Page 91 of Throwing Fire

He nods but doesn’t smile. “I appreciate the smell is unwholesome.”

We climb a spiral staircase cut into the cavern rock, which leaves my thighs screaming again, and end up in a passageway that looks familiar. We pass that spectacular flowstone wall, and then we’re through the airlock into Acker’s chambers.

Acker’s chambers have been transformed. The cozy seating area and dining table are gone. Replaced by a double row of medibeds. The actinic glare of medical lighting stabs straight through my eyes and ratchets my growing headache up a notch. Grace, suited up in a white uni, looks up from beside one of the medibeds. She’s the first person I’ve seen since we reached the rats’ tunnels. Other than the medibeds’ occupants, all of who are very still.

I turn to Acker and look a question at him.

He stares back at me.

I’ve had enough of his laser glare. “Time for you to say whatever you got to say,” I tell him.

“I have lost over twenty of my people. My queen lies there.” He flicks his claws at the medibed next to which Grace hovers. “Half-an-hour after your woman left, the Ojos attacked. Tell me that was a coincidence, myfriend.” He spits the last word.

I ignore the accusation and move to Tiancha’s medibed. Grace draws aside, glancing fearfully at me. Probably terrified by my stink. Kez joins me, leans over to peer at the autodoc panel over the medibed, while I look down into Tiancha’s slack, furry face. She could be sleeping, but she ain’t.

“Third degree burns,” Kez says, reading the autodoc display. “Both legs.”

“She’s going to be okay,” Grace says. I glance at her face, to see if she’s speaking hopefully or factually. Those luminous hazel eyes meet mine. Still full of the innocence that fucked with me the last time we met. But there’s also the clarity of conviction.

I turn back to Acker. Unsling my bag and lower it to the floor, mostly because I’m tired of lugging it around, but also in case he comes at me. “You really think I gave you up?”

“If not you, who?” Acker spreads his claws. “The passage your woman came through is rarely used. Two hands of Ojos came down it like they had an invitation. You cannot tell me that was a coincidence.”

I don’t know if it was a coincidence. But I’ll find out. “If this was one of mine, I’ll end them personally. You have my word.”

That pulls Acker up short. His shoulders sag and he spreads his claws at his sides.

I reach out and grip his shoulder. “You really thought it was me?”

“You sent a Founder into the Deeps,” he says quietly.

“Yeah, I did, and if that was a mistake, I’ll do my best to fix it. I swear to you this was not me or Kez. If it was one of our people, I’ll kill them.”

Acker pulls away from me. No, he don’t get off that easy. I step to the side so I’m facing him again and clasp both shoulders. “Talk to me.”

“Tiancha—”

“She’s gonna be okay.” Now I understand why he’s straining to hold it together. If Kez was lying in that bed, so still, so burned, would I be as controlled as Acker’s been? “Show me where they came through. Then I’ll question Payton. We’ll figure out where the leak is and plug it with extreme fucking prejudice. Together.”

Acker holds himself taut under my hands, head down, chest heaving. After a moment, he nods. He looks up and meets my eyes. His are raw. “When the Ojos attacked?—”

He thought I’d fucked him. “I know what it’s like to suspect everyone all the time.”

“We’ve both learned hard lessons.” Acker reaches up and grips my wrists. “We captured one of the Ojos. He will tell me nothing. But I suspect you have ways of extracting information that I do not.”

Yeah, I do. “We’ll save him for last. Show me where they came through.”

Acker nods and squeezes my wrists before letting go.

I convinceKez to stay behind, but it’s an argument, and the only reason I win is because Grace offers Kez a shower and a change of clothes. My kitten gives me the blackest stink-eye she’s ever given me but allows Grace to lead her away. Acker helps me stow the gear bags in an empty chamber where their reek won’t infect anything else. I take a fresh biosteel vest and two bandoliers of knives out of the bags, and accept the clean pants Acker offers me. We’re not the same foot size – well, paw size – so I have to keep my wet, rank boots. Maybe I can use them to terrify the Ojos into telling me something.

After changing in front of Acker, who has several things to say about the number of weapons I’m carrying, but at least he’s talking to me again, I follow him through the Deeps. Beyond his suite, evidence of the Ojos’ attack is everywhere, from the rats hurrying from place to place striped with newskin, to a couple of cave-ins that Acker skirts, to the dust that covers every surface.

I stop at one cave-in and examine the fallen rocks. Sniff the air, thick with the dry scent of rock-dust. There’s another scent, one I recognize.

“What’d they use?” I ask Acker.

He shakes his maned head. “I lack your experience in such matters, and this is where it will hurt me and my people?—”