Second Guard (10 page)

“Tali,” said Chey, placing a hand on her arm. “Do you remember the last thing Nel said to you before she disappeared?”

Tali hesitated.
Silence,
Nel had signed. Did that mean Tali was not to share their conversation with others? She looked away from Chey. This was not his problem. “She signed a
string of words, but I didn’t understand their meaning very well.”

“Tell me the words; perhaps I can puzzle them out,” Zarif said.

“Do you really think you can understand my twin better than I?” Tali asked. Her voice held an edge she’d never used before. Zarif’s eyes widened in surprise.

Brilliant, Tali thought. Now I’ve offended my friend as well.

“He was trying to help,” Chey said.

Tali heard the soft reprimand in his voice and felt even worse. “I’m sorry. I just…I’m confused…and worried. My apologies, Zarif.”

“I understand. Do not add me to your worries, Tali.”

The three continued in silence, the bustling sounds of the great city filling the space between them. As they came to a shady residential street, the light filtered through the leaves overhead
and a kaleidoscope of designs shifted under their feet. With each step forward, Nel’s words repeated themselves in Tali’s head.
Second Guard. Tradeboat. Salt mines. Queen. Fire.
Father. Silence.
But there was something else…what was it?

Tali stopped in her tracks. “Nel saw something in the plaza that scared her,” she said.

“What was that?” Zarif asked.

“I don’t know. When I turned to look, I noticed the two of you returning.”

“But why would Nel be scared of us?” asked Chey. “She’d already met us. She knew we were friends.”

“And with sugarbread and lemonsong to share,” Zarif added, motioning to the now-empty bag. “Hardly cause for alarm.”

“True,” Tali said. “It had to be something else.”

Zarif nodded. “A new variable added to the equation, if you will…but I don’t recall anything unusual in the plaza, do you, Chey?”

Chey shook his head. “Not unless you count Jaden.”

“You saw Jaden?” asked Tali.

Chey’s face darkened. “I saw him in the crowd as we were heading toward you with the sweets.”

“Maybe Nel saw him too. But why should she be frightened by Jaden?” asked Tali.

Chey clamped his mouth shut and started walking again.

Tali and Zarif exchanged a look and followed him down the cobbled street.

“Chey,” Tali finally said. “I think my father and Nel may be in some kind of danger. If you know something about Jaden than can help them, you must tell me.”

Chey stopped short. “Fine,” he said, slowly turning to face Tali. “But in return, you must promise to share Nel’s words with us.”

S
hall we talk up there?” Zarif asked, pointing to the roof of the Sun Temple. “It will give us privacy as well as a good view of the
docks. Maybe we’ll spot Nel.”

Tali and Chey nodded in agreement. The circular Sun Temple dominated the Porto Sol skyline, its five gold-painted spokes flaring out from the central sanctum like the rays of Intiq reaching out
to his people. Inside, in the center of a tile-laden floor, rose a carved stone altar, where Sun Guilders would leave their offerings. Collected at day’s end by the Maidens of Intiq, the
money was then dispersed to those in the guild who were ill or unable to work. Tali slipped a coin into the smooth marble bowl and offered a quick prayer.
Intiq, keep my family safe.

She motioned the boys to follow her up the staircase, which wended around the gold walls of the sanctum in a spiral. The stairs were steep and the trio did not dare speak until they had reached
the roof. Here worshippers were encouraged to contemplate the splendid views, a mere glimpse of what the Sun God himself saw as he crossed the sky each day. But Tali gazed at the busy city below,
scanning only for her sister.

“Will you tell us Nel’s message now?” Chey finally asked.

Tali repeated the words that had been playing through her mind, her hands and fingers moving in the sign language of her twin, as if to reinforce her memory.

Second Guard. Tradeboat. Salt mines. Queen. Fire. Father. Silence.

“It is an interesting combination,” Zarif said, shading his eyes as he perused the market below. “Your father trades in salt, yes?”

“Of course, most river traders do. It is our gold, our currency.” Tali leaned a little farther over an iron railing, trying to get a better view.

“Well, we shall need to keep our eyes open for any connections between those words,” Zarif said, as they walked down one of the structure’s spokes to get a different view of
the city.

Despite her worries, Tali stopped for a moment to drink it in. The colorful, stacked homes looked so cheerful and bright, the people bustling between them happy and carefree, at least from this
vantage point. Are they as content as they look, Tali wondered, or do they carry hidden worries inside their bundles and bags? Her life had been so easy, she realized, so sheltered until then. For
a moment she longed to be back on the tradeboat with Nel and her father, shooting fruit with arrows and dreaming of the Second Guard. How romantic it had seemed back then, before she left. Before
the fire.

“There’s something else I need to tell you,” Tali said, turning toward her friends. “Something that happened the night before I arrived at the Alcazar.”

It took a while to describe that night’s events to her friends, the night a tradeboat in flames had disappeared into the river, and with it a family’s home and livelihood. Over the
past months she had pushed the haunting images out of her mind, but now they slipped back into her consciousness like a bad dream. The crying child. The hungry river. The frightened look exchanged
between two men.

As she described the events to Chey and Zarif, she felt her heart start to beat more rapidly, the vivid memories racing though her mind. Every few moments Zarif would ask a question, as was his
way, but Chey kept quiet, nodding at her in encouragement each time she faltered. She told them, too, about Paulo and his biting words about the Guard. When there was no more to say, a silence fell
around them like a cloak pulled tight, and Tali wondered if she had done the right thing by passing on such a heavy burden to her friends.

She could see Zarif weighing everything she’d told him, though he was not yet prepared to conjecture. Chey chewed on his lower lip and stared into the distance, as if searching for an
answer among the clouds.

“Chey, will you tell us what you know now?” Tali asked. “Maybe there is some kind of connection.”

Chey nodded, then glanced around as if making sure no one might overhear them, though they were quite alone.

“Your words are safe with us, Chey, you know that,” said Zarif. “So tell us…what do you know of Jaden that we do not?”

“Rumors,” Chey said. “Ugly ones. You will not like them,” he said, looking pointedly at Tali.

Tali felt a chill run through her, but she braced herself and lifted her chin. “It matters not. I need to know, Chey,” she persisted, the quaver in her voice betraying the intensity
of her emotions.

Zarif nodded. “Yes. Sometimes rumors contain a kernel of truth. We cannot assess their worth, however, unless you share them with us.”

Chey coughed once behind his hand and shuffled his feet. Finally, he began to speak in such a low voice that Tali and Zarif were forced to lean in. “It is said that Jaden was responsible
for many of the”—he paused, clearly searching for a word—“
things
that happened last year during Second Guard training.”

Tali shook her head in exasperation. “What kind of
things
, Chey?” she asked, trying to keep her patience. “You’ve revealed nothing. Jaden is a centurio. He is
responsible for much of what happens at training.”

“Please go on, Chey,” said Zarif with an encouraging nod.

Chey looked down at his feet and gave a deep sigh, obviously uncomfortable with the words he was about to speak. “Some say Jaden was responsible for the pregnant pledges…and also
for the death at Batenza Falls.”

“What?” asked Tali, her eyebrows raised as far as they would go. “Are you suggesting he
seduced and murdered
pledges?” The thought was absurd. Jaden was a Second
Guard centurio. No matter how tough he was on the pledges, he had sworn an oath to protect the realm. “That’s—”

Zarif interrupted. “Chey, who or what is the source of such hearsay? These are no petty rumors, but serious accusations that could bring Jaden to ruin.”

Chey’s face hardened. “I understand that, but what if they’re true? Two girls returned to their families in shame, and the boy returned in a
box
.” He shook his
head. “I’m sorry, I cannot reveal the names of the people who told me, but they have no reason to lie. They say Jaden was seen at the homes of all three families shortly after the
incidents.”

Tali’s head spun. She could not, would not, believe a centurio had committed such dishonorable acts. Commander Telendor would never allow it, least of all from his own son. Chey must be
mistaken.

Zarif rubbed his chin. “Could there be a legitimate reason for Jaden to visit those families?”

“Might he not be paying his respects on his father’s behalf?” Tali asked.

“There is no respect in a pregnant pledge, Tali,” Chey countered.

“True enough,” Tali said. “Though the pledge’s death would certainly warrant such a courtesy.”

Chey shrugged. “But that still doesn’t explain the girls who were dismissed. One of those girls comes from Maracay, near Batenza. Her family’s house is now twice the size it
once was, and her father pulls a brand-new dray through his fields.”

“So you’re saying that Jaden paid them off?” Tali said, her voice rising in disbelief.

“That is a serious accusation indeed,” Zarif said, crossing his arms in front of his chest, as if he too could not accept what he had just heard.

“I’m not saying anything or accusing anyone,” Chey said, his voice tight. “I told you, they are rumors. Make of them what you will,” he added, turning away and
heading for the stairs. “It’s time to return to the ferry.”

Tali and Zarif exchanged a brief look, then followed behind him. They walked back down the spiral staircase and all the way to the harbor, the silence between them full of unsaid things. When
they reached the pier for the ferry, Tali shielded her eyes and scanned the harbor in search of her father’s tradeboat. Despite the deep friendship she had forged so quickly with the two boys
beside her, Tali longed for her twin. She ached to speak to Nel once more, to find out what had scared her, what she knew of Jaden. And why didn’t Paulo trust the Guard? Were the two things
related?

Finally, Tali saw the ferry come skating across the lake in their direction. She turned to alert Zarif and Chey, but they had both wandered off in different directions. Zarif was chatting
politely to a dockhand, while Chey stood near a wharf post, staring out at the lake. Tali noticed the slump of his shoulders and the melancholy tilt of his head. She had hurt him.

She walked over and leaned against him. “I did not mean to doubt you, Chey. It just seems so far-fetched to believe that Jaden could be responsible for that much wrongdoing,” Tali
said quietly. “But I suppose anything is possible, and I trust you would not have told us such reports without good reason.”

“I only want to keep you and your sister from harm, Tali. Perhaps the rumors are false, but Jaden
is
hiding something. I can feel it. You need to stay away from him.”