A Country Falls (Greatest Thief 3) - Chapter 8: Chapter 8

Evrik had been to the lower city with me twice. The first two times he had volunteered, but this time Tannix had chosen him, and I thought I knew why. Compared to Jalor and Mandell, Evrik stood out less. Mandell was huge and would draw a lot of attention. Jalor was too proper. He couldn't help but look like a lord. Evrik, even though his position in Tannix's guard certainly made him very wealthy, didn't look it. His dark blond hair hung loosely around his shoulders, instead of neatly tied back, and his beard was just a little too scruffy. Without his axes, he could have looked like a regular sailor—a very common sight around the lower city's taverns and brothels.
Evrik was happy to trail after me as we walked through the streets I had grown up on. Regardless of his current wealth, Evrik had grown up poor, and being around poverty didn't make him uncomfortable. He didn't mind the filth, or the rats that scurried in the growing shadows, or people trying to touch him. Not that many people did. Evrik looked dangerous enough to ward off most beggars.
Baisan and the rest of my family lived in a three-storey high apartment building. It wasn't where we had grown up, but Baisan was ambitious and apparently good with money. An arrangement with Tandrin had led to Baisan having excess money for the first time in his life, and he had used it to buy a building. Now he was running it as a bit of an orphanage, giving other street children a safe place to sleep as long as they managed to find their own food.
The building was rundown and partially repaired. Some of the lowest windows still had glass, but most of them were covered in wooden boards. The higher floors had more intact windows, which were open to let in the evening breezes from the bay.
The front door had been painted red. I wondered at the decision as I knocked, using the complicated pattern I could remember Baisan using. When that didn't work, I tried the pattern I had heard Castin once use. That, too, didn't work.
"Must've changed it," Evrik said.
I grumbled and tried Baisan's knock again. "Hello? It's Finn. Finagale. Baisan's brother."
A tiny, stubborn voice answered me. "You don't know the knock."
"Right. I just forgot," I lied.
"You can't come in if you don't know the knock."
"Get Baisan," I said.
"He's busy," the voice said firmly.
Behind me, Evrik laughed.
I stepped back and eyed the building. I knew exactly which window opened into Baisan's room. "I'll get him."
"What?" Evrik looked at me, and followed my gaze. "Oh. When was the last time you climbed a building? If you fall and break your neck, Tannix will kill me."
"I never fall." I pushed back both sleeves, and easily pulled myself onto a windowsill. Maybe it had been some time since I'd last climbed a building, but I'd spent my whole childhood climbing around in the lower city. Baisan's building didn't pose even a slight challenge. In some places, missing or chipped bricks made perfect places for my fingers or toes. Windows, both the ones with glass and the ones that had been bordered over, were as easy to climb as a ladder. It was easy to reach Baisan's open window.
I hauled myself up and sat on the windowsill. Baisan was hunched over the old table, his back to the window. With one leg still dangling outside, I drew my other leg up and draped my arms around my knee.
"Baisan."
Baisan jumped and whirled around, a small knife in his hand. I started laughing so hard I had to grab the windowsill to keep myself steady. Baisan slipped the knife—Castin's knife, I noticed—back onto his belt and scowled.
"I have a door."
"Give me some credit. I tried the door, but your door boy wouldn't let me in because I don't know the knock. I even tried telling him my name, and I asked him to get you. But he said you were busy."
"I am."
"What are you working on?" I hopped off of the sill and leaned over the table. A map was spread over the table, with little symbols marking different spots. A separate scrap of paper was a list of the symbols, next to numbers. I glanced back and forth between them, trying to make sense of what I was looking at. "Are these siyas?"
"Yes. We change the knock all the time, but I'll tell Drio to let you in next time."
"Speaking of, maybe you could tell him to let Evrik in."
Baisan obviously hadn't meant to talk to Drio that instant. He just sighed and walked into the hall to lean into the staircase. "Drio! Let the Telt in! And someone tell—Oh, Nina—"
Ninavi rushed past him before he could even finish saying her name. She barreled into me and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Finn! How long have you been back? What was Navire like? Have you seen Castin?"
Before I could answer any of her questions, Baisan stepped back into the room. "Ninavi, do you know where Stria and the boys are?"
"Stria's downstairs, Orrun and Leker are out." She untangled herself from around me, only to grab my hand and drag me across the room to sit next to her on Baisan's bed. "Tell me everything."
So I described Navire and the Queen to Ninavi, while Baisan went to get Stria and Evrik. When he came back, he had Orrun and Leker as well. I stood to greet them, giving Stria a hug and then pulling the younger boys into one as well, even though they protested halfheartedly.
Baisan's room was lacking chairs, so we sat in a circle on a threadbare carpet. Stria put Gale down and he crawled around in the middle, cheerfully visiting Ninavi and each of his uncles. I tried not to be offended when he avoided me. Once again, I described our time in Navire, especially the incredible temple.
"We had a temple like that?" Ninavi interrupted, awed. Gale was reaching for her bracelet. Absentmindedly, she held her wrist above him so he could poke it.
"Apparently." I slipped one of my new Navirian bracelets over my hand and dangled it from one finger. "Gale, look!"
Ninavi hid her bracelet. Gale looked puzzled, then mine caught his eye and he clumsily crawled towards me. Ninavi sighed. "I hate Telts."
Evrik had done what guards were best at, disappearing into the background. He was leaning against the wall near the window, idly tossing one of his little axes up and down. "We're not too proud of ourselves, either, miss."
Ninavi winced. "Oh. Sorry."
"Don't be. I'd hate us too. Actually, when I was younger I did sort of hate rich Teltans."
"And now?" Baisan asked.
Evrik tossed his axe and caught it without looking. I wasn't sure if I could manage the same trick with my knives without cutting myself. "Now, there are a handful of them that I'm fond of."
Gale put his hand on my knee and tried to reach for my bracelet. I swung it above his head and he giggled. "Anyway." It was hard to focus on the conversation when I just wanted to play with Gale. "The point of the trip was to ask Queen Navire to join us, and she agreed."
"Thank Zianesa," Orrun and Leker said, nearly in unison.
Stria straightened out a fold in her skirt. "What does that mean for Castin?"
I had no idea. "Evrik?"
"I can't say for sure, but it wouldn't make much sense to send Zian recruits to the front lines. They'll probably bring up the back, maybe be stationed to hold towns, or left to guard East Draulin while the experienced soldiers press forward."
There was no mistaking the hope in Stria's eyes. "So he'll be safer?"
"Safer than in the front lines, at least," Baisan said.
His tone didn't deter Stria. "Finn, we haven't heard from him since he left. Can't you check on him?"
"Of course," I said. Gale started to crawl away, but I scooped him into my lap and wiggled my fingers in front of his face. He giggled again and grabbed my thumb. "We're going to the barracks next."
"If he's still in Zianna, maybe we can get him a bit of time off," Evrik offered. "I don't think anyone would deny a young father a chance to say goodbye. If he isn't here, we might be able to at least tell you where he is. Finn, we should get going."
"I know." I held Gale carefully as I got to my feet, and handed him back to Stria. Ninavi sprung to her feet to give me another hug. After promising to come back as often as I could, I followed Evrik down the stairs.
"Finn, wait." Orrun caught up with us at the front door. Evrik hesitated until I nodded at him, then he stepped out onto the dark street to give us some privacy. Orrun hesitated for so long that I almost prompted him. "When you check on Castin, can you check on someone else, too? My brother, Terrow."
Sometimes I forgot that Orrun and Leker had other siblings that they actually knew. They didn't talk about their brother or sisters very often. As far as I knew, they hadn't even spoken to their family since running away and joining us about four years earlier. But with war looming on the horizon, I understood why Orrun would suddenly be interested in his brother's wellbeing.
"I'll try," I promised.
Orrun nodded. He looked equal parts relieved that I had said yes, and embarrassed that he had even asked. "He's nineteen. Or... I guess twenty, now. He enlisted the day of your speech. Oh, and he was a warehouse worker. That'll be enough to find him, right?"
There were probably multiple Terrows in the new Zian branches of the army, but any details would help me narrow down the search. We didn't have fancy Telt family names to identify ourselves with. "I'll let you know what I find out," I promised, giving him a quick pat on the shoulder.
Evrik was waiting on the street with his arms crossed. We quickly walked through the streets. Lothian Dusk was turning into real dusk, and while I didn't care I knew being in the lower city after dark would make Evrik nervous. Then we reached the gate, and I realized the real reason Tannix always wanted me to drag a knight along to the lower city.
The guards that flanked the only gate out of the lower city never let Zians through without passes. Crelan and Telt sailors didn't have a problem getting through. Native Zian sailors, even if they were from a different city, risked being trapped in the lower city unless they could prove they worked on a ship. Zians who lived in the lower city, but worked in the port or were lucky enough to get a job in the upper city, needed written passes. Not having a pass had never stopped me from scaling the wall and entering the upper city that way. But Tannix didn't like me breaking the law. And getting into the castle grounds would be a different challenge altogether.
The guards took one look at Evrik and waved him through. I was so clearly with him that they didn't give me any trouble, either. The gates into the castle grounds were a little more trouble. The guards asked Evrik to identify himself. 'Of the West Draulin Guard' was like a magic phrase, and the gates were pulled open. Then we needed to look for Castin.
Normally, Zianna's castle sat alone in the middle of fields and gardens. There was a small barracks building for castle guards to live in, but they only stayed there in shifts. Most of them had houses in the upper city that they lived in during their off weeks. Given the influx of new Zian recruits, temporary wooden barracks and tents had cropped up across the grounds. New training fields had been fenced off and blacksmith forges had been quickly erected. They were trying to train the Native Zians as quickly as possible, but also to do it correctly.
We walked through it all, making for the original stone barracks, where the records would be kept. Even as it grew later in the evening, small groups of people still trained in some of the fields. Other groups of new soldiers lounged around firepits. The bangs of blacksmith hammers still echoed through the camp. I heard a horse whinny from the other side of the grounds.
Evrik's title easily gained us entrance to the original barracks. Evrik led me to what usually served as a war room. It was nearly bare, and I suspected most of the maps and charts had been moved into the castle, given what was happening.
It didn't take long for an older man to step into the room. He looked a soldier just past his prime, someone who probably could have retired with honours if he wanted to. He barely gave me a second's glance before turning to Evrik. "The man at the door said you want to look at the records."
"My friend would like to know if his brother is still in Zianna," Evrik said. The man's gruff exterior didn't phase him in the slightest.
The older soldier groaned. "The Native records are messy."
"Lord West Dra—"
"All right," the soldier interrupted. "I know who you work for." He grumbled under his breath as he walked around the enormous desk that stood at the far end of the room. "What's the name?"
"Castin," I spoke up. "And Terrow. I'm looking for two people."
He glared at me over his shoulder, then pulled two books down from the shelf behind him. He opened one and flipped through the pages, muttering under his breath again. Finally he tapped the page. "I've got five Terrows. Thirty-five, seventeen, twenty-nine, for—"
"He's twenty."
"Terrow. Twenty. Warehouse worker." The man dragged his finger along the line as he read. "Trained to be a field medic. Placed in General Jeshom's unit." He paused, and looked at one of the lists that had already been sprawled open on the desk. "General Jeshom was posted to Triben two weeks ago."
"To the front?" Evrik asked.
"I don't know what happens once they get to Triben," the man said. He closed the book with a thump and flipped the other one open. After a moment of searching, he read, "Castin. Thirty-on—"
"Fifteen," I said.
"I've got a sixteen-year-old. Listed 'enforcer' for previous work experience."
So Castin had lied, sort of. I nodded. "That's him."
"Trained as a swordsman. Placed in Sir Lord Ratenn's unit." He consulted the other list. "They're still in Zianna. Western side of the field."
"Perfect," Evrik said. "Do you happen to know if they're given any leave before being posted?"
The older man turned to slid the books back onto the shelf. "When the unit is given a posting, the men get two days of leave before they move out."
"That's generous," Evrik said. "Thank you for the assistance."
I quietly followed Evrik back through the barracks and onto the fields. The Western side of the field meant towards the Cliffs of Loth, and sure enough, we found Sir Lord Ratenn's unit tucked right against the base of the cliffs. I hovered near Evrik as he transformed for the third time that evening. In the lower city, he had managed to look somewhat like a sailor. At the gates and in the guardhouse, he had been a knight, and a pretty high ranking one. On the fields he became a regular soldier.
We went from fire to fire, Evrik chatted and exchanged a few jokes with the Native Zian soldiers before asking about Castin. He was a Telt with the bearing of someone lower class, and that was enough of a similarity for the Zian soldiers to feel at ease in a way I imagined they didn't feel around their leaders. Finally, after being pointed in various different directions and visiting multiple fires, we found Castin.
He was sitting with a group of men playing dice around a crate that served as a makeshift table. I slipped up behind him and eyed his dice. Without really meaning to, I was caught up in the game, my gaze flickering over ever other man's dice quickly. A scrap of paper covered in tally marks was sitting on the table, dimly lit by the nearby fire.
I spoke without announcing myself. "Reroll those two."
The other soldiers looked up at me, startled. They were sitting far enough from the fire that I had sort of appeared out of the darkness, and they didn't recognize me. Castin, on the other hand, barely reacted to my voice. "Why?"
"It's the sixth round, isn't it? So there's no reason to save low dice. Reroll."
"This isn't Sailor's Dice, it's Soldier's Dice." Castin tapped his fingers on the table beside his dice. Castin tended to be fairly still, the nervous fiddling helped me make sense of how the rest of the game had probably gone for him.
I had never played Soldier's Dice, but I suspected it was just a slight variation on the usual game. "What's the difference?"
"Ten rounds instead of six."
"What round are you on?"
Castin hesitated. "The tenth."
So either way, he was on the final round and my advice was sound. "Reroll."
For the first time Castin looked at me, just a quick glance over his shoulder. "I'm a hundred siyas down."
Hence the nervous tapping. "I don't lose."
Castin sighed and scooped up the two dice I had indicated. He dropped them listlessly, then perked up when his score was higher. The other soldiers grumbled. Castin hadn't won, but the improvement was enough that he hadn't lost, either. The scorekeeper grabbed the chart of tally marks and quickly calculated out who had won. My advice had landed Castin in third place, and he was given a small portion of the money. He slipped it into his pocket as he stood up.
Evrik took his seat. "Anyone familiar with the Farmer variation?" He picked up Castin's dice and shook them on his palm as he started to explain. The other soldiers watched him, intrigued.
Castin and I walked away, further from the fire, so we could have a bit of privacy.
"I didn't win," Castin said.
"You were in the last round. I couldn't fix nine mediocre rounds."
Castin actually smiled. "All right."
"So, how are you?" I asked. He looked fine. Good, even. Weeks of better food than he had ever eaten in his life and proper training had filled out his relatively skinny frame. Castin had been taller than me for about a year. Now, a tunic that would have once been enormous on him fit snugly across his chest and new muscles flexed when he crossed his arms. His hair, usually shaggy and messy like mine, was cropped short.
But possibly the biggest change in my brother was the way he was standing. Like me, Castin was used to blending into the background and keeping to the shadows. I didn't see any of that in the way Castin was acting now.
"Good," he said. "I'm really good at this."
That didn't surprise me. Castin had always been good in a fight, and I had always admired that about him. We were very good at different things, that was part of why nearly everything we said to each other was a taunt. He jabbed at my inability to fight, I teased him for being a terrible thief, but we had always been impressed by each other's skills.
"You lied when you registered. Sixteen-year-old enforcer?"
He shrugged. "I might be sixteen. And what else would you call me?"
"Criminal, brawler," I said, then, more seriously, "You were our protector."
"I'll be an even better protector after this."
I let the implication that he would survive go without comment. "The others asked me to check on you, and Evrik found out that you'll get a few days of leave before you're posted anywhere."
Castin nodded. "I know. Sir Lord Ratenn says we're ready, so we'll probably be sent out soon. And on leave, I'm going to marry Stria."
Of course he was, but we had gone so long without an insult that I couldn't help myself. "Does she know that? Maybe she'll have other plans."
Castin ignored me, and pulled a piece of rock from his pocket. It glowed white in the moonlight, and glittered when the firelight hit it. I recognized it immediately.
"That's from the Cliffs," I said.
"I pried it out as soon as I was placed in this section of the camp. I know it isn't very important to us, but it's pretty," Castin said. His new confidence deflated just a bit. "Do you think she'll like it?"
"You could give her a piece of a brick and she'd like it," I said. "But yes, it's beautiful. It's a good choice."
My words seemed to bolster him up again and he smiled. "Thanks."
"Finn," Evrik interrupted us abruptly. "We should go. Tannix said not to be late."
Behind him, the men at the dice table looked very happy. I was sure I knew why. "How did your dice game go?"
"Oh, terribly. Could've used your advice." Evrik held his hand out to Castin. "In case this is the last time I see you before you're posted, good luck. May... sorry, who is it?"
"Zianesa," I said.
"May Zianesa bless you," Evrik said cheerfully.
Castin shook his hand. "I hope your Goddess blesses you, as well. Finn, if you see Stria before I do..."
"Not a word." I stepped closer to hug him. Just in case it was the last time I would get the chance.
At first Castin stiffened, but I knew he was thinking the same thing, because he relaxed and hooked his arms around my back. Just in case.