by Drae Box
“She joined them, Rider,” said Raneth. “Joined them so Denzel wouldn’t kill me. Then they tried anyway.”
“She’s a civilian,” stated Rider. “A dumb civilian with no clue how to best serve the Three Ks, but still a civilian. She’s not a soldier. She’s not trained to immediately pick up a blade to serve and protect.”
Raneth raised his eyebrows. That sounded too understanding for Rider.
Maybe Enos talked it through with him. Sounds more like Enos.
“Although I really don’t like her now,” Rider gave a grunt, “but you said she was your problem.”
Raneth smiled, grateful. “Thank you.” He needed to get his thoughts about Aldora straight in his head before he spoke to her again, but at least with the grebunars that was an option. “Did you happen to find my bag?”
“No. Why?” asked Rider.
“It has the Shotput of Power in it.”
Rider swore.
Enos led them through Icoque’s Streets until eventually he ushered them inside a wooden barn. Curious and worried that they weren’t alone, Raneth inspected the barn. To his left was a carriage with two horses hooked up to it. As Raneth swept his gaze around, the day’s light streamed through two large, open barn doors and warmed his back. He inspected the darker confines of the barn and noticed holsters and other saddlery hanging from the wall on the left, beyond the waiting horses and their carriage. Behind them was a set of stairs by the right wall that led up to a wooden balcony, with red doors that led to rooms beyond.
“Where are we? Whose barn is this?” he asked.
“This is the Icoque Fire Station,” explained Rider. “Enos and a few others have been using it as a base for their resistance.”
Enos looked up towards the balcony. “It’s us! Come on out! Look who we brought home!”
As Raneth watched, a door opened to reveal one face that was only slightly familiar and another that he didn’t recognise at all. The person he recognised had a black cloak of crushed velvet draped over his right side where his arm should have been, but he gripped the railing of the balcony with a strong left hand as he looked down at Raneth with energetic brown eyes. He smiled.
“Captain Bayre,” he uttered in greeting. “Good of you to join us, sir.”
Why do I recognise him? Raneth frowned up at the man and inspected the fire station’s red uniform across his muscular frame, with its shining gold buttons and gold-tasselled pauldron on his left shoulder. I don’t know any firemen, and certainly not any with only their left arm. Raneth turned his focus to the other person at the fireman’s side. She had short blonde hair and grey eyes that watched him curiously, and a Weapon of Protection sticking out behind her. The Bow of Justice. That must be the village leader for Icoque.
“Hey,” uttered Raneth in greeting.
“Captain,” replied the woman, before she strode to the stairs and led the other down them, jumping the last three steps. “It’s good to meet you. I’m Elenee Sigmund, Icoque’s village leader.” She glanced towards the one-armed male as he came down the last few steps more carefully than she had. “And I’m sure you remember Erasmus Esai, one of your retired royal officials and our newest fire chief.”
That must be why I recognise him. He’s the royal official who was given honourable discharge when he was jumped and had his arm cut off.
“Hey, Erasmus.” Raneth turned to Rider and Enos. “What’s Aldora and Alika’s status? Do you know?”
“Both are being watched over by Brethren assigned to them,” stated Enos as he folded his arms, looking towards Erasmus before glancing at his own muscular arms and flexing them, seemingly considering how he would make do with one less arm. “We can’t get them out any time soon.”
“OK. So why have you brought me here?” asked Raneth.
“Erasmus and Elenee are the ones leading the resistance here in Icoque. I was taking orders from them until I heard you walked smack-bang into a trap,” said Enos. “Now I’ll take orders from you, Cap. What do you want to do?”
Raneth ran a hand down his face, feeling the day’s bristles across his jaw. He rubbed the heel of his hand against the burn on his left arm. I guess this is better than doing it with just Rider.
Rider grabbed his hand and pulled up the damaged sleeve. He held the injured arm up, his brown eyes surveying the damage. “Damn, Raneth. I guessed it was probably bad but you don’t do things by half, do you? Even the back half of your hand’s scorched. Erasmus, do you have something here to treat this?”
“In the office.” The retired royal official turned to face the stairs, but Elenee gently rested a hand against his good shoulder.
“Let me, Erasmus,” she said, before running up the stairs.
Erasmus watched her movements and then turned to face Raneth. “Captain, we have been burning buildings known to be associated with Broken Crown members, ripping down those vile posters and taking out lone Brethren and Guardsmen. We’ve had Enos in the Broken Crown headquarters trying to find the Kingdom’s Shield, but wherever it is, it’s well hidden or somewhere where Enos can’t risk going yet.” He smiled. “The first building we burned was the Leoma Bookshop. Denzel Leoma owns it – must have been what helped fund his actions, along with some donations we found from the Mening Kingdom.”
“The bookshop would only have helped in the early days,” said Raneth, storing the other tidbit of intel away for later discussion with Cray. That was two suggestions now that Mening was involved with Broken Crown. He rubbed his burn against his side as he folded his arms, grimacing as the wound protested. “I appreciate your efforts, but taking on the Denzites isn’t going to help our mission, nor is harming the village. It just highlights that there are people they need to find and hunt here. What we need to do is be sneaky – less public royal official and more undercover royal official.”
Erasmus nodded thoughtfully as Elenee stepped out of the office above and headed back down the stairs. Man this hurts. Raneth rubbed his arm against his chest, before taking the heel of his right hand to the burn.
Rider grabbed his good arm. “Stop that,” he warned.
Raneth clenched his teeth but nodded. “Thanks. Are you prepared to let me lead you?”
“Yes,” replied Elenee as she hurried down the last few steps and headed towards Raneth, a small black box tucked under her arm. “Sit down, please, Captain Bayre. I need to tend to that before you make it worse.”
Raneth sat cross-legged on the hay-splattered concrete ground. Elenee knelt in front of him and gently took his arm and inspected it and the back of his hand.
“Alright, thanks. So let’s get our priorities in order,” said Raneth. “First is the Kingdom’s Shield. Cray can’t reclaim Giften without it.”
“OK, so the Kingdom’s Shield and then the two Weapons of Protection in Broken Crown’s headquarters: the Dagger of Protection and the Shotput of Power,” added Rider.
“The Shotput of Power?” asked Elenee as she dabbed an antibacterial solution onto Raneth’s burn. He clenched his eyes shut and hissed through his teeth.
“He had it in his bag, which we didn’t know to grab,” stated Rider.
“If I’d known, I would have taken it,” confessed Enos. “Next is Denzel Leoma, right?”
“Yeah,” agreed Raneth, looking anywhere but at his burn and Elenee’s hands. “Then Aldora and Alika–”
“What about their father?” asked Enos. “He’s been really going at it with Denzel Leoma. I don’t think he’ll survive if he keeps going the way he is.”
“We definitely rescue him,” confirmed Raneth. “After that, we’ll look for any others involved and arrest them for trial when Cray’s settled. Everyone happy with ow… with the order of priorities?”
“I don’t think Aldora should be anywhere on that list,” stated Rider.
“Shut up, Rider,” growled Raneth. “I’ll sort her out when she’s back at my side, not you.” He watched Rider inspecting him carefully. No doubt trying to figure out what I mean by that,
but I’m staying vague even if he presses. “Elenee, has the village expansion given you your own royal detectives?”
“Yes,” replied Elenee as she started to bandage Raneth’s arm. “But they haven’t been assigned yet. We have two over from Green City to set the groundwork, but they were due to go back next week. They were helping with my investigation into the Broken Crown posters, attacks on royal officials,” Elenee looked towards Erasmus, “kids bunking school in bulk without warning, and a sharp rise in attacks on Giften cats.”
“Sounds like everything might have been Broken Crown,” stated Rider.
I have to agree with that, except the kids and the cats. How are they related? For now, Raneth nodded, recognising that the question wasn’t as important as determining their next steps.
“As the village has royal detectives, we’ll follow standard royal official protocol. Any Denzites we grab will be taken to the royal detectives’ headquarters and legally questioned by the RDs. And we’ll use Apocolettio Law to keep hold of them beyond Broken Crown’s reach for as long as needed.” Raneth carefully stood up as Elenee’s hands withdrew from his cleaned and bandaged burn. “Let’s figure out our next move.” He paused as his stomach grumbled. “But do we have anything to eat first, and a spare sword?”
Chapter Fourteen
Aldora
A bell rang one note. Aldora stood at the window of her bedroom, her arms tightly folded. “Follow me,” ordered Dashiell, leaning on the wall behind her, next to the door.
She looked at him over her shoulder. “Why?”
He glanced around the small room then clasped his hands in front of him and gave Aldora a smile. “That was the dinner bell. You and your father are expected to dine with Denzel Leoma every night.”
I don’t want to be stuck in a room with Uncle Denzel. He showed that he won’t listen to me. It’s a waste of time that I could better use trying to help Raneth, Alika and to find the Dagger, if I could just shake Dashiell off long enough to look for them…
Reluctantly, she stood up. “Do I have to?”
“Yes,” stated Dashiell before turning to the door and tugging it open. “After you, Miss Leoma.”
Without a word, Aldora did as asked, and followed Dashiell to the central room. She eyed the room as the Brethren strode eagerly ahead of her. Parts of the ground and walls were scorched from the gift-fire, and the T-shaped hanging stand had been left in place. Some wooden boxes were stacked in a corner near one of the other entrances. They’re not planning to use this space to attack anyone again if they’ve started to store stuff here. She looked towards the doorway that Raneth and Alika had been taken through, which led to the south wing. I need to find out what’s in that wing. And how to get there without this Brethren.
She swept her attention to her unwanted guard as he opened a door to the west wing and gestured for her to go first. Aldora gave a grunt and stepped through, blinking as the sunlight left them in the small corridor. She glanced over her shoulder at Dashiell for instructions.
“Up the stairs. First door you see.”
Aldora climbed the stairs to the right of the corridor. On the first landing, she stepped off onto a thin blue carpet and walked to the first door, which had muddy footprints on it and a crack that ran from one footprint to the top of the door. She knocked, careful of the crack so she wouldn’t get splinters.
“Come in.”
She stepped inside onto thick red carpet. A long, dark brown table stood in the centre of the rectangular room. The wall opposite her was engulfed by a row of square windows standing side by side. At the head of the table, to Aldora’s left, was Denzel. A little further down from her uncle, and on the same side as her, was Aldora’s father. She drew close to him and sat down so that he was between her and her uncle. Dashiell remained outside in the corridor and closed the door behind her. Handy to know I can get a private moment with Uncle Denzel and Dad, I suppose. She smiled at her father and he looked back at her without a word, but he gave her a small nod.
“We have chicken fattoush for dinner,” stated Denzel, drawing Aldora’s attention away from her father.
He gestured at the table in front of them, which held a large plate of lettuce, cucumber pieces, steaming chicken slithers, parsley and red onion, slices of warm pitta bread, and a separate plate beside it holding whole warm pitta breads. Aldora took one of the pittas and used a large serving spoon to grab a helping of the chicken salad, which she shoved into her pitta. She dumped it onto the empty plate in front of her, her eyes landing upon the knife at the side of her plate.
A weapon. She looked at Denzel but her uncle’s eyes were on Isadore.
“I remembered it was your favourite, Izzy.”
I could steal it. She placed her arm beside her plate, pressing it against the knife and slowly slid her arm back as she took a bite of her dinner. The knife slid from the table and landed in her lap.
“That still doesn’t do anything to put you in my good books, Denny,” warned Isadore, helping himself to the salad.
She glanced at Denzel. Had he noticed?
No. He hasn’t. She resisted the smile that threatened to rip open her mouth. It was only a small win and meant nothing if she couldn’t save Raneth, or get Alika and the Dagger away from Denzel. She lowered her arm to her lap and slid the knife into her sleeve. That would have to do for now.
Somebody knocked on the door and let themselves in. He was a carbantic, taller than Aldora, and his build was somewhere between athletic and muscular. His long hair was black, and tied into a large plait at the top and sides of his head, ending in a combined bun at the back of his head. Like Denzel, he wasn’t dressed in a Brethren or a Guardsman’s jacket. Instead he wore a simple grey shirt with a royal purple tie clipped to it.
“Ah good. I thought I was going to be late,” he murmured.
As he strolled around the table to sit opposite Aldora and Isadore, Aldora noticed that he had green eyes that reminded her of Alika’s. He sat down in the seat directly opposite Aldora and ran a hand down his tie, making sure it was still in place. Then he held a hand out towards Aldora with a smile.
“Hello, Aldora. I’m Koyla, a friend of your uncle’s. It’s a great pleasure to meet you.”
Koyla. Aldora looked at Koyla’s hand before glancing at Denzel and her father. Both were watching her expectantly. OK, fine. I’ll play nice. She slid her hand into Koyla’s and let him wobble her arm up and down. And I might as well try and use this to get information for Raneth. He’ll want to know about Koyla.
“And what do you do for Broken Crown?” she asked, rescuing her hand.
“First, let me say I truly admire what you and Royal Official Bayre have done for Giften,” said Koyla as he rested his hands either side of his empty plate.
Aldora glanced towards her uncle. He was giving Koyla a disapproving look.
“I’m in charge of Broken Crown recruitment,” explained Koyla, clearly ignoring Denzel’s burning look. “And helping others to see the royals and the royal officials the same way as Denzel. It’s my work to see to it that those people rise up as informed Broken Crown members.”
Ah, so he’s here to brainwash me. Aldora frowned at Koyla. Not going to happen. But the way he said that was different. As if he didn’t agree with Uncle Denzel. I guess that would explain why Denzel glared at him – he knows Koyla doesn’t agree with him. Aldora double-checked her uncle’s glare; it was still present. Good to know. Maybe he won’t try and encourage me to see things Denzel’s way, then. Especially as he said he admired Raneth too. Unless he’s just saying that to get me to play ball. Aldora took a bite of her pitta to give herself a little longer to think. This is going to be interesting.
“You don’t feel the same way as my uncle about royal officials, do you, Koyla?” she dared.
This time, Koyla glanced at Denzel before he spoke, but merely smiled. “I don’t, no,” he admitted. “I don’t believe they have been indoctrinated, but I do believe they can be asked to follow orde
rs that are questionable at times. At the end of the day, royal officials are soldiers.”
“That’s what Alika and I keep telling Denzel – not that he’ll listen,” stated Isadore.
“Quite,” said Koyla, glancing at Denzel and giving an agreeing nod. “But Denzel’s plan for Giften is quite sound, which is why I’m assisting him. As an ex-tribune, I understand the role royal officials have always played in our kingdom’s security and stability, so I feel it’s my duty to assist Denzel and make sure that his plan works well, without destabilising Giften. That’s why we knew Raneth Bayre would come. As the royal official captain, it’s his duty to protect his fellow royal officials, protect the Kingdom’s People in the way he understands, and to reclaim the kingdom for the King.”
“Not to mention his relationship to the King,” stated Denzel irritably, before shoving a large mouthful of fattoush into his mouth and crunching loudly.
“Yes,” said Koyla. “In his mind, we are the antagonists to the kingdom’s Three Ks. We have stolen a kingdom from its rightful ruler. If he catches up with Giften news, he might decide we have executed royal officials and soldiers without trial, and caused kingdom upset that has resulted in riots, fires and civilian deaths that outweigh every year of King Cray’s reign. Statistically, we are not doing better than King Cray Apocolletio right now, but we are in a transition state, and change has never come without its own set of challenges. In time, Broken Crown will provide a better Giften than the Apocolettio family.”
Aldora almost jumped as the grebunar in her pocket vibrated against her leg. She swept her gaze around the three men. They hadn’t noticed. Rider was calling her.
“Don’t forget that your recruits are criminals, and you were going to kill my daughter if Raneth and Aldora didn’t show up when they did,” snapped Isadore as he leaned forwards and shoved his dinner to the side. “How can people look up to you when you’re hiring the very people that would do them harm? Or listen to a man who would murder his niece just to capture a royal official?”