by AC Cobble
Staying on the path he found worked well. It was well maintained, so there was no risk of noisily stumbling over something, and it seemed to go in the direction he needed. Away from the river, the grounds became wilder with tall grasses and stands of trees similar to what he saw at the front gates. It made sense. If the mages were interested in strolling on the grass they would do it near the fresh air at the north of the island by the water.
Luckily, the buildings of the Sanctuary were spread out and the place had more space than they needed. He encountered people two more times but these groups were carrying some small object in their hands that emitted a low, steady yellow light which they shined in front of them. It made it easy for him to move off into the darkness and avoid detection. The guards must intentionally be in the dark to not give away their positions or spoil their night vision.
The buildings he could see were nondescript and it was impossible to identify their purpose from the outside. One did give him pause. It emitted a noxious sulpherous smell. An angry red light pulsed behind closed doors and shuttered windows. He stopped and observed for a few heartbeats then hurried past that one.
In only half a bell he’d moved all the way across the grounds and found his way to the Initiate’s Quarters. He was confident he was in the right place because the hedge-walled garden was the only one like it he had seen during his normal visits or this night.
Three stories of white stucco and the length of a city block. Staring up at the building he still couldn’t figure out how he was going to find Meghan and Amelie inside without alerting anyone else.
He began to circle the building, peering in the lit windows, hoping he’d get lucky. Maybe both girls will be together and sitting alone in a room on the first floor. He ruefully shook his head at the stupidity of the thought, but right now, he didn’t have anything else.
After a couple of windows he saw that the first floor was all common areas. There were rooms that looked like they were for studying, a mess room, a large steamy washroom, and other open rooms with no obvious purpose. Most rooms had the lights on still and he saw several young women going about their evening tasks. Many of them were reading books and he saw some small groups debating chalk writing they’d put on a blackboard.
He made it around one side of the building with no sign of Meghan or Amelie, but he was hopeful. A lot of girls were awake, so he might see them. If he could at least find where they were, a plan might materialize.
On the far side of the building he had to pass a brightly lit entrance. He counted to one hundred and hadn’t seen or heard anyone. He held his breath and walked through the light, hoping he looked like he belonged there.
Almost to the other corner of the building, he thought he was safe until he heard a soft voice loudly and pointedly clear its throat. He paused mid-step.
“Excuse me. Do you care to explain yourself?” demanded a young female.
“I…”
“Don’t bother. I saw you looking in the washroom window. Hoping to catch a peek?”
Running wasn’t an option. She would simply raise the alarm if he did anything other than turn and convince her she didn’t need to.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I believe I am lost. Are the guard’s barracks near here? I wasn’t sure, so I was trying to figure out which building this is.” Maybe if she thought he was trying to reach the guards she wouldn’t think she needed to call them herself.
She crossed her arms and scowled at him. “You are not out for a casual stroll deep in the night looking for the guard’s barracks. This is the Sanctuary. Do you think I am stupid? Let’s try that again, and if you lie, I will know.”
She was standing in the light of the entry way. She was a pretty young woman, close to his own age. She wasn’t screaming for help yet. That was something.
“I-I’m looking for my sister,” he stammered. Could she really tell if he was lying? He didn’t know, but he did want to find Meghan in addition to Amelie. It was at least partially true.
“Your sister?” she asked disbelievingly.
Might as well go for broke. “Meghan Pinewood. She’s stopped answering my letters and I’ve heard stories about this place. I did a lot of asking around after she left. I came to see if she was okay.”
“Meghan Pinewood is your sister?” The scowl remained on her face but her tone lightened. “Then know that she is okay and that you shouldn’t be here. The mages do not look kindly at trespassers. I suggest you go out the way you came in and thank the stars it was me instead of a guard who saw you. You can visit her in the gardens on the next Newday.”
“I need to see her now, tonight,” implored Ben. “Do you know her? Could you send her out to talk to me?”
“You should go,” advised the girl. “You should go now before someone else does find you.”
“Please. I came all of the way here to make sure she is safe. I promise, I will leave as soon as I know she’s safe.” He was skirting the truth as closely as he could.
“This is a bad idea.” The girl was wavering.
“If you know her, she must have told you some about her family or her past. Ask me anything and I can prove I’m her brother.”
“Where is Meghan from? Wait. Wait. That is too easy.” The girl flipped a twist of wet hair back over her shoulder then asked, “What caused her to come to the Sanctuary?”
“I was injured in a demon attack. A mage, Lady Towaal, came to our village of Farview to kill the demon. She healed me as well. She was with Lady Amelie, Lady Amelie’s handmaiden, a blademaster named Saala, and a hunter named Rhys. Meghan and my adopted brother left with Lady Towaal as payment for my healing. Please, she is here because of me. I must talk to her to know she is safe.”
The girl sighed. “Very well. There is a hedge-walled garden on the other side of this building. It’s locked at night so you will need to climb in or wiggle through the brush. If you got this far without being detected that should be easy. Our curfew is in half a bell. Meghan will sneak down after that to meet you in the garden. I will tell her you came to see her, Brandon.”
The girl turned and disappeared back into the Initiate’s Quarters. Ben almost collapsed in relief.
The hedge wall turned out to be thick bushes surrounding an iron fence. Ben scrambled over it then dropped behind a tangle of shrubs. He’d been lucky so far and he wasn’t going to risk a stray guard or Initiate peering into the garden and spying him.
The bells rang dutifully on time. He squirmed in the damp, slightly chill earth while he waited. He peered through the leaves and strained his ears to hear anything. There was nothing to see and no sounds.
Finally, he heard the scrape of a door and whispered voices. He remained still and silent, waiting for the footfalls to draw closer.
“Ben!” hissed Meghan’s voice.
He poked his head up from the brush and saw both Meghan and Amelie staring at him from near the building.
“Damn it, Ben! I knew it would be you. What are you doing out here? You’re going to get us in a lot of trouble and yourself thrown in prison!” exclaimed Meghan in a low voice.
The girls were still standing near the door to the garden. Ben risked further wrath from Meghan and waved them deeper into the plants and flowers. They followed reluctantly.
“You’ve got us out here and violating our curfew. What are you doing in the Sanctuary at night?” demanded Meghan.
“Really, Ben, this was a very bad idea,” added Amelie, glancing over her shoulder at the building.
Ben grimaced. It wasn’t a good way to start. “I know this is risky, believe me, I know. I came because I had to warn you, Amelie. You are in serious danger.”
“This better not be more cow shit about some bumpkin you met who’s worried about his sister,” muttered Meghan.
“No,” growled Ben. “It’s about how two days ago an army of men from the Coalition slaughtered Lord Reinhold and one hundred of his guards outside the town of Arrath. They are coming here next and they plan to tak
e Amelie.”
“What! That is ridiculous,” replied Meghan incredulously.
“Hold on. What are you talking about Ben?” Amelie asked and shot a concerned look at Meghan. “How do you know this?”
“I was there!” Ben was exasperated. For the last two days his head was spinning with plans to sneak into the center of power for all of the mages in Alcott and spirit away two of their precious Initiates. In his plans, though, Meghan and Amelie had believed him.
“We thought Gulli, the man who arranged the attack on us, was in Arrath. So, Reinhold assembled his men and we marched up there. But it was an ambush. A Coalition army was waiting for us in the woods. They killed them all. They are on the way here. I can’t be more than half a day ahead of them. They’re going to take you, Amelie.”
Amelie sat down on the ground, stunned. “The Coalition?” she asked in a small voice.
“Ben,” chided Meghan, “if there was this big battle and everyone was killed, how are you here?”
“I was behind them,” replied Ben. “Reinhold wanted me away from the action. I got to the top of a hill and saw them attacked. I watched it until the end.”
“So then what?” pressed Meghan. “These men, Coalition you said? I guess they just let you go after that. How do you know they are coming here?”
“I overheard them while I was hiding. Meghan, I am not lying. Amelie is in grave danger.” Ben ran his hands through his hair in frustration. He was exhausted from the frantic march back to the City and couldn’t find the words to explain himself.
“You lied to get us to come out here didn’t you?” accused Meghan. “Um, what did you say your name was, Brandon? Be serious, Ben. This story makes no sense. And even if it was true, and these men want to harm Amelie, what do you expect us to do? There is no safer place for her in Alcott than behind these walls.”
“No, the men, the Coalition men, are working with the Sanctuary,” explained Ben. “The Sanctuary is part of this. I heard them dispatch a man to come here and give news of what happened.”
Meghan dramatically rolled her eyes and threw up her hands. “Oh, now the Sanctuary is in on it? Really? You’re saying the Sanctuary is involved in some crazy plot to assassinate a lord and then kidnap someone who is already here?”
Appealing to Meghan was going nowhere. Whatever trust they shared as adopted siblings was vanishing quickly.
Ben sat down next to Amelie and ignored the glowering Meghan. He placed a hand on Amelie’s shoulder. “Amelie, Lord Jason led this Coalition army. He ambushed and killed Lord Reinhold so that Lord Gulli could buy up all of the arms from Venmoor and cut off your father and the rest of the Alliance. He plans to come here next and kidnap you to put more pressure on your father. He wants him to surrender from the Alliance. I do not know what they plan next, but I can imagine the offensive planned against Issen will turn into an offensive with Issen. This Lord Jason believes you are the key, He thinks your father will bow to the Coalition demands if they have you.”
“Oh please,” grunted Meghan.
“Lord Jason,” squeaked Amelie. “You saw him?”
“Yes, I did,” answered Ben.
“What did he look like?”
“I only saw him from a distance. He is around my height and had long blond hair pulled into a ponytail. He was wearing the dark grey of the Coalition and he moved like I have never seen. He made Saala look like the city watch. I heard him. His voice was smooth and strong, like a razor-fish in the water.”
Amelie looked to Meghan and whispered, tears filling her eyes, “I know Lord Jason, and that describes him. If he is coming, I need to go. Ben is right. My father would do anything for me. I came here because he knew I would be a target. He thought I would be safe in this place. If I’m not, then I could be a pawn in the Coalition and King Argren’s games.”
“Amelie.” Meghan squatted down next to her and put a hand on her other shoulder. “You are safe here. The mages would never allow anything to happen to you. Surely you know that by now.”
Amelie looked between the two, torn. They all sat there in silence. Ben looked to Meghan. She stayed focused on Amelie and didn’t meet his eyes.
“I have to go.” Amelie sighed.
“Amelie…” Meghan objected.
Amelie placed a hand on Meghan’s and interrupted. “No. The risk is too great. Not for me, for my father and for Issen. I cannot allow even the smallest chance of the Coalition capturing me. My family, my father, my people, my home would all be at risk.”
“Amelie,” Meghan started again, “this is your home. You may not feel like it yet, but you are already part of the Sanctuary. Our old ties have been severed and we belong here now. We have no fathers anymore. The Veil is our mother, she will protect you.”
“I have to go.” The whisper was barely audible. Amelie resolutely rose to her feet before looking back down at Ben and, in a stronger voice, declaring, “I will follow you out.” She turned to Meghan. “Please understand. There is more at stake here than just me or even my family. My father’s weakness is me. I have no doubt he would cave if I were captured. My people would suffer. Hundreds of thousands, Meghan. They would suffer under the Coalition if Argren didn’t make an example of us first. Issen as I know it would be no more. The Sanctuary has existed for millennia. It will continue to do just fine without me.”
“You are making the wrong choice,” snarled a steely voiced Meghan, “but it is yours to make. I wish you the best of luck, because I believe you will need it.”
Amelie looked back down at Ben. “We should go.”
“Do you, uh, do you need to get anything?” he asked.
“If we go, we go now,” she answered with determination.
Ben scrambled to his feet and motioned for Amelie to follow him to the hedge-wall. He kneeled down to make a stirrup for her feet and boosted her over the fence.
He looked back at Meghan and held her gaze for three long breaths. A year ago, they were siblings, adopted but still close. He felt like this night, their relationship had been sundered. He would never call her sister again. As she said, her family was the Sanctuary now.
Taking quick strides along the pebble path, Amelie looked to Ben. “You have a way out, right?”
“I do. Amelie, I want to you to know, this is real. The things I saw…”
“I know, Ben. I wouldn’t have left otherwise. We will talk later. This is not the place.”
With that, a clanging erupted through the still night. It sounded like a giant banging a steel spoon over and over against a cook pot.
“Damn it!” screamed Amelie. She grabbed Ben’s hand and they started to run. “That bitch didn’t even give us a head start.”
“What?”
“Meghan, Ben. Meghan just found a guard. Or a mage.”
Ben steered them down a fork in the road and between breaths said, “We have to get to the water. There’s a lot of brush ahead that I don’t think the guards would ever spot us in. Should we run, or hide until the alarm dies down?”
Amelie, already panting, replied, “We’re trying to escape the bloody Sanctuary. The guards aren’t what we need to worry about. We fucking run!”
And they did.
The buildings Ben had passed between earlier were lit up like fall festival jack-o-lanterns. They’d be spotted within heartbeats of passing between them. Instead, Ben pulled Amelie toward the exterior wall and through the waist-high grass. They started a wide circle around the populated areas of the grounds.
He glanced back and saw the trampled path they were leaving. Someone tracking them wasn’t the problem right now, though. Movement was their only option. Running into a guard or worse would ruin their escape attempt.
They made it to the outside wall and paused. Amelie was breathing heavily and leaned against the cool stone that encircled the city side of the grounds.
“So, how are we getting out of here?” she asked between deep rasping breaths.
Ben grinned. The stress of the last few da
ys had weighed heavily on him, but the confusion from earlier was done. Now they just had to execute their escape. Whatever had happened between him and Meghan could be dealt with later. Amelie was the one in danger and she was the one who had trusted him.
“Boat,” he said. “If he can wait long enough. I know you’re tired, but we’ve got to move.”
Amelie pushed off the wall with a groan and a broad gesture. “After you.”
Ben started again, tracking the outside wall to get to the riverbank, which he hoped they could move along until they met Mathias. He kept a quick pace, but not the run they started at. Amelie clearly was no longer used to physical activity. The last thing he needed was to wear her completely out.
The clanging sirens continued, and in the distance, Ben could see bright spots of light moving throughout the grounds. Their possible saving grace, he thought, was that the entire complex wasn’t lit. It looked like individuals carrying the lights which were easy to see coming. As long as they could avoid them, they should be fine.
But as they neared the water, Ben saw they had a problem. A bobbing light was making its way toward them. From a distance, it looked like it was tracking the outside wall as well.
“I should have thought of that,” muttered Ben. “Of course they’ll check along the walls to see if we’re climbing out somewhere.” He glanced behind them. A thousand paces back, and behind a stand of trees, another light flickered in and out of sight.
“Can we climb out?” whispered Amelie.
Ben brushed a hand along the wall and said, “I thought about that before I came in. This wall is some sort of mage-fused stone. It’s completely smooth. There’s nowhere to get a finger grip. Any hooks you could throw over the top and try to climb would just slide off. We have to make it to the water, it’s the only way out.”
“There.” Amelie pointed to a low, dark building. “That should be deserted this time of night, and there’s something in there we can use.”