by Ian Gregoire
Addressing his two guests, Josario said, “Your horses will be ready shortly.”
Waiting outside Josario’s residence, with Fay at her side, Kayden quickly forgot about the increasingly large gathering of cultists surrounding them when Fay insisted upon examining the stab wound she had received in Nagornorak. She duly lifted her shirt, exposing the scar that remained now that the injury was healed.
“You’ve put yourself through so much, Kayden,” said Fay. “Let me take it all away.” She raised a hand, laying it gently on her counterpart’s face.
The tingling sensation she felt, informed Kayden that her master was using her healing touch. Though she couldn’t see her face, she knew that the black eyes and swollen lips she was sporting had quickly faded away. The aches and pains of her fraught expedition were likewise gone. Taking a moment to examine her abdomen, she was surprised to find that the scar marking where she had been stabbed had also disappeared.
Before she could offer her thanks, Kayden caught sight of Onyx being led through the throng of cultists, alongside Shadow. She hadn’t been able to stop worrying about the well-being of the black gelding since her captivity had begun, but now, after a few days apart, she was unspeakably happy to finally be reunited with her four-legged friend.
The cultist leading Shadow arrived at the front of the house first, and handed the reins of the grey mare to Fay without ceremony. Onyx was brought to Kayden seconds later. She enjoyed a heartfelt reunion with her horse, stroking his neck with affection before being interrupted by another Sanatsai cultist, who returned her two burlap sacks, her siphon cloak, and her weaponry.
“This is your horse?” Fay asked her.
“Yes,” she replied with a smile, strapping on her baldric. “His name is Onyx.”
“Should I even ask how you acquired him?”
Kayden was irked by the unspoken assumption in Fay’s question. “I didn’t steal him if that’s what you’re asking,” she retorted. “I bought him from a horse trader in Ladurona, it’s a small town in Darmitana.” She buckled her dagger harness around her waist, then it suddenly dawned on her why Fay had asked the question. “I can keep him, right?”
“We’ll discuss it once we return to Antaris.”
It wasn’t the answer Kayden wanted, but before she could make her case, the sound of Josario’s voice drew her and Fay’s attention to the front of the house.
“Before you leave,” he called out, having exited the front door, “there are things that need to be said.” He approached them with languid strides, and two of his Sanatsai followers moved to flank him without prompting.
“I’m not sure there’s anything more we need to say to each other,” said Fay when Josario halted in front of her. “You have five days, a week at most, to disband your group before this entire area is crawling with Her Majesty’s Sanatsai battalions.”
“If nothing else, my beloved, I want you to know how good it has been to see you again after all these years, though it pains me that you would choose to consort with my enemies. It is a decision you will come to regret.”
Frowning, Kayden wondered why the slippery old snake was wasting his time trying to worm his way back into Fay’s affections.
“When I learned that you were still alive,” he continued. “I hoped that our coming together would portend the fulfilment of our unfinished objective to rule over the Nine Kingdoms. It goes without saying how disappointed I am that you don’t wish to be a part of my eventual triumph, but I take comfort in the knowledge that I have found a more than adequate replacement for you.” His eyes wandered to Kayden. “I look forward to the day we meet again, my pretty.”
Kayden was taken aback by Josario’s address, but before she could issue a stinging rebuke, Fay beat her to the punch.
“You will never have her!” said Fay harshly, raising her voice. “I will die before I let you get your hooks into her.”
“There she is!” said Josario excitedly. His eyes seemed to have lit up as he stared wide-eyed at Fay. “I see the fire I thought had been extinguished. The real you is still in there after all. I guess there is hope for you yet, my beloved.”
“Master Fay, I think it’s time we got going,” said Kayden, eager to get her master away from Josario’s influence.
They began preparations to leave immediately, checking the bridles, saddles and stirrups of their horses, and Kayden secured her burlap sacks over Onyx’s rump. Soon they would be on their way.
A commotion amid the gathered crowd pulled Kayden’s gaze away from the tension between Fay and Josario. Someone appeared to be forcing his way through the throng without regard for etiquette as he jostled and barged past fellow cultists. Once he’d pushed through to the front of the crowd encircling the two black-clad women, Kayden saw that it was her old nemesis, Vartan. His angry, hate-filled eyes briefly locked on to hers before he turned his ire upon his leader.
“Master Yosarian, what is the meaning of this?” Vartan’s disgruntlement was written all over his face as he raised his voice. “Tell me you’re not letting her go!” Abruptly, he fell silent when Fay peered back over her shoulder, revealing her face. “Th… That’s… That’s Master Fay, from the Order,” he stammered, looking and sounding confused.
“Ah, so you have met my beloved,” said Josario.
“She’s your…? She’s the Rogue… from the Great War?” He glanced back and forth between Fay and Josario. “That’s impossible!”
“Mr. Pazarian, was there some purpose to your rude interruption?” asked Josario. “If so, it will have to wait until my guests have left.”
“No! You promised she was mine to kill now that you are done with her. I won’t let you go back on your word again.”
“Actions speak louder than words, Mr. Pazarian. If you have a problem with Kayden leaving, I suggest you do something about it.”
Without warning, Fay thrust out a hand, invoking Yuksaydan. The sickening sound of Vartan’s neck being snapped by the ‘unseen hand’ caused Kayden to flinch, and she watched in disbelief as the dead body hit the ground. Expecting immediate retaliatory action, she was surprised to see Josario gesture to his followers to hold their ground. For the moment, at least, it appeared that she and Fay wouldn’t have a fight on their hands to leave the commune. She stared fixedly at her master, wondering what would happen next; it was hard to believe that Fay had just killed a former apprentice.
“Goodbye, Jo,” said Fay without emotion. “If our paths should cross again, one of us will not survive the encounter.”
A subtle smile tugged the corners of Josario’s mouth. “I know.”
Fay clambered up into the saddle and told Kayden it was time for them to leave. Kayden duly mounted Onyx, ready to leave the commune and begin the return journey to Antaris campus. The throng of cultists gathered outside the house parted to create a clear pathway for them to navigate, and they urged their respective horses away from the scene.
Is this really how it all ends? Kayden reflected as they rode out into the surrounding woodlands. She had made the long journey to southern Anzarmenia, initially intending to capture Josario Sandolari, but when that objective became too onerous she decided to kill him instead, all in the hopes of earning the respect of her disrespectful peers. Now she was making the return journey having failed miserably. Yet, worse than that, she was left to ponder whether she was ultimately responsible for sabotaging the Order’s mission to eliminate Josario and his cult. Whatever the case may be, there was sure to be a cost for her actions now that Josario would live to scheme another day.
Kayden stood beside Onyx, stroking his mane absent-mindedly while she watched several hundred plain clothed Sanatsai of the Order preparing to leave the sprawling farmstead. Over half an hour had elapsed since Fay had delivered word about recent developments, and still Kayden found herself waiting for her master to emerge from the farmhouse in front of her where a meeting was taking place. From what she had gathered from snippets of overhead conversations, it seemed that
Fay and four senior colleagues were in discussions with the Council about the necessity to abandon the mission in southern Anzarmenia. How it was possible to be conversing with the ruling body of the Order from so far away, Kayden couldn’t say for certain, but the Zarantar she’d been sensing within the farmhouse until a short while ago suggested an unknown to her method of long-distance communication.
Though she was still attracting the occasional glance from some of the Sanatsai milling about the farmstead, Kayden’s presence outside the farmhouse had mostly been ignored. So far the only substantive developments she had witnessed was the despatch of multiple horseback messengers to the neighbouring staging areas, and the issuing of instructions that the Sanatsai contingent on the farmstead should depart in small groups at quarter-hour intervals, and head to the Sisterhood seminary outside Nagornorak. From there, everyone was to make the return journey back to Temis Rulan via the portal network.
None of this particularly mattered to Kayden. Her thoughts were still troubled by something else. She was concerned by Fay’s odd demeanour while they had ridden to the farmstead after leaving the cult commune. It was disturbing that the quarter-hour canter across open fields had been made in complete silence, without so much as a moment of eye contact between them. Under normal circumstances, Fay would have given her a good talking to for messing up so badly, yet the usually stoic woman hadn’t seemed inclined to talk about what happened. For Kayden’s part, though she had wanted to broach her ill-advised escapade in Anzarmenia, she’d felt unable to initiate that conversation. The memory of Vartan’s death at Fay’s hand proved to be an insurmountable impediment.
The door to the farmhouse swung open, and one by one four Sanatsai emerged from within. Kayden frowned when the last man out closed the door behind him. Why would Fay remain inside? she wondered as the quartet dispersed. Suddenly she realised that she could no longer sense Fay’s presence nearby.
“Excuse me, master!” she called out to the last Sanatsai to vacate the building. He stopped in his tracks and looked at her questioningly. “Where’s Master Fay?”
“Ah, you must be the runaway apprentice,” he said, marching towards her.
Kayden hesitated before replying. “Uh… yes,” she said awkwardly. The prospect of being known, henceforth, as the runaway apprentice who screwed up an important mission for the Order was an unwelcome one.
“I’m sorry, but your master is gone.”
Inexplicably, Kayden’s first thought was that she’d just been informed of her master’s death, which would explain why she could no longer feel Fay’s presence anywhere on the farmstead. But that didn’t make sense. “What do you mean, she’s gone?” she asked. Surely Fay wouldn’t have left without her—not after having come all this way to rescue her. “Gone where?”
“She has unfinished business to attend to,” said the Sanatsai. “In the meantime, she left instructions that you are to tag along with the next group to depart for the Nagornorak seminary. There’s no guarantee that she will return so you will have to make the journey back to Antaris without her.”
“What unfinished business are you talking about?” she said urgently, fearing the worst. “Where did she go?”
“I am not at liberty to tell you that, apprentice.”
“Tell me!”
Onyx was stirred by Kayden’s sharply raised voice, prompting the Sanatsai to take a nervous backward step.
“All right,” he said, keeping a wary eye on the black gelding tugging the reins in Kayden’s hand. “About two and a half years ago, your master’s brother-in-law, Marit Katarnian, died during a mission here in Anzarmenia—tortured and killed by this so-called Master Yosarian. Danai Annis said she is honour bound to avenge his death on behalf of her late husband, and now that you are safely out of harm’s way she is returning to the cult commune to fulfil her vow.”
The sight of Shadow still tethered outside the farmhouse seemed to bely the claim that Fay had already left the farmstead. For a moment, Kayden suspected she had been lied to. Then she realised that Fay could just as easily make an airborne return to the cult commune with her invocation of Makfayshulat, leaving Shadow behind. Heartbeat quickening, Kayden was suddenly worried. In all likelihood, Fay simply wanted to avoid alerting her apprentice to her departure, but Kayden couldn’t ignore the faint possibility that she wasn’t sure of returning from the commune, and didn’t want to risk leaving Shadow wandering without a rider in the woods if she was killed.
Without so much as a word, Kayden swiftly clambered up into the saddle and dropped her burlap sacks to the ground.
“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?”
Ignoring the Sanatsai, she tugged on the reins to bring Onyx about then kicked her heels into his flanks. She and her mount were quickly pulling away from the farmstead at a gallop, with the futile protestations of the Sanatsai ringing in her ears.
Not knowing how much of a head start Fay had made, Kayden pushed Onyx hard to maintain an unrelenting pace. The journey to the farmstead from the commune had taken about a quarter-hour at a canter, once she and Fay had ridden clear of the woodlands surrounding the commune, so she was confident of completing the reverse journey in less than half the time. What was Fay thinking? she wondered frantically. As powerful as her master undoubtedly was, she would need to overcome hundreds of devoted cultists if she wanted to kill Josario, a task made exponentially harder by the fact that they were all wielders of Zarantar, including numerous turncoat Jaymidari, and though, individually, no single Jaymidari was a match for Fay, when a group worked in unison, combining their invocations, they became a much more formidable proposition.
Minutes later, Kayden was navigating through woodlands at a brisk trot, heading towards the outskirts of Josario’s primary cult commune. Upon entering the sprawling clearing dotted with wooden habitations, she was instantly taken by the deathly silence lingering over the place. She saw no sign of any cultists as she guided Onyx forward, even though the commune had been a hive of activity only an hour or so earlier. The idea that the cult had already disbanded didn’t seem feasible, but casting out her senses did reveal that Fay was the only other person present. She set a course for Josario’s residence, where she would find her master.
When the two-storey home came into view, Kayden was forced to bring Onyx to a halt and dismount. To her dismay, every inch of the ground between them and the house was littered with dead bodies, and several yards ahead, in the midst of all the fallen cultists was Fay, standing with her back turned to the new arrivals. Kayden left Onyx where he stood while she stepped carefully over the bodies. With every step, she noticed that none of the deceased appeared to have suffered any overt traumatic injuries. It was impossible to discern a cause of death, though the most obvious was the black-clad figure a short distance ahead.
As Kayden approached Fay from behind, the burgundy-haired woman slowly turned around to face her. In an instant, any thoughts Kayden might have had that her master was responsible for the hundreds of deaths outside Josario’s residence evaporated. Fay looked heartbroken by the scene all around her.
“What happened?” asked Kayden.
“When I arrived they were all dead,” replied Fay. “It looks like a mass suicide.”
That certainly made more sense than her master embarking upon a murderous rampage, Kayden realised.
“Unsurprisingly, Josario is not among them,” Fay continued. There was a hint of bitterness in her voice. “Once his plans were thwarted he must have decided he had no further use for his followers, and that it was better for them to die so they could not be questioned about where he might go to next, or what contingency plans he may have.”
Vindictive son of a bitch! thought Kayden.
“It’s safe to assume that the same scene was played out at all the other neighbouring communes. I cannot detect the presence of even a single person at any of those locations.”
“Fay, there’s no reason for you to feel guilty if these people willingly took t
heir own lives.” Kayden glanced at the bodies in close proximity. She was taken aback when she spotted a familiar face among them. Though there was no love lost between herself and Zarina, seeing the young Jaymidari lying serenely on the ground stabbed at Kayden’s heart. How was it that a young woman with her whole life ahead of her could meet a premature end because of her devotion to a man who was unworthy of her regard? The thought angered Kayden greatly.
“What are we going to do about the bodies?” she asked Fay. “We can’t just leave them here to rot.”
“When we reach Nagornorak I will alert the authorities so the City Guard can come out here to recover the bodies,” said Fay. “Hopefully, they can all be identified so they can be returned to their next of kin for burial.
There was nothing more to be said other than for Kayden to suggest that she give Fay a ride back to the farmstead. Moments later, she was up in the saddle giving a helping hand to her master to clamber up behind her. With Fay’s arms wrapped around her waist, Kayden commenced the departure from the lifeless commune.
The sedate trot Onyx maintained for the return journey almost felt like his response to the subdued demeanour of the two riders he carried. Or so it seemed to Kayden. With the farmstead now in sight the journey was nearly complete, and once again it had been a wholly silent affair; master and apprentice hadn’t exchanged so much as a word. For her own part, Kayden didn’t feel like talking any more than Fay appeared to, yet there was no getting away from the fact that a conversation needed to happen. Through deception, she had taken advantage of the holiday to embark upon an unsanctioned mission that, to all intents and purposes, would scupper a corresponding mission by the Order. Success would have mitigated some of the repercussions of her actions, but she had failed. Now she was faced with the reality that her failure had surely jeopardised her hopes of being inducted into the Order, especially because Josario had escaped with his life.