He should’ve known they’d ride past the site of his old home, close as it was to the main barracks. He should’ve told Aris to go a different way, ride around it, avoid it. Maybe he’d hoped someone had rebuilt on it, and he could pass it by, forgotten.

It had been forgotten. By everyone else. Weeds, waist deep, grew around and over the charred remains of the cottage he’d once called home. Most of the house itself had been piled up to one side of the section, but then, it seemed, whoever it was had lost interest.

Jonas didn’t know if he wanted to rage or cry.

But he couldn’t ride by without at least acknowledging what had once been. He steered Chino over to the wreckage and ruin. The members of their escort that had been walking beside and behind him grizzled at the sudden departure, but no one made a real issue of it. Horses snorted behind him, feet shuffled, but all came to a halt.

He rode Chino up to the old garden fence. They’d had a garden. Well, Kierra had kept one. Jonas had enjoyed her rewards when he’d been around.

Creepers smothered wildflowers trying to make a mark on the otherwise depressing sight, making it that little bit more dismal.

He hadn’t been there for her. They’d been married because that was the thing to do when a Syakaran woman was found. Keep the line pure. Keep the line strong. And he’d had every intention of making her happy. If they were going to be married, they were going to be that happy old couple walking hand-in-hand, smiling at the young-uns rushing about without a care.

But he’d still been in a rush.

He wanted to fill his pa’s boots, he wanted to please Aris, he wanted to earn the respect of his fellow officers, and he wanted to be a good husband. So many caps. One of them had to slip.

Llew brought her horse alongside Chino. The two horses touched noses, chatting like they were old friends.

He watched Llew take in the scene, all serious intent with no understanding. Then her face went slack.

“Is this …?”

He nodded.

“They burned it?”

“Braph did.”

“Of course.” The two words were laced with everything Llew felt about the man. She surveyed the scene. “I’m sorry.”

Maybe it wasn’t so bad sharing this part of his life with Llew, after all.

Returning to his position within the troop, he caught Cadyn’s eye. She gave nothing more than a tiny nod.

Jonas had caused a lot of hurt in his life. Maybe there was a chance to redeem himself, yet.

----------------------------------------

The buildings seemed to get bigger, though Llew couldn’t tell for sure in the dark. The horseshoe echoes came back at them from more directions than left and right. Llew looked up to see if the buildings blocked the stars, only to find that the smog did that well enough. Her stomach growled. It had been many hours since lunch, but they were too close to their destination to warrant stopping.

A door banged open, and a group of young men laughed their way down concrete stairs. They were still laughing as they stumbled across the riders’ path. One tripped, catching himself before he kissed the pavement, still laughing. One of his friends went back to help him up. Another turned and stopped, staring as the riders went through.

“Is that—?” he began, following Jonas’s progress.

The riders continued.

A tall concrete wall amongst brick and concrete buildings, the Barracks was an unassuming place against the backdrop of Taither. They pulled up outside a heavy, wooden double gate set into the wall. Aris turned his horse side-on and rang a large bell.

They waited.

A scrape announced the opening of a peephole at standing eye-height. Aris bent forward in his saddle to peer through.

Llew didn’t hear if he said anything, but the cover was quickly shut and another metallic rasping was followed by a booming thud, then one of the doors eased open on silent hinges.

“Aris!” A dark-skinned, dark-haired woman smiled broadly at the captain. Then, “Jonas!” She walked up to Jonas, clasped his hand, and dipped her forehead to it reverently.

“Gilana.” Jonas bobbed his head.

Then the soldier saw Hisham.

“Hisham!” She walked over to the Karan lieutenant with her arms spread wide. As she neared him, she beckoned for him to lean down, and they embraced as well as people can when one is on foot and the other on horseback.

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“Good to see you, too, Gilana,” he said.

“Better damned well hope so.” Gilana slapped him on the shoulder as she stepped back from him. “Come on. Everyone’ll be pleased to know you’ve returned.”

“We’re here on official business, sergeant,” Aris said as he turned his horse ready to enter the compound.

“Yes, sir.” Gilana put fingertips to temple. “They’re waiting for you, sir.” She bid them enter with a flourish, winking at Hisham as he passed.

Their group made the barracks’ stable yard feel cramped. Stable hands emerged to take the horses and, as Amico was led away, Llew was suddenly well aware of the distance between her and Anya. Jonas shook hands and shared a few words with the steady stream of soldiers coming out to greet them. Many of those soldiers spared brief, mistrustful looks at Llew before standing to one side, hands behind backs, awaiting further instruction. Jonas returned to Llew’s side, lightly touching a hand to her back before standing like the soldiers around them.

Cadyn and her crew were dismissed as now off-duty officers, and they headed for the mess-hall for a well-deserved meal and good night’s sleep.

Llew felt every mile of hostile territory between her and anyone remotely on her side. Kara surrounded her. Vests full of knives. Crossbows at hips. No Syakaran knives, though, once Cadyn was gone. That was some relief. Brief as it was.

A soldier sauntered arrogantly up to Aris. Llew might have said ‘swaggering’, but the man’s high boots and long, medaled, dress jacket suggested a class beyond swagger. The white handle hanging from his hip glowed in the airy moonlight.

“Captain.” The mustachioed man nodded to Aris.

“Lieutenant general,” Aris acknowledged the man in return.

The new arrival placed himself beside Aris as he observed all those gathered in the yard. He dipped his head to share a few words with Aris.

Military ranks were lost on Llew, but whether the man officially outranked him or not, it seemed Aris was in charge. The other man bent at the waist to listen to Aris’s instruction. The lieutenant general nodded and straightened. He and Aris surveyed the soldiers around them. Then Aris made a gesture.

Something thumped Llew in the chest, reminding her of the ache she’d felt when watching Karlani with Jonas. She looked to Jonas now. He was looking at two crossbow bolts in his hand, confused. He turned to her, and his face went slack.

She looked down.

A crossbow bolt shaft protruded from her shirt, which meant the tip was … the tip was …

… suddenly one of three.

She stumbled back a step. Her chest ached. Her head clouded. Heat radiated from her belly.

“Llew!” Jonas flung aside the bolts he held and caught her as her legs gave way. He pulled the bolts free, ripping her apart. At least, that’s how it felt. But he couldn’t heal her with the bolts still in place. He pressed his hand to where her jaw met her throat.

As she died, she began to live again.

The familiar tingling started under his palm, prickled under his fingers. Her faltering heart fluttered, shuddered, then found its rhythm again as it reformed. She gasped, that first breath painful and exhilarating at the same time. Jonas pulled her into him. He trembled, leaning into her. Weak.

Bodies moved in around them. Hands gripped her. But Llew was strong. She pulled, she wriggled. But there were, how many? Eight? Nine? Probably all Kara. Their leather-gloved fingers dug in, bruising. Her hands were forced behind her back and cold metal closed around her wrists. Rough, gloved fingers still gripped her arms.

Jonas, too, was grappled, pulled to his feet, and shackled. He struggled, but he was weakened.

Quaver had used her power against him.

Jonas found sporadic strength, growling, and struggling, only to have Karan soldiers clamber over him to hold him down. He faltered under their assault.

“Aris!” he cried out.

Llew couldn’t tell if it was an accusation or a plea.

Like her, his hands were pulled behind him and chained together.

Hisham looked pained but didn’t move from his post amongst the rest of the Karan host. Aris stepped out from where he had been standing and came up between them. Shadowing him, Karlani wore a slight smile on her lips.

“The Aenuk is an enemy of the state,” said Aris. “She is to be held in custody until we reach a decision on what to do with her.”

“She’s Syaenuk, Aris!” Jonas growled. “She’s special. And she’s carryin’ my baby!”

“Yes.” Aris turned on his heels. “You are under arrest for fraternizing with an enemy. You will be retained in custody until a decision has been reached regarding your future.”

“Bastard!” Llew felt she should say something.

“Take them away,” said Aris, not sparing a glance for Llew.

Jonas struggled against his captors. Only a few could keep a grip on him at a time while they were walking. But for every one he knocked aside, another was ready to step in. They surrounded him, hands gripping arms or weighing down his shoulders. Perhaps if they had been ordinary men and women, he might have broken free. But they were Kara, each stronger than the average in their own right. And his strength had been taken. By Llew.

They were led through a brick archway into dingy darkness. A soldier went ahead, lighting infrequent candles for the rest to follow.

As they moved down stairwells, Jonas renewed his fight. Llew couldn’t see, but the grunts, groans, shouts and thumps were clear. Every now and then someone reminded him it would be much easier if he didn’t fight.

Llew tugged against her metal restraints, but only succeeded in drawing her own blood. Of course, the Quavens were prepared for that, all well-covered and gloved. She ducked and twisted, trying to free herself from their grip, but in such a tight space and surrounded, she didn’t have the room to put her extra strength and speed to use. Hands and bodies closed in around her.

Metal squealed, and she was shoved into a cell. Three walls were stone, one a row of bars barely wide enough for Llew to fit her arm through past the elbow.

The barred gate swung closed with a resounding clang and was locked. They hadn’t untied her hands.

“This is a mistake, Llew!” Jonas said, as all the soldiers surrounded him to move him farther along the corridor. “I’ll get us out.”

His attempts to fight free remained ineffective as the posse of soldiers closed around him, moving him through an archway and out of sight and earshot.

Llew wandered her cage, hands still tied behind her. There was a dankness and odor about the space she couldn’t escape. Water – or something – trickled somewhere. More dripped elsewhere. She almost laughed, thrown back, as she was, to her hours spent with Cassidy. But the occupants down here didn’t need to be kept dry. They weren’t dead. Yet. Soon, her eyes adjusted to the dark enough to see the lighter lines of mortar between the bricks and the darker lines between the floor cobbles.

Shuffling feet and occasional shouts echoed from the direction the soldiers had taken Jonas until a heavy clanging cut it off.