Page 1457

~~((The 12 Pages of Christmas + Double Monday = Page 11 of 14))~~
At that question, Jasirok hesitated.

Uh-oh. Diego knew he had to help him out, lest this venture find itself dead in the water already. “...Maybe they just haven’t been looking hard enough,” Diego tried.

Yangéra’s beady, smoldering eyes squinted at him. ‘Even you can’t really believe that, can you?’

He really couldn’t. But that was beside the point. “I’m just saying, it wouldn’t hurt to take another look around. Or two or three more looks, maybe.”

‘Whatever. As long as it doesn’t delay us in reuniting with everyone.’

“No argument here.” By now, Diego could only imagine how worried Dimas and the others must have been. Two whole days without any contact? If he were in their shoes, he would be thinking the worst.

And certainly, Zeff Elroy was not going to let up, either. Diego doubted he would be able to convince that man to stay even a second longer than they absolutely needed to. As soon as that device of Carver’s was ready again, Zeff would probably show up like a tornado and try to sweep everyone out of here.

Diego didn’t entirely disagree with that sentiment, either. At this point, with how unlikely finding the treasure was beginning to seem, Diego mostly just wished that they had some way of getting around that feldeath more easily. He remembered it all too clearly, that giant beam of dark energy that it had shot out. Another one of those, at just the wrong moment, could probably obliterate their whole party in the blink of an eye, Diego felt.

“There is a reason,” came Jasirok’s voice.

Diego had lost track of the conversation. “Reason for what?”

Jasirok still looked reluctant to say more, but after a moment, he said, “There is a reason why I think there may be areas of Himmekel that even we do not know about.”

Diego’s expression brightened. He’d already given up on that argument.

The molten man seemed to need another push to get his explanation out, however, and Yangéra was the one to provide it. ‘Go on.’

“Before I do,” said Jasirok, “I feel I must confess something. This reason... is also why I wished to speak with you in the first place.”

“What?”

“The Sosho’Diyu does interest me, of course, but it is of secondary importance to what I am about to tell you.”

“Why all the build up, then?” said Diego. “If it’s the most important thing, why not tell it to us first?”

“Because...” Jasirok’s voice lowered to a whisper. “I was ordered not to speak of it.”

Diego’s gaze flickered. “Ordered? By who?” And he stopped himself from saying anything further, but he wondered how the hell that coincided with Himmekel being a “community of equals,” like he’d been told.

“By... my father,” said Jasirok.

Ah. If it was a familial hierarchy rather than a broader societal one, then Diego could see how the discrepancy might be explained. But still, “ordered” had been an odd choice of word on Jasirok’s part. Perhaps it could be chalked up to Mohssian not being the man’s native language.