Maren Goldweaver's Arc

Chapter 28 of 42

At sunrise, Vera's men brought all five of them to the main tent. Maren walked at the front. Miller stayed at her shoulder. Gisela and Kato followed. Topper came last, wrists loose, mouth already open to complain about the walk. Vera sat behind a plank table with a tin cup in her hand. The scar across her jaw looked deeper in the flat light. She did not stand. "You ate," Vera said. "You slept. Kato is breathing. That was the trade." "I want another one," Maren said. "I can't shelter fugitives. My people would hang me for it. You're the Registry's face on every post north of here." "I know their routes," Maren said. "Every transfer ship, every rotation, every clerk that signs off. Six months of logs. It's in my head." Vera set the cup down. "Words." "I can name the ship your ledger rides on. I can name the week it docks." "Still words." Maren's throat closed. She had nothing on paper. Nothing in her hands. She had spent the cub last night to sit in this tent, and Vera was not going to take a promise. Topper shifted behind her, bored. He said something under his breath about breakfast. Maren turned her head. She looked at him for a long second. The white shirt. The smug mouth. The mustache he touched when he was pleased with himself. A former Registry cipher clerk who could read anything the Registry wrote down. She turned back to Vera. "Then take him," Maren said. She jerked her chin at Topper. "He worked ciphers for the Registry for nine years. He can read every code on that ledger you want. He's been our prisoner since the coast. We've been feeding him to keep him quiet." Topper's mouth fell open. "What —" Miller stepped in front of him. One hand on his chest. "Quiet." Miller's other hand rested near his belt. He was smiling, barely. Maren had not seen him smile in weeks. Vera looked at Topper. Topper looked at Miller's hand. He shut his mouth. "Nine years," Vera said. "Ask him anything from the sealed side," Maren said. "He'll answer. He wants to live." Vera studied him. She studied Maren. She drank from the tin cup. The tent was quiet enough to hear Kato breathing. "Sit down," Vera said finally. "All of you." They sat on the packed dirt. Vera leaned forward. "You want back on our side, this is the price. There's a Registry clerk two days east who signs the transfer manifests for the northern routes. Delia. She turned once. She'll turn again if the right person asks. Bring her to me alive, with the current manifest, and you're ours again. Fail, and don't come back." Maren's hands went cold. She knew the name. "Agreed," Maren said. Vera nodded once. "Take your cipher man. You'll need him." Topper made a sound like a kicked dog. Miller's hand did not move from his chest.