The Soldier's Key (The Queen's Blade Book 11) by D.K. Holmberg

Author:D.K. Holmberg [Holmberg, D.K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ASH Publishing
Published: 2024-12-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

“Got some news for you on that issue you had me looking into,” Jos said, catching me as I strode along the street.

I frowned. I had just gone over to Dara’s shop to check on her but had found it closed and boarded up. That was probably for the best. I had checked in on her a few times and seen that she was handling things relatively well, although she had an unfamiliar look in her eyes—haunted. She had let me know that she planned on leaving the shop for a little while, which made sense, especially if any sort of danger might befall her. This was the first time that the shop had been fully closed, the windows boarded, suggesting that it was permanently closed.

“What did you find?” I asked.

“Remember those people you sent word for me to look into? Something about a metal?”

“I remember,” I said.

“Well, we’re starting to get some reports of men carrying sculptures away from the city. We’ve got them stopped outside the city, if you want to take a look, but we didn’t really find much. Some fabrications, of variable potency, but honestly, I’m not really all that sure what to make of it.”

There had been a time when stopping that would have been my responsibility alone. I had empowered the Investigators to handle such things and was thankful that Jos had managed to take care of the situation.

“Anything obvious?” I asked.

“Not obvious. Want me to have the contraband brought over to the queen’s fabricator?”

“Not yet,” I said, a little too hurriedly. “I’d like to take a look at it first.”

Jos offered a shrug. “Be my guest. We have them rounded up, and⁠—”

“You put them in prison?”

“No, nothing like that, but there is an outpost on the edge of the city where we have them waiting until we decide if we are going to release them.”

“Good,” I said. “That’s good.”

“When do you think you’ll take a look?”

It was a good question.

“I’ll make sure I do it today, as long as that is all right.”

Jos nodded. “Whatever time works for you. We can hold them—maybe not the same way that the constables do—but we can keep them in place.”

I let out a sigh. “I’d really like to get this dealt with before I have to leave.”

“Why do you have to leave?”

“You’ve seen what’s happening in the harbor?”

“Heard the stories.”

“Well, there are fabrications involved, we think. Something is attacking the fleet.”

“That why the Queen’s Blade need to go?”

“I need to determine if any source of power is targeting Busal, or if it is just coincidental.”

At that, Jos arched a brow. “Do you think that it’s coincidental?”

We were moving past the market, and the noise began to intensify. The smell of roasted meats, other breads, and other foods, and the feeling of various fabrications came to me.

“Not coincidental,” I said, shaking my head. “I doubt that it can be.”

“So what, then?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. I didn’t detect anything on the ship in the harbor that would strike me as a typical fabrication.

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