Threading the Needle by Joshua Palmatier

Author:Joshua Palmatier
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DAW
Published: 2016-06-02T17:12:25+00:00

Kara looked back as the wagons of the White Cloaks ground their way through the remnants of the western part of Erenthrall. The multicolored lights of the distortion rose against the eastern night sky, surrounded by a band of darkness where its light washed out the stars. To either side, the darkness was broken by scattered fires within the outer city, both to the north and south. She knew the Temerites were the likely source of the northern fires, but wasn’t sure who controlled the southern parts of the city. Probably the Gorrani, based on what Allan and the others had reported.

Here, at the western edge, no one ruled the streets. The buildings had been reduced to ash and piles of charred rubble. The street they were following had obviously been cleared for easy access to Erenthrall’s interior, which meant the White Cloaks had been operating in the city for a while.

She searched the surrounding darkness as their captors produced more torches.

“I haven’t seen anything.” Adder kept his voice low, his eyes ahead on the wagon where Dylan lay among the supplies.

“You said they escaped?”

“Glenn and Artras made it into the wagon with Gaven and Cutter. The White Cloaks were dealing with the Wolves. I didn’t see any of their guards going after them, and the Tunnelers retreated back into the node. I think they escaped.”

The guards kept them penned between the wagons. They’d taken all of their weapons and supplies, tossing them into one of the wagons behind them. But even though the guards watched their group, their attention was focused more on the darkness beyond the wagon train. “Are they worried the Wolves will return? Or is it something else?”

“We don’t know much about this part of the city. We didn’t even know about the Tunnelers in the northern section, and we thought we’d scouted that part out rather well. I’m beginning to think we should have approached the Temerites. At least started talks with them. Maybe none of this would have been necessary.”

“What do you mean?”

He sidled closer, watching the White Cloak in the wagon ahead, but neither he nor the guards appeared to care that they were talking to one another. “Instead of trying to find the supplies on our own, maybe we should have negotiated with the Temerites. They seem to have control over their part of the city and are capable of defending it against outside forces like the Rats.”

“Why would they give us supplies? What do we have to offer them in return?”

Adder looked at her. “You.”

“Me?”

“Not you specifically. But the Wielders. The Temerites must be running short of supplies like everyone else. We could have traded access to the shards in the distortion for a portion of the supplies inside and protection for ourselves while we were inside the city.”

“Why didn’t anyone think of this earlier?”

“None of us realized there were so many groups in play. We knew of the Rats, the Wolves, and the Temerites, at least in the northern parts of the city.

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