So yeah, I had a bit of a rough morning. I had difficulty staying awake when Vienna told me to stay by the door and not let anybody in. I sat on one of the deck chairs and I had just about fallen asleep in the chair when I heard the door open. I jumped out of the chair and shook my head. Luckily, I don’t think Vienna noticed. That would look pretty bad to fall asleep on my first day of guard duty. Yes, the Romans back in my day would have a very special punishment for you. On that happy note, I followed Vienna down the steps and in the direction of the wall.
“Soooo, what are we doing? We aren’t searching, are we?” I said.
Vienna responded, “Don’t get your hopes up. Even though Hector is helping with the search, I am still going to work on the castle defenses. We already have the Horatii quarter doing double shifts, but we need to make sure there aren’t any holes in the wall or the shield of Argos. There have been times in history where the Argonaut leaders have been too confident in the defenses and let their guard down, which ended badly. I do not intend to repeat those mistakes.” Despite her words, I could tell her heart was not in it.
With that explanation, we trudged along in silence. After a few moments, a voice broke into my thoughts. That girl is not concerned about the defense of the city. She is trying to keep herself busy to hide what she is truly feeling. “Oh, you picked that up all by yourself, huh?” I muttered aloud.
Vienna stopped so suddenly that I nearly ran into her. “What?”
I mentally cursed, feeling the blood rush to my face, and pointed at my head. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that out loud. I am still getting used to this whole talking inside my head thing.”
She nodded and continued walking at a slower pace, allowing me to walk beside her. “Yes, that does take some getting used to. My spirit, Katara, is currently lecturing me about something. I am not really paying attention, to be honest. What’s your spirit talking about?”
Considering how brooding she had been only moments ago, I felt like she wasn’t really ignoring the spirit (Katara?). I chose not to bring it up though. I had some lying of my own to do. “Uhhh, he was just talking about how crazy it’s been over the last few days.” Nice cover! I am sure she didn’t see right through that. Oh, shut up. You’re not being very much help.
Based on her expression, she did see right through it. She said, “Ah, yes. I am sure he was commenting on my suspicious activity. You don’t have to keep that hidden from me.” She sighed, as if she was mentally forcing herself to let her guard down. “Can I be completely honest with you?”
I was a little surprised by this, and judging by the spirit’s silence, he was too. “Well yeah, I guess.”
“As terrible as this sounds, I don’t have anyone else to talk to. Nyka was the only person in this entire city who was truly my friend since I became Legatus. She didn’t have any hidden agendas when she talked to me, or so I thought. As much as I like Hector, he never filled that role.” She sighed heavily, “I guess what I am telling you is I feel betrayed by my best friend, my ONLY friend. So much so that I am telling almost a complete stranger, no offense, about my personal feelings.”
I blinked a couple of times and responded, “None taken. I am a good listener. Please continue.”
“Once Hector is done with his search, he will push for me to officially declare Nyka and the others as traitors. He will ask me to send a team to hunt them down and bring them back. He will probably volunteer to go himself, or at least send someone from his own barracks. I just cannot bring myself to believe that Nyka is a traitor. Donovan was a bit of a stretch, but Nyka is not possible. I don’t know what to believe…”
By this time, we had reached the city wall. Vienna found a ladder and we started to climb. We had climbed a little more than halfway up the ladder before we heard a war horn sound. Now, you may be imagining a little hoot off in the distance, but this horn was like an air raid siren. It was so loud that it felt like it was shaking the entire city. I grabbed onto the ladder for dear life because it felt like the horn was going to shake me off of the ladder. It went on for what felt like forever. When it finally stopped, I looked up at Vienna and yelled, “What in the world was that?!”
Vienna looked in the direction of the castle gate. “That was the Horatii war horn! They only use that in an emergency! Go! We have to figure out what is going on. And I would suggest summoning your equipment too.”
I jumped off of the ladder, landing smoothly on the ground. Vienna followed suit, but she landed in her full armor. She was wearing a leather and chainmail breastplate and leggings along with leather bracers and gloves. She looked really amazing, which I chose not to say when I saw the double-bladed battle axe strapped to her back. Before I could look more closely, she ran in the direction of the Horatii Quarter. I followed behind, summoning my armor and pouring on the speed to catch up.
We both ran the whole way to the Horatii Quarter. Even in my light armor, it was a real workout. I was breathing hard by the time Vienna finally came to a stop. We were just on the outside of a large crowd that had gathered in the middle of the street. Vienna began to push through the crowd and I followed her lead. Many people stepped out of the way when they saw who she was. Soon, we were in the middle of the group looking down at the body of a boy. I was shocked when I realized that he had an arrow sticking out of his neck with dried blood all around the wound. Hector was kneeling next to him.
Vienna gasped, “What… What happened? Who did this?” She looked around at the crowd, as if expecting to see the guilty party. Nobody spoke up.
Hector reached forward and closed the boy’s eyes. He said, “We found him hidden away in the Arena. He was already dead when we got there. You know what this means, right?” That last question was directed at Vienna.
I didn’t understand what he meant until I looked a little closer at the arrow. No, it wasn’t an arrow. It was a bolt that was designed to be fired from a crossbow! Only then did I notice Garrett standing just inside the circle of people. Our eyes met and he looked just as horrified as I felt. He mouthed the name, “Daniel.”
The name didn’t register at first, but the spirit helped to clarify. Daniel was the Horatii guard who Donovan and Nyka supposedly took with them! Ohhhhh… This is really bad. The crossbow bolt. Daniel. Vienna’s words rung in my head, I cannot bring myself to believe that Nyka is a traitor. Hector said something, but I was too lost in my own thoughts to listen. Nyka is a traitor. Nyka is a TRAITOR! I can’t believe she would play us like that! I can’t believe she would kill… I couldn’t even finish the thought.
After a few seconds of silence to process, Vienna spoke again, “We need to prepare for a funeral. Full honors as a Horatii hero fighting to defend Argos. We will talk about our action plan once we are finished with that.”
Hector opened his mouth like he wanted to argue, but closed it again. He turned to the crowd and shouted, “Don’t you all have jobs to be doing? We still have to finish the search!”
The crowd broke off slowly, leaving Vienna, Hector, Garrett, myself, and a few stragglers standing in the middle of the street. Vienna knelt next to Daniel’s body and lightly touched his forehead. She said something so quiet that I had to lean in to hear it. “Brave warrior, defender of your allies, you will be remembered.” With these words, the body dissolved. It went in the same way the Bakshazani did, but in light rather than darkness. It was like his body became part of the sunlight around us. Vienna bowed her head and said, “Rest in peace.”
We stood there for a long time, all of us unwilling to break the silence. The only thing left to mark the spot was the blood on the ground. Vienna kneeled over it, scowling at it like she disapproved of its existence. Her fists were clenched so hard that I could see the shape of her knuckles through her gloves. Hector walked over to Vienna’s side. He said gently, “We have to do something. We cannot let his death go unavenged.”
Vienna’s face hardened, and she said, “Oh, I intend to do something. I am going to hunt her down and I am going to br
ing her to justice. She will NOT get away with this. She will NOT escape punishment for killing her own Argonaut kinsman.” She looked directly at Hector. “Go and get cleaned up. I am going to call an emergency meeting in the Arena in ten minutes; I want you there.”
Hector nodded and trudged off in the direction of the Argonaut Quarter. Vienna then pointed at Garrett and me. “You two are going to stick with me. Normally meetings are only for Argonaut veterans, but I am going to make an exception for you two.”
She ran off down the street and I quickly followed behind. I could hear Garrett running behind me and I stepped up my pace to keep up with Vienna. By the time I finally caught up to her, we were all the way back at the Palatine. She turned to us and said, “You two stay put. I will be back out in a couple minutes.”
She disappeared into the house, leaving me and Garrett standing there on the empty street.
15
The Edicts Have Spoken… I Sure Wish They Hadn’t
GARRETT
Soooo, yeah. Pretty crazy day so far. The part Kam missed was when Daniel was brought to Hector. A couple of guys I didn’t recognize carried the body to the Horatii Quarter because they knew he would be there. He was NOT happy about it. The reason the crowd was there when Kam and Vienna arrived was because Hector had his own yelling session. Long story short, he declared Nyka and Donovan traitors. They were to be captured on sight by any means necessary and brought to him. If they resisted, he gave all of the people in the crowd permission to use deadly force. Now that you’re caught up, let's continue.
Garrett and I stood by the steps leading to the front porch, trying to look official. I had originally gone for one of the chairs on the porch, but Kam warned me away from them. “They are a little too comfortable. I almost fell asleep this morning while I was supposed to be on guard.”
“Oh, thanks for the tip.” Then I remembered my chat with Bione last night. “I didn’t sleep that well last night.”
He gave me a strange look, narrowing his eyes and furrowing his eyebrows. “So you had a dream too, huh?”
I nodded, “Yeah. Well, actually not really. It was more of a chat with Bione. He warned me that today would be a rough day. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but that’s what he said.”
“Oh. Well, now we know. One of the few people here that we could actually call a friend suddenly turns out to be a traitor and kills one of her friends.” He made air quotes around the word “friends.” “Oh yeah, did I forget to mention she KILLED someone. A guy just died and it's only our fourth day here! I mean, sure we didn’t really know him, but still.”
He pretty much said exactly what I was thinking. “Yep. It seems like every day tops the day before. Now getting attacked by a monster doesn’t seem like that big of a deal.”
He didn’t respond. We stayed quiet for a few minutes until Vienna bounded down the steps. She shouted, “Hurry! I don’t want to be late for my own meeting!” Then she ran off in the direction of the Arena with Kam and me right behind her.
Luckily, she went at a slower pace this time so we could actually talk to her while we jogged. I started, “So what’s this meeting going to be about?”
Without looking at me, she responded, “I am going to ask for volunteers to follow me to hunt down Nyka and Donovan. We are going to bring them back to be punished for their crimes. We will consult the Edicts to see if they have any suggestions for the questers.”
I thought about that. Obviously, she invited us to give us a chance to volunteer. But did I want to? Not really. I’ll be totally honest, I was not looking forward to seeing Nyka again, let alone hunting her down. She had gotten me to trust her; worse, she had gotten me to LIKE her, and it turned out to be one big charade. A show put on to fool people into letting their guard down. It’s probably how she killed Daniel too, I thought. She let him believe they were best buds right up until she shot him.
I shook my head. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. My mom used to say that anger doesn’t help anything; it only makes the tasks ahead more difficult. I had to focus on the tasks ahead, not on the past. One of the tasks right in front of me was hunting down an enemy of the Argonauts, and I couldn’t let trivial things distract me from that. “I’ll do it,” I said.
Kam choked, “Say what?”
Trying to look determined, I looked him dead in the eyes. “I’ll do it. I will help you find her, Vienna.”
Kam held my gaze, his eyes telling me everything that he wasn’t saying: What is wrong with you? Are you stupid? Did you get hit in the head? Vienna glanced at me and said, “Very well. We will see what the Edicts have to say then.”
We jogged in silence after that. I could still feel the annoyance coming from Kam, but I did my best to ignore it. You shouldn’t make rash decisions out of anger. Nyka is far better trained than you are. If you go head to head, there is a large chance that she will kill you without even blinking an eye. I can do a lot of things, but I cannot keep you alive in an uneven battle like that. Of all the things you could have said, you probably chose the number one thing I did not want to hear. Unless you have some helpful advice, butt out.
Bione went silent after that. The silence made time feel so much longer than it was, but finally we reached the Arena. There was already a large group of people gathered there. I recognized Albert who was talking to a blonde girl. Angie? All of the barracks leaders were there, plus a quite a few people I didn’t recognize. There were a few people who looked vaguely familiar, either from the search or the barracks, but I didn’t know their names. Hector stood next to a table with a bunch of books spread out on it. On a closer look, I realized they were Edicts. Each one had a name on the front. I didn’t see mine, but I noticed Kam’s on the end closest to me.
Vienna walked over next to Hector. She raised her hand to get everyone’s attention. “You all know why we are here. Two of our own have betrayed us and we need a team to bring them to justice. I, along with Garrett Kipler, have already volunteered for this mission. We need at least one more volunteer from among you. That said, this mission will be a lot more dangerous than the ones in the past. Not only will we be dealing with the Dark Legion, but we will also have the Acephali scouting for us. Nyka and Donovan are skilled warriors and won’t go down without a fight. Only volunteer if you are ready to face these challenges.”
After a brief pause, every hand in the Arena went up. I was surprised to see my brother’s hand among them. Vienna smiled, “Thank you for your support. Unfortunately, as much as I wish I could, I cannot take all of you. We turn to the Edicts to decide.” Everyone looked at the table expectantly.
One of the books began to rumble. Vienna reached for it. She read the name on the front. “Kamaron Kipler, step forward.” He did and she opened the book to read. “You will go on the quest. Without you, the quest is doomed to fail. Your loyalty to Argos will be the backbone of the team.” He turned a little red from all the attention but nodded.
Another book started to vibrate. Vienna replaced Kam’s Edict and picked this one up. She opened it and read. A momentary look of confusion crossed her face. “This is my Edict,” she said, perplexed. “I cannot be allowed to go on the quest. Argos needs me here to prepare for the coming war. Another leader of the quest will be chosen.”
Another book on the table shook. This time Hector picked it up. Without reading the name, he opened the book and read, “I will be the leader of the quest. Without me, we will never find the traitor. A three-person team is imperative, and I will be allowed to choose the final member.”
He paused and looked up at the crowd. After only a moment of hesitation, he said, “It seems like the wisest choice would be to keep the Bonded brothers together. Garrett, you are my choice as the third companion.” He nodded in my direction.
I couldn’t help but feel happy. This was what I wanted in the first place. It felt different though because Kam was going. I felt like he had only been selected because I volunteered to go. He had made it pretty clear
that he didn’t even want to. It was one thing to gamble with my own life, but completely another to use my brother’s.
Vienna spoke up. “You will leave three days from now. You should have plenty of time to rest and prepare. We will—”
Hector interrupted her, “Shouldn’t we leave immediately? The longer we wait, the harder it will be to find them.”
A couple of other people muttered in agreement. Vienna looked straight at Hector. “We will meet later to discuss the details, but I definitely want to leave time for you to prepare. We will meet after dinner tonight. Make sure your supplies are ready.” She turned to the rest of us. “If they need anything, you will give it to them, no questions asked.”
This sounded pretty good to me. With that, the meeting adjourned and we all went to our daily tasks. For us, our daily task was guarding Vienna, so we didn’t have to walk very far. Vienna and Hector stood by the table until it was just us left in the Arena.
Finally, after everyone had gone out of earshot, Hector burst out, “Three days?! What are you thinking? There is no way we can catch up with them after three days!”
Vienna raised a hand before he could continue. “Don’t you think I know that? I was putting on a show. If a traitor could get as close to me as Nyka did, who is to say that one of them isn’t one as well?” She gestured in the direction the others had walked in.
She continued, “Think about it. Nyka was very well connected here. She could have covered for any one of them easily. Other than you, she was my most trusted advisor. The only people I trust right now are in this arena. Garrett and Kamaron primarily because they only just got here, so they probably wouldn’t have enough time to become traitors, and you because you have been here longer than anyone has. I don’t know about anybody else. Even the Edicts chose you three for the quest. No offense, normally two newbies would not be allowed to go on a quest.”
The Wish Box Page 10