A few weeks ago, Nua would not risk sneaking so close to the junkyard in a midday sun. She preferred the red twilight of Sa'utu and its long shadows. Cast by the sparse ruins surrounding scrapyard's perimeter, they shielded her from unwanted sight.
The practice of sorcery made her bolder, if a little more reckless. Even if she met guards or gang members, and they decided to pay too much attention to her meager existence, she could flee them with ease. She was always nimble, and now, with reinforcement, she would be also faster. Of course, she needed to keep her distance in the first place. Otherwise, she could be easily overpowered, like recently by the lord merchant’s guards.
Her new skills would come in handy because once again she needed to get through the fence. Sapphire Leopard was located deep in the scrapyard, and Anki's reach wasn't long enough to spy as close as he wanted to. This time, he was after more information than what he could glean from the bird's view.
And by the farvision phenomenon, he just explained, he would relay it to her.
It was a new sorcerous trick, the usefulness of which was not lost on Nua. It was also obtained without effort, which made her feel like she cheated on her way to power. After the stark failure of her fish scheme, it was uplifting somehow, as if she managed to pull off a successful con after all.
Taking a seemingly disinterested stroll at some distance from the fence, she inspected her favorite entrances, starting with the familiar gap that she used the last time. To her surprise, it was patched with new planks, brighter than the others and visible from afar.
“I think we caused quite a mess,” she noticed. “This hole was open for the whole year and nobody cared.”
“I'd say we have uncovered scrap too valuable to share with its usual collectors”, Anki muttered. “Do you know of others?”
“Easily so,” said Nua. “Some are hidden behind the bushes.”
“Does this barrier serve any tangible purpose except for a psychological deterrent?”
“You're forgetting my size.“, Nua said. “And the guards.”, she pointed at the patrol in the distance, two armed men with their bronze lamellar armor gleaming in the sunlight. “It will take me time to find a place they're not watching.” She looked up at the fence, judging its spiked top. It looked very unfriendly. “Nope, no reinforced climbing just yet. I could do it if I had to, but I don’t. Also, my back hurts.”
Anki noticed the hint of accusation, but he didn't take the bait. Oh well. She should not expect any conscience from a former tyrant. He said that he did not change her, not exactly – but something was changing, and that thought still unsettled her.
Nua did not feel all that different. If not for the incident in lord merchant's office, she wouldn't even notice. It happened… gradually, that was the word. She was still very definitely herself.
She had time to ponder on it, though, and now she was aware of the subtle changes. Like, things were sticking. Before, her memory resembled a sieve. If she wanted to really think about something – for example, Anki's thirst for vengeance and its possible consequences– she needed to catch and collect stray thoughts, one by one. Any day was a jumbled patchwork of events, and the details were fuzzy the next morning. Whatever scared or worried her would be quickly gone from her platter. Out of sight, out of mind.
Now, the world gained clarity that made her heart pound when she focused on it. Time became less fragmented. Insights, that surprised Anki before, happened more often. Nua was always thinking in pictures, but now she was gaining words to accompany them. Sometimes, she felt like she was standing on the riverbank, looking into the distance. En was so wide that you couldn’t see the opposite shore, even in the light of the Great Utu. Was that how other people saw the future? No wonder Hala was so worried all the time.
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Was it a good thing, to be smart?
“Anki? What is the word for the place where the sky and water meet? Like, very far away?”
“Horizon?” The spirit gave her a surprised look.
“Yeah, I guess that was that. Thanks. Just thinking. Oh, look. We’re there.”
The gap was thoroughly masked by a tamarisk bush in full bloom, bumblebees buzzing in the midst. Usually, it was a favorite hanging spot of the Mekhet's Sons gang, but they were not around. Maybe the mage-engineer's minions were extra vigilant at scaring off the regulars. No guards in sight, Nua sneaked through. Easy. Too easy.
The area was located not that far from the official entrance, where the trash wagons went, and so the garbage mounds were quite fresh, not covered in shrubs or patches of grass. Some of them still smelled. This was where Mekhet’s Sons went on a treasure hunt when the refuse from rich households appeared. If they were not outside, they could be scattered around, treading their usual paths. Hunched behind a broken barrel, Nua looked for any sign of the gangsters’ presence. Sure enough, there was a fat plume of smoke rising behind the nearest mound.
“How far do I need to get in? Because we need to go around.”
“I'd say five or ten small hourglasses into the scrapyard,” Anki calculated. "That should be enough. Wait here. I’ll scout for you, then we’ll do a trial run, so you’re not surprised when we’re there.”
He meant farvision.
Nua nodded and waited while he floated away. After a while, she experienced a barely perceptible, red-golden sense of tugging on her ether reserves – their ether reserves, if one needed to be precise. Despite anticipating it, when the images appeared, she almost launched into a run on a reflex.
Just like Anki explained before, a window opened in the air and an image of the gang’s temporary encampment showed up close. Three burly men, with bad teeth and shifty eyes, were sitting beside a fire pit. She knew their faces, if not their names, and they were too close in sight for her comfort. The farvision was working as intended, though, and nobody was looking in her direction. Nua gave out a long breath and calmed herself.
By the look of it, Mekhet’s Sons were drinking ale. One of them held a long pipe in his fingers, the sort used for smoking the poppy resin. Judging from their loud behavior, they must have been at it for a while. That was not typical. It was still early and even if they were taking a break, or watching over others, they should be sober. Apparently, they weren’t interested in their usual hunt, and they had money to burn.
Someone paid them.
“Do you hear me, Nua? Is everything working?”
“Yes.” She took a deep breath. “Scout around, Anki. Not sure if that’s all of them. I guess we’re good, though. I think the mage hired them to keep an eye for intruders.”
“More likely, he paid them off so they don’t become intruders themselves.”, Anki mused. “The way they are now, you’d have to stump directly into the camp, singing, for them to notice. There’s never too much caution, though.”
She waited until he scouted her a safe passage, then followed.
They were using a shortcut, a less frequented path cutting straight into the ancient scrapyard territory. Without Anki’s assistance, she would not dare. They needed to avoid local fauna like snakes, mutant rodents or scorpions, unstable terrain, pockets of poisonous air, or the corroded explosive war machine parts lying in wait – all the usual traps that prevented careless exploration and made people keep to well-trodden paths. Fortunately, she didn’t need to go all the way in. After about a quarter hourglass - Nua couldn’t care less about counting time, but Anki did that ceaselessly, like an annoying bookkeeper – they found a safe spot between two grass and mud-covered mounds. A frame of an ancient war carriage was sticking out from the ground.
“Do not get distracted”, Anki warned, when Nua cast an interested glance at the machine.
“It’s too corroded anyway”, she determined. “Not a piece of good scrap. Are we close enough?”
“We are.” The king said. “I am grateful for the opportunity. It will give me priceless insight into their machinations. I do not think that those half-wits can succeed at subverting my ushumgar for their own use, but as I said, there’s never too much caution.”
His voice was unsteady, however.