Tinker's War (The Tinkerer's Daughter Book 2) (7 page)

Robie took a deep breath. “No. I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that for now, your queen is safe. She has support. She has hunters. She has everything she could need.”

“He’s right,” Tam said, climbing the hill towards us.

“But she’s my grandmother,” I said. “I have an obligation to make sure she’s safe.”

“She will be safe,” Tam said in a reassuring tone.

“How can I know that?”

Tam fixed me with a serious stare. “Breeze, listen to me carefully. Now that your mother is dead, you are the queen’s rightful heir to the throne.”

“Throne?” I exclaimed, my eyes going wide. “I don’t want the throne!”

He made a
shushing
noise. “I understand that, but there are others who might not feel the same. There are others who may be…
concerned
about the situation.”

“Concerned?” I said, placing my hands on my hips. “What exactly does that mean?”

“There are some Tal’mar who will insist you take the throne after the queen dies. As her only living descendent, it is your right.”

“But-” I started, and he cut me off.

“-There are others who will never allow it. They perceive you as an outsider; as a human. They see you as a danger and they will do anything to make sure you never inherit the throne.”

I pulled my gaze away from him and looked over the group of Tal’mar. “They would kill me,” I said absently. “To keep me from becoming queen, they would kill me.”

“Yes.”

“But I don’t want to be queen,” I said. “I want nothing to do with it.”

“That doesn’t matter. As long as you are alive, you will be a threat. I worry for you, Breeze. I think it would be best if you went with Robie. Go back to the humans. Find what solace you can with them. Forget about us.”

I felt my heart wrenching in my chest as he spoke. My gaze fell on my grandmother, and I saw her staring at me. I wondered how much of this she knew. I wondered if she cared. I had to believe that she did, but she was in a delicate situation. She couldn’t appear weak in front of her subjects. She also couldn’t choose me over them, even if some of the people would support her in doing so. She couldn’t choose sides at a time like this. She needed to put forth a united front. It was a delicate balance, like walking on the edge of a razor.

As always, it came down to politics. Once again, I was reminded of why I wanted nothing to do with crowns and thrones and politicians. I was both heartbroken and disgusted. I turned to Robie and saw my anguish reflected in his eyes. I saw his sympathy for me etched into his face. He gave me a sympathetic smile, and I could tell that he’d seen this coming long before I had. Once again I’d let my feelings get the best of me. The situation hadn’t even occurred to me until it was inescapable.

And this is why I fly,
I thought.
This is why I’ll never be part of this world. Humans and Tal’mar are no different… to them, I’ll always be a half-breed.
I sighed.

“At least
you
care about me,” I said to Robie, my voice full of pain and anger. “Let’s get out of here.”

I handed Tam his sword and shot a disgusted look at the group of Tal’mar. Then I spun on my heels and started walking. Robie rushed to catch up to me and fell in, matching my pace. Behind me, I heard Tam call out, “Good luck to you, Breeze. May your ancestors watch over you!”

I didn’t reply. I didn’t look back to see if my grandmother was watching me leave. If she didn’t have the courage to love me after all that we’d been through, then I owed her nothing.

Chapter 7

Robie and I walked in silence for several hours. We were exhausted and emotionally spent, still coming to grips with everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. The drama with the Tal’mar remained fresh in our minds, but we also had concern for the family and friends in the southern lands who may already have been captured or killed by the Vangars. It was frustrating for both of us. We had no idea what troubles might lie ahead, but based on what we had learned of the Vangars, we held little hope. They were fierce warriors with advanced weaponry and complete air superiority. How could Riverfork stand against an attack like that? How could anyone?

Still we pressed on, placing one foot in front of the other until the midmorning sun got hot on the back of our necks and our stomachs started to rumble, and I knew that we’d have to stop soon. We had reached the edge of the Borderlands and turned a little to the east, following along the foothills of the Blackrock Mountains. I could tell Robie was getting impatient, but he hadn’t started complaining yet. It wasn’t until I passed a cool running stream without even slowing for a drink that he finally spoke up.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m famished,” he said. “You know, maybe we could go back to that creek and catch a fish or two.”

“We don’t have time,” I said. “We have to keep moving.”

“All right, but if we keep moving like this much longer you’re going to be moving without me. I have to eat and rest once in a while, you know. I’m human.”

I froze, searching for the insult in his words. I wasn’t sure if he’d intended one or not. “I’m human, too,” I said. “What’s your point?”

He rolled his eyes. “Breeze would you please get off your high horse for a few minutes? I know you have human blood, but you also have Tal’mar blood.”

“So what? Are you saying I should have stayed with them? Because a few hours ago you were convinced that we should go south.”

“That’s not what I said. I’m just hungry, that’s all. I’ve hardly had a bite to eat in two days and I’ve been up all night, walking. If I go on much longer, I’m going to drop. You’ll have to forgive me for being human but that’s what I am. I guess you should just go on without me, since I’m beneath you anyway.”

“Beneath me?” I said. “I didn’t say that!”

“Didn’t you?”

He turned away, walking back towards the stream. I watched him, wondering if I’d been behaving as badly as it sounded. He was tired. I could tell it from the way he walked, from the stoop in his shoulders and the way he favored one leg over the other. He probably had blisters on his feet. His boots were nice but they weren’t designed for walking like this. If I’d taken the time to notice, I may have seen the dark circles under his eyes as well. I’d been too wrapped up in my own concerns.

“General Corsan’s farm isn’t far from here,” I said. “Maybe an hour, no more than two. That’s where I had been planning to stop. We should find food there, and maybe even a steamwagon we could borrow.”

Robie had knelt down next to the stream. He was drinking from it as I spoke. He splashed cool water over his face and neck and then stood up, smiling. “Well why didn’t you say so? Let’s get moving!”

He rushed up the embankment and continued past me. I watched him, mystified. Could the thought of food and a comfortable ride have so rejuvenated him, or had I overestimated his exhaustion? I shook my head and started after him.

It was strange to me, crossing land by foot. I had taken long walks before but I’d never covered so many miles on the ground, especially not at such a meandering pace. In the trees, I could cover great distances in relatively short periods of time. Here on the plains, I was as helpless and plodding as a plow horse. I did have a distinct advantage over Robie however, not only because of my Tal’mar blood, but because I was lighter and less burdened.

Robie had not only his cutlass to bear, he had also taken a battle harness with two good-sized swords from the body of a slain Vangar warrior. I had thought at first that the blades would be ridiculously large for him, but once Robie had slung them over his shoulder, I realized they weren’t a bad fit. I wondered if he truly knew how to fight with weapons like that. I supposed it was something he had learned over the years while I’d been flying around with my head in the clouds. It was just one more opportunity he’d taken advantage of that I had missed.

We reached the general’s farm in a little over an hour. As we came over a rise and saw the tiny patch of green vineyards surrounded by hundreds of miles of golden prairie, it occurred to me how easily we might have missed the place entirely. It had never been hard to find with my plane, but a person on foot might have walked right by and never even realized it. Upon reflection, I realized that I may have been overconfident in my abilities. Had we been traveling half a mile to the west, we would have missed the place entirely.

“I don’t get it,” Robie said. “Why would General Corsan choose a place as far from civilization as he could get?”

“It is that,” I agreed. “But the general did spend many years protecting the Borderlands from the Tal’mar. I suppose this place is home to him now.”

“Just him?” Robie said. “Does he live alone, then?”

I nodded. “When I was here last, I asked the general if he would ever find a mate. His answer was that he was too old to take care of himself, so why would he want to take care of someone else?”

Robie snorted. “Crazy old man. More likely he just doesn’t want to share his wine.”

We made the short trek down the hill and found the general working in the barn. He had a forge fired up, and appeared to be working on a pair of shears. We startled him as we appeared in the entryway and our shadows passed over his work area. He jerked his head around, blinking with his good eye (Corsan had lost an eye in battle many years earlier, and still had not only the eye patch to remind him of that grim battle, but a long scar that ran diagonally from his forehead to his cheek). He recognized us and waved as he set the hot steel aside.

“Breeze, it’s good to see you! I didn’t hear your plane,” he said as he came to the front of the barn.

“I didn’t fly,” I said. “Do you remember Robie?”

“Of course.” They shook hands and Corsan looked back and forth between us. The smile faded slightly from his face. “What’s going on? You two look like someone just kicked your favorite dog.”

“General, we have to talk,” I said. “Something terrible has happened.”

“All right, come on into the house. I’ll get you a drink. You two look as dehydrated as a pair of old saddlebags.”

“And food?” Robie said. “Do you have food?”

The general laughed. He guided us to the springhouse behind the cabin, where he fetched a jug of cool sweetthistle tea and then led us inside. His home was a true split-log cabin, but it was larger than most. The general had designed and built it himself, using all the knowledge he had gained while working as an engineer with the Tal’mar. He had built a rather impressive home. It seemed large for one person, but then the general never did things small. With some modifications, the house could have been turned into a lodge to house a dozen people, but as it was the place was very nice.

Corsan gave us bowls of soup from a pot simmering over the fireplace, and while we ate, we told him about everything that had happened. He listened intently, asking a question or two but for the most part simply digested it all. After we had told him everything, he leaned back in his chair and stared through the kitchen window at the miles of wild grain waving in the breeze.

“These Vangars came here for something,” he said absently.

 “My grandmother said it was steel they came for,” I said. “They know about Blackrock steel.”

The general considered that. “She may be right, but they won’t stop at that. They came with too much force. If it was just steel they wanted, they could have negotiated. They want more.”

“Like what?” said Robie. “So far, we’ve only seem them taking captives. Do you think they’re here for slaves?”

“That’s possible,” the general said. “Until we know more about them, we shouldn’t suppose too much, though. What about the two of you? What are your plans?”

“We’re going to Anora first,” Robie said. “Hopefully, they managed to hold the Vangars back. I’m worried about Riverfork.”

“I’m not hopeful about either one,” Corsan said. “If these Vangars have weapons as powerful as you describe, Anora would stand no better chance than Avenston or Silverspire.” He smacked his fist angrily on the table. “Politics! Unbelievable. Breeze, after everything you accomplished, after you filled your father’s shoes and helped to end the war and gave these people their first glimpse of peace in a thousand years, the first thing they did was set to bickering: What lands go to the Tal’mar and which ones go to the humans? Where do we draw the borders? Who pays for the roads? Who collects the taxes? People just can’t be happy until they’ve ruined everything. They can’t be happy with what they have because they’re always worrying about what someone else has.

“All of these years they could have been building our defenses, improving our technologies. We should have been looking for danger like this, rather than sitting and waiting for it to find us. I told King Ryshan as much when I submitted my resignation and he looked at me like I was a fool.” He took a long drink from his glass and stared at us, anger burning in his good eye.

“You don’t think Anora survived, then?” Robie said.

“From what you’ve told me, my guess is that every city in the kingdom has been overrun. This is what happens when you build a house of cards. Sooner or later, someone comes along and kicks it down just because they can. That’s your Vangars. I guarantee that once they’re in control, they won’t sit back on their haunches and start bickering.”

There wasn’t much I could say. The general had been more guarded with his language when he was younger, but now he was retired. He said what he felt and didn’t care what anyone thought about it. We fell to silence for a brief while, absorbing everything we had discussed. At last, I noted the sunlight curving through window and realized how late it was getting. The sun would be down in a few hours.

“We should be going,” I said. “We have a long distance to walk.”

“You’re serious then?” the general said. “You’re still going back?”

“We have to,” I said. “Robie has his family, and I left Tinker in Riverfork…”

He nodded thoughtfully. “I understand.” He rose from the table and crossed to the front door. “Come with me,” he said.