I learned a few things on my journey to the city, you know. I had to eat along the way. A few coins will buy necessities, and conversation will provide information. I believe that part of North's plan is working, though.
Which part? There's more than one?
He's slowly turning the people away from Kaakos and his pretend religion.
How is he doing that?
By healing those who need it, and telling them the truth when he heals.
That's something Kaakos never did—and never will do, I considered. Healing. Never would have thought.
The North I knew seldom thought about it.
You think his philosophy has changed?
No idea. He may have seen a way to get what he ultimately wanted, and that was through healing.
I'll reserve my judgment, then, until we know for sure. Does he look at you like he wants something?
I think he's avoiding that—since I slapped him so hard.
He never liked to admit his mistakes.
Tell me about it.
Jubal
I knew who he was. The bastards calling themselves warrior-priests said his name was Vengeance. I knew better.
I considered calling him Merrin, just to see whether there was any recognition in his eyes. He had full power—enough to get us away from here. He didn't have enough sense to use it for anything other than what Kaakos wanted.
I'd already seen what Merrin could—and would—do for Kaakos. When the warrior-priests asked questions about a mythical healer, Merrin would blast them if the warrior-priests weren't satisfied with the answer.
Already, I'd seen men, women and little ones left behind in a burning, charred heap. The stench unsettled my stomach. I wanted to reach out to the one who'd refused to give me help, once he'd discovered I was a spy for the enemy in Az-ca.
I swore to myself if I were ever able to get away from this wretched existence, I'd never do anything else wrong in my life.
Still, it was her fault, though, that brought me to this.
Fire bloomed ahead; Merrin had killed another. I cringed and huddled in my chair from the blast of heat that wafted backward, followed by the sickening stench of burned hair and flesh.
I had no doubt what would happen to me should I attempt to hobble away while the others slept. I wore a chain on my left wrist, proclaiming me the property of Kaakos.
Slaves in chains—that's what all his servants were. Slaves who couldn't escape, except for two who'd ran away two days earlier.
I'd overheard the warrior-priests talking about it while they ate—separately from me and from Merrin, who ate by himself in an opposite corner to mine.
We regrouped every day at the same place—a barracks at the warrior-priests' compound. At night, after the evening meal, Merrin would be locked inside a tiny room at one end; that room was reinforced with metal. Should he fire a blast, he'd regret it.
The warrior-priests assumed Kaakos' and Merrin's power came from their Prophet. I wanted to laugh at how stupid and misinformed they were. They were born with it. How Kaakos managed to survive in Ny-nes puzzled me.
I wasn't surprised that he'd come to power afterward. He was inclined to kill anyone who stood against him. I'd learned so much in the short time I'd been his captive. I envied the escaped servants—nobody could figure out how they'd slipped their chains.
Those chains were meant to stay in place until the wearer died. The warrior-priests didn't know how they worked.
Kaakos' power is how they worked, and it angered him that two had thwarted his power.
I wanted to know how they'd done it, because I wanted to do the same.
"Where is the one called North?" The warrior-priest in charge demanded of his next victim. I waited for the inevitable, fiery ending of this one, too.
Sherra
"We have suspects, and their villages are marked," Claude unrolled a roughly-drawn map on a table.
Kerok, Barth, Hunter and I examined the map inside the meeting room, the door closed tightly and shielded against intrusion.
No servants would see or hear about this new venture; we'd already seen how Kaakos could infiltrate the palace. Barth and I, following our evening meal the night before, had done our divination, searching for more of Kaakos' gold inside the palace itself.
We hadn't found any.
Kerok breathed a relieved sigh afterward.
"Let's look here, first," Barth pointed out the village closest to the King's City.
"I can take you," Claude offered.
Kerok dipped his head, giving Claude permission. The King wanted to come, too.
Armon, will you or Caral come to the palace? I sent. I didn't want the King anywhere near a potential spy without enough guards around him. If Kaakos had supplied weapons along with his gold, we ought to be prepared.
"We'll wait for Armon," I held up a hand as Barth turned toward the door. Hunter, who'd be staying behind, soundlessly agreed with my assessment. Kerok appeared only mildly annoyed.
Less than ten minutes passed before Armon, Misten and two warrior-escort pairs walked in. Kerok recognized the newcomers and spoke to them by name. Caral and Levi stayed at Secondary Camp, to ensure a mindspeaker was left in a position of authority.
"Claude will take us to our first destination," Kerok announced, giving Claude permission to step us from where we were.
In moments, we were at the edge of a small village, near the headman's house. Barth pulled the gold nugget into his palm before taking one of my hands. We began our search from there. I closed my eyes as Barth did, to hone in on the signals we were getting.
More than one signal appeared. More than three, then, all shining with purplish malice. Kerok's sudden, indrawn breath let us know that someone was approaching. My eyes flew open to see several men running toward us from a distance.
Misten and I formed stronger shields quickly, when small bombs were flung in our direction by the running men. If we stayed where we were, we ran the risk of getting hurt. I'd dealt with one of those bombs before.
Seven were now flying in our direction.
Forming a bubble shield around all the others, and encompassing their shields with it, I desperately lifted it far above the ground with all of us inside.
Where did they get those weapons? Kerok's mindspeak blew into my brain with the force of a storm as the ground exploded beneath us, the reverberation of it battering my bubble shield.
A small shriek escaped one of the escorts as we were flung from one side to the other inside my outer shield; I fought to steady the bubble and hold it in place, so we wouldn't be flung into the distance in a swiftly rotating ball.
The devices flung toward us were so powerful, that had we stayed on the ground, a huge crater would have buried the shields surrounding us.
Kaakos was sending more—and worse—weapons, in his attempts to destroy us.
"Fire," Kerok shouted at Armon. He'd kept enough of his head to realize we needed to kill those tossing bombs at us. Together, they released blasts at seven men on the ground, who were now attempting to toss more weapons into the air at our floating shield.
One such device bounced off my shield after making contact, before exploding on the way back down. Our attackers knew how far to stand back so they wouldn't be affected, and could throw their bombs from quite a distance.
Kaakos had chosen these well.
Seven men scattered as Kerok and Armon fired more blasts.
Three died in that volley.
"Move your shield. Fucking hells, chase them, Sherra," Kerok yelled, as if I didn't realize it needed to be done.
I did chase them, forcing the bubble forward with power and will, attempting to pace the men below. In their haste to get away from us, they left rough sacks holding more bombs on the ground behind them before running faster.
"Hold steady," Armon shouted as the sacks exploded, one after another, their explosions unsettling the air about us and rocking my bubble shield, forcing it upward and making it wobble. Kerok curse
d again as he almost fell against Armon.
"Steady it," he snapped at me, anger in his voice as he struggled to stand upright.
Steadying the bubble while flying it was harder than I anticipated, due to the violent air currents created by exploding bombs.
"Draw from me," Misten called out. Connecting to her power, I desperately employed it to steady the bubble while juggling its forward movement with the veering and doubling back of running men who'd reached the end of the explosives they'd carried.
We were now flying over the village itself, and all around us, villagers were coming out of their homes to watch the chase, not realizing they could be in danger.
"Fire," Kerok snapped, the moment the bubble steadied after yet another, sharp turn. He and Armon released blasts against running men.
"Give up," Barth shouted at the spies. That was useless; they understood that if caught, they'd be questioned and then put to death for treason.
Two more died, leaving only two—the youngest and fastest, still running ahead of us, before making another turn to the right. They were running toward a cluster of houses, hoping to keep us from firing blasts into their midst.
"Get us closer," Kerok snapped at me.
Taking a breath, I expended more power to speed up after the turn. I'd never transported more than myself inside a bubble shield, so it was unwieldy at best, and the two pairs of warrior-escorts had no idea how they were being held aloft. Mostly, they huddled against one side of the shield and tried not to get in anyone else's way.
That meant I was forced to fight their movements inside the bubble, in addition to increasing my speed and holding the shield walls steady and impenetrable in an attempt to reach the last two spies before they made it to the cluster of homes.
They'd almost reached the two outermost houses, when Kerok shouted again.
"Fire," Kerok commanded.
Both traitors died in that last effort, one of them continuing to run for a few more feet before he fell and perished in a fiery heap.
Kerok
"Seven, under your nose, headman." I wasn't complimentary as I paced before a terrified village head. We'd found gold inside his house; Kaakos' gold.
He'd been bribed. Barth verified it by divining the headman's belongings and confirming it in mindspeak between us.
Sherra, Claude, Armon and the extra troops searched seven other houses, finding gold in all of them. This had turned into a proper nest of spies; there were only sixty-seven villagers living here.
Unfortunately, the headman didn't care where the gold came from, and didn't ask. He was going to die for treason, and had no idea that's what he'd done.
"Take him to the lockup," I waved a hand in dismissal at his bluster. "Charge him with accepting bribes and consorting with the enemy."
"Claude and I will see to it," Armon said. "Misten, go back to the palace with Sherra, to help with the report. I'll join you soon. The rest of you, report back to Levi."
Misten nodded; we watched as the warrior and escort pairs stepped away, followed by Armon and Claude, who held the headman between them.
"Barth, is there anything else we need to do here?" I turned to my Chief Diviner.
"Unless you want to witness the election of a new headman, we're finished," he said.
"Then we're finished. Sherra?" I turned to her.
"I'm ready." She looked tired—and upset. That wasn't a surprise. I realized I'd yelled at her, forcing her to do things she'd never done before, and was impatient when she didn't get all of it perfect on the first try.
I'd cursed at her, too, when she was doing her best to fly an unsteady ship behind running men.
A ghost of an idea was forming in my mind, however. Something that would certainly bear further consideration—when I had time to think about it. For now, I needed to see to my Queen's comfort and make things better between us.
"I'll get us back," I said, raising a hand before Misten or Sherra could offer. I'd only fired a few blasts, and nothing significant at that, to keep the entire village from burning to the ground.
Hunter, we're on our way back; we only had time for one village today, I reported to him, and in my mind, I could envision him taking the scrap of paper from his pocket to make notes.
Ny-nes
Kaakos
They couldn't track my minions in Az-ca, so they'd found a way around it, but how? That puzzle would keep me awake, and that was something I didn't like.
Perhaps—then.
For now, I'd have to find a way to keep my spies out of their hands. Liam said the planes were ready for a trial run. I intended to make that trial run count.
And, while Az-ca's army was busy trying to deal with the aftermath of that attack, I'd tend to other business.
Yes. Attack on two fronts, only on one of them, they'd never see it coming.
I liked that. Very much. It would almost compensate for my sleepless night. "Clean up the mess," I shouted at wary servants, who'd been called into my meeting hall to clear out the remains of four guards and one advisor, whose bloodied bits littered the floor.
I so enjoyed watching them scurry. If I weren't so angry, it would be the highlight of my evening.
North
"Here." I set the bag of food on Kyri's lap. She'd settled in a corner of our hideout, her back to the wall as if she expected Kaakos' troops to come running in at any moment.
"Where did this come from?" she demanded, opening the bag to peer inside.
"The vegetables were paid for, from one of the southernmost farms. The meat is alligator, caught in the nearby swamps. I usually take two young ones; the family living nearby will cook both and keep the meat of one in exchange for what I catch. They think I live in the swamp, actually," I shrugged.
"Of course they do." She didn't add that I'd told far too many lies for her liking, and didn't know whether to believe me now. I didn't want to argue about it, because lies were a convenience, at times. I also didn't want her to point out the magnitude of some of my lies and deceptions.
At least I knew they were lies, unlike the delusions that Kaakos fed the people of Ny-nes. Unschooled and ignorant for centuries, they'd been programmed to accept his words as truth.
"Stop rationalizing everything," Kyri snapped at me, forcing Garkus to raise his head.
You always could read those things in me, I admitted.
I should have seen what you were long ago, rather than deluding myself, she countered.
Yet here we are. "Shall we eat, or are you going to spar with me all night?" I asked.
"Garkus, there's more than enough for all of us," Kyri began laying out what I'd brought for us.
"I wish Sherra would send us food from Az-ca again," Garkus rose from his place on the floor and approached Kyri and me.
"Someone sent you food?" I blinked. "Someone can come and go at will—and send things through?"
"Hmmph. How do you think I got in here?" Kyri snorted. "I'd have died if I attempted to get through the barrier on my own. I thought I could do it, but when it actually came to it, I knew I was doomed if I tried it on my own."
"Tell me it's the shining woman—the one who tried to stop Garkus from killing Kaakos' warrior-priest."
"That was Arresh," Garkus spoke now.
"Arresh?" I'd never heard that name anywhere.
"Sherra's dreamwalker," Kyri sighed.
"There's another dreamwalker?"
"I see you're a bit behind on the news, then." Kyri's sarcasm was deadly and aimed in my direction.
"She spoke to me—the dreamwalker," I admitted. "I was hidden behind a mirror shield. She saw me anyway."
"Too bad she doesn't know everything about you," Kyri pointed an accusing finger. "She'd probably come back and make you as dead as you pretended to be."
"You're saying she could take me on?" I argued in disbelief.
"Nobody knows what she's capable of doing. Not really." Kyri's words made me go still. "I got a message from Doret earlier. Not only did She
rra transport herself and nine others in a floating shield, but she managed to sail it along like a flying ship so two warriors could fire at fleeing spies who attempted to run away. Those spies were tossing amplified grenades at them, too, and she kept the shield steady and strong while the warriors fired their blasts."
"You're lying. She'd have to drop her shield to get the blasts through," I said.
"Like I said, behind on the news," Kyri tossed out a hand, as if she found me hopeless.
"It's true. I've seen it myself," Garkus shook his head. "If the escort is talented enough, she can get the feel of her warrior's power, so his blasts will go through her shield while it stays up and strong."
"That's—that bears consideration," I rubbed my chin while working through the logistics of it. "Can you contact Sherra?"
"She's not exactly pleased with me for wanting to come here." Kyri turned her head away, as if the admission shamed her.
"She took me out of a jail cell—at least her dreamwalker did—and brought me here to protect Kyri." Garkus didn't like his admission, either.
"She changed his skin color," Kyri pointed at Garkus. "So he wouldn't be marked from the beginning."
"That's not a simple spell," I said. "Who taught her?"
"Nobody taught her that. Her dreamwalker knows things that Sherra doesn't, I think."
"Is she teaching others how to do the shielding spells and such?"
"She's teaching people as fast as she can, but some of them are opposed to the training. There was an attempted coup in Az-ca," Kyri frowned at me. "Ruarke tried to kill all of us. He'd have succeeded without Sherra and Adahi standing against him."
The moment she said Adahi's name, she wished to take it back. I saw it in her eyes and the stiffening of her body.
She and I knew Adahi's body lay in Kaakos' palace. I went still. "His dreamwalker survives." My words were flat.
"Yes. I will never tell him that you survive. I cannot begin to imagine his anger if he learns of it."
I turned away this time. Adahi's death shamed me and Kyri knew it. At least a part of him lived, still, but he could never come to Ny-nes again. If he did so, his dreamwalker would be pulled toward his moldering body and all of him would die.
Black Rose Queen: Black Rose Sorceress, Book 3 Page 21