by Aron Lewes
Though the boy said nothing, he clearly understood, because he answered with a nod.
The box of fudge was nearly empty by the time they reached the orphanage, where Esha and Owen were greeted at the door. Esha explained the situation, and to his relief, the ladies were nice. They accepted the new child with open arms and toothy smiles, and Owen treated Esha to a hug before they parted.
“You're a good kid,” Esha said, ruffling the boy's hair. “I'm sure you'll be just fine.”
When he left the orphanage, Esha immediately returned to the fudge shop and bought another box of chocolate delight. With his treasure in hand, he found the nearest bench and stuffed his face with some of the most delicious sweets his tongue had ever touched.
In the middle of his fudge feast, a voice in his head asked, “What are you mmm-ing and ahh-ing over? It isn't sex again, is it?”
Esha sat up so straight, his back crackled. “Sara! I didn't expect to hear from you again! It's been two days.”
“Sorry. I don't really know how I'm doing this... or how it works,” said Sara, whose voice was loud in his head. “What are you doing? I heard you moaning and ooo-ing. It sounded a little naughty, if I'm being honest.”
Chuckling, Esha explained, “It wasn't what you think. I was moaning and ooo-ing over a box of chocolate. It's some of the best I've ever tasted.”
“Ooo! Then you should get a box for me,” Sara suggested. “But then... I'd have to tell you where I live, and I don't think Father would like that.”
“Your father is overprotective, is he?”
“A bit.”
“So, he wouldn't like you talking to me?”
“Not at all.”
Esha's fingers were sticky and slick with fudge, so he licked them, one by one, and hoped she couldn't hear the lapping. When they were clean again, he asked her, “How old are you, Sara?”
“That's an inappropriate question to ask a lady!” she chastised him. “But... I'm only nineteen, so I guess I don't mind owning up to it.”
“Hmm... with such an overprotective father, I thought you were a bit younger than that.”
Sara's voice went shrill as she lectured playfully, “Are you trying to say I'm old, Mr. Esha?”
“Not at all. And Mr. Esha doesn't sound right. I'm not much older than you.”
“How old are you, then?”
“Twenty.”
Esha paused, and so did Sara. They were so quiet, he wondered if he had lost contact with her.
“Are you still here?” he asked.
“Yes. I don't know how to get rid of you!” He assumed she was teasing, because her reply was followed by a giggle.
“Since you initiated the link, you would have to sever it, but... I'm not sure you'd understand what that means.”
“You're right. I don't.”
Esha closed his eyes and imagined what she might look like. Sara had a cute voice, so it was only fitting if she had a cute face as well. Deep down, he hoped she did.
Sara asked him, “Did you just say... you hope I'm cute?”
Esha could practically feel the color draining from his face when he heard her question. She really could hear everything in his head.
“Well, I'm not cute. Sorry to disappoint you,” Sara said.
“I bet you're being too harsh. We're often our own worst critic.”
“But I'm not being too harsh. I'm really not cute, I swear,” Sara told him.
“Describe yourself.” Esha winced at his own request. It was intrusive, if not a bit weird.
“Well... I'm short. I keep my hair short too. It's... brown. It's a very boring shade of brown as well.” Sara sounded so indifferent, he could practically see her shrugging. “And you, Esha? Are you the broad and dashing hero I'm imagining in my mind?”
“Far from it!” Esha chuckled. “I'm plain and slight. I've been told I have nice hair, though.”
“What color?” Sara asked.
“Black. Very black.”
“It sounds gorgeous.”
Esha swore he could hear her muffling another giggle, and it stretched his lips into a rare, unrestrained smile.
“I wish I could speak to you, face-to-face,” Esha whispered. A breath, deep and ragged, got stuck in his lungs as he awaited her answer.
“I don't. I like it this way. You're an intriguing mystery.”
“I think you seem charming, though. I'd like to know more about you. I—”
Esha could feel the difference when she severed the link—the pressure in his head was gone in an instant. Whether she severed it on purpose or not, he would never know.
Chapter Six
ESHA SAID TO KYLIN, “You know... I just realized that Rai isn't with you. Where is he?”
Kylin waited for Vala to finish chomping on eggs before addressing Esha's question. Vala always chewed vigorously, but even more so when she was inebriated. It was early in the morning, but Vala was already in her cups, and the result was a bottomless stomach. Vala ate two plates of eggs, one plate of crispy potatoes, a misshapen flapjack, shaped vaguely like the letter J, and leftover meat from three days ago.
“For now, Rai is staying with the people of my clan,” Kylin said. “He always seemed bored on the ship, so Wilhelm and I decided it was best for him. He needed schooling, and he needed to be around children his own age.”
“But... to miss his sister's wedding...” Esha shook his head. “He wasn't there, was he? I didn't overlook him?”
“He wasn't,” Kylin said. “Wilhelm and I are having a second wedding in front of the clan. Our marriage won't be valid in the eyes of my people until we're blessed by an oracle... and I'm not even sure an oracle will accept him.”
“Your people,” muttered Esha. “Sometimes, I think you forget that I'm a kitsune too.”
“M-Maybe. Or... yes.” Kylin changed her answer to make it more affirmative. “It's just that you seem so... human-like. You carry yourself a certain way. It's hard to explain.”
“I've lived with them for a long time. I guess that's understandable.”
Vala, who paid no attention to their conversation, suddenly said, “I think this meat has a little green on it. That ain't mold, izzit? Where's my brother? He can always tell good meat from bad meat.”
“I'm pretty sure that's bad meat,” Kylin said. “As for Wilhelm's whereabouts, I think he's still sleeping.”
Larien entered the room and ripped the rotten meat from Vala's hand. Before she could protest, he pitched it in a bin and said, “You'll make yourself sick with that.”
“I doubt it. I'm too drunk to feel much of anything.” Vala mumbled, then she stuck one of her legs in a nearby chair so the king couldn't sit beside her. “I'm so drunk, you're almost starting to look handsome again.”
Larien replied, “I'm not drunk, and I still think you're beautiful.” His compliment dropped her jaw so far, he had to chuckle. “Anyway, I need to talk to Kylin about Florian Gregorios, the Duke of Odesso.”
Kylin's eyelashes fluttered at the fancy-sounding name and title. “Who?”
“The Duke of Odesso,” Larien repeated. “He has over two hundred Silenced servants in his estate. He was supposed to bring them to Vagia, but he didn't show up. Now we have to go to him, and... I'm afraid he might cause trouble.”
“Two hundred?” Kylin's voice squeaked.
“More than two hundred,” he corrected her, then he checked the notes in his hand. “The exact number is two hundred and thirty-seven... and those are the ones that are officially on record. If he bought some illegally, the actual number could be astronomical.”
Vala, who was still gaping, whispered to herself, “Beautiful? Who in their right mind would think this face was beautiful? He's touched in the head, I swear...”
“Anyway, we'll be confronting him soon... with an army,” Larien warned them. “I hope he won't cause any trouble, but you never know.”
FLORIAN GREGORIOS' face showed no sign of being rattled when a hundred soldiers assembled on his front
lawn. Kylin was impressed by his stoicism, but she didn't like the look of him. With his slicked back silver hair, glaring eyes, and hands clasped behind his back, he looked like an—
“Arsehole,” Kylin said aloud, which won her a grin from her husband. “He looks like an arsehole.”
Florian opened his arms as he approached the king, as if he was greeting an old friend instead of a rival. “Your Highness!” the duke exclaimed. “You didn't have to show up with all these soldiers. I know why you're here, but... surely we can come to some sort of peaceful arrangement?”
“I sent you two letters,” Larien said. “I know you received them, and yet you didn't come to Vagia like you were asked.”
“You expected me to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with all those peasants and their Silenced?” Florian sputtered and shook his head. “Surely you jest!”
“Why not? I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with them,” Larien said.
“Well, you always were a bit of a rebel. I heard a rumor that you were in love with an assassin, of all things!” Titters of exaggerated laughter bubbled up from the duke's throat.
“That wasn't a rumor, though I might be a bit hesitant to admit I was actually in love with her.” Larien made eye contact with Wilhelm, whose sister was in bed, sleeping off several shots of hard liquor.
“Still... look at all these soldiers!” the duke cried, gesturing toward the rows of knights standing beside their king. “One would think you meant to attack me or something!”
“I will attack... if you don't give up your Silenced,” Larien threatened him.
“My my! This turned violent a bit faster than I expected,” said the duke. “You don't even know if I intend to give up my Silenced or not!”
“Do you intend to give them?” Larien asked, his eyebrow raising.
The duke's mouth was pulled into a cold, frozen smile, and it stayed on his face until he finally replied, “No. Not at all.”
“I figured as much. You're notoriously attached to them.”
“As you would be, had you invested so much coin in them,” Florian said. “You can't take away my greatest asset and expect me to be alright with it. Surely I deserve some sort of compensation?”
“You don't.” Larien growled. “As of last week, any man who refuses to surrender his Silenced is a criminal. Do you think a criminal deserves compensation?”
“Perhaps... if the supposed criminal is an old friend of your father.” Florian's smile returned, but it was a cruel smile, forced on his face to hide a glower. “I'm going to be quite honest with you, Larien. I won't give up my Silenced... not without reimbursement or a fight.”
“Then I guess you'll be getting a fight,” Larien concluded. “If you haven't changed your mind by noon tomorrow, you'll have a hundred knights banging down your door. If I was you, I would be smarter about this.”
“If I was you, Your Highness...” Florian injected a slimy chuckle into his reply. “I would be smarter about this as well. Is your coin really worth the cost of your life?”
Chapter Seven
“YOU SHOULD HAVE KILLED him immediately!” cried Wilhelm. “He shouldn't be allowed to make threats on a king's life. He should die for that.”
Larien's weak smile was flattened by the assassin's unsolicited suggestion. “While I appreciate your enthusiasm, Wilhelm, that man was an old friend of my father. Giving him an ample chance to change his mind is the least I can do.”
They had returned to the ship over an hour ago, but Wilhelm was still pacing around the deck. While he ranted, his wife plotted. She brought her lips to Esha's ear and whispered a plan so perfect, he couldn't hold back his grin.
Wilhelm said, “I thought you would have learned your lesson after Edmore, Your Highness. Your leniency got you Silenced, and it almost got me killed.”
“It did get you killed,” Larien corrected him. “Vala said you were quite dead.”
“Well... that proves my point even more,” the assassin said. “You had a chance to kill Florian when he was unarmed and standing right in front of you. For all we know, he could be surrounded by guards tomorrow. How many soldiers will lose their lives because their king was reluctant to draw his blade?”
Raising his voice, Larien said, “I'll not tolerate a lecture from you, Wilhelm! You overstep your bounds!”
Kylin didn't want to see their disagreement escalate into an all-out war, so she quickly spoke up, “I have a plan... one that won't risk the life of anyone. Esha and I will sneak into the manor in fox form, and I'll Unsilence the duke's servants from the inside.”
Wilhelm rejected her idea with a snort. “If you did that, you'd be risking your life. Do you think I like that any better? It's worse!”
Vala, having sobered up after her long nap, shuffled across the deck to inspect their conference. She listened to a few seconds of her brother's whining, spun on her heel, and hurried away in the opposite direction.
“I wouldn't suggest this if I didn't think I could do it,” Kylin said. “If it will spare everyone from a confrontation with Florian, I'd like to try.”
Wilhelm's brow furrowed as he studied his wife, whose eager smile did little to sway him. “The Silenced are former criminals, Kylin. They could be dangerous people! What if one of them tries to hurt you?”
Esha chimed in, “If anyone lays a hand on her, I'll bite their ankles!”
It was supposed to be a joke, but it only stirred the thunder in Wilhelm's eyes. He was still resisting the idea, and would likely resist it forever, so Kylin resorted to wicked tactics. She ambushed him with a kiss, because her kisses always made him more pliable. In a matter of seconds, he capsized.
“We'll sneak in in the middle of the night,” Esha proposed. “The Silenced don't sleep, so it should be easy to spot them. They also make ridiculous gurgling noises, so again, they won't be hard to find.”
“What if you encounter guards?” Larien asked. “Florian made it sound like he was ready to put up a fight tomorrow.”
“Or he could have been bluffing,” Esha suggested. “He probably didn't take you seriously. You've always been a bit too soft on your friends, Larien... whether they're current or former.”
They stayed awake until midnight, ironing out details and preparing for potential mishaps. Wilhelm needed a few more kisses before he was fully on board, and even then, he was reluctant to let her go.
When it was time, Kylin and Esha shifted into fox form and approached Florian's manor from its backyard, which had plenty of flora to conceal them. As they cowered behind rosebushes, Kylin used wind magic to blow out one of the manor's rear windows. They waited a few minutes before making another move, in case a guard appeared to investigate the sound of shattering glass. Seeing no sign of anyone, they climbed a bush and hopped through the broken window. One of Esha's back paws was pricked by a shard of glass, but he shook off the pain and followed Kylin into the interior of the house.
It was dead quiet within the manor, and for the first few minutes, they saw no guards or Silenced. They didn't know where Florian kept his slaves, so they had to check every room they passed. Any time they encountered a shut door, Esha made sure the hallway was clear, then he briefly shifted to turn the knob. They found a library, a dining room, and a half-dozen rooms with empty beds, but they saw no sign of life—Silenced or otherwise.
Kylin nearly yelped when they turned a corner and happened upon their first patrolling guard. It was dark, and they were low to the ground, so they were never spotted. They stuck to the wall and soundlessly slipped past him.
One of Esha's ears twitched when he heard a distant gurgle, similar to the sounds made by Silenced. On cautious paws, he pattered down a winding set of stairs, to a dungeon filled with mindless human husks. Over two hundred Silenced were lurking behind a wall of iron bars.
Returning to her usual form, Kylin asked, “What do we do? How do we get them out?”
Esha followed her lead and returned to his two-legged body. “Ideally, we find a key and get them out of the
re. Do you see a key?”
Kylin found a key ring on the wall and dangled it in front of Esha. “Do you think one of these might open the door?”
“That seems likely. Try it.”
There were over a dozen keys on the ring, and Kylin tried them all. She almost gave up—until the final key made a click, and the iron door opened with a screech.
One by one, Kylin called the Silenced inmates back to their bodies. Every time a new one woke, Esha repeated, “Wait here, please! King Larien wants you freed, but we must all leave together. Wait here, and we will leave the dungeon together!”
After ten Unsilencings, Kylin grabbed Esha's sleeve to keep herself aloft. After a hundred Unsilencings, she sat on the floor to avoid passing out.
“This weakens you, doesn't it?” Esha asked. “Kylin, if you told Wilhelm and Larien about this, I'm sure they wouldn't want you to—”
“I'm fine!” Kylin insisted, forcing herself to stand. “I'm alright, Esha... really. I'm halfway done. I just need to—”
Kylin toppled into Esha's arms before she finished her thought. As he held her upright, his eyes danced around the room. The Unsilenced were waiting by the door, while the Silenced prisoners still gurgled and hissed, oblivious to the world around them.
“Kylin, can you really do this?” Esha asked. “If you're putting unnecessary pressure on yourself, I'm—”
“I'm fine!” she squealed. “I just need a moment. Just... give me a moment, please.”
A few minutes later, Kylin could stand on her own, so she resumed her work, and she didn't stop until every prisoner was restored to life. Together, Kylin, Esha, and the Unsilenced captives made their way upstairs, where a lone guard still patrolled the manor's halls, oblivious to what happened below him. When he saw the escaping prisoners charging toward him, he froze, and a tiny squeak slipped out of him. Pale and whimpering, he dove into an empty room and slammed the door behind him.
“Such a formidable guard,” Esha joked. “But I guess I don't blame him. I wouldn't want to be trampled by hundreds of stampeding feet.”