by Jackson Lear
He stopped with his back was to me, waiting for the patrol to clear his line of sight.
Half of me wanted him to keep moving. The other half was interested to see how good he was when being ambushed. He remained still. How close could I even get to him before he noticed? There was thirty, maybe thirty five paces between us. I was covered in darkness. He was not.
I crept towards him. One step. Nothing more. Just to see.
He didn’t notice.
I tried again, willing him to be caught in the same situation as I had a moment before: go for me or go for the two soldiers who were about to surprise him while doing their rounds.
He glanced right, towards the rising light of the lantern carried on the end of one spear.
I crept forward. Testing. Judging. Waiting for a telltale sign that he was a hired assassin and not simply a soldier trying to throw Kace’s investigation in Lavarta’s favor.
He took a deep breath.
I crept forward. Again. And again.
Chapter Thirty-Four
He snapped his head around, dead onto me.
I was obscured by the shadows but he knew someone was there. He held his position. I held my breath.
The light from the patrol was upon him.
He darted towards me, covering ten yards like an athlete in his prime. I jerked my arm back, my blade primed, ready for the attack.
He saw me. Stopped dead in his tracks, his shoulders rising to make himself look bigger. He needed it as well. Even from where I stood I could see clear over his head.
No question about it, he was a man just as comfortable in the shadows as I was.
The light from the patrol swept around the corner, exposing him further. He didn’t even flinch.
I did.
I pulled back, baiting him into an open-air corridor between the buildings and away from the courtyard. He edged forward, matching my pace as much as possible, his sword dangling freely on his hip like it was only there for show.
He flicked his eyes to Kace’s windows.
I slipped around the corner.
The patrol fell silent. The light lingered. Two female figures stood looking straight at the back of the assassin. “Can I help you?”
I was exposed by only an inch. He didn’t take his eyes off me. The light around his back created a silhouette, highlighting his golden hair and crimson tunic.
He spoke, higher in pitch than I was expecting from a man. “I need one of you to circle around with the light, the other to keep to this wall and peer around.”
The one with the light stepped forward. “Who are you, sir?”
“Commander Kariss.”
The soldier spoke again. “Can you turn around please, sir?”
“No. I’m keeping my night vision.”
The lantern bearer stepped forward. I closed my left eye, watched with my right. As far as I could tell the uniform was similar enough to Lavarta’s, but I didn’t recognize any markings to indicate ‘commander’.
I pulled away from the corner, keeping an ear on the conversation but unwilling to expose myself any more than necessary.
“Circle around. Now.”
“Yes, sir.”
I whispered into the silk hook. It burst into its full extention, giving me the only way out of there that I was going to get. I hoisted myself back onto the roof of the storehouse, peering over the edge as the commander waited for the guards to reach their position. The light came from the other side of my building. The soldier dropped her spear down, ready for combat. She crept around, her partner creeping forward. They locked eyes. Shook their heads. Turned to figure out where I had gone to.
The commander glanced up to the roof. I ducked back. Lost sight of him. No one said a word down below but there was the light scuffle of gravel under three pairs of sandals. Then, nothing.
They hadn’t walked far enough away. They were simply waiting for me to reveal myself.
And, like an idiot, I was stuck on top of a squat building with no way down and no way in.
A second lantern appeared.
The soldiers were now both armed with light, each standing on a far corner and keeping track of two sides of the building. If I climbed down now at least one would see me. And they were expecting it.
The soldiers posted at every visible gate had turned their attention towards my building, focused in silence on the threat within rather than keeping people out.
I was trapped.
I held my position for ten minutes. Twenty. Maybe even thirty. The two soldiers didn’t move far. Maybe a yard this way, then a yard that way, but they maintained a readiness and never lost sight of all sides of my building.
I prepped a spell, something that would ease my landing from a twenty five foot drop. Chances were that I’d need a running start as well, a leap off the roof top and a bone-breaking splat, roll, and up again.
A shadow emerged from the opposite roof. I waited, counting the seconds. Then the minutes. Nothing there. Perhaps it was my imagination after all, even though my gut was telling me otherwise.
A gentle scratch from the rooftop came just twenty yards away. Someone had thunked the tip of their sheath when they didn’t mean to. Definitely from the rooftop. Definitely not an ordinary commander, not if he was willing to climb two stories onto the roof instead of ordering a grunt to do it on his behalf.
He must be playing through the odds of me still being here. Had I been able to get away? Was I still on the roof or had I broken into the storehouse?
He peered up, slow enough that I wouldn’t have noticed any movement at all if I wasn’t locked on that building with my life depending on it.
We stared across the void, two dark silhouettes used to the hunt. He reached to the rear of his belt, unhooked a heavy glob of black fabric. He toyed with it in his hand, bouncing it up and down like an interrogator teasing his subject.
I remained steady, unwilling to expose myself over a mere dick-measuring contest.
He dropped out of sight. Retreated back over the side of his building. Disappeared from view.
“Sir?”
“I’m going to need you two to shift around. Take that corner. Give it to a count of fifty before moving, okay?”
“Yes, sir.”
The commander crunched across the gravel, giving my building a wide berth. I rolled across the roof. He repeated his order to the other private, except for the ‘count to fifty’.
“Yes, sir.” She moved immediately. The other did the same. They circled around to cover a different corner, moving the one closest to the military police unit away from the front door.
The commander headed back to the front door. Disappeared. A shadow crossed the window of Kace’s office.
He returned ten minutes later, dusting his hands clean from the front of the building. He looked up towards me, bid me a quick fuck-you salute, and strolled towards the gate.
The guard let him pass without a second thought.
He turned left.
Towards Lavarta’s home.
Not a coincidence.
I stretched the silk pole out across the void. Reached the other building. Tapped the brickwork with the hook.
One of the soldiers cried out in surprise. “Hey!”
A barrage of gravel erupted below me. Not just one soldier coming around but four.
I swung down, knocking the hook into the private and aiming straight for the lantern on the ground. It crashed to the side, the glass shattering, the flame snuffed out in the breeze and plunging this side of the compound into darkness.
The gravel crescendoed from both sides of the building as each private barked an update to the others.
“He’s here! On the roof of the storehouse!”
I darted across the roof.
“Keep eyes on that side!”
“I need more light!”
“Just fucking do it!”
I swung down again, clonking another soldier on the head and scooping up their lantern. With a quick flick I tossed it into
the air, crashing another lantern against the ground and extinguishing that one as well.
“Surround the building!”
I kept one of them busy by knocking their spears to the side, spinning them off their balance. I latched onto the bottom of their tower shield, yanked upwards, and tried to topple them heel over head.
I darted back towards Kace’s office. Two soldiers down below. One more on each corner. More soldiers running in from the gates.
It was now or never.
I swung the pole back across the void, hooked Kace’s building, and did something I had never attempted to do before: I climbed sideways instead of up and down.
The private jabbed her spear through the air, her night vision weaker than mine, her reach not quite good enough.
One of them threw their spear, missing my neck by an inch. Another climbed up the windowsill, jabbed at the hook, and sliced the most expensive thing I had ever owned.
The pole rolled from side to side, no longer balanced. The private skewered the hook again, splintering it completely.
“Ehkra!” I cried, snapping the pole’s enchantment and releasing its grip on the storehouse. I swung down faster than I expected, couldn’t get my feet up at a decent angle, and crashed into the side of Kace’s building. I dropped – “Lopin!” – fell a softened six feet onto my back, but better than falling twenty onto my front.
Six soldiers were upon me. One had thrown his spear away, another was trying to get his shield back into position.
I swung the silk pole, arcing it around until I hit someone’s shin, yanked with the hook, brought them down to one knee. I got a leg up, swung again and again, swiping through the air to keep everyone at bay. They lunged, jabbed, one threw his spear and drew his short sword. I jabbed the hook around his shield, attacked his side. He checked and countered, slicing the hook clean off.
The fucker.
I was left with a twenty foot silk pole, its end splintered beyond repair.
“Basta!” one of them cried. The spell blasted me off my feet, five feet back and right into the threat range of two spears. I knocked the silk pole back, trying to fill their faces with as much of it as I could until I was back on my feet.
I dug into my pouch. Released a small skin of oil. Threw it at the feet of the two female privates. The skin burst free, showering the women with oil. I threw a handful of ash at their faces, forcing them to retreat, their legs and feet now slick with oil. One slipped, managing to stay on her feet but her movement gone. The other got another face of ash. I swung into her, clubbing her spear, shield, and head out of the way, spun around to keep the rest of the assholes from skewering me in the back. I clubbed one, another, another again, my reach five times greater than theirs. They swiped at the pole, some striking it, others unable to see well enough in the dark.
I charged towards the two privates, battering both to the side by any means possible. I released another stage of the pole. It snapped back to a more usable size as I gained ground, clubbed the privates again, both at their shins, arcing overhead and snapping back at their calves, then striking their thighs, asses, upper back, and head, encouraging them to face-plant the ground as I ran past.
“Basta!”
Their spell slammed into my back, knocking me to my knees. I swung the pole back behind me. Extended it. Rolled with the swing just as two spears landed next to me. Climbed back to my feet and found a clearing.
I ran for my life, darting across the courtyard and using a spell to help me leap over the fence.
I crashed onto the ground, stumbling as my lungs screamed at me, almost bursting at the seams as I tried to get more air into me than was physically possible. I hobbled to one of the far buildings, desperate to find an alley, but luck hadn’t been on my side for a while.
A figure stepped into the road, fifty yards from me. Male. Short. Sleek. Military tunic. Sword in one hand.
My saliva had turned to sap. My muscles bristling with uncontrolled energy. The tricks from my pouch used and gone. He hadn’t used any magic. I had.
He strode forward.
I held my ground, commanding my breathing to return and now drowning in sweat.
A whistle pierced the air behind the commander, blasting the early morning and waking gods-know how many people. The commander snapped his head around, paused, then seemed to grimace back at me. He debated. I did what I could to keep breathing. He seemed to be caught at an impasse, one that I was grateful for.
He clicked his fingers and shot me a point, a ‘you better watch yourself, asshole’ kind of move. He sheathed his sword and moved back to the military compound, keeping me in his sight the whole time. The soldiers were returning to the fence, trying to secure the perimeter with their meager numbers. The commander reached one of the gates, muttered an: “open up,” and was allowed in with an out of breath: “yes, sir.”
I was being watched by no less than four soldiers and one commander. I wrapped my face, doing whatever I could to remain difficult to remember, but some of them would’ve had a good look at my features during the fight.
A woman emerged from down the road. Broad shoulders. Easy enough to identify as the sky started to lighten towards dawn. I headed forward, shaky with every step, still ready to make another run for it.
Zara held her spear in one hand. Glared at me. “Don’t ever do something as stupid as that again.”
I was too tired to be much of a smartass. “Thank you.” I glanced back to the row of soldiers watching me. “That’s Artavian’s assassin.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because he broke into Kace’s office to plant evidence.”
“And what were you doing?”
“Breaking into Kace’s office to plant evidence. Do you know him?”
Zara peered towards the compound and sighed. “It’s getting close to dawn. We should get back.”
“Who is he?”
“Like you said, he’s probably Artavian’s assassin.”
“Does he have a name? Because I’m willing to bet that it’s not Commander Kariss, since that’s what he tells everyone when he’s being cordial.”
She tugged on my arm. “Let’s go, Raike.”
I held my ground. “You know exactly who he is, don’t you?”
Our relatively peaceful morning was broken with a clatter and squeak as a horse and cart came around the corner. One man sitting upright at the reins. Full military uniform. Lieutenant Kace. No question there. Even so I peered into the burgeoning light to make sure. Another man in disheveled clothing was slumped in the back of the cart, his manacles locked to an iron bar.
Zara pulled me along. “We need to get out of here.”
“Or I could go speak to Kace and let him know that his time is up. Should make for an interesting conversation if you’re there as well, trying to smooth things over with your short-ass murdering friend.”
She squeezed on my arm. “Please. I’m not protecting him, I just need you to know that he doesn’t just kill people he breaks them too. He’s better at this than you are.”
The gate to the compound opened up. Privates stood back, allowing the cart inside. The commander held his position, staring at us while Zara tried to lead me back towards Lavarta’s home.
I said, “What exactly would Alysia and the commander say if I told them you knew Artavian’s killer?”
“Don’t.”
“My loyalty isn’t exactly towards you, Zara dear.”
She angled the point of her spear towards my chin. “And mine isn’t towards you.”
I pressed the tip of my blade against her stomach. Breathed deeply. She did the same.
She broke the silence first. “One spell from him right now and we both die.”
“Give me his name.”
With a hesitant ‘fuck you’ she said, “Krassis.”
I retracted my blade an inch. She did the same with her spear.
“We need to get going.”
“Why are you protecting him?�
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“I’m not,” growled Zara. “I’m protecting Miss Kasera.”
“So you’re going to let Commander Krassis kill her husband?”
“No. I’m just trying to mitigate the disaster you’re poking at as much as I can. If it’s either her and the commander or just the commander then I’d prefer it to be just him.”
“Then we take out your friend over there right now.”
I glanced over. The commander had disappeared which pissed me off more than finding out that Zara knew him since I wasn’t all that surprised to learn that two professional assassins of high-profile figures in the same city might actually know each other.
The cart stopped again. Kace arched his back after a lengthy journey, climbed down, shook his legs. A young soldier hurried to his side, beaten from my attack as he took the reins of the beast. Another soldier ran to the back of the cart, keeping watch over the prisoner.
“Take him inside. I’ll process him in a minute.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lieutenant Kace turned, rubbing his ass after sitting on a wooden board for what must’ve been hours. As Kace unlocked his prisoner from the cart, the young soldier pulled the thin man to his feet, his manacles jangling around his wrists and ankles. The prisoner moved with nothing but defeat in his veins. His hair was a tussled mess. His beard was now shaggy, a week in length. His tunic had been roughly stitched and knotted back together after taking a slice along the back.
I pushed forward, risking myself once more, just to confirm that I hadn’t imagined Kace’s prisoner.
Beriss slumped forward, one foot after the other, just like he had done back in Verseii, only now he wasn’t begging me to be released. Kace stretched his arms up to the sky, rolled his head from side to side, and followed his prisoner inside.
Commander Krassis intercepted Kace. Shook his hand. Greeted him warmly. Walked towards Kace’s building with what was sure to be a riveting story of the night’s events.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Zara and I made our way back towards Lavarta’s place, my head buzzing with Beriss’ arrest and Zara’s betrayal. “How do you know the assassin?”