath a pair of warm, eager lips. With her permission given, his hands found all sorts of places to touch, the sword calluses on his palms stirring delicious sensations as they slid over her flesh. Any thoughts of associating him with the word shy disappeared. Instead, the image a long-restrained panther came to mind, the powerful predator suddenly unleashed and leaping for its prey. After that, she was too distracted to manage coherent thoughts.

? Amaranthe was not, she told herself, hiding from Sicarius and his proclivity for filling downtime with training. She was simply checking in on Books. And waiting impatiently for Maldynado and the others to return with information.

“ Stop,” Books said without looking up from the stack of papers on the desk in front of him. Three pens and an old-fashioned quill and inkwell surrounded his work, dribbling stains onto the pages.

Amaranthe realized she’d been tidying the papers on the bunk and clasped her hands behind her back. “Sorry.”

“ I’m still brainstorming. I’m not ready to organize.”

“ Where do you sleep?”

The papers were sprawled across both bunks, not to mention much of the floor.

“ Right here,” Books said.

“ Where does Maldynado sleep?”

“ I don’t know.”

Amaranthe watched Books’s pen fly. They’d been on board a few nights now. Was he truly that oblivious? “When are you going to share the highlights of this masterpiece with the rest of us?”

“ Soon. I’m sure you’ll want to contribute and suggest amendments.”

“ Me? I lack experience and education in the area of politics.” She’d planned to suggest Sespian sit in on the meeting and offer most of the ideas. He might be young, but he would have studied civil history and political science from birth.

“ It’s not that much different from business,” Books said, “just less efficient. Besides, you’re the one spearheading the revolt. You’ll want to be firmly behind the new ideas we propose.”

Amaranthe let her hands droop to her sides. Spearheading the revolt? Her? She was simply trying to stop Forge and Ravido. They were the ones revolting, not her.

A soft knock sounded. Amaranthe feared Sicarius had come to collect her for another round of training, but he didn’t usually bother knocking. Or being constrained by door locks.

“ Come in,” Books said without lifting his head.

Amaranthe strode to the door, a hand on her knife. Though security hadn’t run a full-boat search yet, she didn’t know if that would last.

The door eased open. Basilard slipped inside with Akstyr trailing after him.

“ It’s not my fault,” Akstyr whispered with emphasis that made Amaranthe suspect he was repeating the statement.

She shut the door behind them. “What’s the problem?”

“ Watch where you step,” Books warned, his head still bent over his work.

Basilard picked his way between pages without touching anything and stopped in a foot-wide bare spot in the corner.

“ There’s junk all over the floor,” Akstyr said. “Where am I supposed to stand?”

“ It is not junk.” This new threat finally bestirred Books to rise. He stomped about gathering the pages, placing them in a particular order as he stacked them. He halted before Akstyr and pointed at the floor. “I’ll thank you to remove your grimy boot from the corner of that page.”

Akstyr lifted his leg and held it there, knee bent, the sneer on his lips suggesting he’d like to plant his “grimy boot” between Books’s hind cheeks. He noticed Amaranthe watching him, though, and lowered his leg. “Maldynado and Yara are missing.”

“ What happened?” Amaranthe asked.

“ We got separated. I sensed a Made artifact-lots of them-and went to try and find the source. I thought the others were right behind me.” Akstyr paused to glower at Basilard.

Basilard lifted his hands and signed, When I spotted Maldynado fighting the enforcers, he was alone.

“ Fighting the enforcers?” Amaranthe asked. “Start at the beginning.”

“ I don’t know how they got to that point. Sure there were some undercover enforcers about, but I avoided them just fine.” Akstyr tapped his chest. “I don’t know why they didn’t stay with me. Anyway, I went behind the stage at the circus performance and into the crew area. I went all over that first deck, like a hound sniffing after a ’coon, but I couldn’t get close enough to the source. There were always bulkheads and locked doors in the way. I thought the artifacts might be upstairs, but Basilard found me and made me come with him before I got to finish looking.”

“ You can search more tonight when most of the boat is asleep,” Amaranthe said. “Right now, I’d like the details on Maldynado and Yara, please. You said they were fighting enforcers. Where are they now?” She wondered if she’d need to plan a brig breakout.

Akstyr and Basilard exchanged looks, and Amaranthe knew she wouldn’t like the answer.

“ You saw it,” Akstyr muttered. “You tell her.”

I only saw Maldynado, Basilard signed. I heard fighting sounds, but I was coming down the steps at the far end of the deck, and it took me a moment to reach him. He was finishing up a couple of enforcers, but some had miniature crossbows and were trying to shoot him. His back was toward me, and I don’t think he noticed me running toward them. He threw himself over the railing.

“ He what?” Books asked.

“ You didn’t see Yara?” Amaranthe asked.

It was hard for me to stop to look, because when the enforcers saw me running up, they turned their attention toward me. I had to sprint back the way I’d come and lose them on the second deck. But I glimpsed Maldynado swimming down the river, and I thought I heard him call out her name.

Amaranthe rubbed her forehead. How had such a simple task turned into such a mess? She found herself staring at Akstyr.

“ It’s not my fault,” he repeated, balling his fists and stuffing them into his pockets. “It’s not. I’m sorry though. I didn’t mean for them to get caught. I was just concentrating on what I sensed.”

An apology was an improvement from him, but it didn’t get her team back together. Should they all gather their gear and find a lifeboat to steer to the shore? To see if they could meet up with the others? If Yara was hurt, Maldynado wasn’t the most knowledgeable person when it came to medical skills. And they wouldn’t have any food or gear.

“ Did you see which side of the river they headed to?” Amaranthe asked Basilard.

He shook his head. By the time I eluded the enforcers and had a chance to look back over the railing, we’d gone around a bend. I never spotted them again.

So, even if the team went after Maldynado and Yara, finding them would be a matter of luck. The steamboat was due to reach a town in the morning, docking there for a few hours. Maybe those two could catch up on their own. Besides, there was the matter of these artifacts Akstyr had sensed. Were they what the circus troupe had purchased? And had the Forge women been the ones to provide the funds and instruct them to do so? What if they were tools or weapons meant to aid Ravido?

“ Why are all these enforcers on board?” Books asked.

Amaranthe had thought he’d already have his face buried in his self-appointed work again, but he was listening, and he raised his brows when she met his gaze. “Good question,” she said. “The steamboat has its own security team.”

Basilard shrugged.

“ Because they’re always around to harass us,” Akstyr said. “We’re their special hobby.”

“ No, if they’d boarded because they suspected we were here,” Amaranthe said, “they would have searched the vessel the first day.”

“ We could be experiencing heightened security due to the potential for trouble in the capital,” Books said. “We saw that in Sunders City.”

“ Even allowing for that,” Amaranthe said, “wouldn’t the military have been tasked with accompanying a steamboat upriver? We’re passing in and out of several enforcer districts, and patrollers aren’t usually assigned work that involves encroaching on other districts’ territories.”

Basilard signed, Some sort of investigation?

Akstyr snapped his fingers. “Maybe they know about the artifacts.”

Amaranthe doubted enforcers would recognize magic if they saw it performed before their eyes, but perhaps someone had reported suspicious activity from the circus troupe, and a team had been assigned to trail them. “We better figure out exactly what these entertainers are hiding then. I’ll find Sicarius and Sespian, and we can split up and search. All of us.” If they could find what they sought that night, maybe they could steal the items, sneak ashore at the next port, and wait for Maldynado and Yara there. She didn’t like the idea of delaying the team’s return to Stumps-Forge and Ravido already had far too much of a lead in enacting their plans-but it couldn’t be helped. “Basilard, you were keeping an eye on those Forge women, right? Did you find any more of them?” As much as she preferred gentler means of dealing with people, maybe she should grab Sicarius and go to interview those ladies.

No, Basilard signed. And they’ve left their cabins.

“ Left? As in they’ve moved to other quarters or they snatched a lifeboat and floated away?”

Basilard shrugged. All I know is that the rooms were empty of people and belongings. I was checking around the ship, looking for familiar faces, when I ran into Maldynado’s fight.

“ All right,” Amaranthe said. “I might send you and Books to keep looking for them while Sicarius, Sespian, Akstyr, and I search for these artifacts.”

Books lifted a protesting hand. She scowled at him. He wasn’t going to object to helping with the search, was he? His new government-design avocation was fine when they had nothing else to do, but they needed everyone tonight.

“ What about Maldynado?” Books asked.

“ I guess you won’t have to worry about where he’s sleeping tonight.” The words came out snippier than Amaranthe intended, but she’d heard from Maldynado about how Books had accused him of colluding with his family and being untrustworthy. Even if Maldynado’s actions had been a tad suspicious at times-she’d been a little concerned herself for a while-he’d proven himself a dependable ally again and again and hadn’t deserved ongoing mistrust from the team. He’d even saved Books and Akstyr’s lives in some Forge trap.

“ They won’t have any money or supplies,” Books said, “and unless there are female trees in the forest, Maldynado won’t be able to charm those things out of the boughs.”

“ You’re actually worried about Maldynado?” Akstyr asked. “I thought you didn’t like him.”

Books blinked. “I don’t… dislike him. He’s just immature and grating.”

One wonders what colorful adjectives you have for people you do dislike, Basilard signed.

“ We’ll reconnect with them as soon as we can.” Amaranthe waved for Basilard and Akstyr to head outside. Before heading out herself, she told Books, “You should let Maldynado know about your… lack of dislike. You’ve been crusty with him of late, and I know it’s stung him.”

“ I’ve been crusty with everyone. I’m busy.” Books waved at the paper stacks.

Amaranthe raised her eyebrows, letting him know she didn’t accept the excuse.

Books’s arms drooped. “I need this, Amaranthe. I’m a washed up professor who can’t look at a bottle of wine without craving it. Even when I was working, I wasn’t… respected by my peers. Few of my papers passed review and made it into the archives. This…” He pointed at his documents again. “This is my chance to do something that matters. To contribute to the world. To…”

“ Earn a spot in the history books?” Amaranthe asked.

He hesitated, then nodded warily. As if he feared she’d think him foolish. How could she when she had similar delusions?

“ To shape humanity’s future,” Books said.

“ I understand, trust me, and it’s a noble pursuit. But I don’t believe you can improve humanity’s future by being so obsessed with your work that you ignore the human beings around you. You might want to make your peace with Maldynado before we enter Stumps. Given the odds we’ll be facing… I think it’s a good idea not to leave words left unsaid, things you might regret later.”

Books lifted a hand in defeat. “I heed your point. We will be going back for them, though, won’t we?”

“ We’ll see what tonight’s search reveals. The best we may be able to do is wait for them to catch up on their own.”