And sure enough, Tano and Algini came in from around the stony shoulder of the hill on the same track they had used. And just behind them was Lucasi. Lucasi was moving under his own power, limping, with a fairly substantial splint around the afflicted leg and leaving, one was certain, a clear trail behind him, even on the rocks.
Maybe it was pity that had made them bring Lucasi with them—but he didn’t believe it. Tano might have a soft heart. Algini wasn’t so inclined.
“Nandi.” Tano arrived a little out of breath. “One apologizes. The place was being overrun.
The boy knows too much.”
Cancel any thought that things were going smoothly back there. Whatever they had blown up, the explosion had drawn in more trouble, and they’d diverted themselves back to pick up a liability who would spill a dangerous truth: that there was a high-value target wandering around out here, in convenient reach.
“One apologizes to you, nadiin-ji,” Bren said. “We should have taken him with us in the first place.”
“By no means,” Algini said. “Nor will we slow you and Jago. The boy leaves a clear track.
They will surely find us.”
Lucasi looked mortified, head mostly down. “One asks,” the boy said, “let me hold this place.
One will notbe a liabil—”
Algini gave him a single, hard shake, and didn’t have to say a thing. Lucasi bit his lip and ducked his head.
“Jago-ji,” Tano said. “Go. We are not now in the path of incursion, but we are much too close to it, and our trail is so obvious they will be cautious following it.”
“Yes,” Jago said, and, businesslike: “Bren-ji.”
Move, that meant. Now. And Bren didn’t object. Their best chance, under the circumstances, was his doing exactly what Lucasi was finally learning to do: shut up when Algini expressed an opinion and stick very close to whichever of them had him in charge at the moment.
What they hadn’tsaid, doubtless out of politeness, was that Jago already had her hands full and didn’t need two problems.
Jago headed out, and Bren followed.
And he was sure beyond any doubt that the area and the enemy had more to worry about in tracking Tano and Algini than Tano and Algini had in being tracked.
***
Things were beginning to stir around the house now that the conference was over. Mani and Lord Geigi and Cenedi had had their breakfast, so Jegari reported, which had turned out to be more of a lunch. But nobody was interested in talking to a boy.
So Cajeri, having thoughts of his own about what needed to be done, and with nobody listening to him except his aishid, said, “We shall go downstairs, nadiin-ji. We have business of our own.”
He led the way straight down to the basement from the vacant dining hall, not caring whether or not the servants reported it, since both Cenedi and mani were too busy to bother with him.
He had his excuse, besides: nand’ Bren had told him to take care of nand’ Toby, and by a slight stretch, he was still doing that.
He led his aishid straight to nand’ Toby’s door, and Antaro knocked.
Barb-daja answered the door. The smell of sandwiches and spiced tea wafted out. She and nand’ Toby were having lunch in their room. That was a little disappointment.
But humans had different manners. He traded on that.
“Sorry,” he said with a little bow. “Can we talk, nandi?”
“Come on in,” nand’ Toby said, past Barb-daja’s shoulder. Nand’ Toby was looking immensely better today, now that Barb-daja was back. He was still wrapped up in bandages, of course, and he was having breakfast with his shirt unbuttoned, but, then, nand’ Toby was not on mani’s orders, was he? Cajeiri edged into the room. Nand’ Toby and Barb-daja had a little table with only two chairs, but there was the bed to sit on, and Barb-daja quietly relocated onto the edge of the mattress, collecting her tea and her plate, motioning for their guest to take her chair. “There’s plenty, if you want, nandi,” she said. And more doubtfully, as his aishid slipped quietly into the room to stand along the wall and he remained respectfully standing: “Or I’m sure we could send for more.”
“We ate, nandi.” They had, twice, actually. And using nand’ Toby’s name in the human way just was not right, and ship-speak sirwas too general, besides hard to say. Cajeiri settled for a mix of ship-speak and Ragi.
“So what can we do for you?” nand’ Toby asked.
“You can hear news, nandi.”
“Tea, Barb,” Toby said, and Barb picked up a spare cup from the little service—it was a seven-cup set—and poured.
Cajeiri sat down and took the teacup with a proper little nod/bow-in-place. Nand’ Toby offered that atevi courtesy, too, being polite and proper, so one had to take at least three sips before saying anything. Mani had thwacked that into his skull.
And he ought to wait. It was terribly rude to discuss serious things over somebody’s food.
And in proper manners he needed to wait until they were through with their lunch.
Humans did not observe such customs, however. Even adults thought it was perfectly fine to talk business over food. At least that was true on the ship. He cautiously began to break mani’s rules.
“Mani and Lord Geigi and Cenedi-nadi have talked. A message came. The Guild is attacking enemies in the Marid.”
“A message from Bren?” nand’ Toby asked.
“Not from nand’ Bren, no, nandi. I think it came from the Guild to Cenedi.”
“I think,” Barb-daja said, “I’m sureBren was doing all right with Machigi.”
“This isn’t going to make the man happy, Barb!”
He had been talking in ship-speak, and nand’ Toby and Barb-daja spoke in Mosphei’, which they used on the Island, but it was close enough they all understood each other.
“Bren’s going to be all right,” Barb-daja said. “Machigi wouldn’t dare do anything if the Guild is moving in. He’d be a fool. If the dowager wants to talk to him and Bren is talking, then Machigi is safe if anybody is. He’d be crazy to make a move like that.”
And everybody said Barb-daja was not a serious person and was always doing and saying wrong things because she was a little stupid, but she had been with nand’ Bren, she had seen the situation in Machigi’s court, and at that moment Cajeiri really, really was grateful she could explain that.
“The Guild will guard him,” he said. “I think so. Yes. And his aishid is with him. They won’t let anything happen to him. I think.” Here was the hard thing to explain. “When we came down from the ship, Murini ran. The Guild with him ran. All to the Marid.”
“Murini’s bodyguard, you mean.”
“Lots. Lots of Guild. In Dojisigi. In Senji. The Guild in Shejidan is fighting them.”
“Them.” Nand’ Toby looked confused.
“The Guild in Shejidan says they did the bad stuff in Kajiminda. Not Machigi. They try to kill Machigi.”
“So the Guild in Shejidan is going after the ones in the Marid?”
“Yes.” He was relieved. “They can’t get Bren. The bad guys. But they can come here. Mani won’t talk to me. I don’t know what they’re doing. But I think they come here. The Murini Guild.”
“You’re saying the bad guys are going to attack here.”
“Yes! They want to catch us. We’re not safe in the house. Mani won’t talk to me. I don’t know if she called my father. But the Guild in Shejidan maybe sent everybody to the Marid.
So my father doesn’t have a lot of people, maybe. I don’t know if he can help.”
Toby looked at him soberly and finally had a sip of tea.
“Can we get nand’ Cenedi to give us guns?” Toby asked.
“You ask him. We get guns. We set booby traps in the halls, too. All sorts of things.”
“Where’d you learn that?” Toby asked him. “Booby traps?”
“On the ship. We used to make them. Safe ones. We can make bad ones.”
“I’ll bet you can.” Toby downed the rest of his tea in two large gulps. “We’re going upstairs, Barb. Help me get dressed. We need to talk with Cenedi. Cajeiri.”