His wife rushed in at the sound. “What happened? Is he sending heroes? An army?”
Kreya didn’t respond.
“Did he not believe you?”
She didn’t listen while Stran explained in low, tight tones. She heard Amurra cry out in shock and disbelief. Kreya felt numb. But that was good—she could think instead of feel.
“Insanity,” Zera said. “That’s what it is. Batshit crazy. It hasto be blackmail. Or a threat of some kind. Eklor has something on Grand Master Lorn.”
Kreya heard Zera pace back and forth behind her, her silk robes swishing over the floor. The others threw out wilder and wilder explanations: Eklor was threatening the city, Eklor was threatening Grand Master Lorn, Eklor was bribing him, Eklor was poisoning him, Eklor was controlling him, Lorn had been replaced by a mechanized construct made by Eklor who only looked like a human, which of course wasn’t possible, but Eklor was a genius so who knew what he could achieve...
Only when they finished did Kreya turn to face her friends.
All of them were looking at her expectantly. Certain she’d have a plan. Certain she’d at least have an explanation. But she had neither. Just a conviction that they needed one, quickly. “I assume we’re all in agreement? Eklor still plots to destroy the guild, taking all of Vos with it if it suits him. He doesn’t care about ‘forgiveness’ or a second chance.”
Amurra ventured, “Perhaps he does? You said he showed a bone reading as proof. And that the guards on the wall saw the smoke from his fire.”
“He watched while his creations sliced your husband open,” Kreya said bluntly. “He could have stopped them with a single word. He didn’t. He merely watched.”
Blanching, Amurra touched Stran’s chest, near his mostly healed wound. It would scar, adding to his collection of many scars. “Perhaps he was afraid? You’d killed him once before. He could have felt he needed to defend himself.”
They all stared at her.
“What?” Amurra took a step backward. “Idon’tforgivehim. I’m only trying to understand why Grand Master Lorn, who issupposedly wise and clever, sees a change in him, despite this”—she waved at Stran’s torso—“evidence.”
“Told you,” Zera said. “It’s blackmail or—”
Kreya cut her off. “You’re right. He must have something on Lorn.” Yes, the bone reading was convincing, as was the fire on the plains, but even with all that, Grand Master Lorn had to have suspicions. This was Eklor, architect of the Bone War. You didn’t take his claims at face value, no matter what proof he produced.
The others agreed. Jentt sat beside the fountain and rubbed his shoulder, the one that had been shot by an arrow. Kreya wondered how badly it was bothering him. He never complained about it. “It’s likely most people will follow the grand master’s lead,” Jentt said. “Unless his reputation has gone down since the last time I was here alive?”
“He’s beloved,” Zera said. “And you’re right—the people willwantto believe him. No one wants to believe their life is in danger and that one of their grandfatherly leaders has been misled. Or, worse, has betrayed them.”
“It’s been twenty-five years,” Amurra ventured. “To most of us... to many, Eklor is a legend. You are all legends. There aren’t many who will believe the dangers of the past have anything to do with them and their lives. As you said, they want to believe it’s over.”
“So how do we save a world that doesn’t want to be saved?” Jentt asked.
She hadn’t planned to save the world again. She’d intended to come to Cerre and hand the responsibility to the next generation. No one would blame them if they did exactly that. After all, they’d only be following their guild master’sorders. They were the Five Heroes of Vos—they were supposed to obey the leaders of the city and behave in only virtuous, righteous ways—and they were supposed to be retired from the hero business anyway. But Kreya read determination on every one of their faces. This wasn’t over yet, for any of them. She’d never been more proud of her team. And she’d never been so grateful that they weren’t throwing everything she’d said back in her face. After all, she’d been the one who’d wanted to give up and dump the entire problem onto younger heroes’ laps.Looks like I was wrong,she thought. “We can start with me saying I’m sorry. I owe all of you an apology. You were right. We aren’t done with being heroes yet. It was a fool’s dream. Feel free to say ‘I told you so.’”
“We’d never say that,” Zera said. “We’d think it. Loudly. Often. But we wouldn’tsayit.” Jentt grinned at her, and the others nodded in agreement.
Stran punched one fist into the palm of his other hand. “What’s the plan, Commander?”
She smiled at her team, grateful for everything they weren’t saying. She’d made so many mistakes, and they still trusted her.To work then,she thought. “Before we can make any kind of reasonable plan, we need two pieces of information: One, what does Eklor have on Lorn? And two, where is Eklor’s army?”
“You... want me to read for it?” Marso asked, his voice quivering. “You want me to counter Eklor’s reading in front of the guild master?”
Kreya shook her head. “Thank you, but no.” She saw relief in his eyes. “Grand Master Lorn has already discredited you. Claimed your false readings drove you mad. That rules you out as an effective witness.”
Zera patted him on the shoulder. “Yeah, it would be yourreading versus Eklor’s, and while he has a history of genocide, you have a history of sleeping naked in city fountains.”
“We need tangible proof,” Kreya said. “Only then will we have a chance of convincing Grand Master Lorn to withdraw his protection.”
Stran volunteered. “Send me to find his army.”
Amurra yelped. “Stran!”
He wrapped his arm around her. “I won’t engage. Only scout.”
