Page 97 of The Tree of Spirits
After breakfast, Conner had gone to check in with the other Rebels. Meanwhile, Kato and I were scouring the Magic Emporium for Mistress Meeta. Her tent didn’t stay in one place for very long. We’d been searching for most of the day. The sun had long since gone down, and westillhadn’t found her.
“I called the Black Obelisk. Now that the Watchers are back, they’ve been able to go through their security footage from yesterday,” Kato continued. “It shows that the Rebels knocked you out and removed you from the Black Obelisk against your will.”
“I bet the General was disappointed. He loves to see me as the source of everything that goes wrong in his life.”
The crowd parted before us—or, more specifically, before Kato. He looked pretty heroic, and maybe even a little intimidating, in his shiny white armor. He was a beacon of light on this gloomy, grey day.
“Soon the General will see you as someone who makes things go right,” Kato said, marching straight at the big puddle thatblocked the way. The water parted before him, clearing a dry path wide enough for the both of us. “When I showed him the readings I took off the celestial globe, I explained that it wasyouwho’d retrieved it from the Templars that day in the Park. And that’s how we know that the kidnappers came here from somewhere else in the Many Realms. The General is getting a lot of political capital out of that little fact. He is using it as ammunition against Fenris in their heated news debates.”
When the rain started beating down faster, I tightened my rain hood around my head. “I didn’t realize the General had political aspirations.”
Kato flicked his WAND, turning it into an enormous white umbrella, which he handed to me. “There’s a lot more to the Iron Wolf than barking orders and hunting down Rebels.”
“So, you’re saying he’s a complex man?”
“Yes.”
I watched a pair of Watchers rush down a neighboring street. “Does that mean the General has given up his hunt for the Rebels?”
“No. He’s notthatcomplex. He’s still hunting them.”
“Even though the Rebels helped the Watchers?”
“He still doesn’t trust them.”
“I guess the General is not a proponent of the ‘enemy of my enemy is my friend’ philosophy,” I commented.
“No, for him it’s more like ‘the enemy of my enemy better get out of my way or I’ll blast right through him’.”
My stomach growled.
“What was that?” Kato asked, turning around, like he was expecting an attack.
I blushed. “Thatwas my stomach.”
His armored hand flashed out. “Here.” He unfolded my fingers—metal meeting skin—and set something in my palm.
I looked and saw it was some kind of energy bar, neatly wrapped in a shiny silver package. I peeled back the packaging and took a bite. The bar melted in my mouth and tasted exactly like strawberry cheesecake. “Mmmm, this is so good!” I finished it off in five greedy bites, then hit him with a desperate look. “Do you have any more of these?”
He pulled another energy bar out of a compartment in his armor. The snack’s shiny metallic packaging was identical—except this one was gold instead of silver.
“Thanks! I’m famished!” I snatched the bar out of his hand and tore open the wrapper.
“Yeah, I can see that.” I could hear the amusement in his voice. “You know, if you want to be a Knight, you’ll need to learn to eat with a little more dignity.”
I was too busy shoving the energy bar into my mouth to pay much attention to what he was saying.
“Oooh, I think I like this one even more!”
It tasted like brownies with vanilla ice cream.
“You Knights get all the good food,” I told him, wiping the chocolate off my face.
He watched me. “You missed a spot.”
“Where?”
“Pretty much everywhere.”
