“Yes, you’re much prettier than me. No doubt of that.”
She looked back to make sure Dathka was still down the hall and probably out of earshot. “But not prettier than her. Naanwaala have mercy, she’s gorgeous. Like someone painted a bit of makeup on one of those marble statues in the Collegium. The gang lord sent her to seduce you, I know it.”
“What? No?—”
She put her finger on my lip to stop me. “Trust me on this one, Oz. You don’t come from a place with warring clans. I do. One clan sending a beautiful emissary to befuddle another clan’s male leaders is a classic move where I’m from.”
“I shall refrain from befuddlement. You have my word.”
“Good. Because unlike the other boys I’ve known who’d swear that, you actually mean it.” Then she gripped a handful of my hair, jerked my head down, and kissed me in a very passionate and theatrically exaggerated manner. I understood logically this move was not for my benefit, but a show for our watcher. Either way, I was fine with it.
“Grab my butt,” she whispered.
“What?”
“Just do it.”
I did. It was nice. Then she kissed me a bit more, before saying, “Good. She saw that. You can let go now.”
Reluctantly, I did so. “You make this clan war business sound not all bad.”
“It’s actually pretty fun, until the murders begin.” Azarin turned her head to let her long flowing golden hair flip about, probably because that was something else Dathka couldn’t do. “Well then, I’m off to the market!”
When I returned, Dathka’s arms were folded, and she scowled. “Are you done with that absurd and pointless territorial display?”
I’d love to get back to it later, but that went unsaid. “I believe so. Allow me to give you a tour of our facility.”
“Why do you want so badly to show off your sad excuse for an academy?”
Spending time with this sanctimonious deadlander sounded about as fun as splashing lava in my eye, but I remained cordial. “I’m proud of what we’re doing. Plus, it won’t hurt for you tobe able to report back to your boss that we’re really trying to become a legitimate school for all the mages who’ve had their hopes crushed by the Collegium. And once he understands that, he’ll know there’s no way we’d ever risk throwing that away in some attempt at shorting him a bit of treasure.”
“You actually believe your own nonsense, don’t you?”
“I do, yeah.”
“No wonder Joran believed you to be running a scam, because no one could possibly be stupid enough to think such an asinine plan would work… Very well, Carnavon. You may show me your kingdom of delusion.”
Sixteen
As we walked through the center of the Tube, Dathka said, “It’s a big place, to be home to so few people.”
“Maybe you could tell your master how wrecked the place is, so he’ll adjust the rent accordingly,” I suggested. “And I’m assuming by now you’ve seen it really is haunted.”
She scoffed. “I come from the plain of decaying bones which exists beneath an eternal hellish maelstrom. Surnod Lin is the last stop in the physical realms before those destined for eternal torment are dragged into oblivion. They cling there, desperate, bargaining for one last chance. Their pleading amuses us. The spirits of the damned have always been my companions. Their wails were my lullaby.”
“That sounds pleasant.”
I think Rade’s optimism had given me a skewed perspective of deadlanders. He was all charming smiles, big sweeping gestures, and grandiose stories. Dathka was mean-spirited and had a strange economy of motion about her, where there was no flash, and every movement was measured, pragmatic, or stately… Kind of like her life was an endless funeral. I felt safe now assuming Dathka was more representative of her realm than my delusional friend.
“As you can see, the sideways architecture’s forced us to make some adaptations. Using whatever scraps we can come up with, we’ve been able to slowly build up stairs and platforms, allowing us to access more rooms. Bognar was a carpenter’s apprentice, so he’s been a great help at this.”
“That’s the corpulent gutter swine I poked in the eye? He should remain a tradesman. I watched his fight. He was awful.”
“Everyone’s got to start somewhere…” I pointed to the opening above us. “Because that section broke open to the sky when the tower fell, that’s our air practice room.” It was currently unoccupied, since Azarin was the only one who’d be up this early to use it and she was on her way to the market. “To the left is our water practice room, because the outer wall in that part got broken, and it’s lying directly across one of the city canals. It’s just like having our own river.”
“The mighty Hubur flows past my home. Thousands of ghosts huddle upon the shore, waiting to pay the ferrymen to cross its vastness. That squalid ditch is nothing like having your own river.”
“It’s flowing fast enough that drinking it doesn’t make us sick too often, though we still filter it through a box of sand and charcoal, then boil it to be sure. I’ve got a spell that’s perfect for boiling water, so we’ve always got a kettle going in the kitchen.”
