The final category, secondary runes, consist of either (1) an inscribed object, or (2) a specific and complex set of inscriptions; which when correctly stimulated, sieves fuel directly from the epperstrom, summoning a natural power or capacity contained within the epps. The nature of this power and its effects depend on the inscriptions in question.

—Of Runes and its Crafte, by Remminsk

23

↝ A PARTING OF FRIENDS ↜

Pepper still had not come out of hiding, even when the afternoon six-bells was approaching. Isla had looked in her chambers and the athenaeum, but the salamander was nowhere to be seen. She had even searched the palace kitchens, but the only creature she found was Prijsti's deserted tabby, mewling under a jasmine bush.

'She left you.' How long had it been since she saw Prijsti? The woman was gone, now – left for Biripor. Isla bent down to stroke the cat. It was clean enough for a stray, and the jasmine masked her scent. 'Poor thing. Looks like I'm not the only one to have lost a pet.'

The cat purred. Lifted her chin in silent appeal for a scratch. Isla supposed Prijsti could not have taken the creature. A voyage across the ocean was no treat for a cat.

'You're happier here.' The smell of grilled meat and peanut paste drifting from the open windows attested to that. 'I can't say the same for Pep, though. I better find that little thing before it burns anything else down.'

The cat cocked its head, but Isla had no more time for scratches.

It was not long before she was knocking on Sir Edric's door, a platter of cakes in one hand. 'I convinced one of the cooks you asked for afternoon tea before the grand feast tonight,' she said when Aldir opened the door. 'It took some time before she understood the concept.'

'Of afternoon tea?' Aldir helped himself to an egg custard tart. 'They don't know what they're missing. Will you be serving at the feast?'

'With Prijsti gone, it's been difficult for me to secure a place amongst the servers.' Isla set her tray upon the table. 'But I'll try to slip through.' She needed to be there. The queens consort would be in attendance, and it was another opportunity for her to infiltrate Rajini Dhvani.

'That may no longer be necessary.' Sir Edric shared a fleeting glance with Aldir, which Isla did not miss. 'I believe it is time for us to enter into our departure phase.'

'Why?' Isla turned to Aldir.

Sir Edric sighed. 'We've looked everywhere, Isla, and I'm afraid we are out of time.'

'But ... I'm almost there ...'

'Aldir's spent the last week studying Kathedra's architectural plans – from as far as a century ago.'

'Difficult to find, I might add.' Aldir forced a smile. 'But I got my hands on it. There used to be dungeons directly below the Grand Palace – now the royal treasury. Sir Edric looked through it himself. Maha Rama Judhistir was most happy to display his wealth.'

'No place for a prisoner. Not a single cell.' Added the old knight.

'The only other dungeons, I've already searched. There's nowhere else for them to keep your sister.'

'So what are you saying? That she's escaped?'

Sir Edric hesitated. 'Or they never had her.'

'Haana knew her name. They had a picture of her – an exact likeness!'

'Then you must consider the possibility that she is ... well ... no more.' His voice softened. He placed a hand on Isla's shoulder. 'We have exhausted all our leads. These people have shown what they are capable of. There is no reason for them to keep her ...'

'Alive?' She filled in for his trailing words. 'Of course there is. They need her to lure me.'

'And they have. Here you are. Your sister does not have to be alive; they only need you to think so.'

'This is nonsense.' Isla took a drink off the tray to wet her drying throat. 'The labyrinths. We haven't searched there. There are tunnels, running through all three of the consortial estates –'

'Yes, I saw in the plans,' said Aldir. 'They haven't been used in decades. The only reason the tunnels are kept there at all is in case of a similar tragedy to the two-fifty palace dungeons breakout.'

'Amarin has restored her tunnels to fit a private menagerie. Who's to say Chei hasn't done the same to keep a secret prisoner?'

'So your plan is – what – to break in there?

'As opposed to yours, which is to surrender? Return to Elingar? After everything I've had to go through – that this has been all for nothing?'

'You'll kill yourself in those tunnels. Even if you could get in there undetected. You'll spend the rest of your life trying to find your way out; that's if the traps don't get to you first.'

Sir Edric raised an appeasing hand. 'I would not say this has been for naught. We tried our best. Now every day you spend here is another day for them to dispose of you.'

'Easy for you to say! You've got what you came for. Your lover and mother safely tucked away. She'll be shipped with you when you all return to Elingar. How convenient you should decide it's time we depart exactly a few days after Prijsti has left for Biripor.'

'That has nothing to do with it.' The fact he remained so calm frustrated Isla even more so. 'Maha Rama Judhistir and I have struck a working trade agreement, and I must bring it back to Prince Dariel for further negotiation. If we stay much longer, it would raise eyebrows.'

'That is all you care for. Your family. Your political agenda. I thought you were all here to help me – turns out I was the one hopping aboard your ship!'

'That's not true at all!' Aldir protested.

Sir Edric was already interrupting. 'I understand why you're upset. You've risked much in coming here.'

I've hurt people. I've tormented and killed just to get where I am. 'I've risked many people coming here! And Wise Father damned well knows I'm not leaving until I get my answers!'

'You're right. You've risked a lot of people. Your surrogate father and his family –'

'Bart.' The glass of water shook and spilt under the tremor of her grip. 'His name is Bart.'

'Bart and his family will soon be off to Napoa. Osmer has arranged for their papers. They will be safe there, but that also means that returning with us to Elingar is the only exit plan left for you.'

Isla could not concentrate for all the blood in her head. They were genuinely making plans for departure – and she having solved none of the problems that brought her to Surikhand in the first place.

'The next relocation of dhayang is scheduled for the end of the fortnight. It will last for several weeks while they are moved to the Water Palace and resettled, and you'll be free from studies during that period. If we correspond our departure to theirs, it will give us enough time before anyone realises you're missing.'

'It doesn't matter.' Isla's voice trembled when she spoke, but had lost all its fire. 'Chei won't stop before I'm gone. She'll follow me again to Elingar. You know that.'

'I'll have new papers made for you and Noi.'

'She'll find me eventually, no matter what name I use. If I disappeared from Kathedra, that only confirms my identity. Better yet, she now knows my face. She already knows my relationship with you and can easily hunt you down. An attack on you now would be too much an affront to Elingar, but once you've returned home? What's to stop her from sending another silver-servant?'

Sir Edric chuckled. 'I may have hung my sword, but it does not mean I've forgotten how to wield it. We will be fine, and I have men around me who are loyal. But you, Isla. You have no one here.'

'If I leave now, it solves nothing. It would only make matters worse. I still don't know why they are so intent on my death; all I know is they will never stop. I've learnt what these people are capable of doing to their own blood – let alone a baseborn like me. You can leave if you must, but I won't. I can't.' Not without Tamma.

She left them, more disappointed than she was angry.

But what could she have expected? Of course Sir Edric would put higher priority on his own family. He had Prijsti now, after so long. She could not blame him for wanting to be with her as soon as he could.

Isla dragged herself through the servant passageways. She had been gullible to think they were there to selflessly aid in her fool's errand. But without Sir Edric and Aldir, she had nobody.

What now? She exited the palace kitchens, drifted through the gardens, her mind in a haze. Crossed the bridge, passed the academy.

Sir Edric said they had exhausted all their leads, but he was wrong. Isla's answers lay with Rajini Chei – she knew it. The queen consort had been too particular in her line of questioning, and now with Isla's blooding results making its way towards the rajini ...

Pepper may have burnt Master Usman's report along with the rest of his office, but it only delayed the inevitable.

The old knight wanted no blood spilt, but there was no other option.

It was either her, or the rajini. If it was a war he was afraid of, Isla knew how to avoid one.
   

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