Swords of Waar by Nathan Long

waiting for ’em. I clamped Brother Aln to my shoulder, jumped for the next roof, and kept jumping until I was a whole block away, and had put a few cupolas and chimneys in the way besides, then stopped in the middle of a triangle of laundry lines and dumped him on his back.
    “Alright, pal. Tell me where Lhan is.”
    He didn’t answer, just lay there with his mouth half open. Shit. Had I killed him? I knelt down and listened to his chest. His heart was thumping along just fine. I slapped him, then slapped him again. He came to with a yelp and curled up, covering his head. I rolled him back over and pinned his shoulders flat with my legs, then clamped a hand around his neck.
    “Where is Lhan-Lar?”
    He stared up at me, whites showing all around his eyes. “I—I know not the name.”
    I slapped him again. “Liar! I heard you tell your guys you couldn’t let me escape too . That means you let somebody else escape, and I’m guessing it’s Lhan. Now where is he?”
    He sneered up at me, my handprint turning his purple cheek maroon. “You may do your worst, demon. A priest does not give up the secrets of the—”
    I reached behind me and clamped a hand on his junk. He squeaked like a dog toy.
    “He has fled with the pirates!”
    “What pirates?”
    “The pirates with whom you defeated Kedac-Zir!”
    My heart did a little dance in my chest. Lhan was alive? And he was with Kai-La and her gang of buckle swashers? This was the best news ever!
    I gave his nuts another honk. “Where are they?”
    “You will not save him. An airship went after them days ago. He will be dead with all the rest.”
    I rolled my eyes. “Tell me another one. Kai-La got the personal thanks of the Aldhanan. The navy’s got no reason to go after them.”
    He smiled, smug. “The Temple has its own airships. And its own warriors. Besides, it was discovered they had betrayed the Aldhanan’s trust.”
    My heart stopped dancing. “You framed ’em. You set ’em up.”
    “We did what was best for Ora, as we always have.”
    I let go of his sack and stabbed my finger at him. “I don’t know what y’all are up to, but if Lhan is dead, I’m coming back here and burning your goddamned rocketship club-house to the ground. Now where is he? Where are the pirates?”
    He shrugged like it didn’t matter. “They are at Toaga, the pirate haven. Or they were. They are dead now, I assure you.”
    I slapped him. “And where is that?”
    He spit blood and tried to hide his head against his shoulder. I grabbed his chin and forced him to look at me.
    “Where?”
    “To the south! Near the mountains!”
    “Where exactly ?”
    “Do you think I have a map? It is to the south. I know no more.”
    I wanted to shake him, but he was right. Him telling me wasn’t gonna do me any good. I needed to find a map, or somebody who could take me to this Toaga place personally. And how the fuck was I gonna manage that?
    Through the flapping laundry I could hear the guards coming across the roofs. I stood up and grabbed a red blanket and a lime green sarong off the clothes line and started to cover myself.
    “Thanks for the info. Remember my warning.”
    Brother Aln raised up on his elbows. “I did not lie before, demon. The church will give you mercy. Come willingly and you will not be harmed.”
    I sneered and backed for the edge of the roof. “Yeah, you’ll just send me back to a place I don’t wanna be no more. Thanks but no thanks, padre.”
    I turned and jumped for the street.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    THE HUNT!
    A bout eight hours later, looking like a color-blind babushka in my clashing blanket and wrap, I stared out from the branches of a purple tree at the ritzy country house of the guy Lhan and I had stayed with the night the priests had grabbed me and sent me back to Earth.
    My first instinct had been to go to the Aldhanan’s palace and ask Sai for help, or maybe even the Aldhanan himself. I mean, Lhan and I had saved his country for him, right? Couldn’t he