Chapter 30 - Split Decisions

We didn’t stop running til we crossed into the outskirts of the unsheathing that split a gorge of broken buildings between Barrowdown and Hollowdown. I called a rest so that everyone could catch their breath. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how I was still on my feet. I’d overdrawn on the Deck of Wills, and I felt seven kinds of sick. Sick from drinking the night before. Sick from seeing men torn and chewed. Sick from exhaustion. And at least four kinds of sick from having that witch lick me and get off on the connection to the worst night of my life.

I was thoroughly unprepared for Mithra to pull my own knife from its sheath and put it under my chin. Even though I knew something was coming. Annalisa moved to take her from behind, but I held out a hand. I’d be dead before she got to us.

“I knew something was up after that reading,” I said. “You made a deal. You’re the one that sold us out to Mayaz.”

“It’s not like that,” she said. The dagger shook in her hand. Mithra looked every bit as exhausted as I felt, but her face was a picture of determined resolve. She held out her other hand. Lenise came and took it, standing behind Mithra. “I was going to help her get out. I still am. She wasn’t at the Mop by choice. I won’t let you take her back to Kridick.”

My temper flared. I twitched my hands toward my deck, but Mithra hissed and pressed the knife just a little closer to my throat. I scowled at the red devilborn. “You think I’d help Kridick now? He threw us to the sharks! Sent us to fetch Lenise and then left us to the mercy of Mother Mayaz when things went south.”

Mithra hesitated.

“Far as I’m concerned,” I said, “I never even saw Lenise tonight. Anna? How about you? You see Lenise?”

“Gone afore we got there,” said Annalisa. She still edged closer, looking for a way to get Mithra away from me.

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I twisted my head as much as I dared. “Gron? How about you? Lay eyes on Lenise?”

The dwarf looked up. Annalisa and I hadn’t been the only one left to die by Kridick’s right-hand man. “Nay, lad. One skinny knife-ear looks much like another. Who can tell?”

“Um, racist, but ok,” I said. I cocked my eyes to the rest of the talent. The other members of the Mop ‘n Bucket echoed their agreement. I saw something very much like gratitude in Mithra’s eyes. Carefully, I put my finger on the edge of the knife and pushed it down away from my chin. Mithra bit her lip, and Lenise squeezed her hand.

The tension released. And I felt the sudden calm resonate with a new suit in my deck. I tried not to let my face betray my shock. A fourth suit. I hadn’t unlocked any of its cards yet. Hells, I didn’t even know what suit it was, but the potential had stirred.

I huffed to cover my sharp intake of breath. “After tonight, I got more than a bone to pick with Kridick. I can’t take him in a fight. Not yet, anyway. But I’ve got his measure.” The knaves in my deck rattled with agreement. The old drork had all but stuck a knife in my back his own self. They demanded retribution. The dragons craved taking what was his, and the towers? Well, they were repulsed that he’d come so close to hurting us. It was incredible. I’d never felt the Wills behind the cards as clearly as I did right now.

Annalisa circled around to stand behind me. She put a hand on my shoulder and met Mithra’s eyes. “I’ll forgive you for putting a knife to my ward’s throat. Since you’re trying to help Lenise.”

After a moment, Gron did the same, though he just knuckled my upper arm. “Aye, reckon Kridick’s got what’s coming to him, after tonight.”

I looked at Mithra. “Kridick’s going to think it’s suspicious if you both disappear,” I said. “See you back at the Mop?”

Mithra tilted her head to the side. “Where’s that little boy who came in to place a bet he couldn’t afford?” she asked. “I don’t think I see him anymore.”

“Dragonmaw swallowed him up,” I said. “The city does that.”

She nodded. “It does.”

She turned and left without another word, heading north with Lenise. That route would take them back up to the upper city, if they didn’t double back to the docks to throw us off the trail. I knew the plane-touched woman probably still didn’t trust me. I wouldn’t trust me.

Kridick wouldn’t trust me, either. But it was still time to pay the drork a visit.