“We don’t,” I confessed. “We came here to find out.” The more I talked the more my head cleared. My instincts were getting sharper, too, telling me Marilius was hiding something. “You didn’t answer my question-who’d make a kid like you a captain?”
Just as if I’d squeezed a trigger, Marilius started getting nervous again. The dagger flipped quickly between his fingers. “His name’s Anton Fallon. Heard of him?”
Now it was my turn to smile. “That explains a lot. Anton Fallon’s got just about all the money in this part of the world. Probably has nothing better to spend it on than a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears mercs. So why’d you come to Arad? Why are you alone?”
“Well, that’s my business now, isn’t it? I didn’t expect to have to rescue you two. Now I’m heading back there. I want you to come with me.”
“Why?” asked Cricket.
“Cause it’s safe there,” said Marilius. “Akyre’s no place for you, girl. If you come with me south to Fallon’s palace, your champion here can mend a bit.”
“Uh-huh. That’s a real nice offer,” I said. “And Anton Fallon just happens to have a desperate need for more mercenaries, I bet.”
“You’ve got special talents,” said Marilius. “He’ll pay you well, better than any other swording job you’ll find around here.”
“I’m not a mercenary,” I said. “Not anymore.”
“He’s a knight-errant,” declared Cricket.
“Ah, so you’re a principled man,” said Marilius. “What if I told you that Fallon really needs you. People are dying and you can help stop it. Would that interest you?”
“Not unless you tell me the whole story.”
“Can’t,” said Marilius. His lips tightened behind his beard. “That’s for Fallon to say. Anyway, where else you gonna go? There’s nothing worth your time in Akyre, and if you head up there, Wrestler will just snap your neck again. At least if you come with me you’ll get a chance to do some good.”
I thought about it, then shook my head. “No reason for us to go all the way to some palace to rest. Seems pretty quiet here. By tomorrow I’ll be able to ride. So thanks for the offer, but no.”
Marilius stood up. “I thought knight-errants were supposed to have honor.” He sniffed and put his dagger into his belt. “Guess you don’t think much of paying your debts. Seems to me you’d still be laid out in Arad if I hadn’t come along. And Cricket? Who knows. Wrestler might have come back for her.”
I wished he hadn’t said that. I still wish it. Before I was a mercenary I was a real knight. A Royal Charger. The word ‘honor’ didn’t seem to mean much in the Bitter Kingdoms, but it did to me.
“Lukien, I don’t want to go with him. We got our own mission, you and me.”
“We do,” I sighed, but I hadn’t told Cricket of the monster I’d seen. That thing was death itself coming at us. Coming, I supposed, for Cricket. That was the truth Malator wouldn’t tell me. Suddenly, a detour from our mission seemed like a fine precaution.
“How far is it to Fallon’s palace?” I asked.
“Just a couple of days, on the southern coast,” said Marilius. “I’m telling you, you’ve never seen anything like it.”
10
“So Lukien, tell me what it’s like to be immortal.”
The question came at me like an arrow, too fast to duck. I glared at Marilius. “Why would you ask a question like that?”
“Look at you-you’re already riding like nothing happened.” Marilius studied me as if I was faking. “Does it hurt?”
“No,” I told him, a fact that surprised me. I turned my head from side to side. After just four days, I felt completely healed.
“Lukien doesn’t like talking about his powers,” said Cricket. She rode up closer, wedging her pony between our horses.
“They’re not powers,” I said. “But she’s right-I don’t talk about it.”
“Oh, come on. I’ve heard you talking to Cricket, mumbling behind my back. And I saw the way you went after Wrestler. You’re not afraid of anything, huh?”
“Some things,” I said. “But they’re none of your business.”
Marilius shrugged. “We still have a full day ahead of us. Nothing to do but talk. Fallon’s going to ask you about your powers anyway.”
“Because you can’t keep a secret, right?”
“He needs a man like you, Lukien. But he’ll be curious. Can’t blame him for that. Hell, I’m curious. You’ve got the one thing money can’t buy, and I’m not talking about love.”
“A deal then,” I proposed. “You tell us why Fallon needs me so badly, and I’ll tell you what it’s like to be immortal.”
“Ooh, tempting,” smacked Marilius. “But no.”
“Why not?” asked Cricket. “We’re gonna find out once we get there. Just tell us now and save us the bother.”
“Nah, he won’t do that, Cricket,” I said. “He’s gotta keep his secret, otherwise we might not go with him. Must be something pretty bad, though, since he’s not willing to tell us.”
“Is it bad, Marilius?” asked Cricket.
Marilius shrugged. “Let’s just say it’s interesting.”
“Yeah, but you want to tell us,” pressed Cricket. “I can tell you do.”
“But I won’t,” Marilius snorted. “Now can we be quiet?”
“What’s the problem? Seriously, what’s Fallon need us for?”
“He needs Lukien,” Marilius corrected her. “You’re just along for the ride.”
“So are you, apparently,” I said. “Whatever it is, it’s something you can’t handle. . Captain.”
This time Marilius didn’t answer. He pretended to scan the scrubby horizon. We were in the flat lands now, in the very heart of the Bitter Kingdoms. An occasional, dilapidated farm appeared as we rode, crops struggling in the hardscrabble earth. To the east loomed Zura, Sariyah’s dreamed-of spice lands. Near the mountains up north waited Akyre. Isowon was a day’s ride south and east, an isthmus of land Fallon’s fortune had turned into a garden, or so Marilius claimed. I dreamed of its promised water, so clear and turquoise you could see a rainbow of coral at its bottom.
“Okay,” Cricket said finally. “Just tell us about Fallon, then. What’s he like?”
“Rich,” said Marilius.
“We know that already. What else? Why’s he got so many men?”
“Why shouldn’t he? He can afford them.”
“Seems to me they’re not doing him much good,” I said. “I’ve got a feeling your employer isn’t so innocent around here, Marilius. If you’re bringing us to help him make war, you’re wasting your time.”
“Oh right, I forgot,” said Marilius. “You’re not a mercenary anymore.”
“That’s right.”
“Look around, Lukien. You’re in the Bitter Kingdoms now. War’s a way of life here. Tell him, Cricket.”
Cricket grimaced. “I can’t.”
Marilius looked at her. “What’s that mean?”
“It means she can’t remember,” I said. “She’s forgotten everything. What do you think can make someone forget everything they know, Marilius?”
“Damned if I know,” said Marilius.
“Damned sounds about right to me,” I said, and kept on riding.
* * *
The rest of that day we met not a single traveler on the road. We stopped as needed but made steady progress through the afternoon, all of us keeping our questions to ourselves. Malator continued to ignore my efforts to rouse him. I didn’t know if Akari ever got sick, but now I was worried. It wasn’t just a foul mood keeping him quiet this time. This time, he’d pushed himself too far. Both Cricket and Marilius rode in a sort of bored trance. I fixed my mind on Malator.
I can feel you, Malator, I said, imagining myself deep inside the sword. Just tell me you’re all right, and I’ll let you sleep.
For a long moment there was nothing. Then, at last, he stirred.
Sleep. .
I chuckled to myself. “Good!”
Cricket perked up. “What’s good?”
“Malator. He’s. .” I stopped myself. Marilius stared at me, puzzled. “Nothing.”
“Talking to your ghost friend, Lukien?” he asked.