Masters of Deception

by J C Kang

  “He’s inside,” said one.

  “Still no sign of the female,” another yelled.

  Her pulse picked up a beat. Melas’ hand squeezed around hers.

  They made it back to the front gate without a problem, where a wagon with a rectangular wooden back waited. Several Bovyans loaded crates through the wagon’s back door.

  Dressed in a formal black surcoat, a smaller one with a scar on his forehead pointed. “That one goes in back. We’ll need quick access to it when it’s time to take the pyramid.”

  Brehane gasped. Heads turned toward them, and hands reached for swords.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Sameer looked among the dozens of screaming young women, who huddled in groups of three and four around rectangular tables. None much older than fifteen or sixteen, they all stared at him in fear.

  In fear? They were captives of rapists, while he was here to help them. And though there was a single Ayuri girl here, it wasn’t Sohini.

  An older woman with blonde hair rose from a table near the back and put out her arms to shield a woman behind her.

  At the adjacent table, a Bovyan stood and pointed at him. “You! You are trespassing.”

  Sameer squared his shoulders. Maybe these women had come to see their captors as saviors. “First release these ladies.”

  The older woman curtsied. “Sir Paladin, I am Doctor Myra. I tend to these girls’ health needs. I assure you, they are all here of their own free will.”

  Several of the girls nodded.

  How could it be? Sameer turned to the Ayuri and spoke to her in their native tongue. “Is it true? Did you choose to come here?”

  The girl gave a tentative bob of her head. “Yes, Sir Paladin. We were all prostitutes, trapped in a life of debt and servitude to the Mafia. The Teleri offered us a means of escaping that life. Once we have a child, they will pay us enough to start a new life, or even hire us to sew their uniforms and cook their food.” She reached over to the table and held up a piece of paper.

  Sameer stalked over and read it, the Arkothi words coming slowly. It was basically a contract for the girl’s womb. Heat rose to his head. “Come with me, I will help you escape this life.”

  She shook her head. “And then what? I have no home, no money. I’ll just end up in another brothel.”

  His heart sunk. How unfair was this world, where a girl saw an injustice as fair. And there was nothing he could do about it. He didn’t even know what he was going to do with himself.

  The front door pushed open. Several more Bovyans crowded in, blades bared. The girls, who’d relaxed, now huddled together again.

  A middle-aged man in De Lucca’s purple livery pushed through the soldiers and pointed at Sameer. “Surrender.”

  Maybe he could fight through, maybe he couldn’t, but armed conflict would risk these young women. Sameer turned to the doctor. “Doctor Myra, I am looking for another Ayuri woman. Sohini.”

  The doctor shook her head. “Laja is the only Ayuri here. I swear it.”

  Shoulders slumping, Sameer knelt and set the sword on the floor. He laced his fingers above his head.

  Several of the Bovyans surged forward. They pulled his hands down and manacled them behind his back. Hauling him to his feet, they dragged him toward the door.

  He gave no resistance as they led him across the yard, toward the front gate. “Where are you taking me?” he asked.

  His captors said nothing, instead gesturing to a wagon outside the walls.

  Chapter 25:

  Unexpected Allies

  The building’s concrete walls were thick enough to muffle the commotion outside in the yard, even with Jie’s keen elf ears. She looked down the second-floor hallway, which was lit only by the windows at the top of the stair’s landing and all the way at the other end.

  Rafters ran across the hallway ceiling, exposing wood planks. Dozens of doors lined either side. With almost all of them open, Jie darted from doorway to doorway, catching glimpses of young women in various stages of pregnancy inside the rooms, sewing and patching Bovyan uniforms. She counted forty-three girls by the time she came to a closed door. The sign, hanging at convenient height for a human, read Doctor in Arkothi script.

  No doubt there’d be insights regarding the Teleri operation here, and possibly information regarding the Nightblades. At the very least, given its position in the building, it had a window which would allow for an escape.

  Unsurprisingly, the door was locked. Like all the others she’d come across in this city, the lock’s simplicity would make it easy enough for a beginner Black Lotus trainee to handle. Jie withdrew her picks. With a few deft twists, the lock yielded. She pushed the door open and slipped inside to the small room, then locked the door behind her.

  She crept over the soft carpet, past the cot, and looked at the desk in front of the window. Sunlight streamed in, spotlighting a folded letter resting above another letter, next to an inkwell and quill.

  She studied the window. Made of glass like the others, it had two offset wood frames with grooves and ropes. Such a foreign concept! From the look of it, it likely opened vertically. She gave it a slight test, and it rose several inches with ease. A breeze whispered in through the crack, threatening to blow the papers off the desk.

  Jie closed the window and scanned the contents of the first letter. The bold, blocky script likely belong to an equally confident individual.

  My Beloved Myra,

  I trust that all proceeds as planned, and your charges are in good health. If this model works, perhaps we can copy it in lands we annex in the future. The First Consul will soon visit Tokahia to meet with the Madurans, and it will be up to you to convince him of its validity.

  Here, we are making progress with roads and logging. Unfortunately, our barbaric breeding practices continue, and the resentment grows among the natives. I await your arrival.

  Altos

  Jie chewed on her lower lip. There was just too much to digest. A Bovyan addressing a woman as beloved, when they typically loved only their motherland. The First Consul visiting this city. And wherever the writer was, the empire was building roads and logging. She turned to the doctor’s letter, written in a neat cursive.

  My Dear General:

  Your strategy of contracting prostitutes was brilliant. They have no objections to the process, and so far, thirty-two are pregnant and the nursery interior nears completion. As expected, your men have been disciplined, and I have not had to report any of them. I regret that my efforts to find someone for our purposes have failed. I’ve also been told that the First Consul will not be coming.

  I look forward to when I can join you.

  Myra

  Jie’s brow furrowed. Not only did a Bovyan general love a woman, but apparently, the feelings were reciprocated. Or maybe it was like the Court Concubine Syndrome of her homeland’s previous dynasty, where some courtesans in the large harems supposedly fell in love with the emperor. Still, the letter made everything clear: the Bovyans were breeding an army in Tokahia.

  Yet, there was no mention of Nightblades.

  Footsteps stopped right outside the door. A key thrust into the lock.

  Jie lifted the window.

  It screeched and stuck, only a hand-width wide. It wouldn’t raise or shut.

  The lock clicked.

  Stifling a curse, Jie scanned the room. Under the bed was too obvious, and unlike De Lucca’s office, there were no fireplaces.

  The door started to open.

  Jie dashed towards the far corner on her tiptoes, then pop-vaulted between the corners to the ceiling. She wiggled between the rafters and froze just as the doctor, Myra, stepped in.

  The doctor’s eyes swept over the room before her head fixed on the open window. “Phobos, you bastard. I know you’re in here. That’s why I sabotaged the window.”

  Phobos, the Nightblade from De Lucca’s office! He had been in the compound right before her insertion, but had been unaccounted for since.

 
Apparently, he stalked the doctor, and she clearly wasn’t fond of him, from the way she put her hands on her hips. “I don’t care if you work for another department, I’m going to report your ass for harassing me.” She knelt down and looked under the bed. Brows creasing, she stood, her gaze roving the room, but predictably not looking up.

  This was too easy. All Jie had to do was wait for the doctor to leave.

  The doctor looked up, and their eyes met. She gasped.

  Jie pushed herself out of the crevice and drew De Lucca’s knife as she dropped to the floor. She pressed the flat of the blade to the doctor’s neck, just as the latter’s mouth opened.

  “Who are you?” the doctor asked in a whisper.

  Jie listened. No more footsteps echoed in the halls. “One of Phobos’ spies,” she whispered.

  The woman’s brows clashed. “Since when do the Nightblades train women? Half-elf women, at that.”

  Foolish on the Nightblades’ part, to not use females, but not surprising given the Bovyans’ all-male culture. Jie snorted. “You seem to know enough about them. Tell me what you know.”

  Eyes narrow, the doctor shrugged. “They are Consul Haros’ own spies: he recruited Bovyans too small to become shock troopers, and had them trained in acrobatics and spying.”

  By the traitor Jie was tracking, if the doctor was telling the truth. Jie lowered the blade, but kept it at the ready. “Where?”

  “Somewhere in the Teleri heartland. I don’t know. I’m just a doctor.”

  “A Teleri doctor. A woman doctor, complicit in gang rape.” Jie pulled the doctor’s sleeve up, revealing the nine-pointed sun tattoo.

  The doctor pulled the sleeve down. “Do you know what this mark means?”

  “It means you work for them.”

  “In a twisted way, yes.” The woman’s lips pursed. “Every girl in the Teleri Empire’s lands gets one at age eight. It’s blue at first, but once she begins her monthly bleeding, it will turn red. That’s when their census takers know it is our time to go to the mating compounds.”

  Jie shuddered.

  Searching her eyes, Doctor Myra sighed. “We’ve heard of people trying to alter the tattoo, but the dye invariably turns red. Deep in the Teleri heartland, where the Bovyans have ruled for two hundred years, it is so ingrained in the culture that the girls view the Bovyans as dashing, heroic figures. They believe it is their patriotic duty to have a healthy boy.”

  It didn’t seem possible to be so brainwashed. Jie shook her head.

  The woman traced the circle in the middle of the star. “Once we give birth, the tattoo will turn brown of its own accord, and will temporarily change back to blue when chasteberry juice touches it. It’s proof that we’ve done our duty, and that we can return to our lives. To get married to non-Bovyans, and have daughters, to repeat the process all over again.”

  Though Jie lowered the knife, she jabbed a finger at the woman. “How can you participate in such savagery?”

  The doctor’s gaze shifted to the ground. “My city, Mirkos, was conquered by the Teleri almost fifty years ago. It was especially hard on the first generation. My grandmother and mother refuse to talk about it.”

  Jie nodded. She’d used her body to gain information on more than one occasion, and it still felt dirty.

  The woman held up the tattoo again. “Though I never knew them, I have both a Bovyan brother and son somewhere. Maybe both are alive after all these years of constant war. I have to hope the Bovyans are not all evil. I’d like nothing more than to see the Teleri Empire change or fall. But until then, I will do my best to take care of the soldiers and women under my care.”

  “Is that why you are telling me about the Nightblades?”

  “Yes. They’re a dangerous asset. The First Consul’s private army, which he must’ve developed in secret for years before we ever heard of them.”

  “Why in secret?” Jie asked.

  “Subterfuge isn’t the Bovyan way. They’re a blunt force instrument. The Nightblades are a scalpel.”

  Just like the Black Lotus back home. If the doctor was telling the truth, it would explain how the Teleri Empire had expanded so much in the last year. Jie spun her finger in a wide circle. “What is going on out there?”

  Understanding bloomed on the doctor’s face. “You are with the Paladin.”

  Jie kept her expression impassive. Apparently, the doctor didn’t know about Brehane. “What about him?”

  “He surrendered, and the Bovyans are taking him to Signore De Lucca’s office.”

  Foolish Paladin. All he had to do was create a diversion. Brehane had to have more sense, but of course she wouldn’t be able to control him if he thought he could save Sohini. Now, Jie had to try to rescue him. “Where is Phobos?”

  The doctor shook her head. “I wish I knew. He usually spends time at his antique shop, but when he’s here…well, he could be anywhere, doing the First Consul’s dirty work.”

  Jie gestured to the bed with her knife. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to gag you and tie you up.”

  “And then what? You’ll try to sneak through a fortress on high alert?”

  Jie snorted. “I’ve made it out of tougher spots.”

  The woman held her hands out. “I’ll make it easy. Take me hostage, and we’ll walk out the front gate.”

  If someone would’ve told Jie that the day’s activities would include burning a gangster den down before noon, breaking into a Teleri breeding compound around mid-afternoon, and then finding help inside… She suppressed a gawp. “Get your bedsheet and hold it up.”

  The doctor did as told.

  De Lucca’s knife passed through the cloth as if it were water, making no sound. Jie studied the amazing blade for a moment before sheathing it. She twisted the length of cloth and bound the doctor’s hands in front of her. “This will make it more convincing, and keep you out of trouble.” And make things easier, if the woman decided to betray her.

  With the taller doctor in front of her, Jie headed through the hall. A commotion erupted as trembling, gasping, and crying women, many in various stages of pregnancy, came to the doorways.

  “Let the doctor go.”

  “Please don’t hurt her.”

  So the doctor was well loved. Jie kept her expression grim, lest the charade be exposed.

  The doctor waved her bound hands down. “It’s okay. No one will get hurt.”

  The women followed them down the steps into the main room. Six Bovyans drew longswords and blocked the front and back doors. The collective gasp of the new recruits might’ve sucked all the air from the room.

  “Clear your weapons and make way, or the doctor dies.” Jie twirled the knife with a flourish, then reached up and pointed it at the base of the doctor’s neck.

  The soldiers lowered their blades. Jie motioned them all to one side, to keep the doctor between them and her. She donkey-kicked the front door open and pulled the doctor out.

  In the yard, Bovyans stopped in their tracks and stared. Jie gauged the distances between them. If things went badly, there were still two gaps in their positions she could take to the wall.

  “Just keep calm,” the doctor whispered.

  Jie snorted. “Do I look nervous?”

  “Do you? I can’t see you.” Mirth carried in the doctor’s voice. They were now just two dozen steps from the gate.

  A crossbow string twanged from the left. A bolt whizzed through the air.

  Jie shoved the doctor forward, out of possible harm. The bolt zipped right where a certain half-elf’s head would’ve been had she kept backing up. Whoever pulled the trigger was a sharpshooter. She tracked the trajectory to its source.

  On the barracks roof, a dark-haired young man with a honey complexion cocked a repeating crossbow. Too large to be a Cathayi and too small to be a Bovyan shock trooper, he fit the doctor’s description of a Nightblade—though not Phobos. He took aim with the same kind of weapon that had been used to assassinate a lord back home—the incident whi
ch had started her mission to the North.

  Here was another piece of the puzzle.

  One which would be impossible to investigate now, with a Bovyan now pulling the doctor to safety and others closing in.

  The crossbow twanged, cocked, and twanged again. Two more bolts flew. The second’s tip glinted in the sun—it wouldn’t hit her—but the first came straight at her. He was baiting her to jump back, probably into the path of the second.

  Jie rolled forward, the first bolt wooshing by her ear, and into the shin of a charging soldier. He tripped over her, and she came to a stop as another Bovyan raised his sword to hack her. Her knife sliced through his leather boot, flesh, and Achilles tendon as if it they were made of lard. He screamed, and his chop thudded into the dirt.

  Jie popped back onto her feet, just as the crossbow twanged again. Sidestepping the thrust of the next man, she seized his arm, twirled on a foot, and pulled him into the bolt meant for her. He hit the ground with a thump.

  Four shots, and if the weapon was the same model as the one used in the assassination, its magazine held twelve bolts. Four Bovyans now stood between her and the gate. One pulled the gate shut.

  “Stop,” the doctor yelled. She waved her hands up and down at the sharpshooter. “The men…”

  Jie didn’t wait to see if he’d listen. She charged his position, a good sixty feet away. His crossbow lined up with her and he pulled the trigger. She sidestepped and continued her advance, the bolt hitting somewhere behind her.

  He emptied his magazine in an arcing spray of death.

  Now just thirty feet away, Jie froze, limiting her exposure to one bolt. It flew true. She shot her hand out, caught it, and rolled backward with its force. Two, five, six more tips lodged into the earth around her.

  She windmilled up to her feet, catching a glimpse of the gawking Teleri soldiers well behind her as she landed.

  The Nightblade dropped to the ground in a kneel, one fist to the ground and a single-edged straight sword in hand. Everything about him screamed Black Lotus Clan, though she’d seen every initiate who’d come through the Temple in the last twenty-plus years.