“No, no, no,” he said. “We’ll have none of that. I’m sure Phrixus has disabused you of the habit of saluting him—”
“He hasn’t succeeded,” Molara added, and Kate frowned at her, but continued to hold the salute.
Valerio Fiola sighed. “Kate, please be at ease. The Purple are even less formal than the Black. There’s no reason for a salute or to stand at attention, or any of that.”
Kate dropped into parade rest. “But you are the head of an entire command.”
“Yes, a command hardly bigger than the number of us in this room. Really, there is no need. To most of the Order, I don’t even exist. Let’s not make things awkward.”
Kate glanced at Molara, who smiled and nodded. Kate finally relaxed into a normal standing posture.
“Please,” Valerio said, “take a seat. Have some tea with us. I was just about to share something with Molara. You’re welcome to be part of it.”
“I…uh, thank you,” Kate said, feeling heat suffuse her face. “If it would be all right…”
“Of course. You have the highest clearance for information in the Order. Besides, Molara trusts you. That is more than sufficient for me. Too, you are doing great work with the Infirium. I would, in fact, appreciate it if you would stay and hear what I have to say.”
Kate met Molara’s eyes again, and the Purple understood what was going through the Black’s mind.
“Of course I told him of the Infirium. Not only is he my superior, but he has been wanting to do something like what we are doing for some time. It’s more difficult for him, though, because of his position and the fact that to most people, he doesn’t even exist.”
Kate figured that if Molara’s trust in her was enough for Fiola, then Molara’s trust in the Purple commander was good enough for Kate. She relaxed.
“Just so you know, Kate,” Valerio said, “it is true that I’ve been wanting to meet you. By all accounts, you are an excellent addition to the Black, and even more valuable to the Infirium. And not just because of the silly assignment Aedmund Travada yoked you with. I’ve been watching the reports of your actions. I do not say hero of the Black lightly. It is truly my honor and pleasure to meet you.”
Heat rose in Kate’s face as she madly scrambled to come up with an appropriate response. It wasn’t needed.
“But that’s not what we need to be discussing right now. The reason I came to Molara was this.” He lifted the pack resting on the floor by his feet and took a book from it.
The book radiated power. From the thick leather binding to the straps and locking clasp on the edge, it was impressive. Not in its size, but it was obvious the tome was ancient, though still in fantastic condition. As Valerio turned it in his hands, runes and glyphs glittered on the spine, none of which were familiar to Kate.
“This,” Valerio told them, “is the book I was telling you about, Molara. It was written by one of my predecessors, the head of the Purple, more than two hundred years ago. He included information from a lifetime of personal study and research, much of which can be found nowhere else. It has the only known accounts of the assassin demons.”
“Assassin demons?” Kate said. She’d never heard of that type of demon, and she had researched just about every reference available on the Order’s enemies.
“Yes, right here.” Valerio fingered the pages until he reached the end of the first quarter of the book. “There are exactly three accounts in any of the histories about this type of demon. All three are right here.
“I’ll let you read them, but the basic point is that there is a type of demon that can make itself invisible at will.”
“What?” Kate looked back and forth between Molara and Valerio. “Invisible demons?”
“From what Valerio explained to me earlier,” Molara said, “it’s not true invisibility. It’s more like very good camouflage. But for the purpose of their ability to kill humans unseen, yes, we can use the term invisibility.”
Kate was familiar with the concept. In fact, the stones Molara herself made for Kate to use in her mission into Hell made her entire team invisible to demons. It was the only way she was able to kill not only a demon commander, but also a demon mage and a demon lord. She never could have killed all three without their inability to see her for the first part of the battle.
Molara was watching Kate carefully as the Black’s eyes widened suddenly.
“You just realized what that means,” Molara said to her. “You understand why this book is so important.”
“I…yes,” Kate said. “Dervis Malarie and Thoumas Cristall. They must have been killed by these assassin demons. There are demons loose in Gateskeep! Or at least there were around the time of the battle. I’ve even heard of three more suspicious deaths in the last several weeks. It could have been these demons then, also.”
“That was my thinking, too, when Molara told me about it,” Valerio said. “There are possibly one or two others in the world who know this book exists. There is other information within it that may be useful. I’ll let you borrow it for a short time, but it is not to leave your control, Molara. It is priceless.”
“You’re leaving it with me?” Molara asked.
“Of course. I may be…ah, unavailable for a time. I wanted to bring it to you. Everything I know about the subject of the assassin demons is in that book. In fact, everything anyone knows about the creatures is in there.”
Molara was silent as she reverently took the book and began thumbing through its pages. Kate watched her friend as the Purple’s hungry eyes scanned and catalogued the book’s contents.
“There is much more in here than just the section on the assassin demons,” Molara finally said. “Some of these pages have demon runes on them.”
“Yes, I know,” Valerio said. “You are welcome to read the entire book and to use the information gained from it as you see fit. However, I must caution you that it is of the highest classification. Even the Black are not cleared for knowing it exists.”
Kate’s body prickled like she had been shocked by lightning. By a small lightning bolt.
Valerio seemed to notice. “I am giving you authorization, Kate. For that matter, Peiros may peruse the book as well, especially the sections on demon language and writing. It may help with your current project, Molara. But no one else is to know what is in that book, at least for the time being. Actually, you can let Phrixus Achard into your confidence, times being what they are, but that’s all. You may tell others of the assassin demons, but not the source of your information.”
“I understand,” Molara said. “It will be enough to get us started. We will find a way to warn others about the invisible enemy.”
Kate set her jaw. “It may be enough if we kill one. With the body of one of them, it will be easy to let the others know without even mentioning the book.”
Valerio considered Kate. “Be careful. We are dealing with something of which none of us can guess the magnitude. I am not as concerned about mythical, invisible assassin demons as I am about those who may be sending them.”
The statement hung in the air as the two listeners silently considered it. Kate hadn’t thought about that.
“I must leave,” the leader of the Purple said. “I hope the book can make a difference. I will speak to you again as soon as I am able. Until then, I wish the Infirium good fortune and success. The Creator knows we can use some of both during this trying time.”
The two women bade the man goodbye. Kate felt an unpleasant stirring in the pit of her stomach. A thought went through her mind unbidden, and it caused her developing nausea to turn to ice within her. For some reason, she had a feeling neither she nor Molara would ever see Valerio Fiola again.
14
Kate wrestled the feeling of dread under control. She was being silly. She had no talent for seeing the future. She was simply concerned about how things were progressing. But still, something within her was unquiet.
Molara turned to her friend and tried a smile, though it was
a sickly thing. “I just got a horrible premonition that Valerio is in danger.”
“I felt the same thing,” Kate said. “But we are all in danger. Valerio is not alone in that. Come on, let’s look through that book some more. I’m sure it’s just all this talk of invisible assassin demons and shadowy powers that direct them.”
“Yes,” Molara said, making a sound that Kate thought probably was meant to be a chuckle. “I’m sure that’s it.”
She sat down next to Molara on one of the bench seats at a table in the main area of the secret section of the library. They looked at the book together, discussing its contents.
“The assassin demons are smarter than the regular grunt demons,” Molara said, extending one finger. “They are as strong as other demons, too, but are faster.” She ticked off two more fingers. “They can avoid being seen, but they also seem to train for moving silently. Fortunately, they do not seem to have magical ability. At least, none other than the invisibility. They do not cast spells.”
“That is not much information,” Kate said. “To what are they vulnerable? Can their camouflage be broken? How many are there? Are they autonomous, or do they work for others?”
“At least we have some information, Kate. It’s a definite advantage even knowing the creatures exist.”
Kate sighed. “True. Still, it’s rather daunting. Why don’t we look at what else is in the book?”
Starting at the beginning, they flipped through the tome. A few of the sections consisted of runes Kate could not read, but apparently Molara could read some.
“There are some histories here, including some on the founding of the Order itself,” the diminutive Purple said. “I’ll have to make a careful reading of that later. I am not so proficient in those runes to be able to read them quickly. They’re pretty archaic. There are also parts here that are in the runic language the Purple use for their own records. No one outside my command knows that system.”
Other sections were in a language Kate could understand, but the topics were generally something about magic, and the book may as well have been written in a foreign tongue. It seemed to Kate that magic was very technical.
Molara paused for a long time on one section made up entirely of very strange runes. They didn’t look human. In fact, they looked like…
“This section is about demon runes!” Molara exclaimed. “This portion of the book appears to be a comparison of demon runes to an ancient style of human runes. This must have been written nearly a thousand years ago and copied into this book. Amazing.”
“Can it be useful?” Kate asked.
“I think it may help us with our translation of the demon books you brought back for me. I had no idea a treatise like this existed.”
“That would be fantastic if it could help,” Kate said. “I wish I could aid the two of you in your translation, but I have no knowledge that could be useful.”
Molara must have noticed something in Kate’s eyes because she patted the warrior’s shoulder. “You’re very smart. I’m sure if you had some training, you would be good at that type of work, but unfortunately, there is no time for such things. For now, we need you more for your leadership and your combat prowess, I’m afraid.”
“Yes, I know. Maybe when this is all over, I will be able to spend a little more time on scholarly pursuits.”
“That sounds wonderful. I’ll help in any way I can.”
Kate sighed. “I suppose I should let you do your work. I have to go find the captain, anyway. I haven’t told him yet of my new orders, to basically tail him every second of the day. Oh, I forgot to tell you about it. Valerio’s presence and the book pushed it right out of my mind. Travada canceled all my other duties and assigned me to follow the captain at all times. I need to tell him he’ll be seeing a lot of me from now on. Enjoy your research. I’ll see you later.”
Molara waved her goodbye. She had already started flipping through the book and muttering to herself. Kate smiled at her friend and took her leave.
Kate left the library and went to the Black barracks. Captain Achard was nowhere to be seen. After checking each of the meeting rooms and his own room—a smaller chamber he had been given when they took his captain’s room—she couldn’t think of where to find him.
To try to ease the thoughts going through her mind, she decided to take a walk. Who knew, she might even run into Captain Achard and be able to talk to him. If not, she could try looking in his usual haunts again after some time had passed.
She took the route she normally did when walking for the sake of walking. She had developed the circuit long ago, when she had to do her thinking while moving. It covered much of the perimeter of Gateskeep, but even more importantly, it went by each of the five large firestones that protected the whole fortress city from the demons.
She passed the first three near the Black barracks, the Great Stair, and the east side of the Parade Square. As she came upon the fourth, in the western side of the Parade Square north of the Command Center, she made eye contact with one of the guards. He smirked at her as she passed. She didn’t react at all, assuming he had directed the look at someone else behind her, but it stuck in her thoughts.
Why would he show that emotion to her? Did she know him? His face looked slightly familiar, but she couldn’t place him. Until she had almost reached the fifth firestone.
He was one of the Reds that were putting down the Black, one of those who had attacked Wilfred when he had stood up for her and the Black.
But why was he smirking?
He probably knew she had gotten in trouble for the altercation. Yes, that must be it. Anger flashed through her, but it burned itself out quickly. No use in dwelling on it. He could smirk if he wanted. She would protect Wilfred again if it happened all over again. No display of attitude from the Red or his friends would stop it.
Kate finally found Phrixus Achard. He was sitting on a low stone wall, watching the fifth firestone as she passed by.
“Captain,” she said. “I’ve been looking for you.”
“And you thought to look here? Am I that predictable?”
“No, sir. I couldn’t find you in the usual places, so I decided to go for a walk to kill time until I could look for you some more. My walking route includes all the firestones.”
“I see.” The captain was in black, of course, his lieutenant’s insignia new and shiny. He cast his gaze upon the large firestone, its red facets glowing faintly within the stone and steel supports. “They are marvelous, aren’t they?”
“Sir?”
“The firestones. Can you imagine how the original Order soldiers fought, knowing that if they strayed too far from the center of the battle, where mages cast their weakness spells on the demons, their weapons would do no damage to their enemies at all? Can you put yourself in their place? They had no large firestones to cover a wide area. They had no personal firestones yet, either.”
“I never really thought about it,” Kate said. “It seems like they have always been here.”
“They are a very thin shield. Just five large gemstones—and the smaller ones each of us wear, of course—that’s all that stands between us and an inability to even damage our foe. Sometimes, it seems too overwhelming, the force we’re up against.”
“We will prevail, sir. We must.”
Achard chuckled. “Yes, Kate, we must. Perhaps I have been in command for too long, being required to look at all the contingencies, all the things that can go wrong. Maybe I’m just paranoid.”
“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they are not out to get you.”
“Exactly right.” He turned from the firestone and met Kate’s eyes. “Speaking of which, why don’t we go to a more secure location to speak, such as somewhere in the Black compound.”
They walked together to one of the meeting rooms in the Black barracks area. When they arrived, he sat and motioned for her to do the same.
“So, what is it that made you look so diligently for me?”
“Major Travada. He has released me from all other assignments to concentrate on one.”
“You are to watch me constantly,” Achard guessed.
Kate’s eyebrows jumped up her forehead. “Yes.”
Phrixus Achard sighed. “I figured as much. Leave it to Aedmund to waste resources like that. It’s fine. We can spend more time together, though we would be foolish to waste all your time keeping tabs on me. We can discuss each day what you are to tell the major.”
“It could be a good thing, too,” Kate said. “It will leave me more time to hunt down the information we need.”
Achard fixed her with a long-suffering look.
“Or not?”
“Definitely not. If you are to be watching over me the whole day, you can’t move around freely. If he—or one of his other spies—sees you more than once or twice where I am not, they’ll know you’re not spending your time spying on me.”
Kate’s mouth dropped into a frown. “Oh, I see. Yes, I understand.”
“You can, however, do research and study when I’m in the library or in the Black barracks, and you can take a fuller part in running the Infirium. So, it may be better than when he had you running around doing ridiculous errands or guarding privies and such.”
Kate nodded, biting her lower lip.
“What is it, Kate?”
“What are we going to do, Captain? Efrem has already been killed to give us warning. We have to be more circumspect in trying to find out who is behind all of this. Valerio told us—”
“Valerio Fiola?” Achard asked.
“Yes. He—”
“The head of the Purple? That Valerio?”
“Yes. He just spoke with Molara and me. He gave her a book with accounts of invisible demons. They’re called assassin demons.”
“Valerio very rarely shows himself to any but the Purple.”
“I barged in on them in Molara’s section of the secret part of the library,” Kate said.
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