“Last night,” I said, my skin itching with the proximity of the otherVorakkars. There were six of us, crammed into the small space. And we were not small males. “I discovered her in the city.”
“It was you who took her to the dungeons?” Rath Rowin asked.
“Nik,” I rasped, cutting him a glare. “I distracted theDothikkar’sguards to help her escape. I told her to leave the city. She told me she needed to meet with theDothikkarbutvok, I did not knowwhyshe wanted to speak with him. Who would think she was a messenger for the Ghertun?”
“She was frightened when I came into your quarters,” Rath Kitala said, his tone sharp. “Or could you not see that? You may have helped her last night but she does not trust you now.”
“And even when I had her in my lap and my lips at her throat,” I grinned, cutting my gaze to him, “she asked me for my help.”
Rath Kitala’s nostrils flared. I’d seen more of the otherVorakkarsin the past few moon cycles than I cared to…and tensions always ran high between us. We were kings in our right. We were used to making decisions on our own and we didn’t like to be challenged.
Rath Tuviri cut in, his golden hair shimmering with the flickering of the fire light. He said, “Try not to frighten the girl. I think we can use this to our advantage.”
All theVorakkars’eyes came to him.
“You have a plan?” Rath Okkili asked, raising a sardonic brow. “She says she needs aheartstone. How do you think to get one without collapsing our power system and enraging Kakkari in the process?”
There were five heartstones spread across Dakkar. One was here, inDothik, protected in theDothikkar’sfavored temple. Two of the remaining four were in select outposts. The most successful hordes in our history became outposts once theVorakkarsdecided to settle down. One heartstone was with Rath Okkili’s own father, who had been a greatVorakkarin his time and who still lived in his respective outpost, far to the south, nearest Drukkar’s Sea.
The fourth heartstone had been placed in an ancient temple, protected by priestesses of Kakkari. It was an isolated place, a bitterlycoldplace, to the north. Whenever a horde passed by, we were expected to give the priestesses ample supplies to last for the remainder of the year, but mostly, they survived on their own crops, which they were rumored to grow deep in the earth.
And the fifth heartstone…
It had been lost.
Or so many believed.
Over a hundred years ago, adarukkar, a horde warrior, had stolen it from under hisVorakkar’sprotection when the horde had been assigned to deliver it to an outpost to the east. Even then, the Ghertun had lived in the Dead Lands. TheDothikkarat the time had believed the heartstone would help protect that area of land from the increases in attacks, that Kakkari would protect them.
The heartstones were powerful. They were fed from the sun and birthed from the earth, just as gold was. And while the hordes had no use for them,Dothikand the outposts were powered by heartstones. Lights and technology, specifically, but alsofaith.
The Dakkari revered them.
What Vienne asked, what the Ghertun demanded, was an impossible task.
Except…the fifth heartstone was not being used.
And I was one of two beings on Dakkar that knew where it was.
“You think to seek out the fifth heartstone?” I asked Rath Tuviri. “How would that be to our advantage?”
“It is the only one unaccounted for,” he replied. “The only one not in use. I will go to the archives in the morning and learn more about thedarukkarwho stole it, where it was last seen. But that is not the point. The heartstone is a tool, nothing more. A tool to gain this girl’s trust. We will never give it to the Ghertun.”
“We give her what she wants,” Rath Rowin said, “then she will give us what we want.”
Rath Kitala said, “She has been under the Dead Mountain.”
“Exactly,” Rath Tuviri said quietly. “For all our efforts, we have never been able to breach their land, much less the Dead Mountain. Yet,shehas lived there. Thiskallescould tell us so much about them, how they live, how they eat, how large their army is and whether they are well-trained. Their weapons, if they have any, their technology. Theirculture. The Ghertun have been our enemy for centuries and yet,theyknow more about us than we do aboutthem. Why is that? Because they watch us, they study us, without us realizing it. We need to start doing the same in order to bring them under our control again.”
“We gain her trust and then use her for information about our enemy,” I murmured, “but then what? TheDothikkarwill never give into Lozza’s demands. We all know this. He would sooner watch the outposts fall and this city burn.”
Rath Loppar, the eldest of us all, said, “We attack them before they attack us. Thisvekkiriwill tell us how much of a threat the army is. She shouldwantto, especially if she is a slave. We can help her.”
“Lozza has something over her,” I told them. “A loved one, perhaps. She is not loyal to him but she fears him enough to keep quiet.”
I could not even blame her for it.
“She told you this?” Rath Kitala asked, his eyes narrowed on me. He didn’t trust me. Not one bit.
