SWNOVELS Shadowblade: (A Dance of Fire and Shadow Book 1) – Chapter 20
TO AGENT FARANG, PREVIOUSLY of the now defunct Court of Samaran. Your promised reports have not arrived, detailing numbers of Eldrin killed and captured and the location of their base. You know the penalty for failure. My patience is wearing thin.
Message from General Akadian on behalf of his Eminence Emperor Ashur Purmut, First of his Dynasty, ruler of the known world.
.
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The afternoon sun is sinking to the horizon by the time we look down on a small but elegant cabin set in a wide clearing in the forest. It lies barely a days’ ride from Corinium. Lania reins in, her keen blue eyes scanning the surrounding area suspiciously.
“This is one of Farang’s six hunting lodges. The place he designated for the meeting when I finally convinced him there was no way any of us would break our vows and bring him to Maratic itself. I also mentioned that Jantian would not be stupid enough to agree to meet him anywhere but open forest.”
“Exactly what I would have done.” Marin’s tone is reassuring but he is already checking the place for threats, staring at the surrounding landscape, his mind clearly still focused on the bigger picture. “Making sure you were not followed was your main priority. I think it is obvious that Farang wants to discover where our base is. But apart from the opportunity to wipe out the Eldrin, I can’t help feeling there is something more going on here. I just can’t see it.”
So that is what has kept him preoccupied all day. Although Marin has been diligent in updating me with the group’s discussions of the previous evening, it all seems like a confusion of contradicting bits of information. Especially to someone like me with no previous interest in Samarian politics. Even with my newly-acquired sharp thinking, I’m painfully aware that I don’t have the detailed background knowledge to figure out so many complex relationships, ambitions and devious plots. If I can just focus on this one thing, maybe I can use my adept-enhanced alertness to find the elusive answer.
Once the immediate danger of this trap is over and dealt with of course. Until then I need to stay focused on bodyguard duty. Marin tells Brac and Nem to hide the horses and get some food and rest while we wait for his return. He disappears into the tree shadows with Lupine, leaving the rest of us to retreat further into the forest and make a temporary camp in a dense thicket of evergreens.
Deris sits a little apart, chewing morosely on a handful of trail rations, his brows furrowed in concentration. I walk over to sit beside him.
“Is there anything I might be able to help you with while I’m standing bodyguard on your forthcoming awkward conversation with Farang?”
He turns his head to stare hard at me as if trying to see through my skin to whatever useful ability I might have. I sense a subtle request for permission to use his gift on me. I nod acceptance and try to stay open to it, letting it in to unlock whatever self-understanding I might be missing.
Deris speaks softly, careful not to disturb or intrude too harshly.
“Ariel, what I have to do… is based on empathy. Picking up subtle signs, clues to what Farang is thinking. What he wants. What he fears.”
I focus not only on his words but also on the almost tangible sensation his presence and those words give me. Even after my conversation with Marin this morning, it still feels strange to be so open after all the separation and suspicion. It is partly relaxing, almost euphoric, but it also leaves me feeling naked, exposed to people I have only known for a few days. After a few moments I shake my head regretfully.
“I’m sorry Deris. I don’t think I have any enhancement in that direction. The Blade’s gift is sharp and alert but at the same time quite cold and pragmatic. Enough to dull whatever empathy I have left from my old life if I’m not careful. I think that is what Jantian wants me to work on, to get control of the dark side of this thing.”
He nods slowly. “That kind of explains what I’m picking up from you. Looks like I’m on my own with this one.” He gives me a wry smile. “At least it means you can focus on bodyguard duty.”
I can tell from the way he says it, he doesn’t expect either of us to make it back alive if Farang has hatched one of his devious plots to make sure we are well and truly ambushed. It gives me that now-familiar flash of fierce determination not to let the traitor succeed.
Lupine emerges from the undergrowth in a silent shimmer of grey and silver. Marin follows a few moments later.
“Lupine discovered part of the Fang’s plan. Fifty archers concealed in a hidden arc of rocks overlooking the front of the lodge. Unlikely we would have found them by sight but her nose led us straight to them.”
“Easy!” I feel a rush of relief at knowing where the enemy is waiting.
Marin doesn’t look so pleased. “If only it were that easy. The archers are all from the Samarian army. I don’t want to slaughter our own people.”
“But if they are all traitors––”
“I’m sure they are just following orders. They have probably been told they must protect Farang from traitors posing as Eldrin or some such story. I managed to get a good look at the officer in command. Vogen.”
I run through that list of names in the smudged ink of my sister’s handwriting, indelibly printed on my mind.
“He was on Alina’s list of Farang’s co-conspirators.”
“Exactly. If we take him out, it might be enough. His second in command knows me, and knows I outrank him. Which would leave me in control of Farang’s hit squad.”
“Marin, no!” Deris grabs his arm. “Jantian ordered you to stay out of sight to scout with Lupine, not go walking into a nest of fifty of our best archers when we have no idea what other strategies the Fang might have put in place.”
It doesn’t take my heightened awareness to see that Marin isn’t going to back down on this one. He fixes his gaze on Deris.
“Jantian knows I’m duty bound to adapt to changing circumstances and right now you are the priority for getting vital information out of Farang. And if we start slaughtering our own people we will be no better than the Rapathians.”
Deris reads the stubbornness as well as I do and steps back, exasperated.
“At least make a bit more effort to stay alive than you did last time!”
Marin just grins. “Nem, Deris, watch the lodge for any sign of movement. Brac, Lania, stay with the horses.” He turns to me. “How long will it take you to go into full Sylvani camouflage?”
“Quick version rather than full traditional, a few minutes.”
“Good. We don’t have much time.”
I hastily change into my green camouflage-silk tunic and take the small leather bag of soft green dye from my pack. I tie my hair back in a soft grey-green silk scarf and then carefully smear a thin layer of dye over my face and bare limbs. The darker green leaf-tattoos on my arms and legs create a shifting blend that matches the light and shade of the leaves around us.
Brac whistles softly in amazement.
“Never seen that before. You’re like a chameleon in all that.”
I give him a green-chameleon grin as I strap bow and crysteel onto my back. “If we get through all this I’ll make sure you get to see a full-traditional festival hunt.”
Marin calls Lupine over. “Now, you two. Get to know each other a bit better.” He holds my hands out to Lupine’s sensitive nose, then accompanies his instructions with hand signals to make his meaning clearer to the wolf. “When I go to join the archers, Ariel will go back to our camp. Lupine, keep scouting, searching for new danger, then report back to the others. Understand?”
This last question is clearly directed at Lupine. She gazes into his eyes for a moment, then gives a quiet whimper and lays her head on my arm.
I’m glad the offensive wolfskin cloak is currently rolled and stacked with my gear instead of on my back. I can’t resist the urge to bury my hands in the soft silver fur of her neck and shoulders, then move my fingers up to scratch gently at her ears. Seems it was the right response. She gives a little groan of pleasure and stretches her neck towards me for more. Marin nods approvingly.
“Looks like you two have made enough of a connection you’ll be able to watch each other’s backs.”
I’m entranced. We have never worked with dogs in our village, let alone a beautiful half-wild creature like this.
“If I get to join the Eldrin, will I be able to work with a wolf?”
Marin gives Lupine a thoughtful look. “Maybe. Or you might find a different animal is better with whatever role your abilities take you into. We can talk about it later. If we survive this next encounter.” He turns away and I follow him into the dappled shadows, Lupine padding silently ahead of us.
An tall outcropping of grey rock comes into view through the trees and Marin halts, speaking softly.
“The archers are spread along a hidden terrace partway up those rocks. It gives them perfect line of sight on the area in front of the lodge that Farang wants to use as a meeting place. The only chance to overlook them is from the top of that tree.”
He points to a tall evergreen growing out of a crack partway up the cliff itself. The smooth trunk is so close to the archers’ encampment it will take all my Sylvani skills to climb up it without being seen or heard.
Now I understand why Marin didn’t take the apparent precaution of bringing backup. It would only increase our chances of being noticed. He gives my arm an encouraging squeeze before vanishing into the leafy shadows at the base of the cliff. I track the route he will have to take to announce his presence if I succeed in removing General Vogen.
Silently, I move closer to the foot of the vertical section, keeping to the cover of the undergrowth. A thin crack snakes upwards to where the roots of my tree burrow into its depths. The gap is barely wide enough to squeeze the tips of my fingers into its jagged line until it widens near the top. I stare at the smooth rock for a few moments, recalling Deris’ instructions to notice and remember all the potential footholds. The surface is completely featureless apart from the crack. Looks like I’ll have to improvise.
Luckily my boots are soft and flexible for moving silently in the forest and I discover I can press my feet flat against the wall and pull myself up with my fingers, provided they are jammed so hard into the crack that it hurts.
Just as I reach the roots of my tree my foot slips. I grab the root and hang from one hand hardly daring to breathe. I can hear the low voices of the archers above me but there is no sound of alarm. I reach up with my other hand and grasp the root to cautiously pull myself up.
Peering through the tufts of grass sprouting from the widening crack above me, I can scan what lies ahead. If I follow the crack for twice my own height I can grab the first side branch of the tree. That gives me one chance to swing round to the far side of the trunk and climb past the archers’ ledge hoping no heads will turn in my direction at the critical moment.
I move silently upwards. This would be so much easier at night but Farang has fixed the meeting for three hours before sunset, giving me only half an hour to disarm this ambush.
As I grab the branch and ease my body snake-like around the tree the nearest archers on the ledge come into view. Four of them, luckily with their eyes focused on the open space in front of the lodge. I make the next three moves unbearably slowly, convinced that one of them is going to turn just a few degrees and notice me. The struggle of wanting to get this section over with as fast as possible competes with the knowledge that any sudden movement could register in their peripheral vision.
At last I have the trunk between me and the archers and can risk speeding up my ascent a little. I find the horizontal branch Marin pointed out and creep cautiously along it. As every move takes me further across above the ledge, more of our archers come into view.
Farang must have chosen the spot for his lodge with the knowledge that this ledge would give him a strategic advantage should he ever need it. With that kind of forethought I’m surprised he didn’t remove this tree. Maybe it had not grown so tall the last time he checked.
Now I can see almost everyone on the ledge. Cautiously, I slip my bow from my back and nock an arrow. I can’t see everyone’s rank insignia from this angle but there is no need. General Vogen is swaggering along the line of archers giving curt hand signals for this one to be quiet, or another to move position slightly. I work out that he will be in the best position two paces along the line.
The General’s grey and silver livery brings a memory of the soldiers who made their regular visits to our village and it suddenly becomes real that I am about to murder one of them in cold blood. It feels so different from when I was confronting invading Rapathians in the heat of battle when one slow move would be my last.
My hand starts to shake and I desperately try to focus on the fact that Vogen is a traitor, colluding in the death and enslavement of his fellow countrymen, lured by his own greed. He is nearing the spot I had marked for him and at last my focus kicks in. Everything becomes clear and sharp and the traitor’s movements seem to slow in front of my arrow-point.
The next few moments are like a perfectly choreographed dance as he finally steps into place and my arrow pierces his neck. He goes down with no more sound than a choking cough.