by JD Byrne
The general public only ever saw a small portion of the Sentinel headquarters. Two large doors on the corner of the building opened into a small waiting room, bisected by a shoulder-high counter. Behind the counter lay all manner of offices, meeting rooms, armories, and holding cells. Unless one was under arrest, or the one doing the arresting, the waiting room was as far into the building as one could get.
Strefer had been here many times before, checking on arrest records and such. But when she walked through the double doors this time, she noticed how similar the counter in the waiting room was to the one in the clerk’s office in the Grand Council building. It was small comfort to know she was physically capable of vaulting over it, although she would not get very far once her feet hit the floor on the other side. At least she would be apprehended by a friendly face.
A young Sentinel from the Guildlands, Lehn, was standing on the other side of the counter, leaning over and examining some paperwork. When the bell above the door rang, he looked up and smiled. “Hi, Strefer,” he said, sounding genuinely pleased to see her.
“Hi, Lehn,” she said, walking over to the counter, the bell above the door ringing again as the doors closed behind her. She scanned the area behind the counter, trying to see if Rurek was back there. Although several people walked through the hallway she could see, he was not one of them. “Listen, is Rurek around?” she said as she got to the counter. “I really need to talk with him.”
Lehn glanced over his shoulder, then shook his head. “Not sure. I haven’t seen him around since my shift started a couple of hours ago. He might be out on patrol. You know Rurek, he’s not one to sit back in his office the whole shift,” he said with a slight laugh.
Strefer nodded. She knew that was true, but hoped tonight may be an exception to his regular pattern.
“Is there anything I can help you with?” Lehn asked.
He was trying to help, Strefer realized. She smiled and said, “I appreciate the offer, but I really need to talk with Rurek. It’s exceptionally important.”
“Big story?” Lehn asked, more excited than he should be.
“Something like that,” she said. “Could you go check and see if he’s back there? I’ll hold down the fort out here, I promise. It would be a big favor to me.”
“There’s always supposed to be someone on the desk,” Lehn said.
Strefer turned, looked at the otherwise empty room, and turned back. “I think I can handle it for a few minutes.”
“All right,” Lehn said with a nod. “I’ll be right back.” He ducked down the hall, disappearing in an instant into the maze.
Strefer turned back around, leaned back on the counter, and faced the otherwise empty room. She kept her eyes fixed on the doors, ready to do something, though she was not sure what, if her pursuers burst through. Surely they would not be that foolish. Or would they? She didn’t risk letting her guard down. She heard the door open behind her and sighed with relief, turning to see who it was.
Lehn was standing in the hallway, holding open the door. His face wore a wounded expression, as if he had been berated for doing her this favor. She would have to remember that. In a moment, Rurek walked through. His face was conflicted, as well, although whether it was more due to frustration or anger she could not tell. Hopefully it was not directed at her, or at Lehn, for that matter. He walked over to the counter and slumped to a stop. “Strefer, you know that I would be happy to see you on any other night,” he said, his voice weary. “But tonight…” he said, before trailing off.
“I know,” she said. “I’m sorry to bug you. I can tell you’ve got a lot going on. And, please, don’t be too hard on Lehn, all right? He was just doing my bidding.”
“Except he’s supposed to be doing my bidding, remember? That’s how it works when you’re in command.” He looked like he was trying to fight a smile. It was successful, for the most part. “But that’s my problem, not yours. What’s going on?”
Strefer looked around. The room was empty, except for the two of them and Lehn, who had taken a seat behind one of the desks on the other side of the counter. It was still too public for Strefer’s taste. “Can we go back to your office?”
“You know the public isn’t allowed back there, Strefer,” he said, voice tinged with disappointment. “Besides, this is about as private as it can get. You know that Lehn’s on your side, after all.”
Strefer swallowed hard. “I would really, really rather talk about this in private. Away from even a friendly set of prying eyes,” she said, trying her best to be serious and demanding.
“It’s really that important?” he asked.
“Rurek, how long have you known me?” she asked. Without waiting for an answer, she continued, “You know I don’t puff things up out of proportion. I’m scared and I need to talk to you about it, all right?”
“All right,” Rurek said, concern flashing over his face. He walked over to another section of the counter, flipped a lever, and opened a door for Strefer to walk through. “Come on,” he said, waving her through. “But if I ever see any details about this place in a newspaper article—I don’t care where or when or under what byline—I will personally arrest you for treason. Got it?”
“Got it,” Strefer said, slipping quickly behind the counter.
They walked back towards the door to the rooms beyond, which Rurek opened for Strefer. As she walked through, he turned to Lehn. “You didn’t see this. Understand?”
“Yes, sir,” Lehn said. “See what, sir?”
Strefer paused once she was through the door, both uncertain of where to go and afraid to wander somewhere that was off limits. Rurek put a firm hand on her shoulder and guided her down the corridor. He marched her into a small office that must be his at the end of the hall. He closed the door behind them and waved Strefer into the chair that faced the desk. He walked to the other side and sat down, slumping in the chair as if this was the latest in a series of problems that had already made for a very long day.
“Okay, Strefer,” he said, gesturing towards her with open hands. “What’s so important?”
“Somebody broke into my home,” she said, as directly as she knew how.
“What? Who?”
“Two guys,” she said, focusing on the first question. “When I got home from work the door was unlocked. I went in and found these two guys poking around in my stuff.”
Rurek let out a grunt and slumped even further into his chair. “Strefer, I appreciate that we have a relationship and that you might think I could handle something like this personally if you brought it to me. Truthfully, I don’t blame you. But, to be honest, we have a dozen break-ins in this sector every week. Probably the same in your neighborhood, maybe worse. Trust me, the Sentinels over there will be able to help you.”
Strefer shook her head vigorously. “No, no, no, you weren’t listening to me. These guys weren’t just ransacking the place looking for valuables. They were looking for something else. Something specific.”
“What makes you say that?” he asked, not at all convinced she knew what she was talking about.
She took a deep breath and tried not to take Rurek’s skepticism personally. “When I snuck in behind them, these two guys were in my bedroom leafing through papers that I keep under the bed.” She paused. “It’s where I keep my notes. For stories. Things that don’t make it in the final copy, you understand?” Maybe that would get his attention.
Rurek shook his head. “That doesn’t mean they weren’t looking for something more ordinary. Jewelry? A stash of coins? Lots of people keep valuables under a bed, although I don’t recommend it.”
“I don’t think so,” she said, sensing he might be softening. “When one of them saw me, they both started asking where ‘it’ was and how I’d better hand ‘it’ over. They didn’t ask me about coins or jewelry or anything else.”
“All right, you tell me then. What was it they were looking for?”
Strefer said nothing, but reached into her pouch
and drew out the red notebook. In the flickering lamplight of Rurek’s office, it seemed to be covered in blood. “They were looking for this,” she said, holding it up for his inspection.
“A book?” Rurek was not impressed.
She shook her head. “It’s not just any book. Do you remember the other night at the Broken Pikti?”
“When you were very drunk?” Rurek asked with a chuckle.
“Yes,” she said, “when I was very drunk. Anyway, do you remember what I told you? About getting into the Grand Council building after Alban was murdered? How I got to see the crime scene?”
“Vaguely,” he said. “I thought you were just making it up.”
She shook her head. “I wasn’t making it up. Remember how I told you that I knew why he was killed? But I wasn’t going to tell you?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
She held up the red notebook. “This is it.”
“Let me see that,” Rurek said, reaching for the notebook.
Strefer leaned back, keeping it just out of his grasp. “Not so fast. Before I let you see this—you would be the only person I’ve shown this to, by the way—I want you to promise me something.”
“What?” He slumped back into the chair, deflated by this game she was forcing him to play.
“First, I want you to promise me that, whatever else you do, I don’t get arrested for something, or disappeared or whatever, for lifting this from the scene.”
“First?” he asked. “You said something about a promise, not a series of them.”
“I lied,” she said. “But the rest of them are moot if you don’t agree to this one.”
“You know that there’s no way you’ll leave this building unless I want you to,” he said, turning ominously serious.
“Of course,” she said without hesitating. “That’s why I want some assurances.”
“Fine,” he said. “Whatever happens, you’re not going to be locked up. Not by me, at any rate. What else?”
“Second,” she said, pausing for a moment since she was making them up as she went along, “I need you to help me tell this story.”
“What does that mean, Strefer?” he asked, with a look on his face that blended confusion and upset. “You’re the writer. You’re the newspaper girl. You don’t need my help to tell any story.”
“That’s not true,” she said. “Look, I wrote this story up and gave it to Olrey at the Daily Register, and what did he do with it? Threw it in the fire. Told me he would never risk the paper’s royal charter by publishing it. Now I get home and two goons are breaking into my house looking for this.” She waved the red notebook around. “Somebody out there doesn’t want this story to be told. Maybe several somebodys, I don’t know. This isn’t just another story, Rurek.”
“I understand what you’re saying, Strefer,” he said with a sigh. “But I still don’t know what I can do to help you.”
“Take me to Oberton,” she said.
“What?” Rurek sat up, jolted out of his complacency.
“Oberton,” she said again. “You told me about it the other night. You told me about how the most important thing to them was truth and knowledge. I think they would publish this story. They may be the only ones who would want to publish it.” She waited for a moment while the idea sunk in. “Problem is, I don’t know where it is. I’ve never been to the Arbor, but I’ve read about how even the best hikers get lost in there without a guide. That’s doubly true if you’re not around one of the big city-states. But you were born there. You know the land. You can get me to Oberton. And you,” she paused again, somewhat ashamed to admit what she must. “And you could protect me.”
An awkward silence hung between them for a long while before Rurek said anything. “Let me see if I understand this. You want me to abandon my post, and my career as a Sentinel, and lead you through the Arbor to a place I’ve never actually been, all because you have a hunch?”
“It’s not a hunch,” Strefer said. “Well, all right, I’ll admit it’s a hunch that this is why Alban was killed,” she admitted. “But that’s not the important part of the story. The real story comes right out of the pages of this notebook.”
“It’s not like Oberton is just sitting there on a map, Strefer,” Rurek said, trying to convince himself of the folly of her idea. “They don’t really want people to know where they are. Any idea of where the city actually is comes mostly from old stories and legends. And there’s no guarantee that, if we actually found them, they’d have anything to do with us. They don’t look very favorably on strangers.”
“But you know the stories, right?” she asked, trying to spur some excitement of purpose in him. “You have some idea where this place is, don’t you? If what you’ve told me about Oberton is anywhere near true, they are the only people north of the Water Road who will publish this.”
Rurek changed his approach. “I can’t just disappear, Strefer. You understand that, right?”
Strefer shuffled forward on her chair and perched on the edge of it, leaning over the desk towards him. “The other night, you told me that sometimes there were situations when doing the right thing meant going outside the system, right? Ignoring the chain of command and all that. I need your help to do what’s right, Rurek. I know what it will cost you. I don’t ask lightly.”
“I know you don’t,” he said, “but I still don’t think you really know what you are asking of me. Do you think I can just go in tomorrow, sign a piece of paper, and resign my commission? Do you think nobody would ask any questions?”
“Of course not,” she said. “I don’t expect you to be able to neatly walk away like that. It will be easier for both of us if we just disappear. Don’t you think?”
He sat back, shook his head, and laughed nervously. “Are you at least going to let me see what’s so damned important that it’s worth throwing my life away for?”
It was a fair request. She handed him the red notebook. “The page marked with the paper there is where it was open when I found it. My theory is…” she trailed off as he began to read and waved her explanation away. Her heart raced as Rurek flipped quickly through the red notebook, scanning each page. Sweat began to roll down the back of her neck, just like when she sneaked into the Grand Council building. She had passed the point of no return, having given up the notebook. Rurek would not have to return it if he did not want to. She certainly stood no chance of taking it from him by force. He could toss it into the fire just like Olrey had done with her story. She knew the contents by heart now, but without the original nobody would believe her.
When he reached the last page, Rurek closed the notebook, then he handed it back to her. “I suppose you want to leave the city as soon as possible?” he asked.
Strefer nodded, taking the red notebook back in her hand and sliding it back into the safety of her pouch. A wave of relief washed over her. “There are people after me,” she said. “One of them might have followed me here. The sooner we’re gone, the better.”
Rurek stood up and shook his head. “I don’t know what’s going to be left of my life when all this is finished, Strefer,” he said, walking out from behind the desk and taking his pikti from its resting place on the far wall. “You’re right, let’s get out of here.”
~~~~~
Strefer knew that the quickest way to Oberton from Tolenor was probably not the easiest. But she agreed with Rurek that it was worth the effort. They made their way quickly to the docks on the west side of the city, where the great flat-bottomed riverboats were berthed. Although she had encouraged them to move swiftly, Strefer found herself caught off guard by Rurek’s determination once he decided to help her. There were no loose ends to tie up in his life, no one to tell he was leaving. He didn’t even bother to change out of his dull olive-colored Sentinel’s uniform, although Strefer supposed that might have been a tactical decision.
“What are we looking for, exactly?” she asked as they began to walk down the long rows of the bobbing boats tied to th
e piers that jutted out into the bay.
“A riverboat, naturally,” Rurek said, flashing a smile that said he knew it was a bad attempt at humor. The attempt sank like a stone thrown in the water. “We can’t take a military transport, for obvious reasons. Too many questions would get asked.”
“Because people won’t ask questions about a single woman and a Sentinel trying to book passage on a regular vessel?”
“One of the great benefits of being a Sentinel is that very few people know exactly what it is that we…or rather they, do,” Rurek said as they walked down one of the piers. “You have to remember that here in the city they’re a common sight because they keep the peace. But outside the city, there aren’t so many of them. It’s really rare to run into a Sentinel unless you have business with one. If you asked ten people whether a Sentinel might transport someone from Tolenor to the Arbor, nine of them, at least, would have no way of knowing. The other one is probably wrong.”
He had a point. “Then let’s just find a commercial transport.”
Rurek waved away the idea. “For one thing, those transports fill up quickly. These boats take people to the Endless Hills, to the River Innis and River Adon, all the way to the Guildlands. It’s not like jumping on a ship to head to Sermont, Strefer.”
Had she told him about the specifics of that trip? She couldn’t remember. Not that it mattered, at this point. There were no secrets between them now. She shrugged off any concern.
“For another thing,” he continued, “we have to assume that those men who were after you, whoever they were, aren’t stupid. They will come here and check out the transports, or any obvious way of leaving the city. They may even have the ability to stop a transport on the river. Who knows? We don’t want to find out.”