Drawn in Ash, page 39
An uncomfortable silence fell on the table. Both of them stared at the scriber. What should she do now? She had delivered the device. As far as she was concerned, she could get up and leave the bar and forget that she had spent any time with Quartus. But the thought of retreating didn’t sit well with her.
They both reached for the scriber at the same time, their fingers brushing.
He looked up at her and frowned. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m going to go see what’s in that factory.”
Quartus laughed. “You don’t even know where it is.”
“Then you can show me.”
“Forget it. I’m not putting you in harm’s way. I saw the pictures from the state dinner, the way you and Narius were looking at each other while you were dancing. What do you think he’d do to me if something happened to you now?”
Everys’s cheeks burned at the thought of the dance, the walk in the garden, the almost kiss. But she shoved those awkward yet pleasant memories aside. “You seem to forget, whoever is behind this tried to have me killed. I have a stake in this too. And I’m coming with you whether you like it or not.”
He studied her face before groaning. “I’m going to regret this. Fine. Let’s get going.” He pushed away from the table. “Stoophawk, you and the boys get the truck ready. We’re going to hit that factory tonight.”
Stoophawk and his friends let out a quiet whoop and started for the door. But the Ixactl hesitated and nodded toward Everys. “The pebble too? That a good idea, Qulinus?”
Quartus favored her with a wry smile. “You wanna try talking her out of it? Trust me, we’ll just be wasting time. She goes.”
Stoophawk shrugged and headed for the door. Everys started to follow, but Quartus snared her by the arm and pulled her close.
“Don’t make me regret this decision,” he whispered.
She hoped she wouldn’t regret it either.
60
Stoophawk’s gang had a transport, one that was used to deliver produce, waiting in the alley behind the Bloodied Blade. Once they had all clambered into the back, one of Stoophawk’s friends drove them out onto the empty streets and headed for the warehouse.
The drive didn’t last long, which was good. The back of the transport lacked any safety harnesses or seats. More than once, Everys was thrown onto Stoophawk or Quartus or one of the others. All of them brushed aside her apologies, but it happened so often that Everys started to wonder if the driver was doing it intentionally. But then the vehicle slowed to a stop, and the driver pounded on the cab’s back wall.
Quartus turned to Stoophawk. “You and the boys go check it out. I’ll stay here with her.”
Stoophawk nodded and his gang slipped out the back, disappearing into the night.
“How did you wind up with these... gentlemen?” Everys wasn’t sure what else to call them.
“They used to work for a petty crime lord named Plion based out of Beyond-the-Wall. He ran the... establishment that Redtale found me in.” He cleared his throat. “Turns out, he’s the one who had me drugged, then planted the evidence that linked me to Viscount Orsin and the assassins.”
She gaped at him. “How did you figure that out?”
“Please. I may have been drinking, but not so much that I’d pass out. I suspected from the beginning someone drugged me. I went back to find out who. The girl I had been with told me about Plion. When I confronted him, he tried to have Stoophawk and his crew ‘dissuade’ me from asking questions.” He shrugged. “I made them a better offer.”
“With what?” Everys asked. “Didn’t Narius confiscate your wealth?”
Quartus glowered at her. “Thanks for the reminder. No, I bested Plion in a duel.”
“You what?”
He shrugged. “I proved that I was the better warrior in personal combat. Once I won, Stoophawk and his crew swore their loyalty to me. And they helped me persuade Plion to tell me what he knew.”
“Which was what?”
“That someone paid him a lot of blades to come to this factory, get some drugs to slip into my drink, and get a data card that he was to leave in my pocket. According to him, the money was too good to pass up.”
“Why didn’t you bring this back to the palace? Tell Narius what happened?”
“Outlaw, remember? Just showing up at the palace would have been a death sentence. Besides, it was a story told to me by a criminal, and I didn’t have any corroborating evidence.” He nodded toward the back of the transport. “Why do you think I want to get into this factory?”
That made sense. Given how angry Narius had been—how angry she had been—there was no way that anyone would have believed this story. But maybe, if there was actual evidence of his innocence, the right thing to do would be to find it and clear his name.
Something hit the side of the transport, and Stoophawk’s face appeared in the opening. “All clear, Qulinus.”
Quartus gestured for her to go first. She did, and she was surprised when Stoophawk offered her a hand to help her down. The Ixactl led them out of the alley, motioning for them to stay low as they scurried to where the rest of the gang was hiding behind a parked transport.
Everys risked a peek around the vehicle to study the factory. Unlike TelleGlin’s facility in Dropport, this was what she expected a factory in Bastion should look like: A towering, dingy building with smokestacks that stabbed at the night sky. Most of the windows were boarded over, and the walls were covered in grime and graffiti in equal measures.
“Any guards?” Quartus whispered.
“None that we saw. What’s the plan?”
Quartus mopped a hand across his chin, then turned to his friends. “Everys and I will slip around to the back of the factory and go in through the loading dock we scouted last time we were here. You boys up for a little distraction to cover us?”
Some of Stoophawk’s men nodded, but the Ixactl looked worried. “Didn’t you say that there could be heavily armed folks in there, Qulinus? What if we make a ruckus and they come out shootin’?”
Apparently Quartus hadn’t thought of that, given the way he hemmed and hawed. Everys sighed. Might as well make herself useful.
She slipped out of the hiding place and started across the street.
“What are you doing?” Quartus whispered.
“I’ll be right back. Get ready to move.”
Everys jogged across the street and quickly spotted the surveillance cams along the factory’s second story. She moved parallel to the building, hoping that it looked like she wasn’t up to anything. Then she angled for six large storage tanks standing on metallic legs on the edge of the factory’s lot. Perfect. As near as she could tell, they would block the view of the cams on the building. That would have to do.
Once she was confident she was out of sight, she ducked between two of the tanks and fished out one of her pens. She hated using the ink for something like this, but it was better than Stoophawk and his men risking their lives. Snapping the pen in half, she winced as the acrid odor overwhelmed her. Then she daubed some ink onto her finger and set to work, tracing a rune on the legs holding up one of the tanks. She frowned as she worked. It had been a while since she had used this rune, but she was pretty sure she got the details right. As soon as she had painted all four legs, she moved on to the next tank. Then the next, drawing the same set of runes on all six tanks.
As soon as she finished, Everys hustled back across the street, ducked behind another transport, and waited. From down the block, Quartus and his men waved for her to get back over to them, but she signaled for them to wait. Any moment now...
The runes didn’t activate all at once, which was disappointing, but she had apparently remembered the design correctly. With a shriek of metal, the legs underneath the tanks dissolved. The tanks wobbled, and then toppled, smashing into each other before crashing to the pavement with a thunderous roar.
But Everys didn’t watch the destruction. She sprinted back to Quartus’s hiding place, figuring that anyone watching the surveillance footage would be paying more attention to the wreckage than a lone woman running down the street.
“What did you do?” Quartus asked softly, staring at the broken tanks with wide eyes.
She smiled and hid her hands behind her back. Hopefully he wouldn’t smell the ink. “Caused a distraction. Let’s go.”
Stoophawk laughed and led the way, his men creating a screen around Everys and Quartus. The former prince seemed too distracted by what had happened. He stared at the smashed tanks before shaking his head and following the rest of the group.
They skirted around the factory with Stoophawk leading the way. Once they were on the other side, the Ixactl led them to a ramp that led to a basement loading dock. Quartus signaled for the group to stop.
“New plan: you stay up here and keep an eye on things. Everys and I will go inside and see what’s going on. If there’s any sign of trouble, get out of here.”
Stoophawk bristled. “We ain’t gonna leave you on your own.”
Quartus placed a hand on Stoophawk’s shoulders. “If we’re caught, I doubt there’s much you could do about it. So save yourself.”
From his expression, Stoophawk didn’t like the idea. But he didn’t argue. Instead, he nodded once, then motioned for the rest of his companions to spread out around the back of the factory.
Quartus turned to her and made a sweeping gesture down the ramp. “After you.”
The two of them hurried down the ramp. At the bottom, there was a large rolling door at chest height, perfect for loading a transport. But there was also a regular door at the top of a set of concrete stairs with a small metal box next to it. As soon as they reached the top of the stairs, Quartus pulled out the scriber and handed it to her, then worked on opening the box.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
“When we scouted this place, I discovered that I could access the factory’s mainframe from this juncture,” he said. “But like I said, I couldn’t penetrate the system’s firewall. I’m hoping Tormod’s bag of tricks will help.”
He yanked the cover off the box, exposing a mess of wires and data ports. He held out his hand for the scriber and, once she had handed it to him, set to work deftly splicing it into the system. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, Everys was impressed. He obviously knew his way around this system. After a few minutes of work, Quartus powered on the scriber.
“Let’s hope this works.” He clicked a few buttons, then fell silent.
Everys reached into her pocket and wrapped her fingers around her two remaining pens. Hopefully she wouldn’t need them.
Quartus let out a soft laugh. “I’m in. Checking the security system...” He frowned. “Look at this.”
He angled the scriber so she could see the screen. The image was tiny yet crisp as he cycled through what appeared to be different views from security cameras. Most of those views were very similar: large, empty spaces, although a few rooms had the remains of decaying machines. Then there were brief flashes of empty offices and hallways before the cycle started over again.
“What’s the matter?” she whispered.
“I don’t see any evidence that this is being used as the headquarters of some conspiracy, do you?”
She frowned as well. Now that he mentioned it, no. She didn’t even spot anyone guarding the factory. “Do you think there’s a secret entrance somewhere inside?”
He grimaced. “That’s entirely likely, but that could take hours of searching to locate. Maybe even days.” He hesitated. “Unless...”
Quartus pulled the scriber back to him and set to work. Sweat beaded across his forehead, and he winced a few times, but then he turned to his left, toward the bare wall of the factory’s foundation and...
There was an audible click, followed by a hiss, then stone scraped against stone. Part of the wall slipped backwards, then rose, revealing a metal door. Everys braced herself, waiting for the door to open. But nothing happened. She and Quartus stood in the quiet, the only sound the clicking of keys on the scriber as Quartus worked.
“Are you going to open the door?” Everys asked.
“I’m trying. I was able to open the outer shell, but the encryption on this door is proving trickier...”
Another click, another sigh, and the metal doors started to slide open. Everys offered Quartus a congratulatory grin, but his eyes had gone wide.
“I didn’t do that,” he whispered.
The door revealed a burly man in tan fatigues. He held a hand to his ear. “—checking on what tripped the outer perimeter right—”
His eyes widened, and his gaze ricocheted from Everys to Quartus and back again. He shouted something inarticulate and reached for his weapon.
Everys moved swiftly. She yanked a pen from her pocket and snapped it in half. But there was no way she could paint a rune fast enough. “Quartus! Move!”
Her shout snapped him out of his shock. He dropped the scriber and charged forward, slamming his shoulder into the man’s stomach. The two fell back through the door in a tangle of limbs.
“Hold him still!” Everys daubed some ink onto her finger and hurried through the door.
Quartus and the guard struggled on the floor of a small elevator, their limbs tangled. The man flipped Quartus on his back and wrapped his hands around the former prince’s neck.
Everys leapt onto the guards back and started drawing. It was going to be sloppy, but she didn’t have much choice. He thrashed against her, but she held on with her left arm while she drew with her right hand. Just a few strokes, then the silent command to activate and...
The man’s strength drained out of him, and he collapsed onto Quartus, unconscious. Everys breathed out a sigh of relief. Thankfully the sleeping rune was a simple one, otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to draw it so quickly and—
“Can you please get off me?” Quartus’s words were little more than a groan.
She gasped and rolled off the man’s body, then helped Quartus free himself. He dusted himself off and frowned at the guard, then at Everys. “What did you do?”
Then his gaze fell on the broken halves of the pen on the elevator floor. His eyes widened, and they shot to Everys’s hand. She looked down as well, seeing the stain of ink on her fingers.
“You’re... You’re a... a...” he whispered.
She braced herself. Would he attack her? Or shout for his men?
Instead, he swallowed hard. “Does Narius know?”
Everys nodded. “For a few weeks now.”
He frowned. “Well, thank you. I’m sure it pained you to save me, but I appreciate it all the same.”
She had to force herself to keep from smiling. “That almost sounded authentic.”
“It almost was.” He looked down at the guard. “How long will he be out?”
She winced. That was a good question. “I don’t think it’ll last long. I had to work quickly.”
He nodded absently, then knelt next to the man. He disarmed him, tucking the gun into the waistband of his pants, then rifled through his pockets. Quartus pulled out an ID, which he handed to Everys. Then he stepped out of the elevator. “Stoophawk! I need some help down here.”
Everys startled and quickly snatched up the broken halves of the pen, stashing them in her pocket. Hopefully the ink wouldn’t stain her clothes too badly.
Stoophawk lumbered down the ramp and let out a low whistle when he saw the unconscious guard. “You okay, boss?”
Quartus nodded. “Thanks to the lady, yes. But I need you to keep this one under wraps for a while. Okay?”
The Ixactl offered Everys an appraising look, then shrugged and hefted the sleeping man over his shoulder. Without comment, he went back up the ramp.
Once he was gone, Quartus turned back to her. “Are you ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
He motioned for them to enter the elevator. There were no controls, just a small black box set at waist height. Everys waved the guard’s ID over the box. With a soft ding, the doors closed and the elevator descended.
Everys blew out a shaky breath, then she realized: she hadn’t been rebuked. Not even a twinge. Did that mean the Singularity was okay with what she had done? With what she was doing and might do? Only one way to find out.
61
They rode in the elevator much longer than Everys had expected. It felt like they had dropped ten floors, maybe more, before the elevator came to a gentle halt and the doors opened. Quartus held up a hand and peeked through the doors. He bit off a curse and yanked the guard’s gun out of his waistband.
“Surrender now!” He hurried out of the car.
Everys risked a peek herself. Apparently Quartus had surprised another guard. The woman had her hands out in surrender, glaring swords at him.
“Can you knock her out too?” Quartus asked.
Everys nodded and stepped forward. She pulled out half of the broken pen and smeared more ink on her finger. The woman flinched away from her, but at a grunt from Quartus, the guard went still. Everys was able to apply the ink more carefully, tracing out a rune that would render the guard unconscious for eight hours. As soon as it was done and activated, the woman slumped to the floor.
The immediate threat taken care of, she took a moment to examine her surroundings. They stood in a cramped room, just a box with the elevator behind them and what appeared to be thick metal doors in front of them. There was a large mirror to their right and three metal cabinets in the wall to their left.
Quartus eyed their surroundings, then looked at the mirror. He nodded once, then opened fire on it. The flechettes embedded themselves in the glass, but it didn’t shatter.
“Thought so. That’s where they monitor the folks who come in here. If I had to guess, those are remote guns in the boxes.” He jerked a thumb toward the cabinets.
“So you decided to test your theory by shooting at the glass?”
