Spectator

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Now

This was awkward. Not to mention, crowded. Part of the quaintness of Sh'an's stone hut was that it was small, austere. It was nice when it was just the two of them, but now Alisa, Lisan, Zakariah and her all shared the space, silence stretching out between them as they waited. The siblings stood near the waterfall, unbothered by the spray of water on their skin, while Zakariah took the tree stump tool. He kept stealing surreptitious glances at the bed as if imagining all the things Sh'an and Kali had done on it and judging her for them.

Kali pressed against the wall as far as she could. They were waiting for Sh'an to return, but it was taking longer than she had hoped. Zakariah's scowls weren't helping either. He was no happier that she'd told Sh'an than he was that the siblings knew now too. But Sh'an had promised her he trusted the twins absolutely, and honestly, the more warriors the better. But this wasn't about fighting, not yet. Sh'an had gone to plead his case to the chief after Zakariah's try with the shaman had already failed. He'd not earned back the trust lost when he'd been found with Kali and the others. No longer the golden boy; Kali was pretty sure Zakariah now wanted to leave as much as Nari and Jae did. Trouble was, he was willing to leave without them if this proved too much of an issue.

Kali didn't hear the footsteps in the corridor but the siblings did, straightening up only seconds before Sh'an slid into view. Lisan asked the question in Hazan, but Kali needed only one look at the disappointment in his dark onyx eyes to know the answer. Her heart fell to her stomach; the chief had refused Sh'an. The answer came out more completely in the next few minutes, in parts both Hazan and Standard: Ghaen had been there, speaking against Sh'an at every turn, and when Sh'an had come close to convincing the chieftain, Ghaen had reminded them of the Hubs.

Kali sagged. It had been the Blood Clan member who mentioned the steel bracelets had caused the fire in the sky, the destruction, that they were denizens from another plane of existence. A burning, hell like kind.

It had made many of the Hazanti members all the more wary of the two in the pit—and even of Zakariah and Kali. It wasn't true and she had said as much, but superstition and rumour was hard to stop once started. And the burning sky had certainly brought with it plenty of death over the last couple of weeks.

"He would not let the two go," Sh'an said finally. "And Ghaen nearly convinced him to lock up the others." He glanced at Kali, expression tight with worry.

"That's that, I suppose." Zakariah ran his fingers through his hair dismissively. "Unless your boyfriend is planning a jailbreak, there's no way."

Sh'an's eyes narrowed. He might not have understood every word, but he could grasp the tone well enough. And he wasn't a big fan of Zakariah either. Kali reached towards him, giving his forearm a squeeze.

"There's no way to change his mind?" Kali questioned, ignoring Zakariah's disdainful snort.

"If I had time," Sh'an said slowly. "To convince the omens are wrong."

"How long?"

"Sevenday. Perhaps longer."

There was a collective, brooding silence. "I don't think they can wait that long," Kali said softly. Neither can I. And with the knowledge that Ghaen was all but torturing Jae while he was down there made waiting impossible.

"I know," Sh'an said gruffly.

Alisa spoke fervently and quickly in Hazan, and Kali couldn't catch the words, but Zakariah did, evident by the raising of his eyebrows.

"Looks like she has a bit of a crush on ice queen down there. She doesn't want to leave them either."

Kali breathed a sigh of relief. Lisan also said something that sounded like agreement.