In the Shadow of Lightning

59

Thessa would have thought she’d grown beyond shock. So much had happened in the last few weeks – the attack on the glassworks, the rescue from the labor camp, Kastora’s death, Axio’s murder, the riot. Even growing intertwined with a guild-family patriarch she hardly knew. It was a lifetime of adventure, one that should have inoculated her against wild reversals of fortune.

And yet it didn’t.

She sat next to the fire in the lighthouse, listening to the now-steady rumble of thunder all around them. Her hands were bound behind her back, and Captain Hellonian of Kerite’s Drakes stood just above her, warming his hands by the flames. He wore a pleasant smile, chatting amiably to the two other dragoons with them, barely noticing the prisoners at their feet. Pari and Tirana sat similarly bound against the far wall. Tirana’s head bled steadily from a wound taken in the scuffle at the barricade, but she glared up at Hellonian with a righteous fury that Thessa tried to draw strength from.

“How did you turn our enforcers?” she demanded. “How did you turn so many? Was it money? Blackmail? Talk, damn it!”

She’d been asking the same questions for the last few hours. No one answered. No one even acknowledged that she was making noise. Thessa stared at her knees, grappling with her own fury. Of the original thirty-six enforcers that had accompanied them, twelve had turned at Breenen’s signal. The surprise of their betrayal was more than enough for the brief battle they waged. At least twenty bodies from both sides littered the barricades outside, left where they lay. The rest of the loyal enforcers, most of them badly wounded, sat under guard just outside the lighthouse.

But Thessa’s fury wasn’t for Tirana’s dead friends. It was for her phoenix channel. It sat dormant just a few feet from her, still connected to the copper cables. Thunder seemed to pass on either side of them but there still hadn’t been a single lightning strike. Did it matter at this point? The phoenix channel was no longer hers. It belonged to these dragoons and their mercenary master.

And to him. Thessa felt her eyes narrow as Breenen entered the lighthouse. Let Tirana rail at the soldier. Thessa wanted to shove Breenen off the side of the Forge and laugh while he fell. The old concierge paused just inside, glancing at them briefly, before moving over beside Captain Hellonian.

“And you!” Tirana barked, turning her attention to Breenen. “How could you do this? You’ve betrayed your employees, your master, your friends. These people depended on you!”

While the tirade seemed to slide off Hellonian like rain off a turtle’s shell, Breenen flinched. “I warned you, Tirana. If you want to get out of this alive, you’ll shut your mouth.”

“You think I care about that? You think I trust anything you say? You’re a traitor and a…” One of the dragoons suddenly broke away from the fire and crossed the room, kicking Tirana hard in the stomach. She doubled over, gasping.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Breenen snapped at the dragoon.

“You didn’t do it,” the dragoon said casually.

“Keep your soldiers in line,” Breenen demanded of Captain Hellonian.

The captain just shrugged. “The sound was getting annoying.”

“Then let’s get out of this place,” Breenen said. “We have the phoenix channel, we have the siliceer. Let’s take them both. Leave the rest for Demir to find.”

“How will he find anything when he’s dead?” Hellonian scowled around the room, then searched his pockets. He drew out a pre-rolled cigarette and stuck it in the coals around the base of the fire before puffing it to life. “General Kerite engages him as we speak. She’ll turn his army to mincemeat. She can decide what to do with the rest of these tonight.” He gestured lazily at Pari and Tirana.

“I have a deal with your masters,” Breenen growled. “I hand the phoenix channel over to the Glass Knife, and in return the Grappo remain unmolested. Kerite is bound by the terms of the deal just like the rest of your damned organization.”

Hellonian raised his hands in a calming gesture. “I’m not privy to the details. If Kerite has promised to spare Demir, then she’ll spare him. I’ve already sent a messenger to tell her we’ve captured the mechanism.”

Thessa swallowed hard. What did a mercenary general want with her? Or the phoenix channel? And who was the Glass Knife they spoke of? “Shouldn’t you be out there helping her win the battle?” she asked.

Hellonian glanced down at her, flashing her what in other circumstances might have been a charming smile. “We were set aside specifically for this purpose,” he said. “The Purnian Dragon plans everything out perfectly. If she says she doesn’t need an extra hundred dragoons to win the battle, then she doesn’t.”

“And you think she can beat Demir?”

Hellonian rolled his eyes. “Of course she can. She’s faced greater odds against greater foes and always comes out on top. You, my silic friend, will have the pleasure of meeting her before the night is out.”

“Why?” Thessa demanded. “Why does she care about any of this?”

“Even Kerite reports to a greater master, and that master has not given me the specifics,” Hellonian replied. “I just follow my lady’s orders.” He turned his gaze back to Breenen. “The Glass Knife would like to know whether the phoenix channel actually works before we proceed. So we stay here until Kerite arrives, or until we conduct a test. Nothing else is needed, correct? We just wait for a lightning strike?” The question was directed at Thessa. She turned her face away from him. Why give him the satisfaction of cooperation? Why say anything at all? She wondered how long she could keep any amount of stubbornness. How long until she was just too tired of all this maneuvering and backstabbing?

As she looked across the room, her eyes fell on the phoenix channel. It was secured by nothing more than the copper cables – lightning rod and grounding cable. How hard would it be to unhook it, drag it outside, and throw it off the Forge? The thought began to percolate, and she turned back to Hellonian. “Give me a cigarette,” she said.

He raised his eyebrows. “Is that the price of a little courteousness?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Then I gladly pay it.” He drew another cigarette from his pocket, lighting it on the first and then putting it between her lips.

Thessa drew in, tasting the tar on her tongue. She exhaled through her nose. “Yes,” she told him out of the corner of her mouth, “nothing else needs to be done to prepare the phoenix channel.”

“Do not,” Tirana said between clenched teeth, “tell him anything else.”

“Oh, come now. We’ve won, you’ve lost. It’s time to move on.” Hellonian grinned at all three of his prisoners. “The Glass Knife is not without mercy. I won’t pretend to know the minds of my betters, but I imagine that by the end of the week you’ll be working for them. It’s really the easiest way.” He then patted Thessa patronizingly on the head. “Enjoy that cigarette, Lady Siliceer.” Thessa resisted the urge to bite his hand.

The door to the lighthouse opened once more, a drenched dragoon wearing an overcoat sticking his head inside. “Captain! There’s a break in the clouds just now over to the southeast. If you bring your looking glass you’ll see the battle!”

“How does it look?”

“Impossible to say at this point.”

Hellonian flicked his cigarette into the fire. “Keep an eye on them,” he told the other two dragoons, then strode out after his underling. Thessa leaned back on her haunches, careful to keep her own cigarette clenched between her lips. The other two dragoons walked to the door and opened it, leaning against the doorframe as they made bets on how many casualties the nearby battle would produce. Breenen sat at the little window overlooking the ocean, staring into the distance.

Thessa caught Pari’s eye, jerking her head slightly at Tirana. Pari’s eyes narrowed. She elbowed the master-at-arms. Tirana’s head came up. Thessa looked at Pari, then at Tirana, then glanced significantly at the two dragoons. She hoped the message got across. “Breenen,” Thessa said, shifting around until she could get one foot underneath her.

“Save your breath,” Breenen said. “If you plan to rail like Tirana, you can do it later.”

Thessa hauled herself up, wobbled, almost lost her cigarette, then turned to face Breenen. “No,” she said out of the corner of her mouth. “You have so much to answer for.”

He finally glanced toward her. “Sit down, Thessa.”

“I won’t sit until you talk!” If the dragoons at the door cared that Thessa was on her feet, they didn’t show it. Thessa continued, “Look at me! I want you to look me in the eye, face-to-face, and tell me why you betrayed Demir. You were like a father to him. He trusted you more than anyone else. How could you do it?” As she spoke, she edged around the phoenix channel until she was standing between it and Breenen. She reached back, feeling along the tin casing with her bound fingers.

Breenen let out a sigh and stood up. “You’re a Grent siliceer,” he grunted. “A nobody. I don’t have to answer to you.”

“Then what about Tirana? Or all those murdered and wounded enforcers out there? What about Adriana?” Breenen flinched. There it was. The nerve Thessa was looking for. “Did you betray her, too? Were you one of those six who bludgeoned her to death on the steps of the Assembly?”

Breenen’s calm, tired demeanor turned steely. “Do you remember the conversation we had a few days ago? When you asked me about my legacy?”

“Of course. You said yours would be about survival.”

“And I wasn’t lying.” Breenen glanced sadly toward the door. “I spent years helping Adriana root out the Glass Knife. I even infiltrated them myself for a time. All our plans – all the work we put in – only resulted in getting Adriana killed. You can’t fight people as powerful as them. The best you can do is make a deal with them. Handing them you and the phoenix channel is the only way to secure Demir’s future. History will forget both you and me, but I’ve given Demir the chance to make sure it doesn’t forget the Grappo.”

“Those sound like the words of a coward,” Tirana snapped.

“Perhaps. But you haven’t seen what I have. You don’t know what I know.”

“Then tell us,” Thessa urged. “Tell Demir. Who is this Glass Knife? Why haven’t you mentioned them before, especially if you knew they killed Adriana?”

“I didn’t mention them because Demir is a child; fragile, volatile.” He turned to Tirana. “You saw what he did when he found out the news about Capric. All his rage would just destroy the Grappo at the hands of enemies that none of us can truly comprehend.”

Thessa’s fingers found the coupling at the end of the phoenix channel. She fiddled with it as subtly as she could, searching for the clasp until she found it. “How can we trust anything you’re saying? You’ve betrayed us. You’ve betrayed Demir. Did you betray Adriana too? Was it you that got her killed?”

“Careful what you say next.” Heat finally entered Breenen’s words.

“I bet you were one of those conspirators who bludgeoned her to death,” Thessa spat, fixing her fingers on the coupling clasp.

The dig had the desired effect: Breenen suddenly leapt across the room, grabbing Thessa tightly by the chin, causing her heart to skip a beat. “I loved her,” he hissed. “I would never raise a hand against her. Everything I’m doing right now I’m doing for Demir, because of her. You won’t understand. You think I’ve been out in the rain stitching up wounded enforcers because I wanted to hurt them? No! I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t–”

Thessa tightened her grip on the copper coupling. In one movement, she spat the lit cigarette right into Breenen’s face and yanked hard on the clasp. He stumbled back, sputtering and coughing. The two dragoons turned toward them but only laughed. Thessa used her foot to move the copper cable away from the phoenix channel.

“Glassdamn you!” Breenen growled, raising his hand. He seemed to wrestle with himself before lowering it, brushing the ash from his face. “You have no idea what I’ve been through. What Adriana went through. Why do you even care? You’re a Holikan orphan. You should rejoice in anything that hurts Demir.”

“If that’s meant to hurt me,” Thessa said, proud of how level her voice was, “it won’t work. Demir already told me about Holikan.” She raised her chin. “I’ve already forgiven him what little responsibility he held.”

“Hah. So you’re stronger than I thought. Fine. It doesn’t matter. You’re not a Grappo. You’re going to Kerite and the Glass Knife, to await whatever pleasure they see fit.” He paused, suddenly scowling, his gaze falling to the floor. “Why is the phoenix channel no longer grounded?”

Thessa lashed out with one foot, kicking Breenen in the knee as hard as she could. It was no easy feat with her hands tied behind her back, and she stumbled to one side, tripped on the grounding cable, and would have fallen directly into the fire if she hadn’t flung herself across it. She landed hard, the wind knocked out of her.

“Hey!” one of the dragoons said. “Cut it out!” He finally turned to insert himself into the argument. He loomed over her briefly before he went bug-eyed, a gasp escaping his lips. Behind him, Tirana stood free of her bonds, a small belt knife in her hand. She stabbed twice more in quick succession, then did a quick hop and skip, burying the knife in the other dragoon’s neck as he tried to draw his sword.

Thessa rolled painfully onto her side, trying to get her knees back under her. “Cut my bonds,” she told Tirana, “and unhook the other coupling. I will glassdamned throw the phoenix channel in the ocean before giving it to these Glass Knife assholes.” She got one leg under her, tried to get up, and fell. When she tried to get up a second time she came up to find that Breenen was holding a pistol, leveled at all three of them.

“I don’t want to kill any of you,” he said, “but I will. Now hook the phoenix channel back up to the grounding cable. You’re not throwing it in the ocean.”

“Piss off,” Thessa snapped.

Tirana squared herself, looking ready to leap across the room, pistol or not. “You say you do this for Demir, but can you even imagine what he’ll do when he finds out?”

“It doesn’t matter what he’ll do,” Breenen answered. “He will already be saved. That’s all I want.”

Tirana danced from one foot to the other. A rumble of thunder shook the lighthouse, and through the small window Thessa saw a flash. She looked from the grounding cable to the phoenix channel, then at the lightning rod. A second thought suddenly hit her. She rolled onto her back, kicking the phoenix channel with both feet. It scraped along the floor.

“Don’t break it!” Breenen shouted.

Thessa kicked it again. The phoenix channel now pointed at the door and the hundred or so dragoons watching the battle outside on the Forge. “Omniglass magnifies sorcery,” she told Breenen. “I wonder if it magnifies lightning as well.” Another crack of thunder rattled the lighthouse, followed quickly by another. The flashes of lightning were right on top of the sound of thunder now. Right on top of the Forge.

“Stop touching anything!” Breenen knelt down, snatching up a second pistol from a fallen dragoon and aiming it at Tirana. “Put everything back the way it was, or I’ll kill you both.”

“No,” Thessa spat. No more cowering. No more being bullied and captured. “I am no one’s slave.”

“Fine,” Breenen said, raising his chin. He pulled the trigger, and the blast of the pistol filled the room. Thessa felt something tear through her, snatching the breath from her – a dull realization followed by a sharp, screaming pain. Tirana leapt toward Breenen, knife swinging, while Pari threw herself, still bound, toward Thessa. A second pistol shot rang through the lighthouse. Tirana stumbled, dropping her knife.

The door suddenly burst inward. Captain Hellonian stood with his pistol at the ready. “What the piss is going on here?”

Thessa met his gaze, still trying to grasp the pain coursing through her. He frowned, shook his head, and opened his mouth. Before he could say anything, Thessa felt every hair on her body stand on end. A rushing sound filled her ears for a brief moment, and then Hellonian disintegrated in a blinding light.