Evil Within

by Richard S. Tuttle

  "Isn't there a danger to staying put in a village?" asked Monte. "Won't the Borundans look there for us?"

  "It is something that we have never done before," shrugged Gunnar. "If there are more Borundans searching for us, I don't think the villages will be the first places they look. We should be fine until Horst and you return. You don't mind my sending you to Odessia, do you?"

  "Certainly not," grinned Monte. "I look forward to the trip."

  "And we won't be cramped on the wagon with only three of us," nodded Kerzi. "I think it is a fine plan."

  "Talot?" Gunnar asked as he made eye contact with the giant Lomite.

  "I see no flaws in your plan," Talot said simply.

  * * *

  King Caedmon sat in his office in the Royal Palace of Arin. He pored over intelligence reports and frowned at the rumors of Borunda openly raising a large army. He jotted some notes and then looked up at the sound of someone coming along the corridor outside his office. He saw Princess Glynis pass by his open door, and his frown deepened.

  "Glynis," called the king.

  The princess halted and backtracked to the king's office. She stuck her head through the door and looked at her father.

  "Did you call me?" she asked.

  "Yes," nodded the king. "Come in."

  Princess Glynis entered the king's office and approached his desk.

  "What are you doing in the palace?" asked the king. "I was led to believe that you were going to the marketplace again with Prince Calitar."

  "We were supposed to," the princess replied with sadness in her eyes. "We met in the library as planned, but he claimed that he was not feeling well today and begged off on the trip to the marketplace."

  "Well," smiled the king, "I am sure that disappoints you, but it is nothing to be sad about."

  "I know," the princess tried to smile, "but I wonder if his illness is physical, or he just merely tires of me."

  "Inconceivable," soothed King Caedmon. "Whatever would give you such a thought?"

  "Well," answered the princess, "if I was not feeling well, I would not want to leave my bed, but Prince Calitar has not yet returned to his. He seems quite well enough to stroll around the palace and the ramparts. I have run into him several times today as I wandered about with nothing to do. Each time he says that he was on his way to the Palace Shadow, but got sidetracked by something else on the way. I think he is just bored with my company."

  King Caedmon's eyes narrowed, and he felt his body stiffen, but he did not want to upset the princess.

  "Perhaps he is exploring his feelings for you," offered the king. "This is his first trip to Anatar, and I am sure he is curious about many things. Has he been curious about you and your family?"

  "Very much so," nodded the princess. "He asks everyday if we have heard from Antion yet, and he is always asking questions about how we spend our time, like holidays and travel and things like that. He has been a perfect gentleman in all regards. I guess I am just used to being paid more attention than he is willing to give."

  "Did he ever ask questions about the funeral of King Eugeon," inquired King Caedmon, "or ask anything about a bodyguard in a full-face helm?"

  "On the day we met," the princess nodded with sudden concern. "Is something wrong, Father?"

  "I am not sure," confided the king, "but I am beginning to feel ill at ease with his presence in the palace. I want you to remain in the family's living quarters until I find out what our guest from Caroom is up to. Do you understand?"

  "No," admitted Princess Glynis, "but I know that you do. I will do as you say and stay within my chambers."

  "Good," smiled the king.

  The princess left the king's office, and the king rang a bell that sat on his desk. A door on a sidewall of the office opened and a heavyset man entered. He crossed the room and stood next to the king's desk fiddling with his neat, black beard.

  "We have a foreign prince roaming the palace, Evan," declared the king. "He claims to be Prince Calitar of Caroom. I want you to find someone who can authenticate his identity."

  "Do you suspect that he might not be as he claims?" questioned the king's advisor.

  "That is my fear," confirmed the king. "The prince is not in the line of succession for Caroom, so I would have had little chance to meet him, but surely someone in Arin must have at one time or another. I also want a runner sent to Caxon to inquire about this prince. It must be a subtle investigation. We cannot afford to offend other nations as we sit at the brink of war. I am also going to want a private message delivered to King Hector of Salacia. Choose a man whose integrity is beyond reproach. I will have the message ready in a few minutes."

  "A runner to Caxon will take some time," frowned Evan. "It will be two weeks before he can get there and another two weeks coming back, and that does not allow him time to investigate."

  'Understood," nodded the king. "My note to King Hector will ask for a series of runners to speed the report back to us. I will arrange with General Fergus to do the same here in Arin. That will shave a few days off the journey, but I must know the truth."

  "I take it that there is some suspicion concerning this foreign prince?" inquired the king's advisor.

  "You assume correctly," verified the king. "His curiosity has extended to things that I did not want discovered. I intend to have this prince escorted everywhere he goes from now on. He will learn no more than I wish him to."

  Evan's eyebrows rose, and his mouth distorted as he pondered the implications of such a slight.

  "If he is a spy," mused Evan, "he will know that he has been compromised. That would be enough to cause him to flee. Is it wise to let him get away before we receive the report from Caxon?"

  "Is there any choice?" sighed King Caedmon. "We cannot risk the wrath of Caroom for imprisoning a prince of their country."

  "But if he is a spy," suggested the king's advisor, "Caroom is already slighting Arin by sending him here. How can they complain?"

  "And if the prince from Caroom is actually spying for another nation?" posed King Caedmon. "What then?"

  "You think he is spying for Borunda?" gasped the king's advisor.

  "That is my fear," nodded the king. "Caroom would have no interest in the questions this prince has been asking, but the Borundans would. Send in General Fergus. I need to speak with him."

  Evan bowed slightly and retreated from the room. A few moments later, the white-haired general marched into the room.

  "Close the door, general," ordered the king.

  General Fergus complied without question. He knew that he was about to discuss things that even the king's other advisors were not privy to.

  "Have you met Prince Calitar?" asked King Caedmon.

  "I have not," replied the general. "I have heard reports of his visit to Anatar and little seemed unusual until today. Today he has been asking questions which appear to be of greater interest to him than mere curiosity."

  "Such as?" prompted the king.

  "Questions about troop strength raised the first eyebrow," answered the general. "He has been very interested in our training program and the reason why so many of our soldiers appear to be enrolled in it. I was on my way here to discuss this with you when I ran into Evan. I think the man is a spy."

  "Your instincts are good," nodded the king, "but it is worse than that. He now knows the identity of the bodyguard who accompanied me to Tarent."

  "Mercy!" gasped the general. "We do not even have a way to get in touch with Antion. The men that I assigned to trail him didn't last three days. He managed to elude them in Capri."

  "You had men following him?" frowned the king. "I promised him that we would not follow him. Why was I not informed?"

  "You never informed me that you knew he was leaving Anatar," shrugged the general. "One of my men reported the prince saddling a horse other than his own. It made me curious enough to see what he did next. I assumed that he was off to do something foolish and assigned a pair of men to follow him. I thought
they could possibly save his life if he got into trouble. Was that wrong?"

  King Caedmon sighed and shook his head. "No, General Fergus, that was not wrong. Your instincts have always been impeccable. Antion told me that he was leaving, and I agreed to his plan. He is a capable warrior and an intelligent man. I felt comfortable that he could take care of himself."

  "But you no longer feel that way?" probed the general.

  "Not when the Borundans know his identity," answered the Arin king. "At the least, we need to find him and warn him."

  "And at best?" questioned the general.

  "Convince him to return home," replied the king. "He will oppose such efforts, but now that Borunda knows his identity, his life is in grave danger."

  "I agree," nodded General Fergus. "Should we force him to return home?"

  King Caedmon turned and stared out the window without answering. The general knew the question was tearing the king's emotional strings and waited patiently. Finally, the king sighed heavily and turned to face the general.

  "No," decided the king. "Antion will be king one day, and he must learn to make such decisions for himself. I must trust in his instincts as he has learned to trust in mine. He is to be informed of my strong desire for him to return home, but the decision will be his."

  "I will attempt to find him," nodded the general, "but you must know that I hold out little hope of succeeding. I could start in Capri, but he has not been seen there in many weeks. I doubt that he is still there. Without any other clues, he could be anywhere in the world."

  "I understand," the king replied with acceptance. "There is another matter that we need to discuss, and its solution may aid in the search for my son. I want a dramatic increase in our spy network. I want spies in every nation possible."

  "You want to spy on our allies?" questioned the general. "They will not take kindly to that if they find out."

  "And so they must not find out," retorted the king. "You will use men who are not sworn to me. Do not let them know who they are working for."

  "And who will collect the information from these spies?" frowned the general.

  "Find me a dozen men who are willing to give up their lives for Arin," answered the king. "Their loyalty must be unassailable. Those twelve men will be the contacts between the new spies and us. If they are captured, they must be prepared to take their own lives to avoid compromising Arin. Can you do that?"

  It was the general's turn for introspection, and the king proved to be just as patient as the general.

  "I can do it," declared General Fergus. "They are men I would sorely miss if war came to Arin, but they will fulfill the mission you have set out."

  "Good," nodded the king. "When you get them moving, inform those twelve men that they should search for Prince Antion while they perform their other duties."

  "Everything will be done as we have discussed," promised General Fergus. "I will get started on it immediately."

  "Wait," ordered the king as the general turned to march out of the office.

  The general turned expectantly, and the king crossed the floor to avoid raising his voice.

  "We still need to deal with Prince Calitar," declared the king. "While we stand here talking about our plans, he is still cataloging our weaknesses."

  "Actually," smiled the general, "he has already left the palace for the day. When I heard the type of questions that he was asking, I made sure that all of our men were too busy to answer anything he asked. He got frustrated and returned to the Palace Shadow."

  "Well done," chuckled the king. "Are you sure he returned to the inn?"

  "Positive," nodded General Fergus. "I assigned two men to keep tabs on him. They will not be obvious, but they will track his every move."

  A loud knock hammered the door to the king's office. The king and the general looked at each other, and the king nodded his approval to open the door. The general opened the door and saw a soldier standing outside.

  "What is it, Sandar?" asked the general.

  "The foreign prince is gone," reported Sandar.

  "Gone?" scowled the general. "Gone where? Explain."

  "I sent relief to the two men assigned to watch him as you had requested," reported Sandar. "One man was posted outside the front door of the inn and another outside the back door. The soldier in the rear was missing, and I was called to the inn. My first impulse was to check the stables for the prince's horse. It was gone, but in its place was the body of our man."

  "How did he die?" asked the king.

  "I don't know," answered Sandar. "There were no obvious marks on the body and no blood on his uniform. Is that important?"

  "Very important," nodded the king. "General, seal the city. We now have a legitimate reason to imprison Prince Calitar. Even if he ends up innocent of foul play, the body was found where his horse should be. I am prepared to discuss this matter with Caroom if they protest. Sandar, get the soldier's body to a wisper. I want to know how he died."

  The soldiers left the office in a hurry and moments later a loud horn sounded from atop the palace. More distant horns echoed the order as the city of Anatar began to close down. Gates were shut and barred, and walls were manned. Citizens streamed out of the marketplace and fled to their homes. Merchants and deliverymen abandoned their stalls and carts and moved indoors. Within a matter of minutes, the city was sealed and the streets deserted. The only people moving in the city of Anatar were the patrols of soldiers. Several hours later, General Fergus returned to the king's office.

  "Did you find him?" asked the king.

  "No," answered the general. "If he is in the city, someone is hiding him. I have sent out patrols to search outside the city, but they have found nothing. It is as if the man had vanished into thin air."

  "Why am I not surprised?" frowned the king.

  "You are not surprised?" questioned the general. "Pardon my impertinence, but could you explain that statement?"

  "Everything about Borunda seems to reek of magic," sighed King Caedmon. "Why should we be suddenly surprised when the unexpected happens?"

  "I see where your thinking is leading," shrugged the general, "but we have no indication that there was anything magical going on here."

  "Nor should you ever have an indication, general," retorted the king. "The purpose of using magic for nefarious deeds is to avoid detection. If we begin to see signs of such use then they are failing in the practice of their art."

  "Your arguments are specious," the general countered. "If a lack of indication means that magic is present, what are the signs of no magic present? Surely, you can see that the indications would be the same, and yet the realities would be poles apart? Such logic is flawed, Your Highness."

  "You were the one who spoke of no indications," rebutted the king. "I am trying to get you to see that the lack of evidence is not a certainty of no magic. As for my beliefs, my gut is telling me that we are up against magic, and I have learned to trust such instincts. What we have to learn to do in order to survive is to expect the unexpected. How do we do that, general?"

  * * *

  The wagon pulled off the Caxon-Kyland Road and into the small Salacian town. People turned to stare at the newcomers, but they soon went on their way as the wagon passed them by. The town was small, not much larger than a typical village, but it hosted an inn and a smith. It was mostly a village that had grown due to its proximity to the Caxon-Kyland Road. Kerzi guided the wagon towards the inn and the stables beyond it.

  "Which inn would you gentlemen prefer?" joked Kerzi.

  "I prefer the other one," laughed Gunnar as he gazed at the weather-beaten building.

  "Sorry," grinned the merchant, "but the other one has not been built yet. We will stay at this one."

  "You always get to choose," chuckled the Arin prince.

  Talot looked at each of the other men and shook his head. "I think both of you are suffering from the lack of ale," he said seriously. "Go into the inn and refresh yourselves. I will take care of the
horses and the wagon."

  Kerzi brought the wagon to a halt in front of the inn and immediately climbed down. Gunnar jumped down after him, and the two men entered the inn. Talot shook his head again and drove the wagon around the back of the inn to the stables. He brought it to a halt and applied the brake. As the Lomite giant jumped to the ground, a young man came out of the stables. The man appeared to be around fifteen years of age, and Talot turned to greet him.

  "We will be staying at the inn for a few days," declared the Lomite. "Where should I park the wagon?"

  "You can put it right beside the stables if you want," offered the stableman, "or I would be glad to take care of it for you."

  "And what would the fee be for that?" asked Talot.

  "I do not charge anything," he answered, "but I will accept a token of your appreciation if you think the job is done properly."

  "How do you earn your keep?" asked the giant.

  "I take care of the stables," he answered. "In return, I am fed and I am allowed to use a room if one is available. There is usually one empty."

  Talot smiled at the lad, for that is what Talot saw the young man to be. He was grown to the beginnings of man-size, but his thinking was simple and his needs were few as it should be for a boy.

  "I am called Talot," smiled the giant. "I will judge your proficiency and reward it appropriately."

  "Thank you," beamed the lad. "My name is Jared, and I shall answer your call if you need anything at all."

  Talot nodded pleasantly and entered the rear door of the inn.

  Chapter 19 - Jared

  Jared

  Talot entered the common room and saw Kerzi and Gunnar already seated and enjoying mugs of ale. They were the only patrons in the room and the giant walked over and joined them.

  "That was pretty quick," remarked the merchant as Talot sat down. "It usually takes me a bit longer to take care of the horses."

  "They have a stable lad here," Talot smiled, already feeling good about the tip he would give the lad. "He works for food and accepts gratuities. He looked like he could use a few coins so I let him take care of everything."