Darkblade Guardian

by Andy Peloquin

  The Hunter hesitated. He had little worry of being reported to the Wardens, but he was taking a risk that the thief would warn the priests.

  “You have no need of him,” the demon screeched in his mind. “Kill him and be done with this nonsense.”

  The Hunter gritted his teeth against the pounding presence. "I need to get into the Master's Temple."

  The words elicited an oddly forceful reaction. "You goin’ to kill one of 'em?" the young man whispered, and a hard glint shone in his eyes.

  The question caught the Hunter off-guard. "What makes you ask that?"

  "Well, look at you." The youth gestured to his clothing. "You look like every assassin I've known."

  The Hunter's brow furrowed.

  "Hey, I ain't got no problem with it," the youth told him, raising his hands in a defensive gesture. "If you are goin’ to do one of those nonces in, I'll gladly help you." A darkness, strange in one so young, flashed in his eyes. Life on the streets had hardened him beyond his years. "Just tell me where you want to go, and I'll show you the best way in."

  The Hunter raised an eyebrow. "You've been inside the Master's Temple?"

  The thief’s expression turned as hard as the stone wall at his back. "No, of course not." His tone had grown suddenly guarded. "Just know a few of the Lecterns, is all. They told me enough to know what's what."

  The Hunter didn't press. The young man’s business was his own. "So, if I was looking for a specific book, one I couldn't find in the Royal Library, you could tell me where to go?"

  "You betcha." The boy gave a confident nod. "I'll give you what you want. For the right price, of course."

  "Your hands aren't price enough?" The Hunter hid a smile. He had to admire the boy's pluck. "I could turn you over to the guards—"

  "And I could tell 'em you're thinkin’ of payin’ a little visit to the Lecterns." The youth’s face broke into a guileless grin. "Seems like we've both got somethin’ we'd rather the Wardens not find out, eh?"

  The Hunter inclined his head. "Fair enough. Name your price." He released his grip on the young man’s collar. Now that there was the prospect of money changing hands, there was no risk of the thief fleeing.

  The youth straightened his clothes and pretended to think for a moment. "A pair of golden ladies ought to cover it." He held up two fingers.

  "Two imperials?" The Hunter shook his head. "There’s no way the information you've got is worth more than a silver half-drake."

  The young man’s eyes narrowed. "Make it one imperial, and I'll show you a way only the Lecterns know."

  The Hunter fixed the youth with a hard gaze. "One golden piece, eh?" He pursed his lips in a pretense of contemplation as he produced the coin and rolled it between his knuckles.

  "And," the thief added hastily, "I'll even tell you how to find the entrance to the Vault of Stars." His eyes followed the coin with an almost desperate hunger.

  The mention of the vault set the Hunter on full alert. Had the young man followed him from the Royal Library and overheard his conversation with the scribe? If so, he knew too much.

  “Yes,” the demon insisted, “he's a liability.”

  "I see that got your interest," the youth said with a grin.

  "What makes you think this vault matters to me?" the Hunter asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

  "You said 'book', and that it can't be found in the Royal Library. The sort of person who's goin’ to break into the Master's Temple for a book is goin’ to be after somethin’ valuable." The thief grinned. "If you were just goin’ after a child's book of legends, you wouldn't bother."

  Clever and observant. The Hunter's admiration for the young man increased a fraction.

  “Too observant.” The demon's fury filled his mind. “Slit his throat before he becomes a problem.”

  "How do you know where to find the Vault of Stars?" the Hunter asked. "If, as you say, you've never been in the temple before, it seems an odd detail for you to have just picked up on the street."

  The thief’s face fell as the Hunter made the coin disappear into his hand. "Like I said, I know a few Lecterns. Some of them happen to get a bit loose-lipped when plied with the right liquor."

  In Voramis, priests of the Master enjoyed a far more liberal lifestyle than many of the other religious orders. They ate, drank, and whored like any Voramian with coin to spare, and often indulged in depravities that would make even a hardened man cringe. Indeed, some of their excesses—such as their appetites for young boys—filled him with revulsion.

  If the priests were the same here, the youth’s explanation could be plausible.

  "So, one golden imperial gets me into the Vault of Stars." The Hunter made the coin appear, then produced a twin. "And two keeps your mouth shut."

  "Tight as a camel’s arse in a sandstorm," the thief said with a broad grin.

  "Good." The Hunter nodded at the dagger at his hip. "Smart man like you knows what'll happen if you try to pull anything on me, right?"

  The young man’s eyes darted to the blade. "Somethin’ awful gruesome and painful, no doubt. Maybe along the lines of slittin’ open my guts and cuttin’ off my prick?" He gave the Hunter a wry grin. "Sound about right? It wouldn't be my first time threatened, you know."

  The Hunter shrugged. "That ought to do it." Try as he might, he couldn't help liking the youth. "Though I could get particularly creative if pushed. Leave little pieces of you strewn around Vothmot, or drain the blood from your body and skin you alive."

  The youth tried to look stoic, but his coloring turned a shade paler as he swallowed. "That won't be necessary." He held out a hand for the coins. "Everyone'll tell you Evren's a man of his word. Once we strike the deal, you'll get your gold's worth."

  The Hunter placed an imperial in the boy's hand. "You'll get the other once we're done." He tucked the coin into an inner pocket. He'd keep a sharp eye on the boy just in case he tried to lift his purse again. He seemed just brazen enough to try something like that.

  "Fair enough." Evren made the coin disappear with impressive speed.

  "Now," the Hunter said, "show me this secret way into the Master's Temple."

  Chapter Seven

  The Hunter stared at the stone wall with a raised eyebrow. "This is your secret way in?"

  "Yup," Evren said, grinning.

  The Hunter rapped on the stone and found it as solid as it looked. No sign of a hidden passage or a concealed opening anywhere. He turned to the young thief. "You remember what I said would happen if you yanked me around, right?"

  Evren's grin widened as he pointed up. "You gotta climb."

  The wall stood ten paces high, and though the texture was rough, the Hunter saw no foot or handholds. Even his powerful fingers couldn't chip through stone and mortar.

  "Show me," he told the boy.

  "Nuh uh," Evren said with a shake of his head. "I ain't climbin’ that."

  The Hunter narrowed his eyes, and his hand dropped to the dagger at his belt.

  "I ain't pissin' off the Lecterns." The words tumbled from Evren's mouth. "But I seen lots of the apprentices sneakin’ out of the Master's Temple this way. They've some rope ladder they use to get up and over. Ain'tcha got somethin’ you can use, too?"

  The Hunter removed his hand from his dagger. He did, indeed, have a grappling hook and rope in his pack. He drew out the rope and, checking to ensure the narrow alleyway truly was empty, hurled it up and over the wall. The grapple caught with a clink of metal on stone. The Hunter gave it a quick tug to secure it in place, then turned to the boy.

  "What's on the other side?"

  "Secret back entrance." Evren's eyes dropped away, and he quickly added. "I think."

  The Hunter could think of many reasons the priests would need a way to get in and out of the temple unseen. He’d seen the appetites of the Lecterns, which most “normal” people would find repulsive. The priests would definitely want to indulge in their revolting pleasures in secret.

  "Ain’t no one guardin�
�� this side," Evren said in a matter-of-fact tone. "No one knows it exists, so there ain’t no need to guard it."

  "And once I get inside?" the Hunter asked. "How do I get to the Vault of Stars?"

  Evren scrunched up his face in thought. After a moment, he said, "The back way ought to bring you toward a set of stairs that go up and down. You’ll want to go down as far as you can. The Vault's on the lowest level, I think."

  The boy sounded too confident in the information to have just obtained it from a drunken Lectern. Perhaps he, being the clever thief, had found a way to break into the Master's Temple and get his hands on the priests' valuables. To most people, such an act would be sacrilege, and doubtless they would fear the wrath of Kiro. However, when it came to a choice of starving today or being smitten by the gods ten minutes from now, most people would risk divine retribution.

  "This book you're lookin’ for," Evren said in a slow voice, "it ain’t got anythin’ to do with the path to Enarium, does it?"

  The words sent a jolt of surprise through the Hunter. His hand went instinctively to the dagger's hilt as he turned to the boy. "What makes you think that?"

  Evren shot him a scornful look. "People come to Vothmot for one thing, and it ain't the good food and mild weather." The young thief gestured at the arid flatlands that surrounded the city. "Everyone's here to find the Lost City and claim its treasures. I ain’t quite sure why an assassin’d want to find the way, but I thought I'd ask."

  The Hunter narrowed his eyes. The boy was proving a tad too clever for his own good.

  "I don't mean nothin’ by askin’," Evren said, and a hint of fear flashed across his face. "I was just thinkin’ I could come along. I always wanted to explore the mountains myself."

  This surprised the Hunter even more. "You…want to explore the Empty Mountains?" It seemed an odd desire for a thief. Most thieves cared only about gold or loot to be sold. People who lived with the uncertainty of where their next meal would come from tended to develop a much more short-sighted worldview.

  "Even a thief can dream, can't he?" Evren said in a hard voice. "Just because you think I'm gutter shite, that don't mean—"

  "Easy." The Hunter held up a placating hand. "I didn't mean anything by it. Just a bit strange, is all."

  "Well, it ain't as strange as you think." The boy's eyes shifted up and down the street. "I lived in the shadow of the mountains my whole life. I figure it's about time I get a chance to actually see them. And, maybe, if you actually do get what you're lookin’ for from the Vault of Stars, I'll be one of the ones who found the Lost City. That's enough to bring me all the fame and fortune I could ask for, ain't it?"

  Yes, the request was odd, but understandable, and the Hunter could relate. Evren wanted more than just the day-to-day drudgery. He, like everyone else, yearned for something spectacular and life-changing.

  "Look, I'll even pay my way myself," the young thief said as he produced the golden imperial the Hunter had given him. "Two ladies ought to be more than enough for a few days in the mountains. It'll give me a chance to see what's what and get a taste of the adventurer's life."

  The Hunter pondered the boy's request. He'd hired Darillon because he needed someone to lead the way into the mountains, but he'd never considered bringing anyone along. But Evren had proven clever and resourceful. Short though he was, he had broad shoulders, a lean build, and strong hands. He looked like he could take care of himself. He might even prove useful if the Hunter had to leave Hailen alone on the journey.

  The Hunter surprised himself by nodding. "I'll consider it, but first I need you to do something for me."

  "What's that?" Evren's eyes went hard and flat, his body tensing.

  "Keep a watch on the street for me while I get a look over the wall."

  The young thief relaxed, and a small smile spread his lips as he nodded. "Right."

  The Hunter checked up and down the street and, finding it abandoned, scaled the rope. He made the climb in a matter of seconds, his strong arms hauling him up the wall with ease. He gripped the stone lip with one hand and wrapped the rope around his right foot with the other. Pressing his feet together made the loop hold beneath his foot, acting like the rung of a ladder to support his weight as he peered over the wall.

  The rear of the Master's Temple proved as grand as the front. Decorative arabesques swirled across marble walls that gleamed in the bright sunlight. But unlike the front, this section of the temple had few visitors.

  The wall stretched along the perimeter of the open space, which was easily thirty paces long and three hundred wide. In contrast to the arid city of Vothmot, the ground within the walls was covered in lush green grass. Fruit trees dotted the expansive lawn, and bright flowers lent a cheerful color to the garden and filled the air with their sweet smell. Two stooped, aged men wearing the robes of Lecterns moved around the plants with watering cans.

  Fountains bubbled merrily at the northern and southern corners of the lawn. A small pool occupied the northwestern section of the walled area, while a stretch of grass on the Hunter’s side of the property held an assortment of stone benches, wooden tables and chairs, and canvas recliners. The Lecterns of Vothmot knew how to live in luxury. The Master’s Temple in Voramis had been a far more austere, severe place than this opulent homage to pomp and splendor.

  A single broad thread of white cut through the lush sea of green. A hundred or so paces from the south wall on which the Hunter hung, a paved marble walkway descended in a gentle incline toward the northern wall, disappearing into an arched entrance below ground level.

  He looked down at Evren, who stood leaning casually against the wall, watching the street.

  "Is that an underground passage?" he asked.

  Evren nodded. "Like I said, secret ways in and out of the temple."

  "Where does it lead?" It could prove a useful escape route should he get caught in the Master's Temple.

  "From what I hear, it's got exits in lots of spots around the city." Evren's expression grew thoughtful. "It runs all the way outside Vothmot, in fact. A hidden entrance somewhere half a league or so northwest of the city. For visitin’ priests who’d rather not get seen."

  A sound inside the temple caught the Hunter’s attention, and he turned back toward it just in time to see a horse appearing from the secret tunnel.

  The man who rode the horse had to be the thinnest person the Hunter had ever seen. He resembled a scarecrow clad in bejeweled robes, all long arms and legs, a narrow face, and a pointed nose. He rode clumsily yet somehow managed to look dignified. From his gaunt frame hung the unmistakable, elegant garments of the Illusionist Clerics, cut in a style the Hunter had encountered as he passed through Drash.

  A heartbeat later, another rider appeared from the passage behind him. This one had a crisscrossing network of facial tattoos and wore the shining splinted mail of a Warrior Priest of Derelana. The Hunter's eyebrows rose at the strange sight, but his curiosity doubled when a swarthy, grey-haired woman in the muted brown robes of a Secret Keeper emerged from the tunnel.

  The procession of priests continued for long minutes. A Swordsman Adept in full Legionnaire armor rode beside four white-robed Arch-Ministrants of the Sanctuary. Three women in the soft blue tunics of Servitors, servants of the Lonely Goddess, whispered wide-eyed and moved their horses away from the somber-faced men clad in the blood-red garments marking them as Trouveres, servants of the Bloody Minstrel.

  More and more priests poured from the tunnel until the open space within the wall was filled with snorting horses, grumbling camels, and even a donkey, ridden by a man wearing the grey robes with the blue collar of a Beggar Priest. Wagons, ox-drawn carts, palanquins carried by dark-skinned slaves, and even a two-wheeled conveyance with long wooden handles clustered around the marble pathway leading into the Master's Temple.

  Lecterns and apprentices rushed from the temple to greet the newcomers, lead the animals away, and restore some order to the chaos. Yet the stream of priests arriving throug
h the underground passage continued unabated. The Hunter counted fully a hundred clerics and still more arrived.

  An idea struck him. He pulled himself higher to get a better view of the grounds below. As he'd hoped, thick hedges lined the grassy expanse within the walls. Only the top two or three paces of the wall were visible. If he could get into the temple grounds, the chaos within could provide him ample cover to sneak inside the building itself. He'd have to get his hands on a priest's robes, but that shouldn't prove too difficult. He had an awful lot of potential targets to choose from.

  He slithered back down the rope, his boots thumping on the dirt of the alleyway, and turned to Evren. "Why are there so many priests?"

  "So many priests?" Evren's eyebrows rose, and he slapped himself on the forehead. "Of course, it's the Enclave!" He spoke, as if to himself. "I knew it was this year, but I didn't think it’d happen for another—"

  "What's the Enclave?" the Hunter demanded, frowning.

  "Every ten years," Evren said in a low voice, his eyes darting up and down the alley, "the upper priests of the orders come from all over Einan for some secret meetin’. I never found out what, but there ain’t no doubt it’s important, whatever it is."

  Once again, the Hunter had to wonder how the boy knew this. If it really was as secret as he said, no common thief would have that information. The revelation only added to the Hunter's curiosity about Evren. It seemed there was more to him than met the eye. Perhaps that explained why the Hunter actually considered letting him tag along on the journey to Enarium. One more oddity like himself and Hailen for company.

  Evren frowned. "With the priests arrivin’, it'll be chaos. There ain’t no way you’ll get in unnoticed."

  "You let me worry about that," the Hunter said.

  The young thief fixed him with a curious expression. When the Hunter said nothing, he shrugged. "Fair ‘nuff. But I kept my end of our deal. Now's your turn."

  The Hunter drew out the promised imperial and held it out to the youth. "As promised."

  Evren's face fell as he saw the coin. "No, me comin’ with you to the Empty Mountains."