by Ian Gregoire
Finally, Kayden rose to her feet and looked down at her handiwork. She smiled in satisfaction, content that she must have successfully raided the mind of the defeated Santasai and destroyed her short-term memory of their violent encounter. This would technically mean she had avoided being seen by anyone during the completion of the mission.
She stepped away from the prone figure on the floor and followed her illumination orb back into the walk-in pantry. She sent the orb back down the open hatch, then clambered down the first few metal rungs descending the shaft, before stopping to reach up and close the trapdoor hatch over her head. Looking down the shaft, she saw that her orb had made it all the way down to the underground tunnel. She decided to waste no further time following suit so she released her grip of the metal rungs to drop down the shaft. Invoking Makfayshulat to slow down her descent, she landed gently in the tunnel. With the hard part over, Kayden was ready to complete the final stage of the mission. Deliver the box to the rendezvous point.
The underground tunnel ran eastward, and it was considerably wider than the network of passageways within the fort; there was no reason why a horse-drawn cart could not traverse the length of it. Kayden imagined that rather than being built solely as a means of escape, the tunnel was intended to smuggle in supplies in the event of a siege, also. Whichever the case, she began walking briskly through the tunnel, her illumination orb lighting the way.
Kayden couldn’t be sure how much time had elapsed when she finally reached the end of the tunnel. What she did know was that the tunnel was approximately a mile long. Set into the dead-end wall before her, metal rungs ascended up into a narrow shaft that wasn’t even half as long as the one that brought her into the tunnel. It went up approximately sixteen feet—give or take—and terminated at a wooden hatch. Kayden decided against the short climb in favour of levitating up the shaft, leaving her illumination orb floating in the tunnel below.
She briefly floated in the air beneath the hatch, listening out for any indications that someone was lurking on the other side. The only sound she could hear was the steady beat of her own heart; the only thing she could feel was the cool draught seeping into the shaft. Then she realised she didn’t care if anybody was lying in wait for her beyond the hatch. She would simply handle the situation in the exact same manner as she had dealt with the Sanatsai who ambushed her prior to her exit from the fort.
Without further delay, Kayden pushed the hatch open as she levitated up through the opening to emerge into what had once been the tack room of a stable. Alighting on the lip of the opening in the floor, she allowed the hatch to drop shut behind her. She had successfully arrived in the stables of the abandoned farm located a mile east of the old fort.
Taking a few steps out of the room, she took a quick glance up and down the stables then smiled triumphantly; there was not another living soul present to cause her concern.
The ramshackle structure was still in relatively good condition—only a few sections of roofing were missing, exposing the night sky above. As she stared up at the moon, Kayden estimated she had at least three hours before dawn; more than enough time to deliver the box to the rendezvous point. She shifted her gaze to the far end of the stables—at the open entrance there—while idly patting the pouch at her waist, hidden beneath her tabard, feeling the metallic box within. She began jogging towards the gaping double doorway but hadn’t taken more than a dozen strides before being brought to an abrupt halt by the sudden appearance of a silhouette blocking her exit. She couldn’t discern who the interloper was, though she did have the impression the figure was female. But it wasn’t until the tall silhouette spoke she knew for certain her instincts were correct.
“Just what do you think you have been playing at?”
Kayden recognised the stern voice immediately. It belonged to the last person she wanted to bump in to that night.
CHAPTER THREE
A Problem Searching For A Solution
Fay Annis stood motionless in the entrance to the stable, glaring at the young apprentice before her, with piercing hazel eyes. She wore the black and three shades of grey uniform of a Sanatsai of the Order. The only concession to colour amid the dark attire was the eye-catching lapis lazuli pendant pinned below her right collarbone, it’s ultramarine pigmentation mottled with white and brassy yellow marking her as a senior figure within the institution, though few outside the Order would be aware of the significance of the little trinket. Beneath the hood of her black cloak, her face was the flawless olive complexion so commonly found among the people of the Nine Kingdoms, though the burgundy of a few strands of hair escaping from under the hood was a decidedly unusual sight.
She waited to hear what Kayden had to say for herself in response to the question of what she had been playing at during the successful escape from the fort.
“I don’t know what you mean,” the apprentice barked in reply.
Fay duly noted the irritation in Kayden’s voice.
“I’m completing the assignment,” she continued, “so why don’t you just stand aside so I can make my way to the rendezvous point in time?” Fay noted the unspoken threat: or else.
Fay marched slowly into the stables to confront Kayden, up close and personal; she had no intention of being drawn into a shouting match from several feet away. She closed the gap between herself and Kayden to a reasonable three feet—the younger woman holding her ground as they stared unblinkingly into each other’s eyes. Both master and apprentice stood five feet, ten inches tall. It was something Fay was not really accustomed to—speaking to another female who stood at eye-level with herself.
“The actual purpose of the ‘capture the box’ exercise,” she began tersely, “is to task small groups of apprentices with devising, then executing, a plan to infiltrate a secure location to recover a mission objective, unseen, then extricate themselves, unseen.”
“That’s what I—”
“I’m not finished!” She raised a hand, and her voice, unceremoniously cutting off the apprentice mid-sentence. “At no point were you instructed to undermine the authority of the designated group leader. At no point were you instructed to deliberately sacrifice other members of your group. And, you most certainly weren’t, at any point, instructed to attack a member of the Order and invoke a potentially dangerous application of Zarantar, that you’ve not been trained to use, to rob her of her memory of the assault.”
“How did you—?” Kayden was visibly rattled for the first time.
“Did you imagine I would not be observing this assignment tonight?”
The awkward silence that followed stretched for several heartbeats. It was the first time Fay had ever known Kayden to be at a loss for words; the troublesome young woman usually had such a quick, sharp tongue.
Fay tensed in anticipation when the apprentice took an aggressive, single stride towards her.
“I only did what I had to,” Kayden’s expression was hostile, her stance determined, “once it became apparent the mission had been set up to fail from the get-go.”
“What are you talking about?”
“We were given dud intelligence to prep for the assignment. Not everyone on guard duty tonight was from the King’s Guard. It turns out they were being assisted by a number of Sanatsai from the Order. Not to mention there were considerably more than a dozen men patrolling the perimeter, in addition to several more within the fort itself. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, the useless intelligence also neglected to mention that the damn box was being protected by a ward invoked by a Jaymidari.”
“Yes,” Fay conceded, finally. “Some of the information provided was incomplete, while some of it was deliberately misleading. The whole purpose of the exercise is to test for initiative and adaptability. During a real mission, no matter how well planned, things can and do go wrong. There are always variables that cannot be anticipated ahead of time, that is why it is essential for every Sanatsai to have the wherewithal to overcome such eventualities, should they arise.”
“Well, I did overcome all the obstacles set up to ensure this assignment ended in failure, that’s the real reason why you’re annoyed with me.” A flash of realisation seemed to pass over Kayden’s face. “I’m just recalling something said to me by the Sanatsai I encountered in the fort. She let slip that she had no knowledge of the hidden passageways inside the fort nor of the underground tunnels beneath it. And yet, she just happened to be lying in wait for me near the access to one of those tunnels?” She added more accusingly, “It’s almost as if someone who was aware of them told her where to go, so she could lie in wait to ambush me.”
Fay ignored the less than subtle accusation; that it was true was not at all relevant. She did not flinch as Kayden swiftly stepped toward her, completely closing the gap between them, standing toe-to-toe with her, their faces inches from touching. The indignation burning in the apprentice’s eyes was all too clear to see.
“Don’t think for one moment I don’t know what you’re doing,” Kayden snarled. “You’re doing everything you can to prevent me from being inducted into the Order. From the moment you arrived at Antaris campus you have been singling me out, unfairly, for reasons I can only speculate on. As if you are hoping to sabotage my training, to justify having me forced out. Forced to have my Zarantar bound, before being sent back to the worthless life I had before it manifested…”
Kayden paused for a moment. It appeared to Fay as though she was considering her next words carefully. They arrived moments later, uttered in a quieter, more even tone.
“Let me assure you of this… You. Will. Fail!”
Fay felt the air all around them begin to bristle with Zarantar emanating from right under her nose. The nerve of this girl! The thought popped into her head as she fought off the urge to mock the young upstart’s attempt at intimidation. However, if Kayden developed any silly ideas about attacking her as she had attacked Zalayna, inside the fort, she would disabuse the apprentice of such a foolish notion, very swiftly.
“Kayden. Step back, now!”
“Why don’t you make me, you uptight bitch!”
It wasn’t just a direct challenge to her authority; it was outright defiance and unacceptable disrespect.
Fay slowly moved her hands behind her back, clenching her fists beneath her hooded cloak. She could feel something dark and dangerous begin to stir deep within herself. It was a sensation she had not succumbed to for so very long, nor ever wanted to again. It had lain dormant inside her for such a long time she sometimes allowed herself to forget that it was once an integral part of who she was. But, increasingly, her interactions with Kayden were giving it new life, threatening to bring it to the surface. She pushed it down into the pit of her stomach as she stood her ground before the apprentice. Things wouldn’t end well if she allowed it to overwhelm her.
“That’s what I thought,” crowed Kayden triumphantly after a prolonged silence. A carefree smirk curled the lips of her smug face. Evidently she had mistaken Fay’s strained expression as a sign of apprehension, or perhaps even outright fear.
Fay was unmoved when Kayden turned her back on her, walking half a dozen paces away before turning back around to wave a finger in her direction.
“I think I’ve finally worked out why you’re so tightly wound.” The apprentice made no effort to disguise the amusement in her voice. “You really need to lay down with a man as soon as possible. I imagine it’s been quite some time since you last had a good seeing to…if ever.” That quick, sharp tongue was back. “Might I suggest Master Darrian for the task? I can’t help but notice he has great difficulty in hiding his arousal when he’s around you.” Kayden stifled a chuckle as she continued. “I’m sure he’d love to bend you over and stick it to you real—”
Suddenly, Kayden was sent hurtling backwards through the air, landing almost forty feet away in a dishevelled heap. Fay paced forward, taking quick, menacing strides towards the younger woman as she scrambled back to her feet.
“You crazy bitch!” cried Kayden. “You’re going to regret—”
Invoking Yuksaydan for a second time, Fay unleashed it against Kayden once again. How appropriate that the Sisterhood had named this particular application of Zarantar with a word that translated roughly into ‘the unseen hand’, for Kayden was instantly seized tight by an invisible, vice-like grip that lifted her right off her feet. Fay continued to stalk towards the apprentice who remained suspended several feet off the ground as she wriggled about in a futile struggle to break free of the Zarantar-induced hold on her.
You foolish little girl! thought Fay. There wasn’t a single Sanatsai within the Order whose Zarantar was strong enough to resist her without considerable help. What hope did this insolent apprentice have in opposing her?
Fay came to a stop, just short of where Kayden hung in the air. Staring up intently at the incapacitated apprentice, she felt completely at ease—almost indifferent—about what she was going to do to the pathetic creature before her.
“I should have done this the day I first laid eyes upon you.”
Fay barely recognised her own voice; it was cold, monotone.
“I can have no rival. I can have no equal.”
She raised a hand up at Kayden. A stream of air, distorted, as if by a heat haze on a sweltering day, charted a course from her to the apprentice. The invocation of Shakbarilsan caused the clothing Kayden was wearing to erupt in flames that engulfed her in mere seconds. An amused smile curled Fay’s lips while the inhuman screams of the burning apprentice echoed through the stables.
It wasn’t long before the screaming ceased, completely; the stables fell silent once more. Satisfied with her ruthless work, Fay put out the flames with a wave of the hand that released her invisible hold on Kayden’s floating body. The charred form that dropped at her feet, with a heavy thud, no longer resembled the arrogant young upstart who stood before her only moments earlier. In some ways that was actually a pity. It was hard to fathom how such a beautiful girl could make for such a hideously grotesque corpse.
Gazing down at the body of the apprentice, Fay’s satisfaction was short-lived. First, she saw Kayden’s chest rise and fall; then she heard the ragged gasps for breath. Cold rage swept over her face like a dark cloud eclipsing a full moon. Fay was furious that the young woman had the indecency to cling on to life. She unsheathed the dagger at her hip then squatted down to straddle Kayden’s prone form. Raising the blade high over her head, she let out a blood-curdling scream as she thrust the weapon down with both hands, plunging her dagger repeatedly into Kayden’s torso. She paid no attention to the blood that spattered across her own face as she continued her ferocious mutilation of the corpse lying beneath her.
“Fay?” A familiar voice called out to her from nearby, though it sounded much farther away.
“Fay?” The voice sounded closer this time. “Fay!”
Fay snapped out of her thoughts, and quickly glanced back over her shoulder.
Fellow Sanatsai, Darrian Lanza, had entered the dilapidated stables and was walking sedately towards her. His tall, lanky frame was clothed in the monochromatic garb of the Order, and he too wore the hood of his cloak over his head. She noted the concerned look on his clean-shaven face as he halted by her side.
“Is everything all right?” asked Darrian.
“Yes. Everything is fine.” She returned her gaze to Kayden—alive and well—still standing before her, looking slightly confused and perhaps a little disturbed. “Young Kayden, here, was just leaving to complete the assignment.” Addressing the apprentice, she added, “Please don’t let me hold you up any longer, apprentice. You still have time to deliver the box to Master Pedrano at the rendezvous point.”
Kayden seemed happy to receive her cue to leave. She tipped her head at Darrian, in acknowledgement. “If you’ll excuse me Master,” she said, pointedly ignoring Fay, before stepping away from the two Sanatsai to hurriedly exit the stables.
Fay remained where she stood, staring blankly straight ahead as Darri
an gazed expectantly at her. “Is something troubling you Darrian?” she inquired. “I’m sure I asked you to wait outside for me.”
“No. I’m not troubled, Fay, I’m just surprised,” he replied. “You were so incensed by the assault on Zalayna I assumed you would come in here to give Kayden a severe tongue lashing, before letting her know she had failed the assignment.”
Fay sighed. “Nothing good would come from failing her.”
The words were muttered more to herself than as a response to Darrian. She fell silent for a moment, thinking. Finally, she broke her reverie, turning to face her friend and colleague directly. “Besides, would it not be a shame to deny her the honour of completing the assignment, having made it this far? In the twenty-four years since this current ‘capture the box’ exercise was first instituted, no apprentice has come even remotely close to success.” In fact, no previous variant of ‘capture the box’ had gone longer than three years without being successfully completed.
The anticipated challenge to her reasoning failed to materialise, so Fay elaborated further. “Although her methods are not to be condoned, Kayden’s resourcefulness and dedication are to be…admired.”
“I suppose we should be impressed by her determination to succeed,” Darrian conceded. “But electing not to fail her will likely only be a temporary stay of execution. I imagine the Council will insist upon Kayden’s expulsion and the immediate binding of her Zarantar, once they learn of the savage attack on Zalayna.”
“I will personally smooth things over with the Council to avoid that outcome.”
Darrian raised his eyebrows, seemingly surprised she would go out on a limb for Kayden’s benefit. “I don’t doubt for a moment you could get the Council to accede to your wishes,” he said. “But should Zalayna push the matter and insist upon Kayden’s expulsion...” He trailed off, leaving it to Fay to fill in the blank herself.