The Olive Conspiracy (23 page)

Convinced, the other lizard backed off.
Rivka is going to laugh at this for days
, Isaac thought as
he ran toward the house. He laughed himself as he realized from a
rustling behind him that the other lizard was following him into
the house.

When he got there, he saw why the other lizard
was so invested in keeping him away. A healthy supply of tiny ants
provided ample motive to defend this modest territory. He
restrained himself from sampling them, wishing to avoid further
pointless conflict with his reptilian brothers.

Isaac crawled up to the ceiling so he could
take a census of the room’s human occupants.

The first person he noticed was a nondescript
man, with the characteristic pale skin and black hair of the
Imbrians, asleep on a sofa in the center of the room. Two jugs
rested beside him on the floor, and one look at the man’s open
mouth told Isaac that this might be the heavy drinker with the
missing tooth from Ezra’s notes.

A woman, Perachi from her coloring and clothes,
emerged from the house’s back room. She ignored the sleeping man
and sat down at the large table, returning to the garlic cloves
she’d been shucking.

“
All that and you return so quickly
to your cooking?” Isaac jerked his head to follow the
Imbrian-accented voice. Another pale, dark-haired man appeared, in
the doorway of the back room. His shirt and hair were rumpled, and
he leaned against the doorframe.

The woman looked up from her work. “But Rui
will be back with André and they’re both expecting dinner. You
remember, like last time? They didn’t stop to eat the whole way so
they wouldn’t get overheard like that time in the
restaurant.”

Isaac thought he saw fear in her large
eyes.

The Imbrian approached her slowly, his
movements fluid. “Talia,
minha adorada
.” He laid a hand
delicately on each of her shoulders and nuzzled her head from
behind with his nose and mouth. “Our busy little
flower.”

They won Tova with hate, and this Talia with
love
, Isaac noted. Then he simply continued
watching.

“
You could help me, if you like,”
Talia suggested. “If I finish faster, maybe you can… I can…” The
Imbrian was kissing the back of her neck now, and his hands had
traveled across to clasp her bosom.

Isaac turned away. He kept to the shadows as he
headed for a vase of branches at the center of the room, figuring
it would be a perfect vantage point once Rui and André returned.
Settling in between the leaves, he waited.

Talia somehow managed to cook while evading her
Imbrian suitor’s advances, and at some point the inebriate on the
couch woke up, blinked stupidly for several minutes, and then
demanded water.

Before long, the house was filled with the
aroma of garlic and frying meat, and not a moment too soon. Horse
hooves thumped outside, and there was a great jangling and
clattering as the door opened to admit two large, pale-skinned men.
They both had black hair and healthy beards. One was young and very
thin, the other larger, older, and radiating the confidence of a
leader.

“
It smells wonderful in here,” said
the older of the two in Imbrian. Then he repeated himself in
Perachi. “Thank you, Talia. I can’t wait to eat.”

“
Did anyone see you?” asked the one
who was Talia’s lover.

“
No, we were safe.”

“
What about at the
border?”

“
We posed as traders looking for
new sources.”

“
That’s ironic,” quipped Talia’s
lover.

The leader laughed. “You could say
that.”

“
Is André carrying a message?” The
man with the missing tooth stood up, making a face as if standing
brought him pain.

The younger of the new arrivals stepped forward
and removed a folded, sealed paper from deep within his clothes.
“Right here.”

“
Let’s open it!” said Talia’s
lover.

“
We should let them eat first,”
countered the man with the missing tooth.

They both looked at André, who shrugged. “It’s
up to Rui.”

The older leader, the one who was called Rui,
pursed his lips for a moment, then sat down at the table. “The
letter can surely wait five minutes. It’s been days since I’ve
eaten anything that wasn’t packed in a pouch.”

As they fell upon the food, Isaac evaluated the
situation. That paper was probably the most important thing in the
room right now. He could think of plenty of magic-based ways he
could abscond with it easily, but unfortunately, they were all
untenable as all involved him revealing his presence. That would
never do, because Rivka and her team planned a surprise
ambush.

Well, nothing to do but wait in the vase until
they finished eating and then, hopefully, they’d open up the letter
and read it out loud.

“
What about money?” asked the man
with the missing tooth.

Rui, his hands around a stuffed pita, cracked a
smile. “Don’t worry. I’ve brought plenty.”

“
Plenty for you to drink your share
as usual,” muttered Talia’s lover.

“
I’ve done everything Rui asked of
me, and more.” The man with the missing tooth glared at him. “Where
were you the night we took care of the snoop in Home
City?”

Isaac’s heart quickened. Ezra’s murderer had
just confessed right in front of him!

“
Light another lamp,” Rui
commanded. “It’s getting darker outside.”

If night approached, Isaac realized that his
wife and her troops wouldn’t be far behind. Perhaps it was time to
make his escape and go find them at the prearranged spot at the
corner of Asher and Orange.

On the other hand, all he had so far was
proof-
ish
that they’d been involved in the murder of Ezra.
Other than a vague and offhand comment, nobody had as yet mentioned
the plot to ruin Perach’s olives.

He also
desperately
wanted to find out
what was in that letter.

“
Talia is a true goddess among
women.” Rui stood and held out his hand to her, and she nodded
bashfully in appreciation. She began to clear away the dishes as
the men filed into the seating area, some carrying oil lamps, which
they set upon the table where Isaac was sitting in the
vase.

“
Is there enough light in here?”
asked André, looking at Rui for approval.

“
I can see.” Rui was last to join
them, relaxing into a chair holding a glass of something Isaac
figured might be port.

“
Can you see well enough to pay
us?” asked the man with the missing tooth. “The plan is working.
The leafhoppers have completely infested the northern groves. Talk
is all over the market and the oil prices already rise. Yet, here I
am low on coin. If I were to be cut loose tonight, I’d have an
empty purse to show for it.”

“
Who told you to drink your purse?”
muttered Talia’s lover.

Isaac vibrated with excitement. That was
more
than a confession.

“
André brought us a
generous
payment this time.” Rui rummaged through his pockets, and Isaac
heard the clinking noise of money. “Are they desperate enough to
buy Imbrian oil yet?”

Time to get out and find Rivka. He still wanted
the letter
, but with the team on the way, it was more
important to find them and confirm that yes, this was
definitely
the house.

Isaac was just about to crawl down the vase and
make his exit when Talia’s lover pounced on something and flicked
it into the fire in one of the lamps. A horrid, choking smell
filled the air.

André turned toward the drunkard in shock. “Did
you just—what was that for?”

“
He’s crazy,” said the drunkard
dismissively.

“
Shut up, you alcoholic idiot,”
said Talia’s lover.

“
Did he just throw a lizard into
the lamp?” André squinted into the flickering glare.

“
He does that every time a lizard
crawls in here.” The drunkard waved his hand dismissively and
relaxed against the sofa.

“
And for good reason!” Talia’s
lover shouted. “You’re so drowned in drink you probably can’t
remember, but any one of them could be the Perachi queen’s
spy.”

André looked at Rui, his eyes squinted in
puzzlement. “What?”

“
That pervert wizard,” said Rui,
counting out coins and seemingly nonplussed by the murdered
creature or the argument it had caused. “He transforms into lizards
and snakes, so that one’s been killing all the lizards that run in
here. And we have ants, so there’s no shortage.” He paused for a
moment, recounting the money under his breath. “You’re making me
lose count.”

Isaac, who had frozen in place during this
entire horrifying conversation, slunk backward into the vase. Now
what?

“
It does make sense, I guess,” said
André. “Why did you call him a pervert?”

“
He’s sleeping his way across the
Royal Guard, is what I heard,” said Talia’s lover.

“
I thought it was just the
captain,” said the man with the missing tooth.

Thank you for standing up for my
fidelity
, Isaac grumbled inwardly. What could he do? If he
turned human, he could easily subdue the men temporarily with
buzzing whips of energy from his fingers and walk out of the room.
If he levitated random objects—such as one of Talia’s kettles—they
might be distracted for a few moments. But, either plan depended on
revealing the presence of a wizard, and then they’d all flee before
he could get to Rivka and her men.

“
There, there, and there.” Rui paid
each of the men. Then he raised his glass. “A toast! To our noble
and beautiful Queen Carolina.”

“
Long live Queen Carolina,” said
the other men, each lifting his drink in respect.

Yes, but is she behind this or not?
Isaac scanned the room with rotating, beady eyes. This way? That
way? Across the floor? Over the ceiling? What was the best way out
of here? Because he
had
to get out. That was not optional.
His safety, his duty to his adopted country—there had to be a way
to preserve them both.

Step one was probably a diversion, but one that
was innocuous enough that it wouldn’t make anyone think magic was
involved. There were eggs on Talia’s kitchen counter, but when he
tried prodding at them with his mind, he realized they were
comfortably settled enough in their basket that rolling one out to
crack on the floor would be conspicuously unnatural. Same with the
oranges beside them. Too bad. What he really wanted to do was send
all the oranges whizzing around the room, knocking each conspirator
in the head. Maybe an extra one for Talia’s lover and his
lizard-scorching habit.

What about the fire itself? No… that could be
too dangerous. He didn’t want the house going up in flames; he
needed that letter to get back to Rivka—and
Shulamit—intact.

He could pull a single hair on someone’s head…
then they’d yelp and everyone would look in that direction. But
nobody was sitting with his head back against anything, so there
wouldn’t be the obvious answer of “it caught in the
chair.”

Then he remembered the ants.

Carefully, gently, his breathing steady and his
body trembling with concentration, he coaxed the trail of ants by
the doorway farther into the room. Each time he inhaled, the energy
of his breath drew them closer.
That’s it, little bugs. You want
bugs? We have bugs too. I’ll give you bugs.

Rui smacked his ankle. “Those stinking ants. I
don’t understand.”

The drunkard shook his head. “It’s not like
this place is dirty or anything.”

“
They’re harmless,” Talia called
from washing up the kitchen.

“
I don’t care,” Rui huffed. “I
don’t want them
on me
.”

Meanwhile, Isaac crawled gingerly out of the
vase and scrambled as fast as his little legs could carry him
toward the crack under the door.

“
Hey!”

“
What, did you find where the ants
are coming in?”

“
They’re coming in from the door,”
said Rui. “We already knew that. But there’s another lizard over
there.”

Talia’s lover leapt up from his seat and was
across the floor in two bounds.

“
Don’t encourage him,” yawned the
man with the missing tooth, rolling his eyes.

Isaac ran for the gap, but his pursuer beat him
to it and blocked the way. He narrowly escaped the rough pair of
hands that grabbed for him and leapt onto the wall. Talia’s lover
darted after him, but Isaac made it up to the ceiling and continued
his evasion.

Scurrying to and fro across the ceiling in
random squiggles, Isaac did his best to avoid the men chasing him.
One of them—he couldn’t tell which in the confusion—was trying to
use Talia’s broom to sweep him down, and another swatted at him
with a fan.

“
It’s
just
a
lizard
,”
called the man with the missing tooth from the sofa, and he took
another drink from his jug.