The Wings of Ashtaroth

Chapter 7: Traitors: Section II: Iridescia

Liberio went still, his lips parting as if to speak. He closed his mouth. There was something else he hadn't told them.

Iridescia frowned and hopped off the stone. She walked toward them, keeping her attention on Liberio so she didn't have to look at the water or the boat.

"What did you do?" Iridescia signed to Liberio.

When he didn't answer, Iridescia shrugged and peaked her eyebrows to let him know it was a question. Or maybe he had understood, and simply couldn't see well.

He laughed darkly, then cleared his throat. "I hired a Qarnaaman to deal with Marianus Rufus several months ago. The senator may even be dead by now."

Iridescia stared, a shiver coursing up her back. Miqipsi had once told her scary stories of the Qarnaama, who haunted the southern deserts of eq-Anout and murdered for money in the name of the god Hazzan.

"Why?" she signed. Marianus was just another far away man in a far away place. She knew Liberio's father didn't like him, but if that were true, then he was an ally, not an enemy.

"You don't even know him," Roewyn added, disbelief in her voice. "He can't be so bad as your father—and he's a Loran. You're a Loran. What if he's a good man?"

"There are no good men." Liberio spit on the ground. "Marianus is a monster like the rest of them, and with the most powerful senator in Lorar dead, the senate will fall into chaos. Indas will have a chance to break free of her chains."

Would she? "Would Hadrianus leave for Lorar if Marianus died?" Iridescia asked. She waited for Roewyn to translate.

"Maybe. Whatever else it does, it'll strike Lorar where it hurts." Liberio threw up his hands and stalked to the edge of the glade. When he spoke again, it was to Roewyn. "People are going to have to die before this is over. You can't stick your head in the sand forever. Or did you want to keep watching children torn from their parents, betrayed, beaten, while you stand there unable to stop it? You couldn't even get Tobi and his family out of the city. How will you keep Star and my father away from the next ones? Marianus is just the first. He dies and my father will think he's won. He'll be off guard."

Roewyn's black hair swirled in the air as she turned on him. "Off guard for what?"

Iridescia swallowed as the pool and the boat tugged on her, and she was drawn toward the black water. The ghosts were her friends. They were good. They would help.

Tobi's mother moaned.

Iridescia jumped back and both Roewyn and Liberio went silent.

Tobi's mother was still alive, and suffering.

This time, Iridescia would help. Not like with the man before, who she'd left in the hot sun. She rushed to the edge of the glade, searching the trees for branches she could use to push the boat closer to shore. They'd need something long but sturdy. She reached for one as Roewyn approached, and shook the Feislandat off when Roewyn laid a calming hand on Iridescia's shoulder.

"Iridescia. Let me and Liberio do it," Roewyn said.

Do what? It was no trouble to get a branch. Iridescia just had to find one she was strong and tall enough to break. She leaped, fingertips grazing bark The second time, she coiled her fingers round the branch and it bowed with the force of her weight, creaking.

"She's too far gone," said Roewyn.

No.

The branch snapped and Iridescia tumbled to the ground.

"Did you hear that?" asked Liberio. "Someone's coming."

Roewyn hauled Iridescia to her feet and they all scurried into the bushes. It could be Star, or maybe the man who administered the honey to the prisoners, or even a guard sent to check if Tobi's mother was dead.