He looked up, watching Laisa's shadow on the wall as she paced with unending restlessness. What drives her? he wondered. Not love, he was sure of that. He looked away from the shadow to her face, to the reality. Her brows were drawn together into a deep furrow, and the lines around her lips were tight with irritation.
We are all about to lose the lives we have led, he thought. And then, brightening slightly, Never mind. Maybe I can search for Terelle at last. Maybe I can find Mica.
But though he tried to find hope in that, he was thinking of a land without rain. Of a Quartern that was about to die because he couldn't bring it water, because he was the last stormlord and couldn't make a storm cloud.
Terelle. Maybe she could help with her painting. That was another reason to find her.
As if I needed another one! I must find her. We have to find a way.
We must. The reeve did not return to speak to them again.
Some time after midnight, Kaneth came, but a different Kaneth to the well-groomed man Jasper knew. He was dirty, tired, unshaven. There was blood on his clothing, and he reeked of sweat and crushed ziggers and death. He was so exhausted, Jasper had to hold back the water while he entered or they would all have been inundated.
Senya wrinkled her nose and said, "You stink, Lord Kaneth!"
They all ignored her. Laisa asked, her voice unusually rough, "What's the news?"
Jasper poured him a drink of amber as the rainlord replied: "The worst. They're in the city. In fact, I expected to find you gone. I thought I had better check, just to be sure you'd got out."
"The reeve never told us anything. We haven't heard from him since before dawn, just after the drums started," Laisa said.
"Ah. He was one of the casualties, I expect. And if there was a backup plan in case something went wrong, that also failed you. You should have gone just before dawn. That's when they entered the city."
"They've taken Breccia?" Jasper asked.
"We still hold the waterhall and Breccia Hall. Level One and Level Two. Mix some water with that, Jasper-I don't want to lose my edge. And get me some food. I need to build up my power." He sat down with a sigh. "There are so many Breccian dead. The guard is shattered. Lord Gold is dead. Other rainlords died. Merqual and the waterpriest Foqat for sure. I haven't seen Lord Selbat or Lord Meridan or Lord Porfrey or Lord Tourmaline, and nor has anyone else, so they are missing, too."
He took the mug and looked at Laisa. She read the look and said calmly, "He's dead?"
"Not-not yet. That I know of. But they do have him. He did a brilliant job, you know," Kaneth said.
"Who are you talking about?" Senya asked petulantly. "Who's captured?"
"They paraded him under the walls of Breccia Hall," Kaneth said. "He was, um, still alive. I'm sorry."
For the first time, Jasper saw Laisa lose her composure. Her face whitened. He understood then the double meaning in Kaneth's words and had to turn away to hide the dry heave that rose through him.
"You mean Papa?" Senya asked. "But he's a rainlord! They couldn't take him prisoner. He'd just suck the water out of them!"
No one said anything. Senya looked from one to another, then started to cry. For once, Laisa showed some compassion for her daughter. She reached out and gently pulled the girl to her, burying Senya's face in her shoulder.
"How many people do we have safe in Breccia Hall and the waterhall?" she asked after a pause. To Jasper's ears, she sounded inhumanly calm.
"About five or six thousand adults. It's packed up there. Too many are not fighters. There are so many children. It was hard to turn anyone away. We can hold out for a while. With a smaller area to defend, the rainlords still alive have a better chance."
"What's happening in the rest of the city?" Jasper asked, bringing a selection of food to Kaneth.
"The Reduners are telling people to stay indoors. If they don't, they are killed. They are slaughtering all reeves as soon as they identify them. And any Breccian guards, of course." He helped himself to some flat cakes stuffed with bab fruit.
Laisa tapped her fingernails impatiently on Senya's back. "There's something else you are not saying, Kaneth," she said.
"I'm getting to that. We had a message from Davim. He says that he will spare the city, leave entirely, even give us back Nealrith… if we give him Jasper."
"Oh!" Senya exclaimed, tears forgotten. "Then we can do that! What does it matter? Jasper can go with the Reduners. They need a stormlord, so they won't hurt him. And he can still bring us rain."
Jasper shot her a look, then turned away. Neither Laisa nor Kaneth spoke. Kaneth doggedly continued eating. The silence dragged on.
Finally Jasper asked, "And if I don't go to him?"
"Nealrith dies, and Davim starts bringing out the city folk, ten at a time, to feed the ziggers. Ten people every hour."
"Did he give a deadline for the decision?"
"Sunset tomorrow. I've no idea why he gave us so long."
"He's probably smart enough to realise that it's something that would require some debate," Laisa said. "And by then he will have shown you in other ways that you can't win."
"He'll have his answer tomorrow," Jasper added tightly.
"No!" Senya cried. "It's not your decision, Jasper! It's ours! We can give you up if we like."
Jasper whipped around to face her. He said coldly, "With the death of your grandfather, I am now Cloudmaster, and you will not treat me with disrespect. Do I make myself clear?" His voice sounded confident and calm to his ears, but inside, both his resolution and his courage trembled. The blood burned in his cheeks.
Who am I trying to fool?
She stared at him, defiant. "You may be a stormlord, but Grandfather didn't appoint you as his heir. You're not the Cloudmaster, Shale Flint! Taquar was to be the high ruler, not you. You're just a dirty Gibber rat!"
"Taquar's claim to the position was revoked at the Gratitudes festival," he said.
"But Grandfather died without naming anyone else," she pointed out triumphantly. "And Mama said that means it could revert to the last named heir-Taquar."
Her words gored him. Whatever had given him his moment of strength, of resolution, was ripped apart by her words. He turned to Laisa and Kaneth, unwilling to believe. "Is that true?"
Laisa nodded. Kaneth demurred. "Only if the Council of Rainlords agrees," he said.
Jasper went taut, every part of him strained with anger and betrayal, as if there was something inside him that was too big to be contained.
The look Laisa gave him was one of pity. "Jasper, Granthon had a point. You are very young to rule. And to be the Quartern's one and only stormlord at the same time?" She shrugged. "You know how tiring it is." He heard her unspoken taunt. How inadequate you are.
He was silent.
She continued, "You will have Taquar's power to back you. You may be able to call up storms with his help. You will be the most revered of the Quartern's citizens, its stormshifter. There won't be any question this time of Taquar keeping you imprisoned in some mother cistern somewhere."
He was silent long enough to control his rage, to be able to say quietly, "I doubt that Davim has included Taquar in his present plans. For myself, I don't care too much about whether I rule as Cloudmaster, but I will not take orders from Taquar or Davim. Not ever. And until such time as Davim takes power in Breccia City, I will make the decisions here, at least the ones that concern me and the ones that concern water." He looked back at Senya. "And my name is Jasper Bloodstone."
For a moment, he thought she was going to defy him. Then all her bravado drained away, and he was reminded that she was, after all, just a spoiled girl whose world was breaking up around her, who had just been told that her father was a hostage to a desert warrior not known for his compassion. She nodded, subdued and sulky.
Wonderful, he thought. The first thing you do with your authority is lord it over a silly half-grown girl.