Heart Fortune (Celta) (34 page)

Here, here! In the wall!

In the wall?

He took another step, the door began to close.
Stup!
Sliding his foot into the crack, he stopped it, muscled it back all the way open and looked for something to prop it open . . . just in case. There were no loose items within reach. Testing the inner control panel, he flipped open the outer cover, used the manual crank to test closing and opening the door, set the door lock in the open position. Still . . .

FAMMAN!
Lepid shouted telepathically.

“Just a minute!” Jace sat down in the threshold and took off his heavy boots, wrinkled his nose. He really should have gone for the suppress odor spell on these and his liners . . . and he thought that every time he took the damn things off.

FamMan odors,
rumbled Lepid, actually sounding cheerful.

Huh, it took all kinds.

Jace put the boots side by side next to the far edge of the threshold, stood up, slipped a little and set his hand against the wall. He walked past the built-in closet on the left and the bed on the right. The small cubicle holding a toilet and a tiny shower was also on the left. Too small for Jace to feel comfortable in.

DOWN HERE!
One last, demanding bark.

Lepid was hidden behind a wall panel. All Jace could see were pinholes.

Thank you, FamMan, for the light,
Lepid whimpered.

Jace flinched. He hadn’t figured that the poor fox had been in the dark. Of course Lepid could see better in the dark than Jace, but all the same it had to be scary. Grimacing with effort, Jace conjured another tiny spell light and threaded it through one of the minuscule openings.

Oh, FamMan, you are so kind.
Lepid’s tone was such that if he’d been human, he’d be sobbing.

“I’m here,” Jace soothed. “Everything’s going to be all right.”

Panting came from behind the wall.

“So a smell led you here,” Jace said.

It was a very interesting smell,
Lepid said in a small mental voice.

“Not like the earlier smell that hurt your nose, the chili pepper,” Jace said. The perpetrator of these series of crimes knew about animals and odors and effects. Of course, since Jace had gotten a Fam himself, he’d become more aware about birds and animals. He supposed those with Fams would be good suspects . . . though he couldn’t imagine hurting a Fam.

He ran his fingers around the outline of the small panel that looked to be for ventilation. The metal didn’t feel like Celtan metal, odd, that. He
did
feel a trace of Flair, no doubt some sort of trap.

“So how long have you been exploring the ship?” he asked.

All the time,
Lepid whispered.
I thought going into this wall would be fun. It wasn’t. It was dark and I got tired and I didn’t see any openings to anything else.
He paused for a moment.
There should be openings to other places from the walls, shouldn’t there? T’Ash Residence had openings in the walls here and there.
Another small pause as Jace determined the damn panel wouldn’t pop off with an application of more Flair.

And the cats in the PublicLibrary got into the walls and laughed at me when I tried to follow. So there are holes and passages in those walls, too.

Jace wondered if the Licorices knew that. Shrugged. Not his problem. Getting Lepid out was. He replied, “I think there should be openings to the walls somewhere. People would have to go in to work on . . . stuff.” Pulling the tool from his pocket, Jace pried around the ventilation grate. “But maybe before they landed all the openings were sealed or something. Or after they landed. I think they must have sealed all they could to preserve the ship.”

Lepid pawed at the grate again.
Get me out!

“Did you see who did this? Did you smell him or her?”

Barely probable that the culprit was the cook, Myrtus Stopper. Jace really couldn’t see the man coming back to the camp to raid the ship, no matter how valuable the items might be.

Stopper hadn’t had to go into the ship to make his score, and though Jace didn’t know how much he got for those subsistence bars, it had to be plenty if the amount had impressed Laev T’Hawthorn.

That left the unknown villain who’d stolen the first box. The man or woman Myrtus said had caused the explosions. The Elecampanes hadn’t kept Jace or Glyssa informed about that, but the owners would have announced to the whole crew if some other culprit had been caught.

Snapping teeth from Lepid.
NO! I did not see or smell the bad, mean person! I will hunt for the bad one’s smells, then I will BITE him.

“Nope, I think we’ll just teleport from here to my tent. We’re not staying down here any longer than necessary. We’re not supposed to be here.”

The fox snorted.
You sound like Glyssa.

“Look fox, if you got caught in here, they might send you and Glyssa home immediately, and might not let you come back next year. Might cancel her contract and shares.”

The Elecampanes wouldn’t do that! They LIKE us.

“They could banish the both of you. This venture is more important to the owners than you, or their liking of you and Glyssa. If they sent you home, Glyssa would fail at her jobs. Her Family would be ashamed of her and not let her work in the main PublicLibrary of Celta.” The Licorices would be tough minded enough to do that. “Her Family might even throw you both out of the Residence.” That might be stretching it, but Jace figured living as a failure with the Licorices would not be pleasant.

A pause as Lepid thought, then he said,
Uh-oh. I like the PublicLibrary. I like chasing those cats. Not playing there would be bad. I have my own bed in the Residence! And I am the only Fam in the Residence now. I would always be First Fam. Being sent home would be bad.

“That’s right.” Jace banged his fist against the panel and it popped off. Lepid shot out, not smelling too good himself. No doubt somewhere in the walls were fox markings and turds.

Oh, oh, oh! I am FREE!
Lepid inhaled deeply and nibbled Jace’s toes. Jace danced away, laughing, then, stink and all, swept him up.

“What’s that sound?” Jace asked.

What sound?

“The ticking. I think it started when I opened your panel.”

Thirty-six

I
don’t know what that ticking is
. Lepid nudged Jace’s hand close to his
nose, slipped his head under it. Jace chuckled, the Fam wanted cuddling, petting. So holding him close, Jace stroked him. Lepid hummed in approval, licked under Jace’s chin.

With a jaunty step, Jace headed toward the door.

The ticking stopped. A small explosion came from the door’s control panel, fire surged. Flames flashed outside the door, too, before it sprang shut, cutting his boots in two.

Lepid shrieked and leapt from Jace’s arms, ran to the closed door and threw himself against it, then subsided, coughing at the smoke in the air.

Jace stood staring at the blackened area where the door control panel had been, his thudding heart nearly drowning out Lepid’s barking and the final sizzle of dying circuits.

He inhaled and coughed himself as acrid air scraped his windpipe. He’d never smelled anything like the Earthan tech. But Earthan tech didn’t run on psi power, Flair. Most everything on Celta had an element of Flair. Only the Elder Family and
Nuada’s Sword
, the starship in Druida City, knew how to work pure Earthan tech.

Forcing himself to calm, he was
not
trapped, he shouted at Lepid’s renewed frenzy at the door. “Quiet down.”

We are trapped.

“No, we aren’t.” He had to repeat that just to hear his own words. “No, we are not. I took stock of my tent before I left.” Not really, but he could probably bring it up in his mind’s eye. He
knew
where the items he moved around lately were, even if Lepid hadn’t been able to chance teleporting.

Oh, oh, oh. THANK YOU, FAMMAN.
Lepid jumped at him and Jace caught the young fox. Bigger than he’d been when he first arrived, but mentally and emotionally still more like a child than an adult.

“Just let me steady myself.” Jace strode over to look at the panel. Nothing but melted black stuff. The crank handle was gone, disintegrated by the explosion or falling into the hole that had opened behind the wall. And there was no sign of the gear or whatever the crank had been attached to.

Looks bad, bad,
Lepid said. He wrinkled his nose.
Smells terrible.

“Yeah.” Jace was breathing from his mouth. Turning to the wall opposite the control panel in the corridor, he put his hand against it, yanked it away from the burning heat.

Lepid sighed.
This is not so good. We WILL have to teleport.

“Yes.” Jace squeezed the fox, for his own comfort as well as Lepid’s.

He went to the middle of the room, stood and began to calm his body, let his mind drift, squelching thought . . . then quieting, shifted Lepid who’d relaxed in his arms. The fox had faith in him. That was great.

FAMMAN! LEPID!
Zem cried.

What?
asked Jace, blown out of the beginnings of serenity.

What, Zem?
called Lepid.
We are teleporting to FamMan’s tent. See you soon.

Fear struck Jace, jolting through the bond he had with Zem.

NO!
screamed the hawkcel, and Jace thought he heard the echo of the real sound from his Fam as he’d wailed into the sky.
Our tent is not there!

WHAT?
yelled Jace mentally.

It is gone, as if you packed everything up and left.

A terrible dread prickled along Jace’s skin. He squeezed down his own fear into a small ball, shut it behind a closed door. Breathed for control.
I don’t like the sound of that.

No,
Zem said.

No,
Lepid said.

I had a spellshield in place. Someone got through it
. Jace rolled his shoulders, setting that fact aside to be dealt with later.

Lepid looked up at him with big eyes.
Will we get out of here?

“Yes,” Jace replied through clenched teeth.

I wish I could tell those in charge. None of the guards can hear me,
Zem said sadly.
Not even Mistress Cornuta Holly. My bonds with the Elecampanes are not strong enough for them to hear, and their minds are full of busy noise.

Jace loosened his jaw, made his telepathic tone even.
Zem, I want you to fly to Glyssa’s pavilion. I know she was rearranging some furniture this morning.
Because she’d wanted him gone, and she’d left herself.

Teleporting somewhere we don’t know is safe is VERY bad.
Lepid shivered.
All the Fams told me a man teleported into some furniture and it killed him.

Jace had heard about that incident a few months ago, too. He continued steadily,
Zem can look at the sitting room.
Jace knew that better than her bedroom, could guess at the light—the most important element in teleporting.
When you are there, you can send us images of the room.

Send to me, too!
Lepid said.

That’s what I said,
Jace agreed.
Between the three of us, we will put together a good picture.
Good enough, he hoped, but they had little choice.

Very well, FamMan,
Zem said.

Pain! Zem’s pain.

Someone shot at me with a blazer!
Zem cried. Jace sensed him zooming high up into the sky.

Lepid squealed in sympathy. Jace hugged him tight, eased up.

Are you all right?
Jace asked Zem, struggling with his own panic at the thought of losing the Fam.

Only some outer feathers singed, but I do not think I can go into camp. Trago wants to kill me.

Trago!

Yes. I saw him. I think he has a hate for you. You made his mate leave him. Most males do not like that.
A pause.
I would not like that. Nor would you.

The idea of, say, Andic luring Glyssa away twisted Jace up. Worse than her leaving on her own.

But he hadn’t realized Trago had thought of Symphyta as his woman, his mate.

Critical mistake on Jace’s part.

And he could have defended himself with the fact that Symphyta had made her own decision, but obviously Trago blamed Jace.

He winced.

What are we going to do?
asked Lepid in a small voice.

Can you recall the corridor well enough to teleport beyond it? Share that image with me?

Lepid paused, then shook his head. In fact, his whole body trembled.
I have been down many hallways, most look alike. I can’t remember this one, where the boxes and sacks and other things are, how far apart the doors are.

Or which doors are open or closed,
Jace ended for him. He tried to remember each end of the hall, but couldn’t recall, either.

Lepid shivered.
I don’t want to teleport accidentally down, down, down into the ship.

Not good,
Zem said.

I don’t blame you,
Jace said.

Then Lepid’s ears perked up.
We can go to the entryway, where the ramp is! Yes, we can do that!
His lower jaw opened in a foxy grin and he wiggled in Jace’s grasp.

Jace held him tight, mouth flattening as he replied telepathically.
No, we can’t. Someone threw a boulder at me and it broke into big pieces in the entryway, moved the ramp a little. The light is strange from the ripped tarp.
Had he been the target, or had changing the parameters of the entryway for teleportation been the goal? Probably both.

Either way he felt like he was lagging far behind Trago—who he’d definitely underestimated.

Oh, no!
Lepid said.

Continues to be not good,
said Zem.

How are we going to get out?
Lepid demanded.

I don’t know,
Jace said.

I will think on this,
Zem said.
I am going fishing in the lake, then back to my nest.

We all will figure this out,
Jace said. He walked over to the bed, sank onto the hard cushion. Lepid hopped down from his lap and began to pace, but the fox didn’t seem to be as afraid as he’d been before.

But this time they really were trapped. The spell light Jace had been using faltered and he boosted it, but he wasn’t accustomed to holding an ongoing spell throughout the day. Even though the energy wasn’t too much, it was enough to drain him if he kept it up for more than a septhour or two. Soon they’d be in the dark.

His fingers slid into his pocket and tightened on the tool with a wisp of hope that it could cut them out of there. “Let’s see if this will get us out.”

He strode to the door, put his hand against it. No heat now, the fire had died fast. He stared at the large piece of sliding metal, not really sure how it worked. He didn’t recall seeing any protruding lock in the side of the door. Maybe it locked at the top or the bottom. With regular doors you could bash at the hinges. And was it just shut, or shut and locked, or even worse, fused to the jamb?

Applying his tool to the tiny crack where it set into the wall, he sent a steady Flair to the cutting edge.

He scratched the surface, no more.

Lepid yipped.
Uh-oh.

“Yeah, not so good.” He would burn himself and the tool out before he dented the door. “Let’s look around for something to pry. Break the wall.” Probably futile. “Open the door.”

Tail wagging, Lepid said,
Fun!

As the fox shouldered himself into the closet and began to paw around, Jace scrutinized the control panel again. It, too, was cool. Fried stuff, hole opening at the bottom of the wall that he couldn’t fit his hand into.
Now
he could feel lingering Flair from the timed explosion.

He checked the wall on the left side of the door, no heat. He banged on the wall and the door, set his hands on the door and tried to slide it open. Nothing.

The area still smelled of unwholesome smoke.

I found a pretty!
Lepid said.

Jace abandoned his worthless efforts at the door and folded the accordion door to the small closet completely open. Lepid turned and trotted out, something gold in his mouth. Jace hunkered down. “Let’s see.”

Lepid dropped it in Jace’s palm, wet with drool. The filigree brooch was beautiful, of no design that Jace had ever seen. In the center of the gold was a black stone and on that a white carving of the profile of a woman. “Beautiful,” he breathed. Fabulous find. This piece of jewelry could be sold for a huge amount of gilt. T’Ash, the blacksmith and jeweler, would like it, Jace was sure.

And it could start a whole new fashion trend.

Lepid sat, grinning.
We can give it to FamWoman.

Jace nearly dropped the piece. Bitterness coated his tongue. “This belongs to everyone who signed up to share in the venture. We have to give it to the Elecampanes.”

Lepid’s ears drooped.
Really?

“Yes. And FamWoman and I are . . . not together anymore.”

With a large sniff and a swish of his tail on the floor, Lepid said,
Just argued.

Jace’s jaw clenched. No, it hadn’t been a simple argument. Glyssa had walked away. But he had worse things to think about than that. “A beautiful brooch.” He laid it in front of Lepid’s paws. “But it won’t get us out of here.”

Nosing it toward him, Lepid said,
You keep it for FamWoman.
He turned and pawed at a built-in unit containing drawers.

Reluctantly, Jace picked up the brooch and pocketed it. “How many other items have you found?”

Lepid scrabbled faster at the top drawer, didn’t look at Jace.
Not many.

Which meant more than one. “Did you give anything to Glyssa?”

No. I gave a string to Zem for his nest.

Lord and Lady knew what the “string” was. “And the others?”

Nothing much that humans would like.
Now the young fox abandoned the drawers, ran and hopped up on the bed, sniffed along the outline of the mattress.

“Where are the other things you took from the ship?” Jace winced at what the scholars who liked to viz everything in its place would say.

Lepid finally looked at him, twitching an ear.
They are cached.

“With your cached food?” He hoped he didn’t sound as appalled as Glyssa might have been.

No, other caches. I think I remember them all.

Great.

Not only had Trago been thieving, but so had the fox. Jace and Glyssa had been accessories to Fam theft.

Jace bent and opened the first drawer, nothing. He pulled out the second.

I took some rags,
Lepid confessed, sitting on the bed.
The people took most of their good clothes.

All of the drawers were empty. Jace glanced at the pegs in the closet that held a couple of forlorn-looking pieces of clothing for someone smaller than himself.

Lepid hopped from the bed and tried to get under the mattress set on another cabinet . . . slightly lower than an average Celtan man’s height.

Jace went over to help him. Not many other places large enough to hold something that would be useful as a good pry bar. Lifting up the mattress, he saw a couple of small, torn shreds of papyrus. Lepid whisked them out and Jace let the mattress fall with a thump. Lepid dropped the scraps of papyrus at Jace’s feet. He picked them up, saw handwritten unfamiliar words, and put those in his pocket with the jewelry. Who knew, the papyrus might turn out to be more valuable than the brooch.