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

  Cerval’s eyes fluttered with fatigue.

  Nine burning fires. The guards would be more alert if they knew to expect armed men. Daen would have to convince Semal to leave the Kopal out of his explanation. It might be enough for Semal to say he’d been receiving threatening letters. Daen would also be happy to tell the men he’d heard rumors of some planning to rob Semal.

  With the door shut behind him, Daen went to the spacious room where Semal spent most of his time. The room had been a large sitting room, meant for entertaining guests before Semal had moved in. Now it was cluttered with scrolls, books, and ancient artifacts. It might have held fifty or more people before Semal had brought in shelf upon shelf of books, scrolls, pottery, and other antiquities.

  Now, it was so cluttered it was hard to think of getting ten people into the room. And they wouldn’t have all been able to stand together either, much less talk to one another.

  Daen was assaulted with the shadows caused by the clutter when he entered the room. The rest of the house was well lit and bright, but because of the dense numbers of books and other antiquities, he found he could only see glimmers of light here and there, letting him know Semal was at his desk.

  Daen moved through the room, squeezing past a pile of books and then stepping over pottery that had been placed right in the middle of the floor.

  Would it kill the man to have some semblance of organization?

  He let out a long sigh. All the clutter helped hide Linel. If anybody came to visit Semal—and there were few visitors these days—Linel would have plenty of warning and many places to hide.

  It took him nearly five minutes to navigate to Semal’s desk. It was ridiculous. After they were through dealing with the Kopal, he was going to insist Semal get organized.

  Semal’s oversized desk was pushed up against a window that had the drapes pulled closed. Daen had never seen them in any other position. One time, he’d been tempted to open the windows as a prank on the old man, but he hadn’t been able to approach the drapes without fear of wrecking priceless artifacts Semal had stacked without any care or regard for their worth.

  Daen had heard intelligent people sometimes lived like this, preferring to remember where everything was, instead of coming up with a system of organization, because they viewed it as a waste of time.

  Linel laughed as Daen came out from behind a bookshelf that he had to sidle past sideways. The sound brought the hint of a smile to his lips the turned to a frown. She wouldn’t be laughing like that if she’d already heard about her father. He set his shoulders forward, not ready to face her, but knowing he owed her the truth.

  When Daen turned the corner, and saw Linel smiling at Semal, his irritation with Semal and the room fled. She was safe and happy.

  Happy for now, he amended.

  While Daen didn’t doubt Linel’s claim that her patrol had been ambushed by Hunwei, he’d not been able to find any evidence, as if the Kopal trying to kill him wasn’t enough.

  I need to convince others, he thought. Stories of killers in the shadows aren’t going to do that.

  Linel sat on a stool beside Semal’s desk. His frown grew when she laughed again, hating the fact he was going to bring her the worst news of her life. A part of him had hoped Semal had heard the latest news, if he had, he might have also picked up on the fact that Linel’s father Lous had been killed while fulfilling the Rahar’s orders to find Jorad.

  Daen shook his head, trying to come up with a legitimate reason to delay telling her but it would only be worse the longer he waited. Neither knew he was here, so he watched Linel, so full of life. It would be a long time before he would see her this way again.

  Semal’s words hit Daen’s ears but he didn’t process them. If he’d still been wondering if this was the right place to bring her, he didn’t doubt any longer. Semal, for all his faults, had been good for Linel. It didn’t hurt it was probably the only safe place in the city she could have gone.

  A crash from behind drew his attention, and he spun, hand going to his sword and withdrawing it from the sheath on his back.

  “Daen, what did you do?” Semal asked. From the corner of Daen’s eyes he saw Linel get to her feet. Her hand going to her own sword.

  “Kopal,” Daen said. “They followed me here.” Without looking back, he worked his way towards the door, all the sudden glad for the clutter and bookshelves in the room. Daen would have the upper hand over anybody who tried to get at them while they were in this maze.

  He heard movement from behind as a sword was drawn from its sheath. A quick glance back showed it was only Linel. She was five steps away, leaving him room to maneuver.

  Semal had disappeared.

  Cursing, Daen looked around, trying to spot the man but it was to no avail. Semal had another way out of here; and of course, hadn’t thought to share before using it. Daen would have preferred for Semal to stay put, letting Daen and Linel handle the Kopal.

  The man knew too much to carelessly risk his life on such a task when others were nearby to help. But Semal didn’t see how valuable he was, or if he did, anxiety for the welfare of his guests kept him from sitting on his hands.

  Daen moved forward at a faster rate than he’d originally planned, wanting to get to the Kopal before Semal so he could mitigate any risk to his mentor.

  The clutter served to dampen sound, so he wasn’t as careful as he might have otherwise been. Putting a hand on top of a pile of books to keep it steady, he twisted to the side while keeping his sword at the ready. The edge of one of the books snagged a button of his shirt, so he sucked in his gut and pushed past.

  Once he was on the other side, he looked back at Linel and noticed she was gone. He clenched his jaw as he tried to spot her, wondering if she was just trying to give him space to maneuver, or if she’d known a different way as well. After waiting without seeing a sign of her, he figured it was the latter.

  Melyah, take them both! Daen thought as he went forward, listening for any indication of where they were. Time seemed to stretch on, every move he made took forever as he navigated through the maze, terrified that he’d come out to find a masked Kopal standing over the bodies of Linel and Semal.

  Linel was a good fighter, and once Daen had convinced her to give it his all, won as many of their practice matches as she lost. If I know about her father, the Kopal will too. They would use it against her.

  Daen hopped over a small pile of books that had been placed in the middle of the pathway only to land on a small glass figurine, smashing it to pieces, sending shards everywhere. His other foot crunched on the remains, but there was no helping it, he could only push past, trusting the clutter to hide him.

  He didn’t even stir when he knocked an ancient bowl from the top of a pile that towered over his head, shattering it on the floor. On another trip through the maze he’d stopped to admire it. The workmanship was better than anything anybody in Rarbon was capable of, considering how thin but strong it had been. He hated losing the precious artifact but put it from his mind as he tried to close the distance.

  Not much later he was forced to a stop when a pile of books toppled over in front of him. He didn’t think he’d done something to cause it to fall but couldn’t remember for certain, so focused he was on getting out. Once it was still, he climbed over the pile and finally came out of the maze.

  A masked Kopal waited for him with a crossbow in hand. As Daen dove to the floor, he felt the bolt rush over his head, the wind of its passing touching his neck. Daen grabbed a book from the middle of a shelf and tossed it at the man as he came to his feet and charged.

  The Kopal had already dropped his crossbow and had long daggers out which he formed a cross and used to block Daen’s attack.

  Grunting, Daen lashed out with a foot and pulled his sword free, receiving a cut across his ribs for his efforts.

  Daen pushed over a pile of books with his foot while fending off the knife with his sword. He twisted, intending to stick his blade in his attacker’s s
houlder but the man brought his dagger against the flat of Daen’s sword and kept it in place.

  “Die!” Daen kicked out, sliding one of the toppled books into the man’s feet. The man stepped over it while slashing with a dagger and scoring a cut on Daen’s arm.

  Grunting, Daen refused to give the man satisfaction of hearing more than that and taking one hand from his sword, punched the man in the chin, glad to at least hit the man.

  The Kopal brought up a dagger and jabbed it towards Daen’s arm, missing the flesh but ripping into Daen’s shirt.

  Daen was getting tired of not being able to move because of the clutter. He tossed his sword at the man while ripping both of his own daggers out from his belt. He threw the first and brought the second one up, jabbing the man in the jugular. The first had hit the attacker’s chest, but the angle had been wrong, only giving him a skin-deep wound that would have been survivable if Daen hadn’t run him through in the neck.

  The Kopal man attempted to swipe at Daen with a dagger, but Daen disarmed him, tossing the man’s dagger into the clutter. After wiping his daggers on the shirt of the dying man, he put them away and picked up his sword.

  The fight had taken a minute at most, maybe two. He was surprised there had been just one Kopal. He skirted as best he could around the outside wall of clutter, looking for Semal or Linel, but did not find either of them.

  He approached the exit to the room and looked out into the hallway, wondering about the crashing sound he’d heard earlier, the one that had tipped them off to the Kopal’s presence.

  Where had that come from?

  Other than the damage that had been sustained while Daen had made his way through the clutter and the fight with the Kopal, the rest of the room was undisturbed. The Kopal man hadn’t tried to go in and had looked like he’d been keeping guard in case somebody came out.

  What they’d come for wasn’t here. He assumed they’d come for Linel, perhaps they figured she was hiding in a different room.

  Or they were here for something else.

  Daen poked his head out into the corridor again, and once he was certain it was clear, moved to the entrance of the home. Cerval’s body was slumped up against the inside wall, away from the door, a large potted plant turned over beside him. A trail of blood made it look like he’d been killed on the front porch and dragged inside. Had the plant caused the crashing sound that he’d heard?

  Daen was about to try the doorknob when he heard a footstep on the other side. It wasn’t the sound of somebody who was about to come in. Instead, it sounded like the shifting of a foot while standing still.

  Had Lear killed Cerval?

  Daen looked at the dead man’s face, wondering who would miss him. Cerval’s wound was in the back, so he’d been taken unaware.

  Not wanting to face Lear yet, Daen moved further back into the home, checking the other rooms as he passed. Everywhere he went there was more clutter. Even the kitchen was stuffed with antiquities. A second spot had been cleared at the dining table, whereas before there had just been one. The rest of it was covered with books and scrolls, piled high enough that whoever used the table was at risk of having the piles topple over onto their plates. After a quick look around the kitchen to make sure there wasn’t anybody hiding in a dark corner, he went to the stairs.

  Upstairs or down? Daen wondered, listening for anything that might guide his decision. Or just take down the guard outside? He discarded the last idea as quickly as it came. Lear was still there to keep up appearances for any who might pass by outside. He would let the Kopal think they still had control of the situation until he was ready to do otherwise.

  Because he hadn’t yet found Semal or Linel, he assumed they’d both gone to the same place.

  What did they know that he didn’t?

  He took the stairs up, two at a time while doing his best to keep the sound his boots made as quiet as possible. He was halfway up when he heard a crash coming from the basement.

  Melyah, save us all! He spun and ran back down; when he got to the main floor, the door was open, and the guard was looking in. It wasn’t Lear, as he’d expected. The guard’s eyes narrowed when he spotted Daen, and he brought up a crossbow.

  Daen dove into the room on his right. A moment later a crossbow bolt thudded into the stairs right where he had been. Holding his sword with one hand, Daen grabbed his dagger with the other. I should have grabbed the crossbow from that other fellow and had it ready to go.

  He spun the dagger around in his hand while he waited, listening for the guard’s movements as well as for any clue about what was going on in the basement.

  The first thing he heard was the guard winding up the crossbow and fitting it with another bolt. Daen counted to thirty before the bolt was locked into place.

  That would be plenty of time to attack after the guard fired again. Daen hadn’t recognized the man from any of those who’d been on guard before, and while it was possible Daen wouldn’t know all the guards, he figured this one was a Kopal imposter.

  It could also mean Lear was dead or downstairs.

  Daen hoped Linel had been able to find Semal. If so, the old man had a fair chance of living through the night. If not…

  He didn’t want to think about what would happen if Semal were killed. After a minute passed without any further movement from the guard, Daen figured the man wasn’t going to make a move until after Daen did something.

  He’s doing enough, just by keeping me from getting to the others.

  Daen lowered the point of his sword to the floor and silently leaned the hilt up against the wall. He grabbed a nearby scroll and unwound it until four feet was exposed.

  He lunged forward, thrusting out the scroll in front of him and going so far as to only expose his arm and head. The guard fired his crossbow, and the bolt had just torn through the paper when Daen dropped it and rushed the guard, thrusting his dagger like a sword.

  The guard was confused by the sudden attack and had been making as if to wind up the crossbow but realized too late he didn’t have the time. He dropped it to the floor and was reaching for his own sword when Daen got to him, the dagger ripping into the man’s gut.

  Daen pulled it out as the man screamed, his hands going to the wound as Daen thrust the blade into his chest and slammed him to the floor.

  Moving with the force of his throw, Daen went to his knees, landing with an involuntary oomph. He ripped out his dagger, his sides heaving as he held the knife above the man’s neck.

  “How many? The one in the study, you, and how many more?”

  The guard’s mouth moved, but no understandable words came out as he let out a long and terrible groan. Daen jumped to his feet and ran down the hall. With a final look at the dying guard, he grabbed his sword and hurled himself down the stairs.

  Chapter 17

  The wind made a whistling sound as it came through the arrow slits of the war room. During a tour of the Napael Army quarters located in the Inner Wall—that was what everybody called it—Jorad had noticed that most of the arrow slits that were located within a room had shutters. The war room had more arrow slits than any of the barracks, but there weren’t any shutters. His own quarters were barren of shutters as well, though he could see the broken bolts from where shutters had once been installed. Jorad tried to ignore the noise as he sat at the head of the large table but he found it difficult in his weakened and tired state.

  How in Melyah’s name am I going to sleep tonight? Jorad wondered as he scratched the paper in front of him with his quill. The pain in his back was enough to drive a man insane.

  Jorad had intended to make notes during his meeting with the lieutenant generals, but as he touched the quill to the paper, he realized that might be a mistake. Each of the three men who sat around the table were keeping a close eye on the paper, hoping to find any advantage they could use against him.

  It was apparent none of them liked Jorad.

  And even if Jorad were somehow able to keep them from r
eading his notes as he made them, where could he keep them? His quarters didn’t have a safe, and there wasn’t anybody he could trust.

  There is so much to do, how can I keep track of everything without notes? Everywhere he looked he saw signs of deterioration and decay. The Napael Army might have been well run when his father had been in charge, close to twenty years ago, but the place was in shambles. During his tour of the army grounds, he’d seen no less than ten rats. The tour had been quick, and those were just the ones moving in the open.

  He couldn’t imagine the vermin had been so brazen in the days of his father. One of the rats had walked right by a fat cat without the feline giving chase.

  The cat had opened its eyes from where it had been balled up on an old shirt, blinked before standing and slinking off the other way. It was possible there were enough rats that the cat had already eaten its fill, but Jorad suspected the more likely explanation was that the cat was fed table scraps.

  Everywhere he looked he saw disarray and disorder. Not even his lieutenant generals were keeping their uniforms in the required condition.

  What would Adar do if he were here to see this?

  Jorad thought Adar might have washed the whole lot of them out of leadership on the first day. Unfortunately for Jorad, nothing like that was going to be an option. At least not at first. He would be forced to make do with what he had because he was already on tenuous enough ground as it was, having started the way he did.

  He recognized two of the lieutenant generals from the crowd at his lashing, and he figured the other must have been there too.

  It still grated on Jorad’s nerves that he’d had to send a man to find them. They should have reported for duty as soon as his commission had been announced, especially since they’d been in the crowd. None of them had shown up for the appointed meeting at eight, so he’d been forced to send for them. It was now past nine, and his eyes were getting heavy. He shifted, the pain in his back jolting him awake.