by Jeff Kish
The commander swings the door open with authority, alerting the lowly communications workers to his presence. “You have a message for me?”
A lanky private hurriedly sifts through a stack of papers from his desk. “Y-Yes, Commander Talkem, sir!” He finds the note of interest and rushes it to his superior, who snatches it and reads it over. The young private averts his eyes and says, “About the transmission, sir. It doesn’t match any of our algorithms. The only piece we could translate was your name. We don’t even know who sent it.”
The masked commander’s eyes express his disapproval. “That is unacceptable, Private Veneer. There is obviously a flaw with the beacon system’s hardware. I expect it to be fixed immediately.”
Though he tries to hide his annoyance at the accusation, he salutes his superior and says, “Yes, sir.”
Talkem takes his leave, the message still firmly in hand. He marches with contained enthusiasm to his private quarters, where he closes the door behind himself. His room offers only a modest bed and a desk, which suffices for his infrequent stays at the barracks. He reaches to his desk drawer and pulls at a discreet hole in the drawer bottom, removing the façade and revealing a secret chamber with a locked box.
The commander removes a chain from around his neck that holds several small, silver keys and proceeds to unlatch the chest. The expert mercenary stores nothing in the barracks that could serve to incriminate him, only vague records and reminders of events. However, one of these seemingly innocuous notes holds within it a decryption key, and he aligns the cipher alongside the so-called scrambled message to begin decoding.
As he converts the contents word-by-word, he becomes both puzzled and alarmed. “Success already?” he mumbles as he withdraws a map of Valvoren. He finds the location designated in the message, the forest to the south of Maaman, and he calculates the distance and traveling time to Alleria. Hyrel and Eagle must have converged on the earth runic quickly for them to already be so far back into Valvoren.
With satisfaction, Talkem returns the chest to its secret compartment and leaves his quarters. His time with Graff has been well-spent, in his opinion, but his ambition is set above commanding troop movements and dying in the next war. He thirsts for greater control over his fate, and his heart races at the possibility of obtaining his goal.
After creating a false record of his destination with his secretary, he marches out of the military barracks, recognizing this will be the last time he sets foot in the compound as a ranking member of the Valvoren military.
Chapter 15
A troubling dream once more stirs Era from his slumber. Despite the lack of distinct imagery, the visions are marked with a deep sense of dread, and he shudders from the lingering effects as he contemplates his options. Neither a return to his nightmares nor hiking on short rest hold any appeal, which leads Era to wonder why anyone would program a rune to need sleep, anyway.
He rises and accounts for his three traveling mates, each blissfully slumbering. Era shakes his head in disgust at Ospif, who was supposed to perform the midnight watch. Still, the sky tells him that sunrise is near, meaning it was supposed to be his shift by now, anyway. Opting to perform at least a cursory patrol before the group awakes, he wanders from the campsite in an attempt to clear his head.
The crisp morning air prompts Era into a jog to get his blood flowing, and he again wonders about his construction; a rune that gets cold, needs sleep, and suffers from dreams steeped in his daily emotional whirlwind hardly seems the ideally-crafted tool for the battlefield. Yet he can clearly picture Di’s soulless, unyielding eyes as she ferociously cut into his flesh, so the capability of acting the part of a weapon is as much a part of him as anything else.
The foreign Allerian landscape continues to leave him breathless. Towering boulders loom high overhead in the darkness, which not only impress but also aid in concealing their group from drawing unwanted attention. He stops at the base of a gigantic rock, its eroded edges taunting the one-armed wanderer, as if boasting that he could never scale its heights. His lips curled at the challenge, he grasps a hold within arm’s length and pulls himself upward, step by step he ascends the stone wall with an eagerness that exceeds the cries of his right arm as it alone bears the brunt of his efforts.
However, Era’s feet slip as he draws near to his goal, and he is left dangling by his arm, only now realizing just how dangerously high he is. In desperation, he pulls himself up enough to jam his feet against the rock and, in one swift motion, releases his handhold and reaches to the pouch at his side. Even as his body tips backward, Era pulls his sand out in the form of a whip and cracks it against the top of the boulder, where it latches and holds tight. Opting to flex a different set of muscles, Era condenses the elements to reel himself in until he makes it to the top.
Drenched with sweat and out of breath, the one-armed runic collapses to the hard surface of his conquered climb. He can’t help the beaming smile stretching from ear to ear as he basks in the victory of overcoming such a trial. Collecting himself, he rises to one knee and is rewarded by the sight of the soft moonlight reflecting off thousands of such boulders dotting the landscape. He sits cross-legged near the edge of his rock as he basks in the glory of such a view.
“Behind you,” a low voice mutters, but before he can react a slender hand grabs him by the collar and slams him to his back, and he finds Fire glaring down in disdain. “Three minutes. I was directly behind you for three minutes.”
Era is dumbfounded by the sight of his long-lost ally. The skilled mercenary has not lost her ability to sneak up on unwitting targets, and he finds himself yet again grateful to count her among friends. She releases her hold and stands over him, now expressing approval. “I watched your little climb. Your shaping has improved.”
“Y-Yeah, you’ve missed some things,” he manages to squeak.
Fire perches on the southwest edge of the towering boulder, and Era joins her, allowing his feet to dangle. They sit in silence, neither certain what needs to be said. The horizon starts to glow, teasing the coming sunrise.
“Jem’s going to be super mad,” Era finally says.
“And you’re not?”
He wonders about this. “I’m upset, I guess, but I’m also happy to see you. The two emotions must cancel each other out.”
“Can’t believe you haven’t ditched the royal pain,” Fire says, a wry smile at her lips. “Or, well, maybe I’d have been more surprised if you had ditched him. And now you have an old man in your group.”
“Recruiting is going well,” Era jokes, able to now make out his traveling companions from here as the atmosphere lightens. After another long pause, he asks, “Why are you back, Fire?”
“Seems our paths have crossed again,” she answers matter-of-factly. “I need to find Corpit Luk, and I assume from your direction of travel that you’re still seeking him as well?”
“You’ve got it figured out,” he says. “Considering he wasn’t even there, we had an eventful visit at Stayltin.”
“Like I would expect anything less from you and the ice queen.”
Yearning to drop the awkward pleasantries, Era unearths the query that has long been burning in his mind. “Fire, how could you abandon us like that?”
“Still bitter? I can always take off if you’d prefer.”
“Cut it out, Fire. That’s not what I’m saying,” he blurts. “We trusted you! After all this time, are we really still just pawns to you?”
Fire doesn’t look at him, but she seems uncharacteristically troubled by the accusation. “I didn’t have a choice. We have two very different reasons for being here.”
“Look, I know you have some selfish vendetta, but-”
“Watch yourself,” she sternly warns. “My business is anything but selfish.”
“You lied to us and abandoned us the moment we arrived,” Era reminds her. “Yeah, I can really see how that was an act of sacrifice.”
“You keep saying I abandoned you, but I gave
you information, a map, and money,” she argues. “Had I selfishly abandoned you, I’d have given you nothing.”
Era laughs in annoyance. “It takes talent to paint a betrayal as a favor.”
“Well, it was a favor,” she insists. “I got you started, and I left to deal with my business. I even said I’d join up later. What more do you want?”
“What more do I want?” he asks, her attitude wearing on him. “How about filling me in on all this personal business of yours? The business that made you write me a note instead of telling me to my face that you have to leave?”
Fire looks him in the eye. “I’ve already told you enough.”
“You’ve told me nothing!” Era cries. “After all we’ve been through, you still can’t confide in me? With how many enemies we’ve fought back, with how many dire situations we’ve overcome… You can give up six million venni and jump of a sky boat for me, but telling me why you have to kill someone is just too personal?”
Fire looks back to the skyline. “That was… I can’t explain why I did any of that. It went against everything I am.”
“Wow, way to trample on your one noble endeavor,” he scoffs.
“If I die, my ambition dies with me, okay?”
“What ambition?”
“Revenge, clearly.”
“What, did someone steal money from you? Did they swipe your favorite boots?” he chides.
“You know nothing about me.”
“Because you won’t tell me anything.”
“And why should I?”
“Because I care, okay?” Era grunts. “Is that so shocking, or do you need other reasons? Because I want to help you like you’ve helped me. Because I want to protect you like you’ve protected me. Because for some stupid reason I can’t explain, I actually like you!”
Fire pulls her knees in. “You’re so annoying,” she grumbles, squeezing her eyes shut, seemingly hoping the conversation will drop.
“You told me you had a partner once,” Era reminds her. “Seems hard to believe. I just can’t picture you in a functional partnership.”
“Realizing I told you that was worse than the hangover,” she groans. “Yes, Hallie is real. We were partners.”
Era studies her expression. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m assuming the partnership didn’t last long.”
“It lasted a year,” she contends. “Stop assuming I’m incapable of getting along with others.”
“So why break up, then?” he asks. “What happened to her?”
She grows quiet. “It’s a long story, but I’ll sum it up like this. Hallie and I actually did well after that first job. We turned heads, started getting some attention, but our purses weren’t expanding like we wanted. We tried to take a bigger job.
“An assassination?” Era asks with disdain.
“No, Hallie would never have gone for that,” she says. “Either way, like rookies, we fell for a scam that cost us serious coin, and we saw all the standing we had garnered over the course of a year vanish overnight. I was desperate to regain favor, and I pushed Hallie into a job we never should have taken. An Allerian assassin named Tema, who was far above our level, had her own contract on the target.” She erases the drawings she had been doodling and says, “That demonic psychopath really messed us up.”
“So now you’re going to kill her because she stole your bounty?” he asks. “Isn’t all fair within the Merc Market? No honor among thieves, and all that.”
“She did more than that,” Fire says, and she seems to pause in thought. Reluctantly, she looses the strings at her shirt, and Era’s heart races as Fire pulls her sleeve down from her neck to reveal her bare shoulder. “W-W-What are you doing!?”
“Sh-Shut up,” Fire barks, herself crimson with embarrassment. “You want me to explain, right?” She pulls her sleeve down just enough to reveal a patch of rough, discolored skin on her upper arm.
Era marvels over the injury. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Tema hit me with a poison dart,” she explains. “My arm isn’t as mobile as it used to be, and it still causes me daily pain. It’s a constant reminder of what she did to me.”
Era rubs his hand on the back of his neck, his expression sour. “Well, I say what goes around, comes around! Don’t forget that you hit me with a poison dart as well.”
“That wasn’t bad,” she retorts as she slips her shoulder back into her shirt.
“I almost died.”
“The poison didn’t kill you, and it didn’t leave permanent damage. So quit your whining.”
Era sighs, knowing full well he’ll never get an apology out of her for that incident. Still, he stands in awe of Fire’s ability to hide such a handicap. If her left arm was weak, he would never have known it from their journey to Canterin. “So, you’re out for blood. Why did Hallie not come along for the ride?”
“Hallie would never seek revenge like this,” she says, “but I intend to make Tema pay for what she did to me.”
The sun peeks over the horizon, illuminating the hills and chasing away the last of the stars. Motion catches his eye, and he realizes that Jem is awake and moving around. “Always up with the sun,” he mumbles to himself.
Fire eyes the wayward traveler. “You and the ice queen aren’t getting along?”
“It’s not that we’re fighting or anything. She’s just worried about me, and I don’t agree with her concern.”
“Worried about you? Like in a fight? You really need to work on that right arm.”
“Not like that,” he says. “She thinks I’m changing. Becoming a different person, discarding my values… That kind of thing.”
Fire raises an eyebrow. “Are you?”
“I lost my arm and found out I wasn’t human. That would make you question some things, right?” he asks. “Jem can’t seem to understand that I’m not the person I used to be.”
The mercenary appears surprisingly sympathetic. “I can’t imagine what that was like, but…” She watches Jem from a distance and suggests, “She has your best interests in mind.”
“I know that, but she can’t understand my struggles right now,” he says. “I feel like she’s trying to push her ideals on me.”
“Sounds like someone else I know.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he says, waving her off. “Still, everyone used to badger me about following my father’s ideals. Now that I’m pursuing my own, why am I being forced to stand by my old beliefs?”
“Why are you asking me? My only issue with your fake father was that he was an idiot,” she says. “Still, I have a hard time picturing you as anything but arrogant, naïve, stubborn…”
“Well, that hasn’t changed,” he admits.
“…overly trusting, presumptuous…”
“H-Hey now, though, yeah, none of that has changed either.”
“Then it sounds like you’re still Era,” she offers.
He finds comfort at Fire’s pitiful attempt to cheer him up. “You’re not so bad, Fire. Even if you’ve backstabbed me, what, three times now? Not to mention the poison thing.”
“I said to get over all that.”
He stands and stretches. “Well, I suppose I pretty much am over it. Unfortunately, I’m not the only one who needs convincing.”
She follows him as he starts his climb down. “Time to act like a man and force her to see your way of doing things.”
Era find himself genuinely scared for the coming confrontation. “Yeah, that’d sure be swell.”
* * *
Jem arrives back at the campsite, worried about her missing partner. The sound of footsteps catches her ears, and her heart skips a beat as she sees her partner coming around a nearby rock formation. However, her attitude takes a sharp turn as their diminutive ally reveals herself as well. Jem marches straight for Fire, but Era steps in the way with an outstretched hand. “Easy, now. Fire is headed to the same place as-”
“No, Era. Not this time,” she says as she forces him out of
the way. “This sneaky, underhanded spawn of a fire bat can’t just stroll back with her tail between her legs, begging forgiveness.”
“Good, because that’s exactly what I’m not doing,” Fire banters.
Era questions why he ever missed this dynamic. “Jem, we need to-”
“Era, she’s not rejoining us,” Jem sternly says.
“And what makes you think you’re in charge?” Fire asks. “You’re so threatened each time he has an idea of his own.”
“This isn’t about Era!” she snaps. “This is about you and me. I’m sick of you pushing me around.”
“This is rich,” Fire sneers. “The ice queen wants a fight? Last time we sparred I took you out in seconds.”
“Funny, all I remember is flinging you off a cliff.”
The mercenary steps forward aggressively. “Come to think of it, a spar is sounding better and better.”
Era places his hand on Jem’s shoulder. “Hey, maybe we should all just-”
She gives him a sharp shove. “No, Era. She’ll use us and leave us again. You have to know that!”
“Please, Jem. She needs to talk to Corpit, too,” he yearns. “I need her to come.”
“Why!?” she cries. “What does she give you that…” she starts, her voice trailing.
“Please, Jem. For me.”
Jem’s breath trembles as she glares at Fire. Without another word, she grabs her bag and storms away from Era before sitting with an exaggerated grunt. She finds her canteen and chugs it while stewing.
Era grimaces. “I guess that’s a ‘yes’.”
“Do I get a say in this?” Ospif calls out. “This demonic brute is the reason I was dragged to this accursed land! She has no heart, no emotion, and she cares only for her own skin. Why in the name of reason would you allow her back into this fold?”
“She’s a friend,” Era says.
“Her actions speak entirely to the contrary.”
“I did what I had to do,” Fire says, “so you all can rub some dirt in those scraped egos of yours and quit crying about the fact that, when necessary, my agenda comes first.”