by Dan Decker
She squatted on instinct when a scraping sound came from behind.
Kyson set the lantern on the table and looked back; he frowned when he noticed she was crouching. He opened his mouth to speak as an arrow plunged into his chest. Whatever he’d been about to say turned into a scream while Nelion dove between the bookcases and went to all fours. Had the arrow been meant for her? She’d felt it pass by over her head.
The chair she had been crouching beside moments before shuddered as an arrow penetrated the back and stuck, quivering in the lantern light. Another followed it a moment later and this one ricocheted off the table before sliding into the darkness.
Kyson fell to the floor with a thud and moaned. It was followed by a raspy gasp of breath and a soft growl. She could just make out his face in the light of the lantern and had to suppress an urge to go to him. She wouldn’t do him any good if she got herself killed in the process of helping. She couldn’t see where he’d been hit in the chest, but if he was to have any chance at all, she would need to get him help immediately.
A shuffling sound from several rows back caught her attention; it was coming from the spot where she’d seen the hooded person. She crawled down the row of bookshelves to the other side where there was a small aisle between the shelves and the wall. The nearest window was several rows away and gave her a little light with which to see. Grateful that the bookshelf hadn’t connected up with the wall, she scrambled down the aisle to where she’d seen the hooded person and peeked around the corner. The person was still there, peering in the direction of the table.
Nelion was considering her options when the figure turned and walked towards her. By the outline of his shape and the broad shoulders, she could tell it was a man. He had a sword that he held out in front. Glad that she’d kept a low profile, she retreated and crawled into the next row.
She hadn’t seen a bow or a quiver of arrows on the man coming her way, so there was at least one other assailant.
She heard the man stop and imagined him looking down the aisle in the direction she’d just come from. A few moments later he passed by heading that way. She swallowed when she realized how close she’d come to getting caught.
If she hadn’t moved when she had, he would have got her. She gripped the hilt of her dagger and realized that her hand was sweaty. She placed the dagger on the floor without making a sound and wiped her hand on her dress before picking it up again. What she would have given to have a sword with her right now. She hadn’t been as good with that as she had a bow and arrow, but she could hold her own well enough. Her cheeks flushed when she thought about how she’d judged her mother for carrying her sword with her even though she was now retired.
Summoning her courage, she moved forward until she could peek out into the aisle. The man stood in front of the row she’d ducked into right after Kyson had been hit. He started to turn his head back towards her, so she slid behind the bookshelf. What would he do next? Would he meet up with his counterpart and leave or would they try to find her?
Did they know that Semal was here too?
She had to assume they knew about Semal and would go for him next if something hadn’t happened to him already. There hadn’t been any indication what Semal had done when Kyson had screamed, but she remembered how they’d been on top of him with a lantern and he still hadn’t noticed their approach. It was likely that he was still doing his research, oblivious to what was going on. She hoped the old man had gone for cover, but wouldn’t have bet on it.
There was the sound of swishing fabric as the man moved back down the aisle towards her, his pant legs rubbing against each other. She lay prone against the side of the bookshelf and prayed that he wouldn’t notice her as he passed. When he continued by without even a glance in her direction, her breath caught in her chest. He did know about Semal and was headed towards him now.
Kyson moaned, the sound of it twisted her insides with terror and she took several steps back towards him before stopping. Moving out into the open now would be a mistake. The archer was still out there, waiting for her to show up. Going to Kyson would be as good as committing suicide.
Bleeding Melyah! she thought, even though she knew it was the right decision, that didn’t keep her from feeling horrible. She wasn’t about to abandon Semal when there was a chance that she still might be able to save him.
Nelion noticed that her hands were sweaty again and wiped them on her dress before moving out into the aisle and following after the man. Afraid that Semal would be caught unaware, she increased her speed. She was less than ten feet away when her quarry turned into Semal’s row.
Cursing under her breath, she refrained from breaking into a full run because she wanted to keep her presence hid until the last possible moment. He couldn’t know she was coming or that would be the end.
Taking a deep breath, she locked her eyes on the bookshelf where he’d turned in. She was almost there.
When she got to the row the man was blocking the chair where Semal had been sitting.
She brought up her dagger and covered the last few steps in a blur of motion. When she stabbed the man in the back, he screamed out. By that time she had already grabbed his neck and wrenched her dagger free before using her weight to pull the man to the ground by stepping backward.
She went down on top of him, the full force of her fall positioning her dagger so that it tore into his chest. He grabbed for her blouse and she heard it rip. She twisted the dagger out and stabbed him, again eliciting a scream that froze her blood. The other intruder would come to see what had happened, she hadn’t thought of a plan to handle him. She needed to disappear into the shadows.
It was strange how things worked out. In all her time in Korew army, she’d never harmed a person. Now as a scribe, she was taking a life. She pulled her dagger out and was about to stand when somebody put a hand over her mouth.
She twisted and the dagger was halfway towards Semal before she recognized him.
“Melyah!” she hissed, stopping the dagger short. “Are you trying to get killed?”
Semal’s eyes took in the dagger. “Apparently so. Melyah, I’m out of practice. Come on, we have to get out of here.”
“Kyson is still alive.”
“We don’t know how many there are—” He was interrupted by shouting and footsteps spilling into the hall.
“Semal!” somebody called out. “Where are you? You know you’re not supposed to be in here.” There was a rush of feet that sounded like men spreading out.
“Bleeding marching Melyah,” Semal said. “As if we don’t already have enough problems.”
“You didn’t get permission?” Nelion asked, remembering how she’d asked the guards at the Inner Wall gate for directions earlier. That was what had tipped them off. She would have felt foolish for the error except for her mistake had saved their lives. Far better to be charged with trespassing than to get murdered.
Semal rolled his eyes. “We would have been turned away if I’d asked.”
“How’d you get a key?”
“That’s hardly the thing you should be worrying about just now.”
Nelion resisted the urge to hit him. How much trouble were they going to be in for sneaking into the archives? She searched her memory for what the punishment would be and could only come up with the five lashes caught for trespassing on a Radim army base.
“What have you gotten me into?” Stifling a yelp, she remembered that Kyson was bleeding to death on the floor while she was trying to figure out how much trouble she was in. “Kyson was shot—”
“Captain!” another voice cried, “I have a wounded man here.” A pause. “Strike that. He’s dead.”
When Nelion heard the words, she froze and found that she couldn’t breathe. She should’ve gone back to Kyson, instead of running away. Perhaps if she’d removed the arrow and stopped the flow of blood he would have survived.
She shook her head, her inexperienced hands would have killed him all the faster. She had don
e the right thing by hiding.
“Melyah!” Semal said, breaking into her thoughts. He bent forward and pushed back the cowl of the man she had killed. He was wearing a black mask with a row of small horns across the top. “This couldn’t get more complicated.” He took Nelion by the arm. “You have to go find General Adar Rahid. Bring him back. He must see this.”
What does Adar Rahid have to do with all this? Nelion thought, trying to get a hold of her emotions. She had never met him but from what she’d heard, the man was arrogant, brash, and rude. Some of the stories she’d heard made her glad that Adar would be hard pressed to pass his trials to become Ghar. She hoped he wouldn’t even pass the trials to become Rahar. She didn’t want a man like that at the head of their government.
Kyson had liked Adar well enough and had said that her impression of him was wrong. “He’s not like they say,” Kyson had said. “He’s direct, sure, and determined, but you’d have a hard time believing rumors if you met him in person.”
According to Kyson, Adar visited Semal quite often but she hadn’t seen that happen. During the last several months since Nelion had taken this job, she’d never seen the two of them together.
Semal shook her. “You listening? Slip out past the guards, I’ll draw their attention.” He stepped out of the bookshelves and shouted. “I’m over here!” He looked back at Nelion and whispered. “Go, now!”
Chapter 7
Adar smelled perfume and looked over his shoulder when he heard quick footsteps shifting on the gravel. It wasn’t often that he noticed a feminine scent on the Napael army base. A flash of surprise danced across the woman’s face when she saw him turn to meet her, but it was gone as quick as it came.
He hadn’t made it ten steps from the stables and was annoyed at the interruption. It was also a bit disconcerting to be so easily found, but now that he was a general, people would take note of him wherever he went in Rarbon. This was especially true while he was on his own base. It was going to take some getting used to.
The moons highlighted the woman's damp angular face as she let out a gasp of breath. Her knee-length brown dress made him think of a scribe until he saw her silk blouse and the gold necklace that hung askew from her neck. She also wore a dagger on her belt. Scribes wouldn't wear such expensive garb. Without intending to, his hackles went up. He'd learned the hard way to be wary around well-dressed women.
“General Rahid,” she heaved. There's been...” she trailed off and took a deep breath. When she exhaled, it came out as a soft groan.
Her blouse had a tear along the side and blood trailed down one arm. Were those tears intermingling with the sweat on her face? The nearest light source was a lantern hanging from a wall of the stables but it wasn't close enough to determine if her eyes were red from crying.
“Kyson’s dead.” Gasp. “Murdered.” The last part of murdered was cut off because she expelled a breath and struggled to keep from choking up. She paused and looked at him as if expecting him to make a connection. Adar bit his lip as he tried to put a face to the name. Nothing came. While it was true that he’d met many new people in the last few weeks, most of them had belonged to Napael army.
“Did this happen here? To one of my men? Or in Napael territory?” When she shook her head, he continued. “I don’t know a Kyson and this is outside my jurisdiction. There isn’t much I can do other than point you to the proper authority.”
“Semal sent me to fetch you to the Paroke army archives. Kyson is his scribe.”
Paroke. Helam’s army.
A chill filled Adar as Helam came up again so soon. Was this a trap? Had Helam been pushed over the edge? Sending a young woman to lure Adar to his demise?
No, if Helam ever did decide to kill Adar, he wouldn’t let it happen anywhere that could be tied back to him. He wasn’t that desperate.
Who was Kyson? Was she referring to the tall man he’d met last time he visited Semal Bray? The name sounded like it was right for the fellow but Adar couldn’t remember.
He frowned. Things would make a little more sense if Semal was involved as she claimed. The longer Adar had to mull it over he did seem to remember that the tall fellow’s name was Kyson. It would appear that he hadn't been far off when he'd noticed her dress, she was a scribe, though most of them didn’t dress as nicely. The necklace she wore had to be worth twice her monthly salary.
Semal did have a penchant for secrecy. The last time Adar had seen Semal had been more than a month ago, just after Adar’s return to Rarbon. He should have made an effort to see the professor sooner but much had happened in the intervening time. After their last meeting, Adar had left with a fierce determination to make his way into the Rarbon Portal as fast as he could. Despite all of Semal’s efforts over the years, he still hadn't turned up anything else that would be of use in fighting the Hunwei when they came. The portal was still their only option.
The scribe opened her mouth to continue but he spoke over the top of her. “Are you sure Semal meant me? If it happened in the Paroke army archives, you should be looking for General Morgol.”
She shook her head. “Professor Semal said your name specifically. There's something he wants you to see firsthand.” She gave him an annoyed look. “Don't bother to ask what, he didn't have time to tell me, though I assume it has something to do with the mask that man wore.”
The mention of a mask made him think of the Kopal, he studied her face, looking for any traces of deception. In addition to the sweat, her voice was a little unsteady. He wondered how well she’d known Kyson. He wouldn’t usually have questioned a summons from Semal, but being summoned to the Paroke base wasn’t something to obey without question.
Protocol dictated that before entering the base, Adar had to notify Helam of his presence. He doubted that Semal had thought of that before summoning him and wondered if Semal would be happy to have Helam showing up as well. If there had been a murder as the woman claimed, news of it would get to Helam with time, but if Adar showed up, Helam would come to investigate. Adar would do the same thing if Helam showed up on his base.
Should he try to go in disguise? Perhaps change into civilian clothes? Adar discarded the thought as quick as it came. No, even before he was made general, Adar had been well enough known that many soldiers recognized him on sight. He was after all the son of Rahar Abel and would be noticed for that alone. If the Paroke guards recognized him, word of his presence would get back to Helam and then Adar would have a worse problem on his hands.
If Helam did come to the Paroke Archives, Adar could take this as an opportunity to catch Helam off guard with a few pointed questions about the captive. Adar discarded that thought as well, because if he did that he would have to turn the captive over sooner than he was planning.
“Lead on scribe.” Adar motioned for the woman to head towards the Inner Wall gate since she knew her way around the Napael army grounds well enough to go about unescorted. She had probably been in one of the Radim armies, either Korew or Verag, the only armies to accept female recruits. From what little Adar had been able to observe of the two organizations, both maintained a higher level of discipline than most of the others, which wasn’t saying much. The woman was young enough that she must have recently finished her enlistment and then found employment as a scribe working for Semal. Her service in the army might also explain the expensive necklace. Some Radim soldiers weren’t above looting.
The woman frowned. “Call me Nelion.”
“Sure thing.”
Nelion didn't slow when they arrived at the Inner Wall and the guards didn't challenge her as she forced her way through. Adar gave the men a small frown as he came to a stop before them but decided not to mention it. He supposed that they were more used to keeping people out than in. He would instead say something to the officer in charge of the guard. All civilian traffic should be recorded, it didn’t matter whether it was coming or going.
Adar didn’t know either of the guards, so he addressed the one that looked older.
“Soldier, find Lieutenant General Tere Huel and tell him to triple the watch on the prisoner—he’ll know who I mean—and begin the interrogation. Inform him that a warrant for the prisoner has been found.”
“Yes, Sir. Will that be all?”
Adar thought about it. “Tell him to not allow a transfer of the prisoner until I come back.”
With a nod of his head, the guard took off at a run. It was nice to see that the man had noticed the urgent tone in Adar’s voice. In theory, Adar shouldn’t have needed to include the last instruction, but it was best not to take chances.
Like the Outer Wall, the Inner Wall was a warren of passageways, stairs, and rooms. Adar's own quarters and council chambers were located several flights up. When they came to the intersecting hallway that circled the entire circumference of the Inner Wall connecting all the Radim armies together, Nelion didn’t take the turn and instead pushed on through to the other gate and out past the guards on the city side of the wall.
That gave Adar pause. He'd been expecting her to take the path around the inside of the wall. While it wasn’t as direct, the path was kept clear so messengers could run. Perhaps she didn't want to mess with the various guard stations at every section of the wall when they entered into a new army's territory. She would be stopped because she didn't wear a uniform and Adar would have to vouch for her.
Or did she want to avoid guards that might notice her leading him along?
He studied her back as he wondered if perhaps he should call for several of his men to join him. While she alone didn’t pose much of a threat to him, she could lead him into a dangerous situation. The only thing that stopped him was that Semal liked to keep a low profile, and if Adar showed up with a squad of men in tow, he would be anything but pleased. Adar resolved to be vigilant as he followed her, wondering how many men had been led to their doom by a pretty face.