by Guy Antibes
Valanna didn’t relish planning out assassinations, but until she came up with an alternative, they would execute as many rebels as they could. She thought back to Riotro and the Vashtans in Santasia who had encouraged the civil war and gritted her teeth. Valanna would do what was necessary to save the stability of her adopted country. It seemed like she had developed the same reservations about killing that Trak had shared with her.
~~~
Chapter Twenty-Seven
~
LUCKILY, THE HOUSE THAT MORI HAD GIVEN TRAK TO USE had more rooms than people. The problem was that someone would have to go out and purchase additional bedding. He thought of Mori, and it pained him to think she was held captive in the castle.
Trak asked Ferikan and Tembul to join him in the large sitting room of the house. Hana had prepared tea.
“We need provisions,” Trak said, “but none of us are Benninese.”
“If we dye Boriak’s hair, he looks the most like one among us,” Ferikan said. “We have used him before.”
Tembul nodded and looked at Trak. “You can teleport him to an alley near the central market and teleport him back, if you are worried about exposing our hiding place.”
Trak nodded. “I can do that. How soon can he be ready?”
“I’ll tell him now, and he can be ready by the time we finish our tea.” Ferikan stepped out for a moment and returned.
“I’m going back into the dungeon to look for Mori,” Trak said. “I’ll take another magician with me, so we can arrive shielded. Lenis lives down there, and I don’t trust him at all.”
Tembul looked away, embarrassed. “We should take him back to Torya with us.”
The statement shocked Trak. “After what he did to us?”
“I didn’t want to tell you earlier, but it will not go well for us if we return without him.”
Trak couldn’t stomach risking a broken fingernail to bring the traitor back to Torya. “He deserves death for what he’s done to us and how he has worked with our enemies.”
Tembul pressed his lips together. “Who are our enemies?” He pointedly looked at Ferikan. “We can’t take these with us either.” He pointed at the Vashtan with his chin.
Where did this attitude come from all of a sudden? “They were incarcerated along with Hana.”
“She is a decoy and these Vashtans aren’t?”
Ferikan began to color. “And you think we are decoys? Trak did not ask to rescue us, he offered, willingly. I thought you were together on bringing us here. We can use our teleportation skills to leave Homika. How did your enemies and Lenis know that Trak could teleport out of a shielded room? We couldn’t.”
“So you say. Maybe you tricked Trak,” Tembul said.
Ferikan waved away Trak’s comment. “You go with Trak. I will teach you our teleport spell and see if you can leave the cell. It will only take a moment, if you aren’t pursued, to test me out.”
“Maybe I will,” Tembul said. He rose and left the room.
Trak followed him out with his eyes. “I’m sorry for the outburst.”
“You needn’t be. He has been cool to us ever since we arrived. Perhaps for good reason, knowing what the Yellow Foxes have done.” Ferikan took a deep breath. “I am sorry I became angry, and it would have not gone well if he had tried to strike a pose.”
“I suppose not,” Trak said, although he had been ready to shield Ferikan if Tembul had jumped to his feet. As it was, Trak wondered if Tembul might be the one to need shielding. He definitely would take Tembul with him.
“Does Markik know the teleportation spell?”
Ferikan nodded.
“Would you ask him to teach it to Tembul and me before we leave? We can test it sufficiently in the courtyard. Tembul can teleport small things for short distances using my method, but he isn’t as good with larger items, like himself.” Trak forced a smile and got to his feet. Ferikan did the same and left Trak standing by himself in the study.
He struggled with accepting Tembul’s reactions, not only objecting to the Vashtans, but also encouraging, no, demanding that they free Lenis. These Blue Swan Vashtans hadn’t done anything to him, yet Lenis had been a disruptor, and in Trak’s mind, a betrayer, and yet Tembul insisted that he be returned.
Trak wanted to sit down and think about what had just happened a bit more, but Markik came into the study.
“Ferikan wants me to teach you how to teleport,” the Vashtan laughed. “It’s you who should be teaching me.”
“In due time,” Trak said. He followed Markik out the door. Trak wondered what Tembul would think about teaching the Vashtans poseless magic and instantly came to the conclusion that it would be, strategically, a very bad idea.
Tembul still didn’t look happy and nearly glowered at Trak. Had he just lost Tembul as a friend? Trak couldn’t bear to let it intrude on his thoughts and would proceed as if nothing happened until he could talk privately to the Toryan after visiting the Vashtan’s prior cell.
After learning the Vashtan’s teleport spell and understanding its limitations, since it might not have worked to remove them from the dungeon if there was a lot of metal in the way, Trak stood with Tembul.
“Make a shield, please,” Trak said, and then in the blink of an eye they stood in the Vashtan’s dungeon cell.
There were no new inhabitants, so Trak assumed the Vashtan pose and went nowhere. Tembul did the same.
“Another test,” Trak thought. He walked to a corner and teleported to the other corner using the same pose. “Are you mollified?” Trak said.
Tembul grunted, but duplicated Trak’s teleport across the room and gave Trak a quick jerk of his head. “I still don’t trust them.”
“I don’t fully trust Jojo either,” Trak said.
“At least we’re in agreement on that.”
Trak hadn’t seen truculence in Tembul’s demeanor since he first captured Nullia and him in the Toryan forests. He remembered how Tembul hadn’t even deigned to talk to him while they traveled. He realized that this was the same behavior. It took quite a while before Tembul trusted Trak, and now Trak knew that it would take more time than he intended to spend around the Vashtans for the Toryan to trust Ferikan.
“Now what is this about Lenis?” Trak said. “We didn’t get a chance to discuss that.”
Tembul frowned. “Lenis’s father was one of the men in the group that wanted you to take the apprenticeship.”
“To be Court Magician in the far distant future.” Trak nodded.
“Yes. If Lenis doesn’t return, there will be trouble enough for both of us.”
Trak pursed his lips and furrowed his brow. “Certainly, they all knew that anything might happen in Bennin.”
“Does it matter how things are here if Lenis’s father thinks otherwise?”
“I see your point, but if Lenis returns triumphant, he will take all the glory and have no compunction about lying about what really happened in Bennin. We will be in similar straits, right?”
Tembul picked at the stone in the wall. “But the Princess will be back. I suggest that we take him anyway. I think you have a better chance to leave Kizru with your fathers intact if all of the attention is on Lenis.”
Trak didn’t want to even think about his return at this point, at least not until they had taken the princess. “I will agree that we try to take Lenis with us, but I won’t fail to bring back the princess if that means leaving him behind. He has enough influence to return to Torya on his own, doesn’t he?”
Tembul shrugged. “You have another point.” Trak could see the barest glimmer of a smile on Tembul’s face and took it for a small victory.
“Let’s see if Mori’s been deposited here.” Trak moved to the door and peeked out into an empty corridor. His voice a mere whisper, he pointed down the hallway to Hana’s former cell. “We will start from here and work backwards.”
He opened the doors to the grates. The cells were still empty until he came to Hana’s. He slowly opened the litt
le door and looked inside the lit cell. Mori sat on the bed, her hands were folded on her lap and she looked vacantly at the opposite wall.
“Worry,” Trak said, concentrating on the woman. She swayed a bit and then put a hand to her head. Trak knew that the removal of any compulsion would give a headache at the very least. He used his magic to unlock her cell and motioned Tembul inside.
“Mori. Are you okay?”
She looked alarmed when she saw Trak. “You must leave. I am a trap.”
“Why?”
“They were very pleased to say if you rescue me, they will certainly find you.”
Tembul made a face while he thought. “Perhaps they can track a piece of clothing, a ring or a necklace of some kind.” He said it as if to himself, and then he looked at Mori. “Did they give you anything to wear?”
Mori gave him a blank look for a moment until she realized what he had said. “You still need to improve your Benninese.” She grinned and looked at her hands and put her hand around her neck, and then she checked her pockets. “Could it be a button or something?”
“We need to return immediately. Any of the others could have tracking devices, too!” Tembul said.
Trak threw off his black cloak and tossed it on the bed. “Here, take off all of your clothes and put this on. Tembul and I will turn to the wall while you do. Quickly!”
Trak took Tembul’s arm and twisted him around. He heard the swish of clothing.
“I’m done.”
Trak turned around. Mori clutched the neck of the robe that hung loosely around her. “Stay there." Trak took Tembul’s hand and Mori’s and disappeared from the cell.
The Vashtans stood talking to Hana in the courtyard when Trak re-appeared.
“Quickly. One of you might have brought a tracking device with you.”
“Not us,” Ferikan said. “We have spells that do that kind of thing and left two of them behind in our cell.”
“Oh, no!” Hana put her hand to her mouth.
“Get this on,” Tembul took off his robe and then led her to her room. Trak followed, and once the woman looked like Mori, Trak bundled all of Hana’s clothes and sent them deep into the jungle halfway towards Beniko prison.
“Do you have any clothes here?” Trak said to Mori, who appeared to be speechless, but managed to shake her head.
“Boriak, buy some smaller men’s clothes in the market close by. We can’t take the chance of having you spotted purchasing women’s wear,” Trak said. He had no idea how accurate the amulet was, or if Shinowa had used it yet.
The Vashtan nodded and hurried out the gate.
Mori glowered at Trak. “Jojo and you have put me into a bind. Because of him, my livelihood has been compromised.”
Tembul walked up. “Only until Jojo regains his place in the bureaucracy.”
“You think that’s going to happen? I’m not so sure, and I’m not so sure he will be an improvement over what we have now,” she said. “I know my cousin too well.”
“Any change in your country will be an improvement,” Ferikan said. “Your Emperor and Shinowa are ensorcelled by Vashtans of another clan, and they are about to enslave your country.”
Mori pressed her lips together. “There’s not much I can do, is there?”
“Jojo can,” Trak said.
“But you don’t know where he is. He changes places to live much more often that he changes his clothes.”
Trak squeeze Mori’s shoulder again. “He gave me a way to contact him. He arrived at your house shortly after I did to find you taken.”
Mori lifted Trak’s hand from her shoulder. “Then tell him.” She looked angry enough to spit, and that made Trak smile. She seemed back to her old self.
~
Trak didn’t want to chance travel on the streets, so he teleported to an alley that he had seen when he left the tavern where Jojo had met with Lenis and Paka. He walked with the general flow of people and slipped inside.
He hoped that the right bartender was on duty. He walked up. “I have a message for Jojo.” Trak had no idea if Jojo was a common nickname or not, but the man grunted.
Trak took the crumpled paper and straightened it out in front of the man. “This is it.” Trak paused. “Do you have a pen and ink or a pencil?”
The man tossed a pencil to Trak. It wasn’t quite the same as what he was used to in the north, but he crossed out the ‘We’ on the note and wrote an ‘I’ just above the words that proclaimed Mori’s capture and crossed out the last three words.
“This is it?” the man said.
“It is. Jojo will know what it means.”
Trak quickly left the tavern, and then returned to the courtyard. It was currently empty, so he walked into the house. Everyone had gathered in the sitting room, and they stopped talking when he entered. It surprised Trak how the entourage had grown.
He looked at Mori. “If the deliveryman is the right one, Jojo will soon know that you’ve been rescued.”
She turned her head. “From a cell to house arrest,” she said, sighing.
Tembul furrowed his brow. “No one is keeping you here, Mori. Should you feel the desire to leave, go ahead.”
Mori shook her head. “I honestly think Trak knows me better than you do.”
Tembul’s cheeks turned red, and he looked at Trak.
“Mori just said that she appreciates her rescue,” Trak said.
Tembul eyes swiveled to Mori, who quickly looked away.
~
Jojo pounded on the courtyard door after the sun had set. Trak opened the door for him. He and six others piled into the open space, each carrying bundles. Trak recognized Kanoki, the man who had helped rescue him from the prison.
“Your army has arrived?” Trak said. If this was Jojo’s revolution, he didn’t give it much chance.
“I brought headquarters with me. Shinowa has stepped up his efforts to find us. I suppose that once he lost Mori, he would have to try something else.”
Trak made sure the gate was secure. “We are rapidly running out of space,” he said. “You make fifteen. I hope you brought some food.”
Jojo nodded towards one of the bundles. “We won’t be here for long. I tried six of Mori’s other properties until I remembered this place.” He looked around the courtyard. “It looks like you’ve cleaned it up a bit.”
“Just a bit,” Mori said, walking up to the new arrivals. “A lot you did to save me.”
“You’re out, aren’t you? It is the results that count,” Jojo said.
Mori sniffed and then hugged her cousin. “You and your results. I’m glad to see you.”
“And I am glad they don’t have you to use against me.“
“Such emotion,” Mori said. Her face hardened after hearing Jojo’s words.
Jojo nodded and barely made a smile. “We have a bit of planning to do. Trak has stirred things up, and it’s time to act before Shinowa settles everything back down. We’re hungry, since we’ve been walking the streets of Beniko for hours, trying not to be noticed,”
Trak let Mori take the Benninese into the house. He sat outside on the flyer. Tembul and Ferikan joined him, sitting on opposite sides. Trak wondered if they had come to some kind of peace agreement, however temporary.
“If you were looking for Benninese to create a diversion to rescue the princess, I think they arrived,” Tembul said.
Trak looked back at the house. “If Shinowa hasn’t ensorcelled them. Why don’t you two use worry spells on them? I would like to act tonight to rescue the princess, but now we are saddled with the Benninese, we might have to wait. At least Mori has been reunited with her cousin.”
“There is that. Maybe she will be less prickly,” Tembul said.
“I doubt that.” Trak shrugged his shoulders. He’d been around prickly women enough in the last few years that he didn’t mind them. Mori used her prickliness to get her way, and Trak knew that. He liked her even better than his prickly aunt, but Honor had deserved his trust, and Mori still
didn’t. Everyone had strong and weak points, he decided. This excursion to Bennin had taught him that, at least.
Tembul went with Ferikan. Trak watched them walk, a pace apart, but they were together. He leaned back and looked up at the sky. Low clouds covered the moon and made the courtyard dark, drinking in what light came from the house.
He could see Jojo stand, arguing with Tembul and Ferikan. Trak rushed towards the house to intervene, ending his moment of solitude.
“How dare you?” Jojo said, looking down at Tembul. Ferikan stood slightly behind Tembul, but definitely a part of the discussion.
“Trak told me to,” Tembul said.
“Taking instructions from a boy?” Jojo said.
Ferikan stepped up. “He is our leader, regardless of his age. No one among us is stronger than he is.”
Trak stood just outside, listening to the discussion.
“We can’t have one of your men under your enemy’s influence. You must know that,” Tembul said. “Everyone here has to be proven.”
Jojo snorted. “Proven. I’m their leader.”
Trak needed to put a stop to this. “You are the leader of your men. I am the leader of my group of foreigners. We are working together towards the same end, are we not?”
Jojo turned towards Trak. “I saved you.” He didn’t look mollified until Mori walked from the kitchen with a tray of food and a steaming pot.
“I doubt it, cousin,” Mori said. “And Trak was the one who saved you, if my memory serves me correctly. You used him to escape the mines, a gods-given gift if there ever was one, or you would still be sweating in Beniko Prison in the middle of the jungle waiting for the right opportunity to break out.”
“So?” Jojo said.
“So!” Mori laid the tray down and looked up at Jojo, who towered over her, but in Trak’s mind, he wasn’t sure who the dominant person was in the present situation. “You work with him, and you might have a chance to save Bennin. Try and do it on your own, and I’m certain you will fail.”
Jojo’s face turned red, but his shoulders drooped just a bit. “You don’t believe in me?”