Green Eyes

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Selene whispered to Jared as they trotted into Jasper’s castle.

“You’re really going to question me on tactics?” Jared scoffed.

“If you say so,” Selene accepted as she led Barack through the portcullis into Jasper’s castle.

When Jared had decided to rescue his sister (assuming it actually was his sister), Selene had been stoked. This was the kind of excitement she wanted in an adventure, not the miserable and boring stuff she’d been subjected to so far, despite Jared’s insistence that that was real adventure. Now they were going to charge into a castle and rescue the girl, just like her stories had said.

What her stories had not said is how intimidating enemy castles were. Although she had seen David’s castle from a distance growing up, her father had carefully made sure she kept away from there. Even when she was there, she had spent most of the time either unconscious or running for her life, which didn’t leave much time for taking in the scenery.

But she did remember enough to know that Jasper’s castle dwarfed David’s, a full quarter the size of Beth Isaac. The gate that they had just come through was flanked by two huge square towers 40 feet high dotted with slits for dozens of archers to fire down on invaders from above. The gateway itself was 20 feet deep and the surrounding walls were at least that thick and 25 feet high.

Jared had explained as they crossed the bridge over the Trickling Creek from Beth Isaac that most castle walls were made that thick so that apartments could be built into them, especially barracks. That way if the castle was ever attacked, the soldiers would be right there, ready to defend the walls. Also if the town the castle protected were attacked, there was plenty of room for people to find refuge.

It mostly made sense to Selene, though really all she got from Jared’s crash course in siege and counter-siege warfare was that if they were discovered, barring a miracle, they weren’t getting out.

“Just be grateful this isn’t the Bastion of Kalashon,” he had commented when she expressed her concern.

“There’s a place even tougher to crack than this?” she had asked in wonder.

“Several,” Jared confirmed. “But the Bastion is the toughest of them all. You’ll see it when we leave Endor, though hopefully from a long distance.”

That wasn’t particularly encouraging, but at this point it didn’t really matter. They were inside so there was no going back now.

“You remember your job?” he whispered to her as a couple of soldiers came up to them.

“Take Barack to the stables, find two horses, and get out,” she whispered back. “I don’t feel comfortable with stealing.”

“We’re stealing from the people who are trying to kill us,” Jared pointed out. “I’m okay with it.”

“May we assist you, captain?” requested one of the pair, noting the embroidery on Jared’s Blood Guard uniform. Once again Mallon’s clothes had come in handy.

“No, thank you,” Jared waved off. “I am not here on official business. I have some leave time and came to visit a friend of mine.”

“If you give us his name, we can fetch him for you,” the soldier suggested.

“I am capable of finding him myself,” Jared haughtily replied, pulling off the Blood Guard officer act rather well, though Selene privately felt the arrogance didn’t require much acting on his part.

“May we take your horse?” the other offered.

“Again no,” Jared dismounted. “But if you would kindly show my servant to the stables, I would be most grateful. She can take care of him from there.”

“As you wish captain,” the soldiers, newer recruits Jared guessed, bowed. “If you will follow us?”

Selene cast a longing look at Jared who was already fading away towards one of the towers. Without him, she felt very alone and very scared. Having these two soldiers hovering around her wasn’t helping.

She nodded, dutifully keeping her mouth shut and eyes down, as befit a servant. Of course revealing her green eyes would’ve been suicide, which was the reason Jared had her play the part of a servant. That also got her into the stables, which is where he needed her.

Selene followed her guides across the huge stone-paved courtyard towards the stables on the far side of the castle. She couldn’t help but look up in awe at the Diamond Tower, the eight-story central keep where dwelt Jasper and his family. Jared had told her it had gotten its name from the diamond shape the building outlined. It was made of a black volcanic rock and with minarets sticking up from each of the four corners.

“That is a fine horse you have there,” commented one of the soldiers as he opened the stable doors.

Mutely she nodded and began looking for a stall to place Barack in.

“You know that horse isn’t the only fine thing your master has,” he added in a low, lustful tone.

“You must be good at taking care of things for your master to trust with such a beautiful animal,” his friend put in. “We’d greatly appreciate it if you took care of us too.”

Selene may have been naïve, but she wasn’t stupid. She knew exactly what they were implying, but mutely ignored it as she stabled Barack. Now was not the time to freak out.

“Cat got your tongue?” joked one of them, she couldn’t tell which. “That’s okay; we don’t want your mouth for talking anyway.”

Anger ripped through Selene like a tidal wave when she suddenly felt a hand pulling on her dress’s collar. It was happening again and this time Jared was not coming to her rescue.

But she didn’t need Jared, not this time. Instead of trying to get a grip on her rage, she fanned it, thinking of Brutus and Arioch and what they had done to her. Channeling all that rage into her fists, she felt them start heating up. A little more and they would burst into flames.

Whirling around, she locked eyes with both men, glaring daggers at them. After watching Jared’s constant scowl, she found it was rather easy to imitate. Both men stumbled back in surprise at her sudden transformation.

“If you dare to touch me again,” she snarled, “I swear it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”

“Her eyes!” yelped one. “Look at her eyes!”

“It’s the Navi!” cried the other. “Kill it before it kills us.” Stiffly they drew their swords and leveled them at Selene.

Had this happened two weeks previous, she would have been scared out of her mind. But a lot had happened in that time. She had endured bitter cold, relentless training sessions with Jared, imprisonment, and a face-off with the most powerful sorcerer in the world. These two didn’t intimidate her at all.

Especially not with all the power she could feel coursing through her body. Even after she had learned what she was, Selene rarely if ever felt different. But now she was getting an idea of just how powerful she was. It was as if she had a hurricane inside of her; a torrent of raw, pure, almost primal power tearing through her so strongly she doubted she could control. These two were nothing compared to her.

No, she wasn’t scared; she was just plain mad.

Letting to the last vestiges of control she had over her rage go, Selene felt her hands explode into flame. Behind her Barack whinnied sharply in alarm and in front of her, her opponents took another step back. Then, whether out of duty, fear, or plain stupidity, they lunged at her.

They didn’t make it half a step before a pair of molten fire balls struck each. Selene’s blast was so powerful that both were completely vaporized instantly. But the fire balls didn’t stop there; they blew through the soldiers and crashed into the hay filled stall across from her.

Instantly the stall burst into a raging inferno. Selene’s eyes widened as she realized that she might have over done it a tad.

“Uh-oh,” she said to herself as the rest of the stable started catching on fire. This was definitely not what Jared had in mind about keeping a low profile.

She felt a wave of fatigue hit her as the power she had used drained her energy. Shaking her head, Selene steeled herself. Now was not the time to pass out. She needed to think.

Around her, horses were screaming in terror as flames were licking the ceiling and spreading down the stables. Her first priority was getting herself and Barack out, but she couldn’t leave the rest of these animals to suffer. Then it struck her: she was near indestructible. The fire that killed her mother hadn’t hurt and neither had the Viceroy’s.

Leading Barack out the back door and taking him a few paces away from the stables, she left him and ran back in, hoping the horse had the sense to stay put. Pulling her cloak over her face, Selene tried not to breathe in the smoke as she ran from stall to stall, unlatching the doors. The metal locks were already being superheated and she felt them sear her hand. Apparently indestructibility didn’t mean impervious to pain. Unfortunately several horses were already dead and others would join them soon. But most were well enough to run out the door, which they did with gusto, nearly trampling her.

Unlocking the last door, Selene followed the herd into the courtyard, coughing and sputtering. Dozens of people, soldiers and civilians, were sprinting towards the stables from all over the castle. Panic began to set in Selene again as she realized that she might have to answer some very uncomfortable questions.

But no one noticed her. The people were focused either on rounding up the terrified horses or on trying to save the burning building. Taking a calming breath, Selene grabbed the halter of the two nearest horses, a black one and a chestnut, and quietly slipped through the chaos back to where she had left Barack.

Thankfully the horse was standing right where she had left him, dutifully albeit impatiently waiting. The other horses seemed glad to see the old war horse and calmed right down. Taking all three by the halter, Selene edged along the wall towards the gate.

Again, no one noticed her. Selene realized with no little satisfaction that her adlibbing might have actually saved her. With nothing to distract them, the soldiers surely would have stopped her and questioned what a young woman was doing with three horses. But with the stable on fire, she wasn’t a priority.

“Jared is going to be so proud,” she told herself proudly as she slipped quietly out of the gate and to safety.

*******

Unlike Selene, Jared was not intimidated by the size of Jasper’s castle. He’d grown up in the Palace of Kings that made this place look like a dollhouse. But still it was large and he didn’t have all day to search every room. He needed to find someone who knew where this slave was soon. It was risky he knew, but the best place to look was the commander of the Blood Guard.

Turning right at the Diamond Tower, he headed for the tall, round tower on the corner of the castle wall facing the bridge over the Trickling Creek. While it had been a long time since the mercenary had been here, he saw no reason why the headquarters of the army would have changed. Most of the soldiers were housed in the wall, so having the offices in Absalom’s Tower just made since.

The soldiers standing guard at the entrance to the tower didn’t even flinch as Jared walked past. A captain of the Blood Guard it seemed was not to be questioned. Jared mounted the stairs up to the peak of the tower where the commander of the garrison was stationed.

“I’m sorry sir,” the two Blood Guard standing watch stopped him as he came up to the door, “but the commander is by appointment only.”

“I have no quarrel with you gentleman,” Jared warned in a low, cold voice, “but if you do not move I will kill you where you stand.”

The soldiers exchanged a confused look. “Sir, I must ask you to lea—”

He never finished his sentence. With blinding speed, Jared swept his sword out, simultaneously slashing open the man’s throat. Before his stunned companion could react, Jared whipped his blade around and stabbed through the soldier’s face.

“I warned you,” he coldly commented to the two corpses at his feet, flicking the blood off his blade. Then with a powerful kick, he bashed the door in.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” bellowed the commander from his desk. He was an older man, mid-50s with a graying mustache and balding head.

“I need information from you,” Jared told him striding forward, blade out.

“Who the hell do you think you are to demand anything from me? Do you know who I am?” retorted the commander standing up and drawing his own blade.

“Colonel Aaron, Form III user and commander of the 4^th Blood Guard Legion,” Jared answered. “You’ve done very well for yourself since Manasseh usurped the throne. But that’s not the real question here, is it?” Jared stopped a few feet in front of the colonel. “The real question is do you know who I am?”

“No,” the colonel’s voice began losing its edge. “Should I?”

“Take a closer look,” Jared growled, removing his hood.

The colonel squinted as Jared’s features came into the light. Then his face went ashen. “That’s impossible!” he shrieked in terror. “You’re dead!”

“Maybe I am dead,” Jared icily retorted, staring daggers into the terror-stricken Blood Guard. “Maybe I’m a ghost come back to haunt you and all who killed my family.”

“Impossible,” screamed Aaron and he charged Jared.

Jared blocked the colonel’s first thrust down to the floor. But Aaron had anticipated this and whipped his blade around to strike off Jared’s exposed head. The mercenary calmly ducked the blow, brought his blade up, driving the pommel into the colonel’s chin. The commander’s head snapped back as he was lifted off his feet and crashed onto the wooden floor.

“Cute,” Jared responded coolly as he kicked Aaron’s sword away. “But you’re a Form III man without a shield. Not that it would have mattered.”

“What do you want?” sputtered the defeated Blood Guard.

“Jasper has a slave here,” Jared pressed the tip of his sword into the man’s chest. “A special slave that he keeps all to himself. She has sandy-brown hair and blue eyes. Where is she being kept?”

“If I tell you what I know, will you let me go?” begged Aaron.

“I’ll consider it,” Jared offered.

“I don’t know if this is the slave you’re talking about,” Aaron answered. “But Jasper does have a special female slave that he keeps locked in the highest room of the River Tower. All I know is that I have to have a cohort always standing guard over her.”

“Good enough,” Jared began to remove his blade. “But unfortunately for you, I can’t have someone raise the alarm,” he added just before plunging the weapon into Aaron’s heart.

“But you…said if I helped…” the colonel gasped as life began to leave him.

“I said I’d consider it,” Jared emotionlessly replied. “I did and you still need to die. Consider it justice, traitor.” Pulling his blade out, Jared casually exited the office and walked down the stairs.

Exiting the tower, he stepped into a beehive.

The guards were no longer standing at their posts as hundreds of people were shouting and screaming and running towards the other side of the castle. Following the flow of the mob with his eyes, Jared saw a huge plume of smoke billowing up from where the stables stood. It took him a half second to figure out what happened.

Part of him felt that he should go make sure Selene got out okay, but he knew at this point there was nothing he could do. She had learned and grown a lot over the last couple of weeks and he knew that she could take care of herself, for the most part. He would have to trust her. Besides, she had inadvertently (he assumed) given him the perfect distraction to find Mara and get out.

Quietly moving along the wall, he worked his way unnoticed to the far corner of the castle where stood the River Tower, looming 90 feet overhead.

“Locked in the highest room of the highest tower,” he mused wryly as he glanced up at the rectangular structure. “There’s some irony in this somewhere.”

The four soldiers, three men and a woman, standing guard didn’t even get a chance to defend themselves. Jared had a small window of time and he didn’t have the luxury of sneaking around anymore. He struck off the head of a soldier with a spear. Before his astonished companions could react, he pinned the woman and Form II user together like a shish-ki-bob with the spear

The final man brought his shield to bear against the mercenary, his sword blade poking out from behind. Jared let him make the first move. Predictably he tried to bash Jared with his shield. Stepping back, Jared grabbed the rim and jerked it forward, opening his opponent up. He slashed his sword at the man’s forehead, which the soldier blocked. But Jared immediately followed that up with a powerful kick to throat, crushing his larynx. The soldier dropped to his knees, gurgling as he slowly choked to death. Mercifully Jared struck of his head and stepped inside.

With a low growl, Jared realized this could take a while. Colonel Aaron had said he had an entire cohort standing guard. That meant 100 soldiers stood between him and his objective. Well, 96 now. Either way, good as Jared was, getting through that many took time, something he did not have the luxury of.

Bounding up the stairs, he struck down three women that met on the way before they knew he was there. A few seconds later, another group of soldiers materialized in front of him.

Jared had been expecting them but not them him, giving him the advantage. The first two he took care of easily, but the last one was a bit more skilled. Taking a defensive posture, he managed to block Jared’s first three attacks with his shield.

Unfortunately for him, he was using a spear, which in the tight confines of the stairwell put him at a severe disadvantage. He tried to pin the mercenary to the wall, but Jared stepped out of the way just in time and the spearhead momentarily caught in the grouting and Jared shattered the shaft with a swing of his sword.

The Blood Guard instantly knew he was dead and didn’t even try to defend himself. “Help!” he shouted. “Someone’s breaking into the tower! ALA—”

Jared struck him down, but the damage was done. Already he could hear shouts and yells from above as soldiers began to thunder down the staircase towards him. With a snarl, Jared tapped his soaked blade to his forehead and charged up into the fray.

It was a valiant effort on their part, he had to admit to himself as he cut through them like a farmer mowing a field. These soldiers were far more skilled than the lackeys in Lakeside. Some even managed to survive a full ten seconds against him.

But ultimately it was futile. The narrow staircase favored Jared as his enemy could attack no more than one or two at a time. And in those fights, it wasn’t even close; he was just too good.

Yet they had succeeded in slowing him down. It took him fifteen full minutes to reach the top and in the back of his mind, Jared wondered if they could get out now. Immediately he shook away those thoughts; he was committed so there was no point in thinking negative.

With a powerful kick, Jared blasted down the oaken door at the top of the stairwell. The top floor of the square tower was divided into four rooms with a cross-shaped hallway dividing them up. Standing in the center of the cross, twenty soldiers bunched together to greet him.

“If you want to get the slave, you must go through us,” shouted the woman in charge, standing in front of the group, wielding dual blades.

Jared sighed. He was tired, short on time, and in an increasingly annoyed mood. “There is no reason for you to die,” he addressed them. “Just let me get the girl and go and I’ll let you live.”

“We outnumber you 20-1,” the woman retorted, dropping into a Form IV stance. “We can certainly handle you.”

“I just cut down 80 of your comrades,” Jared replied. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“We will follow our orders,” answered the woman haughtily.

“As you wish,” Jared let out a heavy sigh.

Jared tapped his sword to his forehead as the woman and two of her companions charged him. He deflected away the first slash at his neck and blocked the predictable follow-up blow. Rotating to his left, he spun out of the way of a double overhand strike from solider two.

Again this was time consuming, having to battle six blades simultaneously. Taking the offensive, Jared brought his blade down on woman three in an overhand attack. As planned, she caught his blow between her two swords, locking them. Jared threw himself into a laid-out backflip, driving his right boot up into her chin. The woman’s head snapped back, breaking her neck like a dry twig.

Dropping into a three-point stance, the mercenary launched himself forward at the woman in command. He deflected her defensive stab and leaned out of the way of her follow-up slice. Grabbing her arm, he jerked her forward and struck off the soldier’s head from behind.

That left one opponent. She tried a double stab, hoping to slip past the mercenary’s impeccable defense, but to no avail. Jared merely shifted left and with impossible speed, ran his blade across her throat.

“NEXT!” he challenged the remaining soldiers.

Most of them were Form V users and so wisely stayed put behind their shields. Snarling, Jared charged at them. Two of them threw their spears at him. Jared dodged one that went whistling past and plucked the other out of the air. Switching his sword to his left hand, he kept running.

At the last moment, he drove the point of the weapon into the grouting and pole vaulted himself over the gathered soldiers. Jared had to lay himself flat to keep from hitting the ceiling as he sailed overhead and even still his nose scrapped the top of the tower. Twisting around, he landed in a three-point stance behind the astonished men.

Jared wasted no time and launched himself at the soldiers. In the closed confines of the hall, the soldiers couldn’t turn their bulky shields and spears around fast enough and Jared cut down eleven of them before they had a chance to defend themselves. By the time they did get turned around, they were too thinned out to fight as a unit.

One tried to bash Jared with his shield, but the mercenary merely stepped back. Then Jared catapulted himself into the shield, driving the man back into a couple of his comrades. With all three off-balance, Jared easily evaded their spear thrusts and decapitated one and slashed the other two throats.

Attempting to take advantage of Jared’s preoccupation, one of the soldiers tried to spear in him the back. But the mercenary felt the strike coming and stepped out of the way. Spinning around, Jared struck off the man’s arm below the elbow moments before striking off his head.

That left three. To their credit, the soldiers didn’t run or panic despite seeing their comrades get slaughtered. Instead they tried to bunch together, overlapping their shields, and advanced on the Jared.

Picking up a spear, Jared stood his ground. As soon as they got in range, all three jabbed at him simultaneously. Unfortunately it was far too soon.

Jared jumped back out of range, hurling his spear as he did so. The weapon struck home in the center soldier’s forehead. Taking advantage of the gap, the mercenary reversed momentum and attacked the leftmost soldier with a flying kick to the center of his shield, driving him to the ground.

With that one momentarily incapacitated, Jared turned his attention to the remaining enemy. Batting his spear out of the way, Jared brought his sword down at the man’s head. The soldier managed to get his shield up in time, absorbing the jarring blow. But in doing so, he had left his legs exposed and Jared swept his legs out from underneath him with a sweeping kick. The soldier toppled forward and the mercenary stabbed the helpless man in the back.

By now the final combatant had regained his footing. Jared assumed his Form VII stance and patiently waited for his opponent to make the first move.

Instead of stabbing at Jared with his spear, the man tried to cut the mercenary’s throat with a slash. Jared brought his sword up quickly and easily sheared off the spearhead, reducing his foe’s weapon to a useless stick. He then feinted left, drawing the soldier’s shield with him, before striking right, running the man through the heart.

With a heavy sigh, Jared stepped through the bodies to the far door. Reaching out for the knob, his hand paused. A thousand “what-ifs” ran through his brain. He’d bet everything on his sister being behind that door. What if she wasn’t? What if he had done all of this for nothing? Taking a deep breath, Jared shook off his doubts and pushed open the door.

Inside was a simple room. There was a straw mattress bed, a small wooden table with a lamp and chair, a rug, and a fireplace with a fire roaring: a servant’s room. And standing at the far end of the room, staring out the window was a woman of average height with sandy brown hair cut just below her shoulders. Hearing him enter, she turned around and locked on to him with sapphire blue eyes.

Jared relaxed as a wave of relief and joy swept over him: it was her. Then he saw her eyes narrow into arctic slits.

“Uh-oh,” Jared’s own eyes widened.

The woman grabbed the fire poker and launched herself at him. Reflexively Jared brought up his blade to block the woman’s lightning fast strike. Their weapons touched for a millisecond before she whipped it around to crack him across the head. But the mercenary read her move and got his blade up just in time.

“Mara stop,” he grunted as he tried to push back. “It’s me, Jared.”

“I don’t know any Jared,” she returned, relenting and flicking her wrists around the blast the other side of his head.

“And I don’t know any Mara,” Jared answered as he ducked underneath her swing. “But these aren’t our real names, are they?”

“What are you talking about?” she demanded, feinting a stab at his gut before jerking the poker up to his chin.

“Just stop!” Jared caught the poker in the cross-guard of his sword, driving both to the ground. He disengaged and jumped back, ripping off his hood. “It’s me!”

Time seemed to stop as the two siblings looked each other in the eye for the first time in two decades. Mara’s fire poker clattered the ground, shock and disbelief etched into her face.

“They said you were dead,” she whispered, stepping forward as if in a trance.

“They were wrong,” Jared answered with the first real smile he’d had in years.

They were standing inches apart now as Mara reached up and gently touched the side of Jared’s stubbly face with her hand. “You’re real,” she said, voice still a whisper. “You’re really alive.”

Jared nodded. “And so are you,” he replied quietly. “Mara, I’m so sorry. I should—”

Mara cut him off, wrapping her arms around him in the fierce embrace that only a sister can give. Even though his ribs felt like they were cracking, Jared returned the embrace with a hug that only a brother can give.

“I forgive you,” she cried into his chest. “I forgive you. We’re alive and together again and that’s all that matters.

“But,” she looked up at him with a playful glare. “I have been waiting 20 years to say I damn well did tell you.”

“I deserved that,” Jared agreed. “But how are you alive? I mean, I saw you dead.”

“Faked the suicide,” Mara let go of him. “I knew alone, I couldn’t stop Manasseh. I figured my best bet would be to get away from him would to have everyone believe I was dead. Then I would raise a rebellion against him. The plan worked, except that no one seemed opposed to him ruling.”

“Why didn’t you come looking for me?” Jared questioned. “I would’ve helped you.”

“I was told you were dead,” she answered. “Why didn’t you come looking for me?”

“Because I buried you,” Jared retorted. “What are you doing here?”

“Jasper’s always hated us for what we tried to do to him,” Mara explained. “A couple of months after the coup, I was coming through here and he found me. I got drugged and captured and kind of just gave up on everything. What about you?”

“Spent most of the last twenty years as a mercenary,” Jared informed her. “As to what I’m doing here, it’s getting you out of here.”

“I don’t need rescuing,” Mara cocked an eyebrow.

“I didn’t say rescue,” Jared replied. “I said getting out. I have a friend waiting with some horses. Let’s go.”

Mara looked around her dismal quarters. “Yeah, I’ve had enough of this place,” she agreed. “Let’s go.”

The twins walked out into the hall which was still a mess of bodies. “Looks like you’ve had fun,” she remarked. “Too bad you didn’t leave any for me.”

“You might want to pick up some weapons,” Jared suggested. “Unless your new weapon of choice is a fire poker.”

“Hey I can still kick your butt with it,” she smirked back. Coming up to the former commander’s body, she picked up the woman’s twin swords. “Hmm,” she scrutinized them. “These’ll do.”

Taking a moment to strap the weapons into an “x” on her back, she followed her brother down the stairs and out into the courtyard.

Life had calmed down somewhat but the stables were still burning and horses were running everywhere. Mara gave Jared a questioning look.

“My friend has a thing with fire,” he answered cryptically.

“So Max’s kid survived after all?” she puzzled together. “Manasseh’s going to be very upset.”

“I imagine that he is,” Jared nodded. “Now let’s get out of here.”

“You go on ahead,” Mara told him, eyeing the Diamond Tower. “Secure the gate. I’ve got one last thing to take care of.”

Jared followed her gaze and cocked his head but said nothing. “Alright, as you wish,” he replied. “But please don’t dawdle; we’re on a schedule here.”

“I’ll be quick, I promise,” she winked at him.