War of the Fathers: War of the Fathers Universe: Volumes One - Three Box Set (War of the Fathers Series Box Set Book 1)

by Dan Decker

  Somebody pushed her to the side, and she didn’t see who until the figure had passed. Tere. He made his way to Jorad, taking care to avoid brushing up against him.

  The laughter died when Tere stood at the front of the group. One of the guards hadn’t noticed the newcomer or that the others had stopped laughing, so the one beside him jabbed him in the side with his fist. Soret shifted, so she had a better view.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Tere demanded. “Who allowed this fire? It’s against regulations. You fools were probably all staring at it instead of keeping watch, weren’t you?”

  The leader of the guards stammered, wiping rainwater from his eyes. “Lieutenant General Huel.” He licked his lips. “We weren’t expecting you.”

  Tere nodded his head towards Karn without looking at him. “He announced my presence, did he not?” Tere folded his arms, the commanding voice and stance reminding her of Adar. “The fire.”

  The other guards all took a step back as if to avoid Tere’s wrath, leaving the leader by himself.

  “General Kruper allows the fire. Well, he did before he passed.”

  “I doubt that. Very much.” Tere frowned, ignoring the news of the general’s death. “What is all the laughter about?”

  The guard showed a little more backbone, his face straightening. “Forgive the outburst, sir. This man had said the Hunwei have returned, trying to pass off an animal carcass—”

  “He tells the truth. Do you doubt me?”

  The man swallowed. “No, sir.” The last vestige of hope that he could recover the situation fled from his face.

  “Good. Send a runner to the Rahar and to the Council. Tell them Jorad Rahid has returned to make his claim. I have delivered him as ordered.” Without looking back, Tere pushed past the guards. “Let in the refugees. Find them warm beds and food. If anything should happen to them, I will see you hang.”

  Chapter 7

  When a woman walked into the Draer barracks, Daen Verar didn’t raise his head to see who it was. While it was uncommon for a female to enter here, it happened often enough it wasn’t noteworthy. Usually, the irreverent jests she received from Draer soldiers as she passed would have bothered him, but they barely registered as he considered his swollen ankle, wondering if he needed to wrap it.

  Melyah keep me from that, he thought as he furrowed his brow. Unless he was bleeding—and bad for that matter—he wasn’t about to put on a bandage of any sort, even if it would aid in his recovery. The bruising wasn’t terrible, maybe it had been kept down because he’d continued to walk.

  He’d injured it while on patrol and had only now taken the opportunity to remove his boot for a look. It wasn’t bad as these things went, and his sturdy boots would provide all the support he needed while it healed.

  I need to be more careful, he thought as he rolled his sock back up and eased his foot into his boot, all while trying to not make a sound. He was proud of the fact he’d stifled his cry of pain when he’d stepped on the root, and his foot had rolled. The softest of snarls had made its way free from his lips, but had gone unnoticed by the others.

  He noticed Baor Lopper was nearby as he laced up his boot and was glad he hadn’t made any noise while examining his ankle. The man would have teased Daen for days if he had. It was bad enough Daen had made the misstep in the first place. It was a small mercy Baor had not been nearby when Daen had snarled. He was also glad his injury had gone unnoticed by the rest of his squad. They might have asked why he hadn’t been looking where he was going, and he didn’t have a good answer for that. At least not an answer he wanted to give.

  Shooting stars go straight, he thought, they don’t turn. It hadn’t been his imagination. He knew what he saw. That meteor had gone one direction and then turned to go another.

  With a glance at Baor as he tied his boots and pulled down the leg of his pants, Daen straightened, glad he’d been able to examine his foot without anybody else noticing. Or worse, commenting. Baor had been merciless when Daen had cracked a branch underfoot several weeks back, making sure to mention it in the presence of Lieutenant General Ravor.

  “Look what the storm dragged in,” Baor said with a whistle, turning to see the newcomer.

  Daen turned to see who it was, wondering if he’d need to intercede on the woman’s behalf. Baor had strange ways of showing interest.

  “Linel,” Daen said, “what happened to you?”

  The woman didn’t smile as she came to a stop in front of him. At an inch shorter than Daen, she was tall for a woman and though most wouldn’t have suspected it unless she was in uniform, as deadly with a sword as any man Daen had ever practiced with. Her hair was matted against her head, wet from the rain outside. A cut on the side of her face dripped blood onto her dark uniform. It looked like it had clotted once already and that something else had caused it to break open again.

  A smile crossed Baor’s face that Daen did his best to ignore. “This is the woman you’ve been sparring with, is it not?” It grew bigger. He looked at Linel, winking. “If you find he’s not suitable, I’d be happy to take his place.

  Linel glanced at Baor but ignored him. As did Daen.

  She leaned in until she was an inch away from his ear. Daen was very conscious of how close she was, his heartbeat picking up its pace. “We need to talk. It’s urgent.” Even though she’d spoken softly, she might as well have shouted. The fact she was bleeding, wore a muddy uniform, was a woman, and had come to see Daen, was enough to guarantee every man’s eyes were now on her.

  “What happened to your face?” Daen asked quietly while shimmying into a dry coat after hanging his wet one a chair by his bunk. His wet pants were already laid out on the seat. If he’d have known he’d be going out in the rain again so soon, he wouldn’t have changed into fresh clothes.

  “Not here.” The look she gave him challenged her to contradict him, but he let it pass. He knew her too well to fall for that.

  Daen frowned as he strapped on his wet sword and motioned for her to follow, wishing she hadn’t come to the barracks. He felt guilty about the thought because it was clear she needed help.

  Linel isn’t the type to ask for help. It must be serious.

  As they left, Daen ignored the penetrating looks he received from Baor, who had been interrogating Daen ever since he’d had let it slip he’d been practicing with a member of Verag Army. There would be no tolerating the man after this. Particularly, since he’s seen that Linel was pretty.

  “There’s a corner in back—” Daen turned to go down a corridor.

  “No!” Linel nodded towards the door. “Not here.”

  Without a word more, Daen went to the door, not giving her the satisfaction of making him follow her, something she tended to do. She didn’t make any comment or try to get ahead, both actions were uncharacteristic of her usual demeanor.

  Melyah, I hope I don’t regret this.

  Once they were outside, he had thought she’d talk immediately, preferably after finding a place underneath an overhang of the barracks roof. When he went in that direction, she took him by the arm and pulled him towards the gate at the Inner Wall of the Draer army base. Once she was sure he was coming, she pulled her arm free and muttered something while looking at the sky.

  The guards on duty at the gate looked miserable, but Daen didn’t feel any pity for them.

  We’ve all been there. Of course, patrolling in the rain wasn’t much better, but it did help to be moving. As a guard, all they could do was stand for hours while it poured from above.

  “What is going on Linel?” he asked after they had passed through the gate on the side facing the city, coming through the Inner Wall. “Why all the mystery?”

  Linel’s mouth formed a thin line as she brushed a few strands of hair from her eyes, she avoided making eye contact.

  “I need your word you’ll not tell a soul.”

  “What?”

  “Promise me now, or I disappear.”

  Daen wasn’t in a hurry
to get back to the barracks, but he also didn’t feel like giving a blind promise. It sounded like the kind of thing that could come back to bite him.

  He envisioned Baor sitting on his bunk, with a hundred questions ready the moment Daen returned. Perhaps if Daen gave it some time, Baor might lose interest.

  “I don’t know—”

  “You have the bravery of a baby chicken.”

  “Forgive me if I don’t want to be dragged into something—”

  Linel let out a dark cackle. “We’re all in heaps of trouble. I’ll tell you anyway, you’ll want to keep it a secret even without a promise.”

  A chill ran down Daen’s spine, making him wonder if he wouldn’t prefer an interrogation from Baor instead.

  “I was attacked today.”

  That much was obvious, so he didn’t comment, waiting instead for her to say more. He’d found she was like an onion, always with another layer to reveal. His patience had been the only reason he’d been able to cultivate a relationship with her.

  At first, he’d won during all their sparring sessions, but he’d been on to her from the start, her quick movements betraying her real talent. He still wasn’t sure why she’d hidden what she could do. It wasn’t that she was afraid to show her skill, it was far more nuanced than that. Though he was yet to broach the topic with her, his working theory was that she’d been reluctant because she’d felt like she was giving up an advantage. Which did make some sort of sense. As there were only two female armies to the seven male, and because it was compulsory for every able-bodied man to serve while the women had a choice, all the female Radim he’d come in contact with fell into one of two camps. Either they felt they had something to prove, or they looked at the male Radim with contempt.

  He’d long ago pegged Linel as belonging to the second, making him believe that she thought she was giving something up by revealing her true capabilities. It had taken urging over the course of several sessions, but Linel had finally started fighting for real.

  She was as good with the sword as Daen—something he only grudgingly admitted to himself—but he was determined to see things as they were, not live in the lies he told himself as too many others chose to do.

  “I was attacked by a member of my own team.” She looked at Daen again. “She tried to kill me.”

  Daen considered this, sometimes things could get out of hand in a practice session. Nobody knew that better than him. Once she’d got past her reticence, Linel had been unafraid to use all the tools at her disposal…

  He stopped that line of thought as he studied her face. “What happened to her?”

  Linel looked around while lowering her voice. “She’s dead.” He didn’t need to ask for clarification, her tone was enough to know that Linel had killed her. Melyah, this was starting to sound worse by the minute. Linel quickened her step and Daen was forced to speed up to keep pace with her.

  “How could you let this happen?” he demanded, wondering if she was expecting the Rarbon Guard to arrest her, and that was why she kept looking over her shoulder. That would be better than if Verag Army got to her first. “Can anybody vouch this was a training incident?” If the two had fought outside of one, Linel’s life would be on the line. Fighting among the Radim soldiers was not tolerated.

  Linel studied Daen, as if trying to decide how he was reacting. He read something in her eyes he didn’t like.

  “There’s more,” he said, his voice cold and flat. He would have to advise her to leave the city, abandon the army. It would mean for certain there would be a death order on her head, but what else could he do?

  Would I go with her? The thought gave him pause. He liked her, but he didn’t know her well enough to do that. To give up everything he’d worked so hard to acquire.

  She nodded. “It happened fast. And I didn’t get a great look, but what else could explain it?”

  There’s a reason she came to me. Sure, we shared a kiss but there’s any number of people she could have gone to, she must have—

  “My patrol was attacked by Hunwei.”

  Daen came to a sudden stop, checking to make sure nobody else had heard the wild claim. They were alone. His reaction was second nature because of all the time he’d spent with Semal, and all the heckling he received because of it.

  “Careful who you tell that too,” he said.

  “Why do you think I didn’t report back? My patrol was due an hour ago. When nobody comes, they’ll send somebody to find us.”

  “Are you sure of what you saw?” Daen wondered if this was her idea of an elaborate joke. All questions fled when he saw her narrow eyes. Her hand moved as if she were thinking of grabbing the hilt of her sword, but it didn’t get above her shoulder.

  Daen searched her face, looking for any indication that she was going to bust out laughing. A drop of blood trickled down from a small cut he hadn’t noticed under her chin. She must have felt it because she muttered a curse while wiping it away with the back of her hand.

  She believes what she saw if nothing else.

  She knew Daen believed the Hunwei would return. He’d told her about his volunteer work with Semal. If she were correct in what she saw, then Daen would have been one of the first people she’d thought of for that reason alone.

  This can’t be, we should still have years to prepare. Semal’s current theory was that they were decades away, but of course, he’d been wrong before. Daen hadn’t yet been born, but he’d heard about all the ruckus Semal had caused twenty years back when he’d claimed the Hunwei were about to attack. The whole city had been worked into a frenzy. Daen didn’t know all the specifics and Semal refused to talk about it.

  “Are you sure you didn’t just take a bad knock to the head?”

  Linel rolled her eyes as she stepped closer and spoke in a whisper. “Semal thought they should have been here decades ago. He’s looked to the sky every day since, never wavering that they were going to return. Well, let me tell you. They are here. And what’s worse is that our own people are fighting for them.”

  Kopal. Daen looked up as she spoke, thinking of the meteor he’d seen flying through the sky earlier in the evening. Hadn’t he reassured himself that it wasn’t a ship, laughing off the thought as ridiculous? What he’d seen earlier lined up with Linel’s claim.

  He’d thought about mentioning the meteor to Semal but had decided he was just being paranoid. Besides, Semal hardly needed any encouragement to start seeing Hunwei hiding in every shadow. If Linel’s wasn’t lying, he had to tell Semal.

  I can’t do that unless I have hard evidence he can take to the Rarbon Council. I won’t be a part of making him look the fool again.

  “If what you say is true, things are—”

  Linel grabbed his coat, stepping forward. “There is no if. I know what I saw and if you’re too foolish to believe me—”

  An arrow flew through the spot where she had been moments before, the whistle as the fletchings cut through the air made an unmistakable sound, especially since Daen had the unfortunate experience of being shot at before.

  He grabbed Linel by the arm and dragged her behind a parked wagon, making sure they were behind the wheels. The wooden spokes didn’t offer much protection, but it was better than nothing. Her sword was already out as they hid. He unsheathed his own, leaning forward to keep out of sight. The arrow had bounced off the brick wall of a tanner’s shop, breaking off a flake of brick.

  They waited in silence, turning without coordinating, so their backs were to the other. If it were a lone assassin they might be able to wait him out, if there were others, they wouldn’t go down without a fight.

  Melyah, if Linel is to be believed, we probably have Radim soldiers coming our way.

  Daen realized as he looked around that the shot could have come from any number of different places. Judging by the broken brick and where he’d seen the glimpse of the arrow, the shooter was up several stories. All the buildings around them had at least six levels, some of them more. It was a good
sign the archer hadn’t yet fired another, he no longer had a shot.

  Was he going to wait them out or leave?

  One minute became two. When a dog barked, both jumped. We’re wound up so tight we’re jumping at nothing.

  Daen could feel her taut back muscles against his own, making him think of the time she’d kissed him while they’d sparred. The wind rustled the tanner’s sign, causing him to tense as though ready to attack, he was halfway out of his crouch before Linel pulled him back down. A second later an arrow went through where his head had popped up, slamming again into the brick of the tanner’s shop.

  Fool! Keep your mind on the problem, or you’ll be dead.

  All this talk about a Radim soldier trying to kill her made him worry. He’d never expected the Kopal to be real.

  When the tanner opened the door and stepped out, Daen had a sudden intake of breath, wondering if he should warn the man. He almost called out on instinct but suppressed it at the last moment.

  If I say something and the assassin hears me, the tanner will be as good as dead. But if he didn’t, the tanner might get killed anyway. It was a tough decision. He prayed the man would shrug off the noise and go back inside.

  “You there!” the man called out, spotting them in the shadows. “Why are you crouched by my wagon?”

  “Get back inside.” Daen was surprised to hear his own voice, not remembering a decision to speak. “There’s an archer letting arrows fly wild. We think he’s drunk.” He said the last part as loud as he dared, hoping that if the assassin could hear it, he’d leave the man alone.

  This time Daen heard the twang of the bowstring. The tanner must have heard it as well because his head turned right before the arrow went through his chest and out the other side.

  The man fell, calling out as he did.

  Daen wasn’t sure of the time, but he put it past midnight. Most of the homes on the street were dark, but the dying scream would draw attention.

  “Follow me,” Daen said, knowing the assassin might hesitate now that the dying tanner had probably awoken those who’d been sleeping. He took a deep breath and made a mad dash for the open door, hearing Linel right on his heels as he went. He felt bad as he hopped over the body of the tanner. She was right behind him and slammed the door shut. Moments later arrows slammed into the door.