Reckoning

by T. J. Michaels

  But how?

  As if reading his thoughts, Rhia addressed the questions swirling around in his brain.

  “Sharyn used her Gift of Healing to help mend the injury. She is sleeping now to recover from the drain on her energy, but in a few hours both you and she will be good as new. Luckily, the blade that made that wound of yours wasn’t poisoned. That would have taken the both of us. And you would have been on your back for at least a good seven days.”

  He nodded, though he didn’t truly understand at all. He’d heard tell of magick and Gifts, but only in the old histories that read more like Gaian fairy tales. Reading of a culture and experiencing a culture were certainly two different things.

  Mannon’s mind snapped clear as he realized something else. Sure, he shouldn’t be sitting here, alive and drinking the most delicious beverage ever, but more amazing was that he shouldn’t be sitting here with Rhia.

  “Wait a minute, Rhia. What are you doing here? When I set out from Draema Proper I expected to travel for days before finding you.”

  “Well, you traveled for less than three hours. My father sent for help from RuArk and the story goes downhill from there.” She told a horrific tale about the danger to RuArk and the High Counsel, and a mad dash from Province Springs in pursuit days earlier. Mannon was less than pleased to confirm that the City was indeed overrun.

  By Noman and traitors.

  “All is lost.”

  “All?” she asked, her expression filled with pain and anger. “Is that a fact, or a guess? You rode for three hours from the High City, but it takes six just to get to the outer wall and into the buffer zone between Proper and the next colony West of here.”

  True, but thinking was hard and relaxing was out of the question.

  No, no, no. This is no time for emotional bullshit. Suck it up, do your job and give a proper status of what the hells happened, Mannon. You are First Assistant to the Commander in Chief of the Society of War. Fall apart later.

  After several deep breaths, Mannon sat up straight, pulled his responsibility around him like a shroud and spoke. “I withdraw the suggestion that all is lost. You are right, we are still technically in Draema Proper and I have no idea if any of the close-in colonies, such as Draema Salone or Draema Porto, are taken as well. The High City gates are secured and no one is getting in or out. I barely made it myself, but I had to try. I did not know what else to do but try to find you and tell you what happened. To warn you not to come here.”

  “Fire Storm,” an agitated man interrupted from a short distance away. These were some of the most disciplined people he’d ever interacted with. Stoic. Still. The epitome of calm. In all his years of dealing with Gaian who came into the High City for trade, Mannon had never seen one shift from one foot to another. Though the movement was slight, this kind of behavior from a warrior seemed downright giddy.

  “Fire Storm, it is urgent.”

  She motioned for the man to join them. “Mannon, this is Osgar. Osgar, this is Mannon. Mannon has been my father’s right hand for a long as I can remember. Mannon, Osgar is a high ranking warrior, one of RuArk’s most trusted.”

  With the pleasantries dispensed with, she said, “All right, Os, what’s going on?”

  “Before the Wind Storm left Province Springs, he had me send word to several of our men across the river.”

  “So...”

  “They were to quietly cross into Draema and meet him here to aid him in the battle.”

  “Get to the point, Osgar.”

  “Rhia, their forces were delayed by a summer storm and they could not cross the river. It was high and running too fast. By the time they reached the meeting place, the Wind Storm had already gone into the City.”

  Even as dark as it was, Mannon watched understanding dawn in Rhia’s eyes. In fact, she seemed to grow more and more thrilled by the second. And so did he, but he refused to jump to a conclusion. No, he would let this man say what he was thinking before allowing himself to actually get happy about it.

  “Our scouts came upon them while patrolling and brought them back to our camp. Those fireteams from northern Gaia are here. Right here,” he whispered hastily.

  “How many, Osgar?”

  Just then another warrior walked into the circle and answered Rhia’s question.

  “Five hundred, Fire Storm.”

  “Five hundred?” she gasped.

  Five hundred seasoned, ruthless, armed-to-the-teeth warriors? That large a force, combined with those who’d accompanied Rhia from Province Springs would be enough to take any city in the world. Hells, a single Gaian warrior to ten typical soldiers was almost unfair. And Mannon was thankful for it. Perhaps fate was with them after all...

  * * * * *

  After Rhia returned from meeting the forces that had snuck into Draema to help RuArk, she was restless. They needed to rest and bed down for the night, but more than that, they needed a new strategy and more intel. Signaling to Osgar and Shaw, they joined her next to Mannon. Sharyn and Joan came along without being asked.

  “Okay Mannon, we need more details. We need a new plan now that we have more men, and we need one now if we are to ride out of here with any chance of success.

  “I will lead you, Blademaster.”

  “No, Mannon. You’re injured and should get more rest.”

  “That is not possible while I know the High Counsel is in danger. My wound is a minor irritation now, nothing more. I will not be left behind.”

  “Mannon, you’re kind of short, but I swear you sound like one of these bone-headed Gaian warriors.” Osgar snorted. Joan laughed and Rhia smiled as she clapped Mannon lightly on his uninjured side.

  “Thank you for the compliment.” Mannon inclined his head and then turned a bit to wink at Sharyn, who immediately blushed.

  “What can you tell us of the City, Mannon?” Sharyn asked.

  “It is full of those nasty Noman creatures. They seem to be everywhere.”

  “What of my father’s soldiers and the Society of War?”

  “Captured. The Noman came into the City, somehow unseen. Before we knew what was happening, they had overrun your home at the Citadel and were fully engaged with your mate’s forces there. Our men closed the City gates to keep anymore from coming in, but all we did was lock our people in.”

  “I have never been to the High City. I do not understand how it is arranged,” Shaw said.

  Rhia squatted down and drew a quick diagram in the dirt. “It’s like a bunch of rings inside other rings. Here’s the Citadel, right in the center of the High City. The Citadel is a military facility, which includes my father’s home, barracks, stables, training facilities and the like. It’s completely self-sustaining and sits on a hundred acres. There are low walls and gates around it, just like our villa in Province Springs. The High City surrounds the Citadel and there is a higher wall around the High City. Outside that is the rest of Draema Proper. You don’t see another wall until you get to the edge of the colony, and that wall’s gates lets into a buffer zone, which is a few miles of open space between Draema Proper and its neighboring colony. Got it?”

  At Shaw’s nod, the man turned back to Mannon. “So what happened after the capture of the First Heir’s father?”

  “They used him as a bargaining chip with a promise that the High Counsel would be kept alive if all the Gaian warriors and Draeman soldiers within the gates surrendered. RuArk signaled to his men to lay down arms. The Society of War followed suit. It was a complete coup in no time at all.”

  “And the rest of our forces would have no idea what happened because they’re out patrolling the buffer zones, the rivers to the north, and the seas off the southern coast.” Rhia knew this because she’d been the one to set the schedules for the rotation of their troops for years. Damn it, damn it, damn it.

  “Precisely, my lady.”

  So... There was no way into the City, and no way out? As a strategist, she knew a piece of this puzzle was missing, but she couldn’t think of wh
at it was. At the same time, it had been so long since anyone had attempted a siege on the City, she wondered if they’d simply become lax.

  Clenching her jaw, Rhia reined in her temper even as an idea flashed into her head. “Wait a minute. Mannon, if the palace is overrun and the gates are closed, how did you get out?”

  “Do you recall a certain old man who promised to keep the secret of the Lady Rhia when he found her playing in the passages within the walls of the palace?”

  “Holy hells, I forgot all about that little incident. I was so young at the time I don’t even remember how I got into those tunnels or how you found me.”

  “One of the exit doors is close to a seldom used gate that the Noman had not secured. I hid in the passages hoping things would be chaotic enough outside that I could slip out. I got out of the Citadel unseen, but getting to the wall of the City was another matter. I slipped into one of the thick groves between the Citadel and the City wall. I don’t believe they discovered how I did it because they didn’t notice me until I was almost in the trees.”

  “But you fell off a horse? Where did you get it from?”

  “I had no way to get to a hover, and I would not have been able to take one into the cover of the trees anyway. Luckily, the attack happened before the Groomsmen brought the last of the horses in from the farthest pasture near the City wall. I grabbed one and did not look back, even though I was wounded.”

  “So why wasn’t I told about the passages?”

  “They were built in the days of your forefathers during the re-establishment of the rule of law after the Breaking. Upon the death of the High Counsel, the knowledge is passed from the dying ruler to the next High Counsel. They are only known to the High Counsel and me but you would have been told when it was time for you to ascend to the title.”

  “If the location of the tunnels is only passed from one High Counsel to another, then why do you know of them?” Joan asked, her brow arched skeptically.

  “I have been the steward of those passages for almost forty years now, and sworn to secrecy by the High Counsel himself. He did not think it wise that he be the only person in Draema to know their location. He wanted them in good working order, which meant someone had to maintain them. If he hadn’t confided in me and made me the keeper of those passages all those years ago, I would not have been able to save you when you were a child. And I would have had no way to get out of the City today.”

  “Why wouldn’t you have been able to get me out? I was certainly yelling loud enough.” In spite of the gravity of the situation, Rhia laughed.

  “Yes, you were quite vigorous about the business,” Mannon chuckled. “But sounds made within those passages can only be heard from inside those walls.”

  “Sound proofed?” Rhia asked, incredulous. “Seriously?”

  “Yes. I only entered once every week or so. If I hadn’t happened to be inside at the time, you might have starved to death. I would have come upon you eventually, but you had ventured into a part of the passages that is farthest from the Citadel and leads under the City itself and exits across the river.”

  “So nobody else has been in those tunnels?” Rhia asked, wanting, needing reassurance that there was at least a glimmer of hope.

  “There are two others.”

  “But, I thought...”

  “One of them is here; the other is your husband.”

  Rhia knew her mouth hung open, but closing it proved impossible. She hadn’t seen any of this coming. After a few steadying breaths, she said, “Somebody here has been in those tunnels? Who, damn it?”

  He turned slowly to Sharyn, who simply stared back. She said not a word, and neither did Mannon. It simply wasn’t necessary.

  Finally, Sharyn spoke. “When we first came to Draema Proper summoned by your father, we met Mannon at the stables before we were well off our horses. He said your father did not wish for us to be seen, as the matter was one of life and death. Most urgent. Mannon escorted RuArk and me to a door at the back of the Citadel, then through the tunnels and directly to your father’s offices where he awaited us.”

  “And you never told me?”

  “I am a woman of honor. It was obvious that the knowledge shared with RuArk and me was not to be revealed. Besides, was there a reason to disclose such knowledge before now, Rhia?”

  “So,” Joan jumped in, “we have a couple of things to worry about here—getting into the Citadel unseen, which we seem to have an answer to, and second is finding RuArk and the High Counsel and getting them out of there.”

  “Yes,” added Sharyn, “but we do not know who else is involved. We cannot simply walk in there not knowing who to trust.”

  She had a point.

  Joan spoke. “From what we know, Collaidh helped the Noman gain entry to the City. We also know that this Not-Bryan is controlling them somehow. But Sharyn is right. We don’t know who else is being manipulated. What if other Council members are involved?”

  Rhia had the answer to their most pressing question. “We won’t trust anyone. Period.” She rose from her spot beside Mannon, determined and focused. “Our family is in a hot place, so whatever we do we must get to Collaidh and either capture or kill him if we hope to get them out of hell.”

  Actually, it was more like the east side of the seventh level of Hell...in summertime.

  Chapter Twenty

  They waited until almost midnight. The horses were left in the grove outside the walls of the City and soldiers and warriors moved in as close as they dared. They had to know who manned the walls and how many of those ‘who’s’ patrolled the Citadel grounds.

  The scouts reported a half hour later with dismal news. Mannon had been right. The Noman were everywhere. Several were up on the high inner walls that overlooked the High City as well as the key entrances and exits of the Citadel grounds. It would be a risky undertaking getting to the tunnel entrance unseen. After all, Noman hunted at night, their eyes made for the darkness and their sense of smell amazingly keen.

  The smell they could take care of. The company of warriors took strips off of the horse’s saddle blankets and tied them around their waists underneath their clothes to mask the smell of skin and hair. Noman had long since ceased feeding on animals, so the men and women were at least safe in that regard. But they didn’t look like horses and the dark was when a Noman’s sight was sharpest.

  There was nothing they could do about it except be smart and not get caught.

  Splitting up into two teams, one headed north and the other south, around the City. Rhia, Osgar and Mannon led their group while Sharyn, Shaw and Joan took the other. They all quietly made their way from the shelter of the groves and met up again at a small, non-descript, vine overgrown gate in the Citadel’s rear wall.

  Interestingly, all of the gates Rhia knew of could be opened and closed automatically from several communications centers and command posts within the City or the Citadel. But this one was manual. She didn’t recall seeing it on any schematics either. No wonder it was overgrown. And she couldn’t have been more thrilled, in spite of the fact she thought she knew all there was to know about her home’s defenses.

  It was, in fact, the same gate Mannon had fled through without detection. He reminded he hadn’t been seen until he ducked out of the very groves they hid in right now and tried to run for the High City wall.

  Rhia held her breath as Mannon slipped through the gate first. She watched him duck behind several bales of hay stacked high and wide enough to hide his approach. Next, he made his way from the wall to the entrance of the passageways.

  The door blended so well with the stone, Rhia didn’t see it at all until Mannon actually opened it. The thing was impressive and made no sound at all as it slid open.

  Mannon entered with Rhia and Osgar on his heels. They took a quick look about and listened as Mannon suggested several points where their people could gather until they were all inside. Unable to turn on any light until they could shut the door behind them, it took sever
al tension-filled hours to get all of the warriors through the wall and into the passages without making a sound—an amazing feat considering there were hundreds of them, all bristling with weapons.

  Finally, Mannon secured the entrance so it could only be opened from the inside. It simply wouldn’t do to have a pack of bloodthirsty Noman sneaking up on them from behind.

  Rhia was as much impressed with the state of the passages now that she’d seen them, as she’d been when Mannon had described them. They were extremely large with high ceilings, polished floors and iozene lamps that illuminated every step. They were so wide that ten of their weapon clad warriors could walk abreast comfortably.

  The floors were sparkling clean, covered with silver-veined, smoothed stone tiles. Intricately carved woodwork graced the walls.

  “Mannon, do I smell lemons?”

  “Yes, sir. I polish the woodwork with lemon oil.”

  Rhia ground to a halt, eyes wide. “By hand?”

  “Of course,” he said. “The Protector thought it was quite well done.” The man’s smile was full of pride, and it should have been because the place was spectacular. Rhia was still amazed that she’d grown up here and hadn’t a clue about this place.

  The main hallway they’d squeezed into was lined with endless unmarked doors, each with a wall lock, but no signs or symbols to tell what was inside. But Mannon remembered them all. Moving as swiftly as they were able, they reached a fork in the passages with a hallway running off to the left and down some stairs, the other was off to the right with its stairs going up.

  Pointing to the left, Mannon said, “This is where we part. That passage runs directly down to two exits. One takes you to the dungeons and holding cells. The other is a passage that leads across the river.”

  “Is the river an option for escape if we can’t win back the City?” asked Rhia.

  “Yes. The exit across the river is well hidden, but would take us hours on foot. We would also have to leave our mounts in the grove.”