The Tenets in the Tattoos (The King's Swordsman Book 1)

by Becky James

  The offensive capability of using the stone in the environment was clear. Could she crack open the ground I stood on? Throw projectiles at me? Make the ground shake? I would need a lot of help against something like that. I’d want a full contingent, and a night out beforehand, in case it was my last.

  Special Forces trained to fight mages and mancers over and above the techniques of the Regulars. Magic users tired using their power, so large numbers of mundanes could overwhelm them. Special Forces trained to avoid attacks or fight back against magical effects, and to press forward until they eliminated the magic user. Few magic users had a defence against a sword in the neck or gut; getting close enough was the problem.

  Homesickness dragged at my core. I wanted my friends by my side to face a mage that could use walls and floors to defeat me.

  “I want to take a look as well,” I said. “It might be that we can find Gough tonight. It’s truly miraculous that we can get there so fast.” Evyn seemed pleased at the compliment.

  “It’s an outside chance, to stumble on them in Spiritshere,” Aubin retorted. “Have you ever seen the entrance to the Labyrinth? Probably not, to say such things.” He studied the map over Evyn’s shoulder, as if it held answers, and I curled my hands into fists as her face heated. “Hm. Let’s think about this. If Gough and Rose did head to Spiritshere and the true hiding place, which is a four-day journey at least, we might even arrive ahead of them.”

  “Gadamere can travel, though,” I pointed out. “He’s a mancer, and Ellesmere is a mage. Gadamere would have transported them all to Spiritshere in a heartbeat.”

  Aubin nodded. “Ah yes. The queen and her soul are missing as well.” He drew back from the table, folding his arms tight. “So whatever Torgund brought to bear against them can defeat at least two magic users.”

  “Unless they immediately retreated. That doesn’t ring true, though. Gough will fight to defend his family; he trained when he was younger and he’s somewhat proficient.”

  “So he was taken out first. Perhaps.”

  “Guys, we can guess all day,” Evyn interjected. She pulled out her handheld device. “Let’s get going and then we can find out for sure. On the way I’ll explain what trains are and how you behave around them. They can be really noisy. You don’t get in front of one of them or get on their tracks. It’ll cause real problems if you do. We’ve got several trains to catch, so you’ll get used to them, but if you’re unsure about anything, just ask me.”

  “That little speech was for you, Thorrn,” Aubin murmured.

  “Not solely me!”

  “I didn’t throw myself in front of a car beast. Twice.”

  Grumbling, I followed Evyn around while she packed, putting all the clothes she had bought into a case. She got me to wrap and lay my father’s sword inside, saying, “We cannot wave that around, we’ll get arrested by the police. That’s the Upholders to you.”

  “I outrank them,” I complained.

  “Not here, you don’t. Here you’ll be considered a dangerous maniac if you carry that about the place.” She put some of her own clothes into the bag and then started turning off lights in preparation for leaving. “All set?”

  “Yes.” I saluted. “I’ll take that bag.”

  “I’m ready,” Aubin added.

  “Right. Let’s go.”

  Chapter 14

  We availed ourselves of the bus beast, and this time we lurched and roared past the town to a squat building with a great sea of cars arranged in rows and lines outside. “Is this where they sleep?” I asked Evyn.

  “You know they aren’t alive, right?”

  “How can they not be? They’re animate!”

  Evyn tried to explain something called an internal combustion engine to me. Aubin seemed to keep up with the conversation, but I lost the thread and had to settle for watching her enjoyment of the technical concepts. Breaking off her explanation, Evyn procured passage on the trains for us and was gifted a stack of cards. “These are tickets,” she said, fanning them out in front of us like a deck. “I’ll give them out for each leg, and here’s the first one. Come on, we need to run to catch our train.”

  It felt oddly stiff to my fingers. We had to feed these into a slot, and then the gates ahead opened. A man in a bright jerkin overlooked us. I followed Evyn and while I went through, the gates closed on the bag. It made a loud, angry noise. “You want to go through the big gate with that,” the man sighed.

  “Make it return our belongings,” I ordered him. “If it eats it, I will be incensed.”

  “Give me a minute. Next time, go through the correct gate,” he chided me. The gate reopened, and I pulled our bag through. He shouted after me, “Thank you!”

  “You’re welcome,” I replied.

  “Oh my god, Thorrn, can you not annoy the railway staff? They don’t have to take you anywhere,” Evyn fretted.

  “I’m not annoying anyone. The gate should not have eaten our bag,” I grumbled.

  “Situational awareness. Were you not aware there was a larger gate?” Aubin sniped.

  “It’s the first time I’ve ever seen one! And why didn’t you say anything at the time?”

  “Boys, please stop fighting. We haven’t even gotten on the first train.”

  “He started it,” I pointed out.

  Evyn sighed. “This is going to be a long journey.”

  We waited at a short drop. I leant over to look at what was beyond the projection, but Evyn pulled me back with a hiss. “Those are the tracks. Do not go anywhere near them.”

  “Why? Are they dangerous?” All I could see were long lines of metal.

  “Not in themselves, but the trains run on them. If you fall onto them, they have to stop all the trains.”

  “Oh.” I imagined something like a car but running on the tracks. How would it run? A car had wheels rather than legs.

  Evyn pointed. “There’s our train.” A huge lumbering beast slid down the tracks. My eyes widened. How were we to jump on to ride it? It was going at least a running pace. Is this what Evyn meant when she said we had to run to catch the train? No one was yet turning to pick up speed to jump on, though. And how was I going to get the bag on top of it while also running to catch it?

  I looked at the tracks. “So, they stop the train if you get on the tracks?” I took a step toward them.

  Evyn immediately clamped her hands on my arm. “Do not go on the tracks!” The beast screamed. “Listen, hear that? Those are the brakes. It’s slowing down and stopping so we can get on.”

  “Oh. Good.” She relaxed her grip on me.

  When the train halted, the Earthians on the platform jostled to line up with the doors. I eyed how tall it was. If I heaved, I could get the bag up onto the top. I began to swing it.

  “No! It comes inside with us,” Evyn hissed.

  “Alright.”

  “Just… follow my lead, okay? Don’t do other things right now.”

  I saluted. “Yes, ma’am.” Evyn sighed again.

  When we sat down at a table, Evyn took a cautious look around. The Earthians all had their eyes on their devices and most had lines coming out of their ears. “Look, I’m sorry. I know you’re trying to figure all this out. That’s good! But if something is dangerous or if it’s going to draw attention to us, please listen to me and follow my lead.”

  “I already confirmed orders,” I said.

  “Thorrn, don’t be like that. I’m not ordering you around.”

  “She’s trying to help you blend in,” Aubin added.

  “Help us. You’re new here too,” I said through gritted teeth.

  “And do you see me picking fights with guards, jumping in front of trains or throwing bags around?” he said smugly. “I’m watching what the other Earthians are doing. See if you can emulate them as well.”

  I grunted. “So, what happens now?” I asked Evyn.

  “The train moves off. Don’t touch any of the red buttons or press anything. We get out at Birmingham New Street. An
d, uh… That’s a huge station. I don’t much like going there at the best of times. This is going to be madness.”

  “I’ll keep him in line, Lady Evyn.” Aubin reached across, picking up a set of papers abandoned at the next table across from us. He looked through them slowly, studying the images and the words.

  “What else have we got to do when we’re moving? Can I go for a run up and down this bit?” I waved at the corridor.

  “Uh, no,” Evyn said. “Sorry, Thorrn. It’s really just sit and read. Or we can look out of the window together?”

  The train pulled off with a judder, and then the journey turned surprisingly smooth. While looking out of the window was interesting at first, it quickly turned into flashes of field after field after field. I put my chin in my hand. Evyn patted my shoulder and then slid out of her seat to sit next to Aubin, quietly retreating into reading whoever’s papers those were with him. He pointed out something and she told him what more she knew about it. Closing my eyes, I let her words wash over me, supporting me, surrounding me…

  I was in a dark cave which rocked and jolted violently. A dim roar vibrated the air. Was it a cave, or was I in the belly of some monster? Feeling my way around, the roar grew louder, and I came face to face with a dazzling waterfall.

  “There you are,” Dan said, hefting his crowbar.

  “Where’s Evyn?” I snarled, sinking into a guard stance.

  Dan smirked as he pointed to the water. At the bottom, a dim shape struggled. I dived in but when I swam to the floor there was nothing there. Floating and dissolving in my way were my father’s papers. I tried to collect them all, my father’s last words, but they disintegrated before my eyes. When I came up for air, I shouted, “Evyn!”

  “Help me!” she pleaded from the bank.

  Aubin prowled behind her. “This is my payment. A fair price. I am a contractor, after all.” With a quick slash of his arm, his knife flashed toward Evyn.

  “Evyn! No!” I screamed.

  “Wake up, Thorrn!” Evyn shook my arm.

  Reaching across the table I seized Aubin around his neck. He scrabbled at my hands, eyes wide.

  “Thorrn! Get off him!” Evyn cried.

  “He’ll kill you. He wants your blood!” I squeezed his windpipe shut with my thumbs. He reached up to my face, but I pushed him back and down into his seat, standing to lean over him as I choked him.

  “It was a dream, Thorrn, it was a dream!” Evyn sobbed. She slapped me across the face, startling me back to reality.

  Everything seemed to come to a stop. There was a hushed intake of breath. My hands loosened so Aubin could breathe, but I did not release my grip on him. My eyes flicked to the side. Fortunately, none of the Earthians had gotten up or were staring at us.

  I let him go and he sank into his chair, coughing. Evyn fussed over him. “Are you nuts?” she hissed at me. “You could have killed him.”

  “He wants to kill you.”

  “No, I don’t,” Aubin croaked. He coughed again and shot me a hateful glare. “Her blood works better if she’s alive. The magical resonance. So even if you think I’m after her blood, I’m not going to affect its efficacy, am I?”

  “So you say. You could be lying to me.”

  “Thorrn, where is this coming from? What’s gotten into you?” Evyn asked, kneeling on the chair with one leg in the corridor, readying herself as if to flee. From me.

  A patter of fear surged underneath the bond.

  I deliberately sat, spreading my fingers wide on my thighs to still them, bringing them under my control and ensuring I was in command of myself before I spoke.

  “We aren’t friends, Evyn,” I said quietly, shooting daggers at Aubin as he rubbed at his throat. “We might have teamed up to rescue you, but we’re going to be chasing separate goals from now on. He just wants to get you back into Oberrot and summon his soul so they can bleed you to death.”

  “I told you, I didn’t want much,” snapped Aubin. “And at least I had the courtesy to tell you! I could have said I loved her, or something ridiculous like that!”

  All of a sudden, I felt a pop in my solar plexus. I rubbed at it as a cold feeling spread through my stomach. “Yeah. That’s nice you didn’t lie,” Evyn said, her face fixed. “So, we know where we stand. That’s good. Right, Thorrn?”

  Something was really wrong with Evyn. I ventured, “Yes. It’s… good?” She nodded. “Yes. Good.”

  We travelled the rest of this leg of the journey in silence. Aubin held his hands to his throat, rubbing it, and Evyn remained sitting next to him but on the edge of her seat. She stared past me as if trying to see through my ear. I watched them both; my soul for signs of that odd pain I had felt, and Aubin because… well, Aubin.

  Evyn had us up and ready by the door for the correct station soon after, and when it made a high-pitched noise, she pressed a flashing button. “You pushed something,” I accused.

  “I’m allowed, I live here,” she said.

  This place was nothing like the one we had left. It was entirely underground, although bright sunlight shone at either end. Many of the Earthians on our train disembarked here along with us, and we were swept along with them. I lost sight of Aubin and halted to put a location on him. I was bumped into and pushed. “When you’re ready? Do you mind?” some said in irritation, making odd clicking noises with their tongues.

  “Aubin? Where are you?” I spun around.

  “Right behind you,” Aubin drawled. “It’s Evyn you have misplaced.”

  “No, she’s… Ah.” She was shorter than average and in the sea of Earthians I couldn’t put eyes on her. “Evyn!” I bellowed.

  “Over here!” She rapidly disappeared up a ramp. “I’ll see you up there!”

  I waded into the crowd of Earthians holding the bag like a shield. We moved in a clump toward the ramp that Evyn had gone up, but when we came face to face with it, I baulked. Stairs appeared out of the ground, rising upwards. “What the hell is that?” I jumped back.

  “It’s a sodding escalator,” an annoyed Earthian grumbled. “Move out of the way if you’re not going up.”

  “Look, it’s easy.” Aubin made to take a step forward.

  I put my arm in his path. “No way are you going up there where Evyn is without me. I’ll work this out.”

  “Very well. I look forward to seeing what you make of it.” He folded his arms.

  I hovered my foot over the escalator. Taking a deep breath, I put my foot on it. “There! Ah…” My leg moved but I kept the other one fixed. I hopped and managed to put my other leg behind me, putting the bag down between my wide legs. “Good.”

  The escalator started flat but then rapidly turned into steps. My front foot started to lift and I would be uncomfortable until the second one started its lift. When it did, I realised my back foot lay across a step and I was in danger of twisting my ankle and falling. Lurching, I reached out to put my hands on something and ended up touching the glass that framed this contraption. The glass did not move so I had to rapidly pace my hands alongside me to keep my balance.

  “This is highly entertaining,” Aubin said.

  “Shut up,” I grunted.

  When we got to the top, Evyn was to one side. “Get ready to step… off?” She frowned at me. “I’m not even sure how you got into that position… Get ready, it’s going to—”

  My front foot came to a dead stop, and as my back foot caught up to it I pushed myself upright, lifting the bag. I grinned at her.

  She frantically waved me forward. “Come out of the way, quick!”

  Aubin pressed into me from behind. I whirled and snarled at him. “Move then,” he snapped. “We’re all going to pile into you!”

  Evyn pulled my hand, pushing her hair behind her ears. “All here? Got the bag?” I held it up. “Great. Let’s get ready to enter hell.”

  “Is it really that bad?” I asked, wondering if I should have carried my sword even despite Evyn’s misgivings on the subject.

  “It’s bu
sy. I don’t like busy,” Evyn said, scowling.

  We walked through a set of gates similar to the one that had detained our bag, but I was wise to them now. A large space opened up before us, persons of import hurrying along their business, attention fixed on their devices in hand or pressing them to their ears. This hall reminded me of the gallery in the castle, and a painful pang moved through me. The gallery was ordinarily noisy and busy and full of life as this; the last I had seen of it, it had been shocked silent.

  Evyn tugged my arm and my attention snapped to her. “Right, listen up. The trains will all be set out on the notice boards. It will say what platform we’re on.” She pointed over to a series of panels on the wall, studying them up and down.

  “How long until our train?” Aubin asked, his voice distant.

  “Half an hour. Half a turn of the glass. Plenty of time. First step is to find the boards.”

  A pleasant smell wafted to me. “And then food?” Evyn shrugged one shoulder. Something was definitely wrong, but I would wait until we were alone to investigate.

  She checked the notices. “Platform 3A. They cheat here and double the platforms by entering A and B.”

  “I will rejoin you on that platform at the appointed time,” Aubin said, walking off without another word. Evyn opened her mouth to call him back but closed it without doing so.

  “Food?” I asked again hopefully. She nodded but did not smile. She led me around, and I made my choice of the seemingly unending variety. She helped me order from a rather tired looking clerk, and while we waited I asked, “Are you well?”

  “Yeah. No.” She shook her head, her expression dark. Something in my chest twinged painfully. It made me want to hug her and simultaneously curl into a ball. “Two things really. I’m not happy at the way you can fly into violence. At the same time, I know you grew up in a different, military-style culture.”

  I leant back in the flimsy Earthian seat. “Yes. I am a swordsman. One of the best, my father said. I will fight to protect you and myself.” I folded the napkin on the table into a crisp edge. “At the same time, I asked Aubin not to use lethal force if he could help it on our soldiers. They were just doing their duty. I know when to use violence and how much, and I have my moral code, what we call tenets. It’s part of Special Forces training to develop it.” I halted, remembering Gavain having to be taken to task several times by Shard for ethical issues.