Gates of Thread and Stone

CHAPTER 6

“KAI?”

Avan! I spun my head around, the sudden motion making my jaw ache. I craned my neck, twisting my body, but I couldn’t see past the guard’s burly shoulder. What was he doing here?

The guard turned. I saw a dark shape, then there was the crack of knuckles meeting cheekbone, and the arm around me slackened.

My mind jumped at the threads. Time crawled. I dropped to a crouch, wrenching my wrists free. Then I spun around and kicked out at Joss.

My grip on the threads slipped. Time flew forward. My foot smashed into Joss’s knee, and he went down in a tumble of limbs. His head smacked the floor. I grabbed for time.

Everything slowed again. Behind me, Avan and the guard grappled. My fingers wrapped around the neck of Joss’s fallen liquor bottle. I brought it up in an arc just as time rushed forward. The bottle shattered against the guard’s head. Glass spewed through the air, so rapidly that the shards looked like an explosion of lights.

Pain sliced through my cheek. I whirled, diving for cover as a crash rang out behind me. I’d managed to knock out the guard.

I remained where I was, breathing hard. My body trembled. Warm hands gripped my arm. The touch was gentle, but I flinched anyway as Avan helped me to my feet. He peered down at me, his fingers sweeping along my bruised jaw and brushing glass out of my hair. I shuddered again, but for a different reason.

“Kai, did you—” He looked from me to the men sprawled on the floor.

The way he spoke my name, combined with the look in his eyes—intense, questioning, uncertain—made me realize. He’d seen it. He’d felt it.

I couldn’t deal with that right now. I reached for my bag, ready to run. “Why did you follow me?”

A strangled gasp came from the hall. We both looked to find a woman gaping down at the mess on the floor, her hand pressed to her barely covered cleavage.

“Come on,” Avan said, touching my waist.

“You’re Reev’s sister?” the woman whispered.

I gave her a closer look. She was young, with hair as smooth and white as milk. My skin was pale, but hers was ivory. Her only spots of color were a black streak through her hair and bright-red lips that shone wetly, as if she’d painted them with blood.

Her eyes were like polished metal, framed by snowy lashes. She looked familiar. Maybe I’d seen her here before. But I was pretty sure I’d remember.

I crossed the lobby, stepping over the glass. The woman shied away, her gauzy robe fluttering around her thighs. Her hands braced against the wall, and her long hair shielded her face.

“Did you see what happened to him? Or where they took him?” I asked.

She kept her face averted. I studied her delicate profile. She probably made Joss a lot of credits.

“Reev,” she murmured.

I didn’t like the way she said his name. Like a plea. Like a wish. Was every prostitute here in love with him?

“He didn’t talk much, but he didn’t treat me like spoiled meat.”

My nails dug into my palms. I knew how much my brother was worth. “Did you see what happened to him or not?”

“Yes,” she whispered to the wall. “There were people. . . . They moved like shadows. They drove something metal against the back of his neck and”—a shiver ran through her thin arms—“and he seized up. Passed out. They took him.”

I couldn’t breathe. I stepped back clumsily, glass skidding beneath my boots. My foot bumped Joss’s leg, and I glared down at him. He was still knocked out. Fury blazed beneath my skin. I should throw him in the riv—

“Kai.” Avan touched my side. His fingers curved against my ribs.

I jerked away. If this woman liked Reev so much, she should’ve done something to help him. “Do you know who they were? Did you see the Black Rider?” I asked her.

“I didn’t see any faces, but I think I know someone who might know something.” She bit her lip. “Wait for me.”

She disappeared down the hall, her feet silent on the dingy wood.

I looked at Avan. He surveyed the bodies on the floor. Probably thinking the same thing I was: they wouldn’t be out for much longer.

“Do you think they’re telling the truth? That the Black Rider is real?” For the longest time, I had scorned that name. It had been nothing but a pathetic joke. Now, I didn’t know what to think. People who moved like shadows?

“We could wake him up and ask,” he said, nudging Joss with the toe of his boot. His eyes flicked over my shoulder.

“Here,” the woman said from behind me. Apparently, she was used to creeping about the building. With Joss as her boss, I didn’t blame her.

She held up a folded square. Her fingers passed with a dry hiss over the aged paper as she unfolded it to reveal a map.

“Where did you get that?” I asked, moving forward to get a better look. It was old enough that the ink had completely faded along the creases.

Ninurta was little more than a mess of sketchy lines beside the Outlands, but I recognized the city’s general layout. The White Court occupied the lower left corner. A black line bordered the Court, with the southernmost portion of the wall protecting the city from the sharp cliffs beyond. The map didn’t show what existed past them. Maybe the sea. Maybe nothing at all. Looking at it this way, the White Court resembled a prison more than a refuge.

The river snaked through the lower right corner, separating the much larger North District from the East Quarter, which was taken up almost entirely by freight containers. Beyond the square that represented the Labyrinth was another freight yard, one formed after the founding of Ninurta. Now that area, too, had become residential. Avan lived there.

Finally, the outer wall encased all of Ninurta, protecting the city from the Outlands. The Outlands stretched across most of the map, ending on the right with the forest. Beyond that, a dark swath marred the edges: the Void.

Maps were hard to come by. Ninurtans didn’t leave the city, so there was no need for them. The maps from before Rebirth remained within the city records hall for research and history. It seemed unlikely that a prostitute would happen to have one.

“One of my regulars makes me keep things for him,” she said. She looked down nervously at the map in her hands. “Things he wouldn’t like to be found with. I would be thrown out if anyone knew. B-but I overheard him talking once on the docks, and he said something about meeting with the Black Rider. At the time, I thought he was joking. But he might know something.” She pointed to the freight yard on the outskirts of the city. “This is where he lives. His name is DJ.”

“DJ?” Avan said. “Dusty Jax?”

“You know him?” I asked.

“He lives a few places down from me.”

The woman tipped her head to the side, her hair sliding against her skin. The movement was both sensual and innocent. “Then you won’t have any trouble.”

Avan gave her a cool, assessing look. I was skeptical, too, but if Avan knew this guy, then there was no harm in checking him out.

She folded the map on its well-worn creases and then withdrew something from her robe. A blade flashed. Avan’s hand snapped out and caught her wrist before she could raise it.

She didn’t struggle. She just looked at Avan’s hand and said, “This is mine. I thought you might need it.” Her eyes flicked up to his face. The smile she gave him made me want to shove them apart. “You have kind hands. Maybe too kind.”

Avan released her. She offered the knife to me. The blade was chipped and scratched and in need of a whetstone. Engraved marks decorated the handle, but they were indistinct and dulled with age.

“Why are you helping us?” Not that I wasn’t grateful.

“Because,” she said, fingers clenched around the knife handle, “if you find the Black Rider and Reev, then that means you might also find my sister. E-even though Tera’s been missing for years. Maybe . . .”

I accepted the knife. It was unexpectedly heavy, and I tightened my grip.

“Thanks.” I took the map as well and shoved both items into my bag. “I’ll ask about her, if I can.”

The woman watched me with slender fingers wringing at her waist. “Please be careful with the knife. It means a lot to me. If . . . After you find the Rider, I’d like for you to return it.”

It would depend on where my search took me. I couldn’t guarantee whether I’d even see this woman again.

“I’ll try.”