Sourcethief (Book 3)

by J. S. Morin

  "No, I usually just light the campfire with it, and cook a proper job of it," Soria replied. "Here, let me see it."

  Brannis handed her the spit with his haunch of rabbit. Soria let go her reins completely, and guided her mount with her knees as she stared at the greasy little tangle of meat. Brannis watched as it began to sizzle and smoke. The air filled with a proper fragrance of roasting morning feast, and brought a smile to Brannis's face. That smile held on gamely as the smoke overpowered the more pleasant smell. He started at the sight of his meal bursting into flame, his eyes wide.

  Soria shook the spit about, and blew on it until the flames went out. "There you go. Made sure it cooked clear through."

  Brannis jotted himself a mental note never to question her cooking again. He nibbled a bit at the blackened remains, but found nothing worth saving and tossed the spit into the underbrush.

  They picked up their pace once Soria and Rakashi had finished their meal, but Khesh was a huge place, and rushing headlong would only avail them so far. Neither catching their prey, nor being caught by any sort of authority from Kjalljhal, they needed direction.

  They had to leave the road to clear a path for a caravan of over three dozen wagons, bound for the northern ports. Talking with the caravan guards, they were able to discover that their quarry had passed along the same road the day before: ten horses with riders smartly armed, including two noble ladies by the looks of their dress, one being a southern Kheshi. Finding whether it was Abbiley and Tomas with them proved more troublesome to confirm. Khesh was nothing if not a stew with a hundred ingredients. With hair too dark to suggest southern Kheshi heritage and skin too pale to be undoubtedly from the north, there was nothing about them that shouted of Acardian blood during the brief chance meeting. Brannis and his companions could only surmise that Lady Skaal and Abbiley had been the two ladies, and Tomas Harwick mixed in among the guards.

  "Well, it seems that Abbiley and Tomas are riding along of their own volition," Brannis said, once they were past the caravan and back on the road.

  "That would seem reasonable to assume," Rakashi answered.

  "Why are we rescuing them, then?" Soria asked. "They probably think we're the kidnappers. We could still turn around and head back." Brannis folded his arms and lowered a disapproving brow. Rakashi cocked his head to the side. "Fine, maybe Kjalljhal wouldn't be the best place to be seen right now, but we could head east. Winds, we could even press on south. We could visit home. I don't have maps or anything, but we could purchase some and find Raynesdark, and Naran Port—Kadris would be easy enough to find, map or no. We could paddle out on Dragon Lake, just like we used to—"

  "That all sounds lovely, but I really do think the rescue remains in order. Just because they are unaware of their peril doesn't mean it isn't real," said Brannis. "We can explore Khesh once the trouble I've caused here has been sorted out."

  "I agree with Brannis," Rakashi put in. "Just because they think themselves safe, and perhaps view us as a threat, does not make either true. I have not come all this way to leave them to their fate. I think a warrior who commits his life to a cause has a duty to see it through. The protection of an innocent is a shameful cause to abandon."

  "Fine, forget I ever mentioned it," Soria griped. "The two of you ... lines from the same ballad of dying young for a noble cause."

  Brannis and Rakashi exchanged a look that passed behind Soria's back as she rode between them. Neither looked pleased at the prospect.

  * * * * * * * *

  The crossroads presented the first major decision they had to make over the direction of their pursuit. The forest in the area had been cleared and a collection of hovels had been built up from the wood—in a bygone age by Brannis's estimation, given the state of the structures. It seemed to have been an age that predated Khesh's builders' guilds, any civil authority that oversaw house plans, the concepts of the square and the plumb line, and the invention of the steel axe.

  The crossroads was peopled by a hereditary sort of beggar. The residents got by on trading information for food and coin, providing lodging for the desperate and unwary, and general thievery. They had little of value, provided little of value, and lived on a knife's edge of offending their way free of their heads.

  "Heey, how there!" one of the beggars called to them as they approached. "Ye gots a Braannis among yee there?" Brannis heard discord in the voice, though it spoke Acardian. While Soria used the Acardian of a Kheshi native when she spoke at ease, the crossroads beggar spoke the Acardian of a native who had gotten a bit of Kheshi permanently lodged in his teeth, and never quit trying to work it loose.

  Brannis scanned the encampment for anyone who looked like they might be armed and lying in wait. He saw a few children playing in the dirt with sticks, too young to be a threat even if armed. An old woman tended a stew hanging on a tripod of sticks over a fire. Two men sat on stump chairs in front of one of the hovels passing a jug between them and looking inebriated. If any among them were a threat, they were hiding it well.

  Soria replied to the man's query. She used harsh, angry words, still managing to make them sound beautiful in her sing-song Kheshi. It was almost enough to make Brannis overlook a simple fact, but not quite ...

  "Soria, for the love of your merciful goddess, let the man speak Acardian!" Brannis interrupted her. "He's the first one we've met in days who sounds like he can do better than bargain over the price of a horse in my language." He turned to address the man directly. "Yes, I am Brannis."

  "Yee gots a message. Shee left it foor yee," the beggar replied.

  "Who did?" Brannis asked.

  "Din't aask, mind yee. Noot fer mee to aask," came the reply.

  "Have it here, then." Brannis urged his horse forward and reached down left-handed for whatever message he might be handed. The right hand stayed near the hilt of Avalanche. The beggar came forward with a filthy piece of rumpled paper.

  "It holds no magic," Rakashi called over to him, using Kadrin. Brannis had not thought to worry of scribbled runes and a potential trap. He reached down and took the note.

  Sir Brannis,

  Your errand does commendably speak to your character. If your wisdom and compassion are the equal of your bravery, come alone to the western road. You find welcome and hospitality and your friends may wait behind. The betrothed couple will be sent home with your friends.

  The note was unsigned. Brannis supposed it did not need to be, for name or not, he knew who had left it for him. It was clearly a woman's handwriting. He pressed the note as flat as he could against the back of his horse's neck, trying to smooth it. The grime and fingerprints lay over the ink, and the lines flowed smoothly over creases, suggesting that the damage had been done to the poor scrap of a manuscript by its caretaker, not the writer. It was also written in Kadrin, assuring him that they were dealing with a twinborn. The fact that the vocabulary was commendable but the grammar deplorable spoke of an educated foreigner rather than someone at all fluent in the spoken language.

  Bits of a cipher were coming clear, and the mystery began unraveling to reveal the plot beneath. A backup plan started to take form, a counter to what he had long suspected was a plot by Rashan to gain influence over Kyrus, back in Veydrus. An obscure saying, something that Kyrus had once read somewhere, came into Brannis's thoughts: "the only safe place to hold a snake is just behind the head." What then, if the snake has a head at either end?

  The twinborn was likely Ghelkan. It explained the Kheshi connection, since both peoples shared similarities of hair and complexion and a penchant for shunning marriage to outsiders, at least in southern Khesh, if not the northern part. Education seemed a foregone conclusion, since they had seen no signs of magic from their Kheshi adversaries. The Ghelkan twin was almost certainly a sorceress. Of course Ghelkan sorcerers would be taught the language of their most dangerous neighbor.

  "Brannis ... BRANNIS!" Soria's voice pulled Brannis from his internal deliberation. She was a pace away, having brought her h
orse alongside his.

  "Sorry, what?"

  "Either read it out or hand it here," she replied, extending a hand to make clear her preference. He passed the Ghelkan's note to her. Brannis watched Soria's face as she read: the eyes drifting one way, snapping back the other, the gradual knitting of her brow as she went.

  "No," she said as she finished. "No chance." She crumpled the note and tossed it in Rakashi's direction. He snapped it out of the air.

  "Let's head south, and discuss it on the road," Brannis replied in Kadrin. He gave a pointed look at the beggar camp, trying to draw attention to the curious eyes that watched them.

  "Fine," Soria replied in kind, "but I'm not letting you walk in there alone, whatever trap they have set for you."

  "South road," Brannis repeated. There was no way to tell who else here might speak Kadrin. It was a safer to get clear of all attentive ears before hashing out a plan.

  Rakashi said nothing, but folded the note neatly and tucked it away in a fold of his tunic before they rode off.

  * * * * * * * *

  "The answer is still 'no,'" Soria said, the first to decide they had gone far enough to speak freely. "This isn't even just clearly a trap, they're inviting you to become a hostage."

  "And they would release Abbiley and Tomas," Brannis countered. "They have no reason to lie; those two really mean nothing to them. They'd be glad to be rid of the both of them, if they had me."

  "Yes, all the more reason not to hand you to them," Soria replied. She spread her arms in a helpless gesture. "Rakashi, help me talk some sense into him."

  "There may be merit we have not heard yet. Let him continue," Rakashi advised, and gave a shrug. "You can still refuse to condone his plan after hearing all of it. I assume there is more?"

  "Yes," said Brannis, "I can figure out who the twin is on the other side. It has to be someone involved in the Megrenn Alliance, probably someone important. If I can work out who is trying to influence the war, I might be able to put a stop to it from Veydrus. I don't think either side quite knows what to do about Kyrus."

  "I am not sure I like your plan," Rakashi said, his voice low. He fixed Brannis with a narrowed gaze, which looked all the more menacing, coming from a single eye.

  "What's to like about it? Brannis, maybe you haven't noticed, but there is a demon who is eventually going to wipe out all of Ghelk anyway. You've said as much yourself," Soria pointed out.

  "Who said anything about Rashan wiping them out? I might be able to convince them to surrender."

  "And what if they just want revenge?" Soria shouted.

  They all went silent for a moment. The horses' hooves, previously forgotten, began to sound loud. The wind rustled in the leaves.

  "Soria," Brannis said at length, "how would you like to work loose those saddle-still legs of yours?"

  "I suppose it's as good a time as any for—"

  "Not us, just you. I'll even take your mare's reins and lead her along with us," Brannis told her.

  "What's that look in your eye? What have you cooked up?" Soria asked.

  "We are not being followed, Brannis. I would have seen anyone," Rakashi said, tapping a finger to his patched eye, the one that saw the aether.

  "Of course we are being followed," Brannis argued, "or trailed at least. You don't lay a trap this elaborate, only to let your victim wander off and ignore it. Maybe it's one of the riders from the group that has Abbiley and Tomas, doubling back, but more likely one of those crossroads dwellers."

  "How sure are you?" Soria asked, her voice kept low.

  "Don't mind your voice, they've got to be back far enough that Rakashi can't see them in the aether. Likely they are just following our trail. Once they've worked out that we're not traveling fast, they will realize they can pace us afoot if they make an effort."

  "Brannis, you never did this sort of thing before, how would you know about trailing horses?" Soria asked. "We are the ones who travel the countryside regularly."

  "I don't have to. I just have to know that they would want us tracked. Gut me if I know how to follow a horse trail when a hundred horses must pass this way a week."

  "So what do I do?" Soria asked. "Just lie in wait for him."

  "Off the road, yes. Behind a tree," Brannis said. "If you can manage it, leave no footprint on the road, so he doesn't see where you went when he passes the spot. If there is more than one of them, let one escape, and let him see you running to catch up with us."

  "Ah," Rakashi said, a knowing grin opening his stoic face like a seam.

  "'Ah' what?" Soria asked. "Seems straightforward enough."

  "I think I see the next part," Rakashi said. "Quite clever. I like this plan better. Sir Brannis wishes for them to think we flee south. The disappearance of a single tracker might make them think this; a returning tracker with a dead companion certainly would. If they send word ahead, some of our adversaries may be diverted to chasing us."

  Brannis nodded along during Rakashi's insights.

  "I get it," Soria said. "We're going overland when I get back, aren't we?"

  "Yes," Brannis and Rakashi said in unison.

  * * * * * * * *

  When Soria returned to find Brannis and Rakashi waiting for her by the roadside, she was soaked with sweat. Before even inquiring about her mission, Brannis tossed her a skin of water, freshly filled from a nearby brook. She caught it and pulled the stopper in one smooth motion, finishing it all before she reached them.

  "There were three, not that it was any trouble. Just a warm day to be fighting in armor," she said.

  "One got away?" Brannis asked.

  "Yeah, knocked him out with a blow to the head," Soria said with a wink. "I gave 'em a quick check, and headed back. I doubled back a bit later to check, and he was gone. Smart enough to fake being dead, at least. Shall we be off?"

  "Do we know where we're going?" Brannis asked. "I don't suppose either of you know what might be along that western road."

  "A little village, with a keep," Rakashi said. He sounded confident.

  Soria shrugged, and gestured in Rakashi's direction. "I was never much for memorizing maps. If there's a keep, it has to be where they've brought them. That note made it sound easy for you to turn yourself over to them." Soria brushed aside Brannis's offered hand and vaulted herself into her saddle.

  Their horses picked their way beneath the forest canopy, the road soon out of sight.

  * * * * * * * *

  Twilight saw Brannis, Soria, and Rakashi crouched in the underbrush, watching the last of the sunset behind the back-lit towers of a formidable hold. What war it had been built to stand vigil against, none of them knew—not even Rakashi. It was square cornered, not a curve or arch evident anywhere on the moss-dappled facade. A swift rushing stream served, on one side, as a moat, while the rest of it sat back, nestled against a hillside. Tiny, silhouetted figures walked the upper battlements.

  "Before we start planning this, I need to know: how much of a knight are you going to be about this?" Soria asked. She looked Brannis in the eye as she asked it, no sign showing that she was jesting.

  "I would prefer we not murder the keep's servants or burn the village down as a diversion," Brannis said, disturbed to note the hint of a frown at the latter restriction. "Of course there is likely to be a bloody path in and out. I have no quarrel with that." Soria nodded.

  "Fine," she said, agreeing to his terms. "I have little worry about us fighting our way both ways, but we have to be mindful of the two dainties we'll be dragging behind us like flour sacks. You've seen him often enough, think you could run with Tomas over a shoulder?"

  "Run? Not likely, though I imagine I ought to be able to carry him if he hurts himself. I had more envisioned Tomas keeping up with us on his own, with me carrying Abbiley," Brannis said.

  "Oh, I'm sure you did," Soria remarked.

  "I guess we ought to attempt to find a way in that gets us to the two of them quickly, then try to clear a safe path out for them," Brannis sai
d.

  "Yes, the last thing we want is a knife to the throat of the girl," Rakashi agreed.

  "Brannis," Soria said. She took hold of him by the shoulder, and turned him to face her directly. "If that happens, you are not going to surrender to them. It won't end well for you if they have you helpless. I won't let it come to that. If someone puts a knife to her throat, I put a dagger in them."

  "But what if—"

  "Even if she gets hurt, yes," Soria said, stopping Brannis before he could even finish the thought.

  Brannis saw the look in her eyes. He must have had the same look in his own when he told her to fly her ship into Zorren to rescue Faolen. She was sending him into danger, he realized, at least to her way of thinking—even if it was Brannis's idea, Brannis's plan, Brannis's twin's first love.

  "Well, let's just see that it doesn't come to that," Brannis replied, working to get the words out past a lump in his throat.

  "Good," Soria said, pushing him back to roughly where she had found him. She worked the buckles of her armor loose and began squirming out of it, pulling the top over her head.

  Brannis looked away, some instinct of vicarious modesty taking hold of him. He fixed his gaze instead on Rakashi, pointedly keeping the other man's line of sight monitored. Rakashi seemed to be doing likewise.

  "You can look now," Soria said a few moments later. When Brannis turned his head, he saw Soria shaking hers in mock disbelief. "You two are something to behold, the both of you. I didn't even undress, and you've both seen me in far less." She was wearing the loose black ensemble that she used for night work, including the cloak that doubled as a mask.

  "Be careful in there ... please," Brannis said. Soria leaned down and kissed him, lingering long enough to make Brannis self-conscious of Rakashi's nearness.

  "If I was careful, I would still be scrubbing floors in the Tezuan temple," she replied. Brannis lost track of her soon after, as darkness had fully fallen, and she made her way to the keep. He watched Rakashi stare off toward the keep a while longer, presumably still able to see her outline in the aether.