“Where are they?” I hissed, reminding myself with only some effectualness not to squeeze too hard or he’d suffocate and not answer me. “Where has your foul leader taken my mate?”
“What... are you talking about...?” he choked out, grasping at my fingers.
It took everything I had not to crush his blasted throat. And I could do it, too. With my stone sky blood I was already stronger than any man here. On the edge of a berserker rage, I could squeeze this neck like it was made of soft fruit instead of flesh.
But I didn’t. Not yet. I held on to a glimmering silver thread of sanity named Suvi because if I entirely let go I’d lose my wits and I could not afford that now.
“He took Suvi!” I roared. “And do not think for a second I will believe a lie, so tell me once and tell me true, where have they gone?”
More people were in the courtyard now. Mother’s Seeds and Mother’s Hands, standing behind the Mother’s Claws, the temple and city light warming their red and green robes. Though I was mostly focused on Nakib, I could sense confusion in the crowd. Like what I was saying made no sense to them. Nakib coughed and gagged, and when he gave me no more information I threw him down so hard I might have broken his other cursed leg. The Mother’s Claws looked about, as if waiting for orders. But Koltar was not there and in his absence, one of them decided to take his chances and blast his weapon at me.
I’d give him something – I did at least feel it a bit. A buffet of wind against my front that knocked me back a half a step.
As if encouraged by the first one, the others, more than a dozen of them, let loose a volley of shots from their weapons, energy blasts pinging off of me in rapid succession.
I should have known that questioning any of them was pointless. They were loyal, alright, but they were loyal to Koltar above all else.
Fine. I would pummel my way through the temple, room by room, hall by hall until I found Koltar and my mate and if anyone wanted to get in my way then he could pay the price of that foolishness with blood.
Snarling, I lifted my claws, and with an outward lick of my power I wrenched every weapon from every set of hands and smashed the tubes to metallic dust. My vision smoking over with bloodlust, reason receding into the storm inside me, I raised my hands higher to demolish the body of every Mother’s Claw who stood before me. Thunder clapped, a resounding, quaking smack of sound, and I half thought that I’d produced it.
Just before I brought death down upon the Mother’s Claws’ heads, a voice I recognized spoke, confusing me just long enough to halt me.
“He is not in the temple.”
It was Koraba, oldest Mother’s Hand and someone I’d spent a great deal of time with in the temple at Suvi’s side.
“Get back, Koraba! Do not approach him!” growled a nearby Mother’s Claw, but Koraba waved her off.
“What you seek is not here, Skallagrim,” Koraba said. There was no fear in her face or her voice as she approached me. “If Suvi is missing, we will help you find her. But you cannot come and cause violence here in our most sacred place.”
“You have not yet seen violence,” I seethed. “And since it was your Mother’s Eye who took my mate, I cannot trust any of you to help me!”
More confusion. More murmurs among the crowd. And suddenly, there was doubt inside me. Doubt that any of these ones knew where Koltar was, or that he’d even taken my mate in the first place.
“Our Mother’s Eye would not cause harm to one such as her,” Nakib piped up from the ground. “If he did take her, do you not think perhaps it was because he was helping her? She probably wanted to flee from you, and Koltar led her away from your monstrous nature and into sanctuary.”
Clearly, I had not squeezed Nakib’s throat hard enough if he could still spout filth like that. I glared down at him, realizing that I hadn’t actually injured him badly when I’d thrown him down, because he was already standing up with the help of his crutch. Furious, practically foaming at the mouth with hatred of him, of anyone who stood between Suvi and me, I blasted power at him, snapping the femur of his good leg just to shut him up. He collapsed in pain-stricken silence while several Mother’s Hands gasped and hurried forward to examine him.
“Why do you think Koltar has taken her?” Koraba said. The Mother’s Claws had drawn rank around her. They were weaponless, now, but I could tell that several of them were on the edge of a berserker rage, just like I was. The way of cotton meant not giving into those violent urges, but I supposed I had created exceptional circumstances that allowed them to veer from their peaceful ways. That, or some of those bristling Mother’s Claws would have some serious praying to do when this was all done.
“Because I smelled him!” I bellowed at her. “And he was seen! There are witnesses!”
“He is telling the truth!” I twisted back, chest heaving, to see Jolakaia roll up and dismount weakly from her two-wheel. She wobbled, tried to take a step, then appeared to decide it would be better to stay holding onto her two-wheel for support.
“He is telling the truth,” she said again, more quietly this time, panting like just speaking was taking a great effort. “He took her from her bed in the night when Skalla was gone. And he used weapons on my wife Zev and I when we questioned him.”
The confusion that had been simmering came to a sudden, riotous boil. Shouts and questions rang out on all sides. Many accused Jolakaia of lying, hissing at her, throwing her history back in her face. She took it all with a steady gaze, remaining still but strong under the insults, until suddenly the words buzzing through the air like weapons blasts took on a different tone, became centred on Koltar.
“Why would the Honoured Eye take her?”
“I still do not think he did it!”
“Where is he now, then? He always spends the night in the temple and yet he is not here!”
“He must have had good reason. He is the Mother’s Eye and he sees the path she lays before us.”
“Nakib was right. He must have saved her.”
“Why would he steal her to save her? Why would he not tell any of us?”
“Who manned the front gate earlier tonight?”
“I did! And no one passed!”
“But did Koltar not take Padra off duty at the back gate tonight?” That question was louder than any other, silencing the voices. It came from Koraba. Her aged voice was like a blade, every word a damning blow. “Who manned the back gate?”
The Mother’s Claws looked around at each other, then at Koraba, then at me.
“None of us.”
“There’s another way out of Callabarra besides the front gate? And Koltar made sure no one was at that post tonight?” I asked.
Koraba jerked her snout yes.
So he’d taken her right out of the city, then. That seemed to make sense as much as it filled me with dread, because if he took her away from here it would be to make sure no one saw whatever he planned to do.
“I do not think that he will harm her. At least, not directly,” Jolakaia called from her two-wheel. “Whatever his motivations, he is still the Honoured Eye. He follows the way of cotton. He will not kill her.”
“Curse the way of cotton!” I shouted. “If I never hear of it again it will be far too soon!” I pointed an accusing finger at my cousin-niece. “He blasted you and your wife with weapons and took my mate. Is that the way of cotton?”
“But the weapons do not kill,” Jolakaia said. “They stun and weaken, but they are not lethal. We use them when circumstances are dire, otherwise the Mother’s Claws would not be allowed to carry them at all. But he will not kill her, Skalla. I am sure of it. Taking life is the worst offense before the Mother. No matter what Koltar’s plans or motivations, killing her with his own hands is not among them.” She paused, then her eyes grew huge with horror. “With his own hands.”