by Dan Decker
“What was that?” Karn asked.
“Never mind.” Adar frowned. That was a problem he could do little about for the present. “Tell me about my half brother. What kind of boy is he? How does Abel treat him?”
It was Karn’s turn to frown. “I don’t know much. I’ve never had much of an opportunity to talk with the lad. Abel has seen to most of his training personally. He doesn’t seem to be as jealous of the boy as he was of you.”
“That’s because he’s either not threatened yet or he believes he’s conjured up a way of convincing the council to give him another shot at becoming Ghar. Either way, Jorad is not going to have an easy go of things.”
“You’re half right,” Karn hesitated, apparently not certain how to go about things.
“Spit it out.”
“Look, I believe you. You say the Hunwei are back and you’ve seen them, that’s fine. But things have changed. Few people talk about the Portal these days. The Hunwei are seen as a myth and in many ways, Abel has managed to cement his power over Rarbon. Some are even treating him as a king. The belief that a Rahid needs to gain access to the Portal has dwindled. Most don’t even care. Abel has never been in a better position. I fear Jorad will have a hard time convincing anybody to listen to him, let alone take him seriously.”
Adar grunted. It wasn’t a surprise that his father had been working to fortify his position and if he was feeling secure in his place, a young fifteen-year-old son wasn’t going to be much of a threat to him. It only added to his legacy.
The part about the languishing belief in the Hunwei helped Adar make sense of something that had happened earlier in the day during the ride back to Neberan. He and the others had spoken at length about the Hunwei’s return, and Tere’s group of men wasn’t as solidly behind Tere as it had first seemed.
It was strange to Adar that Tere had believed him without argument and he assumed there was an ulterior motive that he was yet to pick up on. Lous had been ambivalent about Adar’s claims and Tarner hadn’t made much of an effort to conceal his doubt. Adar hadn't thought about it until now because there had always been those in Rarbon that didn’t believe, but if Karn’s report was accurate, Tarner's attitude now reflected that of a majority of the people in Rarbon. That didn't bode well for Jorad gaining access to the Portal. He wouldn’t be able to create a sense of urgency, let alone that of need.
It had already been a tough decision for Jorad to make and Adar was hesitant to give him any additional information that would make him doubt his mission. It had taken enough time to convince Jorad that Adar wouldn’t back out now.
Why couldn’t Adar shake the feeling that it was all going to be a waste of time? It was true that they might be better off if he sent Jorad to chase down one of the rumors of other hidden weapons facilities, but that was just as likely to be fruitless. Karn’s report meant that it was going to be harder for Jorad than Adar had expected but that didn’t mean that it wouldn’t work. Maybe once word of the Hunwei attacks began to come in from other sources the people might be forced to see the need. The problem was that it might already be too late when that finally happened.
It turned out that the rumor that had delayed Karn and Xarda was about an ancient artifact that had been embedded into a rock. When Adar had heard the story his first thought had been that it might be one of the weapon repositories from the Hunwei war and he’d pressed Karn with a number of questions that he wasn’t able to answer. What little Adar was able to learn wasn’t very helpful and more than a bit annoying.
After wasting more than a month looking for the place, Xarda had eventually convinced Karn that it was more important to get on with their trip to Neberan. Adar had refrained from chastising Karn for the delay, though he had to do it by biting his tongue. At the moment Adar had few allies, he couldn’t afford an idle word or two to affect that.
Instead of giving Karn a piece of his mind, Adar focused instead on taking steady even breaths. He asked after Semal Bray and learned that Semal was well, despite his advancing years, but his role in Rarbon had been marginalized recently. Karn hadn’t said as much, but Adar assumed that was due in part to Abel’s efforts. Abel had never liked Semal.
While some of the generals still called Semal in for the occasional lecture, much of the populace regarded him as insane. Adar had been planning to send Jorad to Semal for guidance on passing the tests and getting into the Portal. He would still do that, but it might be best if Semal’s help was kept quiet.
Semal should have been their best hope at getting Jorad into the Portal without having to do the Council’s stupid tests, but that wasn’t going to happen now. If he no longer had influence, he wouldn't be able to help convince the Council to give Jorad access to the Portal without going through all the trials. Which was a shame because Semal had been lobbying to ease some of the restrictions to become Ghar back when Adar was making his own claim. Semal had been making headway until it became a moot point when Adar had finished his last task.
It had been years since Adar had thought about his final trial. Thinking of it again still filled him with anxiety. It had only been luck that had kept him from slipping into the molten metal. He could still remember the surprise on Abel's face when he'd come up, burned but alive. He hadn't believed that his father wanted to see him die, but it had become clear that his father hadn't wanted him to succeed either. His father's surprised look had been quickly replaced by one of jealousy.
Adar scanned the people on the street, looking for anybody or anything out of place. There were a number of people going about their business. A small gathering had pulled chairs outside to enjoy the evening air, and Adar could smell their alcohol from several shops away.
After six months in Neberan, he knew almost everybody by sight. It was part of how he operated. He spent a great deal of effort to familiarize himself with the people around him in every new place. It was now second nature for him to absorb the routine of their normal habits. Nothing jumped out at him as unusual until he looked behind where there was a man that he didn't recognize following them.
His quick glance told him enough information to know that the man was from out of town. His clothing didn't strike Adar as coming from any particular nationality, which in itself was odd. Was the man trying to hide where he was from? He wore two short swords at his side and was a brawny fellow. The man hadn't made eye contact with Adar even though he was directly behind them. That was strange too. The man should have been looking in the direction he was walking. Adar looking over his shoulder would have drawn the eyes of the man.
Adar guided Karn down an alleyway while Karn continued to ramble on about Adar’s brother. They hadn't made it very far down the alley when Adar heard rushing feet. He'd been expecting this and was prepared; he turned at the last moment, a dagger in each hand.
The man that had been following them registered a look of surprise before one of Adar's daggers took him in the eye. The other sunk into his chest. Adar had his sword out the next moment, but there wasn't a need. Their attacker dropped his two swords and fell in a heap.
“Melyah!” Karn drew his sword and stepped away from the dying man while Adar looked back down the alley. There weren't any witnesses to the event and if they moved quickly they could get away. “Killed him pretty quick, didn’t you? Don’t you want to know why he was attacking you?”
Adar grunted. He hadn't recognized it earlier, but the coat told him the dying man was from Colonipo. He searched the man’s pockets and pulled out a worn piece of paper, which he handed to Karn.
“Already knew what he wanted.”
It was unlikely the man had found them without help, Colonipo was a long way away, and Adar had been careful to cover their tracks. Neare had mentioned a poster the other night, and Adar wondered if Neare had helped the man find him or perhaps even sent for him. Adar retrieved his daggers and cleaned them on the bounty hunters jacket. Somewhere a woman screamed, but it didn’t seem to be connected to his kill as the alley was still emp
ty and nobody had walked by on the street.
“Why you got a bounty hunter on your trail?” Karn asked.
“Caught a man doing something he shouldn’t and he didn’t survive my lesson. Grab his legs. I don’t think anybody saw me.”
“Lucky thing we’re leaving tonight.”
They moved the body over to the side of the alley behind some crates. Adar had been distracted by the bounty hunter so he hadn't given the scream a second thought. Now he wondered where it had come from, was somebody in need of help?
He was about to investigate further when another figure stepped into the alley. He prepared for an attack until he recognized Tere’s silhouette. For a moment, all Adar could see was Nelion soaked in blood as it spilled from her torn chest. Adar made a fist when he thought of the other man lying in his gore. She’d loved Adar, he knew it, and it didn’t matter how he found her, but the thought still fueled him to a full rage. He had never been satisfied with Tere's explanation that he'd been passing by and just happened to hear Adar as he fought to keep Nelion from bleeding to death. A thought occurred to him. Tere had thrown that particular fact in his face, intending to get him angry. Why? Had Tere wanted to continue the fight? Was he as uncomfortable with this truce as Adar was?
Adar already regretted entering the truce. If he had known that Xarda and Karn would show up today, he would not have entered into the arrangement.
“Gone for all of an hour,” Tere said examining the body, “and you two have already managed to find trouble.” Tere was considerably calmer than when Adar had last seen him at the boarding house. As hard as it was for him to do, Adar tried to imagine how Tere felt.
Tere had spent all those years looking for them so that he could return Jorad to Rarbon, only to find out that Adar had left a plan in place for Jorad to return anyway. If Adar were him, he would have been furious.
If Tere had killed Nelion, it was only the beginning of the punishment he deserved.
Adar’s eyes narrowed. Tere could have put the bounty hunter on his trail; it would, after all, be a convenient way to get rid of him and still return with Jorad to Rarbon. It was too dark to make out much of Tere’s face. Karn was right; Adar should have waited to question the man.
“What do you want?” Adar asked as Tarner and Lous followed Tere into the alley. Both of them looked down at the body with a measure of surprise.
Tarner took it better than Lous did. Adar had to keep his hand from touching the tip of his ear that Tarner had sliced off. It had been a long time since he'd taken a wound that was more than a cut that left a scar and that was because Tarner had attacked him when his back had been turned. It was a cowardly thing to do; he had been keeping Jorad from killing Tere. Tarner had seen that but hadn’t cared.
Adar would have to keep an eye out for Tarner in the future. He remembered giving Tarner some training back when he'd been a scrawny and short boy. Come to think of it, he hadn't gained much height since. He was a great deal bulkier and Adar wondered if Tarner kept that way on purpose to make up for his lack of height.
Lous was affected by the body. Adar didn't know Lous from before and hadn't yet had a chance to learn his last name. When he did, that might tell him a little bit more about the man and why he'd been sent on this particular expedition. It seemed like Abel never did anything without having multiple reasons for his actions. Lous might have been somebody that Abel needed out of the way to get something done or perhaps Abel just didn’t like the man and hoped that he would die on the trip.
“Jorad was taken by the town guards.” Tere looked down at the body of the bounty hunter. “It seems that he takes after his father. He’s wanted for murder.”
“One of the guards almost killed him,” Tarner said, his voice devoid of any emotion. “Xarda was sure they’ll try again tonight.”
Adar didn't bother to respond as he pushed past them and rushed out onto the street. The guards would have taken Jorad to the guardhouse. The quickest way to get there would be through the town square. Of all the times, why did this have to happen now? This smelled of Erro. That jealous fool son of Neare couldn’t leave well enough alone, could he?
As Adar ran past the party of people who'd been relaxing and drinking, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt for not doing more to try to save the town. When he'd had the conversation with Mayor Keerit, she hadn't even bothered to keep the amusement off her face. What could he do about something like that short of producing a live Hunwei so that they believed him?
As he got closer to the town square, he became alarmed. People were crying out. He’d didn’t remember anything particularly noteworthy happening in the town square tonight, but he rarely paid attention to those things. Despite his urgency to get to Jorad, he slowed down. The cries did not have a note of merriment to them. He thought about the scream he heard earlier and wished he had gone to investigate it sooner.
Adar slowed as he approached the last turn that would put him on the street that went to the town square. He knew what he would find but had to see it firsthand.
He could hear the cries more clearly now, and there was a lot of light coming from around the corner. The smell hit him next. He didn't have the right words to describe it, but he could tell that some of it came from smoke. The rest didn't smell like anything that he'd encountered before. He noticed that Tere was walking beside him. Neither spoke as they turned the corner and found the town square engulfed in mayhem. Tere said something that Adar didn’t catch because that was when the explosions started. Adar dove to the ground, the rumbling thunder blocking out the sound of his own curse.
The Hunwei were here.
Interlude 1
THE YEAR OF THE SEVERING
As the wind from the open doors of his balcony touched and cooled his sweaty forehead, Rend wondered if he was making a mistake. He wiped his brow and sighed.
Millions were about to die. At first, he'd been certain about his decision to continue the mission, but as time had worn on, his thoughts weren't so clear.
He'd lost weight in the weeks leading up to the assault, and he couldn’t remember the last time he had a restful night of sleep. What would he feel once it was done? Would it be relief or horror? Was this just the first step on a path that would leave him abandoned and forlorn?
He steeled his nerves. Even if that were to be his fate, he would proceed.
Most believed that the fleet had been destroyed by the war's end, but the holographic display in front of him proved the lie. A full third of their fleet was intact and moving in on the Hunwei home world.
Rend used the computer to call Admiral Joner, but his hail went unheeded. That wasn't a surprise, Joner rarely answered. The man had been sent on his mission years before by Ghar Chandlir. Joner didn't feel the need to explain himself to the likes of Rend.
Jbyte would track Joner down if Rend asked but the thought of interacting with Deren's cursed program made him want to punch a hole in the wall. It frustrated him that Jbyte was always monitoring him anyway. The last thing he wanted was her bothering him as the attack began.
He took a breath, letting the cool air calm him. The last time he'd punched something he'd been lucky. It had been a chair that easily gave way. The rock walls of Rarbon palace weren't so forgiving.
There was a flurry of activity on the display that drew Rend's attention. At first, Rend assumed that the attack was under way, but it was the last of the fleet moving into position. He was surprised because he'd been following the fleet closely and had thought that everybody was already into their assigned places. Perhaps Joner had changed his orders at the last moment.
When the first reports of the planet had come into Rend's office, he’d scarcely believed that they’d found the right place. The initial photographs had resembled a big dust ball, and he’d wondered how the Hunwei survived with so little water, something just as essential to Hunwei as it was humans. It wasn’t until later that he learned that what it lacked in oceans and lakes, it made up for with rivers and
marshes.
He’d been surprised to find that the Hunwei built cities in harmony with their ecosystems. That was ironic. The Hunwei made no effort to spare the natural resources of Rend's home and in many instances had destroyed large swaths of forest and vegetation.
That reminded him of the question that had been bothering him now for the better part of twenty years. Why had the Hunwei attacked in the first place?
Because the Hunwei never tried to directly communicate, the reasoning behind the war was hotly disputed among those that had survived. Any attempts to reach out to the Hunwei had failed. From what he could tell, the Hunwei had come to capture slaves and destroy. There had to be more to it than that, but he didn’t have any idea what.
Regardless, the Hunwei would deserve what they got. He repeated that thought several times, willing himself to believe it.
Rend had rarely left his office since the first ship had snuck into the system and sent back the photos. His wife Tira wasn’t too happy with him about that. It would have been much easier if he just told her, but then the burden would be on her shoulders as well. She didn’t need to feel the responsibility for this atrocity.
She'd stopped to visit earlier when Rend had been having a panic attack. He’d barely been able to engage in conversation, and she’d left in tears. A few more hours and it would all be over. She’d forgive him.
He stared at the fleet. If the reports he’d been given were accurate, it would take less than an hour to destroy the planet. He didn’t quite believe it, but he couldn’t help but hope.
Do I want this to be my legacy? he wondered. He set his jaw. I just want this over and done. Joner is certainly taking his sweet time. Any time now, the destruction would begin, and the nightmare would be over. After that, he could get to work dealing with the political fallout and putting his life back together.