The necklace flared with power, making the power source it was connected to easy to locate.
He is using a different source than Finnba.
Elan’s attacks slammed through the other Magi’s shields, protecting Lebuin before hitting Lebuin’s shields with a lot of remaining force. Lebuin felt his shields nearing the breaking point.
I need to know who you are.
An old elven incantation that Kliasa had taught him came to mind. It was a cleansing incantation to strip away other incantations from damaged artifacts.
That might do something interesting here.
Lebuin prepared the incantation and changed his attacks. When all was ready, he yelled, “Now break his shields!”
All of the Magi responded, throwing the most potent attacks they had. Lebuin added everything he could to his own. The power rained down on Elan, who threw up his hands defensively. Elan’s shields fell in a cascade of light. Lebuin wasted no time, releasing the elven incantation at Elan.
The incantation hit Elan, and he froze, staring at Lebuin. Elan’s face went ashen and beads of sweat were visible on his lips and forehead. His hands quivered, which made him look at them; then his body began to shake. Elan’s body shifted, and he looked up with horror and screamed. He grew larger, expanding out to the size of a full-grown, but thin man, ripping his clothes. Elan clawed at the leather belt, screaming. At the same time, his skin shifted to a mottled white. Convulsions racked his body. Before anyone could react, he grabbed his chest, falling backwards, dead. The medallion on the necklace glowed bright red, then snapped in half, causing the necklace to slide off the body, onto the floor, behind his neck as if it was trying to hide.
All of the Magi stepped forward cautiously. Nillo knelt by Elan’s head. “This is not Lord Elan. He looks to be from Yalthum.”
Lebuin’s stomach rolled, and a chill ran through his body. “Where is the real Lord Elan?”
CHAPTER 14
DECISIONS DON’T NEED ALL THE FACTS
Ticca pulled her blending cloak tight and watched the Night Market merchants–or Hands, as they liked to be called–slowly dwindle in number as the dawn approached.
Two weeks, and no sign of that Hand. He was such a regular to the Night Market.
The last few nights, a plan had formed and this clinched it.
We are going to have to go into the Night Market and pay for information on his whereabouts. If anything would get an information specialist’s Hand interested in finding me, it would be paying to find him.
The market area was practically abandoned. Ticca scanned for the night’s back-up team, Persa and Sabri.
They are getting a lot better.
The eastern sky was already starting to show the telltale signs that the pre-dawn twilight was coming.
I need to get out of here before it gets bright enough; I could be spotted.
She moved slowly, staying in the pockets of darkest shadow, away from the streets. The troughs of the roofs provided good cover. Once she was a few blocks away, at a different alley than the night before, she slid down to the ground. She hugged the wall, letting her cloak cling to her and the wall. She waited, listening and watching for any signs of being followed.
She stayed frozen several minutes longer than when she first started working as a Dagger.
I don’t believe I was followed. But then, I didn’t think I was followed that night the Knife spotted, tracked, and attacked me.
She knew she was being overly cautious, but this was the Night Market she was spying on. Many powerful and dangerous people were there. No such thing as too cautious when dealing with killers and worse.
After the sun had risen, she took one more look around, and then moved out into the main street, merging with the morning merchant traffic. As she stepped out, she pushed the cloak’s hood back and flipped its edges back over, making it look like a simple light grey cloak of wool.
As she approached the Blue Dolphin, she relaxed. With a final glance around for pursuers or watchers, she pushed the large door open and stepped into the tavern room. Only regulars were present at this early mark, with the wait staff serving arit with breakfast to most of the occupied tables. Illa was at a table on the far side with her head down over some papers, with two bards. She moved over to her private table, spinning her dagger a few times before placing it flat next to the holder. She sat and leaned back, stretching. She smiled as the serving lad, Ellar, came over with a cup of arit.
Persa and Sabri walked in from the street and started walking her way as Ellar asked, “Miss Ticca. Breakfast?” He didn’t make eye contact, and kept looking either at the ground or the room.
“Oh, Ellar, thank you! I’d love it if you brought me some breakfast.”
Ellar didn’t pause bolting for the kitchens as if on a life and death mission.
Persa and Sabri sat down across from her.
“You know you’re going to give that little man a serious heart ache when he figures out the age difference is too much.”
Ticca looked at Persa. “Really? I’m his first crush. It’s flattering and cute. We all had them.”
Sabri leaned on the table. “Yeah, we may have all had them. But really, you are kinda leading the lad on, Ticca.”
Ellar came busting out of the kitchen with a platter of food and a glass of milk. He stepped over to the table and served Ticca with flair. “Um, anything for your friends, Miss Ticca?”
She smiled. “Of course. I’m sure you know what they want. You’re a bright lad.”
Ellar stood taller so fast he almost hopped. “Yes, Miss!” He bolted for the kitchen again.
Persa sighed. “Of course, you’ve found a useful aspect to this.”
Sabri looked confused, so Ticca helped her out by pointing at her food, which was roughly twice the normal amount. She added with a wink, “And I get faster service, too.”
Persa looked around, then leaned in. “Any hints last night?”
Ticca shook her head. “No, looks like we will have to resort to Plan B tonight.”
Persa shook her head. “It’s going to be hard to provide support in there.”
Ticca grinned. “You two were suspiciously absent last night.”
Persa and Sabri beamed. “Well, then, we are getting better, if you didn’t spot us. We did lose you when you moved off, which was a huge mistake. Sorry about that.”
Ellar returned with two large plates of food and cups of arit. Placing it all on the table, he bowed to Ticca and then left to serve a nearby merchant. Sabri looked at her plate. “Looks like he’s trying to impress you by being nice to your friends.”
Ticca laughed. “Typical next step for boys.”
Persa and Sabri joined her laughter. Then Persa continued, “Seriously, Ticca. A large group in there will not go over well, but I don’t want you going alone. You’re great, but it would still be risky.”
“You’re right. I was thinking it might be nice to have magical back-up. What about taking Lebuin?”
Both girls frowned and glanced at each other. Persa voiced it. “Really? You think we should expose him like that? What about Nigan or Risy?”
Ticca laughed. “Lebuin could beat Nigan or Risy easily. You forget, he’s able to spar with me!”
Sabri smiled. “You think you could defeat Nigan or Risy?”
Ticca grinned. “Of course.”
“Challenge accepted.”
Her heart jumped as she spun to see Nigan and Risy standing behind her. “How?”
Nigan smiled as he and Risy pulled some chairs over to join at the table.
“We were waiting for your return, and then made an entrance on the heels of that round merchant over there.” He thumbed in the direction of a hefty merchant, ordering his breakfast. “We’ve all been practicing quiet walking. It takes a lot of getting used to. Now, about that challenge—now or later?”
She could feel the burning of her cheeks. I must be as red as a radish. Well, I said it. That’s what I get for bragging.
“Okay, but after I get some sleep. I’m beat from being up all night.”
Nigan nodded. “Okay, afternoon practice, then, by the stables. Sounds fun.”
Risy didn’t look like he was happy with the idea.
He has been getting far off the last week. I hope he isn’t getting sick.
Swallowing the last bite she could, Ticca stood up and put a hand on Risy’s shoulder. Risy aborted the bite he was about to take. He looked at her and their eyes locked.
I love his dark brown eyes. They make me feel warm and safe.
Risy’s shoulder was muscular, but not bulky, and warm under her hand. He was wearing nicer clothes than when he had first started Daggering, but it didn’t matter what he wore. It always looked like he had been sleeping in them for days. She realized this was partly because his clothes were too large for him. He had impersonated Ditani, so he had shaved off his original thick beard. He was keeping that off, but had grown a rather handsome moustache that looped down both sides of his mouth, to his chin, with only a small patch of beard under his lower lip.
A moment passed as she stood, staring at Risy, before he cleared his throat. “You okay, Ticca?”
What am I doing? Get back on track. I must be more tired than I thought.
“Sorry, just thinking. Would you and Nigan please go find Lebuin and let him know I need him to come with me tonight to the Night Market?”
Risy frowned. “With us, right?” His tone made it clear, he didn’t like the idea.
She shook her head. “Sorry. A big group won’t be accepted there. It will have to be only Lebuin and me. You and Nigan will be one of the back-up teams close by.”
Nigan nodded. “Yeah, so we’ll go in separately to be close by.” He indicated Illa on the far side of the room. “Besides, Illa won’t be all that pleased with being left out.”
Ticca looked over at Illa.
What would they be buying to let them hang long enough to be useful?
She frowned, trying to think it through. “I’ll sleep on that. What is she doing, anyway?”
Nigan glanced over at Illa. “Oh, some workers heard a song she’d never heard of before, and she is working it out with the bards. I guess she still loves her music.”
With a last look at Illa, who was pointing at something on the papers, Ticca felt the night catching up. “Well, she is an amazing musician. I’ve heard her playing, and it is wonderful. I look forward to hearing this song later.”
Reluctantly taking her hand from Risy’s shoulder, she grabbed her dagger and spun it around a few times before she sheathed it.
“See you in six or seven marks.” She patted Risy’s back as she walked off.
- - -
Electra slipped the silver headband on that let her join Vesta in the Llino control room. As she lay back on the bed, she felt a flutter of joy.
I love everything I have learned. As far as anyone is concerned, this little marvel might as well be magic. It lets me work with an entity that does not exist physically. It transports my mind to faraway places. Yet Vesta insists, this is not magic. I wonder if all magic is just not fully understood science. Nothing is beyond our reach, if we take the time to gather the knowledge of what and how things work.
She appeared in the control room off to the side. She was surprised to see Arkady was present.
I didn’t know he could come here. Well, I guess I should have surmised that. We have gone to Gracia often enough to talk to him.
Vesta was standing with her back straight, arms crossed, and brow furrowed, glaring at Arkady. She was in front of a set of control screens which were monitoring the Nhia-Samri base. Arkady paced back and forth, in the smaller Llino control room, with his eyes narrowed and hands held behind his back.
This looks like an argument between my mother and father! I wonder what is going on. As when she stepped into such an argument at home, Electra held still and watched.
“I have the necessary forces ready to be air-dropped at the edge of the base. I can avoid all their patrols. We can level it before they attack.”
Arkady swung his hand in a cutting motion. “NO, absolutely not. You cannot do that! That is an outright violation of the laws, and you know it.”
“Arkady, we have the Empress’s direct order to destroy them. They are planning a massive attack from multiple locations, of which we only know two.”
That caught Electra’s attention. She had told them about the legendary home fortress city of the Nhia-Samri, Hisuru Amajoo. Vesta and Arkady had been searching for it for weeks. One of the display monitors behind Vesta showed a new image of a valley. Electra stepped over, ignoring Vesta’s and Arkady’s continuing argument, to look at the display. The valley must be immense. It was on a display next to one showing the base they had been monitoring. Unlike the base view, the people on the new display were only small dots.
The fortress was on such a scale, it took her several minutes to comprehend.
I know legend says it was built by the secretive stone giants. Even if that’s not true, I see how that part of the legend came to be. How could one elf lord build that place?
The walls surrounding the valley had to be at least a hundred feet thick at the top, based on the number of dots moving on them. There were two ranks of four by ten dots moving on the top march of the walls. The two ranks moved side by side, one on the inside of the top of the wall, the other on the outside, and there was space for many more such ranks between them. She started counting these groups and stopped a quarter of the way, around 30.
One hundred-twenty ranks of eighty guards, to patrol the perimeter wall!
She felt herself going light-headed at the staggering size that indicated.
The legends are wrong. It is much bigger than anything described!
She looked at the streets of the city and squares of farmland inside the perimeter wall. A main road led through the center of the valley, up to the great fort, which had its own wall half the size of the perimeter wall. The fort looked like it might be a wonder to look on. Dozens of towers and walkways were interconnected with bridges large enough to drive carriages on. As she looked, she did find horses being used on the perimeter and fort walls, and tower bridges.
In a large open area on the side of the fort was a replica of what was at the base they were observing—hundreds and hundreds of barrack-like roofs with drill areas. As she watched, two groups of warriors performed the sudden formation of ranks, followed by trying to push through a narrow opening.
There must be at least seven thousand warriors there preparing for this attack. If they attack the Assembly in Gracia, they’ll have enough troops to take the entire city! We have nothing that can withstand nine thousand Nhia-Samri!
Her heart raced and her mind spun. Vesta has to attack now. We need to stop this!
She turned around. Arkady and Vesta were looking at her. Vesta indicated the new display. “We located Hisuru Amajoo early this morning. It is in an area where any of our little bugs would be instantly identified, and no seabirds ever fly. All we have is orbital surveillance until we figure out something that can get in there for a closer look. I have some dragonflies en route to try and sneak around, but I cannot let them be spotted. The initial count shows an additional ten thousand warriors, all doing the same drills as the base, which has three thousand warriors in preparation. If their mage gates have the twenty percent loss factor we know of, then the Assembly will be attacked with not less than eleven thousand Nhia-Samri, which will then be able to establish total control over Gracia. If they have perfected the mage gates, as you suggest, it is much worse. They will be able to seize control of all of the surrounding areas. The entire seat of the Duianna Empire will fall in less than three days.”
Holding back tears, Electra’s body shook in terror for her friends, family, and home. “All those people hurt or killed. You have to stop them!”
Arkady sighed and shook his head. “Electra, we cannot act.”
Her well-trained mind spun around
the problem. All of the prior arguments, which she mostly ignored, were based around the fact that practicing for war or killing or fighting was not illegal. I can’t believe Arkady would insist on following the laws so strictly. He was imprisoned unjustly and only released in secret by the illegal acts of his Emperor and a talented engineer from my family.
“But you have Imperial orders! This is an enemy of Duianna; under any definition, this constitutes a clear and present danger. How can you not act?”
Arkady shook his head. “That is the point. Shar-Lumen and probably most of his Nhia-Samri are technically citizens of the Alliance, if not the empire. There has been no formal recognition of the Nhia-Samri as a sovereign entity. Hence, our laws apply. I will point out, this is why Duke is traveling to Gracia at this minute for a vote of the Assembly. It is one thing to capture a spy cell-like operation responsible for the death of another citizen. That the members of that cell chose to resist arrest, even though Duke offered them safe passage out, is a local police matter. Duke followed the laws. If the Assembly ratifies the war declaration, we will be able to act at that moment.”
Vesta shook her head. “Arkady, we have to act before that moment. We will not be able to stop them from a mage gate attack fast enough. Also, if we act at that moment, we’ll be discovered by Duke and the Assembly.”
Arkady started pacing again. “Vesta, we need a way around all this. The fact that we are awake is a fine line technicality. I am willing to use that to stay awake, and act in secret to help all the races achieve the agreed-to, planned progression, for some kind of stable, self-sustaining, closed-loop society. That is, doing what was agreed to by all, including the Assembly and our Emperor. This does not mean I am violating the laws or that I will start doing so. At some point in the future, we will be judged for our actions. We need to be sure everything we do is within the laws, the spirit of the laws, and the spirit of the original plan!”
He has the power, but he is afraid of taking responsibility.
Electra stepped in front of Arkady and pointed her finger at his nose. “How many will die because of your lack of action?”
Thread Strands (Golden Threads Trilogy) Page 34