Raider

by Justine Davis

  “Drake, get out. He’s evil, he’ll—ahh!” Eirlys’s words ended on a yelp of pain.

  Every muscle in his body went tense. He wanted nothing more than to blast Jakel to bits right now. With lightning speed, he calculated distances, reaction times, probable responses. Anyway he figured, Eirlys got hurt at best, and the worst didn’t bear thinking about.

  Jakel nodded toward the two troopers. Drake pretended not to see them move toward him, and casually walked behind the bar. The two hesitated, looking to Jakel.

  “Jakel, Jakel, let’s be reasonable,” Drake said, adding a well-practiced nervous laugh, while his inward laugh at the idea of this man being reasonable about anything was very real. “Let’s talk about it. Over a brew? Or perhaps some of that lingberry you so like. On the house, of course.”

  He turned as if to take the bottle from the shelf behind him. Saw in the mirror the two troopers, still standing where they’d stopped. Drones, he assessed. No move made without exact orders.

  Or they were uncertain of the task at hand, he thought as one of them gave Jakel a sideways look.

  “Don’t take me for a fool, Davorin.”

  “I don’t.” You’re not quite stupid enough. “What is it you want, then?”

  “I know you’re working with that brigand, and you’ll confess to it before I’m through.”

  He felt a spark of relief. Jakel suspected something, but not the truth. He widened his eyes as if fearful. “Brigand? There’s some sort of thug on the loose?”

  Jakel swore, an oath that was half slur, half ugly promise. “You know bedamned well who I mean. You’re working with that Raider.”

  Drake let his expression change to one of sudden understanding. He laughed, carefully judging how to make it sound. “Well-done prank, Jakel. You had me worried.”

  “Take him!”

  The two troopers began to move toward him again. He threw up his hands. “Hold, here,” he said, letting every bit of the fear he had for his sister echo in his voice. The two men stopped. Apparently, they took orders from anyone. Or else their hearts really weren’t in this, he thought, seeing the way they looked at the brute who had brought them here. “This is absurd, Jakel. You know I am . . . not of the temperament to get involved in such things. And everyone knows I think the Raider is mad, at the least, to even try to go up against the Coalition.”

  His words rang with veracity, because they were true. He’d known it was mad from the beginning.

  For the first time, Jakel looked uncertain. But his determination, or innate obstinate inflexibility won out. “I know I am right, and I will soon have the proof. From you.”

  He calculated his next words carefully, for he had seen Jakel loosen his grip on Eirlys in his moment of doubt.

  “Let us go to Barcon then, and talk of this. He is your administrator; let him decide.”

  “Do you think he will help you?” Jakel sneered. “He wishes this as much as I do. He only lacks the nerve to command it.”

  So he’d been right. However much Barcon Ordam might want this, he wouldn’t give the order. But he wouldn’t stop his wild slimehog, either.

  “But I’m sure he never meant you to involve Eirlys,” Drake said. “He has always been very fond of her.”

  That put another flash of doubt in Jakel’s soulless eyes. Before the man could speak, he gestured to Eirlys. “But I must take him something. A gift.” He laughed again, differently, as a man who wouldn’t hesitate to try and bribe his way out of trouble. “Eirlys, there is a bottle of that particular brand he likes in back. Go.”

  He saw her register the slightest emphasis he’d put on the word “brand,” as Jakel snapped, “She doesn’t leave this room until I have you secured. Take him!”

  The troopers rushed this time. Rounded the end of the bar. Drake slapped a hand down on the surface he’d polished so often. Leapt, clearing it easily, coming down on the other side within a few feet of Jakel. Saw the man jerk back. He pretended to stumble upon landing, careening into Jakel.

  In an instant, his dagger was at the man’s throat. But Jakel managed to keep a grip on Eirlys’s arm, despite her struggle; the man was brutally strong. The only good thing was, he couldn’t both hang onto her and fight off Drake at the same time.

  Clearly uncertain, the troopers raised their blasters.

  “Don’t fire!” Jakel yelled. Apparently he did not trust their ability to miss him.

  “Let go of her,” Drake said.

  “Then they will shoot you.”

  “And likely hit you. But if they do not, I will surely cut your throat.”

  “I will order them to shoot her!”

  He would. Drake could see it in his small, shiny eyes. He could also see the dawning of understanding in the eerily red depths; Jakel was beginning to realize that no cowardly, beaten tapper would manage to get a blade to his throat, let alone with two troopers in the room. He would be more convinced than ever now that Drake was more than he seemed.

  And more determined to extract that information.

  He couldn’t think about that now. Not while the beast still had Eirlys. “Let her go,” he said, “and I will release you.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Jakel said. “They would kill you instantly.”

  “I don’t think so. For that would spoil your fun, would it not?”

  He saw it again, that feral, brutal maliciousness, in Jakel’s expression. Knew the man had no intention of going to Barcon before he had that fun. He was thankful for the cool numbness that had overtaken him, for it kept at bay his dread of what was to come. Everyone in Zelos had heard the tales of Jakel’s glee in torture. But he could see no other way. No way that was not too great a risk for Eirlys, and he could not see her hurt, or worse. He could not.

  “Let her go,” he repeated, “and I will go with you.”

  Jakel went still. “Without a fight?”

  “Drake, no. You can’t.” Eirlys’s voice was tight, strained. He could see her fear, see that she knew what awaited him. “I won’t let you.”

  “You must. Go. As I told you,” he added, reminding her of his allusion to what was in the storeroom.

  He moved his dagger, away from Jakel’s throat, yet kept it close.

  “Drop it,” Jakel ordered.

  “When she is gone.”

  “Again you take me for a fool.”

  “Let her get to the back doorway. Then I will drop it.”

  Jakel thought, his brow furrowed with the effort. After an agonizing moment, he let go of her arm.

  “Drake!”

  “Go,” he ordered, in the low, harsh voice of the Raider. “Now.”

  He could see the anguish in her face as she backed up, never taking her eyes from him. He held his breath. Once she got to the doorway, she would be safe; Brander would take over. He would see to her.

  She reached the doorway. The troopers raised their weapons. Aimed at him. Jakel jerked away. Enough to give them a clear shot. No choice. He dropped the dagger.

  The troopers closed in. Eirlys vanished from the doorway. Drake knew he’d seen a hand grab her from inside the storeroom. Brander. She would be all right.

  He, on the other hand, was headed into hades.

  Chapter 41

  KYE FOUND THE twins in the bell tower. And nearly fell prey to their booby trap; the wire strung across the stairway was practically invisible.

  “Clever,” she said, loud enough for anyone hiding above to hear.

  “Kye!”

  Lux’s cry echoed off the tower’s stone walls. The twins bolted from where they’d been hiding behind the wreckage of the biggest bell, the one that had once sent deep, booming peals of vibrating sound across Zelos. This had been her third stop, after their home and, thinking it would be very like them to hide under the C
oalition’s nose, the tree next to the compound wall. She had been standing there, pondering her next move, vaguely aware of the absence of the cannon that had been moved back to the ridge above the mines yesterday, when the thought of the bell tower had occurred to her.

  They nearly knocked her off her feet with fierce hugs.

  “Eirlys,” they began, sounding frightened in a way she had never heard from this near-fearless pair before.

  “I know. Your brother and Brander have gone for her.”

  That quickly, the fear ebbed. For a moment, she envied them their youth, their faith that not even the force of the Coalition could stop the man who was the cornerstone of their life. She realized in that moment she did not know what the twins thought of the public Drake, how they felt about the façade, if it had fooled them as it had her and everyone else. She knew only that, to them, he was still the man who would protect them unto death, regardless of what the rest of Ziem thought.

  Which was how this might well end. Not that she did not have faith in Drake, and near as much in her cousin, but she also knew the Coalition too well to assume anything.

  “Come, we must go. Quickly.”

  “Where?”

  She had been pondering this all during her search. It had helped to keep her mind off Eirlys, Drake, and Brander. If this was more than just Jakel unleashing his vileness on a girl alone, if there was a chance this wasn’t just his personal evil but something to do with the Coalition . . . if they somehow suspected Drake wasn’t who he appeared to be . . .

  She suppressed a shudder. If the Coalition suspected anything at all, all the Davorins would have a price on their heads. And she knew their ruthlessness well enough to know the twins’ youth would not save them.

  “Bring them here if necessary . . .”

  “We’re going to the Sentinels,” she said. Excitement flashed in the two identical sets of eyes that looked up at her. “But you must say nothing, and do exactly as I tell you.”

  They nodded, their lips pressed tightly together. It took her a second to realize they were implementing the first instruction right now. Despite her worry, she felt a spark of amusement.

  “Stay close, then,” she said, and led them down the stairs, dodging their trap once more.

  She took her most indirect, convoluted route, even though it would take longer. The twins held up surprisingly well, and except for a couple of times when the sight of a beast or bird startled an exclamation out of them, they kept to the rules she’d set. They seemed to realize the importance of it, and every time she glanced at them in the glowmist, their expressions were solemn.

  I should not be surprised. They are, after all, Davorins.

  By the time they went down the ladder into the main room of the ruin, Eirlys was already there. The twins ran to her, exultant, crying out everything they had likely suppressed on the long trek.

  But Kye only had one image burned into her mind. Eirlys had been crying before she ever saw the twins. She looked both stunned and devastated. Kye stopped in her tracks.

  Brander, who had been with Eirlys, started toward her immediately.

  “Where is he?” she demanded.

  “Kye—”

  “Where is he, Brander?”

  He let out a breath. “Jakel has him.”

  She stared at him, so many things rocketing through her mind she couldn’t pick one to say.

  “He gave himself up to him, Kye. To save Eirlys.”

  Everything in her seemed to seize up, even her heartbeat faltered.

  “He’s . . . dead?”

  “No.” Brander said it through clenched teeth. “Not yet.”

  He grabbed her arm and pulled her into the Raider’s quarters. She didn’t even resist. She was thinking of the brutal enforcer, of what had been left of others who had fallen into his hands; there had too often been barely enough to bury.

  Brander turned as soon as the door was closed.

  “Jakel suspects something, but it seems only that Drake’s been working with the Raider. Eirlys says he’s been watching. Noticing that when the Raider struck, Drake wasn’t at the taproom. That he is often on the mountain. And, of course, there’s his obsession with his name.”

  “Little.”

  “Yes, it is little enough evidence. And if called upon there is . . . someone who will say he was elsewhere at those times. In Sanguine.”

  In her torment, it took her a moment to realize what he meant. The woman Drake had said had provided information.

  “But that will not stop Jakel,” Brander said, derailing thoughts she did not care for.

  “No.”

  “He will try to torture the truth out of him.”

  “Yes.”

  “And Drake will never give in.”

  “No.”

  “And if he gains the slightest suspicion that Drake actually is the Raider, he is as good as dead.”

  She couldn’t even summon up a single word answer for that. For, too clear in her mind’s eye was the knowledge that Drake wouldn’t just die, he would die hard and ugly.

  “Kye—”

  She shook her head sharply. She had never felt anything like the chill that had come over her now. It was a cold deeper than the ice atop The Sentinel, more barren than the rock above the Edge. She could hear the buzz going around the room outside; thought idly that a careful listen would likely tell them which, if any, of the Sentinels knew the Raider’s true identity.

  She found her voice at last. “Jakel has always hated Drake. In the way a weak creature hates a stronger, smarter one.”

  “I know. Even a brollet recognizes the danger of a clever wolf.”

  “He wants to prove Drake is . . . ordinary, by breaking him. Bring him down to his own level.” She was pacing now as she spoke, her mind racing.

  “And because he’s a Davorin.”

  “Yes. He would do the same with or without suspicions of a connection to the Raider.”

  Brander nodded. “He needed only the excuse.”

  She stopped. Turned back. “We need to do a raid,” she said abruptly.

  Brander’s gaze narrowed. “How can we do a raid when he is—”

  She cut him off with a wave of her hand. “That’s exactly why we need to do it.”

  Brander blinked. “Echo that?”

  “We need to do a raid, now, tonight.”

  He stared at her.

  “Jakel is stupid, but he is shrewd. We have to make sure he doesn’t make that jump.”

  Her cousin looked suddenly thoughtful. “So a raid . . . while they have Drake locked up.”

  “Yes.”

  “Show them he’s not the Raider.”

  “Exactly. It might keep him alive.”

  “Assuming he still is,” Brander said, his tone grim.

  Her heart slammed in her chest. She’d known it was possible he was not, but hearing it said aloud made it even more real.

  “He is,” she insisted, for her own sake as much as convincing her cousin. “I would feel it were he not.”

  He gave her a sideways look at that, but the mocking comment she half expected did not come.

  “So this raid you want to do . . . ,” was all he said, bringing them back to the subject.

  She nodded. “It has to be something . . . outrageous. Right under their noses. Something the Raider would do.” She took a breath, then added, “And you need to be the Raider.”

  His brows shot upward. “What?”

  “Who better? You’re his second, you know the way he works, plans.”

  “So do you.”

  She gave an inelegant snort. “I know you are my cousin and look at me as such, but if you really think I could fool anyone into thinking I’m the Raider—”

 
“That’s not what I meant,” Brander said. “No one sane—or at least no man—would ever mistake you for anything but a woman. I just meant you know how he thinks better than any of us. That,” he ended with emphasis, “is without doubt.”

  Brander was probably the only one who knew the depth of her connection to his best friend. And the Raider himself had told her of his support, of how Brander had been for them together before he himself had dared to even think about it. So she met his gaze steadily. Gave him the honesty he deserved for that. “I love him.”

  Brander rolled his eyes. “I know that. I’ve known that for years.”

  “Even when I hated him, I loved him, too.”

  His expression softened. “You never hated him. It was merely that the Drake you loved was hidden. And as the Raider, he felt he could not ask you to risk the cost of . . . loving him.”

  “He did not have to ask. Love does not come—or go—to order.”

  Brander was quiet for a moment before saying softly, “I see where all the wisdom in the family went.”

  She was not used to such gentle understanding from her usually teasing cousin. And they had strayed from the subject at hand.

  Nervous energy bubbling over, she began to pace. His quarters seemed hollow, and much larger without the Raider’s immense presence.

  “You’re nearly his height and size, and his cloak will mask any difference. The helmet and the mask will do the rest.”

  He shook his head. “Not the mask. The Sentinels will know it’s me, and that would give away to all of them that the mask is part of the disguise. It may come out in the end, but I won’t make that decision for him by displaying it.”

  “But you’ll do it?”

  “I cannot match his skill. Or his planning. Most of all, his inspiring the troops. I’m a poor substitute.”

  “You, in fact, are not. You just haven’t had to be.”

  His head snapped around. “Careful, my cousin, you strayed perilously close to a compliment there.”

  She stopped her pacing. Turned to look at him straight-on. “I have been a fool there, as well, if I have not told you how much I admire what you’ve done. The Raider would not have been able to accomplish as much as he has without you at his side.”