Page 54 of Six of Crows (Dregs 1)
“It’s not a mission; it’s a job.”
“Matthias calls it a mission.”
“He’s military, you’re not. And I’m already in jail, so don’t tempt me to commit homicide.”
“You aren’t going to kill me, and I’m not going to pretend everything is okay. We’re stuck in here.”
“You’re definitely better suited to a gilded cage than to a real one.”
“I left my father’s house.”
“Yeah, you gave up a life of luxury so you could slum it with us sobs in the Barrel. That doesn’t make you interesting, Wylan, just stupid.”
“You don’t know anything about it.”
“So tell me,” Jesper said, turning to him. “We have time. What makes a good little merch boy leave home to keep company with criminals?”
“You act like you were born in the Barrel like Kaz, but you’re not even Kerch. You chose this life, too.”
“I like cities.”
“They don’t have cities in Novyi Zem?”
“Not like Ketterdam. Have you ever even been anywhere but home, the Barrel, and fancy embassy dinners?”
Wylan looked away. “Yes.”
“Where? The suburbs for peach season?”
“The races at Caryeva. The Shu oil fields. The jurda farms near Shriftport. Weddle. Elling.”
“Really?”
“My father used to take me everywhere with him.”
“Until?”
“Until what?”
“Until. My father took me everywhere until I contracted terrible seasickness, until I vomited at a royal wedding, until I tried to hump the ambassador’s leg.”
“The leg was asking for it.”
Jesper released a bark of laughter. “Finally, a little spine.”
“I have plenty of spine,” Wylan grumbled. “And look where it got—”
He was interrupted by a guard’s voice shouting in Fjerdan just as the Elderclock began to chime six bells. At least the Fjerdans were punctual.
The guard spoke again in Shu and then in Kerch. “On your feet.”
“Shimkopper,” the guard demanded. They all looked at him blankly. “The piss bucket,” he tried in Kerch. “Where is … to empty?” He pantomimed.
There were shrugs and confused glances.
The guard’s gloomy sulk made it clear he couldn’t care less. He shoved a bucket of fresh water into the cell and slammed the bars shut.
Jesper pushed to the front and took a big gulp from the cup tied to its handle. Most of it splashed on his shirt. When he handed the cup to Wylan, he made sure it soaked him as well.
“What are you doing?” Wylan protested.
“Patience, Wylan. And do try to follow along.”
Jesper hiked up his pants and felt around the thin skin over his ankle.
“Tell me what’s happen—”
“Be quiet. I need to concentrate.” It was true. He really didn’t want the pellet buried beneath his skin to open up while it was still inside him.
He felt along the thin stitches Nina had placed there. It hurt like hell when he popped them open and slid the pellet out. It was about the size of a raisin and slick with his blood. Nina would be using her powers to split open her own skin right now. Jesper wondered if it hurt any less than the stitches.
“Pull your shirt up over your mouth,” he told Wylan.
“What?”
“Stop being dense. You’re cuter when you’re smart.”
Wylan’s cheeks went pink. He scowled and pulled his collar up.
Jesper reached under the bench where he’d hidden the waste bucket and pulled it out.
“A storm’s coming,” Jesper said loudly in Kerch. He saw Matthias and Kaz draw their collars up. He turned his face away, pulled his shirt over his mouth, and dropped the pellet into the bucket.
There was a sizzling whoosh as a cloud of mist bloomed from the water. In seconds it had blanketed the cells, turning the air a milky green.
Wylan’s eyes were panicked above his hiked-up collar. Jesper was tempted to pretend to faint, but he settled for the effect of men toppling to the ground all around him.
Jesper waited for a count of sixty, then dropped his collar and took a tentative breath. The air still smelled sickly sweet and would leave them woozy for a bit, but the worst of it had dispersed. When the guards came through for the next head count, the prisoners would have bad headaches but not much to tell. And hopefully by then they’d be long gone.
“Was that chloro gas?”
“Definitely cuter when you’re smart. Yes, the pellet’s an enzyme-based casing filled with chloro powder. It’s harmless unless it comes into contact with any amount of ammonia. Which it just did.”
“The urine in the bucket … but what was the point? We’re still stuck in here.”
“Jesper,” Kaz said waving him over to the bars. “The clock is ticking.”
Jesper rolled his shoulders as he approached. This kind of work usually took a lot of time, particularly because he’d never had real training. He placed his hands on either side of a single bar and concentrated on locating the purest particles of ore.
“What is he doing?” asked Matthias.
“Performing an ancient Zemeni ritual,” Kaz said.
“Really?”
“No.”
A murky haze was forming between Jesper’s hands.
Wylan gasped. “Is that iron ore?”
Jesper nodded as he felt sweat break out on his brow.
“Can you dissolve the bars?”
“Don’t be an idiot,” Jesper grunted. “Do you see how thick they are?” In fact, the bar he was working on looked unchanged, but he’d pulled enough iron from it that the cloud between his hands was nearly black. He bent his fingertips, and the particles spun, whirring into a tightening spiral that grew narrower and denser.
Jesper dropped his hands, and a slender needle fell to the floor with a musical ping.
Wylan snatched it up, holding it so the light gleamed over its dull surface.
“You’re a Fabrikator,” Matthias said grimly.
“Just barely.”
“You either are or you aren’t,” said Wylan.
“I am.” He jabbed a finger at Wylan. “And you’re going to keep your mouth shut about it when we get back to Ketterdam.”
“But why would you lie about—”
“I like walking the streets free,” said Jesper. “I like not worrying about being snatched up by a slaver or put to death by some skiv like our friend Helvar here. Besides, I have other skills that bring me more pleasure and profit than this. Lots of other skills.”
