Wicked Bronze Ambition

115

Slightly more than a minute. Into that interim I interjected the announcement “My matchless resources have discovered the ballista used against Strafa.”

I wouldn’t say that there was a stunned silence, nor even a nervous or guilty silence.

“It’s in the basement at Strafa’s house, disassembled. It appears to have resided there for decades. Someone took it out, refurbished it, assembled it, and used it-then broke it down and put it back.”

Singe oozed closer, till she was in actual contact on my left. She had a look on that said that this was something I should have shared with her before we ended up isolated among sorceresses, with temperatures falling.

Though it may have sounded that way, I hadn’t meant to be accusing.

Then in came the Black Orchid, having overheard my announcement.

Meyness Stornes was one of the more relaxed people in the room now.

I saw no signs of guilty knowledge. People still moved, realigning. The Machtkess girls drifted closer to me.

Orchidia grabbed my right elbow almost as if we were a couple. “Are you suggesting something?”

“No. Just reporting. But part of the report has to be that Meyness Stornes had nothing to do with Strafa’s murder, considering he had no access to the weapon, the timing was wrong, and Vicious Min, far from being a Dread Companion, was a hired hand. So is the one protecting the kid who keeps turning up. In fact, I’m pretty sure he’s Min’s brother.”

Constance Algarda had become a great blank-face pile of blubber who, nonetheless, radiated the suspicion that a certain former Marine might not be as dim as he put on.

Hard to be, some might argue. Not while being deft enough to stay alive without the protection of a dedicated murder of guardian angels.

“Well?” Orchidia, but speaking to me or to the crowd?

It was a tense moment. She, for reasons unclear, was an ally for now.

“Well. .,” I responded. “Well. It’s self-evident that somebody knows more about what happened than they’ve admitted so far.” Maybe even Dr. Ted, who could be considered a principal but wasn’t with us tonight.

Bashir reappeared. “Excuse the additional interruption. .” His eyes got big as his body arched.

The little blonde shoved him forward, demonstrating incredible strength with no leverage. She floated four inches off the floor and still moved him easily.

She was dressed the same as always. She folded her arms in front of her, sliding hands inside opposite sleeves.

Barate Algarda spoke for the first time since my arrival. Resolutely, powerfully, loudly, he proclaimed, “Ah, holy shit! This is not possible!”

Kyoga Stornes had been just as quiet-while easing closer to his father, to lay unhappy hands on if Meyness showed any sign of pulling some sorcerer’s stunt. He agreed with Barate. “Oh, holy shit indeed! Nana! What have you done?”

Barate and Kyoga had called Constance “Nana” when they were little, though she was grandmother to neither. It came from some amusing toddler comment become family in-joke with sense and meaning only for those who had been there.

Barate demanded, “Exactly, Mother! What have you done?”

Constance herself showed us the fabled eyes the size of saucers.

The little girl squeezed in between Orchidia and me, as though by right. The Black Orchid yielded gracefully. The girl said, “Yes, Grandmother, you totally screwed the pooch. That spell caused a double, even a triple rebound, in time and place, both.”

Suddenly, I knew why she was familiar. Suddenly, I knew who she was. Suddenly, I was a huge, ready-to-melt lump of gelatin.

I was married to her.

Well, I had been about to marry her. Then something happened that split her into a corpse and a feisty little thing that could get me a year in a work camp for thinking about us being married. .

She slid her left hand into mine, tugged. “They can finish up here. We have to go. We don’t have much time.”

Orchidia agreed. “There isn’t much at all. Don’t waste it being you.”

Shadowslinger looked scared, compassionate, furious, self-pitying, self-loathing, and just plain crushed, all together and/or in lightning rotation. She said, “Go ahead, Garrett. I did screw up. We’ll talk later. We have this part under control.” A lot of eyes focused on Meyness B. Stornes. His life could get more difficult in a hundred interesting ways.

Shadowslinger made weird noises, twitched, shook oddly. I thought she might be about to stroke again-if ever she really had.

Even so, Barate was more concerned about Kevans, and about Kip because Kip meant so much to Kevans. Kyoga forgot his father. He beat me out of the room, off to get Dr. Ted. Hopefully, Ted wasn’t off somewhere watching fireworks and impossible to find.

Kevans was working on a refreshed case of attitude but couldn’t quite go public while her grandmother was shaking and making ever stranger noises. She didn’t seem affected by the fact that her mother might now become her little sister.

Singe had no idea what was going on with Little Strafa but did get that this was no time for Garrett to mope around demanding answers to any trivial question that occurred to him. Something needed doing, and soon. I’d already mentioned All-Souls deadlines several times. She started shoving. Little Strafa pulled, demonstrating more of the power she had used to move Bashir. The Black Orchid got out front and ran interference.

Morley Dotes hadn’t been invited upstairs. He hadn’t gone away, either, contrary to his earlier determination. He had been amusing himself in the kitchen but now was waiting at the front door with the dogs. He and they were wide awake and seemed renewed. Little Strafa led us into Shadowslinger’s garden. “Each one take a dog.” She snatched up Number Two, shoved her at Singe, in whose arms the mutt wriggled just enough to get comfortable. Then she fell asleep.

Little Strafa told the rest of us, “Come on. Do it.”

Brownie made it easy for me.

Morley snagged a mutt, as did Orchidia, who shuddered at the contact but forged manfully on.

“All of you crowd in facing me. Push in tight. Hold your dog with your left arm. Put your right arm around the person next to you.”

Singe and Orchidia, in almost identical language, instructed me to shut up and do as I was told.

I did as I was told. I didn’t say anything, either.

Brownie licked my face, then shut her eyes. I slipped my right arm around Singe as low as I could. She did the same with Morley. He got Orchidia. Orchidia put her arm around me, as high as she could get.

“Wait! Wait up!” Tara Chayne charged out of the house as if she were a hundred years younger than she was. The cluster hug fell apart.

“What?” Orchidia demanded.

“I should go with you.”

Little Strafa nodded. “She’s right.” She shivered, cold despite that coat. She laid a hand over Morley’s heart, showed him a child’s forerunner of the smile that always conquered when she was a grown-up. “Please? Let Moonblight take your place? I know it’s a lot to ask but I promise I’ll take good care of him.”

Morley checked me, Singe, and even the dog he carried, now sound asleep. Even Brownie had only one eye open. He considered the three witchy women, calculating. “Garrett?”

“I can’t offer an informed opinion. I don’t know what’s going on. But I can say that I trust Strafa.” Still, I didn’t want my best friend to think I was pushing him out.

“We have a problem with time,” Orchidia reminded.

“Her skills. .,” Strafa began.

Morley presented his dog to Tara Chayne. “I understand skills.” His face said a good deal more. There would be unhappy folks on the Hill if anything untoward happened because he wasn’t there to prevent it, Enma Ai or no.

Orchidia said, “Your sacrifice is both appreciated and useful.”

I reminded him, “You were going to bail after the raid anyway.”

“Got my third wind.” Morley touched two fingers to his right eyebrow in salute.

I nodded. He might do so in a state of blind exhaustion, but he would turn up at the house on Macunado.