Lessek's Key

by Rob Scott; Jay Gordon

  ‘That’s all right,’ Hoyt signed, ‘we’ve plenty here. I’m sure we’ll find enough decent blades.’ He looked at Hannah who had just rolled from bed. ‘You want one?’

  ‘So that I can stab myself during our little suicide mission?’ Hannah stretched until her back cracked. ‘No thanks.’

  ‘I like to think of it as a prison break rather than a suicide mission.’

  ‘Whatever,’ Hannah said. ‘I still think there has to be a better way than this. Alen says there are guards all over the keep.’

  ‘Exactly the reason we’ll walk right out – who would be so stupid to try such a thing?’

  ‘No one?’

  ‘No one. Exactly.’ He tossed another short sword to Churn. No one would try it; so no one will expect it. And as long as Alen can find us three uniforms, we’ll be out before anyone notices we’re even missing.’ The thief in Hoyt was enjoying the challenge of seeing the four of them safely through the palace and back to the river. While he hoped they could find a barge to take them to Pellia, he was quite prepared to steal something and make a run for shallow water, where they couldn’t be run down by the navy.

  Hannah stuffed some cheese into a chunk of bread and poured herself a mug of cold tecan. ‘The being outside here is the part that worries me almost as much as parading through the palace. Do you remember what was out there?’

  Hoyt nodded. ‘It was bad. And we never saw what was on the northeast side of the palace either; if there are more of them – well, I don’t like to think about what will happen to the Resistance—’

  ‘You don’t have a Resistance Army big enough to stand against them?’

  ‘Hannah, I don’t believe Eldarn has ever had an army that could stand against them, not even when King Remond was in charge. It was as if those Seron monsters were— I don’t know, as if their brains had been scrambled by something nightmarish, but their bodies were still programmed to fight.’

  Hannah shuddered, unsure which challenge she feared most: getting out of the palace or crossing the monsters’ encampment.

  ‘So no sword?’ Hoyt asked.

  ‘No, I’ll stay behind Churn.’

  ‘Good idea,’ Churn agreed.

  ‘You should wear this’ Hoyt said. He belted a dagger around her waist. ‘It’s light and well balanced, almost a throwing knife.’

  ‘Good, because I won’t do anything but throw it away at the first sign of trouble, anyway.’

  ‘I don’t care; it will help with your disguise, and it might just save your life if we get into a fight.’ He stepped back and looked at her. ‘Try to relax; you’re too stiff. It’s not going to stab you in the leg.’

  ‘It just might.’ She held the leather scabbard as if it were a live snake. ‘I’ll be some NRA statistic, another hunter shot by a shitfaced brother-in-law with a rifle.’

  Hoyt looked to Churn.

  ‘No idea,’ the big man signed.

  ‘Let’s say we reach the river.’ Hannah gave up arguing; she wasn’t getting anywhere. ‘What then?’

  ‘Either we hop a barge, or we steal a boat. We ought to get out of here before dawn, because we’ll need at least an aven to get downriver and find some shallow water.’

  ‘Assuming Alen has the far portal.’

  ‘That’s where he said he was going.’

  ‘You think he’ll get it?’

  ‘I think he wants to kill Bellan. If the portal is in her chamber or a nearby chamber, I think he’ll get it. If not, then our suicide mission will have to wait until tomorrow night.’

  ‘I like the sound of prison break better,’ Hannah said.

  The door opened and Alen stepped inside, talking to someone. ‘In here, Pepperweed. Don’t be afraid. They’re nice, too.’

  Just before it faded for the night the sun invariably brightened, a final swell of light before slipping off to bed, Hannah thought. I’ll be back, it might have shouted, don’t forget me, even as Eldarn’s twin moons shouldered it out of the sky for another lap around the heavens.

  ‘We have to get it,’ she heard Hoyt say.

  ‘No, we don’t. We have to get Milla and all of you out of here.’ Alen was adamant.

  He hadn’t found the far portal. Although Hannah was as enchanted with the little girl as any of them, she worried that the old man had forgotten why they were in Malakasia at all. She watched the last rays of sunlight and tried not to cry as she asked, ‘How will I get home, Alen?’

  ‘We have to get away,’ Alen said, his hands resting on Milla’s shoulders.

  ‘We will,’ Hoyt said, ‘but what’s wrong with you? We came here for the portal.’

  ‘I know,’ he said, ‘and a few other things, but—’

  ‘But what? What has changed so dramatically that we’re going to leave here without the far portal?’

  Alen tried to sidestep the question. ‘A soldier named Tandrek is taking over the delivery of food – if you can call it that – to the cells. I have been doing that job for the past five days. He believes he is doing me a favour, and keeping both of us in the officers’ good graces, but he will discover that you aren’t in your cells, and haven’t been in your cells for some days, and the alarm will sound. So please understand, we have to leave right now.’

  We can’t go without the portal, Alen!’ Hoyt shouted. ‘Think of Hannah.’

  ‘I am thinking of Hannah.’ The old man tried not to raise his voice.

  ‘No, you’re not, you are thinking of yourself and your personal vendettas – what happened, Alen? Did you kill Bellan? Is that it? Did you kill these slave-magicians who have been hunting you for so long? Did you get all your slaughtering done and then realise that we didn’t have the far portal?’

  ‘Enough!’ Alen shouted. Milla jumped and scurried away from him. Ignoring the others, he kneeled and whispered to her, ‘I’m sorry, Pepperweed. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t shout like that. I’m sorry.’

  Her lip quivering, Milla clutched the straw-stuffed dog in a death grip.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he said again. She gave him a watery smile.

  Alen,’ Hoyt interrupted impatiently, ‘we have to get it. Let’s go; Hannah can stay with Milla.’

  Alen got up and shrugged helplessly. ‘It’s not here, Hoyt, it’s in a town called Traver’s Notch, with my old colleague Fantus, Gilmour Stow. He and Steven Taylor managed to get it away from Nerak; I don’t know how.’

  They stared at him in shock, and he said quickly, ‘I never had any intention of bringing you into the palace – who knew the bastard was watching us all the way? I am truly sorry, Hoyt; I wasn’t going to put you at risk, but I needed to come here.’ The words, so long pent up, bubbled out of him as he begged for their understanding.

  ‘I needed to kill Malagon’s daughter, because he took Reia from me, and I needed to kill those who have made me a prisoner in my own home for the past nine hundred Twinmoons, but none of that matters now, because the portal is in Falkan, and Fantus – Gilmour – has it. We will send Steven, Mark and Hannah safely back home.’

  Hannah’s heart lifted; she almost sobbed in relief. He hadn’t forgotten her. Churn put a comforting arm on her shoulder.

  ‘Right now, the most important thing is to get this little girl out of this place safely,’ Alen continued. ‘She’s important, that I know, and that’s the reason I’ve lived this long, Hoyt, I’m sure of it: this is the path to the Northern Forest. That’s what Lessek wanted me to know; that’s why he let them watch me all those Twinmoons. He needed me enraged enough to come up here and rescue this little girl.’

  Hoyt bit his lower lip, considering the old magician in the young sergeant’s body. Drawing a deep breath, he said, ‘You know, Alen, I’d wager that you could probably meet some really attractive women in that body.’

  ‘Oh, Jesus Christ,’ Hannah breathed.

  The former Larion leader smiled in relief. ‘It’s been so long, Hoyt, I wouldn’t know how,’ he said with a laugh. ‘Now, are we ready to go?’

  ‘Not a
t all.’

  ‘Good. It will be more fun figuring it out along the way.’ Hoyt checked his weapons. ‘Churn, you stay with Hannah, no matter what.’

  ‘Right.’

  Alen said, ‘Hoyt, you and I will take the lead; you carry Milla. If we run into anyone, she is Colonel Strellek’s daughter, and we are ordered to deliver her to him out near the river where he is inspecting a shipment from Treven. Got it?’

  ‘Colonel Strellek?’ asked Hoyt.

  ‘There is no Strellek, so it will confuse the issue long enough for us to get away, or to silence whoever is questioning us. We stop for nothing, but we don’t run. Walk purposefully, as if you are going somewhere. Don’t linger, drag your feet or stop for any reason. People don’t interrupt those who appear to be on their way to do something important. It’s just our nature.’

  Hoyt handed Hannah a leather strip. ‘Tie your hair up. It’s like a rutting flag hanging down like that.’

  ‘Got it,’ she said, tying her hair into a ponytail, then tucking the end underneath and securing the whole lot. It didn’t feel terribly secure, but it was the best she could do.

  ‘Here’s the route,’ Alen continued. ‘Out the door to the right and down the stairs, two levels. At the bottom go left past the doors to the main dining hall. The kitchen is across the hall. Take the first stairs we reach on our right; it’s about a third of the way down the hall. Down two short flights to the grand foyer, cross the foyer and go out the main gate. From the moment we pass the first level hallway, one flight down, we will be among Malakasians. There is never a time when that hall is empty, so we might as well go when it is full to bursting – there is a guard change after the evening meal, so that’s right about now.

  ‘Don’t make eye contact with anyone, but don’t be too obvious in looking away, either.’

  Hannah felt her stomach flopping over and she was already damp with nervous sweat. ‘Where do we go if they come after us?’

  Alen shook his head. ‘If we’re caught, there will be no place to go, certainly not down to the foyer. If that does happen, I’ll try to create enough disturbance for the rest of you to melt into the crowd. Let’s hope we’re lucky enough that there are no guards at the main gate.’

  ‘Who would be insane enough to attack this palace?’ Hoyt asked rhetorically.

  ‘Right. Are we ready?’

  ‘Let’s go,’ Churn signed for all of them.

  Alen leaned over and reached out for Milla. ‘Are you ready to go find your Mama? You’ll have to let Hoyt carry you; is that all right?’

  The little girl squealed. ‘Will we be there soon?’

  ‘It will take a few days; we have to cross the Ravenian Sea, remember?’

  ‘How do we do that?’

  ‘In a boat.’

  ‘A big boat?’

  ‘Yes, a big boat,’ Alen said, and nodded to the others. ‘It will have a kitchen and a place to sleep and maybe even a puppy that lives on the boat all the time.’

  ‘I bet his name is Resta.’

  ‘I bet it is, too, Pepperweed, but for now, we have to be quiet. Can you do that for me?’

  ‘A being quiet game?’

  ‘Yes, a being quiet game.’

  ‘All right, but later I want to play grambles.’

  They had just started down the first stairs when their plan began to unravel. Churn, in front, gave a hurried salute to a sergeant who was rushing up the stairs so quickly that he barely acknowledged the gesture, but as he passed Alen, he stumbled. ‘Sergeant Willis!’ Alen exclaimed, ‘Where are you going?’

  The other man frowned. ‘Where the rutters have you been? We’ve got squad members looking all over for you – Tandrek’s down there by himself. You’ve had a break, three prisoners – can you rutting believe it?’ He stopped and looked over the curious group. ‘Who is this child?’

  ‘Colonel Strellek’s daughter; that’s where I’ve been. He got called out to the docks, something he was expecting from Treven. He asked me to bring her after she’d eaten.’

  ‘Strellek? Who’s that?’ Sergeant Willis sounded bemused.

  Hoyt interrupted, ‘Sorry, Sergeant, we are assigned to Colonel Strellek, but he didn’t want us bringing the girl out through the gates and then the encampment without at least a sergeant with us. He wanted to find the lieutenant, but none of us knew where he was at the time.’ Hoyt could lie like a professional; given half a chance he would have stood on the stairs the rest of the aven, spinning a wrinkle-free tale that would have had all of them believing they had been ordered to bring Milla out to her father on the wharf.

  ‘The lieutenant?’ Willis was confused. ‘He’s down in the prison wing cursing your name all the way to the Northern Forest. If I were you, I’d let these three take the girl out while you get yourself—’ His gaze fell to Hoyt’s hands, which were still a grim testament to his efforts to break out of his cell. ‘Soldier,’ he interrupted himself. ‘How did you get—?’

  Hoyt nonchalantly clasped his hands behind his back. ‘Sorry, Sergeant?’

  ‘They’re here!’ Sergeant Willis screamed, ‘I have them up—’

  Churn’s punch took Sergeant Willis beneath the chin, lifting him clear off the stairs. He rolled into a heap, eight or nine steps below, and Hannah wondered if he was dead – until a commotion erupted from the main floor two levels down. ‘They’re coming,’ she said, the words feeling strange in her dry mouth. ‘What do we do?’

  ‘Up this way,’ Alen ordered, ‘quickly.’

  Hannah felt the world crash into the sun. ‘Not up, no, we can’t go up. There’s no way out up there.’

  ‘You have to trust me.’ Alen was trying to remain as calm as possible.

  ‘Where are we going?’ Hoyt asked.

  ‘There’s an atrium at the end of the hall. Across the way is a courtyard.’

  ‘Alen, we’re three levels up,’ Hoyt said.

  ‘No, no, no,’ Churn was signing furiously, ‘I won’t go out there, I won’t.’

  ‘We’ve no choice,’ Alen said. ‘The courtyard is off a banquet hall or a meeting hall on the second level of the other wing. It’s a short fall. I’m sure we can jump it. It’s that or them.’ Alen pointed down the stairs.

  Hoyt tweaked Milla’s nose. ‘Can you fly?’

  Milla nodded, grinning. ‘A little bit. Can you?’

  ‘I’d better be able to.’

  Alen had already started up the stairs and down the upper hall. Hoyt followed. Churn waited with Hannah.

  ‘I can’t do it,’ he signed.

  ‘Jump down to a courtyard? I can’t imagine why not.’

  ‘Maybe they’ll think of something before we get there.’

  Whatever – we can’t stay here.’ She reached for his hand and the two of them hurried after the others.

  MEYERS’ VALE

  ‘What do you suppose happened to them?’

  ‘He might have thrown them away.’

  ‘Garec?’ Steven was incredulous. ‘You’ve seen the pride he takes in them – he made them himself; if he truly planned never to fire another shot, he would have given them to you.’

  ‘He hasn’t said anything.’ Mark checked to be sure Garec was still out of earshot. They were riding south along the river through Meyers’ Vale into the Blackstone foothills. ‘Ever since he got back, he’s been staring into space. Something happened to him, Steven.’

  ‘Of course it did,’ Steven retorted. ‘He failed to raise a finger to help you and Brand; he knows you’re disappointed with him. We’re within inches of wrapping this whole wretched business up, and he feels like he’s fumbled the ball inside the five – of course he’s embarrassed. But you and Brand aren’t making it any easier for him. Let’s face it: this has been the worst nightmare any of us could ever imagine, and you’re holding an outbreak of honest-to-goodness compassionate conscientious objectorness – or whatever you call it – against Garec. He chose to die rather than to kill; I don’t know if I could have been that brave given the circumst
ances.’

  Mark grimaced. ‘Okay, you’re right. I’ve been a bastard – but I don’t think that’s it. Something happened between there and here.’

  ‘Ask him,’ Steven said. For a few seconds they were back in Idaho Springs, in a place where things made sense. ‘He’s your friend,’ Steven went on, ‘whether you’re disappointed in him or not. If you think something happened on the way down here that caused him to fire—’

  ‘Twenty. He had about twenty in his quiver.’

  ‘Okay, so about twenty arrows … I bet he’ll tell you. Give up the grudge; ask him what’s wrong.’ Steven guided his horse around a tree partially blocking the trail. Mark ducked and rode under it, wondering if there was some Eldarni superstition – seven hundred Twinmoons of bad luck, boils, locusts and flatulence, maybe – that was all he needed to cap a terrifically abysmal few days. He smiled at Steven, then slowed to allow Garec to catch up with him.

  ‘Hey,’ he said as Garec came alongside.

  ‘Is that a greeting in Colorado, Mark?’

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘A good greeting or a bad greeting?’ Garec looked grim; he slouched in the saddle as if he were carrying the world on his shoulders.

  ‘One of the best,’ Mark said.

  ‘Well, hey then.’

  In the ensuing uncomfortable silence, Mark thought about dropping it, but finally he said, ‘I’m sorry about the other day. It was wrong of me to expect you to kill if you choose not to.’

  ‘You had the best interests of the Resistance at heart, Mark. I was the one at fault.’ Garec’s voice was flatly matter-of-fact.

  ‘No, I didn’t,’ Mark said, ‘I’ve never given a pinch of raccoon shit about the Resistance.’ Garec looked at him, and Mark shrugged. ‘What can I say? I wanted to learn to shoot because I was in love with Brynne and she was taken from me – from all of us – because I wasn’t a killer, I wasn’t in control of those nightmarish circumstances. Well, now I am a killer, and I’m happy to go on killing.’

  ‘Then I’m sorry for you,’ Garec said. ‘Some day it will catch up with you.’

  ‘As it did you?’

  Garec nodded.