by Ian Gregoire
“If I have to get Kayden myself,” she intoned, “I will.”
A mischievous smile curled Josario’s lips. “I have over five hundred followers here on the commune, and many hundreds more at the neighbouring communes,” he said. “I doubt even you could overcome so many wielders of Zarantar on your own, my beloved.”
“Would you care to put that to the test?”
There was no response. A fraught silence ensued between the former acquaintances as they eyed each other. Fay harboured doubts of her own about the likelihood of defeating five hundred fanatical Sanatsai and Jaymidari by herself, but if she could get to Kayden it was possible that the two of them together could.
Finally, a subdued looking Josario broke the protracted silence. “Please, Emi,” he said in earnest. “You were the daughter I never knew I wanted. Losing you hurt me more than losing the war. All I’m asking for is an hour of your time. Join me for breakfast so we can catch up. After that, if you still wish to leave with your young apprentice, the two of you can leave with my blessing.”
Weighing up her options, Fay wondered if Josario was still the same person she met all those years ago as a young, impressionable Sanatsai. She remembered him to be a man who did not like to be denied anything. It was a bad idea to spurn his invitation to breakfast. Yet, by the same token, agreeing to sit down with him was equally risky. If she wasn’t careful, he might try to bend her to his will with his uncanny powers of persuasion. But if sitting down for breakfast meant she could get Kayden back without a fight, it was a risk she was willing to take.
“Very well, I will join you for breakfast,” she said. “Lead the way.”
Sitting opposite her host at his dining table, Fay had little appetite for conversation as she toyed with her omelette. While she wondered whether the Jaymidari quartet standing watch over them could understand what was being said, she was more than happy for Josario to do all the talking, though his fixation with Kayden disturbed her greatly. He never explicitly mentioned it, but his awareness of Kayden’s rare status as an elite Sanatsai was very apparent. That was potentially a problem, Fay realised. Just how willing was Josario to allow the gifted apprentice to slip through his fingers? Reluctantly, she spoke, hoping to steer the one-sided discussion away from Kayden.
“We both know you didn’t invite me to breakfast just to tell me about my apprentice,” she interjected. “After all, I have known Kayden a lot longer than you.”
Josario’s expression shifted. He looked like a thief who’d just been caught red-handed. “But of course,” he said, setting down his knife and fork. Again, his facial expression changed as he stared earnestly at Fay. “Now that fate has brought you back to me at this fortuitous time, I want to tell you why I am here—in Anzarmenia, I mean.”
“I already know why you are here.” Seeing Josario raise his eyebrows questioningly, Fay elaborated. “You dislike unfinished business. What I can’t work out is why it has taken you so long to attempt to reverse your defeat. Obviously, something more important than simply the pursuit of revenge has delayed you all these years. A grand, intricate scheme of some kind.”
A close-lipped smile slowly curled the corner’s of Josario’s mouth. “You always were the sharpest knife in the drawer, my beloved,” he said in admiration.
He fell silent for a moment, the smile gradually leaving his face. Looking contemplative, it was clear he was reminiscing.
“When news of your death reached me,” he continued, “I felt bereft. But the opportunity to avenge you was out of my grasp because the writing was already on the wall. My forces had suffered mass desertions, surrenders, and defections to the enemy, leaving me no option but to flee the Nine Kingdoms before I could be captured or killed. Five days later, I crossed the border into Randissar, and the war was over—everything I’d worked to accomplish, snatched away from me. But worse than that… I lost the closest thing to a daughter I’d ever had, and only then did I fully appreciate the depth of my affection for you.”
Fay remembered the close bond she had shared with the Usurper King for the best part of five years. She also kept in mind the horrendous acts she committed to please him; they served as a reminder that she could never again allow herself to fall under Josario’s sway, or permit the same to happen with Kayden.
“Though I resolved to exact a terrible vengeance against my enemies,” Josario continued, “I was in no position to do anything while I was on the run, being hunted. And it wasn’t long before news of the founding of the Order had spread beyond the borders of the Nine Kingdoms. I knew then that it could be a generation before I was in a position to seek my revenge, and given my age at the time, there was no guarantee I would live to see that day. But as I taught you many years ago, every problem has a solution, and the solution to my problem was to find a way to extend my lifespan. With that in mind, I set off on a quest to the Far West, to the desolate lands where it is said that the Saharbashi had their origins, never imagining the lost knowledge I would acquire there.
“After many years of searching, I eventually found someone who was able to teach me the secret to extending life beyond its natural limit, and once I had accomplished it for myself, I was finally able to turn my thoughts to the Nine Kingdoms again. But much time had passed since the end of the war, and my need for revenge had grown beyond simply wanting to lay waste to the Nine Kingdoms, and destroying the Order. I had far grander ambitions to pursue: a vision to change the course of history, to remake the entire continent of Karlandria in my image. I have subsequently spent countless years putting the pieces in place to eventually bring my plans to fruition.”
Hearing such grandiose claims, Fay was naturally sceptical, especially in light of Josario’s sudden change of expression. He looked like a man who had lost a bag of gold coins, and later found a bag of pebbles.
“Regrettably, the wonders of Zarantar can only extend my life so far,” he continued. “Once I knew I was unlikely to see my plans become reality, I decided that experiencing a small measure of revenge while I’m still alive would be enough for me. The bigger picture I have left in capable hands, while I pursue another objective here in Anzarmenia. Now that the two of us have been reunited, I can further accelerate my plan to sow division, strife, and ultimately civil war throughout the Nine Kingdoms, with you and Kayden at my side.”
So that was Josario’s goal, Fay now realised. Fomenting civil war in the Nine Kingdoms. She briefly pondered how he intended to achieve that aim, but quickly dismissed the idea of asking him for details. It wasn’t as though he was going to live long enough to carry out those plans.
“Neither myself nor my apprentice will be assisting you in whatever you have planned,” said Fay in her matter-of-fact fashion. “As a senior member of the Order I am duty bound to protect the Nine Kingdoms from any and all Zarantar-based threats.”
Josario’s jaw dropped and he stared wide-eyed across the dining table at her.
“What are you talking about?” he said. “You can’t be with the Order. That’s impossible.” His voice lacked conviction. He was trying to convince himself.
There was a discernible ratcheting up of tension in the dining room as the silence between the two diners lengthened. Even the Jaymidari quartet standing watch over the dining table looked increasingly anxious. Fay was reasonably certain they didn’t speak the common tongue of the Nine Kingdoms, so it was more likely they were reacting to their master’s obvious agitation, but if the situation was about to descend into violence she would surely be forced to kill the four women in order to end the cult leader’s life.
Finally, Josario seemed to regain his composure. He cocked his head and scrutinised Fay intently, as if seeing her for the first time.
“I should have known something was wrong,” he opined. “But I was so pleased to see you again it blinded me to the fact that you were different, somehow. Your fire was missing. The passion that burned hotter than the sun is gone.” He shook his head gently, and the look of disappointment quickly turned to disg
ust. “And you didn’t even kill any of my people when they attacked you. My beloved would have obliterated them, drenching the ground with their blood.” He clenched his jaw. “What happened to you? What did they do to you?”
With a sigh, Fay said, “I waited for you. But you never came.”
“I don’t understand.”
“After the battle at Lilac Valley, I awoke lying on a cold, stone floor, and found myself a captive of the rebel coalition formed to oppose our invasion of Shintana. Ostensibly, I was trapped within a containment ward, encircled by a dozen Jaymidari, in a basement protected by a dampening ward, in a Sisterhood seminary.” The corners of Fay’s mouth twitched as she recalled the moment from several decades ago. “They erroneously thought they were safe from me because my Zarantar was bound. Little did they know that I could break the bind and their protection wards before killing them all whenever I wanted. And I would have done it, but something stopped me.
“As I got up off the floor, a man entered the basement. The man who could and should have killed me at Lilac Valley. I was intrigued. I needed to know why he had spared my life on the battlefield, so when he introduced himself as Ari Shinadu, I asked him why I was still alive. He said that I was being given a second chance to use my power for the betterment of the Nine Kingdoms, and to make up for all the lives destroyed by the war.”
Fay couldn’t help the half-smile that curled her lips at the memory of her first meeting with Ari, though technically it was the second if their encounter at the Battle of Lilac Valley was taken into consideration.
“I laughed in his face,” she continued. “I warned him that letting me live had been a mistake, and that trying to keep me captive was an even bigger mistake. I told him I could escape at any time, and that even if I couldn’t you would come to free me. It was Ari’s turn to laugh then. He dismissed the notion of you coming to rescue me, saying that the war was over and you were too focussed on saving your own skin to give me a second thought now that I had outlived my usefulness to you.”
“That was a lie!” Josario interrupted angrily. “I believed you to be dead. If I had known otherwise I would have done everything in my power to get you back.”
Ignoring the outburst, Fay continued her narration. “The accusations angered me so much that my Zarantar broke its binding, and simultaneously broke the two Jaymidari wards keeping me prisoner. I was ready to kill everyone in the basement and fight my way out of the seminary, but Ari issued me with a challenge. He said that if I truly believed you would come for me, and had faith that I meant as much to you as you did to me, I would willingly agree to remain in his custody until you arrived.
“His words had me over a barrel. If I went through with my escape it would be an acknowledgement that I did not believe you would come for me, nor had faith that I meant something to you. But I did believe it, and I was prepared to wait for as long as it took for you to prove Ari wrong, that’s why I chose to remain a prisoner.
“Day after day I waited, and every evening Ari came to visit me, trying to engage me in conversation. I had no interest in speaking with him so he did all the talking while I was forced to listen to his excitement about the post-war future of the Nine Kingdoms. As a reward for the instrumental role he played in the victorious war effort, the royal families had granted their assent for the creation of an institution to police the use of Zarantar throughout their realms. During his visits, Ari would keep me updated on the step-by-step progress of the founding of the Order. My disinterest in what he had to say was short-lived. It was clear that he was a visionary, and his enthusiasm was infectious.
“I don’t recall the exact moment when it happened, but one day I simply forgot that I was waiting for you. Even the idea of escaping captivity had left me. All I had left were the memories of every evil act I’d ever committed, and with each passing day those memories became increasingly hard to live with. But I had made a new friend out of an old enemy, who told me that someday I could make amends for my many crimes, if I chose to.”
Josario didn’t have to speak for Fay to recognise his displeasure at what he was hearing. It was written all over his face, but she continued her narration.
“That day eventually came when Ari said he needed me to help devise and oversee a training regimen for future generations of Sanatsai inducted into the Order. By this stage I wanted to be a part of his vision, but I knew my past would be more than problematic for his fledgling organisation. Ari assured me that only a handful of trusted individuals knew that I was still alive; as far as the rest of the world was concerned, I died on the battlefield at Lilac Valley. So, after six months of captivity, I became one of the first generation of Sanatsai to join the Order after the war—as difficult as that might be to believe.”
On the opposite side of the dining table, Josario didn’t react to the story he’d been told. He stared fixedly at her, saying nothing, but she could tell he was angry.
“Now I have one more reason to want that man dead,” he said, breaking his silence. “It wasn’t enough for him to prevent me from elevating the Nine Kingdoms to true greatness; he had to steal you from me through deception, and turn you against me.”
He sounded like an aggrieved child deprived of his favourite toy, but Fay wasn’t prepared to indulge his self-pity. “I think it’s time you brought Kayden to me,” she said. “The only reason I’m here is to get my apprentice back, not to reminisce about the past.”
“So, I take it Kayden is genuinely an apprentice of the Order?” said Josario. “Even though she painted a very different picture about your experiences after the war.”
Fay reflexively narrowed her eyes, frowning at her former mentor before quickly regaining her composure. Remembering how manipulative Josario could be, she realised he was probably trying to unbalance her. Kayden was never in a position to impart any kind of insights into her life in the aftermath of the Great War.
“I imagine Kayden told you what you wanted to hear, in order to get close to you,” she said in reply. “She knows nothing of my history before the Order.”
Josario silently held her gaze for just a little longer than necessary. The corners of his mouth twitched, but he didn’t say a word. Glancing sideways, he looked to the Jaymidari standing over his left shoulder, and issued instructions in Anzarmenian for her to tell someone called Vashik to bring his pretty young guest to the house. The woman promptly departed the room in compliance.
Returning his attention to Fay, a half-smile curled Josario’s lips as he said, “You’ll be reunited with your apprentice shortly, my beloved.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Reaching An Impasse
From the moment she was awoken at sunrise, it was obvious to Kayden that she was being prepared for something. Zarina and two other Jaymidari turncoats had dragged her to the commune bathhouse, where they spent a good quarter-hour bathing her as though she was a grubby little child incapable of cleaning herself. But she hadn’t complained too much; it was the first wash she’d had since her initial capture. She was subsequently provided with a clean change of clothes taken from her confiscated burlap sacks upon her return to the small bungalow, where she was now being treated less like a prisoner, and more like a guest—albeit an unwelcome one.
Kayden didn’t have to tax her brain as to why there was a marked improvement in her treatment and conditions. Josario’s cult was anticipating the arrival of her master, so every effort was being made to conceal from Fay any signs of the abuse she had endured as a prisoner. Zarina had even used the Jaymidari healing invocation to accelerate Kayden’s recovery from the cuts and bruises that Vartan’s vicious assault had inflicted to her face the previous night, though the black eyes and swollen lips would remain visible for a few more hours yet. The improvement in Kayden’s circumstances, however, didn’t extend to giving her anything to eat or drink, while the collar preventing her from responding to Fay’s repeated mental calls remained around her neck.
After the ordeal of the previous nig
ht, when Vartan had come perilously close to killing her, Kayden knew that today was the day that Fay would arrive to save her. Standing watch at the front window of the bungalow, she stared through the sheer drapes hanging across the glass pane, wondering about the commotion she’d heard outside earlier. At least half an hour had elapsed since then, she estimated, and though she was unable to see what happened, the disturbance had begun shortly after she felt Fay’s presence arrive on the commune.
Biting her lower lip absent-mindedly, Kayden couldn’t help but worry about what might have transpired. She could still sense Fay’s presence on the commune, so she had no concerns for her master’s life, but something had to be wrong. Annoyingly, the decapitation collar around her neck meant she couldn’t risk mind-to-mind contact with Fay. All she could do was speculate. Maybe Fay had been subdued and captured, too. Despite her unrivalled mastery of Zarantar, Fay was one woman against the hundreds of Zarantar-wielding cultists on the commune. Perhaps she’d been overwhelmed by the weight of numbers.
Another, much more disturbing thought suddenly entered Kayden’s thoughts. What if a reunion with her former master had resulted in Fay joining forces with Josario? She dismissed the idea quickly, but it was frustrating not knowing with any degree of certainty.
Kayden caught sight of one of the Sanatsai cultists who’d brought her to the commune after her brush with death in the woods the previous night. She knew his name to be Vashik, and the expression on his face was neutral as he marched purposefully towards the bungalow. She stepped away from the window, and switched her focus to the front door. Moments later he bounded through the entrance.
“Come with me,” he demanded, without ceremony.
“Where?”
“To join Master Yosarian for breakfast.”
The words were, surprisingly, music to Kayden’s ears. Finally, she was going to get something to eat and drink. She hurriedly followed her strapping escort out of the bungalow, eagerly anticipating the long overdue opportunity to sit down and put some food in her empty stomach. As they marched across the commune, Kayden inquired whether her master would be present, but Vashik simply ignored the question. His taciturnity irked her, but she concluded that Fay would be there given that they were heading in the direction where Kayden’s senses were detecting her master’s presence.