The Boon of Alon

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Chama catches me on my way to the dorm after dinner and pulls me aside into one of the rider's rooms. It's tiny and plain—the riders don't get permanent rooms since most of them are gone half the time, so they don't really get to personalize—but it's more private than the dorm.

"I'm leaving for a few days," she says. "I want you to keep an eye on Gred in the meantime. He's gone overnight but he should be back in the morning."

She wanted privacy because of the topic, I guess. "Sure," I say.

"There's a few riders I trust—Tack and Molla should be available, if anything happens while I'm gone," she says. "Ferdah came back this afternoon and said a few people tried to bribe her while she was asking after the refugees in the Republic. She didn't think much of it, so she didn't try to find out why, but..."

"The corruption you're worried about," I say. "Is it related to the war in Pangessa specifically?"

"Ack. I was trying not to tell you that." She sighs. "For the most part, yes."

"Which side...?"

"This isn't your morning archive session, kid. I'm not trying to walk you through our latest political puzzle."

"I thought you thought I was going to get involved in the rebellion anyway," I point out. "Shouldn't I know all the details so I don't get stuck on the wrong side?"

It's maybe kind of a low blow, but Chama can't really deny it, so she gives me a disapproving look instead before she adds, "It's both sides, as far as we can tell, when we can tell at all. Plus other groups who want to extend the conflict."

"Extend it?"

"War can be very profitable, if you don't have strong morals," she says flatly. "Anyway, we don't have any evidence they've gotten to Gred, and that might not be how he betrays us anyway. But I'm going to investigate."

"Okay." I'm still halfway convinced that he won't betray us at all unless the riders start treating him with suspicion. "What about Ventur?"

"I don't know how a dragon wouldn't notice his rider betraying us," she says, "unless he was going to betray us, too." That's an unpleasant thought. She continues, "I did ask Arnet to probe a bit, but we can't be too obvious or else we're driving them to it again. So far, nothing. But we also don't know what we're looking for."

Neither do I. Chama takes a deep breath and puts a hand on my shoulder, teeth clenched. Either I'm going to hate whatever she's about to say, or she already does.

"Look—for the most part, just leave this to me. You have enough to worry about without trying to work out the riders' internal issues, too."

"True..." I say slowly.

"And it's bad enough we've got you keeping an eye on Gred when you should be focusing on your training—though I hear you're killing it in the archive. Good job on that, by the way."

"Thanks..."

"And...the last thing I want is to send you anywhere near Iamon."

"Great?" I have no idea what she could be working toward now, and besides, I get near Iamon as often as possible.

"But, the more I think about it...we need clarification on that prophecy." She sighs. "It's just too vague. He must expect us to act on it, or else he wouldn't have told us, but we don't want to overreact and make it happen. If there's any additional detail..."

Ha! I raise an eyebrow at her and she waves a hand.

"Go on, let it out," she sighs.

"You want more information about a prophecy," I crow. "You want to ask Iamon for more information about a prophecy you've gotten involved in. Imagine that!"