“I make sure I always know my way around,” Ferdi said. “Lucky for you, that means I can help.”
A blast of brass instruments cut through the festivities. Talking died down as people turned to the throne room entrance. A series of guards in white came through, two by two, then split to create a walkway. Then the king regent appeared, paused on the steps that led from the throne room down to the courtyard, and fell to one knee.
“Queen Imea,” Silver whispered. She caught a movement out of the corner of her eye, near the throne room entrance. Lingering in the shadows, a figure in all black watched Silver. Sagittaria Wonder.
Silver nudged Ferdi with her shoulder. “She knows I’m here.”
“The queen?” He followed Silver’s gaze. “Ah, the racing champion. I’ll take care of her.”
But before Ferdi could cross the room, the queen made her entrance. She was as lovely and composed as Silver remembered, but instead of wearing a traveling gown, Queen Imea was wrapped in layers and layers of fine, cream-colored silks, beaded with precious stones, and weighted down with gold and silver adornments worked so fine they looked like spun sugar.
“Good evening,” the queen said. “And welcome to all guests, in particular my most honored guests: my race winners. Our long tradition of sending the very best of the desert to the Island Nations Spring Festival has been enhanced this year.” Queen Imea’s gaze swept the room, falling on Silver.
Silver’s blood raced. What did she mean by enhanced? Nebekker’s pendant flared to life and warmed against her skin. Silver quickly placed her hand over it. Could the queen see the glow of it under her gown?
Queen Imea shifted her eyes, then beamed as she scanned the room. “Enhanced by what I believe is the strongest and most talented field of racers we have ever sent to the islands. I feel—I know—that the Desert Nations will be victorious this year and claim the title of the best water dragon racer in the world!”
As the queen threw her glittering arms in the air, cheers erupted from the crowd.
“See you later,” Ferdi whispered, and he slipped away in the commotion. Silver watched him thread through the fabric of the attendees smoothly until, finally, he arrived at Sagittaria’s side. He spoke to her, and they both laughed.
Suspicion grew in Silver’s belly again. Was Ferdi part of some plan to ambush her? No, he had proven himself her friend. It was only nerves telling her otherwise. Still, she moved closer to her cousin as the air in the plaza grew thick.
“Which racer will lead the desert to glory? I’m so enthralled with the mystery that I’ve asked a friend to attend the Winners’ Audiences, too,” Queen Imea said. “Arkilah will read the stars, and perhaps that cosmos will reveal great secrets to us!”
“Arkilah?” Silver and Brajon said at the same time.
This time, when Queen Imea threw out her arms, it was to draw all attention to a woman in the crowd, rising to stand from a bench behind a citrus tree in the center of the courtyard.
The woman was about Silver’s mother’s age and, compared to everyone else in the room, should have been easy to notice. Instead of a glittering gown, she wore layers of roughly hewn nomadic linen, topped with a variety of belts and straps holding an even greater assortment of pouches, bottles, crystals, and artifacts. But what was most intriguing about Arkilah were the dark lines running all over her exposed skin, from fingertips to the top of her shaved head. She was completely tattooed with constellations of the ancient gods.
The cousins peeled their eyes away from the fascinating nomadic woman and looked pointedly at Mele, whose eyes were wider than ever over the brim of her glass.
“I thought she was dead,” Silver whispered.
“I didn’t know,” Mele said. “My sources aren’t perfect. She disappeared ages ago.”
“Well, the more allies, the better,” Brajon said, pushing his cousin toward the citrus trees. “Come on, Silver. Go make a new friend.”
FORTY-FOUR
Even though beads of sweat had gathered under her jeweled headpiece, Silver walked forward with her head held high. Here was her chance to get Kirja and get out of the palace without revealing her identity.
The peridot Jaspatonian-style lantern that hung just to the left of Arkilah’s head cast a strange green glow over her face. When Arkilah glanced down, Silver saw that even her eyelids were marked with lines and stars. Silver finally reached the stone bench, where the nomadic woman was once again sitting, and perched on the very edge. Arkilah was stiff, making neither word nor motion of welcome.
Silver cleared her throat. “Nebekker sent me,” she whispered. Nebekker, who would be happy to hear her friend was alive. Nebekker, who was waiting, frail and weak, for Silver to return with Kirja.
“She said you could help me find”—here, Silver’s voice dipped even lower, and she flashed Nebekker’s pendant briefly before tucking it securely away again—“Kirja.”
Arkilah didn’t answer, but a breeze picked up and rattled two of the tiny vials hanging from one of her sashes. She fixed Silver with a look that didn’t betray any emotion. Not recognition or surprise or confusion.
“Nebekker said you were a friend of … water dragons. I don’t know why or how, but you’re supposed to help me,” Silver said as she drew closer.
When Arkilah stayed silent, Silver snuck a quick look around the room. She couldn’t see the queen on the other side of the citrus trees, but she spotted Ferdi, still plying Sagittaria Wonder with tales of some sort, despite the growing impatience on the racing champion’s face. But even if Sagittaria was distracted, other people were watching Silver and Arkilah curiously. Silver needed to hurry.
“Is it true you can tell the future?” she blurted in a desperate attempt.
This, finally, got a reaction out of Arkilah.
“If I could, I would have seen you coming,” she said. Her voice was as gravelly as the ground surrounding Jaspaton and thick with a familiar deep-desert accent. “Desert Fox. Everyone wants to know the answers to the great mystery of who you are and where you came from. Not to mention what breed of dragon you’re racing.”
“You are a mystic,” Silver breathed.
Arkilah scoffed. “Queen Imea thinks I know things because of some divine power of interpretation. But I know things because I spend my life studying … searching for answers. And there are many things I still want to know. Like how can Nebekker think that I would help you when she left me alone to die in a frozen wasteland so many years ago?”
Silver’s eyes widened. Nebekker did what? It didn’t seem possible Nebekker could harm anyone in that way.
“Ah,” Arkilah said. “So that old crone didn’t tell you. You should be questioning your friendship with her. Never trust people, Desert Fox. Unfettered truth is the only thing of any worth. And I believe you can lead me to some new truths, just as I led Sagittaria Wonder to Nebekker.”
“So you were the one who told her?” Silver cried, her face flushing with anger.
“Who do you think showed Sagittaria Wonder the scale pattern? Nebekker always guarded her work, and for good reason, but she never knew how closely I watched her and learned her particular skills. This was all before she betrayed me.”
“So you betrayed her in return,” Silver said through gritted teeth.
Arkilah shrugged. “I anticipate the chance to study a water dragon bond from its near inception.”
The nomadic woman rose, her baubles and artifacts clinking, and disappeared on the other side of the fruit trees. Silver stared after Arkilah, her pulse racing. From its near inception. Did the woman mean her and Hiyyan?