The burglar of sliceharb.., p.27
The Burglar of Sliceharbor, page 27
part #4 of Edgewhen Series
He asked, “You think they caught the Too-Tall brothers yet?”
“I don’t know,” Gusty said. “Stormy Colorpot and Woto will be watching out for them if they try to show up at the docks.”
“Right,” said Bendoko. “Right. I hope they caught them.”
Gusty grunted.
“What about that senator? Do you think they might catch him with the Sun Scroll?”
“Not a chance,” Gusty said.
“You sure?”
“Pretty sure. Senator Aura said they searched his suite thoroughly.”
“He has a suite?”
“Yeah. In the Senatorial Palace. They all do.”
“Oh,” said Bendoko. “That explains how he got to the library so easily. I bet his suite is right next door.”
“No,” said Gusty. “The suites are in the other wing.”
“But his is closest to the library, right?”
“No. He’s one door down.”
“Window on the front side of the building or the garden side?”
“Garden side.” Gusty remembered sketching it out with Aura Wisebrow. “But why does it matter, Crane?”
“Oh, just making sure it was him, you know. Wanted to be sure he could get to the library from there.”
Gusty wasn’t buying it. “You wanted to break into his suite and look for the Sun Scroll.”
The Crane shrugged.
“It’s a nice thought,” Gusty said. “But the scroll’s not there. It’s on his ship in the harbor, probably guarded by dozens of greenscarves. We aren’t going to get it back.”
“All right,” Bendoko said.
Gusty thought, First he steals the Sun Scroll and now he wants to steal it back. Tisha’s right: Sometimes the Crane is almost honest.
* * *
That night, two messengers left the inn.
The first messenger was Pious Rock. He stayed on the roads, walked through the moonlit streets of Sliceharbor, and arrived at the docks with a message for the captain of the ambassador’s ship: Be prepared to leave at sunrise.
The second messenger was a sailor in the Republican Navy disguised as a cotton merchant. She also went to the Sliceharbor docks, and her message was for Captain Tu: The ambassador’s party is returning on the Moko River Road.
10 Yellowmonth
“Tisha? Tisha?”
The Crane’s voice sliced through Tisha’s sleep like an iron saw through a sheet of copper.
What was he doing here? This was supposed to be her own private room.
“Tisha, you better get up,” he pleaded. “The Queenies are leaving with us or without us.”
Tisha checked her breastband to be sure she was decently covered. Then she sat up.
Bendoko’s skinny outline stood in the doorway to the lamplit hallway.
“Dammit, Crane, couldn’t you knock?”
“I did knock. You didn’t answer.”
Tisha shook her head. It felt like it was full of sand.
“What if I’d been sleeping naked?” she asked.
“Who sleeps naked in an inn?”
“Hmf,” she said, stumbling toward her armor. She found it by feel. The room was dark.
“You sure it’s morning?” she asked.
“I’ll tell Gusty you’re coming,” he said. “Maybe he can convince the Queenies to wait for you.”
Tisha put on her uniform, the ache in her arm reminding her to be careful lifting the helmet. She’d be glad to return to Sliceharbor. With luck, she could be home in time for breakfast, and then she could go back to sleep.
But as she tightened her weapons belt, she remembered what she’d overheard the ambassador say to Pious Rock last night: Tell the captain to be prepared to leave at sunrise.
That didn’t give Tisha time to tell anyone that the Queenies had the Sun Scroll. And that was probably why the ambassador was in such a hurry.
Tisha nearly ran out of the inn.
Good. They hadn’t left yet.
Pious was sitting on the ambassador’s travel chest. Clever was standing beside the ambassador. Bendoko was standing alone, slapping at mosquitoes and shuffling his feet in the dust of the road.
Gusty raised his eyebrows at her. “You’re looking lively this morning.”
Tisha looked sunward. Sliceharbor was just a brown smudge on a pink horizon.
“This isn’t morning,” Tisha said. “This is bedtime.”
Gusty grunted in agreement.
The ambassador’s assistant came out of the inn.
The ambassador breathed the word, “Finally.” Then in a more audible voice, she said, “Let us go.”
They set off toward Sliceharbor.
Tisha waited until they had spread themselves out before she murmured, “Gusty, we need to talk.”
“You’re not getting Flora’s message,” Gusty said. “I’m delivering it to Captain Kosho, as promised.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
That wasn’t fair. Her arm was getting better. And she didn’t need two arms to be an urbie. She just needed the authority that came with the uniform.
But that wasn’t what they needed to talk about.
“Gus, we need to talk about the Sun Scroll,” she said.
“We can talk about it all you want as soon as Matyu Gloria is on her ship,” Gusty said.
“Gus, we can’t let her take it.”
Gusty grunted.
Bendoko had fallen back to walk beside them. He watched them nervously. Tisha would have preferred more privacy, but she was out of time.
“What are you gonna tell Senator Aura?” she asked.
That made his shoulders tighten. He didn’t like the idea of confronting Aura.
“I’ll tell her the truth,” he said. “I gave the Sun Scroll to Matyu Gloria.”
“But Aura asked you to get the scroll for Sliceharbor.”
“Yeah,” said Gusty. “She’ll be mad.”
She could tell that Senator Aura intimidated him. But he would go through with his plan anyway. Gusty couldn’t be deterred by fear.
“Mother will understand,” he murmured.
“Yeah?” Tisha said. “I don’t know, Gus. I thought your mother was awfully keen on Senator Aura.”
“Tisha,” he said, “every mother in Sliceharbor will understand. They all want to do something to help the Queenies. Because mothers are losing their sons over there.”
He looked down into her eyes. “Everyone wants to do something, but I was the one who had the chance to actually do it. So I had to give it to her. Do you see?”
He was begging her to understand.
“So you believe it’s all right to let them open it?”
“Tisha, I don’t know. That question is too big for me, all right? All I know is that I did what I had to do – for all those people who wish that they were the ones who could do something to help.”
He did what he had to do. And if Tisha managed to convince him that it was the wrong thing, then he’d still have to let the ambassador keep it, or he’d be letting down all the oranges in Sliceharbor. Tisha realized that all she could do was make him regret his decision.
She didn’t want to make her friend suffer. She wanted him to do what was right, of course, but she didn’t really know what was right. She just wanted to hand the decision over to someone else, like the Senate, or judges. But Gusty had shown the courage to make the judgment himself.
Tisha had to admire that.
And maybe she thought he was wrong. But maybe she just weighed things differently because she was blue.
Tisha made a judgment of her own: “All right, Gus. We’ll do this your way.”
Bendoko looked at her sharply. “I thought you told me his way is wrong.”
“I’m not saying I think it’s right,” Tisha said. “But maybe Children of the Sun are better qualified to make this judgment than we are.”
Gusty laid a gentle hand on her shoulder and said, “Thank you, friend.”
* * *
Gusty Longbread hadn’t realized that he had been carrying a burden, but now that it was gone, his chest felt lighter. Maybe Tisha didn’t understand him, but she accepted him. She would support him. And she respected him.
That meant they could trust each other again.
As the sun rose, the sky above Sliceharbor turned golden. Gulls soared above the fields on the outskirts, calling songs of the sea. The city lost its smudginess as they drew nearer, and the thatch-roofed buildings sharpened into focus.
Gusty’s sandals crunched along the road. The dirt didn’t feel right. It should be soft, not crunchy.
“It hasn’t rained since we left,” he observed.
“Yeah,” Tisha said.
“There’s always trouble when the nights stay hot,” Bendoko said.
Gusty had thought only urbies noticed that hot weather made people violent. But of course, Bendoko walked the same streets they did.
“Lucky thing for you that you get two weeks off,” Bendoko said to Tisha.
She looked up at Gusty. “Are you really gonna give that message to the captain?”
“I promised Flora I would.” He had the message rolled up and tucked inside his breastplate.
“Aw, Gus, I don’t want to take two weeks off.”
Gusty grunted. He didn’t want to spend two weeks patrolling with some rookie. Or worse: Captain Kosho could make him do clerk duty until his partner came back. After two weeks of reading and writing, Gusty would be the one who needed time off.
“There’s something that’s been bothering me,” Bendoko said. “It’s about where I found Tisha’s alligator knife.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Tisha said. “It’s all right.”
“No, listen,” Bendoko said. “Something doesn’t make sense. I found your knife by the rubble, but I found you by the alligator.”
“I know,” said Tisha. “But it’s all right. Gusty explained it to me.”
“Explained what?” Bendoko asked.
“Ben,” Tisha said, “we know you were the one who killed the gator.”
“No I didn’t.”
“It’s all right,” Tisha said.
“No it isn’t,” Bendoko said. “I didn’t kill any alligator.”
His voice was convincing. Was the Crane really that good a liar?
Gusty wondered if there was another explanation. But who else could have killed the alligator?
“Wish you’d mentioned this before,” he said.
“Are you sure it wasn’t you?” Tisha asked.
“You’re the one who got knocked out,” Bendoko said. “If I’d killed an alligator, I’m sure I’d remember.”
“But it wasn’t me,” Tisha said. “Because I lost the knife before the alligator knocked me unconscious.”
“Yeah, I know,” Bendoko said. “So what if it was someone else?”
“Who?” Tisha asked.
“I don’t know,” Bendoko said. “But remember walking up the trail that first day? It felt like we were being watched.”
And Gusty remembered that Matyu Iris had complained of smelling swamp mud in a place where it didn’t belong.
“So what are you saying?” Tisha asked.
“What if there was a spy in the water with us?”
A spy? Gusty remembered one of the inn’s guests leaving after dark.
He scanned the road ahead. They were passing through a palmetto farm – knee-high palm trees producing fronds for thatch. Hiding a spy in there would be easy.
But how much could the spy know? They’d been cautious, hadn’t they? Still, anyone who had seen Clever sitting on Matyu Gloria’s travel chest would know where to look, even if they didn’t know what they were looking for.
“Keep moving,” Gusty said. “I have to talk to Matyu Gloria.”
He turned … and stopped. Behind Matyu Gloria and Iris Daylight, a dozen greenscarves were creeping onto the road. Then a dozen more came from the palmettos ahead of Bendoko and Tisha.
Pious and Clever reacted without hesitation. They dropped the litter and knelt down. Each grabbed one pole of the litter and, with a quick jerking motion, snapped the pole free. Now each was armed with a staff.
So that’s where they had hidden their weapons: in plain sight.
Matyu Gloria and Iris Daylight moved toward the litter. Bendoko retreated to the litter as well, hiding between the Rock brothers who stood at either end. Each brother was a one-man wall between a line of greenscarves and the Sun Scroll.
Tisha and Gusty were caught between Clever Rock and the sailors ahead. They were on the wrong side of the wall.
Gusty hefted his club, though he didn’t think it would do much good against a dozen rapiers. The only one who could get them out of this was Tisha.
“Are you sailors or bandits?” she asked.
That was no way to calm things down. Gusty had forgotten how much Tisha disliked greenscarves.
A sailor in a blue turban and a blue sari stepped forward. “I am Captain Tu of the Republican Navy,” he said.
“Why are you attacking us?” Tisha demanded.
“We are not attacking. My sailors have orders to only defend themselves.”
“From what?”
“I beg your pardon,” said Captain Tu. “But the three men with you do seem somewhat hostile.”
“Captain Tu,” Tisha said, “would you be hostile if another ship came alongside yours and caught it with grappling hooks? The same principle applies on land.”
“Forgive my excessive display of force,” Captain Tu said. “But I wanted the ambassador’s attention.”
“You have it!” Matyu Gloria said. She strode past Clever Rock and came forward. Half a step behind, Iris Daylight followed, leaving Bendoko to cower alone behind Clever and his staff.
Gusty let the women by. They took a stand beside Tisha.
“I represent the Reconciled Queendom,” Matyu Gloria said. “Is this a declaration of war?”
“Of course not,” Captain Tu said. “I merely need to detain you for a moment.”
“On what grounds?” Tisha asked.
Iris Daylight’s shoulders stiffened. She thought Tisha was talking out of turn.
“We are looking for property stolen from the Republic,” Captain Tu said.
“We have stolen nothing,” Matyu Gloria said.
“I am relieved to hear it,” Captain Tu said. “Taking an ambassador into custody would be most embarrassing for everyone. If you would be so kind as to let us verify your assertion, we will be pleased to send you on your way as quickly as we can.”
“You have no jurisdiction here,” Tisha said.
“I believe, if you will review the law, you will find that the Navy has broad jurisdiction in matters of state. You and he are with the Urban Cohort?” He looked at Gusty.
“Yes,” Tisha said.
“I would be pleased to have the Urban Cohort aid us in our search. That would assure the people of Sliceharbor that there has been no foul play or tampering with evidence.”
No one said anything.
What could they do? Gusty had his club ready, but he wasn’t going to charge those greenscarves. For one thing, they would impale him. For another, he wasn’t a killer.
Oh, he was a soldier. He’d follow orders from Captain Kosho. But he wasn’t going to bludgeon men and women from his own navy. At least, not unless Tisha’s life depended on it.
Pious and Clever Rock, now, would do whatever Matyu Gloria told them to do. That could get a lot of people killed, and they still wouldn’t get to keep the Sun Scroll because they would be among the dead.
“Matyu Gloria,” Gusty said, “I don’t think you have the numbers to win this fight.”
She didn’t look at him. She just stared at Captain Tu.
Then her shoulders sagged and she shook her head. “Why are the numbers always against us?” she asked. “Very well, Captain Tu. You have permission for your search.”
“Thank you, Ambassador.” He looked up at Gusty. “Would you assist me?”
Gusty shrugged. Now he knew the sick feeling that criminals felt in their stomachs when he caught them.
He and Captain Tu walked back toward Clever Rock.
“I would like to start with your travel chests,” Captain Tu said over his shoulder.
Matyu Gloria nodded to Clever Rock. He lowered his staff and stepped aside.
Captain Tu pointed to Matyu Gloria’s travel chest. “Start with that one, please.”
Gusty knelt beside it. Pious Rock glanced at him, then returned his attention to the line of sailors that blocked off their escape.
“Open it, please,” Captain Tu said.
Gusty opened it. Right there, on the very top, was …
Well, it was Matyu Gloria’s green mongzhi.
“Remove the clothing, please.”
Gusty thought he had seen her put the Sun Scroll on top, but of course she would have hidden it under her clothes. And her jewelry. And her cosmetics.
Gusty was nearly to the bottom of the travel chest when he realized that Bendoko was nowhere to be seen.
* * *
Bendoko the Crane walked through the streets of Sliceharbor with the sacred Sun Scroll inside his shopping bag, bouncing against his back. It felt good to have paving stones under his feet again. The stones were hot, of course. But that kept the mosquitoes asleep. It felt good to be home, even if the streets were dusty and the roofs were smelling dry.
The houses of the Pinetown District were so hot he could smell the pitch cooking in their wooden beams. The moss on the houses’ walls was turning brown – even on the shady side.
It would come back. Moss always comes back.
Like Bendoko. Here he was in his old neighborhood.
He walked along the Pinetown Canal until he found the canal muckers. They were chest-deep in water and even they looked too hot.
He called, “Hey Jambi!”
One of the muckers looked up and gave him that beautiful grin. Bendoko loved it when his brother smiled at him.
“Ben!” Jambi turned to his boss and asked something.
His boss muttered something.
Jambi swam to the edge, and Bendoko helped him out.
“Ben, good to see you! I thought –” His voice quieted. “I was worried.”
“I was worried about you, too,” Bendoko admitted. “Did you see that orange guy again?”
