Peacekeeper's Plan

by Wayne Meyers

  Master Banton bowed then rushed from the office. Master Orcus and Spaldeer followed.

  “Marcus and Brentor, remain behind for a few minutes so we may discuss making better decisions going forward. Babette, please return to your room.”

  Master Voralius nudged me from behind. “Come, Hofen. If we’ve still any chance of finding the culprits, that opportunity diminishes with each passing moment.”

  As we left the administrative building, Master Voralius snapped his fingers at passing journeymen who fell in behind us without a word. He used the new key to open the basement door, his face as grim as I’d ever seen it.

  “Search every room,” he said. “Leave no scrap of trash unturned. Anything out of the ordinary.” The journeymen fanned out. He turned to me. “Take me to this tunnel.”

  We strode down the hallway in silence. I noticed his eyes never stopped moving, scanning every inch of wall and floor as we walked.

  The bookcase had been thrust to one side. “This is the opening. We knocked the stone door off its hinges to block them from reaching us. It’s too heavy to move.”

  Master Voralius waved me aside and placed his foot against the stone about as high as his shoulder.

  “Master?”

  He inhaled deeply, then thrust his leg forward as he exhaled. The stone block fell away from us as though there had been well-greased hinges on the bottom.

  I gasped.

  He leaned forward into the tunnel opening, peering around the block. “I’ll be boiled in oil.”

  “They came in from the basement door opposite the one we entered through,” I said.

  He pulled himself back into the room. “There are passageways that connect all the apprentice dorm buildings. The seamstress collects the laundry from the chutes and brings them back to their guild for washing and drying. They fold the clothes and return them. There are apprentices who place the clean clothes back in the bathrooms. We don’t allow any outsiders in the dorms themselves.”

  A journeyman stopped in the entranceway. “We found an abandoned laundry cart, Master.”

  “Search the passageways between the dorms,” he replied.

  “You don’t think we can catch them, do you?” I asked.

  Master Voralius shook his head. “Too much time passed. If only Orcus had paused to listen before he dragged you off to the High-Master. I’ll check with the gate guards but expect to learn the seamstress left a short while ago. Probably said she was ill and would send a replacement. They’d have no reason to challenge her.”

  “At least one of these men wore red robes,” I said.

  “Yes, that is what worries me the most.” He tapped his fist against the wall. “The question is, who? And how many?”

  “So, they are stealing our books again,” I said. Shortly before I became old enough to become an apprentice, Col—the hospitality apprentice who helped out in the kitchen—had been caught removing a book from the library. In the confusion that followed, he’d managed to swallow some sort of poison and end his life before the masters could question his motives.

  He scowled. “And for how many months, though I suspect it couldn’t have been long. A tunnel like that would take a long time to dig in secret. Quite an accomplishment, though. Someone here is very dedicated to their true master.”

  “Why did he need the seamstress?”

  “She is down here to collect the dirty laundry. He must have bribed her to keep silent while the tunnel was dug. She can also make it out of the guild with the books and carry the returned ones from chute to tunnel. If a journeyman was caught with it, he’d be put to death and probably didn’t want to take the risk. She may have also removed the tunnel dirt one cart at a time, underneath the pile of dirty clothes.”

  I shook my head. “They are desperate to steal our secrets.”

  Master Voralius roused himself. “Something is brewing, Apprentice, but this is not for you to concern yourself over. It is fortunate you uncovered this plot, but you could have been killed in doing so. I’ll expect you to avoid any future situations that put your life at risk and focus on your studies, instead.”

  “Yes, Master,” I replied, but it wouldn’t be long before he negated his own instructions.

  I met the others in the dining hall where we finally sat down at one of the long tables and ate whatever cold scraps remained. The hall was empty save for the low apprentice who now mopped up.

  “How did it go?” I asked Marcos and Brentor.

  Brentor shuddered. “It was not a pleasant conversation. However, I believe the High-Master was pleased at the end.”

  “He opened our eyes,” Marcos said. “There is much more at stake now than apprentice games. He said if we are that motivated to learn journeyman skills, he would augment our training.”

  “I will miss the rooftop.” Brentor sighed. “But we must shed the fancies of children and mature.”

  “You no longer have the key,” Babette said.

  “Which should keep all of us out of trouble going forward.” Spaldeer happily shoveled cold potatoes and meat into his mouth.

  I played with my food, the congealed grease and lack of heat turning my stomach sour. “There is much more at stake. Someone is stealing and copying these training manuals for a reason. They have made a great deal of effort to find a way to do so. Remember, Col killed himself after he was caught stealing just such a book from the library, rather than be interrogated and reveal who they are.”

  Spaldeer swallowed his food. “Which means they have a strong-willed leader who is passionate enough about his cause to inspire such loyalty.”

  Babette frowned. “Why does it have to be a man? It could be a woman.”

  Brentor gave a chuckle. “Right. A woman stealing secret manuscripts and inspiring suicide.”

  “Well why not? A woman can do anything a man can. And probably more.”

  “You are wrong,” Brentor said.

  “Yes, I am wrong.” Babette bristled. “Definitely more.”

  Marcos cleared his throat. “Either way, Hofen is right. If they’re stealing peacekeeper training books, then they must be training someone.”

  Brentor speared a chunk of bread with his knife. “But who?”

  “Someone who wants to fight as well as a peacekeeper,” Spaldeer said.

  “Why would they want to do that?” Babette asked, wiping the gravy from around her mouth with a slice of bread before biting into it.

  I thought of my father’s murderer. “Revenge?”

  Brentor grunted. “That makes sense. But they must be really angry to go through all this trouble.”

  Marcus shook his head. “A peacekeeper journeyman is involved. He’s already trained.”

  “The book we found seemed special,” Spaldeer said. “Perhaps it contains techniques a regular journeyman wouldn’t know.”

  “Yeah.” Babette twirled a lock of hair around one finger. “If he killed someone using an unknown technique, they wouldn’t think it was one of us.”

  With a contented sigh Spaldeer pushed his tray away and sat back in his chair. “At any rate the situation is in the masters’ hands now.”

  “Well, yeah.” Brentor drummed his fingers on the table. “But we can still help.”

  “Yes,” Babette agreed, giving Spaldeer a curious look. “I mean, after everything that happened, don’t you want to figure this out?”

  He shook his head. “This is way beyond us. We’re just apprentices and this involves at least one journeyman who could probably kill us with a pinky finger.”

  “That didn’t stop us today,” Marcus said.

  Spaldeer leaned forward and his face tightened. “We were very lucky today. I don’t think any of you have had a chance to stop and realize that. They could have killed us in that tunnel, and no one would have ever known where we disappeared to.”

  Spaldeer’s common sense approach annoyed me. “But they didn’t. We outsmarted them, uncovered their plot, and informed the masters. We did great.”


  He sighed. “We’re apprentices, altbrud. We aren’t supposed to be involved in plots and treachery until they’ve trained us how to handle them. And that is still some years off, if we survive that long.”

  “Come on,” Brentor said. “We didn’t ask for it, sure, but we found ourselves right in the middle of the action.”

  Spaldeer frowned. “We never should have been down there in the first place. We’re lucky they didn’t expel us.”

  “But they didn’t,” I said. “Doesn’t that tell you something?”

  “It tells me the masters are distracted with something dangerous and more important than disciplining a group of troublesome apprentices,” Spaldeer replied.

  Babette straightened in her chair and stared at Spaldeer. “You really mean that? I only wanted my bracelet back. Sometimes you have to bend the rules a little.”

  “We are here to learn the rules and spend the rest of our lives enforcing them,” Spaldeer replied calmly. “If we break them now, what will we do when we’re journeymen?”

  This made me pause, and apparently the others as well. There were a few minutes of silence as we reflected on his words.

  “I was wrong to keep the key,” Marcos finally said. “But we prevented who knows how many training manuals from being copied.”

  “The ends can’t justify the means. That opens exoneration for any transgression.”

  Brentor burst out laughing. “What did he just say?”

  Spaldeer rose to his feet and picked up his tray. “It means you can find an excuse for anything you do that is wrong to make it sound right. Look, I can’t deny we prevented something bad from happening, but it’s over now and I, for one, prefer not to find myself in that predicament again. Let’s just hope that whoever that journeyman is doesn’t find out who we are.”

  “And why is that?” Babette asked.

  “He may not be very happy we broke up his plans,” I said.

  Brentor made a face. “He wouldn’t dare do anything to us.”

  “He’s already earned the Circle for stealing forbidden books,” Spaldeer said. “I doubt he’s too concerned about killing us.”

  I stared at Spaldeer’s back as he walked up to the front to drop off his tray. “He won’t risk his identity by harming us.”

  “Not directly.” Marcos stood. “Spaldeer is stuffy, but he’s smart. We do need to be careful.”

  Brentor stood as well. “All the more reason to find this rogue journeyman before he has a chance to do anything to one of us.”

  “Let’s talk about it more in our room,” Marcos said. “We’ll come up with something.”

  “Right,” Brentor replied.

  I thought more about the situation after they left. As the rush of excitement faded, I understood Spaldeer’s perspective better. The rogue journeyman would be furious we had blocked his plans, and very well might desire vengeance. If he was willing to steal from the library there was no telling what else he was capable of. If anyone saw who had been rushed to the High-Master’s office earlier, it would not be difficult to determine our identities.

  Which meant I was in danger. And not only me, but Babette. I turned to look at her.

  Something about the tilt of her head and the golden curls cascading about her shoulders caught my eye. I found myself staring. When she noticed, Babette only winked and went back to chattering about devious plots and hidden agendas.

  With an effort I pulled my eyes from her face, unable to explain why her safety concerned me more than my own.

  Chapter Eight—My Face Betrays Me

  Hofen!”

  I jumped in the air at Journeyman Krellus’ shout, which he had made directly into my ear while standing just behind me. “Y-yes, sir.”

  He took his time pacing around me with hands clasped behind his back until his nose nearly touched mine. “I asked you to begin the twisted dragon form. What has gotten into you lately? Although you practice hard enough, your concentration is not what it was since I returned to the guild a month ago. What am I competing with?”

  My eyes lowered. “I am sorry.”

  And though I was, I also wasn’t. I couldn’t stop thinking about Babette, no matter how hard I tried. When I was away from her, I became moody and irritable. Or, as Spaldeer liked to put it, worse than usual.

  Babette and I had become close friends. I had told her about my father’s death and how Horse abused my mother. She confessed to me how upset her father made her ranting how she must become a peacekeeper, while her younger sister was groomed to follow in his footsteps as a teacher. Despite the seriousness of our revelations, we found a common ground of silliness that turned everything dark into light. She could alter my mood with a smile or frown.

  Babette had befriended Spaldeer as well in the sense she maintained an honest disposition around him, but I didn’t think there was any more to it than that. At least, I didn’t want to. The thought of her liking anyone else made my stomach hurt. The fact that she was now in class with all the others while Journeyman Krellus worked with me alone made my teeth grind with worry. Was she whispering to some other apprentice her little quips and confidences? Was she pleased by their clumsy replies, smiling to them in that special way she only seemed to use with me?

  The mere thought of it drove me mad.

  Journeyman Krellus bent and peered at me curiously for a moment, then sighed. “This isn’t about that mess you stumbled into while I was away, is it? You know the masters conducted a thorough search and are convinced the journeyman you saw was not a peacekeeper, but was only disguised as one.”

  In truth, weeks had passed since I had last thought about these worries, though not because my fears were allayed. Master Orcus had indeed indicated the conclusion of their investigation vindicated all peacekeeper journeymen from suspicion, but when I asked about the extra key, he had frowned.

  “Nothing to worry about there, nothing at all. The locksmith masters have not come up with an explanation but will watch for future suspicious activities. All the locks have been changed. The seamstress guild is rotating their journeywomen. In short, you are safe within these walls.”

  “But who is copying the peacekeeper manuals and for what purpose?” I had asked.

  Master Orcus had patted me on the head before walking away. “No concern of apprentices, I assure you. No concern.”

  “I understand, Journeyman Krellus,” I said. “We are in no danger.”

  He straightened and nodded. “All right then. Let me see you go through the form again.”

  With great effort, I emptied my mind of everything but the movements required of the form. First, I stood upright with my feet together and my fists pressed against my sides, palms facing up. Then, I began to move, my steps and stances following the motions this particular form required: a series of flowing, shifting movements that involved various strikes and blocks while transitioning from one stance to the other. When I finished, I returned to the starting position and bowed to Journeyman Krellus.

  My heart sang knowing I had executed each step without flaw. The familiar excitement of mastering a new technique resonated throughout my body, and for the moment I pushed Babette completely from my mind.

  Journeyman Krellus applauded. “Excellent. I have never seen another apprentice pick these forms up as readily as you. You have a natural talent for the fighting arts, just like—”

  Several heartbeats passed by as he stared off into the distance without finishing his sentence. “Sir?”

  “Er, never mind that. But I’m pleased with your progress.”

  “Thank you, Journeyman Krellus.”

  He stepped closer to me with narrowing eyes, his voice uncharacteristically neutral. “That new apprentice, Babette, seems to have a strong aptitude as well.”

  At the mention of her name my face fell apart, but I gamely pretended he hadn’t just seen everything he needed to know. “She seems to do okay.”

  He frowned, his brows furrowing. “Let’s take a break beneath that tree.”
With gentle pressure on my shoulder, Journeyman Krellus guided me to one corner of the courtyard where a flowering cherry-beam tree cascaded sweet-smelling blossoms across the manicured lawn and bade me sit.

  For a moment he scratched his head as he peered at me, clearing his throat several times but saying nothing. I heard a journeyman class training on the other side of a nearby building—a score of voices grunting in unison—and breathed in the overpowering blossoms while I sat and waited with my arms crossed over my knees.

  Finally, he spoke. “You are rapidly approaching manhood now and there are many things we once discussed you are becoming capable of doing. Do you understand what I mean?”

  “I am not sure.”

  He sighed. “Well, let’s try the direct approach. There’s no way around it, I fear.” He sat down upon the grass next to me, his bent legs mirroring mine. His face was both sincere and serious. “Babette is a pretty young girl, and you’re beginning to feel attracted to such features. However, she is also your guild sister and not to be desired any more than you would desire her were she the daughter of your parents.”

  I felt a stubborn frown take hold of my face as my hands clenched into fists.

  Journeyman Krellus took note, shook his head, and turned his head from mine to stare off into space, his hands resting upon his knees. “You will only bring sorrow to both of you if you do not stop this now. There are many women out there, and one day you will see the world. You can visit your lady friends as you go, some in one city and others elsewhere. You shall not want for the beauty of women, but you must be patient for a few more years and maintain your focus on your studies until then. The harder you study, the greater the rewards the masters grant you. As an apprentice, you may be given leave to spend a day in Solace, and as a journeyman, any and all the other thirty-one cities of Bellisprodus. Trust me, the women will come.”

  Like a bubbling cauldron, the emotions burst out of me before I realized what was happening. “I can’t help it! I know it is not right, yet when I look at her, she takes my breath from me. I don’t understand why.”