She Who Rides the Storm (The Gods-Touched Duology)
She Who Rides the Storm: Chapter 17

Even after the plague house was out of sight behind them, Anwei walked as fast as she could to get out of the Fig Cay’s winding streets, silently willing Knox to wait until they were clear before speaking any more. Knox seemed to understand, watching the streets around them with a sharp undercurrent of worry that stabbed through the bond between them. When they got to the island’s western side—a mishmash of rotting docks, most of which were carved with Crowteeth feathers—she stopped only long enough to gauge the distance to a ferry navigating the clogged waterway toward the pier, the Ink Cay only thirty feet of dirty water away.

Anwei took a running jump, barely clearing the ferry’s low railing. She ran with her momentum, hopping to a smaller fishing boat next, and then a high khonin’s glistening barge, only one of the boat owners getting close enough to take a swipe at her before she made it to the docks on the other side. Knox landed just behind her.

“Do you think he was in there?” he asked quietly, nudging her to get moving as the dock attendant came storming toward them.

“I don’t know.” Anwei couldn’t stop her skin from crawling. She wanted to wash whatever had happened to those people out of her mind. She walked straight past the dock attendant, pulling back her scarf to show her braids. The attendant missed a step but didn’t stop muttering about Fig Cay rats. “It doesn’t change anything. We get Noa to sneak us into the party, we steal the dig plans, we get rid of the shapeshifter, and it solves everyone’s problems. The Firelily’s only a few minutes’ walk. Let’s go.”

“But what exactly is happening to those people?”

“I don’t know.” The theater was on the other side of the Ink Cay, standing a head above the squat government buildings that made up most of the island. It stared across the channel toward the Gold Cay as if it could see more promise in the glittering malthouses and shops than in the life that held its dreary neighbors bound. Gritting her teeth, Anwei breathed a sigh of relief when the theater came into sight. “You said you’ve seen sickness like that before.”

“It’s like…” Knox slowed a step. “I do know where I’ve seen it.”

“Where?”

“I’m not supposed to talk about it, but not because of an oath, I guess.” He licked his lips, looking back toward the rotted buildings they’d come from. “It looks like wasting sickness.”

Anwei’s brow furrowed. Wasting sickness? “What causes it? Does it pass between people?”

“No. It only happens to Devoted. Victims’ connection to Calsta gets… eaten up by something. It drains them—like there’s an imbalance. Something siphoning their energy from the inside, and there isn’t a cause or cure that I know of. I’ve never seen anything like it among normal people.” Knox stiffened, glancing over his shoulder. “Someone is following us.”

Anwei looked back before Knox pulled her along, forcing her to keep walking. “Jecks?”

“No.” He put a hand to his forehead. “Calsta above, I’m so tired—how did I miss that? It’s an aura I’ve seen in the past few days, but I don’t remember where. Maybe more than once over the last week.”

“And you’re only now bringing it up?” Anwei pressed her lips together, pushing herself a little faster. So Knox could recognize specific people based on their auras? See things wrong with people too? Anwei added it all to her mental list, along with the slipping into shadows, hearing a little too well, and seeing things when she couldn’t. Jumping a little too far, moving a little too fast. A panicked buzz trilled along her arms and back at the idea of someone tailing them—that would be twice in two days someone had managed to latch on to Knox, when it had never happened before.

She didn’t like the idea of this wasting sickness either—something that wasn’t caused by a particular thing inside a person, but was just there, eating away at them? Anwei’s hands tightened around her medicine bag strap. Wasn’t that supposed to be what shapeshifters did? Steal energy?

And if that’s what the snake-tooth man was doing, and he was involved at the plague house, then maybe it was him following them. Maybe he’d been following them for days, weeks.…

Knox touched Anwei’s arm, attempting to draw her down an alleyway branching off from the road, but she resisted, pointing at the Firelily’s black dome. “Whoever is following us isn’t going to go in there after us—how would they hide?” She lowered her voice. “We can leave the back way once we’ve talked to Noa. If there is one.”

Knox let her pull him toward the theater, his eyes stopping on the sign over the Firelily’s door. It was carved with gaudy flowers and glittering paint. “I hate this place.”

Anwei paused, her hand on the latch. “You’ve been to the Firelily?”

“No. But I’m sure it’s full of aggressively outgoing people who will want me to like them.”

Anwei stifled a laugh that felt more like a pain in her side. Her fingers dug into Knox’s arm as she pulled him through the open door to the outer gallery with its paisley curtains and gold paint, heavy drumming echoing from deeper inside. Passing the curtains, Anwei stepped into the circular theater itself, narrow benches arranged in neat rows around a square wooden stage at the center. On the stage, five men leapt to the time of a deep-voiced drum, the drummer sitting on the theater floor to the side. The men swung weighted tethers in quick circles around their heads and bodies as they danced, the blackened tang of salpowder wafting from the stage. Each of the tethers was coated in it.

Knox tensed, pulling away from her to draw his knife.

“Knox, what—”

Suddenly Anwei could hear it, the groan of chains and gears. She put a hand on his arm, coaxing him to lower the knife as a trapdoor opened at the center of the stage. The top of a woman’s head rose through the hole, the stage mechanism lifting her. She tossed her hair and began spinning before the platform had brought her all the way up, her wild brown waves held back from her forehead by a brightly striped scarf. Noa.

Noa always looked most herself when she was dancing. Her peacock-blue and green skirts were divided, so they swished around her legs as she ran to one of the men, who boosted her into the air—there was a burst of sticky black and gritty rose in Anwei’s nose—and the weighted tethers in Noa’s hands ignited. The flames twirled around her as she spun in the air. She landed lightly on her feet, then tossed the tethers into the air, spinning them up over her head.

“Noa!” Anwei called, moving closer to the stage. The dancers circled around Noa as if they were worshipping her—Anwei wouldn’t have been surprised if Noa herself had added it to the choreography—then each of them flipped up from the stage, their tethers igniting into purple flames. “Noa! Come down!”

Noa stopped midspin, peering out into the benches. “Anwei?” She dropped her flaming tethers and ran toward Anwei’s side of the stage, ignoring the other dancers, who continued to twirl. One of them stopped to stomp on Noa’s tether where she’d left it burning merrily on the wooden stage.

“Sky Painter protect you, Noa,” Anwei called out in Elantin.

“May she send her storms far away from us,” Noa sang out. She hopped off the stage and grabbed Anwei’s wrists, kissing her forehead to finish the greeting a little more enthusiastically than she usually did. “What’s the matter? You look like you stepped on a ghost.”

“Just about.” Anwei returned the gesture, raising a hand to point at Noa’s colorful scarf. “No knots? What would your father say? And are those pants you are wearing?”

“I won’t tell if you won’t.” Noa laughed, pulling the scarf back to reveal two braids wound into tight knots on top of her head. She produced a wooden hair stick from her pocket, twisted her long, blustery waves into a tight bun, and jammed the prongs into her hair to keep the bun in place. “I thought you weren’t going to come! What have you got for me?”

“I don’t have everything mixed yet. Maybe I could give it to you right before the ball? It’s in the next few days, right?” Anwei led Noa back into the benches, out of earshot of the other dancers. Not that they were paying attention. They probably couldn’t speak Elantin anyway. “Like you said, together we could take out the entire government of Chaol.”

Noa froze for a split second, her face going blank, but then she smiled twice as wide, as if she could cover it up, squealing like a pig headed to the slaughter pens. “You want to come to the governor’s ball? It’s tomorrow. Will you be able to get the herbs mixed in time?”

Anwei didn’t answer for a moment, wondering if she’d imagined Noa’s chagrin. “It seemed for a second like you didn’t want to go anymore.”

“Of course I want to go. This is my dream come true! We are going to have so much fun.”

“I’m glad to know you dream about a healer helping you make people sick.” Anwei noticed Knox cocking his ear toward them, as if listening closer would rearrange the syllables from Noa’s native tongue into Common. “But I need a little more than that.”

Noa’s smile faded a hair. She sat down on a bench, holding her shoulders a little too straight. “You need something. From me? Other than gossip.”

“Nothing too terrible.” Anwei felt a twinge of discomfort when she sat down, though she couldn’t think why. Noa had always just been a contact, and sometimes contacts needed to be pressed. But she didn’t like the sudden tiredness in Noa’s eyes. “What’s the matter?”

“Same things as usual.” Noa wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing her arms as if she was cold. “I was thinking of pretending to be sick that night. But if you’re coming, then it won’t be so bad.”

“Why? I thought the whole point was to make your minders sick so you could have fun.”

“Yes, well, my minders have minds of their own right now. And know a little too much.”

“Did your father replace out about Bear proposing?”

Noa’s nose scrunched. “He’s never going to let me go home to Elantia.”

“Bear or your father? No, never mind, I think I’ve got something that will cheer you up.” Anwei’s insides twisted; she wished she had time enough to let Noa talk, but Noa’s problem of marrying a boy too rich to care that she hadn’t agreed to the wedding and too dumb to know she’d do as she pleased felt a bit small, what with someone following Anwei and Knox through the streets, the Trib trap, the shapeshifter finally within reach after so many years.… Anwei pushed on, even as she saw Noa’s face fall a little. “How would you feel about skipping mild poison and haunting the ball instead?”

Anwei and Knox had talked about it on the cart ride from Gretis to Chaol. They needed a distraction to ensure they could get into the governor’s study to take maps and documents related to the dig without being interrupted. The dig itself was draped in so many ghost wards that choosing an appropriate distraction had been almost too easy.

“A haunting?” Noa’s chin came up, her voice losing its raw edge. The fire dancers behind her were now trying to push one another off the raised platform while whooping loudly. The tether Noa had abandoned in the center was still smoking a little, and Anwei could smell the burned herbs on Noa’s hands. “You want to scare the entire Water Cay into thinking the governor’s house is haunted? Yes. A thousand times yes.” She stood up and started for the door. “This will take planning. Costumes. What else?… I’ll be back in a minute, boys!” Noa yelled the last in Common toward the dancers, hurriedly gesturing for Anwei to follow her to the theater door. “Come on! This is going to be the most fun I’ve had in weeks!”

Knox appeared at Anwei’s side in that way of his—sliding into existence as if her eyes had somehow missed him until the moment he wanted to be seen. “We need to go. Whoever is following us just walked into the entrance hall.”

“Anwei.” Noa was peering past the curtains into the entrance hall. “Your little friend who pretends he’s your shadow—the pretty one. Did you bring him? Because I think he…” She turned back to look at Anwei and jumped when she saw Knox, both hands clapping over her mouth. “Falan’s flowers, you scared me. Were you here before?” she giggled, switching to Common. “But if he’s in here, then who is out—”

Anwei darted toward Noa, linking her arm through the dancer’s, pulling her toward the stage. “Where’s the back way out?”

“Oooh, someone followed you here and you don’t want to see him?” Noa dug in her heels, craning her neck to see past the curtains. “He loves you, but you love this one.” She pointed at Knox. “Oh, and he’s come to fight for your heart! You look like you know how to fight.” Noa looked him up and down.

“That’s not it at all, Noa.” Anwei couldn’t help but laugh through the tension twisting her shoulders tight. “A back way out?”

“Oh, fine.” Noa skipped toward the raised stage and pushed through a door at its base. “If it’s not a fight to win your heart, then what is all this about? People following you. Haunting the governor. I always knew there was more to you than herbs.”

“Not really.” Anwei ducked into the narrow opening and followed Noa down the dark, dusty steps under the stage, the light blue smell of canvas, dirty ochre of wooden sets, and vermilion bursts of pigment in oil touching Anwei’s nose in quick succession. “A few archeologists from that shapeshifter dig on the cliffs stiffed me payment for some herbs, and I wouldn’t mind watching them scream themselves hoarse, is all. Unless all the Devoted are going to be there. They’d probably stab us through before we could do any proper howling.”

“Shapeshifter dig?” Noa paused, the darkness under the stage hiding her expression, before she pushed her way into the shadows. Anwei almost felt Knox stiffen behind her, ready to defend against some kind of attack. She did feel it, a tautening in her mind, as if it were her own muscles winding tighter than a spring. “A live one?”

“No. A very, very dead one, so I’m told.” Rubbing at the back of her head, Anwei tried to banish the sensation, only to feel threads of worry drip down her own back. Noa wasn’t quiet, Noa didn’t think. Noa just was.

But that wasn’t what the second khonin was doing now. Anwei couldn’t see what she was doing, the girl’s lemongrass scent laced with salpowder too strong to know exactly where she was in the darkness. Groping for her medicine bag, Anwei felt her heart begin to race before she could think. When her hands closed around the corta, her mind caught up with the rest of her. Noa wasn’t a threat.

But Knox thought Noa might be a threat, and he was in her head, making her think it too.

A door opened in the darkness, sunlight making Noa’s silhouette too long and thin, as if she were half spider. Anwei recoiled, her eyes clenching shut at the sudden light, and she could feel Knox bracing for something to happen, thinking that no one would blind a Devoted like this unless it was to gain an advantage in an attack.…

“Sounds like the type of people who would feel a little worried about ghosts, no?” Noa’s voice was still shadowed, the light behind her making her impossible to read. After a moment she stepped back, revealing a quizzical expression on her face. “I thought you were in a hurry? Unless you do want the man in the entry hall to catch you. I wouldn’t mind if he caught me. He looked handsome.”

Anwei felt her insides unwind, and she pulled her hand from her medicine bag. Knox was coiled tight, ready to attack if Noa put a foot wrong. She tried to wall off the spot he’d claimed at the back of her head, but nothing changed.

Knox’s hand touched her arm as if to calm her down, and Anwei jolted to attention, realizing that if she could feel so much of what he was feeling, then it probably went the other way too. “Are you all right?” he whispered. “This… connection stuff is getting worse.”

Anwei turned back to Noa, her cheeks hot. “About the haunting…,” she started.

“Yes, we have to get you in.” Noa leaned against the door as she waited for Anwei and Knox to follow her. “They’re blocking all traffic from crossing the Water Cay bridge, and you’ll need an invitation to get past the governor’s gates. I asked Daddy about the Devoted after you mentioned they were in town, but he says they’re not doing anything until they replace the one who disappeared.” Her brow furrowed. “I heard she can look into your mind. Bothersome person to lose if she doesn’t want to be found. She’d always know you were coming.”

Anwei didn’t like the way Noa’s words twisted Knox inside her, as if they meant something to him. She shook the feeling away, lining the plan back up in her mind. If the Devoted weren’t going to be there, then nothing could stand in their way.

“I’m not worried about getting in. Knox and I can dress as servants. They’ll let in cooks, musicians. Florists?”

“Earlier in the day, I suppose.” Noa nodded. “But they’ll check anything you bring in—every basket, every bag, every flower. I guess there was some kind of break-in at the governor’s compound a few months back, so he’s gone a bit funny about those things.”

Anwei and Knox exchanged a glance. Stealing those candlesticks hadn’t been easy, but it meant they already knew the layout of the compound, the way the guards moved, where they could get in, and where the governor’s papers would be.

“So what kind of haunting did you have in mind?” Noa was all smiles now.

“The kind with salpowder.” Knox’s voice was a hair too quiet from behind Anwei. “Seems like you wouldn’t have a hard time using it, what with your dance routine?”

Noa’s smile grew. “None whatsoever.”

Anwei stepped into the blinding light, making sure her grin was in place. If they were searching servants’ bags on the way in, they’d certainly be searching them on the way out as well. “They aren’t going to rifle through your things when you come, are they? I’ll bring you some supplies to drop off inside the compound. Knox and I will replace our own way inside”—Noa’s eyes flicked over to Knox, as if weighing him, and Anwei caught herself moving to stand between them—“and perhaps you could sneak us out when you leave? They won’t be counting invitations on the way out.”

The light slithered across Noa’s face as she looked toward the Water Cay thoughtfully. “They’d notice if I suddenly had a Beildan and a man with no khonin knots in my carriage.” Her eyes slid over Knox’s hair. “We’ll have to dress both of you up to fit in.”

“Might be a good idea anyway, so we can help you play ghost without anyone noticing us.”

“Me?” Noa put a hand to her chest, her voice rising. “You want me to play the ghost? Anwei, if you were a man, I’d propose.”

“I know how you feel about proposals, so if you did, I’d know to watch my back.”

The high khonin’s grin was a little too sharp. “What do I need to do?”

It wasn’t until Noa had skipped back into the theater that Knox emerged from the shadows in one sudden jerk that sent Anwei teetering back on her heels. “Our tail managed to follow. He’s out there.”

“Or she.” Anwei flinched as a shadow darted across the alleyway’s mouth. She stuck a hand into her bag, fishing for a tiny bottle of special malt, less than a knuckle’s worth inside. Then she pulled out her package of ground lysander. “How much do you think they heard?”

“They were outside my range until just now, so I don’t know. Maybe everything.”

“I’ll take this side.” Anwei put her back to the alley wall, extracted the wooden funnel from her bag, and carefully poured the powder into the bottle’s narrow mouth. She plugged it with a cork, then gave the bottle a brisk shake to mix the powder and malt. Knox took his place on the opposite wall, his eyes flicking between her and the alleyway’s mouth.

“Ready?” he whispered after a moment.

She put up a hand to wait, giving the bottle another shake. He nodded toward his side of the alley to let her know their follower was closer to him, hidden only by the wall. Anwei swirled the bottle one last time, then held it up to the light, waiting until the smell turned from a combination of citrine and fiery red to a burnished, sickly gold.

She nodded to Knox, and he darted out of the alleyway, a stifled yelp echoing back toward her before she followed him. But instead of Knox holding their tail, Anwei found Knox on the ground, rubbing his ankle.

“He wasn’t where I thought he was. Which should be impossible.” He pointed down the street. “There was a… a little thing where his aura was. It scorched me and scampered off.”

“A thing? That scorched you? What does that even mean?”

“A lizard. That doesn’t matter, though. I’ve never seen someone throw his aura like that—it wasn’t in the right place. I did get a look at his face, though.”

“Is it someone we need to worry about?” Anwei tucked the bottle back into her bag. The concoction wouldn’t work if it wasn’t used within moments of mixing. She could already smell the burnished edge tarnishing, the gold fading to an ugly mustard. It could knock a person out, even stop a charging silenbahk if she mixed enough of it, but only if it hit skin inside the right time frame. It was useless now.

“I know where I’ve seen his aura now.” Knox smiled grimly up at her, massaging his ankle.

“Stop pretending you didn’t trip and just tell me.”

“I didn’t trip. I’ve never tripped in my life. There was a lizard.”

“Sure. A lizard wearing a man’s aura. I believe you.” Anwei’s throat suddenly clenched. “Wait, do you mean—”

“No, it wasn’t a shapeshifter. It was like the man was using the lizard as a puppet. But here’s the thing: he was one of the men at the apothecary yesterday when I went out the window. And I think he was at the temple the other night after we stole that figurine. The scratch on my side? He pushed past me in the malthouse, and I came out with this. He’s Trib.”

“Trib? One of Shale’s clan? So… there were men who chased you back to the apothecary… but this man wasn’t one of them. He was already there outside the apothecary, waiting.” Anwei’s chest tightened. She held a hand out to help Knox up, her eyes straying down the deserted road to where the man had disappeared. “But he’s not a wandering holy man? No pineapples today, Knox?”

Knox gave a half-hearted laugh at the joke, but he was staring down the road just as hard as she was. “Maybe. I’ve never seen a trick with an aura like that before. And I’d never seen his face before—he’s young. And yes, definitely at the apothecary yesterday. I didn’t realize he was with the other Trib.”

Anwei immediately knew who their tail was. The young Trib who’d been with Shale—Altahn—had been much more aware and concerning than Shale himself.

More than ever Anwei could feel a trap’s wicked teeth all around her, waiting to spring shut.