Page 19 of Throwing Fire

“What about the other gangs?” Kez asks. “The Mirrormen and Redsand Bra have to know they’re next if the Founders turn on you.”

Acker shrugs. “The Mirrormen are broken. Dag is dead. Without his Mirror, Capp cannot lead. There is a great deal of in-fighting.”

Kez and I exchange glances. We might have had something to do with that.

“When did Dag die?” Kez asks carefully.

“He was wounded during their last Moondance,” Tiancha answers. “He died a few days later. Did you know him?”

Kez nods. “I didn’t know he’d died.”

Acker watches this exchange closely, while continuing to eat something green and stringy. I try some of my own. Salty fish and seaweed in a creamy sauce. Also delicious. “Rumor has it an orclas beached on Outniss,” Acker says. “It savaged Dag and two other Mirrormen.”

Interesting. Not the way it went down, but interesting. “Do orclas do that?” I ask.

Acker shrugs. “I have never seen one beach but the waters of Tiv are full of prey. If it was very hungry and the only food to be had was on land?” He shrugs again. “Maybe. They can survive out of the water for up to an hour.”

“Must make hunting them a challenge.” I nod at the string of teeth decorating his chest.

Acker gives me a fanged grin.

“Leaving aside the Mirrormen, what about the Bra?” Kez asks.

Acker considers her question while he finishes his fish. “Our position with the Bra is uncertain. They were unhappy when we claimed the Deeps, even though their territory has never extended beyond the beaches. They are not led the way the Mirrormen are. We would have to approach every break.”

Kez is nodding as Acker speaks. “I know Jale really well.”

Acker tilts his head. “Are you offering to speak for me, Lightfoot?”

“Sure. Is she still on the Two Slide break?”

Acker nods.

“Another reason to go to the beach tonight,” Kez says to me. “Two Slide is just off the Night Market. Five minutes from where Slip will be.”

“Myhre’d be proud of your multi-tasking, kitten,” I say. I put down my chopsticks to chuck her under the chin with my forefinger. “How ‘bout some delegation?”

Kez shakes her head, not following me.

“Think your friend Jale would talk to the other Bra? Save Acker the trouble of having to play meet ‘n’ greet with all of ‘em.”

“Oh.” Understanding dawns in her big blues. “I don’t think that would be a problem.”

Acker chuckles into his food. “I can see why the Snake recruited you, my friend.”

“Naw, I mostly leave the politics to Kez. War? That I understand.”

Acker’s black eyes focus on me. Being on the receiving end of that intense stare is a little unnerving. But I’ve had a lot of laser stares directed at me. I give it straight back. Acker glances down at his food and says very mildly, “I would like to hear of that.”

“Ancient history,” I say.

“I am a student of history,” he responds, without looking up. “As is my Wisdom.”

Which might explain how he figured out who I am. I glance at Kez. She’s watching me, not eating. I haven’t told her much about my time with SAWL. I don’t want to fill her mind with the same ugliness as mine. But she knows about my last deploy, so if Acker and Tiancha want to hear about my past, I’ll share that.

“You heard of Tje Djos?” I ask.

“Yuan Colony,” Tiancha says. “Twenty-Year Border.”