Cold Steel

Clean was all very well, but I needed to be able to talk!



Rory touched a finger to each of my eyes. “Cat, I swear, you talk constantly even in your sleep. It’s safe to wake up. I never gave them the letters, so they don’t know anything.”



I opened my eyes. Rory sat in a chair next to me. I lay on the bed Vai had built for us, and strange it was to do so, for we had not had it with us before. A fabric-covered standing screen blocked my view of the rest of the room, its golden suns and silver moons smiling at me. By the quality of the light I guessed it to be mid-afternoon on a cloudy day. I heard the clatter and ring of utensils and cups as people ate at a nearby table.



“Why am I dreaming that Kofi and Kayleigh are here?” I demanded, although my voice came out as a hoarse whisper. “Have I been delirious?”



He rolled his eyes in an expression copied from Bee at her most aggravating. “That is one word for it. Kofi and Kayleigh and their baby and people arrived on Hallows’ Day on a ship from Expedition. The Assembly in Expedition has sent Kofi to be ambassador to Europa, only no one really knew where he ought to go, so they sent him to Godwik and Clutch to get his bearings. Then Bee and Vai returned with the others at sunset on Hallows’ Day. You can imagine what happened when they found you missing! It’s fortunate we tracked you down as quickly as we did. I admit it was rather dramatic to find you just at sunrise in the goddess’s temple. Are you better now?”



Venturesomely I swung my feet out from under the beaver-pelt blanket and set them on the plank floor, which radiated heat, for evidently the hypocaust had been repaired. I wore the nightgown I’d been given at White Bow House, and my chest had a poultice on it, wrapped into place by linen strips. “How long have I been sick?”



“Eight days.”



According to report, if a human is bitten by a ghoul, the onset of the disease is so swift and implacable that the victim will become morbid in less than seven days. So the headmaster had read aloud to us the day Bee had argued with Bran Cof in his study.



Eight days! Well! This was encouraging! I stood, and my feet stayed under me. Holding on to Rory’s arm, I shuffled to where I could see past the screen and into the room.



The scene of a family dinner just come to its end could not have been more charming even had Bee sketched it. Vai’s mother was seated in the chair of honor, looking frail but aglow with happiness as she held the hand of her pregnant daughter, Kayleigh. Bintou and Wasa were fomenting mischief with a lad I was pretty sure was one of Kofi’s young cousins, brought with him from Expedition. Old Bakary was seated next to Bee, and to my surprise Beatrice was paging through her sketchbook while the djeli made comments. Over at a lovely new desk Chartji, Caith, Godwik, and the Taino woman I had seen in my delirium bent over a schematic Kofi had unrolled. The behica was explaining about good plumbing, drinking water, and cholera.



Vai stood looking at it, too. He held a fat baby with chubby brown cheeks and a chortling laugh. I had just decided that I had to be dreaming when he turned his head and smiled at me, as if he’d known I was standing there. He gave a half-wink as if to say that I ought to notice how handsome he looked with a baby in his arms and didn’t I want him to have one of his very own?



With a smile, I mouthed, Soon but not yet.



Then everyone else saw me, and their exclamations of delight and concern bent me like a reed under the onslaught of a winter gale. I retreated to the bed and sank down. Vai and Bee hurried in to sit on either side of me.



“Love, how are you?”



“I’m hungry! I could eat a whole side of beef and have room for turnips besides!”



“We were so worried,” said Bee, wringing my hands until I grimaced and said, “Ouch!”



Vai brushed strands of hair off my brow. “Why on earth did you go to Tanit’s sanctuary on Hallows’ Night without telling anyone? We thought you had been taken by the Wild Hunt!”



“I don’t remember that part very well,” I said truthfully. “But I do remember that you asked me if I had anything I wanted to do. I want to build batey courts in Europa so we can have our own batey leagues and tournaments. Isn’t that a good idea? And in a few years we can go to the desert and destroy any of the ghouls that were caught on the other side of the gate. Without blood, no more will ever fall into the mortal world. If the last of them are hunted down, there is a chance the salt plague can be eradicated. Wouldn’t that be something?”



Bee pressed the back of a hand to my forehead. “Is she still feverish?”



“No, that’s exactly the sort of adventure I would expect her to undertake.” Vai flicked a finger along my cheek. “However, there is one thing we’ve all been waiting for you to explain, Catherine.”