Splintered Loyalties

by S. B. Sebrick

  "I don't know," Keevan said honestly, pulling his knees up to his chest. His mind whirled with the full implications, but he didn't know who else to report to. He'd always went straight to Madol if anything noteworthy happened. Who else was there? Aside from Malik Morgra himself. How would Keevan even go about getting passage into the palace? A few minutes later, a runner arrived.

  "Persuader Stratagar?" The boy asked, no younger than thirteen. He was tall for his age though, his enhanced strides covered two of Keevan's.

  "Yes," Keevan answered, getting to his feet. His back ached from the cramped position against the stone wall and his stomach didn't feel much better off.

  "The Council has called an emergency meeting, you are both summoned as witnesses to what just happened," The runner explained. He handed them small scrolls, stamped with the insignia of the council, a wide ring formed of a dozen circles. "These scrolls will gain you passage to the Council's chambers. Make all haste. They are waiting."

  "We will," Keevan echoed, staring down at the scroll in his hand as the runner sprinted away. The Danica blade in his other hand and receiver stone in his pocket suddenly felt much heavier, as if they could pull him down into the floor and drown him in stone.

  "You alright?" Falletal asked.

  "This is Persuader Madol's job, not mine," Keevan said, the nausea in his belly coiling and surging again. "He's Malik Morgra's favorite. He addresses the Council, suggests actions to take. He's unstoppable."

  "I wish that were the case," Falletal said sincerely. With a resigned glance at his own scroll, he said, "So much for my dreams of quietly hiding in a cell until this storm tires itself out."

  "This storm hasn't hit yet," Keevan said, recalling the scene when the guard attacked them, green veins of energy rooting into his arm and mind. Keevan knew Zerik's plan now. He had to warn the Council. He could do that much, at least. "Let's go."

  Chapter 20

  The Malik's palace stood like a great beast's toothy maw reaching into the Issamerean skyline. Grand towers and thick walls reminded the local Etrendi that even their elemental powers were nothing against the might of Malik Morgra. But the combined strength of a mob on the other hand, armed with Zerik's ancient swords, the thought left Keevan lightheaded and nauseous as he grimly considered the implications.

  The iron bars of the main gate were twisted this way and that, with sharp tips pointing in every direction. A remnant from older days when the people were prone to gathering at the gates to shout their disproval. Now, the spikes were merely a reminder of Malik Morgra's willingness to put Rhetans like Falletal in the torturer's chair.

  "State your business," A palace guard ordered, his grip on his spear tightening as they approached. His plate mail glistened in the afternoon light, well-polished, like his weapon. Both lacked the scratches and battery of constant use however, leaving Keevan to wonder how much time had passed since this Haustran faced a threat as severe as an angry mob.

  "We've been summoned by the council," Keevan reported, handing over the small scroll. The guard examined the seal, then glanced at Falletal's before nodding to two other guards behind the gate. The wide iron doors swung inward, shrieking in complaint. The guards saluted with interlocked fingers as Keevan and Falletal passed, before returning to their positions at the gate.

  Keevan glanced over his shoulder, at the Etrendi District outside the palace. The streets, usually bustling with merchants, runners and Etrendi, were empty. The city's most powerful were not lining up alongside Morgra in loyal support. They were locking their doors to wait out the storm.

  "I never thought I'd see this place," Falletal said as they followed the cobblestone path. Their route wound into a wide circle at the head of Malik Morgra's domain, with two long wings of the palace extending out to either end of the circular path. Elaborate carvings of renowned heroes, Gods and denounced enemies lined the road, as well as the tops of the palace roof. The building's thick stone walls offered an undeniable level of protection, at an ominous cost. A disorganized tangle of servants and guards waited outside, each bearing the insignia of one council member or another.

  By the time they reached the palace itself, the thick oak doors were already opening for them. An elderly servant waited, dressed in a black tunic and trousers, both embroidered with the insignia of Malik Morgra. Two runners, young baby faced boys, waited just inside the doors, tapping their fingers against the wall in boredom.

  "Master Stratagar," The servant said, bowing with practiced deference. His voice was thin and weakened by age, but his proud stance and straight back suggested as much pride in his work as any Etrendi carried for their lineage. "The Council has already convened and awaits your presence."

  "Thank you," Keevan echoed nervously. After all, he'd declined generous offers from each Council member when he decided to join the Persuaders. Though none would fault him openly for dismissing their offers, Keevan couldn't help but notice that being an open supporter of Malik Morgra wasn't the most popular choice right now.

  "Will they require my testimony as well?" Falletal asked, shrugging his shoulders. "After all, if they have the word of the Sight Seeker, what more can I add?"

  "It's not my place to decide such matters," the servant said. The deep wrinkles on his face left the impression he wore a dried raisin over his head, with slits cut for his eyes, nose and mouth. "If you will follow me."

  The servant led them down a wide hallway, elegantly furnished with expensive carpets and tapestries. The public display wasn't just a statement of wealth. Any Etrendi with enough control to not scorch a carpet underfoot on any given day was an elemental force to be reckoned with. Some less capable Etrendi kept their stone mansions minimally decorated, to minimize the risk of such a sign of elemental weakness.

  They stopped at a pair of sturdy, iron-reinforced doors. The servant knocked three times, whispering through the crack when they opened. Then he turned to Keevan, "You will enter and address the Council first, then the Rhetan. Keep your answers on point and thorough. The Council is not given to anyone wasting their time."

  "That's the least of their problems, right now," Keevan muttered. The servant bowed, pushing the door open. Keevan stepped into the council's chambers.

  Malik Morgra sat opposite the entrance, upon a throne of ebony. He wore polished plate armor, with a gold-hilted long sword sheathed at his feet. His eyes were wrinkled and dark with fatigue and countless sleepless nights, an expression shared by most of the council. His once muscular limbs now sagged with the fat of success, his hair trimmed in a courtly fashion, with sharp and angular cuts.

  Malik Morgra's raised dais gave him an extra three feet with which to look down on the rest of the council members. The dais was wide enough for three, so Lanasha and her second-in-command, Varta, occupied the chairs on the Malik's right and left sides. With the full support of the Suadans alongside him, he glared down at Keevan.

  "I've just received word that two of my best Persuaders were nearly cut down today, by a single Haustran guard, of all people," Morgra said, reading from a small parchment in his right hand. "Persuader Hadrian is making as much sense as a wandering candle without a flame and Persuader Madol has lost consciousness. For the comfort of the Councilman Soughast, you will keep your elemental vision restrained. Explain."

  Keevan glanced at the rest of the council, twelve of the most powerful Etrendi in Issamere. A circular bar of iron lined the seats before each councilman, both to provide a place to rest and a means of discharging electrical energy without arousing the notice of their peers. Councilman Soughast, the new head of the Harbor's Guild and Merkim's father, shared his son's lithe frame and hard eyes. His face and hands were worn from decades at sea however and he glared at Keevan like a roach in need of crushing.

  The emblems on the other councilmen's tunics marked the ones Keevan didn't know firsthand. They represented various branches of the artisans', scholars' and guards' guilds, watching him with much kinder eyes, though some were laced with suspicion. A
couple, the mining and fishing guilds, watched the proceedings with looks of shear boredom.

  "Honored Malik," Keevan replied, interlocking his fingers and bowing as deeply as his lurching stomach would allow. Then he drew Falletal's reinforced Danica blade from his belt, setting the weapon in front of him on the stone floor. He did the same with the receiver stone. A few councilmen whispered excitedly when they saw the blade's ancient engravings. "I come with news of Zerik's plot against you."

  "The guard in question worked for Zerik, then?" Malik Morgra assumed.

  "No," Keevan countered, kneeling down. He bowed, picking up the sword and the orb, holding them both aloft before Malik Morgra. Touching the orb made him feel nauseous. "This is one of the swords Zerik has shared with the Rhetan population, under the guise that their wielders will be rewarded should he prove victorious. There is a receiver stone molded into the hilt of each weapon. A powerful Etrendi has all their sender stones. He possessed the guard, and struck down your Persuaders with amazing skill and great elemental strength."

  "From the beginning, boy," Councilman Soughast ordered. "How did the Persuaders get this sword in the first place?"

  Keevan briefly rehearsed the events leading up to Falletal's capture and interrogation. With some effort, he managed to keep the disgust from his voice as he relayed Falletal's treatment at the hands of the Persuaders.

  "I can't believe we're wasting our time with this," Varta spoke, rolling her eyes in frustration from her seat on Malik Morgra's left side. "Are we really to believe that this boy could prompt more honesty from a prisoner than Persuader Hadrian? He is a truly terrifying man, not to mention well versed in the bloodier forms of persuasion. Keevan is little more than a scribe playing at soldier." Lanasha and Morgra both glanced at her in surprise. The Councilman Soughast smirked contently.

  "I promised him imprisonment until the Zerik situation is resolved," Keevan said, struggling to keep his temper under control. "Once he realized I could see exactly which questions he was lying about, it was just a matter of bartering. After the possessed guard tried to kill us, Falletal turned particularly cooperative."

  "You are convinced there are more swords like these, scattered through Issamere?" The artisan guildswoman asked, paying more attention to her polished fingernails than the conversation at hand.

  "Yes, I saw one of Zerik's agents delivering them to Rhetans waiting in the catacombs, only one week ago," Keevan said uneasily, folding his arms across this chest. Something didn't feel right about the whole situation. The councilmen regarded him with the distance of a prisoner already condemned. Had they not seen the obvious threat in his news?

  "Can anyone else testify to that?" Councilman Soughast asked.

  For a moment, Keevan was tempted to mention Corvan. He cast the thought aside. They'd hardly trust the word of a renegade Outlander, even if there were a way for him to testify on Keevan's behalf. "I barely managed to escape the Rhetans in the catacombs," he said, "there wasn't time to sketch their faces or copy down their names."

  "So, you are here with a single weapon, claiming it allowed an Etrendi to possess another Tri-Being," Varta summarized. Turning to Malik Morgra, she insisted, "Honored Malik, clearly this is a lie. I've never heard of a receiver stone being used for more than speech. Surely, if such a thing were possible, at least whispers of such a powerful relic would already exist."

  "Falletal can second my testimony," Keevan insisted, clenching his fists in frustration.

  "A Rhetan who openly supported Zerik, even under Persuader Hadrian's care, until you met him and magically changed his mind. Just like that? You spoke to him and he opened up. I can hardly believe a hardened criminal would let a boy like you break him. Clearly he was either in on the whole affair or is lying on your behalf. Either way, we can't accept him as a witness."

  "Falletal resorted to bartering with me when he realized what I could see through these," Keevan insisted, tapping his right eye. Half the council flinched at his motion, glancing at Malik Morgra uneasily. "As I am tempted to do with you. I'm sure your fellow councilmen here would like to know exactly what you really feel toward Malik Morgra."

  "Blackmailing this Council will get you nowhere, Outlander," The Councilman Soughast insisted, rising to his feet. "Malik Morgra, I know you have a soft place in your heart for this boy, but please listen to reason. He had a personal hand in breaking both the Watcher and the Great Crystal."

  Keevan tried to speak out in his own defense, but the Councilman Soughast pressed on. Keevan caught a cautionary look from Lanasha, and leashed his tongue with great effort. How the councilmen sat here, day after day, constantly bickering was something he knew he could never stand. Councilman Soughast continued.

  "Since then, he's colluded with the enemy on multiple occasions and now he's here with myths about an ungodly receiver stone. At the least, he's a waste of time, at worst, a traitor. Please, deal with him," Councilman Soughast sat down, fixing a level glare at Keevan, the whole situation made the Sight Seeker's skin crawl.

  "Keevan Stratagar," Malik Morgra said, his deep voice booming through the chamber. The effect was so pronounced, Keevan wondered if the Malik's voice were somehow connected to the Tri-Being's elemental command, though Keevan couldn't guess which one would enhance a Tri-Being's voice. "If you can answer one question to my satisfaction, I will take your words as truth and answer accordingly."

  "Very well," Keevan agreed, nodding in satisfaction. He shot a smug glance at Councilman Soughast. "What do you wish to know?"

  "Describe to me, in detail, your whereabouts during the last twenty-four hours," Malik Morgra ordered, tilting his head suspiciously as he stared down at Keevan. "Who were you with, what was said and what were you doing?"

  A flash swept over Keevan's mind, equal parts dread and realization. How much could he tell them? How much should he tell them? Nariem's Danica powder wasn't a topic meant for the ears of the council, at least not until Nariem could perfect the design. With their suspicions as they were, news of Touric's return would not be well received either, especially by Keevan's mother. Besides, once again, the only persona capable of vouching for Keevan's statement was a wanted fugitive.

  "I was seriously injured in a weapons experiment involving Danica," Keevan explained, pulling up his tunic to expose the still-healing wound on his belly. "It was too serious for a Suadan healer to treat, so I had to look for other sources of healing."

  "Yes," Malik Morgra echoed, "I'd heard of the Rhetan, Dara. I have no quarrel with the eastern tribes. I didn't know she was in the city."

  "She's not, which was my problem," Keevan admitted, glancing around at the other councilmen, he rubbed his thumb and forefinger together nervously. "I've studied Outlanders for most of my life, albeit through books. I only knew of one other person capable of saving my life. Corvan."

  "So you sought the aid of a wanted criminal," Councilman Soughast chided. "Clearly this boy's lack in judgment knows no bounds. The Outlander could have killed him, or held the boy hostage at his pleasure."

  "Councilman Soughast will remember that Keevan kept his peace, while the Harbor Guild recited his grievances," Lanasha cut in, her smooth voice giving Keevan some semblance of hope. "We expect you to offer the same courtesy."

  "As the High Priestess wills," Councilman Soughast conceded, glaring daggers at Keevan.

  "Thank you," Lanasha said curtly, "Continue, Keevan."

  "What was the nature of the wound?" Malik Morgra asked curiously.

  "I accidently breathed fire Danica powder," Keevan admitted, scratching the back of his head. "Then I made the mistake of taking a drink to clear my throat. A typical Tri-Being could digest the particles, without serious harm. I couldn't. Once they got into my system, they magnified the heat in my own body."

  "I can only imagine the pain involved," Malik Morgra said, pleased. "Burning from the inside, when not elementally capable of diffusing it... I can overlook a moment of poor judgment under those circumstances."

  "P
oor judgment?" Keevan asked meekly, "If I may be so bold as to ask, what do you think I should have done?"

  "The next time you find yourself in such a situation, alert the Scholar's Guild," Malik Morgra ordered, nodding toward the council's representative of the secretive guild. "They've been studying your kind their entire lives. I'm sure they could have arranged something."

  "I have a question, if the boy is done speaking," Councilman Soughast asked, stroking his chin as he glared at Keevan. Morgra and Lanasha nodded, giving him leave to speak. Councilman Soughast continued, "How did you actually get in contact with the Varadour? We've been combing the streets for him since his escape, but you found him at will. How?"

  "I..." Keevan paused a moment, thinking quickly, "When we first met, he said he'd keep an eye on me. I assumed, whatever means he was using, he'd notice me leaving the city. That's why I left through the east gate. I had a feeling he could move more freely outside the city limits. I was right. I gambled he was close, I won."

  "After a manner of speaking," Councilman Soughast said, a dangerous edge in his voice. "According to the report, you stayed with Corvan for two days. Were you camped out in a tent or a wagon the entire time? Why so long?"

  "My insides were literally on fire. Ever seen a slab of beef cooking over an open flame? That's what my intestines looked like. We had to wait for what I'd eaten to – ahem – come out the other end," Keevan admitted with a shudder. "I remember hearing someone screaming the whole time. I think it was me. Even afterward, parts of my insides were – ahem – protruding. The whole ordeal was the most painful thing I've ever experienced."

  A few of the councilmen shuddered, others covered their mouths, poorly hiding their laughter. Councilman Soughast was unaffected by the humorous situation, however. If anything, he looked more excited, rubbing his palms together greedily. "So tell us, before the Council and the Malik, where exactly were you for those two days? You have nothing else to report?"