Death Flag

by Richard Haygood

  “Secondly, and I know that this is hard for you to hear, but your brother died unnecessarily. Deep down, after everything you’ve seen here in a day, I think you understand that.”

  He paused then, and Alyanna looked up from the table. She exchanged a glance with Madison and then looked to Burke. Whatever emotion the mention of Darrius’ death brought to her, there was little of it showing on her face, a remarkable turnaround from how she had been crushed by the same news only a short time ago. She looked more determined than saddened at this point, and that was understandable. She and Madison had this same conversation on their own not too long ago, and he had asked her to consider something similar at the time.

  “You’re not the only one who has brought that to my attention,” she said calmly. “I just don’t know what I’m supposed to think . . . What purpose would my brother’s death serve?”

  “You need to think on a grander scale,” Burke said. “It’s part of the big picture.”

  “I agree,” Madison said. He cast a glance at everyone around the table and then let his eyes settle on Alyanna. He wasn’t one for pulling punches when it came time to lay things out, but he knew that this was going to hurt her. “Someone let him die for a reason, and I think more than one party was involved.”

  “What do you mean?” Burke asked. The Guardian had clearly reached his own conclusions before ever starting this conversation, or he wouldn’t be having it, but he was leading Madison on so that he would explain his own theory as well.

  Madison shrugged. “If we assume that someone wants to manipulate Lord Fox, using his family as a means would be pretty simple. Lord Fox came here to ask for help, but K’yer Utane couldn’t end their centuries-long policies and take an active part in the war unless something drastic happened. They would have to have a powerful reason to take a stance. Having the heir to a throne die under your protection is a pretty significant reason.”

  Burke nodded. “I agree,” he said. “But what did you mean by two parties being involved?”

  “Aly told me originally that she was going to be left here for training. She was second in line for succession, and it was her brother who was groomed from birth to take over the family seat. A lot of people fear her because of the power she wields, but a lot of people would flock to her if she were to make a claim for the same reason. She was a threat to her brother and his claim as long as she remained in the north.”

  “What?” Alyanna demanded, breaking their civil conversation by slamming the palm of her hand on the table. “There’s no way I would ever—”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Madison interjected, cutting her off. “That’s the way things work. Burke just pointed out that your family and your people stand to make an outright fortune in gems and minerals if they continue mining and find a way to dispose of the dragon. Where there’s money, there’s power; where there’s money and power, there’s corruption. It would always be a threat as long as you were around. I have no doubt that your father loved you, but you were a threat to the family name and a peaceful secession as long as you were there.

  “Darrius was killed here, while under K’yer Utane’s protection. It would be embarrassing, but only if someone from the outside world actually knew about it. But they don’t, and they never will. Still, it puts K’yer Utane in a debt to Lord Fox.” Madison looked purposefully at Burke and said, “K’yer Utane owes the Fox family for letting his son die. That’s a powerful reason to end the period of isolationism. But it might not be enough.”

  Madison glanced back at Alyanna and took a breath before continuing. He softened his tone of voice but remained clear and loud so that all at the table would hear him. “He’d already abandoned you the moment he started this trip, Aly. He already knew that you’d never return with him if he found K’yer Utane. You were always meant to be traded off as a favor. The daughter of a powerful lord studying at K’yer Utane? If it were a deal between two houses, it would bind the families together, and it was the same in his mind. Another link in the chain pushing K’yer Utane to act on behalf of Stargrave because its heir was studying here.

  “But, I gave him the third opportunity. Well, I almost did, anyway. I almost played into the unseen hand before I even realized what was happening . . .”

  Madison stopped and took a drink of his water, once more looking around at everyone’s faces. They were curious and interested, and no one showed any signs of interrupting him before he finished. “Several things had to occur, and several people had to let them occur. Alaynna stabbed me and left me to die when she never should have been able to. Sure, you might call it fate if someone was able to attack a student here, but I’m technically not even a Novice yet”—Madison held up his hands to show the lack of a ring there—“and I’m willing to wager that no one would normally risk it.

  “Think about it: This is a valley of killers and assassins. What would happen if she failed, and I killed her instead? Well, simply put, K’yer Utane would be even more in debt to Lord Fox. A big, big debt. That’s the same reason I was allowed to wander to the infirmary, remove several key medicines—one of which is restricted to Sworn and Guardians—and allowed to attack the Fox family in their private quarters. There was plenty of time to stop me, but no one ever did. No one even tried as I wandered through the halls with a knife wound, so it’s not like I was in a hurry, and I even broke into Ryder’s private training room and stole a sword.

  “All of that raised a flag, and even at the time, I knew that something was wrong despite my anger. What tipped me off, however, was Lord Fox. He’s supposed to be an accomplished swordsman, but he didn’t even make a move to attack me. He’s not too old, and I promise you, neither age nor health would matter if your only living child had a sword held to their throat. His sword, the sword that you drew on me, Aly, was beside him at the table the entire time. It was drawn and leaning there, but he never even tried to pick it up. I’m sorry, Aly, but he was too willing to sacrifice you.

  “What a minute,” Warren interjected. “Are you seriously trying to convince us that Lord Fox, who had just lost his son, was willing to throw away his daughter’s life? Just on the chance that K’yer Utane would enter the war?”

  “No,” Madison said. “I’m telling you that he’d already thrown away Aly’s life the moment he started the trip south. He knew what he was doing the entire time. I don’t think he ever meant to lose Darrius, but once it was done, it was just icing on the cake to him. Someone let me attack the family, right here in this apartment, the same as they let Aly attack me out there: Because if she died, K’yer Utane would have been responsible for ending a family’s lineage. They’d have to take action and save Stargrave. If Burke is correct and Lord Fox didn’t come here by sheer luck alone, someone led him here. I’m willing to bet it was with promises of taking action as well. Aly was meant to be the original bargaining chip, but when Darrius was injured on the way, things began to snowball favorably in their direction.”

  “Those are some serious assumptions, Madison,” Warren warned. “What you’re implying is that—”

  “That one or more of the other Guardians is responsible for letting Darrius die while under their care so that his death would act as a catalyst that would propel K’yer Utane to take action. Alyanna’s life was forfeit for the same reason.”

  “But Ryder did attack you,” Warren insisted. “He did stop you. He chased you out through the citadel, and you fought with him on the quad. Everyone saw it. It’s been the talk of the entire place for days now. He almost cut you in half, Madison.”

  Madison shook his head. “No, he should have been able to stop me long before that. He’s a Guardian and an expert swordsman. I’m pretty certain that he was just putting on a show for everyone there. He was giving them a display of what would happen if someone tried to cross him or step out of line. I didn’t want to ever admit to this, but I let him cut me. That was the only thing that didn’t go exactly as he predicted it would. I didn’t realize it until just now, but I�
��m willing to bet that’s the same reason those guys keep going after Shayna. They want her cowed or out of the picture because she’d have a fairly powerful reason to be against the whole idea and likely stir up trouble for them.

  “The last key part was his timing. Like I said before, he had all the time in the world to stop me, and with the magical all-seeing-eye that watches everything that happens in K’yer Utane, they had to know what I was doing. But, as long as I was doing what they wanted, they didn’t have a reason to stop me. He only interjected when I demanded Aly’s life as recompense for failing to kill me. It wasn’t until I demanded that she remain here for three months that he attacked and tried to put on a show of stopping me. They couldn’t allow that because it meant that I wasn’t going to kill her and that she would continue to live here under their protection before being set free. I don’t know how it works exactly, but three months here is probably about a year out there. By that time, the war would likely be over, and the opportunity would be lost.”

  Alyanna’s eyes widened as she looked at Madison. “That means . . . You knew it all along . . . You really could have killed me. I thought you were trying to punish me by making me remain here. But you were trying to save me instead?”

  “No,” Madison said gently, shaking his head. “I mean, yes. At some point. I realized that they were using you when your father stood by and let you attack me, and I knew that something was wrong. I was pissed when you left me to die. I was hacked off and ready to kill you . . . but when I realized that you were likely being used the same way I was, there wasn’t any point. I figured sparing your life and demanding that you remain here for that time would force them to tip their hand, and it did.”

  There was silence for a time. No one had a counterargument to make. He was working on conjecture and guesswork as much as anything, but no one could argue with it. Given what Burke had said, it made sense. If he was looking at the bigger picture, so to speak, and putting all the pieces of the puzzle together, they fit. Every bit of this information had been rattling around for a while within his head, and he had even voiced some of it to Alyanna, but having Burke there to confirm everything was tipping the scales.

  “So, just for a minute, let’s assume that all of this is correct,” Warren said in a cautious tone. “What you’re hypothesizing is that there’s some elaborate plot at work. What do we do from here? Why do we need to even have this conversation if everything is already over and done with? It’s not like we’re going to be able to track these people down, and even if we did, we don’t have any definite proof. You have theories that are somewhere between paranoid and delusional, but it’s not enough to act on. Besides, what has anyone really even done wrong? There’s no rule that says we have to spend resources saving someone’s life, whether they’re our guest or our student, and there’s no rule that says we have to stop someone from attacking anyone. What would we even do about it if we knew who to do something to?”

  Heads around the table swiveled to look at Burke. He was the one who had called them here, so he obviously was the one who had a plan in mind. Madison knew what his connection was with Erin and Shayna. Both had kept quiet almost the entire time, and neither seemed overly eager to join the conversation. Erin was typically so quiet that she’d be overlooked unless she was directly addressing a Guardian, but Shayna was often loud and outspoken. They likely knew what was coming, what he was going to ask from them all, and it spoke volumes that she didn’t want to spur things along unnecessarily by adding to the conversation. Even when Madison had named her their target, she hadn’t said a word.

  “I don’t think that we’ve reached the end of it,” Burke said. “If they were serious enough to go to all this trouble to set things in motion, there would be other plans in the works as well. They wouldn’t be relying on just Lord Fox and his family to be the necessary catalyst.”

  “But you also pointed out that they’ve had other arguments all along,” Madison pointed out. “Are they just looking for something to tip the argument over the top in their favor? Searching for the straw to break the proverbial camel’s back? I don’t think that you’re wrong, but do they really need a major event to jump start things?”

  “Yes and no,” Burke answered. “A trigger event would definitely make their argument a lot more convincing.”

  “You said the state of affairs throughout the continent has fallen recently, right? That slavery has grown in this region in particular?” Madison asked, starting to grasp at the strands of even more conjecture. “We’re assuming that they were just taking advantage of circumstances when Darrius showed up wounded.”

  Alyanna’s eyes shot open and she sat up straight. “No, please,” she said plaintively. “Don’t tell me . . .”

  “You think that was planned as well,” Burke finished for him. “I’ve wondered the same thing myself.”

  “We’re not dealing with amateurs, right? They wouldn’t leave anything to chance. It’s likely that Lord Fox was summoned here because they knew of the pressures being applied to him by both sides in the war. It made him the perfect target for them to use, and your connection to him from all those years ago made their offer all the more enticing and easier to believe since he was already convinced that K’yer Utane existed to begin with. It was their plan to use him and his family all along, one way or another. They wouldn’t go to the trouble of setting all of that up and not having a plan.”

  “Are you seriously suggesting that someone here is working with a group of slavers?” Warren asked, disgust plainly written across his face. “That someone from K’yer Utane is working with the dredges of society outside these walls? The very people that we’re supposed to stand against and defeat? There’s just no way. That’s too much to believe.”

  “It’s really not, is it?” Burke asked. “Your view of morality is far too narrow if that’s what you think. Everyone has a purpose, and everyone can be used for a good purpose if their skills are used appropriately. I’ll flat out tell you this: If we left it up to the saints and clergy in the temples to save everyone, nothing would ever happen. It’s hard to effect change when you refuse to raise your hand with force, and your only two skills are asking for donations and passing out handouts. We’ve used slave traders in the past as a cover for smuggling people to important meetings, meetings that decided the fates of countries and of countless lives, and we’ve used them to move members of royal families before they were murdered in their beds by their delinquent, scheming cousins. We’ve used thieves and robbers and murders and cutthroat assassins.”

  “They ask fewer questions, and as long as your coin is good, they don’t care where it comes from,” Madison confirmed. “They all possess particular skill sets that you likely wouldn’t find anywhere else, and it allows you to manipulate things without having to unnecessarily risk everyone’s lives here. It makes sense.”

  Warren looked around for help, but a single look told him that no one was going to come to his aid. “No way . . .” he repeated, his voice somewhat desperate. “It’s just . . . I can’t . . . It’s . . . It’s unfathomable. I just can’t believe it. I don’t want to believe it. How? Why? We’re supposed to be the good guys. We’re supposed to be above all of that. Why would we work with people like that? You’re talking about colluding with the worst types of people society has to offer.”

  “We are those people,” Burke said gravely.

  Warren’s mouth hung open, and he stared at the Guardian in shock. Erin and Shayna looked like they had expected that, but Alyanna looked like she was trying to add up something in her head before it was spelled out for her. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, studying Burke. “Before we get too far off topic,” she began, “what’s the next play? What is it you want from us?”

  Burke looked around the table as if trying to assess how willing everyone would be to go along with his plan. “First, and for now, I want you to go after your father,” he said. “I don’t think it was a coincidence that you and yo
ur party were attacked on the way here. No matter what they told you before about looking for someone, they were there for a reason. I understand that Madison killed off quite a few of their men, including someone’s brother, but that’s not reason enough for them to hang out in this area for so long. It costs them time and money and resources to maintain a presence here, and it has to be a strain on them to keep so many people in the field all the time when they aren’t producing results or generating income. So, I think they’re just as likely to attack again on your way back. Your father’s party will be weaker now than before, so whatever their reasons were before, they’re likely to have returned stronger than ever and with a need to pad their pockets. They’re also likely to have grown a bit greedier in the interim—perhaps a bit hungrier. Capturing a lord and holding him hostage for ransom might seem like a good idea. Torturing him for information might as well.”

  “You think that they’re going to use the band of slavers to attack again,” Madison observed. “Since things didn’t go exactly according to plan, they’re going to finish off what they started the first time and stir up as much trouble as they possibly can? Make Alyanna more than just a successor now that she’s here in K’yer Utane and generate yet another reason to take action?”

  “You really do think they would do that,” Alyanna responded. “Maybe these guys are right. If the world has sunk so low as to extort a people for money when they’re starving, maybe it is time someone took a stand.”

  Burke scratched at his scraggly beard for a moment. “I don’t necessarily disagree with the ends; I just disagree with the means. I’m not big on throwing away lives just to get things done. In fact, I’ve spent a fair bit of time trying to save them over the years.” He glanced at Erin and Shayna, and to anyone but Madison, it would have been a simple look. Since Madison knew their relationship, however, it was filled with subtle meaning on its own. “Be that as it may, your father should have had an escort sent with him to begin with. Since I wasn’t here to argue the decision, I can’t say why one wasn’t assigned for his trip home. At best, it was negligence, and at worst . . .”