She stumbled over a tree root and pitched forward. Kanra caught her in time to prevent a nasty fall. She wasn’t hurt, only shaken. Fighting back sudden tears, she leaned against Kanra. “I’ll never find the place,” she said, forgetting that Kanra had no idea what “place” she was looking for. “Not without a light.”
“If you could produce light like you did in the temple …” Kanra suggested timidly. “Maybe just a little?”
Bryte shook her head. “That happened. It just happened. Because I was so angry. I never did it before. I don’t know how to make it happen.”
“Then we’ll have to find our way without it. I’ll pray for Mibor’s help.”
Bryte saw little likelihood of that helping. Maybe the Power-Giver would help. She didn’t know how to pray to him, or even if people did. But he seemed to have helped when she’d asked before, in the temple. So under her breath she muttered, “Please, Power-Giver, help me again.”
They’d stopped after her near fall, but now she moved forward hesitantly. Was she even heading in the right direction? She had no idea. An unseen branch slapped her in the face. The Power-Giver wasn’t going to help either!
But as if in answer to her prayer, a faint glow arose nearby. Amazed, she looked for its source, and saw a ball of light cradled in Kanra’s hand.
“You—you have power!” she exclaimed.
“Not much,” the priestess said sheepishly. “I can’t do much more than this. And no one must know. I could only protect St— uh, Corey by keeping my power a secret. Not hard when I have so little.”
Indeed the light wasn’t much, but Bryte was grateful for it. She sent a silent thank you to the Power-Giver.
With the help of the light Bryte soon found the stone fence and, moving along it, the hole that gave them entrance to the complex.
They moved cautiously around the backs of three or four buildings, but knowing she wouldn’t recognize from the rear the building housing Lord Inver’s office, Bryte led the way back to the street.
Here there was no need of Kanra’s light, and it flickered out. Streetlights were frequent along this road; their closeness left no shadowy gaps between the pools of light.
A short walk brought them to the right building. Its windows were dark except for one lighted window on the third floor, which probably marked the location of a cleaning crew. But the streetlights allowed Bryte to see guards at the entrance, fortunately not the same ones as this afternoon. She paused. How could they get past them?
Kanra grasped her arm. “Bryte, before we go any farther there’s something I have to tell you,” she said, speaking into Bryte’s ear, although Bryte could have heard her without that precaution. “The boy Oryon killed. Everyone believed he was Stethan. He thought so himself. But he wasn’t. He was Corey. The boy you know as Corey is your brother, Stethan.”
“What!” Bryte’s involuntary outcry alerted the guards. One hurried toward them, hand on his holstered pistol.
Pushing Bryte behind her, Kanra stepped forward and gestured to her green priestess’s robe. “I’m sorry if our presence disturbed you,” she told the guard as he reached them. “I’m here on a temple mission. We’ll cause you no trouble; we’re only waiting to meet someone.”
It was good that Kanra had spoken; Bryte, reeling from the shock of Kanra’s revelation, could not utter a word. Scarcely realizing what she was doing, she kneaded the object the Widow Kipley had pressed into her hand.
“This is not a wise meeting place,” the guard responded, scowling.
“I know. I’m sorry,” Kanra said. “It’s my fault. I’m here as a chaperone, to keep her safe. She’s a ward of the temple. I felt this was a spot where we could wait safely; I knew it would be well guarded.”
Bryte’s fingers rolled the soft ball of threadlike substance around in her palm. The action steadied her nerves, helped her think. Kanra needed her help—the guard’s glower showed that he was not accepting her story.
“Who let you through the gate and why are you meeting someone at this time of night?” he persisted.
“We had a pass,” Kanra said. “The gate guards kept it.”
“And let you come here with no further authorization?”
Kanra hesitated; probably she couldn’t think of a response. Made reckless by her new knowledge and acting on impulse, Bryte said, “If you must know, we’re meeting someone who works for Lord Inver. On Lord Inver’s orders.”
“Lord Inver?” The man’s demeanor changed; he looked fearful. “You’re to see Lord Inver?”
“That’s right. He is here, isn’t he?” Bryte persisted despite the warning glances she was getting from Kanra. Kanra didn’t know about Lina. And Bryte needed Lina. Lina would know how to rescue Stethan if it wasn’t too late, and she’d know how to restore Oryon.
It was not lost on Bryte that Lina herself needed rescuing, but she believed that to be more doable than finding Oryon, who was not likely to come strolling up to them with Stethan in tow. The bright streetlights would make them visible to him before they could spot him, and he could easily avoid them. In fact, he’d hardly come to the front entrance of the building; he’d have some secret way to gain entry, bypassing the guards.
The guard had not answered her question, instead glancing back at his comrade who had remained at the building’s entrance. Kanra seized the opportunity to pinch Bryte while the guard was looking away.
Bryte ignored the pinch and kept her gaze focused on the guard. When he turned back to them, she said, “You could take us to Lord Inver.”
“Look, little lady, Lord Inver’s not likely to be here at this hour of the night, and even if he were, he wouldn’t want to be disturbed.”
“I told you, he wants to see us,” Bryte said.
“And why would he want to see you?” The guard had recovered his distrusting manner.
“He wouldn’t, I’m sure,” Kanra said quickly.
“I shouldn’t tell you this,” Bryte said. “The priestess is being careful, but she knows as well as I do that we have information for him that he needs to have right away.”
The guard cast another glance at his companion. “Walk with me to the door. It’s possible one of us can go see if Lord Inver is in and really wants to see you.”
He headed toward his post, and Bryte followed, hearing Kanra’s hesitant steps behind her. The priestess might be scared and angry, but Bryte couldn’t help that.
At the door another conference with the second guard produced unfavorable results. Lord Inver would be at home asleep at this hour, not in his office. Under no circumstances would anyone be allowed in the building this late at night, and no one would be permitted to go to Lord Inver’s office without direct authorization from Lord Inver himself.
Kanra seemed ready to accept that verdict, but Bryte refused to be put off. “You’re gonna defy Lord Inver, huh?” she said. “You got more nerve than I’d have.”
Both guards looked uneasy but refused to give in. The situation called for more drastic measures.
Bryte shrugged, let her shoulders slump, and trailed after Kanra. As she’d hoped, the first guard followed her down the marble steps. At the bottom of the steps she slowed to let the guard come abreast of her, still keeping her head down, her gaze fixed on the ground, depicting defeat and dejection.
Out of the corner of her eye she noted the position of the guard’s holstered pistol, and when he slowed to a stop beside her, her hand darted to it, she jerked it from the holster, and pointed it at the guard.
“Hey, little lady, you don’t want to fool with that!” He stepped back in alarm.
“What I want is to get into the building and up to Lord Inver’s office,” she said, aiming the pistol at his chest. “I know how to use this, and don’t think I won’t.”
It was a lie, but she had always been a good bluffer.
“No, Bryte,” Kanra protested.
Bryte was tired of “No.”
The second guard had drawn his pistol and was circling the
first to take aim at Bryte. She stepped back, circled in the other direction, and, aiming the pistol upward, pulled the trigger.
The bullet shot into the air, striking no one, but both guards threw themselves to the ground.
“That was a warning, to show you I meant what I said,” Bryte declared, continuing to circle back up the stairs to the door. Kanra stood as if frozen.
“I’m going inside,” Bryte said, reaching the door while keeping her gaze fixed on the guards. “Kanra, get the other pistol.” To the second guard she said, “Give her your gun, or this time I’ll aim right at you.” She pointed her pistol directly at that guard.
Now if Kanra would only move. The priestess seemed paralyzed with fear, but just as Bryte decided she’d have to risk going down for the gun herself, Kanra stepped forward, bent, and took the gun from the guard’s hand. Holding it gingerly, she moved away from the guards and circled them widely to join Bryte on the steps.
“You’re endangering us both,” she said sternly.
“Can’t help it.” Bryte went through the doors.
Kanra followed. She handed the second gun to Bryte. “I don’t want this. I don’t know how to use it.”
“Neither do I,” Bryte confessed in a whisper, refusing the gun. “You gotta fake it. Just look like you know what you’re doing. Come on, there’s an elevator somewhere.”
“The power’s probably off,” Kanra said. “And it’s so dark in here, we’ll never find our way. Do you even know where Lord Inver’s office is?”
“No, but we will find it. Can you make your light again?”
“I tried, but nothing happened. I guess I’m too scared. “
“Don’t be such a namby-pamby,” Bryte snapped. “You said you were supposed to protect Stethan. You gotta do a better job of it than you’re doing right now.”
That shut Kanra up, and a good thing it was, since Bryte had no answers for the priestess’s objections. She had no idea how she’d find her way through the dark halls, and she knew only that Lord Inver’s office was on an upper floor, not on which floor or where on that floor.
She did remember where the stairway to the next floor was, and she headed there, keeping her pistol trained in the direction of the entrance.
The door opened, throwing light into the corridor. One guard poked his head inside. “You won’t get away with this,” he shouted. “We have reinforcements on the way.”
“Thanks for the warning,” Bryte shouted back.
Spotting the stairway, she grabbed Kanra’s arm and pulled her toward it. They headed up, breaking into a run that left them panting when they reached the top.
From below the sound of the guards’ running feet reached Bryte’s ears. They weren’t heading for the stairs.
“The elevator!” Bryte shouted. “Gotta get to it before they do.” She made a mad dash for the end of the hall where she knew the elevator to be, only to hear the metal cage rattle into motion below and sweep up past them toward a higher floor.
She ran back to the stairs and climbed them faster than was wise in the darkness, hearing Kanra follow but at a safer pace that put her well behind Bryte.
The third floor landing came unexpectedly, and Bryte stumbled and fell forward. As Kanra reached her, she picked herself up and paused to listen for the elevator.
She heard the distant clang of its door, telling her the guards had reached their floor. The sound came from far enough off that she felt sure that floor was not the fourth; it had to be the fifth.
That told her where to find Lord Inver’s office. It also told her the guards would reach it long before she and Kanra could.
But the elevator was now available. It would be faster and safer than the stairs. She headed for it, dragging Kanra after her. Before she reached it, she heard its noisy progress—downward this time. Either the guards had sent it down to prevent her using it or someone had summoned it from below. It clamored past the grill and on down to the first floor.
She stabbed at the button, but turned back to the stair rather than wait.
They climbed the stairs to the fourth floor, where Bryte stopped and listened, sure the guards would be waiting at the top of the stairs on the fifth floor, or perhaps one at the stairs and the other at the elevator. They might have rearmed; it was possible that they had a weapons cache somewhere in the building.
Bryte wondered about finding another way to the fifth floor—another stairway, a freight elevator, anything. A building this large had to have more than one stairway. She resented the time spent in finding it, but she did not want to lead them into a trap.
“Try your light again.”
“I don’t think—”
“Try!”
A faint glow arose nearby. Bryte saw a ball of light cradled in Kanra’s hand. “Good,” she said. “Hold it as steady as you can.”
The illumination, though faint, allowed Bryte to look for another way to the fifth floor.
The corridors they traversed seemed to be leading them back to their starting place, and no other staircase appeared. Bryte tried each door they passed, but most were locked. Those that opened were closet or storeroom doors.
Bryte turned away from one such storeroom in disgust, when a sound made her stop and listened. The sound did not come from the storeroom, but it seemed to come from directly above it.
“What is it?” Kanra whispered.
Bryte motioned for quiet.
She heard voices, the guards’, she thought, and another, a female voice. Lina!
Bryte cast desperately about to find a way up. She found nothing, but she had heard two male voices. If both guards were together, the stairs might be safe. She led Kanra back to them and ascended, pistol drawn.
Kanra kept her hand holding her own pistol down by her side, while her other hand cradled the sphere of light. Bryte noted that the light was growing fainter and suspected that Kanra’s power was waning. They could be plunged back into darkness at any moment. That peril spurred Bryte forward.
She had to find Lord Inver’s office before the light failed. In her rush her fist clenched tightly around the silky ball the Widow Kipley had given her. She remembered the widow’s instructions to hold on to the loose thread and toss the ball. She hadn’t said what would happen, and she had meant for Bryte to toss the ball at Oryon, who, so far as Bryte knew, was not among those gathered in Lord Inver’s office. But as she ran, Bryte’s fingers plucked at it, found the loose thread, and worked it between her fingers. If an occasion arose, she’d have it ready for use.
She moved toward the voices, Kanra just behind her. This hallway was shorter than those on the floors below, and at its end, where it right-angled, she stopped again. The voices seemed to come from just around the turn.
“I heard something,” came a whisper from one. “Somebody’s coming.”
Bryte nudged Kanra and pointed at the pistol held too loosely by her side. The priestess raised it slowly.
Bryte stepped around the corner, her pistol aimed. A guard stood directly in front of her. She tossed the ball of silk.
It unrolled into a kind of net, but fell short of its goal. The guard fired. Kanra cried out and slumped to the ground.
Kanra! No! Bryte’s anger flared, and a brilliant light blazed around her, leaving the guards blinking and backing away. Quickly she reeled in the net she’d thrown and rolled it back into a tight ball, intending to toss it again while the guards were blinded.
“What’s happening out there?” a voice called. Lina’s voice.
Bryte dashed around the guards and through the open door to Lord Inver’s office suite. The room she’d entered was a reception area and was empty, but a door opened into a room beyond it, and that seemed to be where Lina’s voice had come from. She ran into that room and saw beside a desk a large metal cage. Lina was crouched inside.
“Bryte! Get me out of here! That vile man has taken my powers.”
The guards would be after her as soon as their sight recovered, and she was not at all
sure that she had enough power to cause another flare. Already her light had faded considerably, or Lina could not have seen her so clearly.
“I’ll do what I can,” she said, and then as an afterthought, held out the ball of silken net. “Do you know what this is and how to use it?”
Lina reached through the bars of the cage and snatched the ball from her hand like a cat pouncing on a mouse. “Ha!” she cried. “This is what I came to Tirbat to find.”
“You better take the pistol, too,” she said, passing it through the bars to Lina. “I’ll need to use both hands to pick this lock, and we don’t have much time.”
Her glow was fading fast, and this inner office was not lighted, except by the light in the reception area.
Lina took the pistol. “Keep down, so I don’t shoot you. I’m not used to these things.”
Bryte got on her knees in front of the lock, pulled from her pocket the barrette she still carried, and got to work. She didn’t look around when a pistol shot whizzed past her head.
“I hit one! Didn’t kill him, but he ducked back out of sight,” Lina said, her voice sounding faintly through the echo of the shot.
“Good. That oughtta slow him down some.”
The cage lock was nothing special. A few moments of concentration was all she’d need to get it open.
“Down!” Lina shouted, aiming the pistol over her head. But when she pulled the trigger, there was nothing but a click. The gun was empty.
The guard gave a shout and launched himself at Bryte, who shrank against the bars. Lina reached out and tossed the net. It landed over the guard and enveloped him in its gauzy folds. His struggles, visible at first through the cloudlike material, ceased and the net floated upward like a balloon.
“Hurry with that lock,” Lina said.
Bryte got busy, but still found time to ask, “How does that thing work? What did it do with the guard?”
BRYTE'S ASCENT (Arucadi Series Book 8) Page 13