SWNOVELS Iceblade: Chapter 7
WE HALT IN THE FOREST outside Corinium a couple of hours before sunset. Kashia the city spymaster is waiting for us and pulls heavy bundles out of a crevice in the rocks. She hands out leather coats with black silk tunics and leggings, followed by weapons; short swords, heavy knives and arrows that have no particular provenance.
I heft the weight and balance of the unfamiliar blade.
“What are these?”
Marin tests the new throwing knives, watching them thud into a tree trunk within a hairsbreadth of each other.
“Standard assassin equipment. No chainmail to make a sound while sneaking around at night. If we end up dead or captured on this mission, we need to look like mercenaries for hire instead of Eldrin kingsguard.”
I shrug into the worn clothing, wondering if the others feel as naked as I do at the thought of leaving my crysteel here with the horses under Lupine’s watchful eyes. Not for the first time, I wish Jantian would just come straight out and tell me if he is planning a career for me as an assassin. Not that I imagine I will have much choice in the matter but at least I would know what to expect.
We spend a few minutes putting arrows into trees to get a feel for the different weight and fletching before Marin sits down with Kashia and Brac to compare both sets of recent identification drawings and their accompanying information notes. Lupine scouts for enemy patrols while Nem and Deris make a fire and prepare food. We need to be fed and rested before we go in, as we have no idea what fate will throw at us or how long we may have to keep going on adrenaline alone.
I’m worried about Trengar. He seems even more disturbed and restless now the city is so close. Marin is reluctant to tie him again in case he goes totally out of control with frustration, but the need to wait until after dark is inflicting a worse effect on the oathbreaker than being bound to the nearest tree.
“Trengar. Come and help me gather herbs.”
Anything to keep him occupied. He follows me into the forest and I show him which plants I need. I can tell this hasn’t exactly been a focus of his warrior training but his newly-heightened senses make it easy for him to use sight, touch and smell to find the specimens I show him. Unfortunately it takes less than half an hour for my distraction technique to stop working and his restlessness starts pushing him into aimless forays into the forest. I guide him back to the camp in the clearing before he has to make a choice between me or one of the trees as an object of attack.
“Brac, if you don’t give Trengar some sparring practice right now, he’ll be going off to fight his way through the city gates on his own.”
Brac gives his old friend a careful appraisal. He looks worried by what he sees and scrambles to his feet to draw his blades. I shake my head and hand him a couple of the hazel wands I cut as I walked back here. I feel certain that Trengar no longer has the kind of self-control the Eldrin take for granted during practice sessions. Brac sighs and takes the slender wooden staves as I hand Trengar his own practice hazels. I leave them to it and head back into the forest.
When I return with my plant collection Trengar is sitting gloomily by the fire eating stew while Marin cleans and stitches a nasty-looking cut on the side of Brac’s head.
I sit by the fire and reach for the empty cookpot to put my herbs on to boil. As Deris passes me my own bowl of food I notice the swollen bruises across the back of his hand.
“What happened?”
Marin doesn’t look up from his task. “More or less what you would expect when the kind of power you have acquired suddenly gets into someone Trengar’s size, especially after he has been through several years of hard training at Maratic. The four of us could barely hold him off, even without steel.”
I can’t believe it has all happened so quickly. And something else is worrying me.
“Marin, what about you? And Lupine? Is… what I did affecting either of you the same way?”
He pauses his medical ministrations for a moment.
“I don’t think it affects Lupine. I’ve been watching her carefully since we found out how it affected Trengar. Animals don’t respond to places like Maratic. They connect with the power of wild places all the time, waking and sleeping. That’s why they lose so much skill and strength if they are captured and kept in cages.”
“That’s a huge relief, I can tell you. But what about you?”
Marin hands over Brac’s care to Kashia and walks over to join me by the fire.
“Yes. It has affected me. I noticed it the day after you healed those cuts, although I didn’t figure out what had caused it until we saw what had happened with Trengar. I may have been lucky. I was too busy to do much training practice at Maratic and then we were called away to that meeting with Lord Farang. Meanwhile Trengar has been stationed at Maratic the whole time, taking too much power all at once, to the point where it now controls him.”
I take Marin’s hands in my own, aware of their sinewy strength in a new way. I feel apprehensive about what else I might find. I try to focus, searching for that sense of dissonance, the kind of restless energy I can pick up so strongly in Trengar. Marin raises a curious eyebrow.
“Well? What did you learn?”
“It is there. Still faint and not in control of you yet. Can you feel it too?”
“Hell, yes. My whole body screaming at me to grab as much power as I can, every chance I get. Being at Maratic is like being led to a feast when you have been starving for days.”
“Marin, I had no idea this would happen––”
He squeezes my arm. “None of us did. Jantian set a team to go through Maratic’s old archives, to see if there is any forgotten wisdom that can make sense of it. Deal with it. He still hopes we might learn something that could help us against the Rapathians. I’ll pass on to you any information he sends me, in case you notice something significant.”
“That’s all very well––but what about you in the meantime? What if you end up like Trengar?”
He hunches muscular shoulders, his face set in determination. “Not going to happen. I won’t let it. Discipline over greed. But there is something I need to ask you. Did you feel anything like this dissonance in the Rapathians you fought with––or more especially the one you… took life-force from?” He notices my hesitation. “I’m sorry to ask you to go through all that again.”
“It’s not that. More the thought that if we were up against… well, an army of people like me. The only way to win would be to do the same. Create a Samaran full of monsters.”
“Ariel. Is it what you’ve sensed in the Rapathians?”
I can see how worried he looks, just thinking about the possibility. I close my eyes and go through what I experienced at the hunt, knowing it will haunt me for the rest of my life whether I choose to relive it or not. It is such a relief when I can leave off and report back.
“Nothing like the way it is with you and Trengar. I couldn’t sense any power in the hunters beyond what you would expect from years of hard training. The ruthless, greedy determination to grab what they wanted was there, and it had bred a kind of mindless cruelty in them. Maybe the Emperor has woven a culture that makes that way of living feel normal to everyone?”
“Let’s hope that really is all they have driving them on. Even that will be hard enough to deal with.”
“But what about the Emperor himself? Where does his power come from? He is known to be a hopeless fighter, yet he has been able to control a powerful military through years of conquests in other countries.”
Kashia walks over to join us, the bruises on her sinewy arms another legacy of sparring with Trengar.
“Most opinion in the capital has always blamed the Usurper’s rather unpleasant methods on his background as a merchant––everything for profit and ruthlessly getting rid of the competition.”
Marin shakes his head. “I think that’s too simplistic, and tainted by the prejudices of the nobility. The late queen was a merchant’s daughter. The aristocracy disapproved of the match but the king married her for love. She brought the best aspects of commercial skills to Samaran’s governance and laid the foundations for the peace we had for so many years. Trade instead of conquest, mutual profit instead of military threats, employment for everyone instead of slavery.”
I had never previously bothered to think about the way Samarians lived or the assumptions we lived by. Now I can see that it’s like the power of Maratic. Take the worst aspects of it and it becomes destructive. Keep it under control and it protects our country, but the balance between the two is far more fragile than I first thought.
Kashia is still focused on figuring out the source of the Emperor’s power. “I recently gained a little more information from my spies in the city. As we discovered too late, Farang used his position to replace the Samarian army commanders and make it easy for Purmut to take over the capital. Our source in the palace sent a couple of messages describing how the Usurper seems to have an ability to persuade and coerce that is far stronger and more aggressive than the way Deris can do it. He took over the throne of Rapathia simply by spreading lies about his predecessor.”
“And everyone believed him? Just like that?” Deris looks appalled. “I can only encourage the grains of truth and yearning I discover already in someone’s mind. Implanting lies and enforcing compliance would demand something far more powerful. And sinister.” He falls silent and from the focused look on his face I assume he must be exploring his own gift, searching for clues as to how it might become so corrupted.
My eyes stray once more to Trengar. He is now trying to dissipate the restless energy inside him by hacking at a lump of wood with his dagger. I hope the others will think of something to keep him sane, at least for the next few hours. I walk over to join Nem who has been watching my herb brew for me while I ate dinner.
“Thanks Nem.” I take the pot from the fire, wring out the boiled herbs, then replace the brew on the flames to reduce the liquid. Nem takes my hand, horrified.
“I can’t believe you just did that!” She peers at my fingers. “Your skin should be peeling off now. That water was boiling.”
I frown, examining my hands. They seem fine.
“Thanks for making me take notice. I’m still worried about how far this thing is going to change me.”
She shrugs. “We’ve all been told to keep an eye on you and try to stop you doing anything else that’s completely crazy. Tell me if you notice anything else about how you feel that might help with that––or be a threat. I think we can trust you to do that now.”
My fears over what kind of creature I might be turning into are alleviated a little by Nem’s apparent acceptance of my peculiar adaptations. She pushes burning sticks under the pot to get more heat into it.
“What is that noxious mix you’re brewing anyway? Any chance it might be a deadly poison only lethal to Rapathians?”
I feel a faint smile spreading across my face. First time I have heard anything like wit on Nem’s lips.
“Not directly. Request from my sister. Complex mix of plants designed by my mother to help women whose husbands have a bit of a violent streak. We called it torpid.”
“Great name. What does it do?”
“Gets them overwhelmed with lust so they can’t think about anything else. Like wanting to beat their wives. Then it’s all over very quickly and they sleep like the dead for a couple of hours. When they wake up they feel seriously hungover and can’t remember much. Alina thought it might help her coax more information out of her clients and then she would have a chance to search their things for anything useful without being disturbed.”
Nem shivers. “She’s braver than I am. I couldn’t cope with being trapped in a place like that, no weapons, pretending to be weak and docile… ugh.” She sees the anxiety on my face and touches my arm. “I’m sorry Ariel. I didn’t mean to make you even more worried about your sister.”
“It’s fine. You couldn’t make me more worried than I already am.” I take the pot off the fire and pour sticky liquid onto a flat stone to cool. “Can you help me roll this into tiny pills before it gets too dry to work with?”
We sit together, rolling pills in a silence that feels more companionable than it has been since we met, in spite of the chaos and damage I have inflicted on the Eldrin. It brings home to me the force of Jantian’s training to see beyond immediate issues and focus on their goal of protecting king and country.
The sun is dropping behind the tree canopy by the time the stone is empty and we have gathered the pills into a leather bag. Marin walks over and lays a hand on my shoulder.
“Ariel, I wanted to teach you messaging with Nightwing a few days ago but events interfered with that. Now I have less than an hour to do it, before it gets dark enough for us to go over the wall into the city.”
He leads me to the edge of the clearing and hands me the leather bracer. I strap it to my forearm, my fingers shaking a little with excitement as I wait for the next instruction. I noticed the owl abandon her choice sleeping spot on Sahan’s saddle a few minutes ago to set off hunting. Now she must be circling somewhere above us in the evening dusk.
Marin takes a tiny tube from his pocket and grips it in his teeth as he glances up at the sky. It is the same technique I have already seen him use to call his own message-hawk.
He hands the whistle to me. “Use this unless she is really close already. She responds to the sound and the note is far too high-pitched for human ears.”
I give it a try. I hear nothing, but in a few moments the owl glides through the trees like a grey ghost and lands on my forearm. I’m glad of the leather as I feel the pressure of her talons gripping as she settles. Marin hands me the tiny message capsule and shows me how to clip and unclip it from her leg.
“When we have finished the mission with Trengar, there should be time for you to contact your sister again. But I think for Alina’s safety this should be your last visit to her, at least for a while. I want you to teach her how to send her messages direct to Maratic with Nightwing.”
He looks at me, evidently waiting for my protest at being forbidden to visit my only sister, but I don’t react. I can see straight away that she is far less likely to get caught sending messages with an owl sitting on her window ledge rather than accepting the risk of me trampling across the rooftops of the Rose Mansion too many times.
Marin seems relieved to discover that he has one less argument to deal with than he expected. He shows me how to slip a tiny scrap of paper into the owl’s leg capsule.
“She has been trained to circle her handler for a few minutes at the hour before dawn, waiting for the signal. She won’t descend until she hears it.”
“But she will come back to her usual sleeping spot come morning?”
“Once the light makes her too tired to hunt, she will return.”
We practice a few times until I feel confident I can pass on the training to Alina quickly and quietly. I release Nightwing to go hunting again before she gets too hungry to concentrate.
Marin walks back with me to where the others are waiting. Kashia is busy concealing the ashes of the fire.
“Marin, it’s time to go. There is still a strict curfew, so the city gate is barred. My distraction team is in place to give us cover as we go over the wall.” She leads the way to the city on narrow paths through the trees.
I catch up with Marin as we walk and keep my voice low.
“Marin? What happens after we get over the wall? I was out collecting herbs and I must have missed hearing the details.”
“We employ the same kind of ruse as the original Five Warriors. We follow the rooftops to the mansion that was taken over by House Raksan, Akadian’s clan. Trengar kills as many as he can and lets them know it was all a plot by House Kandil, in revenge for the attack on their leaders by a Raksan-employed assassin during the lion hunt.”
“He’ll never get out alive! Marin, you can’t send your own people to their deaths.”
“I didn’t. It was his idea. He thought it would be more convincing than the original plan to plant an incriminating message somewhere.”
“But––”
“Ariel, don’t. You know Trengar came here with us hoping he could use his burning need for revenge to help his country win this war. Turning his personal vendetta into an official Eldrin operation is Jantian’s way of letting him die with honour after he broke his vows. Not your fault. Just accept it.”
He turns away abruptly and I suddenly understand how hard this is for him, for all of them. Deris told me they have all known Trengar for years, trained with him, fought beside him, saved each other’s lives…
I follow them to the city wall in silence, listening as Nem teaches Trengar the words and phrases of Rapathian he needs to deliver. He seems to have the same speed of learning that the Blade’s gift bestowed on me. I just hope he can stay focused, even with the kind of restless energy I know is burning through him.
We don’t follow exactly the same route over the city wall that Deris and I used the last time we entered Corinium at night. The seven of us spread out so that three people can climb abreast using the tiny crevices between the stones.
I don’t know what technique Kashia’s distraction team are using but it seems to work. We cross the wall unchallenged and run down the stone steps on the far side, into the dark shadows and narrow alleyways of the capital.