“Careful. For not really trusting me, you’re making me sound like a key ally.”
“Only as long as it suits us both.”
She nodded and left him behind. But the conversation followed her. Yonlin was Olivin’s brother. Her thoughts were back to Marcus, imagining how she might feel if he were here, with her. She’d do anything to keep him safe. Part of her conviction no doubt came from himnotbeing here. But that was her reality.
Marcus couldn’t be protected anymore. But Yonlin could.
Eira found her uncle in the corner, speaking with some nobles from Meru. She nodded respectfully, but inserted herself into the conversation anyway.
“Apologies, Minister Fritz, might I have a moment?”
“Certainly, competitor Eira.” He mirrored her formality with a slight jest to his voice.
Eira resisted rolling her eyes as they stepped off to the side. “Sorry to pull you away. I realized I had something I meant to ask earlier… The competitor who came in just before me yesterday, Yonlin from Meru. I heard he was now ill.”
“So the notes said.” Fritz’s expression turned serious. “I’m not the cleric treating him, so I don’t have any more information than I told Olivin.” Fritz had no doubt seen her and Olivin walking arm-in-arm.
“Who is treating him?” Eira asked.
“It was Henzel. But since he was moved from the recovery room, I think another cleric has taken over.”
“Is Henzel here?”
“No, he’s not. And you should enjoy yourself and leave the clerical matters to us.”
He. Not she. But Eira was certain she’d heard a woman’s voice that afternoon.
“Of course.” Eira eased her tone and intensity as her uncle became worried and defensive. “I’m just worried is all.”
“We’ll take good care of him. There are six clerics just for competitors, and more in the greater city.” Fritz smiled. “Everything is logged and tracked.”
“Glad to hear it.” Eira suspected she knew just where those records were kept—the desk with many drawers in the clerics’ wing. One way or another, when the individual tournament came around, she’d get to that desk and find out what was really going on.
18
By late afternoon they were taken back to the village and the first thing Eira did was call her friends for a meeting, briefing them on what she’d found out during their time with the nobles. If anything was omitted, it was purely by accident. She was making it a point to keep them informed of what she knew and what her plans were.
Ducot had been right.Thiswas her small Court of Shadows, the people she could really depend on. The people who would keep her in line and look out for her as much as she would them.
“So, we’ll always travel in groups from now on, just in case the Pillars are trying to abduct competitors. Do you have other marching orders in the meantime, Captain?” Noelle asked, giving a stiff salute.
“No further orders.” Eira smirked slightly. “It’s not like we can go anywhere to hunt for more information.”
“Being trapped in here isn’t like I thought it would be.” Cullen rested his chin in his palm. “I imagined we’d be…busier.”
“The downtime will give us time to practice,” Eira reminded them.
“Practice what?” Noelle motioned to the iron ball that was still in the center of the table. Speculations of what the nextgame would hold had also been a subject of their discussions. “We don’t have any idea what’s coming next.”
“We practice everything we can,” Eira said. “Anything and everything that might be of use either in the tournament or against the Pillars. We have behind the house—it’s fenced in, so none of the other competitors, or attendants, should see what we’re doing. We can use this time to become real threats.”
“I can practice my material manipulation,” Alyss offered. “I can also see if the wall around the village has the same runes as the coliseum and experiment with influencing those, as well. See how much of a problem Qwint might be.”
“Let us know if your experimentations yield anything useful.” Eira had almost forgotten about the runes they’d seen fortifying the coliseum earlier.
“I will. I’ll also focus on making weapons out of stone or wood. It shouldn’t be too different in concept from carving an animal.”
“Good idea,” Eira praised. Though a twinge of sadness streaked through her at the notion of her friend’s skills being repurposed from pieces of art purely for joy into tools of death.
