by K. F. Breene
“Crap, the Graygual are on to us. We have to get out of here and help hide everyone.” Leilius licked his lips and stared down the sheer face of the wall. He could get back down, probably, but Ruisa had barely been able to climb upward. It would take her a long time to hunt for hand- and footholds, and she was probably still tired.
He glanced around the room. Rope would sure help them out right then.
Ruisa stood by a large trunk, pushing up the lid as she stared in Leilius’ direction.
“What are you doing? Get away from there.” Leilius waved her away.
Ruisa looked down at the contents. “Everything is so incredibly organized.”
“Which means the packer will probably know if one thing is out of place.”
“He wouldn’t know it was us, though.” She picked out a gold chain and studied a sort of amulet dangling from the end. “Pretty.”
“Who else would it be? C’mon, we have to figure out how to get out of here.”
“Pick the lock.”
Shouting rang through the night. A hoarse scream curled Leilius’ toes. Thankfully, it sounded like a man. He just hoped it wasn’t someone they had come with.
He looked around the room wildly. “With what?”
“You’re the spy—figure it out.” Ruisa picked out something else and studied it.
“Cut that out!” Leilius wiped the sweat off his forehead, his mind racing.
“What set them off?” someone asked in a venomous tone.
“She killed two of theirs. They reacted when—”
The voices drifted away. Leilius put his ear to the door, trying to hear anything else, but could only get the hum of voices. “Sounds like someone attacked S’am. Or else one of the girls that came with us. I can’t be sure.”
“You can understand Graygual?” Ruisa asked, holding up yet another thing that she shouldn’t have been touching.
“I have an ear for languages and put a lot of time into that one after the Shadow Lands. Rohnan has been teaching me. I can only understand it, though. My accent is horrible and the words don’t come easily when I try to speak it. Rohnan says that is normal—”
“Okay, okay, I get it.” Ruisa made a let’s go motion. “Keep working on that lock.”
“I haven’t started working on the lock.” Leilius wiped his moist palms on his pants. “Is there anything in that trunk that’ll help me pick a lock?”
The sound of objects moving made Leilius grit his teeth. There was absolutely no way Ruisa would be able to put everything back the way she found it. She held something out, still looking downward. “Try this.”
He grabbed it out of her hand, finding a pack of lockpicks.
“Oh, here.” Ruisa handed out something else. “Looks like a key.”
“How are you finding these things?” Leilius glanced over her shoulder at the shadowy box. He couldn’t make heads or tails of anything.
“I’m an orphan. I’ve rifled through a lot of other people’s personal items in the dead of night so they wouldn’t know.”
“Does privacy mean nothing to you?” Leilius mumbled, taking the heavy key. “I doubt these doors have spare keys.”
He fit the key in the lock and turned. The lock disengaged. “Oh shit, it worked.” He braced by the door for a moment as his heart picked up speed; he knew he was about to run into danger again. Somehow, being locked in a room was less daunting than having no cover in a castle filled with a lot of men. The stakes might not have been higher, but the room for error certainly was.
“Put that stuff away. We’re—” Leilius started as Ruisa materialized by his side. “You probably should’ve been trained to spy.”
“I was. I just said I was an orphan, remember?”
“It’s as if you think that by being an orphan, you don’t have to live by the rules.
“Kind of a big jump in logic, that.” She paused. “What are you waiting for.”
“The right time.”
“It’s quiet. Now is the right time.” Ruisa moved him to the side and took the handle, thankfully having more courage to continue their task than he did.
The door opened on silent hinges, ghosting the crack in the door larger. Ruisa slowly stuck out her head with her knife held low. Her shoulders disappeared in the crack next, then her body was gone.
Here we go.
Taking a deep breath, Leilius slowly exhaled as he slipped out of the door and closed it behind him. After locking it, he slipped the key into his pocket and took in the scene. Doorways lined the hallway, with an empty chair sitting in front of the room at the end. Sparsely placed torches burned on the walls, blackening the stone and casting an eerie glow within the space.
“They attacked One.”
A blast of surprise rocked through Leilius. Someone was coming!
He hurried across the hall and down the way, running to a large tapestry on an extended portion of wall. He slipped into the shadow next to it and froze. A slight shuffle came from Ruisa down the hallway as she hopefully found a good hiding place.
“Filthy rats,” someone else said. Two Graygual turned the corner, walking slowly. Both sets of eyes scanned in front of them before settling on the chair at the end.
“That’s what she calls Inkna, too. Rats. She hates them.”
“She hates us.”
“One tried to help her. The master said that would help earn her trust. Maybe loosen her up. If we had her people, we wouldn’t need the Inkna. We could just do away with them.”
The one on the right sniffed. “What’s the difference? We trade one mind raper with another. We need to exterminate the whole breed. It isn’t right. Anyone with mental fuckery needs to die.”
The other one put out a hand to slow the first. He glanced around before lowering his voice. “That’s just the thing. The only reason her people, or the Shadow, are giving us any trouble is because the master messed with their homes. They don’t want any part of all this. If they killed the Inkna, they’d be content just to live in a good land and mind their own business.”
“You’re full of snaif.” Leilius hadn’t heard that last word before. He wondered if S’am knew of it. She loved collecting bad words—he needed to remember it for her. “They might not have wanted to get involved in the beginning, but now they are. They are a hard, stubborn type of people. The master isn’t going to turn her, no matter how nice that stuck-up trash is to her.”
The first sucked air through his teeth. His gaze hit the door Leilius had recently exited. “You’d better watch what you say about One.”
“Why? You trying to kiss his—” Leilius didn’t get the last word.
The other put a hand on the first and pulled, getting them walking again. His gaze was still on that door. “I’m not trying anything with that—” Leilius shook his head in frustration as the man’s words jumbled together. “But he can kill you. Me. Any one of us. How many times does he have to prove it? You don’t want to be on his list, or you might go out and never come back. He’ll make up a reason for how you died, and the master will never question. He’s got the master’s favor.”
“That’s only because of his position. If we unseat him, he’ll go out and never come back.”
“It’s because One is as smart as he is cunning, you fool. The master doesn’t have friends and he doesn’t sympathize. He killed the former Three, and they grew up in neighboring villages. Don’t get on One’s bad side if you value your neck, that’s all I’m saying.”
They stopped further down. “You’re weak.” He opened a door, which wasn’t locked. “You don’t have what it takes to rise within the Inner Circle. You’ll always be dangling out on the edges, hoping for an easy ride.” The Graygual shot a scathing look back at the door of the room Leilius had exited before disappearing.
The first shook his head and continued on down the way, muttering to himself. His hand came up, like an unconscious movement, and grazed a knife at his belt. A moment later he’d disappeared through another unlocked door.
The hallway fell silent. Leilius exhaled softly. A hand found his shoulder, scaring him out of his skin.
Ruisa grinned from behind a tapestry, peeking out at him. “Didn’t hear me coming?” she whispered, rubbing it in.
“I was taking a moment.”
Her expression melted into seriousness and her glance drifted beyond him. “What were they saying?”
Leilius shook his head, his gaze finding that door. “The Inner Circle sounds like a snake pit. And you rummaged through a trunk belonging to the smartest, scariest member among them. If I didn’t have bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.”
She rolled her eyes. “I put everything back. So now what?”
“We need to find the others and figure out what to do next. Those guys didn’t sound panicked, so S’am must be okay, but there are more Inkna here than she can handle.”
“The captain is coming and we have the root to suppress mind power. The Inkna aren’t the problem. The Graygual are the problem. Remember how that one outside of the Mugdock land moved? He was insanely fast.”
Leilius shuddered. He didn’t need reminding about the Inner Circle. “There are more of them than she can handle, too. I don’t know why we followed at all. The captain has to sort this out, not us.”
“Complaining isn’t solving the problem. C’mon.” Ruisa pulled at his arm and started forward. She got five steps, however, into full view, before a shadow sailed across the far wall.
Leilius shoved her toward a groove in a darkened patch before slinking back into his shadow of choice. Her new hiding place wasn’t great, but it was better than the tapestry, at least, where her toes had peeked out the bottom.
Her glare was equal parts confusion and irritation, pointing at him through the silence. There wasn’t so much as a rustle of fabric to announce the gliding figure making his way down the hallway. His footfalls made no sound, though he was a tall, well-built man. Movements lithe and graceful, he walked perfectly balanced, as though he always had a sword in his hand. His gaze flashed up and down the corridor. For a moment, it rooted to the empty chair at the end. He passed Ruisa without noticing her, and then Leilius; the breeze made by his wake was a mostly clean smell, with only a hint of perspiration.
With a last look around, the Graygual stopped in front of the door Leilius had exited. Shivers ran down Leilius’ spine as a key was produced and fitted into the lock. Another look and the Graygual turned. The lock disengaged.
A strong, scar-ridden hand flattened against the door, ready to push it open. He paused, which was vastly different from other men freezing. Freezing implied a tenseness, but there was nothing tense about this man. In fact, he was a terrifying type of fluid despite his whole body going still, as if he were ready to spring forward with a kill shot at any moment.
Slowly, still strangely silent, as though he were not really in this world, the Graygual turned.
Fire ants crawled and bit Leilius’ flesh. The desire to scream and run was so strong that he stated to quiver.
The Graygual’s eyes, barely seen in the dim light of a nearby torch, scanned the wall opposite his door. His hand dropped, sliding down the wood until soft fingers fell across metal. He sniffed, and continued to look over the walls and floor around him. In a moment, that hard, intelligent gaze landed on the tapestry. It dropped quickly, scanning the bottom, and then around the sides. Flowing over it before moving on, next those eyes were pointed directly at Leilius.
15
“Wait!” Alexa threw out a hand and caught Xavier, stopping his forward progress. Marc bumped into the back of her before following their lead. “There’s someone on the floor with Leilius.”
They each drifted to the sides on the first floor near the stairs, having ample options to hide behind the furniture littering the area. Rachie and Marc took advantage immediately, getting out of sight while the others altered their plans yet again. This was probably the fourth path they’d taken to get to the two Honor Guard members upstairs. Each attempt before led into a still and silent sentry, staring straight ahead with a stern face.
“It’s one of the Graygual,” Alexa whispered, veering to the side with her hand on Xavier’s shoulder, directing him.
He went with her like she’d molded him out of putty, glancing down at her hand and then into her face with an intensity unrelated to their desperate situation.
“Xavier,” Marc whispered. He stepped into the open long enough to flick Xavier on the neck. “Pay attention, you idiot! Now is not the time to drool.”
Xavier blinked before his brow crumpled into a glower. “I was waiting to hear what she said.”
Sure he was, the dope.
“He seems suspicious. Leilius is near him. I think.” Alexa shook her head. “It could be him; I’m not positive. A girl—Ruisa, I think—is down the way. Leilius is about to poop himself in fear. Something is happening.”
Alexa turned to Xavier. “We have to help,” she whispered furiously. “It’s only one of them and there are a six of us. We can take him.”
Xavier glanced back at Marc, and a brief flash of uncertainty crossed his features. He was probably thinking there were only five worth mentioning—actually, four and a half, because Leilius wasn’t great either. Determination stole over, though. If Leilius and Ruisa were up there with one of the Graygual, they had to try and help.
Marc started forward at the same time Rachie did, not needing to be told to get moving. They hurried up the stairs quietly, Marc by far the loudest in the ground.
Alexa’s hand swung back and fell on Marc’s chest. She stopped, forcing him to stop with her. The others slowed, looking back in confusion. Shadow and flickering light falling across her features from the sporadic torches, she met Marc’s eyes and slowly shook her head. “Stay back. He’ll hear you.”
Without another word, they kept going. Without him.
Fear crept into his middle as he was left standing on the deserted stairs. He looked around, realizing the lack of anywhere to hide. If someone came after them, which was bound to happen sooner or later, they’d find a lanky guy with a poor understanding of weaponry standing in hostile enemy territory like an idiot. They’d run him through for sure.
Coming to a quick decision, Marc hurried back down the stairs and hid behind a heavy couch with sagging cushions. There he waited, letting the heavy silence settle around him.
The minutes slowly ticked by, with no indication of what was going on upstairs. If they’d started fighting, he couldn’t hear from his location.
“You’re in quite a pickle, Xandre.”
Marc’s head snapped around at the sound of S’am’s voice. She walked into the spacious room next to a short, balding man. Three Graygual and the scarred man they’d once taken prisoner trailed them. A dirty and torn piece of fabric flowed around her with a gaping hole in the side.
“Please, pinch that together, will you?” The short man, who must’ve been Xandre, waved his finger at the tear.
“Your Inkna are attacking your Inner Circle. It doesn’t sound like you have a firm handle on your minions.” S’am smiled in that taunting way she did when she was trying to inspire violence.
“This slice of chaos was expected, as I have told you. I have introduced someone who makes a habit of jeopardizing herself. Had you not taken out Tac, things would’ve progressed smoothly. You are lucky I know how to stop them.”
Shanti tsked. “Finger pointing only creates enemies, Xandre. Especially such childlike finger pointing. I’m lucky you knew how to stop them? Inkna can’t fight, and their range has limits. How to stop them is pretty logical. I wonder that your people didn’t know how. You created a defensive force that can’t think on their own. How are you still alive?”
“Take her to her room and lock her in. I need time to reflect.” Xandre massaged his temples and slowed.
With a smug expression, Shanti continued on until her grin melted away. Her eyes snapped toward Marc’s hiding place. He ducked away and winced, realizing
too late how often Leilius had told him not to move.
“Wait,” Shanti said suddenly.
A pregnant pause filled the room, and movement ground to a halt.
“What kind of partnership did you have in mind?” she asked.
Marc couldn’t help rising just a little bit, glancing over the arm of the chair to see Shanti walking back toward Xandre. He was staring at her quizzically.
“I want to know my options so I can sleep on it.” Shanti stopped with her side to Marc and hands on her hips.
“You would help rule, of course,” Xandre said hesitantly.
S’am’s fingers waggled. “You know very well I don’t want this land ruled. Was that a test?”
“Interesting. A new path has just opened up to me. One with much success. You hate when your loved ones are in danger, yes?” A small smile spread across Xandre’s face.
S’am’s fingers waggled again, almost like she was waving. “You know I hate when my loved ones are in danger. You thrive off that, not to mention that you’ve already threatened me with it. Do you have memory problems? Should I be concerned you won’t remember this conversation?”
“I knew it, yes. But I did not see the way clearly.”
Fingers waggled. “If you stay like that, you’ll be seen. Easily,” she said.
Xandre shook his head. “What?”
Dawning smacked into Marc as her message finally became clear. She wanted him to run.
He looked at the stairs, the only place he could go and not be seen by her group. Of course, other dangers waited up there.
“People will see right through you, Xandre,” S’am said. “Your lack of control will be viewed as weakness. And let’s be honest, the Inkna use you as much as you use them. They’ve asked for an alliance with me before, way before I had a pot to piss in. Now my pot is huge. They are not loyal to you. You should run. Soon.”
Marc paused in his crouch, ready to run but now holding off.
“I do not run, Shanti Cu-Hoi. That is your area of expertise. And see what happened when you stopped? You ended up here.”