Coldmaker(95)

It was my turn to falter. ‘Langria is real?’

Shilah’s face lit up.

Leroi looked guilty for a moment. ‘Yes. But it’s not what you think. Hurry, we need to g—’

A thunderous knock boomed through the tinkershop.

All three of our heads turned, another crash resonating not long after.

‘Hide,’ Leroi gasped, grabbing the anklet off the desk. ‘Now!’

I grabbed the Coldmaker and started running towards our hideaway. Shilah pushed the table off, opened the grate, and allowed me and the machine to go into the space first. She tucked herself in, making her body small. The booming on the main door grew louder with each passing moment. Leroi made sure we were completely hidden before racing towards the stairs. He undid the chain, and a swarm of bodies marched in.

Dread filled my stomach as Lord Tavor’s voice filled the room. ‘Leroi. You know why I am here. You have gone too far this time.’

Without so much as a greeting, Lord Tavor swept past Leroi and marched down the stairs.

‘Wait, cousin!’ Leroi shouted, following behind. ‘I have your anklet right here. Where are you going?’

Footsteps strode across the tinkershop, using no cane this time. They went towards the study first and then to the nooks and shelves of the main workshop. Lord Tavor crossed the room with the fury and speed of a sandstorm.

I held my breath as I watched the others come down the stairs and move into view. I could make out two pairs of taskmaster feet, and what looked like a large battering ram. In the middle were Cam’s buckled slippers. But worst of all, in front was a pair of black sandals, hot oil dripping at the heels.

She was here.

She’d found us.

I clutched the Coldmaker even more tightly, praying silently. If Leroi couldn’t protect us then I hoped he could at the very least protect the machine. It was too valuable to be destroyed now, and I felt around the crawl-space to see if there was perhaps enough boilweed to make a cover, so at least they might not notice it when they opened the grate and wrung our throats.

‘Stop!’ Leroi shouted. ‘I have the anklet for you.’

‘If I find that it’s here …’ Lord Tavor hissed in reply.

‘It is here.’

‘Not the anklet, you blathering fool! You know what I mean. Your little slave assistant—’

‘—Is dead.’ Leroi interrupted. ‘When you had her head cut off.’

Horror swept through me at his words.

‘That’s what you get when you’re a dirty Jadan thief.’ Lord Tavor’s voice was filled with grim humour. ‘And now another one of them is missing, again. My son claims he knows nothing. None of my slaves seem to know anything. And after everything our esteemed Vicaress put them through, I believe them.’

I felt my stomach clench at the thought of all the Jadans in the Manor being tortured by the Vicaress over the missing Frost. I would have my revenge for them. I needed to survive this, so I might one day watch the Vicaress scream.

‘I don’t know what to tell you,’ Leroi responded. ‘Look all you want. It’s not here.’

Lord Tavor stepped over to the table above our grate, stopping so close that his sandals were inches from my eyes. My heart began to beat so wildly, I wondered if it could be heard resonating in the room. ‘This is where you make them? The anklets?’

‘Yes,’ Leroi said, with an audible gulp.

I heard Lord Tavor pick something up from the table, but eventually his feet moved away. ‘Leroi, you know the Khat’s illustrious niece.’

I knew he meant the Vicaress.

‘I told her about your anklets, and she’s impressed with your design,’ Lord Tavor said. ‘And she wants to commission you. This will bring the Tavor family great prestige.’

‘Is that right?’ Leroi said, keeping his tone even.

‘Yes. There have been problems in the slave barracks lately,’ the Vicaress said in a smooth voice. ‘And your invention is genius. Anklets that must be turned with a key every twelve hours or the vial breaks inside and acid melts their skin off. It’s inspired. And it’s the kind of threat the Crier needs to put the Jadans back in line.’

‘How many do you need?’ asked Leroi.

‘I’m glad to see you comply, Leroi. I’ve come to expect more resistance from you.’ Lord Tavor’s voice was coldly appraising.

Leroi took a deep breath. ‘For the good of the Khatdom. Praise be to his name.’

‘Praise be to the Khat,’ the Vicaress said with passion.

‘I’ll get started right away,’ Leroi said. ‘Now, please, if you’ll leave me to my work.’

‘But you haven’t even heard how many?’ Lord Tavor remarked derisively.

‘No, you’re quite right. How many?’

The Vicaress was the one to reply. ‘Considering the workload this represents, we will start with head Jadans. I will need one for each barracks’ head Jadan. The population has been getting uppity ever since the Cleansing. And we can’t be too careful after finding that cave garden.’

Leroi clenched his teeth. ‘You want a hundred anklets?’

‘Ninety-nine,’ the Vicaress corrected him calmly. ‘I’ve already taken care of the Healer in barracks forty-five last night. Can you believe a Jadan had the gall to gather a group and openly talk about rebellion? And as chance will have it, his son was my missing Jadan as well. He wouldn’t tell me where the child was, but I found illegal items in his quarters. It seemed very much to me that he had undertaken illicit tinkering activity. So I killed him in front of the whole barracks. I think they now know better than to defy the Khat’s orders.’