by C S Vass
Fiona yawned and stretched. She had been up all night and her ordeal with Suomo left her completely exhausted. “Glad to hear you’ve got it all under control.”
“We’re in a bit of a wait and see moment. In any case, I’m sure I’ve bored you enough with talk of court for a night. Tell me about your travels. Where have you been? How has the world reacted to the Awakening? I know far too little of what goes on beyond Haygarden’s walls.”
“What can I say of it?” Fiona shrugged. “I don’t know what the outside world used to be like before the Awakening.”
“Don’t give me that now,” Donyo said. “Surely you’ve had some splendid adventures. I want to know of them.”
“Adventures.” She put her boots up on the table and took another pull from the wineskin. “Adventures are shit. I searched for him, alright? There’s not much to tell. I slept out of doors more often than not, chasing a shadow. I followed rumors that led me to cold uncomfortable places. There is magic in the world though there are more imposters than not. I met nobody of note. I wasn’t battling werewolves and rusalkas every other night. Most of the mages I met were frauds.”
“You truly weave a captivating tale,” Donyo said. “Did you ever consider earning coin as a bard?”
“You’re the one who asked, jackass,” Fiona growled. She moved a little closer to the fire.
Donyo laughed. “Fair enough.”
“And what of you? What have you been up to these last two years?”
“More than I can talk about,” Donyo said. “I’m not often able to assist with matters of state these days. Sandra has me working on something that requires my constant attention.”
“Hm, constant attention. Is that why you’re drunk in the Stone District at sunrise?”
“I’ll have you know that I’m far from drunk,” Donyo said indignantly as he grabbed the wineskin from her.
They sat in silence together for a while. Fiona couldn’t bring herself to admit it, but it was actually quite nice to see a friendly face. She had wanted to remain anonymous in Haygarden, but an early morning chat with an old friend had a positive effect on her. It was as if a fire inside her that had all but died was poked at and the flames found new life.
“Fiona?” The look Donyo gave her was beyond fatigue. “It truly is good to see you. You’ve been gone for so long. It might be nice to take a break. You know, put your boots up for a moment. It would be good to see you in court. You don’t have to commit to doing anything, or staying for any amount of time. I just think it would do us both well for you to stay here for a bit. What do you say?”
Fiona sighed. This was exactly why she didn’t want to see anybody. “I have to take care of this, Donyo,” she said. “I can’t rest. Not while he’s out there. He—”
She had to hold off the words as tears came unexpectedly to her eyes. She blinked them away. “He killed her. Right in front of me. After everything I did to try to find and save him he ended up betraying us all.”
“He did,” Donyo said. “But that’s no reason to let him continue to define your life, Fiona. You don’t have to be bound to him. You can choose to move on. The Vaentysh Boys were essentially vanquished here two years ago. We’ve had scouts scouring the land searching for any sign of them, and there’s been nothing. For all we know the lot of them are dead at the bottom of some canyon, or fled across the sea long ago.”
“He’s not!” Fiona didn’t mean to shout, but her feelings were on her now. She didn’t ask for Donyo to provoke her. “He’s not dead! He can’t be dead. Not until I find him. You don’t know him like I do, Donyo. He’s alive. He would never leave Tellos.”
Donyo sighed and took another drink. “Very well. I see you won’t be swayed. At least come for a visit. Not just for me, Fiona. You should really see Sasha.”
Fiona felt as though her chest had frozen solid. “I’m not worried about that.” Her voice was as hard as granite.
“Fiona, she’s not well. She misses you terribly. It would mean so much—”
“It’s time for you to go, Donyo.” She was on her feet, staring at the fat man angrily.
He closed his eyes and looked as though he were about to say something when he changed his mind and walked towards the door. As he opened it he looked back to her.
“You are not the only one who has suffered throughout these last two years. Goodbye, Fiona. I wish you well.”
* * *
Fiona spent the morning in an uneasy rest. Every time sleep encroached upon her there was some ruckus outside to disturb it: a fishmonger shouting at a thief, a lover’s quarrel, and in one instance a priest who began yelling outside of her window that Sandra Redfire was sent from hell to destroy the world until the city guard came and silenced him.
By midday she decided that she had rested enough and tried to experiment with the manjeko. Having been given no guidance she didn’t exactly know what to do. Of the few legitimate sorcerers and mages she had met after the Awakening most of them said their powers had come naturally, usually in a single explosive moment of realization. Almost none of them had anticipated it beforehand.
To make matters more confusing, the soundmages were even less helpful. Of those she had spoken to most of them had actually lost a substantial amount of power since the Moonwood exploded its energies upon the world though none could give an exact reason why. The only consolation was the possibility that Lawrence Downcastle was hiding in a hole somewhere, weak and powerless with no more magic to aid him.
So in her tiny room Fiona did what she could. She closed her eyes and meditated. She focused on Rodrick and tried to imagine him. She even prayed to a multitude of gods (something she had never done before) until at last feeling ridiculous and frustrated she gave up.
Suomo couldn’t have tricked her, could she? It had to be real. The entire process was so vivid. The magic orb, the howling, the vision. Her hands had still not completely recovered from the freezing burn they had gotten from gripping the swirling energy of the manjeko. But what if Suomo’s magic was something of a more deceptive nature?
In any case Fiona knew she wouldn’t be leaving Haygarden until it was clear if the manjeko worked and she had received the power of true sight. If Suomo had betrayed her then she would make certain to stop in and see the sorceress before departing the city.
Without much else to do and no new leads to follow Fiona drew her cloak around herself and went outside to take a walk while the sun was still up.
The cold was more bracing than biting when she went outside. She moved onto a main road and came upon Haygarden’s massive wall. It was strange, staying so close to the wall that separated Haygarden from the outside world. She had grown up very near to this very same wall, on the north side of the city with the Norjeg mountains looming off in the distance, their icy peaks forming a wall of their own that separated Tellos from whatever lay beyond their frozen slopes.
As she stared at the massive structure thoughts of Martin Lightwing crept into her head. She hadn’t asked Donyo about him. Like everyone else from Sun Circle, she had left him on bad terms. But perhaps even more than Sasha, the loss of his friendship stung bitterly. He was her oldest friend after all.
It wasn’t right of Donyo to bring Sasha up, Fiona decided. He was just being manipulative, mentioning her old friend to try to maneuver her into court against her will. What did it even matter? It wasn’t like she had anything to offer them. Her last stay at court had been miserable, and what did she get in exchange for her service to the city? Betrayal, served nine different ways from the people she cared the most about.
A sudden sense of pride took Fiona as she moved along the street. She had gotten out after all. She had always been told at Clearwater that Rodrick was the reason she had been lifted out of the poverty of her early childhood, but now she had made her own path. She could have settled down and been comfortable, not cared about Rodrick, maybe even taken Geoff Hightower’s offer to become the leader of the Brightbows or some new organization. The
y had lain the traps so expertly, but she had seen through it with ease.
Sasha of course had been the most difficult. It was never easy for Fiona to say no to Sasha Rains in the best of times. When her best friend had insisted on how badly she needed Fiona by her side…memories came rushing back. It was cold that day too, with clouds that loomed dark and pregnant with rain though none had fallen yet.
“Fiona, don’t go,” Sasha had said. “We need you here. You have to at least stay for the wedding!”
“There’s no time,” Fiona insisted. “Every day I wait could mean the difference between finding Rodrick or letting him slip away. Think about Reggie’s father. Don’t you want me to capture him?”
“I don’t care about Reggie’s father! I care about Reggie.” Her heart-shaped face had worry written across it several ways. “I need you here Fiona. We all do.”
“If you don’t understand then I can’t make you,” Fiona said, before turning her back on Sasha.
“Just tell me one thing,” Sasha said as Fiona prepared to leave. “Why do you wear his sword on your back?”
Fiona had never answered that question.
She admitted to herself that on the way back to Haygarden she had toyed with the idea of going to see them: Sasha, Donyo, everybody. But Donyo had spoiled it. He snuck up on her, catching her like a thief in the night in her own city, and taken away that choice. Now her priority was to get the manjeko working as quickly as possible so that she could put Haygarden, and eventually Tellos, behind her forever.
As the day went on the sky continued to darken. A blanket of clouds from the north settled over the city and threatened a storm. Fiona found herself walking through a food market where the local traders packed up their fruits, meats, spices, and a plethora of other goods to get home before the rain.
“I like the way you move, Fiona.”
The unfamiliar voice made Fiona spin around ready to strike.
She faced a tall hooded figure. “What did you say?”
“You move like a warrior, with purpose. I like it.” He chuckled from underneath the hood that clouded his face. Fiona was certain she had never heard that voice before.
“Who the hell are you, and how do you know my name?”
He hooted loudly. “This cat has teeth. I expected as much. Calm yourself. I jest, and you’re attracting unwanted attention.”
She placed her hand on the hilt of the demon-pommel sword on her back. “I have a good mind to teach you a few things about not attracting unwanted attention,” she said.
“Please, you don’t have to introduce me to your famous fiery attitude, I know all about it.”
The condescension made her furious, but she had learned how to bury her anger well those last two years. So instead of screaming or hitting him she simply said, “You looking to die, stranger?” The sword came completely out of its sheath. Several of the surrounding merchants hurried on with packing their things and moved away quickly.
“Enough already,” the man said. From the tone of his voice he clearly wasn’t worried. His voice was thick and phlegmy. “Put that away. I have a deal to make with you.”
“Why would I want anything to do with you?”
“Because we want the same thing.”
“Which is?”
“To see Rodrick Sacrosin’s head on a spike.”
At the mention of her brother’s name her face flushed with heat. Fiona had gone so long, two whole years, without anything that resembled a lead so much as this, and now that she was pursuing another way with the manjeko this mysterious person had found her.
“So what do you say?” he asked her. “Can I buy you a drink while we talk things over?”
“What’s your name?”
He chuckled and flashed her a brilliant smile of golden teeth that reflected the last light of a disappearing sun.
“You can call me Smiley.”
Chapter Three
Five minutes later Fiona found herself sitting in a dingy hole-in-the-wall tavern across from a man with gold teeth, bronze skin, a weatherbeaten face, and lifeless blue eyes. The storm had rolled in just as they got inside and from the large glass window they could see freezing rain occasionally illuminated by forked lightning bolts decorate the sky.
“To a new relationship,” Smiley said as he raised a metal tankard of frothy beer.
Fiona begrudgingly clinked her mug with his. From behind the bar a healthy red fire sent shadows over the large room. Smiley seemed to have chosen their location based on the fact that it was fairly busy. About thirty patrons gambled and told stories over drinks, and no one seemed too keen to look anyone else in the eye. In the corner of the room a fat juggler had an array of cups, forks, and plates spinning in the air as he told a bawdy story.
“So we have a similar enemy,” Fiona said. “That doesn’t tell me who you are or how you know who I am. I better start getting some answers.”
“You are the type that itches for a fight, aren’t you?” Smiley said. His oily baritone voice sent shivers down her spine. “No matter, I was warned of that. I assure you, my motives are cleaner than…” he looked around the tavern. “Well, they’re a lot cleaner than anything that you’re going to find in here.”
Fiona arched a brow. She wanted desperately to believe that at long last she was going to gain some insight into Rodrick’s whereabouts, but she had already been disappointed a great many times.
Smiley slapped his hand onto the table and when he lifted it, there was a solid jet medallion, black as ebony, in the shape of a skull with a single perfect diamond placed in its forehead. “This should help put your mind at ease.”
Fiona gasped. She was half tempted to draw her sword, half tempted to run. She must have betrayed some emotion because Smiley laughed. “Don’t worry love, the revolution was thirty years ago. We haven’t got cause to cut each other’s throats. Not today, anyway.”
“You’re an Imperial agent.”
“And you’re a scraggly youth who knows both sides of the wall of this city. Are we going to sit here and state the obvious, or are we going to discuss how we can help one another?”
Fiona looked uncertainly into the face across the table. She didn’t like any of this. Fearing the Tellosian Empire was second nature to anyone from Haygarden.
He looked into her forest green eyes with his pale blue ones. “Why don’t we get something out of the way right now? Are you going to be able to get over your obvious prejudice and work with an Imperial, or should I stop wasting my damn time?”
She swallowed. It was now or never. “I have no problem working with anybody who can help me achieve what I want. Tell me, Smiley, how do you know who I am and what do you know about my brother?”
He granted her a smile that shone like dirty sunlight.
“Now we’re getting somewhere. Rodrick Sacrosin, the ex-Commander of the Brightbows, has been wanted for high crimes and misdemeanors against the Tellosian Empire for quite a time. Political barriers have long prevented us from reaching out to grab him, but the winds certainly change quickly these days.”
“Maybe too quickly for you,” Fiona said. “For two years Haygarden has wanted nothing to do with Rodrick, has offered him no diplomatic protection, and yet here you are, having failed to capture him.”
Smiley laughed, a low ugly sound. “Don’t try to gain the high ground, love. I could say the same thing about you. Be that as it may, I see an opportunity for us to work together.”
Fiona took a long sip from her mug. “You still haven’t told me how you know who I am.”
“Does it matter?” he asked. “The Tellosian Empire has hundreds of agents across the continent. We watch, and we sometimes act. It’s no surprise. Haygarden does it as well. In fact, Rodrick used to do it quite well before he started getting all of those crazy ideas in his head. But you were never influenced by that, were you Fiona? Have you ever had any fascination with the long dead Vaentysh kings?”
Fiona snorted. “If you’re even mildly co
mpetent at your job, then you already know the answer to that. I want to see Rodrick dead, and I want to kill him myself.”
“Ho-ho.” Smiley’s grinned wolfishly. “Why the stipulation? Dead is dead. Isn’t it?”
“It doesn’t matter why I want what I want.”
“I suppose not. Then you won’t be surprised to learn that unless you render the Tellosian Empire some great service, we have no need to bring you Rodrick in chains for you to strike off his head. You see, we don’t care who does it.”
Fiona laughed. To her pleasure he frowned deeply, exaggerating the jowls of his already piggish face. “Please,” she said. “You can try to impress me with your dedication to respecting political barriers but at the end of the day we all know the reason you never killed Rodrick is that you couldn’t. You still can’t.”
Smiley grinned again, but Fiona saw the murder in his eyes. “Don’t provoke me, girl. It would be unfortunate for me to get mad and kill you before I got any use out of you.”
“I’m not scared of you,” she said, a little too quickly. She doubled down. “In fact if you’ve been spying on me, which certainly seems to be the case, you know that I bear the Empire no love. I may still kill you before we leave this tavern.”
“My, you really have changed,” Smiley grumbled. “They warned me of as much. Let me ask you this then, Fiona Sacrosin.” He hissed her family name as if to make a point of it. “Where will we be if we do murder each other here? Neither one of us will be a step closer to what we want. One will be dead, the other, if they survive, will become an immediate criminal.”
“You flatter yourself by suggesting that you might survive that engagement.” Fiona gulped the rest of her drink and slammed it on the table. “Another please. As I’m sure you’re aware, I’m down on my luck and the Imperial coffers run oh so deep I hear.”