Now Joakim had three swords, he looked at them and decided on the Scallian blade and one of the short swords. He checked the two men and found two small throwing knives on the first one he’d killed and slid them into his belt. The second one had a chunk of hardened cheese wrapped in some cloth in a pouch on his belt and Joakim took a bite then spat it out as it tasted of mould. Finally he unclipped one of their cloaks and slid it over his shoulders so it hung down and hid the swords he now carried. He pulled both bodies into the room he’d been in, then took the cloak off the other man and cleaned the blood off the floor as best he could before throwing the cloak into the room and closing the door.
The question was what to do now. He was in the middle of the Keep and had no way of knowing why he’d been brought here or what might be going on. He knew the Highlords audience and personal chambers were in the upper levels, below him he didn’t have a clue. He needed answers and the best place to get answers was from soldiers. If he’d had a coin he would have flipped it and gone the direction chance took him, as it was as he stood pondering his options he heard voices from down the hallway. He couldn’t see anyone as the hallway ended in the T-junction so whoever was there was round the corner, his only option was to go the way he’d come when brought here and back towards the elevating cabinet.
He stopped when he reached the cabinet unsure what to do. He didn’t relish the idea of stepping back inside that thing because he wasn’t sure how it actually worked. He’d been told years ago that somehow it connected to your thoughts and went where you directed it, but if that was the case could someone with a stronger mind take it over and take you somewhere you didn’t want to go. Maybe send you crashing twenty levels to the ground? There had to be another way, the Keep was vast and so far he’d only seen this one elevating cabinet, it was too small a thing to move the amount of people who must be inside the Keep at any given time around.
He walked a little way down the hallway past the cabinet trying the doors as he past, they were either locked or led into rooms similar to the one he’d been held in. Then when he was about to give up and head back to one of the empty rooms to hide out he opened a door that led onto a narrow platform that had stairs leading off up and down. Stairs. That was more like it, stairs you could reply on, stairs couldn’t be controlled.
He kept a hand on the door as it closed behind him so it did not make a sound and looking over the waist height rail on the platform. The stairs disappeared in both directions into gloom though he could see dim lights spaced up and down the wall and on other platforms that he guessed led off onto other levels. He knew by going down he would eventually reach the bottom and have to deal with the Guard of the Gate. Going up was the unknown, by now the son of the Highlord and his army would be long gone so the only soldiers left would be personal guards or more mercenaries like those he killed. He decided his best option was to go up, find some soldiers and hope to blend in long enough to learn something.
He moved off up the stairs with speed, he knew by now the men he killed must have been discovered, for all he knew the voices he’d heard could have been their relief. Whichever way the men who belonged to the voices would have wondered why guards who were supposed to be outside a room were missing and would have gone to investigate.
Six
Tenemi was in Cathedral.
The purity of thought was so overwhelming after spending time with humans, they were so chaotic, their rationale beyond understanding and yet they thrived. Legend said that before the Frail Men humanity had been on course for mutual self-destruction. Their wars were endless, their greed knew no bounds as they sought to own, to master all that was around them. And if they could not get what they desired the idea of it consumed them to the point all rational thought was expelled and their brute natures took over. The Frail Men took humans away from that path, gave them purpose gave them reason. But human nature was what it was and eventually they had rebelled against the calming hand of the Frail Men and turned on their benefactors.
Of course Tenemi had to admit that the A’yai had played no small part in that rebellion, they too like the humans had abandoned the enlightenment the Frail Men offered in return for the sword and spear. Not that an A’yai had ever picked up a weapon, nothing as crass as that even though they were well equipped to defend themselves should the need arise. The A’yai were the brains the humans needed when the berserk rage was upon them and with A’yai guidance the humans had prevailed.
Thinking back on those years Tenemi thought it had all been a wasted effort, the humans had shown such promise. They were ingenious when they set their mind to it. Give them any problem any obstacle and they would find a way round it. Those first years after the fall of the Frail Men had been a golden era for mankind. The original twelve Highlords had ruled over decades of progress and peace, but then the inevitable happened and one man saw something another had and decided he wanted it more. That was the beginning, violence begat violence, vengeance called for more vengeance and mankind fell into its normal patterns of war and division.
So the A’yai had come to believe their decision all those years ago had been the wrong one and that turning on the Frail Men had not freed mankind to greater things but just imprisoned them in the pit they always fell into.
Tenemi
Tenemi refocused, it was not unknown for an A’yai to become distracted but it was unwelcome when in Cathedral.
Forgive my lapse
No forgiveness required yours is the greater burden distraction is expected
Nevertheless it should not have happened
All is in place
Yes the humans have control of the keep and the Highlord will be subdued
And the heir
He is beyond the mountains
And the Regulator
Controlled
He is an unknown and his usefulness has been reviewed
I was not consulted
It was thought unnecessary you have enough to contend with
And the outcome of this review
The Regulator is a danger
So he will be eliminated
Unlike the humans we would not act in haste
We have knowledge of his worth to us
He could lead to others of his kind namely his former commander
Siron Darr died on Maramir
Joakim Karesh believes him dead yes but reality might be otherwise
So he is required in that search
His knowledge may be of use and he knows more than he thinks
Killing the Regulator would be the prudent course of action
But we risk losing a greater prize
So we must learn what he knows and what he has forgotten
Bring him to us for questioning nothing else must distract you
All is as expected the signal will be received by dawn as predicted
Yes the signal is on course
“Tenemi?”
The human Kark was there.
A’yai couldn’t feel revulsion but if it was something they were capable of Tenemi was convinced it was something that was felt every time this human was near. Tenemi focused on the human, some of Kark’s associates referred to him as a weasel, Tenemi had never seen one of the small furry creatures personally but the association was apt.
“Tenem…”
“Yes.”
Kark nearly jumped as Tenemi turned to look at him, many humans were uncertain around A’yai, it was said their faces were like the dead and their eyes more so. Tenemi would never admit it to the other A’yai but it was pleasing to act on this uncertainty and see the human’s reaction.
“Boskags sent me we await further instructions.”
Tenemi nodded and moved to walk past and stopped alongside him. The human flinched as Tenemi laid a hand on his shoulder, it was a gesture Tenemi had seen humans do and he wanted to see what reaction Kark would give, the acceleration in his heart rate and flinch were pleasing.
“Thank you Kark,” Tenemi
turned to move on then stopped and leaned in towards Kark making the human cringe back. “Have the Regulator brought up to the Highlords quarters.”
“Do you intend torturing him…” Tenemi ignored Kark and headed out into the hallway towards the Elevating Cabinet. “But Boskags was hoping to question him.” Kark called after him and Tenemi carried on not slowing.
“I have given my instructions and they are the will of the A’yai you will please carry them out.”
Tenemi reached the doors to the cabinet and willed them to open and stepped through.
Seven
Joakim had gone up four flights of stairs and was yet to encounter anyone. On each landing he stopped and slowly opened the door to check the hallways beyond. The first two levels above the one he’d been held on seemed to be exact copies, he began to wonder if perhaps he was caught in some trap devised by the Highlord and was doomed to spend the rest of his days climbing but never leaving the level he was on.
There were stories of such games the Highlords played to while away the long years of their lives. People taken from their homes and given tasks to complete and puzzles to solve only to find the next task or puzzle the same as the one they had just done. They were trapped for years eventually dying of old age never having completed the trails set them. Joakim had been told such stories as a child, usually they were accompanied by a threat that if he didn’t behave or do as he was told that such an ordeal would be waiting for him. He’d never believed the stories, for a start if the people were trapped all their lives until they died how did anyone get to hear about their ordeal?
On the third level up the floor was in darkness. Joakim had stood in the doorway for a minute or more listening trying to see if he could hear anything, any sign of life only to give up when the silence became unnerving.
On the forth level the lights were on and he saw his first signs that his earlier suspicions that something was amiss were correct. The door opposite the one leading to the stairs was a splintered mess. The floor outside the door showed several dark footprints that years of experience told him were caused by whoever smashed the door in walking in blood. He stood at the landing door for a minute listening but could hear nothing so risked investigating further.
The room looked exactly the same as the one he’d been kept in. On the floor just inside the shattered door was a man dressed in the livery of the Highlords Household Guard. He was dead, his throat was cut and it looked like he’d taken a serious beating beforehand. Joakim turned his hands over and looked at his knuckles, they were bruised and bloodied, seems he’d not gone without a fight. Checking the body Joakim felt several broken ribs and the wrist on his left arm was shattered. Whoever had done this took pleasure in dealing out punishment, Joakim had met a few such men in his time, he didn’t like them, didn’t like their ways. Joakim knew he wasn’t a peaceful man, he was a man of violence but he always considered himself above the level of a thug.
Stepping out into the hallway he decided to try several other doors to see if perhaps anyone else was being held like he was, he was just about to try the third door along from the room where he’d found the dead man when he heard voices. Pushing the door he was relieved it opened, stepping through he pulled it to leaving a slight gap that he could peer through.
A group of four men walked down the corridor towards him, the man in the lead was the weasel who’d been in the tavern the night before. As they passed Joakim pushed the door closed and leant against it.
This was an interesting turn of events and went some way to explaining why he was here. Joakim wondered if the weasel and the other man had been in Underhill scoping out possible recruits for what was going on here, perhaps this was the other job that he had been offered? He wondered what had made him a problem, the other man had seemed interested in him being a Regulator.
He pressed his ear to the door and when satisfied the group had passed opened it looking down the hallway in the direction they had gone. There were four of them, not the best odds but then he had surprise on his side. The weasel would be the best source of information, better than some foot soldier who only knew about the role they had been given to carry out.
Joakim had been a hunter since he’d been old enough to hold a bow. His earliest memories had been of going into the woods that surrounded Rochster with his brothers and cousins and hunting for their supper. His father had been a great hunter and had for years managed all the game for the surrounding towns. In later life Joakim had learned to hunt men and that skill had been honed during his years as a Regulator, especially the tours he had done in the jungles of Maramir. Hunting men in the pristine hallways of a Highlords Keep would be childsplay.
The men were taking no heed of their surroundings, so sure in their mastery of the situation they obviously felt no need to. The professional soldier in Joakim was appalled at this lazy attitude, in his mind no matter if you were on the front line or safe in your own home a soldier should always be alert to what was around him. Perhaps Joakim’s life had made him more aware to taking this care but even so the men he followed lack of attention worked in Joakim’s favour.
The weasel was on point and talking with the man nearest to him, Joakim stayed far enough back using doorways as cover so he couldn’t hear clearly what the talked about but some snippets drifted back down the hall. The weasel was annoyed about his treatment by someone called Boskags, he felt he should be trusted with the bigger jobs rather than being a messenger boy to what he called that thing. The other man walked in silence and nodded his head in agreement obviously not wanting to offer an opinion of his own. It was clear whatever this little set up was that the weasel was in charge of the group albeit in his eyes he felt he should be in charge of more.
Joakim wondered who this Boskags was. Whoever it was they had authority over these men and the weasel, perhaps it was the other man from the tavern, there had been an air of command about him.
Up ahead the hallway branched off left and right and the group slowed, Joakim found a doorway and squeezed himself into it making himself as small as he could. The group had stopped and the weasel motioned off to the right.
“Go get the others and meet us down on twenty, this Regulator could be a handful even if unawares.”
Two of the men headed off leaving the weasel and the man he’d been talking with the whole way along the hall. So it would seem whatever purpose Joakim had been detained for was no longer needed and these men were off to dispatch him. His decision to have a look around had been the right one, at least out here he had more of a chance than he would have unarmed and backed into a room. With the group split he now only had two to deal with, the odds just got much better. The weasel and other man turned down the left hand hallway and Joakim waited for a few heartbeats before leaving the doorway and jogging to the junction.
The hall to the right curved a dozen feet down and the men who had gone that way were out of sight, the left ended in a door and there was no sign of the weasel or his friend. Joakim moved quietly to the door and put his ear to it but could only hear the weasels muffled voice. That man really liked to complain. Joakim pushed the door slightly and peered through onto another stairwell landing, sliding through quick he let the door shut behind him and peered over the railing. The two men were one flight of stairs down and just starting on a second flight. This stairwell was better it than the one Joakim had used coming up and he could see down past them and counted the landings to the one he guessed led to the level he had originally been on. He waiting until the two men had come off a third landing heading towards the one that would lead onto level twenty and started down after them.
One of the things you learned early on Maramir was how to move through the jungle quietly. Most people thought the wild was loud what with animal noises, water flowing, wind in the trees. This was true to some extent but humans by their nature were noisy creatures and usually once they start blundering around all other animals go quiet. Joakim had never lost this skill, you had it drummed int
o you, it was the difference between life and death. Moving down the stairs without making a sound was easy.
By the time the weasel and his friend reached the landing for level twenty Joakim was starting down the set of stairs leading to them. As they stopped to open the door he too stopped and as they stepped through he jumped down the last half dozen steps to land cat like as the door swung closed. Now came a gamble, Joakim had no way of knowing what was on the other side of the door, for all he knew there could have been a dozen or more men waiting for the weasel, he had to gamble the other men were yet to reach the level.
Grabbing the closing door he stepped into the hallway just as the man with the weasel sensed movement and half turned. Joakim had a second to register the two men were alone before the man was reaching for his blade, Joakim was ahead of him and already had his out and swung it in an arc across the man’s throat. He pushed the man aside, he was already dead before he hit the floor and stepping over the falling body Joakim was ready as the weasel turned.
Joakim had always thought himself fast but the weasel moved like lightening. The man pulled his sword as he turned and stepped towards Joakim and their blades clashed loudly in the quiet hallway. There was no finesse to the move, both men were seasoned fighters and fought with plain brutal movements that while had no style were practical and aimed to tire and eventually overpower an opponent. The problem for Joakim was that he wanted the weasel alive to question him, the weasel had only one intention.
The weasel began to push his attack, he’d pulled a short sword and was using a two handed method similar to what the Dandies in the Petty Court favoured. The weasel’s change of attack gave Joakim the time to move around into the hallway so now he had he back to the wall facing the door that led to the stairwell landing. He chose now to press his own attack more and switched his sword from his left to right hand and pulled the shorter blade so they both faced each other with two blades.
You Can't Avoid A Little Blood Page 4