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The informant found Caun and Eiten towards the end of their shift, right when Caun was thinking longingly of his bed in a way that felt achievable not aspirational. During his first months as a Finger his father had reprimanded him for complaining about night shifts and told him that he’d get used to it. Caun had not gotten used to it. Actually, that was just one piece of the myriad evidence that his father knew nothing about what it was like to be a Green Bone, because complaining about night shifts was something that all the Fists and Fingers of the clan had in common.
The informant was not an informant in the strictest sense of the word—i.e. he was not a White Rat—but people loyal to the clan passed information on to its Fists and Fingers all the time so the fact that this man was unknown to them was not an inherent cause for concern.
The man’s words left Caun electrified. Here was some real action. He’d been hearing about run-ins with trouble-makers from the Mountain for months from the other Fingers but had never had the opportunity to face it himself. Now he surely would.
After the informant had left, Eiten spent a few minutes thinking. Caun tried not to fidget too visibly. Finally when he could stand it no longer, he asked, “What are we going to do, Eiten-jen? Are we going to go check it out?”
“I’m going to call the Horn,” Eiten said. “Though he’s definitely not awake yet.” This was said with a fond twist of the lips. The greener side of the clan loved their Horn and found his bizarrely shifted sleep schedule—he generally didn’t come on duty until noon but balanced this out by staying on duty until well after midnight—endearing. “Still, this is the sort of thing we’re supposed to wake him for.”
Caun watched as Eiten went to the phone and dialed the number for the Horn’s house from memory. He stood for a minute listening but evidently no one picked up because he hung up the phone and returned to their table in the small restaurant to retrieve a worn paper of addresses and phone numbers from his jacket pocket. “I really should learn the number for Maik Wen’s apartment,” he mused and returned to the phone. Evidently, this time he called the right number because the phone was answered and he began his report.
When he finished, he returned to the table and pulled on his jacket. “It looks Satto, Hejo and Om are here,” he said. “We’ll do handoff and then go meet the Horn. He wants to check this out himself.”
~~~~
After reporting on how the night had gone to their replacements, Caun and Eiten walked several blocks to the place the Horn had evidently told Eiten he would meet them. After they arrived they didn’t have to wait long before the Horn’s infamous white Duchesse Priza pulled up to the curb. Eiten stepped forwards and started to open one of the car’s back doors. Caun realized they were going to get to ride in the car and his soul almost left his body. This must have been easily Perceivable based on the eyebrow Eiten raised at him before getting into the car. Caun took a deep breath to steady himself and plunged into the car.
The Duchesse pulled away from the curb as soon as he closed the door behind him. The Horn was sitting in the front passenger seat. Maik Kehn was driving. His presence was also intimidating. Caun was more familiar with the First Fist than he was the Horn, but only slightly.
Hilo-jen turned around and hooked his elbow over the back of the seat so he could talk to Eiten. “Tell me what you told me over the phone again,” he ordered. Caun tried to remember when exactly Eiten had gotten the call saying that the Vuay was officially the highest ranked person on duty last night and was impressed by how coherent the Horn was after what had to be a relatively small amount of sleep. Caun certainly didn’t feel that perky after his night shift.
Eiten repeated what they’d heard from the informant. There was reportedly a small office in the Armpit that ostensibly helped people set up new businesses but was actually talking said business owners into moving their businesses to Mountain territory instead. The informant was a concerned small business owner who had gone to the office and thought No Peak should be informed.
“Well?” Hilo-jen asked Maik when Eiten had finished. “What do you think?”
There was a silence while the First Fist thought. “I think that if it’s true it’s another piece of evidence in favor of your ‘the Mountain is fixing to do to us what they did to Three Run’ theory,” Maik said finally.
Eiten’s eyes went wide. “Is that likely, Hilo-jen?” he asked. Caun was grateful he’d asked the question for both of them.
“It seems to be the only logical explanation for the problems we’re having with the Mountain encroaching on our territory,” the Horn said. “We know what happened between the Mountain and Three Run was premeditated. I mean, it’s not like you can accidentally order a pair of senior Fists to snatch someone’s fiancée and dump her somewhere in the forest.”
“I’d heard that was just a rumor,” Eiten said.
“If it is a rumor it has the unique distinction of being the only rumor we can confirm parts of,” Hilo-jen said. “Let’s just say it’s the most likely to be true of all the stories we’ve heard about the incident.”
Eiten nodded, his lips pressed together. “So we’re talking about war between us and the Mountain,” he said. Because they all knew that any kind of violence between No Peak and the Mountain would be much more sustained than what had happened between the Mountain and Three Run.
“You must have already figured something like that or you wouldn’t have thought it important to wake me with this news,” the Horn pointed out mildly.
Eiten pulled an embarrassed face. “Yes, Kaul-jen,” he said.
Caun knew better than to say it aloud, but he hoped for war with the Mountain. There would be so many opportunities in it. Caun was the first member of his family to wear jade. His parents had pinched in every way they could to put him through Kaul Du Academy and make a Green Bone out of him. As a result, he had to be careful with the meager jade he carried. Gratuitous duels had to be avoided. If he lost his jade there were no family coffers to pull from. If he lost his jade he was done. A clan war would give him the chance to win more jade and prove himself worthy of moving up in the clan.
Of course, today was also an opportunity. Caun had never had the chance to work so closely with the Horn before. He worshiped Kaul Hilo like they all did, but only ever from afar. Today was his chance to make a good showing of himself and gain the Horn’s approval. So far Hilo-jen hadn’t paid him any attention, but surely he could find something helpful and impressive to do.
“Did your informant tell you where this office is?” the Horn asked Eiten.
Eiten handed over the napkin he’d scribbled the address on. Hilo-jen frowned at Eiten’s handwriting for a moment then read the address out to Maik. “Do you know how to get there or should I pull out the map?” he asked.
Maik nodded. “I think I know,” he said and flicked on a turn signal.
~~~~
Caun wasn’t sure if the building the address corresponded to looked nothing like he’d expect a secret Mountain-affiliated office to look or looked exactly like he’d expect a secret Mountain-affiliated office to look. Either way it was early enough in the morning that no one was around. They’d parked the Duchesse several blocks away and walked the rest of the way. They weren’t entirely low profile—they were openly carrying their moon blades and talon knives and where therefore obviously Fists—but the lack of the well-known white sedan deflected the attention the Horn would have otherwise gotten.
They took a lap around the building and then gathered in the entryway, studying the bank of call buttons beside the inner door. “Was the informant sure this is the right office number?” Hilo-jen asked. “Because this is saying that office is in the basement.”
Eiten shrugged. “That’s what he said, Hilo-jen, though I suppose he could have been misremembering.”
Hilo-jen pressed the call button and they all waited to see if anyone would answer. No one did.
“Should I force the inner door, Hilo-jen?” Maik asked.
That sounded like something Caun very much wanted to see, but the Horn shook his head. “If we do that we’ve lost the element of surprise; they’ll know we were here poking around. There’s some windows in the basement walls. Let’s see if we can get one of those open first.”
So they took another lap around the building until they found a window that looked adequate for their breaking and entering plans. The window they eventually chose looked out onto a narrow alley and Caun and Eiten were sent to guard either end of it while the Horn and his First Fist briefly conferred and then skillfully hooked the latch on the window open with the tip of a talon knife.
Caun was frustrated to have been given the side of the alley which looked out into just a larger alley to watch instead of the street like Eiten had, but at least he was closer to the window and could hear his superiors talking.
Hilo-jen was the first one through the window, mostly because he was smaller than Maik Kehn and didn’t need to remove his moon blade to fit through the narrow gap. “Gods, it smells weird in here,” Caun heard him grumbling. “I hope we’re not going to find cages full of small dead animals or something else nasty.”
Maik removed his moon blade and squeezed through the window. “With the weather the way it is today, I can’t smell a fucking thing,” he said.
“Lucky you,” Hilo-jen said. “It looks like there’s two rooms. Do you want to search this one or the next one?”
“I’ll take the next one,” Maik said. He pulled his moon blade in through the window and Caun heard him make his way across the floor inside the office.
Caun stood on the corner and listened to the Horn puttering around inside, trying drawers on desks and file cabinets. It sounded like they were all locked and Hilo-jen started cursing under his breath as the minutes went by.
“Fine, I guess we’ll have to break some of these open and damn keeping a low profile,” he finally said, though he was speaking in a middle tone of voice that made it hard to tell if he was talking to Maik or to himself. “Gods, my head. I need caffeine more than I thought I did.”
As the Horn spoke, the wind changed and blew the weird smell he’d commented on towards Caun. Caun’s heart stuttered as he recognized the smell of natural gas. For the first few years he’d been at Kaul Du Academy his family had lived in an apartment building with old and faulty gas lines which leaked all the time. Caun had lived at the Academy most of the time and the building had eventually been condemned but he still could never mistake the smell. He wasn’t sure how the Horn could, but then remembered that Hilo-jen had grown up on his grandfather’s estate in Palace Hill. Maybe gas leaks weren’t a frequent occurrence in that upper-class neighborhood.
Caun scrambled over the window and knelt down next to it. “Hilo-jen!”
The Horn was leaning against a rickety office desk rubbing at his temples with the pads of his fingers, a pained pinch between his eyebrows. He looked up at the clatter Caun was making.
“Kaul-jen, it’s a gas leak,” Caun gasped.
Hilo-jen looked confused. “What?”
“The smell,” he said. “It’s a gas leak.”
Hilo-jen’s face changed as he realized what Caun meant. He pushed off the table and turned towards the door deeper into the office. “Kehn!” he shouted. “Kehn, get out here!”
There was no response.
Hilo-jen looked from Caun to the door and then took off towards the other room. He vanished through the door before Caun could decide if he should stop him.
“What’s going on?” Eiten shouted from the other end of the alley, but Caun was too distracted to respond.
After a stretching minute, Hilo-jen appeared in the doorway again. Caun had a brief moment of relief before he realized that Hilo-jen was dragging Maik’s unconscious body. The Horn made it a couple steps across the room, but then lost his balance and fell. He tried to catch himself on a desk, but wasn’t able to keep himself upright. He didn’t try to rise again, just pitched forward and braced a palm on the floor to keep from falling onto his face.
Caun knew he had to act. He took a deep breath and held it, then pulled his shirt up over his mouth and nose as well, though he had no idea if that would help. Then he got down on his belly and crawled through the window. His moon blade caught on the top of the window and he lost precious seconds wriggling out of its strap, but then he was in.
He dashed across the room, dropped to his knees next to the Horn and grabbed for his shoulder. Hilo-jen just leaned back against the desk, letting it take his entire weight. He was blinking vaguely, like he was about to fall asleep, all sense of urgency gone from his expression.
Caun didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t drag both Hilo-jen and Maik, even if he used all his Strength and his lungs were already burning. Soon he would have to take a breath and that would only make the situation worse.
Hilo-jen’s head lolled back, bouncing gently off the side of the desk, his eyes going unfocused. Caun acted purely on instinct and slapped the Horn of No Peak across the face.
The horror of what he’d done sunk in a moment later, but thankfully it actually worked. Hilo-jen blinked a few times and ground his knuckles into his forehead, but he seemed to remember what kind of situation they were actually in now. Between the two of them, they were able to drag Maik across the room. Eiten was waiting in the window now and was able to help them haul Maik out. They retreated into the wider back alley and collapsed onto the dirty concrete to catch their breaths.
“Wow,” Eiten said. “That was some gas leak.”
“Yeah,” the Horn agreed a little faintly. He was half laying on the ground, propped up on his elbows as he rubbed at his temples. Caun couldn’t help noticing that his expensive jacket and slacks were likely entirely ruined. “How’s Kehn?”
Caun and Eiten inspected the First Fist. He was breathing but entirely unconscious, his face sallow. When they reported this to the Horn, Hilo-jen fished his keys out of his pocket and held them out to Eiten. “Go get the Duchesse and bring it over here,” he said. “I don’t care who sees it now. He needs a hospital. But this alley is narrow. Be careful you don’t take the car’s mirrors off.”
Eiten looked equally horrified and thrilled to be trusted to drive the Duchesse Priza. He took the keys and scrambled to his feet. “Yes, Kaul-jen,” he said, saluting. “Right away.” And he hurried off.
~~~~
Thankfully, Eiten did not knock the mirrors of the Duchesse. They loaded Maik into the car and set off for Janloon General Hospital. Caun ended up in the back seat with the admittedly nerve-wracking task of making sure the First Fist didn’t stop breathing. The Horn had the passenger seat again, and he was very quiet in it, collapsed against the door with his face turned up towards the fresh air whistling into the car through the cracked windows in a way that reminded Caun of a baby bird.
When they pulled up outside the emergency department, Eiten turned in the driver’s seat. “Caun, you need to go in that there and get a doctor.”
Caun knew that Fists and Fingers didn’t wait in the ER but he had no idea what things had to be said to accomplish that. He also knew that this was the wrong time to ask those questions. He fumbled for the door handle. “Yes, Eiten-jen,” and got out.
Fortunately, it turned out that all you had to do to instantly conjure ER doctors was walk up to the desk and explain that not only was the First Fist of No Peak outside in need of medical attention, but that you’d come here with the Horn. Within minutes Maik Kehn was being loaded onto a stretcher and carted into the hospital. He was nominally conscious now, though so groggy and confused and Caun privately thought it didn’t make much difference.
As Maik was taken into the hospital and Eiten asked some questions about where he should move the Duchesse to, Caun realized the Horn had not gotten out of the car yet. In fact, Hilo-jen hadn’t moved from the position he’d been in for the entire drive.
“Hilo-jen?” Caun called pausing on the sidewalk, debating whether he should go to stand with Eiten or return to the Horn’s side. “We need to go inside now.” That sounded stupid, like he was talking to a child, but what else was he supposed to say?
Hilo-jen pushed the passenger side door open and stood. He paused notably and Caun Perceived something strange happen to his aura, though he couldn’t put a finger on what it was.
Eiten also Perceived the change and looked over his shoulder. His expression morphed into startled horror. “Caun, grab him. He’s going to—”
But it was too late. Caun lunged for the Horn, finally grasping what exactly the strange thing he was feeling in the other man’s aura was, but Hilo-jen’s eyes rolled and he collapsed like all his bones and muscles had turned to liquid at once. Caun was not able to catch him.
~~~~
Lan was at the Weather Man’s office on Ship Street when he received a call saying that his brother and one of his top Fists were in the hospital. He sat at his desk for a minute, digesting the news then rose and went to tell Doru to postpone the rest of the day’s meetings.
“Surely the Horn is not so badly injured that everything needs to stop,” Doru said in a tone of voice that came just a bit too close to implying that it would serve Hilo right if he was that badly injured for Lan’s tastes.
“I’m going to the hospital to see my brother,” Lan said quellingly. “Make my excuses for me.”
“As you wish, Lan-se,” Doru said, still in a tone that implied he thought Lan was making a mistake, but at least he did what he was asked.
Lan and Woon drove to the hospital and asked after Hilo at the front desk. A nurse explained what had happened while she walked Lan into the ER and to a half-open door that a Fist whose name Lan couldn’t recall was standing guard outside. Lan thanked the nurse, gestured for his bodyguards to wait outside and stepped inside.
Hilo was lying on the room’s single bed, covered in a thin blanket. He was still in his own clothes, though if that was because he’d refused to change or because no one had had the guts to ask him to, Lan couldn’t tell. One of his sleeves had been rolled up to allow an IV to be inserted into the crook of his elbow. A thin, plastic tube snaked across his face, probably delivering oxygen. There was livid scrape marring the right side of his face and jaw.
“Lan!” Hilo’s eyes widened at the sight of him and he pushed himself up into a sitting position. This did little other than give Lan a front-row seat of his younger brother’s face going spectacularly green and his aura going fuzzy. He stepped forward and gripped Hilo’s shoulder firmly, guiding his brother back down onto the bed.
Neither of them spoke until Hilo’s face had returned to a more normal color and his aura was feeling more stable. “I’d ask how you’re feeling, but I think that pretty clearly answers my question,” Lan said. “Don’t try to sit up again.”
“I’m okay,” Hilo said, though the fact that he didn’t open his eyes or move was telling. “I’m a bit sick to my stomach and admittedly have the worst headache I’ve ever had in my entire life, but the oxygen is helping. And Kehn got it worse.”
Lan wasn’t sure he wanted to see what worse looked like and was guiltily thankful Hilo hadn’t married Wen yet and made it so Lan had to treat the Maiks as brothers. That was a horrible thing to think though.
“And what happened to your face?” Lan asked, studying the raw scrape on Hilo’s chin and cheek.
Now Hilo did open his eyes and he flashed a lopsided smile that said he was trying to tell Lan not to worry. “That’s from when I tried to get out of the Duchesse and fainted,” he said. “Eiten and Caun weren’t close enough to catch me before I hit the ground.” He held up a hand. “Don’t start, Eiten and the doctor already lectured me for not warning anyone. Like I would have even tried getting out of the car if I’d known for sure it would make me pass out.”
Lan wasn’t sure that was comforting but now wasn’t the time to push it. “What exactly happened? The nurse told me this is poisoning from natural gas, but how did that happen?”
Hilo related the story to Lan in slow chunks, with frequent pauses to catch his breath and gather himself. Lan sat quietly and let him take his time. When he was finished he said, “And you didn’t end up getting anything out of the file cabinets?”
“No,” Hilo said. “Kehn passed out before either of us could get one open and we realized we needed to go.”
“So you don’t actually have anything to collaborate the story Eiten and Caun were told?”
Hilo frowned. “I mean there is the fact that we were checking it out and almost died,” he said like Lan was overlooking something obvious.
“I thought you said there was a gas leak in the office,” Lan said. “That sounds like an accident.”
“Well, yes, but think about it,” Hilo said. “It was a strangely underground office with small windows that were all closed. I—stupidly in hindsight—pressed the call button for the office while we were inspecting the outside of the building. That would have given a person who was already inside the office enough time to stab a talon knife or something through the gas line or opened a valve and then flee up the stairs before we came in through the window.
“I mean, they couldn’t have known Eiten would call me,” Hilo went on. “A more senior Fist might have handled it themself and a more junior might have been afraid to call me when they knew I’d be asleep and called Vuay instead,” Hilo went on. “Either way it’s a way to reduce our numbers while making it look like an accident.”
Lan thought that was jumping to a number of conclusions, but knew Hilo would not appreciate being told that. “We’ll have to have someone look around in there more thoroughly,” he said instead. “Did Eiten or Caun call the gas leak in to the city?”
“Yeah, I think Eiten did, but you’ll have to ask him to be sure; he’s outside my door right now,” Hilo sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Call Juen Nu and ask him to scope it out. The sort of riffling through other people’s papers kind of work it’s likely to be is more his speed than Tar’s. You can get his phone number out of my address book. I think it’s in the Duchesse’s glovebox.”
“I’ll do that,” Lan said. His skepticism about Hilo’s “this was a trap” theory aside, he was curious to know what the office’s records said.
“When do you think they’re going to let me leave?” Hilo asked.
“I’m not sure,” Lan said. “But I’ll hazard a guess it won’t be until after you can sit up without getting nauseous.”
Hilo made a face. “Probably you’re right,” he admitted grudgingly.
Lan patted his arm. “Try to get some rest,” he said. “I’m going to find your doctor to get a better picture of what’s going on.” He would ask just how long before Hilo could leave. He truly didn’t think it would be a good idea for his brother to leave the hospital now, but once the car ride back to the Estate wouldn’t cause him too much discomfort, surely, he could be allowed to leave. Especially if Lan promised to set him up in his old bedroom in the main house so he could easily keep an eye on him.
Outside the room, he confirmed that Eiten had told the city about the gas leak and that a crew had been sent to repair it. Then he liberated the keys to Hilo’s car from the Fist and got his brother’s address book—it was in the glovebox just where Hilo had said it would be. Juen Nu was quickly on the scene in the Armpit. He talked to the crew there to clean up the gas leak and learned that there had been some damage to the gas line in the basement, perhaps from age and the recent typhoon. When it was safe to go inside, Juen and his Fingers searched the office from top to bottom and broke open all the locked file cabinets.
They were all empty.