Sespian also approached Basilard and gripped his shoulder. “Thank you for fighting so hard to defend the steamboat. I know this isn’t your battle, and I appreciate your willingness to risk yourself on our behalf.”
Fortunately, Maldynado had left the boat, or he would have had a fit over seeing Basilard praised when he’d simply been teased, but Amaranthe was glad Sespian made the effort for Basilard. As far as she knew, Sespian hadn’t made him any promises in exchange for his help, so Basilard could only be hoping that his actions would result in someone eventually looking into the slavers who were targeting his people.
“We’re paying a visit to the mainland,” Amaranthe told Basilard. “Do you want to come with us or stay here with Maldynado and the others? They’re going to look for secret entrances to underground tunnels.”
Basilard ran a hand over his scarred scalp. After that fight and that swim, he looked like a man who wanted nothing more than a nap.
“Or you could rest,” Amaranthe amended.
Perhaps, Basilard signed, I could make a hot meal.
“That’s an option too.” One that instantly appealed to Amaranthe after days on the road, relying upon Sicarius’s questionable culinary skills. At least they’d run out of those awful travel bars early on. “I imagine the log palace on the hill has a comprehensive kitchen.”
Basilard brightened.
“Ready to go, Sire?” Amaranthe asked.
“Just the two of us?”
“Not exactly.” Amaranthe looked toward the beach where Sicarius was tying up prisoners. “The enforcers are aware that he’s in the area, and this crash might not have gone unnoticed. I’m not at my fighting peak right now, and it may behoove you to have someone along who can protect you.” And maybe Sicarius and Sespian could have a chat while rowing across the lake.
“If they’re looking for him, that sounds like a good reason not to bring him,” Sespian said.
“I’m not positive he’d let me go off without him right now. Actually, I’m not positive he’d let you go off with only me to keep an eye on you.” That was saying more than she should, but, now that Forge knew about Sespian’s heritage, he’d learn why Sicarius cared one way or another soon anyway.
“Do you realize that he gave me that black dagger of his, and that Forge was able to track me because of it?” Sespian asked. “I was personally attacked twice because of it. They are determined to make their newspaper article a reality.”
Chagrin weighted down Amaranthe’s shoulders. If Sicarius had given Sespian his knife, he’d surely meant it as a gift, one that might prove useful. He’d be horrified, or as close to it as he came, to learn that it had endangered his son. “He didn’t know,” Amaranthe said. “He couldn’t have. How were they able to track you?”
Sespian dug in a pocket, fished out a black egg-shaped device, and handed it to her. “I haven’t been able to ascertain how it works. Brynia knew how to use it to locate other pieces of that ancient technology.”
Amaranthe turned the seamless tool over in her hands. “I met the woman who probably taught her how to use it. I wonder if it’s how they located the Behemoth in the first place.”
“The what?”
“Oh, I named their craft before I heard the real name.” Amaranthe returned the device. “At least, if we have it now, they can’t use it to track the knife anymore. You do still have that, don’t you?” A jolt of alarm ran through her at the thought of Sicarius’s faithful dagger lost forever on the bottom of the river hundreds of miles back.
“It’s in one of the cabins.” Sespian waved dismissively toward the upper decks.
Amaranthe felt stung on Sicarius’s behalf. He would probably be too practical to care, but it hurt her to think of Sicarius making a gift of his most valued belonging, only to have the recipient shun it.
“It’s a handy blade,” Amaranthe said. “If you’re not going to use it, I’m sure he’d like it back.”
“I’ll get it then.” It was only in Sespian’s eyes that he said “good riddance,” but the words hung in the air nonetheless. “I don’t know why you worry about him, Am-Corporal Lokdon. About what he thinks. If you knew half of what he’d done, you wouldn’t choose to spend time with him. He’s heartless and inhuman.”
Amaranthe wanted to argue Sicarius’s merits, but she doubted Sespian was ready to hear them. Instead she opted for, “Nobody’s born inhuman. But some people… the world sculpts with a cruel hand. Perhaps they’re the ones who most need us to spend time with them.”
Sespian’s shoulders sagged, and Amaranthe sensed that she’d made him feel guilty. It wasn’t exactly what she wished to do, but perhaps it was a start down the right path.
Chapter 20
The oars rose and dipped in an easy rhythm that belied the tension that had to be lurking behind the rower’s mask. Amaranthe tried, every time Sicarius met her eyes, to give him significant now-would-be-a-good-time-for-your-private-conversation looks. She, Sicarius, and Sespian were the only ones in the boat. The craggy forest-shrouded rocks of Marblecrest Island were falling behind, and the beaches near Markworth had yet to come into sight. Soft raindrops splashed onto the lake surface, muting sound. There wasn’t a soul around to overhear Sicarius if he chose to broach a certain subject with Sespian.
At the moment, Sespian, sitting on the bench beside Amaranthe, was busy rummaging in his pack. Sicarius observed the movement, and, a couple of times, he opened his mouth. She leaned forward, waiting for his words. Sespian spoke first.
“Here it is.” He pulled out the black dagger and extended it, hilt first, toward Sicarius.
“You did not find it useful?” Sicarius asked.
“It almost got me killed.”
Sicarius didn’t let any surprise show on his face, and continued to row without a hitch in his stroke, but he did glance toward Amaranthe, and she sensed the question there.
“Forge had a device that allowed them to track the ancient material,” she said.
“Yes,” Sespian said, his tone cold. As the rowboat continued to glide across the lake, he detailed an incident in a park where numerous men had attacked the group and tried to kill him. He gave a terse list of everything else that had happened since Amaranthe had been taken from the team. It was probably a sign of questionable sanity, but she wished she’d been with them for the adventure. Then again, maybe it was perfectly sane; if she’d been with them, she wouldn’t have been with Pike.
Sespian finished by looking Sicarius in the eye and saying, “I thought you might have set me up.”
For the first time, the oars faltered. A long moment passed-Amaranthe imagined the shock and horror that lay beneath Sicarius’s expressionless facade. How else could he feel? After all he’d done to protect Sespian, what he’d intended to be a magnanimous act had almost gotten his son killed.
“No,” Sicarius finally said. “Nobody ever tracked me through the blade.”
“Well, I’d rather not take a chance that it’ll happen again.” Sespian leaned forward and, keeping a wary eye on Sicarius, set the dagger on the bench beside him.
“I see.”
That was the last thing Sicarius said. He returned to rowing. Faster than before. A couple of times, Sespian turned toward Amaranthe, as if he meant to start a conversation with her, but each time he glanced at Sicarius and ended up not saying anything.
Amaranthe was mulling over ways to start a conversation of her own, one that might entice both men to speak, preferably to each other, when smoke on the shoreline caught her eye. Moving smoke.
“Did you notice any steam vehicles in Markworth when we ran through on our… tour?” Amaranthe asked.
“No.” Sicarius took a long look over his shoulder.
“Think the enforcers called in backup?”
Sicarius handed her his collapsible spyglass and adjusted his route, angling for a rocky beach with trees sheltering it. Too bad the rain had chased the fog away. Someone gazing out at the lake now could easily see their rowboat.