The Olive Conspiracy (24 page)

Isaac ran curlicues across the ceiling until he
saw once again a clear path to the doorway. If he ran across the
ceiling and down the door, they could catch him on his way down.
But if he went down another wall and across the floor, they could
step on him.

But stepping on him could result in a clean
getaway, if he understood his training properly. He took a deep
breath. Maybe it was time to find out if lizard shifters shared
their mundane cousins’ breakaway tail.

He allowed himself half a second for prayer and
the rest of the second for Rivka’s eyes, and then he ran to one
edge of the ceiling. As the men pooled there in that corner, he
doubled back and ran down a different wall.

Isaac’s limbs burned as he scrabbled for his
life across the floor. The black space under the door stood out
like a dark beacon. He only had to make it
most of the way
through
. Come on… for queen and country… and his own
head!

Thump, thump, thump
and someone was
right behind him. Then, suddenly, a shock of pain rocked his
backside. His tail was crushed under a boot.

But he kept running.

His center of gravity shifted wildly and he was
nearly thrown off balance, but he adjusted and kept running,
squeezing under the door to darkness and safety even as a pair of
hands clapped against what was left of his tail. Soaked in
adrenaline, he was well into the brush on the side of the road
before the feeling of rawness set in. There was stinging pain as if
he’d peeled a cuticle too deeply on his finger, but worse, and
whatever a lizard had for exposed skin when its tail had been
pulled off felt tender and angry in the night air.

He curled himself around a stick and caught his
breath, evaluating his body. He’d made it out of the house, but the
night had only begun and he needed to find Rivka right away. There
was no time to waste by continuing in this tiny form, especially if
Talia’s lover managed to persuade the others that letting a lizard,
any
lizard, get away meant that the queen’s forces were on
to them. But what would happen, now that he’d been mangled, once he
turned back into a man?

21. The Raid

Captain Riv Maror waited on horseback with the
rest of her troops, in silent formation between a building and the
fountain at the corner of King Asher Boulevard and Orange Street.
She scanned the streets for Isaac—as a human or a lizard—her eyes
also occasionally glancing upward in case he’d had reason to meet
them as a dragon.

In the meantime, she also evaluated the men
she’d brought with her. Each face was resolute and prepared for the
mission. Each man had relatives in the Lovely Valley or otherwise
employed in agriculture; nobody in Perach could survive without the
hard work and luck of the farmers. They all knew what was at stake
and, though they might now be smiling and joking quietly in the
false calm of the night air, hands burned to grasp their weaponry
for the patriotic cause.

Steps coming from farther down Asher attracted
Rivka’s attention. “Hey,” she barked in a low tone, and her men
heightened their guard.

The black shape against the charcoal-gray of
the sky looked and walked like Isaac, but something was
different.

Rivka hopped down off her horse to meet him.
She was only able to see him clearly close up, and her eyes
crinkled with puzzled laughter. “What happened to your
shirt?”

For her husband was completely bare-chested,
the bulky hills of his torso reflecting starlight.

He answered her with a loaded smirk. “You
should be thankful that’s all that happens if I lose my tail in
lizard form.”

Rivka’s eyes widened. “What
happened?”

“
They’re killing all the lizards
that get into the house in case they’re me.” Isaac looked over the
men, counting silently. “Good, we can take them with no
problem.”

“
Then it’s them? You’re
sure?”

“
It’s
definitely
them,”
Isaac affirmed. “I still don’t know who they’re working for, but I
know three things. One, the man with the missing tooth killed Ezra.
He admitted it. Two, they’ve planted the bugs on purpose so that
Perach will be forced to buy Imbrian, as we thought.”

Rivka noticed angry murmurings among her men.
“And?”

“
And three,” Isaac continued,
looking deep into her eyes, “there’s a letter from Imbrio, a sealed
letter, which we need to bring out of that house and get back to
the queen.”

Rivka nodded slowly. “I’m on it.” Then, casting
one last affectionate look at Isaac’s naked torso, she slipped back
into battle mode. “I don’t suppose there’s any way we can get you
another shirt before this begins.”

“
Not unless anyone else here is six
foot five.” Isaac shrugged and smiled. “Oh, well!”

His amused eyes told her that he’d love her all
the more for
not
noticing and staying focused, at least, not
until the battle was well and truly won.

“
Do they have guards posted outside
the house? How about at the front end of Grapefruit Street?” Rivka
quizzed Isaac, looking over her team. When he shook his head, she
started giving orders to the rest of the men. “We’ll leave the
horses at Grapefruit and Asher, with you and you. Everyone else
will come with me. Isaac, how many doors? What about windows? Okay,
we want you and you at the two windows; you two stay at the front
door and keep them from leaving except with us… and everyone else
is coming inside with me.”

“
What about me, Mighty
One?”

“
I said everyone else, Shirtless.”
Her eyes twinkled at him, but the brows over them were furrowed and
serious.

Isaac smirked. “I’m certainly going to live up
to my reputation.”

“
What?”

“
One of them called me ‘that
pervert wizard.’”

“
He’s just jealous,” Rivka retorted
with a toss of her brassy hair. “Come on!”

In as much silence as possible, the team rode
to the intersection, then left the horses at the corner as
prearranged. Experience and training was on their side, keeping
their feet as quiet as cats’ as they traversed the peaceful
neighborhood. Isaac lit up the path with faint traces of magic so
that they could avoid stepping on crunchy leaves or tripping on
stray rocks.

“
Remember,” Rivka hissed, “the
letter. Above all, we need it for the queen.”

“
Everyone else alive?” asked one of
the men.

“
Absolutely. If possible.” Rivka
fired off those last two words like arrows. “Take up your
positions.”

“
We ready?” Isaac asked once the
men stationed at the windows were in place.

“
Mm-hmm.” She looked around at her
men and saw several pairs of wide-awake eyes shining back at her.
“Now!”

Rivka slammed her shoulder against the door.
Ignoring the bruising as if her arm and side were made of stone,
she pushed it aside and charged into the room with her men at her
sides. The men in the room, all light-skinned and black-haired
Imbrians, sprang to action, but she unsheathed her sword as soon as
she had clearance to not hit one of her own.

“
Surrender to the queen’s forces
and we won’t hurt you!” she bellowed.

“
Shit, it’s the Perachis!” shouted
a man with a missing tooth.

Over in the corner, a Perachi woman started to
cry. She darted toward the back room, but Rivka yelled, “Her too!”
and one of her men blocked her. “Get her out of here.”

A young, skinny Imbrian drew a dagger and
headed straight for Rivka, but she easily threw him off and toward
two of her other men. “Isaac, where’s the letter?” she called out
in their native language.

“
Over there!”

The oldest of the Imbrians had wrestled himself
free of two Perachi soldiers and was rushing toward the fire. He
reached into his coat, but Rivka, abandoning her sword, leapt onto
his back with all four limbs and snatched the paper out of his
hand.

No sooner had she popped off him and shoved the
letter down her pants—for lack of a better idea—than he was on her.
His fist tried for her face, but she dodged and grabbed his arm.
Pouring all her weight into her upper body, she flung him down and
tried to withdraw—now that she had the letter, it was vital that
she get it to safety. But from the floor, he grabbed her ankle, and
soon, they were in the dust wrestling together.

In between slamming his head into the floor and
pulling his hand off her waistband, she looked up to see Isaac
grappling with one of the other Imbrians. His left hand was closed
in a fist; the fingers of his right, which could not close, were
splayed out and shooting off whips of light. Sweat shone from the
curves of his exposed skin.

Well, good, Isaac was taking care of himself,
so Rivka could fully focus on her own fistfight. And just in time
too. Once again she found herself pulling the Imbrian’s hand out of
her pants, where she’d stashed the letter. He was determined to
retrieve it and drove his arm forward even against her grip. She
gripped harder.

And harder.

And
bent
.

She knew Isaac would look over when he heard
the horrible cracking snap, so in their own language, she shouted,
“I’m okay; it’s him,” as reassurance.

“
That’s some well-guarded—” she
heard him begin, but then all she could focus on was the glint of
the huge dagger the man in her grasp suddenly produced. He
brandished it with the arm she hadn’t broken—
yet
—and was
aiming it straight at her face.

The next few moments were a tangle of leather
and hair and skin and metal, but then, with a thump of finality,
Rivka stood up from the floor. At her feet was the leader of the
Imbrians, his broken arm hanging off strangely at his side and his
own dagger wedged in his chest.

Isaac and the other Imbrian were still punching
each other, so Rivka came up behind her husband’s opponent and
aimed a flying kick at his back. As he went down, Isaac was able to
get a full zap from his finger lasers at the man’s face, safely
stunning him.

“
That was the man who was killing
all the lizards,” Isaac explained calmly, sweat pouring down his
face. He pursed his fingers over his nose and mustache to wipe some
of it away.

“
He just missed the most important
one,” Rivka commented as she retrieved her sword and sheathed
it.

“
But barely!” Isaac smirked. “You
have the letter?”

“
Where only you can get at
it.”

Isaac lifted one eyebrow. “Dragon’s
privilege.”

“
Where are we? Where’s that
woman?”

“
She’s outside in
custody.”

Rivka nudged the body at her feet with the toe
of one boot. “And there’s this guy.”

“
Rui.”

“
Oh, that name I remember from
Ezra’s notes.”

“
And this is André,” said Isaac,
holding his hand out at the unconscious man in front of him. “He
was their messenger.”

They looked over to the doorway, where a group
of Perachi soldiers were subduing a sweaty, angry Imbrian with a
missing tooth. “You got him?” Rivka called out.

“
We’re fine, Captain.” The soldier
who’d spoken winced. “Oof! His breath.”

“
He can sober up in the local
jail.”

“
Aren’t we taking them back to the
palace?”

“
Sure, in the morning.” said Rivka.
“But let’s put ’em in the jail overnight so we all have time to
recover from this. And some of us can sleep there too, in case they
try anything.”

The guards nodded. “Yes, Captain.”

Rivka and Isaac quickly examined the remainder
of the house and found no more conspirators. “I think we’re done
here, for now.”

“
Yes, Captain.”

On their way out of the house, Rivka let
everybody else go ahead. Finally alone with Isaac in the starlight,
she looked up at his smiling face. “
Now
I can look at
you.”

“
Look all you want, Mighty
One.”

She planted one palm on his chest, feeling
warmth and a beloved heartbeat. “You said to get that
letter.”

“
It was the most important part of
the mission, and I knew you could.”

In the darkness of a now-slumbering Grapefruit
Street, she aggressively kissed him. Her intensity inflamed him,
and he encircled her with his strong, bare arms. As she held him
she reveled in the novel sensation of gripping his naked back while
she stood there, fully clothed.

As they walked toward the jail, arm in arm, she
asked him, “What about your tail?”

“
I imagine I’ll have to spend
enough time as a lizard to grow it back,” said Isaac. “I definitely
can’t fly without it.”

“
Sleep on my chest,
then.”

“
My paradise.”

“
Will you sing to me?”

“
Where the Imbrians can
hear?”

“
Fuck the Imbrians.”