Unknotted

Promises and Conspiracies

Rokan

I, gun still in hand, glared at the earth where Topaz and the troll had disappeared, taking with Tydeus them. Did she have connections with every elemental on the blasted hemisphere? First the Whisps, then the Ripples, and now Dusters. Most hybrids ignored elementals—they were nuisances we bore—but Topaz seemed to be buddies with all of them.

Running to where I had last seen Tydeus, I holstered my weapon and dropped to my knees. I wish I would have packed my handgun with tranquilizers. Then I wouldn’t have hesitated to pull the trigger and Tydeus wouldn’t be somewhere underground with a terrorist and her gang. My fingers clawed at the earth, but even the recent shifting hadn’t loosened the ground. Hands caked in clay, I sat back on my rump and demanded my mind sort out a solution.

What did Topaz want with Tydeus anyway? She had to know Glark and Stella wouldn’t pay any ransom, even if Tydeus was a high-ranking officer. She must be after territory secrets, battle plans, insider information, something along those lines. After everything I had witnessed and all that the Broshot’s intel revealed, I wouldn’t put anything past her.

Had she known Tydeus would be at the diner? Laid in wait to capture him? Nothing was coincidence. He must have been the reason she was there in the first place.

Now, he was somewhere underground. Likely being tortured for whatever information this terrorist wanted. If she managed to break him or use black magic to loosen his tongue, the safety of Keadan and its secrets were at stake. More than that, my friend, my mentor, the man who had become a pseudo uncle was in the hands of a woman who had little regard for consequences. Possibly even a death wish. Why else would she board a ship with top-ranking dominants of every territory and the enchantress who hated her enough to put a bounty on her head?

Think, think. How could I follow her and save Tydeus?

She had escaped using a Duster. I didn’t know much about the elementals except that they worked for a fee: a treasure and a song.

I put my hands back to where I had been digging and began drumming. I wasn’t much of a singer and didn’t care to repeat the same, rather ominous, song Topaz had. So, I chose to croak out a tune of my own. “Going on a hybrid hunt going to catch a sassy one. I’m not afraid, ’cause I got my beasts form. My big, mean beasts form.”

The ground trembled under my fingers. I wished I could have used the coavani knot to sense what was happening beneath the surface, but I was in enemy territory. I sang louder, hoping it was the Duster returning. “Stop! Look! What do you see?”

Earth crumbled under my hands. I shifted back as the ground fell away and the hole reopened. Out popped the head of the Duster, fur covered in red clay, its beady eyes squinting.

“I see a Duster. A big, black Duster.”

It stretched its stubby arm out and wiggled its webbed fingers.

I patted my pockets. I didn’t have much on me. A wallet, bits of lint, a pack of gum, a handgun, handcuffs—I had a feeling I would need those later—and the woman’s keys with the Ripple key chain. I flipped the wallet open and pulled out a fully punched frozen yogurt card. It had taken me months to earn a free froyo. Topaz was hurting me in the most unexpected ways.

The Duster must have sensed my irritation. It scooted to the edge of the hole and stretched its long fingers toward the little card.

I handed it over. “Can you take me to the man who was captured?”

The elemental’s shovel-shaped head cocked to the side.

“The big guy?” I stood and estimated Tydeus’s size, which was a little shorter than me. “He has the long hair.” Again, I gestured. Then tapped my eye. “And a bad eye.”

The Duster dropped back into the hole.

I leaned over it. “Where are you going?”

Popping back up, the Duster curled its fingers in a “follow me” motion. I checked the alley once more. This could be Topaz’s trap. I had a hard time trusting elementals at all, let alone one who had helped her escape. What choice did I have? Tydeus needed me.

I shot Chet a text about where I was going. The least he could do was unearth my body if this was a trap. Then I dropped into the hole. I had to crouch as I followed the Duster, its plump bottom wiggling as it burrowed along the path. The dirt it moved circled behind us and clogged the hole back up. The light vanished and the air instantly grew stale. This was a terrible idea.

About the time I decided I would die in this hole and I started running through my bad life choices, which seemed to focus on the hours after Topaz had crashed into my life, the Duster burrowed upward. In retrospect, we hadn’t traveled that far. A few minutes maybe.

Dim light spilled into the hole. The Duster wiggled his weird nose—as if worms were spilling from its nostrils—and pointed for me to go up. Unholstering my gun, I rose from my crouch and peeked over the lip of the hole.

I was behind a counter with menus, plasticware, and napkins tucked away on the shelves. The place smelled of noodles and soy sauce. Some sort of restaurant.

The Duster motioned for me to climb out of the hole, his little eyes narrowing.

“Tell us already.” The familiar voice drew me, using the counter as concealment, cautiously from the hole. The earth shut behind, taking any hope of recovering the free froyo punch card.

On hands and knees, I crawled to the end of the counter and peered around. Near the center of the room, Tydeus was tied to a chair, but he looked otherwise unharmed. A troll, likely the one from the portal station, though I couldn’t be certain with her masked and hooded, sat on a table. Her long legs swung as she observed Topaz circling Tydeus.

Topaz grabbed his chin and placed a blade to his throat. “You will talk or—”

My muscles uncoiled. I launched myself upright, weapon springing into a ready position. “Let him go.”

(Chapter continues in part 2)