"That's an interesting thought. Do you know anything about the roads they travel to get here?"
"They are forced to weave their way around mountains and across waterways between here and their major cities in Ny-nes. Kyri has some maps in her home; I've seen them. Their biggest obstacle, of course, is the Inner Sea, which was once a wide river that divided the continent. They have limited access to cross their vehicles-only a few ferries are large enough to carry that load, and then it is only one or two trucks at a time."
"We took more than ten vehicles from them while I was in training camp," I said. "That must have been a blow, to lose so many of them to us."
"I'm sure it was, but it was only a fraction of what they had, I'm sure." Cole's mouth tightened at the thought of the enemy's might.
They had vehicles and weapons-we had flesh, blood and power. "How many years has it been, Cole, that Ny-nes and Az-ca have been at war?"
"Kyri says Ny-nes wasn't aware of Az-ca's continued existence until nearly a century after the End-War. Once they discovered that some of their original enemy survived, they renewed the war, and made plans to attack Az-ca. This was when they learned that in the years following the End-War, Az-ca had found another way to defend itself. Ny-nes thought Az-ca had nothing to combat their machines and bombs, and that the war would end with the first battle. It did not, as you know. That's when they began calling you demons, witches and other hated creatures. They cannot accept that once we were all the same; we merely believed differently."
"So. Beliefs are their excuse for killing and torturing." I felt weary, now.
"And for killing your people, too, never forget that," Cole grumbled. "Also for attempting to kill me and all those who came with me today. We have waited long to stand against them, and we are now old enough and strong enough to do so."
"If things went as you'd like, how would you want this to turn out?" I asked.
"Hmmph. That Kaakos, Ruarke and those who believe in them would fall. That someone would come to teach the people a better way-that the lies they've been told and have believed all along are just that-lies."
"It may take time to do that," I pointed out. "A long time."
"I know. Please allow me some small hope that the people who have been led astray will have a chance for something better."
"How many of them want something better?"
"I don't know. They are afraid to speak of those things, and it has been more than fifty years since I was among them. There may be no hope left in them. Nothing left worth saving."
I didn't say it, but that future felt so dark and bleak I wanted to shiver. How many, even in the best of circumstances, would continue to see the people of Az-ca as something evil? How long would it take to eradicate those ideas?
Once those ideas were released, was there any way to call them back? Ever?
"I didn't mean to make you feel hopeless, too," Cole reached out to pat my hand. We'd never touched, before.
Just that brief connection made me want to scream in pain, the memories that coursed through him were so horrible.
He was willing to give his life to protect others-others who'd never suffered as tragically as he had.
He'd been seven, and the adults in his life had turned against him. His body bore the scars of his pain-castration was the first thing they'd done to him, and then torture had followed.
You want to hunt them as much as I do, don't you? I sent to him.
Yes. Perhaps more than you do.
I have an idea, I told him. Let me see if I can reach Adahi. After that, we may go our own way in this.
We follow you, Cole dipped his head.
* * *
Kyri
"I dislike the thought of your return to Ny-nes. You know why," Adahi's deep voice rumbled.
"I'll take Sherra with me and employ her technique. I can be assured of passing the border with her power assisting me."
"She has already agreed to take Cole's people to hunt the approaching army," Adahi pointed out. "Perhaps it is time to give her the truths you've hidden."
"No." That answer came quickly and firmly from my lips.
"What if the Prince declares her a deserter?"
"He won't," I huffed. "He loves her too much."
"He also knows the laws, Kyri. Don't let your anger affect your divinations."
I hadn't bothered with divination in this matter and he likely knew that. Adahi couldn't help me in this, for obvious reasons. He'd gotten me out of Ny-nes once before, at great cost to himself. He could never do that again.
My fault, a small voice informed me.
I'd had three centuries to consider the mistakes I'd made, and to work on ways not only to correct them, but to better myself so I wouldn't fail again.
Ruarke-he was the stinging insect atop the maddened bull, in my opinion. Doret would argue, because she felt about him the same way I felt about Kaakos. I wanted to laugh at the name he'd given himself. If it hadn't been for me, he'd never have had knowledge of the word to begin with.
At least Sherra had pulled away half of Thorn's Book from Ruarke's greedy hands. The most dangerous spells were in the last half of the book anyway.
That's what you're telling yourself, the small voice taunted.
"You have to ask yourself what Kaakos is willing to do to destroy you and Az-ca," Adahi pointed out after my protracted silence.
"You know he'll sacrifice anyone except himself," I said.
"I do. I merely wanted to know if you understood that."
"Adahi, I am far too old for riddles or tests," I snapped.
"Age has nothing to do with it," he replied. "You should know that too." He disappeared before I could reply.
* * *
King's Palace
Kerok
"Spin your shield to make a tube."
Sherra made things look so easy. I wanted to grumble about that but kept the words behind my teeth. Cole, aggravatingly enough, was far ahead of Hunter and me.
"I've been making shields for a long time," he shrugged at me. "Sherra says you've only been doing it for a year or so."
I hated to admit it, but Cole was well-spoken, intelligent and likeable. That irritated me for reasons I couldn't explain.
Sherra said he was sixty years old-very close to my own age. Like me, he looked half that, due to his power.
Cole laughed aloud when the fat log he'd aimed at splintered; his tubed blast had gone right through it with a resounding thunk.
Kerok? Let me touch your hands to show you how to do this, Sherra sent mindspeak.
"Touch Hunter, too," I grumbled.
"All right. Give me your hands-both of you."
Hunter was much more willing than I was. Cole stood by while Sherra took our hands and gave us images-images that would enable us to accomplish what Cole had already done so easily.
Sherra sensed my irritability, but said nothing. When Adahi arrived to watch, my growing anger and frustration threatened to spill into audible sentences.
Your jealousy has no foundation, Adahi informed me. Sherra will love no other, have no fear. Adahi stood on the sidelines, his hood down and arms crossed over his chest. As for Cole, he continued, his genitalia were removed as part of his torture as a child. It is a common practice among the barbarians to mutilate their victims.
My breath stopped, as if I'd been punched in the gut and couldn't breathe for a moment. That's horrible, I managed to say after several moments passed.
Imagine your whole life spent that way, Adahi's mouth tightened and he looked away. The barbarians ensure that their victims will never have children, in case they do manage to escape, somehow. There is nothing gentle about Ruarke, Kaakos or any of their closest followers, as you may imagine.
Why do they do this? Can they hate us this much?
They do it because it pleases them, and yes, they hate anyone who has anything to do with Az-ca.
Their beliefs dictate this? This confused me; how someone might hate anyone they'
d never met, on the strength of the tales others told.
Someday, Prince Thorn, perhaps we will discuss these things, along with the End-War and why it came about. Hate and fear are two sides of the same coin, you see, and when the goods to be bought are violence and lies to further your agenda, then you not only sow the seeds of destruction, you ensure that your followers stay loyal, out of fear or fanaticism. Either of those things, to our enemy, is acceptable.
"I've never put a face on the enemy before," I spoke aloud to Adahi. "Now I'm seeing more sides of it than I ever imagined."
"At least one small side is allied with you," Cole turned toward me. "Another small part of those in Ny-nes may be too afraid to speak against the norm. The rest are in total acceptance of the regime Kaakos and those who came before him have built."
"How long has Kaakos been in power?" I asked.
"Four hundred years, more or less," Adahi shrugged. "To put that in perspective for you, he came to power roughly twenty years before your namesake, King Thorn, passed."
"Did you know him?" I asked. "King Thorn?"
"He and I were well-acquainted," Adahi said.
"Perhaps we should talk about him, sometime," I said. "Sherra, let me see if I can build a tube blast, now."
"I'll set up a new log for you," Cole offered. I waited until he set a new, thick log on the stone before me, then stepped away.
Sherra didn't coach or remind me. Carefully I formed a shield, then built it into a funnel, which elongated into a tube. Sending the tube toward the log target, I formed a small blast to launch through it.
"Now," Hunter breathed the moment I released the blast.
"Perfect," Cole shouted as the blast burned a small hole through the log without raising splinters on either side, it was so clean and well-aimed.
* * *
"I can't believe how simple and effective it is." Hunter was still marveling at the technique after we walked into the palace for a midday meal.
After being upset for the first half of the lesson, the last half had gone surprisingly well for me. "With your permission, I'd like to get all the palace warrior-guards trained in this, if possible," Hunter said. "What are we eating? I'm starved."
"Hunter," I clapped a hand on his back, "Welcome to warrior training. It takes a lot out of you."
"I'm very pleased," Cole told Sherra as they walked behind Hunter and me. "I would never have imagined it possible. This is so effective at eliminating a single target, rather than launching a fireblast, which can kill many at once."
He was right. This was quite useful, especially if the enemy chose to hide behind hostages, as they'd done recently.
So far, I'd seen nothing alien or unsettling about Cole, other than Adahi's description of Cole's torture and status. Adahi had left us when we stopped our session, telling me he would return later. I wondered if he had other things to teach me in private.
Barth appeared around a corner, striding toward us. By the look on his face, he had news.
Bad news.
My thoughts went immediately to my father.
"Weren sent a messenger," Barth handed a sealed note to me. "We have a problem."
* * *
Sherra
"Caral and Misten are in Secondary Camp's lockup. They are involved in a forbidden relationship, and several have come forward, revealing knowledge of this. Several troops and officers signed an affidavit, verifying that Misten and Caral are together, as cannot be, because of that stupid, unfair, one-sided law."
Pottles frowned as I explained the trouble. Cole and I-somehow, we knew we had to search for the enemy army now. As for the affidavit, I didn't know whether those who signed it had actual proof.
I knew it to be true, however. If Barth did his divination, he'd find the truth, too. I couldn't leave Az-ca when my friends' lives were in jeopardy. It was bad enough that I'd be leaving Az-ca without Kerok's knowledge or permission; he was the Crown Prince, in addition to being the head of Az-ca's army.
"I thought Weren would be better than that," Pottles snapped as she strode toward the window in her suite. Her window didn't overlook the garden; its view was of peaked mountains in the distance, outside the domes of the King's City. She gazed toward the peaks, but I wondered if she actually saw them.
"What if they remove their power?" I whispered to Pottles' back.
"Hmmph. If Thorn follows the law, they're marked for that and death afterward. You know what they'll find if divination is done; I can see it in your face."
I hunched my shoulders. This couldn't be. Not now.
Not ever.
Cole, I sent mindspeak. Meet with me later. Please.
I am at your command, Cole's reply came immediately.
* * *
Mountain Camp
Ruarke
Merrin was more useful than I'd given him credit for. All I had to do was a simple divination on him and I'd gotten all sorts of information I could use.
I still had my spies, and they were more than capable of spreading information. I'd attempted to take Caral and Wend before.
There were other methods available to destroy Caral. Granted I wouldn't get credit for it, but it would happen anyway, and cause a rift within Az-ca's army. I looked forward to receiving the news of two deaths, at the very least.
Others could follow, once additional information came to me. As for Wend, I hadn't seen anything useful about her in my divination of Merrin, but that could change.
I relished the idea of killing the enemy from the inside out; pitting them against one another satisfied me greatly. Then, once Kaakos' army arrived, we'd increase our attacks on Az-ca, outside and within.
* * *
King's City Training Camp
Sherra
"You have enough supplies?" I asked Cole aloud. I plan to rescue my friends from Secondary Camp, I silently added.
The Prince will be forced to declare you rogue and place a sentence on your head, too, Cole pointed out. "We have everything we need," he said.
I know. I think it's been coming a long time, I admitted. I had a forbidden book and learned from it when I was young. He ignored the law in that case, but this time, he won't be able to ignore what I'm planning to do now.
"Good," I nodded at Cole.
I will come with you to Secondary Camp, he offered.
No, let me do this alone. I can get past their shields. This way, the rogue status and death sentence will fall squarely where it belongs-on my shoulders. Afterward, we'll hunt the enemy army.
Then tell me where to meet you.
I will.
You say this because you don't know if you'll survive the rescue attempt-is this correct?
Yes. I don't intend to kill anyone while doing this.
Which will place you in danger.
I hope my shields hold and nobody decides to launch fireblasts indiscriminately. Bystanders could be killed in the backwash.
Then I and my people will wait until you call for us. "We have everything we need," Cole said. Including tents and camping supplies.
"Let me know if anything changes," I said and walked out of the training camp commander's office.
* * *
Kerok
"Weren, did you know anything before this cropped up?" I slammed a hand on the written affidavits of several of his troops, including two officers. All of them claimed knowledge of Caral's and Misten's relationship. Whether that was true or not, I knew what Barth would find should he perform a divination on either of the women.
Weren and I sat in my study, having a private meeting on the situation with Caral and Misten, and what was being done to keep them in the lockup at Secondary Camp.
"I suspected." He lowered his eyes. "I should have come to you shortly after I took the position of General, but I didn't. If I had, perhaps this could have been avoided."
"You knew there were still those among us that disagreed with the changes we've gone through, didn't you? Those who'd employ any excuse to disrupt everythin
g within the army."
"Yes, Prince Thorn. I hoped things would settle down once everyone got used to the new ways, but the invitation for former washouts to join the ranks upset more of the troops than I imagined it would. A few-disagreements broke out between former instructors and their students."
"On the escort side, right?"
"Yes. The warriors sided with their escorts, as you may imagine. I do admit that I didn't realize how bad things had become."
"Weren," I closed my eyes in weariness and anger, "This isn't your fault. I doubt anyone would have handled this differently. I suspect there's something else behind this, pushing, but I'll be damned if I can prove Merrin had a hand in it. You and I know Sherra stopped Ruarke from taking Caral and Wend before. This-he's involved in this and we know it."
"Perhaps removing their power, and placing them in the King's City lockup for a few months," Weren suggested. "It will keep them alive until we can sort through this mess."
"With the enemy army on the way? They're needed, Weren. Next to Sherra, Caral is the best at shielding. Wend and a few others are right behind her. How long before Merrin devises a way to destroy Wend and the others? All because of the fucking laws."
"I believe you're giving Merrin more credit than he's due for being sharp enough to devise those plans," Weren observed. "Ruarke has his hands in this, if I'm not mistaken. Merrin may be a source of information, but the deviousness? That belongs to the enemy."
"You're right," I admitted, blinking at Weren. "They're destroying us from the inside, now, and when their army arrives, we'll be attacked from all sides."
"What does your rose say about this?" Weren asked.
"Hmmph. She won't even talk to me. These are her closest friends, Weren. What do you expect her to say?"
* * *
Secondary Camp
Armon
Levi sat beneath a tree outside our cabin, shielding himself from view with a mirror shield Caral taught him how to make. He was grieving already, for Misten and Caral.
It was one thing to lose an escort in battle. This-this was untenable. According to the law, they'd be put to death. With the current mood running through half the army, if Thorn refused to follow the letter of the law, a mutiny could erupt.
Rose and Thorn: Black Rose Sorceress, Book 2 Page 21