“I can’t,” Vlora protested. “I’ve got to get moving. I need to contact my men. I need to find Taniel.”
Flerring put her elbow on Vlora’s shoulder, keeping her down, then forced her mouth open with one hand. “Drink,” she ordered.
The tea tasted like horseshit and seemed to get everywhere but in Vlora’s mouth. Flerring mopped up the spills and sat back while Vlora coughed, laughing. “I’ve got that promissory note, but I’d much rather take you back to Adro in one piece, sister. Is Taniel still rotting at the jail?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll send one of my boys down. The deputies are gonna be working frantically to put out this wildfire you started. Shouldn’t be too hard to slip him out.”
Vlora almost protested that they needed him out legitimately, then discarded the thought with a sigh. What was the point? All their efforts at finding the godstone in secret had gone out the window. It was time for brute force. “Also, need you to send word to Olem. His scouts will have reported the fighting. He needs to know about Prime Lektor. If he brings the entire brigade in before we find Prime, it’ll get everyone killed.”
“I’ll send a few of my boys looking,” Flerring promised. “Until then, you need to rest.”
“I don’t have time to rest.”
Flerring grinned down at her. “You’re not gonna have a choice. Not with that tea and all the blood you lost. You’ll be out within minutes.” Without another word, Flerring blew her lantern out and shuffled off into the darkness.
Vlora lay still in frustration, staring at the ceiling, wishing she could move. She might be wounded, but she could still think. She had to formulate a plan to find Prime and figure out what she was going to do if they couldn’t destroy the stone with Flerring’s blasting oil.
She was halfway through the second thought when she again lost consciousness.
When Vlora came to, it was once again light outside. The cabin was quiet and cold, and she guessed that it was still early in the morning. Outside, she could hear Little Flerring shouting instructions at her workers and wondered if Flerring was beginning to shut down her operation. It would make sense, of course. Even if order were restored tomorrow, the gold mines were probably going to be all but empty until the city could rebuild enough to support all these miners.
The pain was back. It wasn’t bad, if Vlora didn’t move. Or breathe. She could feel something soft beneath her fingers, and realized that Flerring had left her a powder charge. Saying a silent word of thanks, she managed to bring it to her mouth, breaking it open and sprinkling the powder on her tongue. Granules bounced off her lips and rolled down her cheeks, and she gave a sigh of appreciation as the trance kicked in.
Gradually, the hairs on Vlora’s neck began to stand on end as she came to the slow realization that there was someone else in the room. “Who’s there?” she asked, listening to the soft sound of breathing.
There was a creak as someone got up from a chair, then heavy footsteps. Vlora grimaced through the pain and forced herself to roll onto her side, expecting to find one of Flerring’s workers keeping watch.
She froze at the sight of the man standing beside the bed. He was of medium height and heavy-set, with an aged, distinguished face marked by a purple birthmark that spidered across his bald head. He wore Privileged gloves on both hands, the runes gold and crimson, and frowned down at Vlora like a father might at a disruptive child.
It took all of Vlora’s strength not to call out. Prime could kill everyone here before they had the chance to aid her. No sense in all of them dying. “Prime,” she croaked, her throat dry.
“Little Vlora,” Prime said. He dragged the chair across the room and sat down beside the bed, folding his hands in his lap. “I understand that you’re Lady Flint now, is that true?”
“Yes.”
“Seems like just yesterday you were a street tramp, taken in by Tamas.” Prime snorted. “I’ve been following your exploits in the papers. First the Kez Civil War, then the Fatrastan frontier, then Landfall. Now I find you at the ass end of nowhere with a bounty on your head as if you’re a common outlaw and not a war hero with your own mercenary army.”
Vlora stared at the side of Prime’s face, trying to read him. His expression was neutral, his face grandfatherly, and she grabbed on to the sudden hope that perhaps he wasn’t here to kill her.
“When’s the last time we saw each other?” Prime asked. “The Adran-Kez War?”
“Right before you ran,” Vlora said coldly. She silently rebuked herself. She wasn’t going to fight her way out of this – her only chance was to talk. Unfortunately, she was not good at talking.
“Ah, yes,” Prime said, seemingly unbothered by the accusation of cowardice. “You have to understand, I’m not a violent man. I’ve never been good at war. And Kresimir was there! Pit, Kresimir scared me. You have no idea just how …” He trailed off, chuckling to himself as if he were relating a happy memory. “And then the god of the Nine was killed by mortals. If I’d known how that was going to end up, I might have stayed. But what’s done is done. I moved on to other work.”
Vlora was struck by a sudden memory of Prime Lektor visiting Tamas’s house. She still had been an early teen at the time. Borbador hadn’t yet been snatched up by the royal cabal. She and Taniel were not yet lovers. They were all just happy stepsiblings. Prime had visited for a private conversation with Tamas, giving each of the children sweets out of his pocket. She only now realized that he and Tamas were probably discussing the coup that they would perform against their king five or six years later.
Despite his grandfatherly look, despite his past loyalties and his current claim of pacifism, it was important to remember who – and what – Prime was. He had spoken with the gods and witnessed the creation of the Nine. He could snuff her out in an instant.
“So what are you doing here?” she asked.
Prime tsked quietly. “I was just about to ask you the same thing. This is an out-of-the-way place. You’ve been gallivanting around the city for weeks pretending to be a common hired sword. But your army is camped outside the city while you” – he pointed one finger at her, his hand trembling – “you have been looking for something.”
Vlora tried to think of an excuse – any plausible reason for her presence here – but came up with nothing.
Prime continued before she could respond. “You’re looking for the godstone. It’s unfortunate, little Vlora. You lost one godstone to the Dynize on the plains south of Landfall. I will not allow you a chance at the second godstone. I will not allow anyone that chance.”
“I …” Vlora blinked at Prime, trying to figure out what was going on inside his head. “I don’t want anyone to have that chance, either.”
“An interesting sentiment. I don’t know who you’re working for right now. It could be Lindet. It could be the Adran Cabal. Maybe you’re working for yourself. But I will allow none of you to have the godstone. It is too dangerous to fall into the hands of mortals.”
“And you think the Predeii are any more trustworthy?” Vlora spat before she could stop herself.
Prime seemed surprised by this. “What? Oh, absolutely not. If I knew where the others were – if any of them are alive – I would keep it away from them as well.”
“I think,” Vlora said, trying to focus her thoughts, “that we need to come to an understanding.” If Prime was telling the truth, and he was indeed here to keep anyone else from finding the godstone, then they were fighting for the same thing. Prime could be a valuable ally if he could be convinced. She considered the ramifications and decided to tell him the truth. “Prime, I don’t want the godstone used any more than you do. I fought for Landfall to keep the godstone out of the hands of the Dynize. I have a bounty on my head because I tried to arrest Lindet when I found out she wanted to use the godstone.”