Obsidian: Retribution (Book 2)

Thirty-Seven: Grease Fire

The diversion was working splendidly, Lucidra thought as she watched the weapon storage go up in flames. It was a brilliant plan, if a little difficult to implement. Getting the whale oil was the easy part, smuggling in barrels of it the evening before required a lot of bribes and inside knowledge of how things were stored. The barrels had been sent in as wine reserves for the prison guards who would miss the upcoming boat race and parade during Sedaya. The annual week-long festival to honor Sed, god of the sea, was the most important event on Samarran calendar, and the Black Tower always made a point of sending gifts every year, everywhere, to keep the city happy. That this year's gifts had arrived three weeks early didn't alert anyone, but the correct marks and seals on the barrels had much to do with it. Ranveer, as a former Salar, seemed to know every detail about how the Salasar operated. Then again, he was also someone who made sure he knew every crack and leak on her ship to run it in his twenties.

The fire did start a commotion, as predicted, and the smoke they'd maximized by burning charcoal along with whale oil did make it near impossible to see who was running where, giving them a small but perfect window to slip past the courtyard into the prisoner quarter. The four men she'd sent over the wall to start the fire had returned quickly to the southern gate to take care of the guards. By the time they opened the door for the rest of the crew to slip in, most guards on patrol were already running to put out the fire. Ranveer had predicted this, had chosen this gate and this specific storage to burn for their locations, taking into account the wind direction to make sure the smoke traveled where he most needed it seen and how it would affect the behavior of the guards inside, which, in turn, dictated the safest path to the prisoner quarter they had to take.

They'd moved quickly in the dark, slitting throats and hiding bodies of any guard left patrolling in their path. The men watched Ranveer's reaction as they did. They were his men, everyone knew, or would be again once he reclaimed the throne. The former Salar, acutely aware that he was being watched, made a point to kill one himself in plain sight. The crew had stopped looking for his reactions after that, not that she thought they would find anything if they hadn't.

'A practical leader is always needed more than a merciful one,' Niroza had said. 'You can always count on people to turn a blind eye to how food arrived when they're hungry, and remember nothing when their bellies are full.'

And it was practical now, to kill these men, to burn down the weapon storage and risk a bigger fire when he hated burnings more than anything. They had to go in and out before the rest of the guards knew what was happening. With only fifty men and Niroza's two hundred they would free with him, their number was still no hope against a battalion of Samarra's experienced city guards. Should they be alerted in time, their proximity would allow them to block all exits before Niroza could take one step outside. It was a gamble on speed and ignorance from the enemy's side, and they could all die here, tonight, if someone were to see through their plans early.

Not a risk she would take without a back up plan of her own, Lucidra had decided before coming here, not with her son being among them.

***

The fire was already climbing toward the roof by the time Akshay reached the weapon storage. Thick plumes of smoke spilled into the courtyard like waves that never returned to the sea, forming a curtain of blinding clouds that offered five paces of visibility at best. From the sound of it, half a company was already in the area, running and shouting for more men to bring water to put out the fire.

The fire...

Something about the fire didn't feel right. Akshay made his way through the crowd of panicking men, got close enough to the flame to get a better sniff.