And his mind finally settled upon the thing that would bring him the most sorrow. He would not see Catherine again. A vivid image of her appeared to him, this time of her standing in front of him in the waters of Mellon, small cold bumps beginning to form on her sensitive skin. He would no longer train with her, talk with her, work with her, touch her. He kneeled on the ground and bowed his head down.
That night, after they brought his meal, he slept fitfully, tormented by visions of Catherine, of Tom, of the others.
And the following morning, Eshel prepared himself for what was to come.
CHAPTER 23
Terrible thoughts flooded Catherine’s mind. He wasn’t there. He could be gone, killed by his own people. They could have left him in the remote territories… but Eshel had said that would be highly unlikely, and that even if she found him, he’d probably be dead. He could be anywhere on Korvalis, and she had no means to find him. She could feel tears beginning to blur her vision; but somehow the adrenaline in her system dried them up.
After exiting the compound, Catherine stepped away from the entrance, feeling anger boil up inside her. She wanted to take her device and smash it against the stone wall. Where the hell are you, Eshel?? She leaned against the wall and crouched down. Think. But her mind continued to race and anxiety began to build. She would drown in her own thoughts. She took several deep breaths and tried to remember everything Yamamoto had taught her. Clear your thoughts, he would say. Don’t try to think. Quiet your mind and let the answer come to you.
It took every bit of discipline she had to follow her mentor’s advice and stop trying to think of the correct solution. It was painfully difficult, as all she wanted to do was race to the next place where Eshel might be, to run from place to place, shouting his name, shoving everyone out of her way, until she found him. She closed her eyes, leaning up against the compound and breathing deeply. She forced out the inundation of thoughts, just to have them return with even greater force. Stop trying so hard. She let go of her thoughts, allowing them to swirl about her like a storm. Finally, the swirling began to wane and the thoughts became less forceful, until her breathing slowed and her mind cleared.
And it came to her. No people would go to such lengths, after so long a time, to retrieve someone like Eshel, just to kill him. It made little sense. He would be much more useful to them alive, at least for a while. It also made little sense to send him to prison like some rebellious, low status clansperson or some hated Osecal. No—he was Shereb. The Shereb would deal with him. He wouldn’t be in Felebaseb, with the other prisoners. He would be where the Shereb were.
He would be at Fallal Hall.
Catherine arrived at the craft, breathless from running as Tom let her inside. “Take me as close as you can to Fallal Hall. It’s west of here, about twenty kilometers.” She pulled up the map and pointed. “You can land here.”
Tom stared at her. “You want to infiltrate the palace, where their monarch lives? Come on, Finnegan! That’s crazy! It’s not even on Eshel’s unlikely list.”
“And that’s exactly why they’d take him there… it’s unexpected.”
Tom shook his head. “We have no floor plan, no information about its security.”
“I have a rough idea, based on what Eshel told me.”
“Not good enough.”
“Listen to me,” she hissed at Tom, who backed away in surprise. “I know more about Eshel and his people than you do. You have to trust me on this.”
“We didn’t plan for this, Catherine! Without a plan, everyone’s at risk, including Eshel.”
“Then let’s make a new plan.”
“How? Without a floor plan we have no idea where to look, and randomly searching wastes time and increases our risk of detection. And what if he’s not there? We’ll be down all that time and… we’ll be done. We’ll have to leave without him.”
Catherine heaved a big sigh. “Tom, he hates their leadership, and they hate him. They hated his father, too. They’re the ones with the power, with the means to have him kidnapped. They have him. I’d bet my life on it.” She paused. “It’s a far better bet than the remote territories.”
Tom stood there for a few moments, considering her arguments. “Okay. I’ll agree to this… on two conditions. One… we leave at least two hours to check the remote territories if we don’t find him here.” Catherine nodded. “And two… you tell me what you know. If I know more, I can come up with a plan for infiltrating this place.”
She shook her head. “I can’t do that, Tom.”
“Do you want to find Eshel or not?” Tom said, stepping closer to her. “This is no time for your stubbornness, Catherine. You can’t do this alone!”
“I have to, Tom! Eshel wanted it that way.”
“Catherine, if they detect us, we’re dead.”
“I’m not being stubborn this time. Eshel isn’t concerned about himself… he’s trying to protect his people. The Corps, the Sunai… they still don’t understand that the Korvali leadership are extremists, that a lot of other Korvali want to interact with outsiders. That’s what they’re fighting for. If what I know gets out, they’ll be in danger. Eshel made it clear that he’d rather be left here than risk that.”
“He doesn’t have to risk it! I can keep my mouth shut.”
Catherine looked at her friend for a moment. “If he believed that, you’d be in on this.”
Tom’s angry expression turned momentarily crestfallen at her comment. Then he rapped his hand on the bulkhead. “Alright… search the palace if you believe it’s the best course of action. But I can’t let you go without a plan. I’ll do a flyover, high enough so they won’t hear us, and take some images of the site. That’ll give us more information, including the palace’s dimensions. From there, tell me what you can about the place and we’ll devise a plan. Time calculations haven’t changed; you’ve got five hours on each device, six max, and you’re down…” he glanced at his time, “about two and a half.”
Tom went on, and Catherine listened, nodding at everything Tom said. After Tom sat down in the pilot’s seat, within minutes they were in sight of Fallal Fall, a gleaming white stone edifice surrounded by sprawling grounds, all encircled by a large white stone wall. Northwest of the wall was a vertical cliff that descended into the stormy, roiling sea. Once they got their images, Tom scanned the grassy area near a forest and found no signs of humanoid life. They landed; and they made a new plan.
Catherine ran through the long grass, rain thumping on her hood and splashing her face. Fallal Hall was more than four kilometers from where Tom had set down. Dripping with sweat, she slowed to a brisk walk once she reached the outskirts of the capitol city.
The capitol—the epicenter of Korvalis and the seat of its power and influence—looked nothing like Felebaseb. It was a city of trees—tall, elegant creatures that lined the stone streets and offered protection to the white stone buildings tucked beneath their canopies. Catherine hurriedly walked through the streets, passing numerous buildings and crossing many streams. She saw its robed citizens walking or quietly tending their neat, lush gardens. She saw its sleek, quiet trains. And, in the distance, she saw the great Fallal Hall rise above all.
Once she reached the stone wall that surrounded Fallal Hall’s grounds, she assessed whether she could scale it with the tools she had. She then decided that taking at least a few minutes to search for an entrance might be less risky. And she found one: a heavy wooden door that arced slightly to sit flush with the wall’s curvature. She aimed the rectangular device at the security console; but instead of going blank like those in Felebaseb, it produced eight symbols. She attempted to open the door, but it remained locked. She looked around her, reconsidering her plan to scale the wall. Then, something occurred to her.
The symbols. They looked familiar. And it dawned on her: each represented a DNA nucleotide. Eshel had shown them to her once. Catherine smiled. She managed to recall two of the four, which meant the display would read either TACCGT
TA or TAGGCTTA. She chose the former; CCG was more common in the genome.
But what was she supposed to enter? She entered the same sequence of symbols, wondering if Eshel’s device had caused the console to default to its password. Nothing happened. She tried the latter combo. It didn’t work either.
Damn it. What the hell kind of response did they want to a string of DNA? Then she had an idea: the DNA analog, the sequence for the other strand of DNA that would make up the double helix. She entered ATGGCAAT, making sure she chose the correct symbols.
The lock released. Triumph flooded her.
Catherine peeked onto the grounds; once she saw no one nearby, she walked in and pushed the door shut. As she hurried through the great Hall’s extensive gardens, she suddenly recalled the first time she’d met Eshel, when he’d reanimated in sick bay. The recollection was vivid, almost as if it had happened yesterday.
She began to see people—Shereb in blue robes, alone or in pairs, quietly walking in various directions. She went out of her way to avoid walking near them, until she finally arrived at the great Hall. After shaking the rain off herself and employing the device, the display producing another series of symbols. As she began to mentally translate them, the door opened suddenly.
Catherine gasped and quickly backed away to avoid colliding with the figures exiting the Hall. In doing so, she lost her balance and fell backward, her pack offering some cushioning before she quickly rolled to a kneeling position. She froze, hoping the tall figures, who’d put on their hoods in anticipation of rain, didn’t hear her.
However, one of them halted and turned around. Catherine saw a face, but there was something different about the face—it had softer features, larger eyes. Catherine realized she was female. Her eyes searched the area, her gaze settling on Catherine. Catherine held her breath, trapped by the woman’s powerful stare. She sees me. But the woman shifted her gaze, scanning the area again before she turned and resumed walking with the others. Catherine exhaled, her heart still pounding. She stood up, decoded the door, and entered a large foyer.
The first thing she noticed was a tranquil silence in the great Hall. Despite it being far busier than the correctional facilities, with tall robed figures coming and going often, there was no loud hum of conversation, no laughter, no chat-chat. Floor-to-ceiling windows let in light from the south. Most notably, the entire foyer centered on a giant, sprawling, gray-trunked tree whose branches bore only tiny, ashen leaves. The tree seemed almost familiar, but Catherine wasn’t sure why.
She glanced at her instrument—just over 3.5 hours down. The light on her device shone steadily.
Beyond the foyer, Catherine found hallways and stairways leading elsewhere. As discussed with Tom, she would first search for the offices of the senior government: those in the assembly, their kunsheld, and the kunsheld’s aides. Tom’s images of the west side of the building showed large windows along the upper of the four floors and on the roof—living quarters. Eshel had told her that only the malkaris and her extended family lived in the building. Thus, the north or east sides must be where the kunsheld and assembly gathered, and the images did reveal a sizable ornate window facing east, suggesting one large room—a potential meeting place for their assembly.
And she found it. When she peeked into the assembly room, with its ornate crystalline window and its white stone benches in a circle around its center, she saw only a few people inside, sitting quietly. The surrounding areas also yielded nothing of interest, so Catherine returned to the foyer. When she checked her device again, her stomach jumped.
The device’s indicator light blinked rapidly.
She quickly scanned the foyer for a place to hide, finding nothing but the thick trunk of the tree. As she hurried toward it, she glanced at her device again. The indicator light suddenly went out, leaving her visible to all. Two steps and she was behind the tree, obscuring her from those who came and went through the main door. She immediately pulled out another device and turned it on. She stood catching her breath as she reset her device timer.
Catherine glanced to each side, waiting for someone to look for her behind the tree. No one came. She saw only the window, revealing the gardens outside the foyer. In a dark cluster of trees she spotted moving reflections in the glass—people walking in one direction, and then the other, as they had been. Perhaps they hadn’t seen her.
After only four hours, the device had either malfunctioned… or something drained its power. She had no way of knowing for sure until she tested her second one. Anxiety rose in her; she pushed it away.
She finally peeked around the tree. Blue robes still came and went.
Catherine put aside any remaining anxieties and resumed her search, glancing at her device frequently. She climbed the stone steps to the second floor and walked quietly through one of the hallways. Despite their high ceilings, the palace’s hallways were narrower than those of the corrections facilities; moreover, she’d discovered that the Korvali maintained larger amounts of personal space when walking or talking with others than did humans. Both gave her less room to work with. Several times she had to wait for them to leave the hallway, rather than risk coming too close to any of them or to the building itself, where her device could cause visual distortions that would create suspicion.
The area was filled with sparse offices and windowed doors, inside of which many Korvali worked quietly. Some of the hallways and doors had signs. Her knowledge of the Korvali language was limited at best, so the signs were of little help. She carefully looked around, searching for any sign of Eshel or a place where he could be held. But after an extensive search, she saw no indication of Eshel’s presence, or anything that would help her. So she returned to the foyer. A bit of sunlight streamed in the windows, giving the tree’s small leaves a silvery shimmer.
All that remained was the third and fourth floors, and the laboratories in the adjoining buildings to the north. She glanced at the time: 5.5 hours down. She checked her device.
It blinked, once per second.
She uttered a silent curse as she hid behind the tree and retrieved her third device. Her mind began racing again as a dark dread came over her. She heard Yamamoto’s voice again, telling her to quiet her mind.
One substandard device could be a fluke… but not two. The first device had lasted just over four hours, and the second barely 90 minutes. The first had spent most of its time at Felebaseb and outside Fallal Hall; the second spent all its time inside the great Hall. Perhaps something there drained the device’s power. She needed to get out as soon as possible. Which meant she must resort to desperate methods if she were to have any chance of locating Eshel.
During her search, a paperboard box in one of the offices had caught her eye. It was actual paperboard—something she’d only seen in archival photos. She hurried back to the office, glancing around her to ensure no one was nearby. Removing her pack and retrieving her small knife, she cut through the box and kept a flat panel from it, her thin gloves preventing her from leaving evidence of herself. She found what appeared to be a writing apparatus. Just then, she heard something. Someone was coming. She took the panel and writing apparatus and tiptoed away to a quiet hallway.
She combed her memory to recall the Korvali symbols she needed. She didn’t know all of them, nor did she have good understanding of Korvali grammar; therefore, she must limit her message to what she knew. Once finished, she went back to the foyer and propped the large piece of paperboard on a table, leaving it in plain sight of those who’d walk by.
The message said: ESHEL DIES.
She retreated to a spot that was out of the way but still near the door, and waited. She glanced at her device repeatedly. Several minutes later, two figures entered the foyer. Too engrossed in their own quiet conversation, they exited the Hall without noticing the sign. Two more figures appeared and left, with the same result. On several more occasions, more people passed, but no one seemed to notice the sign.
Catherine wondered if her idea
was not only too crude, but utterly ineffective. What’s it going to take with you people? Do I need to shout Eshel’s name just to get your attention?? If this didn’t work, she could only keep up her fruitless searching until she ran out of time, leaving her with no other option but to return to the ship in defeat, with no chance of seeing Eshel again. Her sense of dread returned.
A group of young men approached from the other direction, removing their hoods. Perhaps the others, on their way out, had no reason to notice the table, whereas those coming in might. Sure enough, one of the men glanced toward the sign… but then kept walking. Catherine grew angry and uttered a quiet curse, until the young man looked back at the sign, this time stopping to inspect it.
He gestured at the sign and commented to the other men. The others halted, one of whom raised his eyebrows, much like Eshel did when something surprised him. They began talking. Catherine didn’t understand what the men said, but the one with raised eyebrows gestured in a particular direction, up and to the left, and the others followed suit and looked that way. She also recognized the Korvali word for prison and the name Elisan, which was mentioned multiple times. When the young man gestured in that direction, he used a word that sounded like “kervasis.” He picked up the sign, glancing around him, and he and the other men resumed walking.
Catherine took the stone steps two at a time to the second floor and headed in the direction the young Korvali had gestured toward, which was northwest. Many of the doors had no signs. Others did; but once translated, the words made no sense to her. She immediately went to the third floor.
The Refugee (The Korvali Chronicles Book 1) Page 27