by Jackson Lear
They pulled the gag free. I could’ve lied. I could’ve bent the truth. But there’s only so far you can push your luck. Besides, I still had Kiera and Día buzzing through my head.
“I come from the orphanage. You know which one.”
There was a breath of hesitation. I guessed the gentleman didn’t want too many soldiers listening in on matters that implicated him. “The orphanage doesn’t employ people like you.”
“I’m looking for a missing girl. Día. Whoever took her left a note behind. ‘Her death will live on for decades.’ There are more after you, not just me.”
Murmuring came from behind. Women’s voices.
“Go back inside,” commanded Kasera.
Whoever was interrogating me didn’t have much experience in doing so. He left me alone, allowing me to gather my thoughts and figure a way out of this.
“Is there somewhere quiet we can put him?”
“I don’t want anything happening to him here,” said Kasera. “Not in my home.”
“The stables?”
“He leaves here alive.”
“He will. But he was listening in.”
Sometimes you just have to burn a little good will to keep paranoid people in their place. I called out for the whole world to hear. “A thirteen year old girl was abducted in broad daylight from the orphanage in Red Hill. This gentleman intends to kill her.”
I was curious to know who he would be more afraid of, me or the dozen soldiers who heard every word I said.
“Her name is Día,” I said.
“Gag him,” said Kasera.
They did so. They also wrapped my ears in cloth. Even so, I still heard another dull, “Go back inside,” from the general.
For all intents and purposes I was mostly deaf, mute, blind, bound, and only adrenaline was keeping me from passing out in that field.
Someone mumbled in my ear. “If you don’t cooperate we’re going to club the back of your head.”
I think I nodded. I was hoisted upright and prodded forward, walking with a hand gripped on each of my arms. I stumbled every couple of paces, a combination of not being able to see all that well and my head still trying to veer me off course from the crash.
One hundred and eighty haphazard paces later, I was stopped for a count of five. Then we moved again across more uneven ground. Twenty paces later everything got dark. The two men on either side of me squeezed me through the door to the stables. I smelled droppings, felt the area clear of creatures half my height, and I was sat down in what I hoped wasn’t goat shit.
My escort remained.
I lost track of time. The adrenaline faded away. Everything was dark and muted. I was dizzy and sitting down. I’m pretty sure I started to drift to sleep, only to lurch back upright whenever the soldier to my right tapped my arm with his spear.
Most spies and assassins are better executed on sight rather than interrogated. Very few of us go into a job without a fail safe, a simple word that has been charged somewhere in the back of time with magic. The word could be anything. Its effect could be anything. I could have used my own name so that when I spoke it, the person I’m looking at is thrown back, the door nearest to me bangs open, or a whistle of distress reaches a friend who is waiting nearby. Not surprisingly, my gag remained in place.
The padding around my ears came free and a new voice spoke to me. Female. “Let’s make a deal. I’ll clean your wounds if you behave yourself. Okay?” Foreign accent. Foreign tongue as well. Not quite sure where from but this was definitely a foreign language for her.
I nodded. I soon had a smelly fragrance smeared over my skin while trying to figure out the origins of the woman’s voice. I would’ve asked where she was from but the gag and blindfold made pleasantries a little difficult.
A thump of boots came to a stop. “How is he?” asked Kasera.
“He’s taken quite a tumble,” said the woman. “They nearly killed him.”
“Do you know him?”
She didn’t verbalize her answer but I’d bet Kasera’s entire compound that this was the woman Caen had told me about, the one who had stopped by the orphanage, asked after Día, and who learned my name. She poked me in the chest, causing me to wince. “Who are you with? Vanguard?”
I shook my head.
“Peace Keepers? Ispar? Governor’s Hand? City Watch? Gray Tower? Collectors?”
Again, I shook my head.
“Are you from Erast?”
I nodded.
“Are you going to tell me who you’re with?”
I shook my head.
Kasera came forward, dropping close to me. “Do you know who I am?”
I nodded.
“Have we ever met before?”
I shook my head.
“Have you ever met the doctors before?”
Doctors, hello. I now had an identity, though it wouldn’t do me much good until I got out of that compound. I shook my head.
“Did you kidnap Myalla Castor?”
I remained still. The growl in Kasera’s voice returned.
“The city watch are on their way. Do you know what they will do if Castor thinks you kidnapped his daughter?”
I nodded.
“Is she still alive?”
I nodded.
Kasera turned quickly. “Go away!”
“Maybe I can help,” said a young woman. Even with my limited experience I could tell that she had a refinement to her. His wife, maybe. Or daughter. It’s hard to tell with Isparian elites. It was practically a given in their world for a twenty five year old man to marry a fifteen year old girl, and that was after a ten year engagement set up by their parents. Inevitably, he’d lose her to child birth, move on, and then he’d marry the fifteen year old of his choice.
“Go back to the house.”
“Father …”
“Take her back!” commanded Kasera. A pair of boots crunched outside. I didn’t hear Kasera’s daughter again. After a moment of poking and prodding, the general spoke to the woman. “We need him to talk.”
“It’s risky. One wrong word …”
“I know. But the landing should’ve killed him and it didn’t.” Kasera tapped me on the shoulder. “Do you know the sesta in charge of the orphanage?”
I nodded.
“She was reluctant to tell us that you had been there yesterday. That was you, wasn’t it?”
I gave her another nod.
“You and a good looking friend.”
And another one.
“Did she give you that note?”
And another.
“Even though you can’t read it?”
Until at last the gag was removed from my mouth.
“Why?”
“I’m here to find the girl who was taken,” I said, in something of a rasp that I hadn’t quite expected. “Failing that, I wanted to find the people who took her.”
“It might be too late for her.”
“There was another girl taken. Same orphanage. Twenty years ago. Kiera.”
“So I heard. The sesta said you were there at the same time.”
“I’m looking for the people who took her as well. She was my friend.”
It seemed like Kasera was mulling over a problem that he wouldn’t voice.
I said, “It sounds like you don’t like these doctors very much, and they certainly don’t seem to respect you. You tell me how to find them and you’ll never see me again.”
Kasera stomped around for a moment, thinking it all over. “Let’s say you find Día alive. What then?”
“I’ve thought about getting her a job somewhere doing something she’d like, but now I’m starting to think that you should take care of her.”
Clearly, a look between Kasera and the woman was exchanged, as the next thing I heard came from the woman. “Open wide.”
I didn’t want to but I soon had a gag forced back into my mouth and the cloth fixed around my ears. Kasera and the woman left me in peace for a while. It gave me time
to reflect on the soothing balm seeping into my skin. Meanwhile, I had a greater problem to deal with: the city watch were on their way. I had no magic reserve left in me, not after landing beside Kasera’s front door. I needed a way out. There was little chance that Lieutenant would come and smooth things over with Kasera and no chance that he’d be able to do that before Castor arrived.
At a time like this, the most dangerous thing you can do is to charge a new spell right after using an old one. You need to rest in between. Without that, your focus slips beyond all control. I was already in trouble – first listening in on Kasera then using my reserve to soften my landing. That second spell without a rest had hurt me like a motherfucker. Something from the other side had drawn energy away from me, actively causing me pain so that I could fire off some magic.
And yet there I was, trying to decide how far I could risk it to escape.
I was met with another prod in my chest and another warning, this time from the younger gentlemen who had been meeting with Kasera. “Who are you?”
“Desten the Leaf,” I said, noting his accent. It had a strong smattering of Erast but it had shifted, like when a floor sweeper spends a few years working for a merchant and their voice becomes a little more elegant. “So, who am I talking to? The middle Desten the Leaf or the junior one? If it’s the middle one then you’ve missed quite a few of my birthdays, you dick.”
Their interrogation turned a little frosty with that statement. Most people in their position would at least give me points for having a sense of humor. These two actually sounded nervous. “Who do you work for?”
“The emperor.”
“You could be executed for saying that.”
“Then let me say it a little louder. The emperor and I want Día back. Alive. Kiera as well. Failure to deliver on either of those two will result in your legally sanctioned – though still gruesome – deaths. You, gentlemen, have pissed off the wrong person. Where is Día?”
They fell quiet. I admit I hadn’t been interrogated all that often but I felt a little disappointed by their lack of demands and threats of consequences.
I tried to help them along as best I could. “You’ve been messy, leaving a trail of clues halfway across the city. The single room, double-door location. The neighbors knocked out with Childer’s Kiss. The people who saw your old woman walk with a pile of clothes to where Día worked. So, go on, introduce yourselves.”
I got a prod in my chest for my troubles. “You like to talk a lot, don’t you?”
“One of you is old enough to have been there when Kiera was killed. Why don’t you come a little closer?”
They didn’t take the bait. Instead they moved away to hatch another round of sinister dealings. Their whispers turned to murmurs, leaving my fate to the whim of doctors who practiced the dark arts more than I cared for.
“Ah, the dilemma. Do you sneak me out of here so you can find out from me who else is onto you, or do you leave me here for the general to decide my fate?”
“We should kill him,” whispered the young one.
“A sensible idea, but foolish. Want to know why?” I guess my bravura urged a moment of caution as they moved away and slipped out of earshot.
And there I sat, mulling things over for what felt like hours. No one came to check up on me, at least none I could see or hear. I’m sure I was surrounded by a hundred soldiers and my magic reserves were now a thing of the past, so my chances of getting out of there on my own were slim. Castor was still on his way, though he was taking his sweet ass time.
Then the woman happened. Women, actually. The wraps around my eyes and ears came off at the same time. I stared into the faces of two women. The first was two feet away from me. Young. Enchanting. She still had some baby fat in her cheeks, making her look like she was sixteen or so. Rich and born into it. The daughter, I presumed. From the curious look in her eyes I guessed she spoke at least two ancient languages with ease yet she did not carry the ferocity of domination that would’ve been present in her father’s face. Instead her weapons of choice seemed to be reassurance and disappointment.
Behind her stood a tall, broad shouldered woman closer to my age than Miss Kasera. Eyes searching, then relaxed. I had been a threat. I was not one anymore. Yet she was not dumb enough to trust the soldiers who had tied me up. Not because it was their fault. Rather, it was mine. I had been bound before. I was still alive. Chances were whatever led from one to the other involved a lot of mischief. Impressive cheekbones. She had thick chestnut hair which hung over her shoulder, wore a fine dark tunic with a sash pinching it together around her waist, and a heavy leather belt hanging at an angle around her hips. Her boots gave her another couple of inches and were of the finest I had ever seen. Had her look not dug so deep into me I would’ve been convinced that she was as rich as they came. That was no longer the case. She worked for someone as rich as they came.
Miss Kasera stared into my face, looking me over like an artist sizing me up for a portrait. Her kindness dropped in an instant, replaced by the attitude of the wealthy who had no problem treading over the poor to get things done. “Where’s Myalla Castor?”
“You help me get Día, I’ll help you get Myalla.”
“You can’t kidnap one person to right the wrong of kidnapping another.”
“I can help you save someone from your orphanage,” I said. “The doctors your father has been working with for years have a history of abducting and killing orphans. They’ve been doing it for decades, always leaving a note behind to torture anyone who can read, always using the Eyeless Ghost to terrify a room full of kids late at night. They did it to a friend of mine. Now she’s dead. They plan on doing it Día.”
Miss Kasera looked me over again, committing my features to memory in case she ever had to identify me in the future, be it dead or alive. “You’re Brayen?”
I nodded a, ‘how do you do?’
“How do you know your friend dead?”
“Because I’ve seen her. Spend enough days in the exhausted state and you start to see things. I saw her. Heard her call my name, even scream a few times. Some things stay with you. Whatever happened to her, she didn’t deserve it. Neither does Día.”
Miss Kasera’s rich and powerful stare softened. A well practiced look, no doubt; one to illicit compassion. “Castor’s daughter doesn’t deserve what you’ve done to her.”
“She will live. Unless I get out of here in time, Día won’t. And if you or the general delay me long enough so that Día’s end comes before I can get to her then we’re going to have a problem.”
“My father has thousands of soldiers. You don’t.”
“But how many of those thousands does he actually care about?”
“If you’re threatening my family ...”
“I’m not. I’m simply asking how many of his nameless soldiers does he care about?”
She drew in a deep breath and looked to the door. Whether someone was listening in or not, I wasn’t sure. “So you broke into a military compound.”
“That wasn’t my fault. That was one of the doctors propelling me over the wall. I was quite comfortable listening in from the rooftop across the road.” Strange. Most women her age were terrified of me, the real-life story behind why you should never speak to strangers. If I lunged at her, most would no doubt shriek in fright but not this one.
“You’ve put my father in an awkward position.”
“I like awkward. It creates a need to consider unusual options.” I turned my attention away from Miss Kasera and instead locked onto the woman standing guard. She looked like the less morally profound of the two, someone who had some experience in the same world I grew up in. “You help me get Día, I’ll help you get Myalla.”
I guess Miss Kasera didn’t like me ignoring her. She glanced back to the woman, sending one look and then another. The woman offered the slightest of shrugs in response, along the lines of, ‘it couldn’t hurt.’ Miss Kasera turned and locked back onto me. “Do you know exa
ctly where Myalla is?”
Not exactly, per se. That was up to Runaway. But I knew the general area. “Of course.”
Miss Kasera scowled at me like she had practiced the look since birth. “I want to be clear with you, Brayen. Myalla is to be released immediately. If she is not, Castor will learn of who you are and where you came from. He’ll break down every door your organization owns to find you. My family will help him. We will ask everyone in your network to hand you over and if they refuse my father will have your friends’ tongues removed and they’ll be crucified.”
I drew in a deep breath, calculating her resolve. “It sounds like we have a fair trade then. I’ll be outside the orphanage at midnight with Myalla. You bring Día.”
Miss Kasera held her glare. I’d like to say that she was gullible enough to accept but considering there was a rising clatter of gates and troops nearby, I guess she didn’t have much time to call my bluff before Castor interrupted us. “Sunset.”
“It’s almost sunset right now. Midnight.”
“You know exactly where she is. It won’t take you more than an hour.”
I smiled back at her, giving her a moment to simmer as the troops closed in on us. “An hour is not enough time for you to find Día and bring her to me.”
“Sunset,” she said, almost as a growl. I guess she learned to speak from her father. She turned to the woman standing guard. “Go with him.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
I had never been escorted by anyone higher than a watchman, so to stroll through a general’s compound with the person I assumed to be the head of his family’s security was something of a novelty. I was still bound and blindfolded which left me to wonder if those doctors were about to ambush me.
I was pulled to the side in a quick hustle. “Your official escort is here,” said the accented woman.
“Is Castor here or did he only send his mooks?”
“He’s in a litter.” She continued pulling me to the side with my shoulders down at knee level as we maneuvered away from the front gate. We came to a stop. She pushed me against a wall. “Up you go.”
I pressed my palms against the brickwork. “You’re going to need to take my blindfold and binds away for that to work.”