Defying Destiny

by Andrew Rowe

  “Oh, I’m sorry, dear. I don’t have time for any questions. But happy Children’s Day!” Symphony stretched her arms upward and smiled. “I hope you enjoyed the show.”

  Velas took a step forward. “You’re really going to leave it at that? Giving me half-answers that only lead to more questions?”

  Symphony stepped closer, raising a hand. “I think it’ll be far more interesting if you figure things out on your own. Besides,” she put a finger against Velas’ forehead, “someone is about to wake you up.”

  ***

  Velas’ eyes snapped open. Someone was looming over her in the dark.

  She reached for the blade under her blanket, but the figure caught her arm.

  “Take it easy.” It was pitch black and they were in a confined space with minimal room for Velas to maneuver. She couldn’t make out the figure’s features, but after a moment, she recognized the voice and she relaxed.

  “You were having a nightmare,” Lydia explained. “One of the sorcerous variety.”

  Velas gritted her teeth. That was real, then. Auntie Ess really was paying me a visit. She took a couple breaths, closing her eyes and clearing her mind. Then she relaxed her arm and nodded to Lydia. “I’m better now. How’d you know?”

  “I have a bit of a sense for dream sorcery. I could feel it.” Lydia shifted her position, moving to sit at Velas’ side. “Are you well? Any indication of who might have attacked you?”

  Dream sorcery? That’s right, Jonan mentioned that she’d knocked Edon out with a sleep spell. That’s rather unusual for a paladin — dream sorcery is something of a taboo for them.

  Velas groaned and sat up. “Nothing to worry about, Red. It wasn’t an...attack, exactly. Just a visit from a nagging family member.”

  Lydia folded her arms. “Using dream sorcery to communicate is generally frowned upon. Are you certain you’re all right?”

  “I am. What time is it?” She felt a slight jolt as the wagon beneath them hit a bump in the road, tensing again for a moment, then taking a breath.

  “Give me a moment.” Lydia closed her eyes. “Identify Local Time of Day.” There was no visible effect from Lydia’s spell, but Velas was close enough that she could feel something subtle in the air. “Just past three bells. You still have another two hours to sleep before your watch shift.”

  Velas shook her head. “Forget it. I’m not going back to sleep after that.” She paused. “Anything happen on your watch?”

  “Nothing of note. I don’t anticipate any danger until we get closer to Selyr.”

  “Right.” Velas rubbed at her eyes. “And what’s the plan once we get there?”

  “We’ll see if the Thornguard have any indication of Sterling’s location.”

  Velas blinked. “You’re just going to ask?”

  “Selyr is under Thornguard jurisdiction. Sterling is in a position of authority there. There’s a good chance he’s not even hiding.”

  “Sure, he might not be now. But if we start asking questions about him, we’re going to tip him off to our presence.”

  Lydia smiled. “Yes, that would be likely.”

  Velas paused, considering, then shook her head. “You want him to come to us. You’re making us bait.”

  “That would be ideal. But if he’s uncooperative, we have other angles to pursue. I might know a few Thornguard that would be sympathetic to our cause.”

  “Ah, you mean the paladins have spies in the Thornguard.” Velas didn’t know if she should find that impressive or depressing. The paladins certainly knew how to sound righteous, but when it came to tactics, they didn’t seem to differ much from any other organization she’d worked with. “Why not talk to them first, rather than risking alerting Sterling?”

  “I’ve tapped a few resources already. I’d rather not dig into that well too deeply unless we have to, since there’s always a risk of exposing anyone we contact. I suspect the direct approach is actually more likely to give us useful information, and with less risk.”

  “I’ll be the last person to turn down a fight, but you think alerting Sterling that we’re looking for him is a low risk?”

  “Ah, allow me to rephrase. When I said we are going to talk to the Thornguard, I really meant you are.”

  “Oh, lovely. I get to absorb all the personal risk.”

  “Not at all. After all, you’ll be in disguise.”

  Velas frowned. “...Disguise?”

  “Indeed. You’ll be asking about Sterling while dressed as Silk, the legendary apprentice of Aayara, the Lady of Thieves.” Lydia gave Velas a smile. “What reason would they have to deny information to Aayara’s own protégé?”

  For a dangerous moment, Velas froze.

  Did Lydia know?

  From the shape of her grin...yes, she definitely did.

  The role was too specific for this to be a mere suspicion or a coincidence. In spite of Lydia’s phrasing, Silk wasn’t an everyday name like Aayara was.

  There were plenty of people who knew the traditional title that Aayara’s apprentices used, but there was no reason that Velas could see for Lydia to bring up that specific disguise in this context without knowledge of her identity. Any number of other disguises would be both easier to manage and more believable for an ordinary person.

  A part of her screamed to draw steel and cut off this loose end. But she didn’t know how much Lydia knew, or how. And such an action would be pointless if the information had already been broadly distributed.

  Instead, she simply crossed her arms and asked, “How?”

  “I have my sources of information, just as you do.”

  Velas glared at her. “That’s infuriatingly vague. Sources...” Velas sighed. “Reshing Kestrian, wasn’t it?”

  Lydia raised a hand to adjust her glasses. “Mm, perhaps in a manner of speaking. But don’t place any blame on him. It’s not what you’re thinking.”

  “Right. Of course.” Velas sighed. She’d been trained to accept that betrayal could and would happen at any time. In cultivating her various roles, she’d lied to and manipulated many people herself.

  It had given her unlikely sort of happiness when she learned that Aayara had another secret apprentice — another person trained with skills that mirrored and complemented her own. She’d sensed a kinship in him that she’d never felt with her false family. She’d liked working with Jonan.

  But if he’d broken her cover identity — deliberately or otherwise — he’d have to answer for that.

  Velas felt her shoulders tighten. “Well,” she took a breath, slowly and deliberately, “If I’m going to be bait, I suppose you’d better tell me where we’re keeping the trap.”

  ***

  The city of Selyr originated as a Thornguard border fortress in the days of the Xixian Empire, one of the first bastions of human and rethri power in the region. In time, the fortress grounds expanded to house Thornguard family members, and enterprising merchants set up business to provide the residents with supplies.

  Decades passed. As the power of the Xixian Empire waned, Selyr expanded further, with a town blossoming around the original fortifications and gradually growing into a city.

  Though the Xixian Empire had ostensibly been wiped out, Selyr’s layout and culture were a lasting reminder of the city’s military roots.

  The city had four layers of walls, each having been built as the city grew beyond the scope of its original fortifications. The innermost layer had never been breached by enemy forces.

  All citizens participated in some degree of mandatory military training upon reaching adulthood — earlier in the cases of those who demonstrated any sorcerous talents.

  And so, as Velas looked for a likely source of information from the Thornguard, she realized that practically every adult citizen was an option. Those in her age range were either currently in the service or would have finished relatively recently, and the younger and older generations still would have family members and friends that were currently enlisted or in training
.

  As Velas Jaldin, she might have simply listened for gossip at a tavern or bought drinks for someone who looked both useful and easy to twist to her purposes. Maybe a lower-ranked officer, important enough to have sources of information but not important enough that making contact would involve a high degree of risk.

  As Myros, she’d have probably gone straight to the closest military base — the city apparently had several, for various different branches of service — and demanded to speak to someone in charge.

  That approach might have gotten her answers, but the risk factors were severe. It would have been a political issue if things got back to the other Myros in Orlyn. She’d always been the muscle for the role, but not the public face. And of course, showing up in the guise of a “god” of a foreign religion was very likely to come across as hostile, and she’d be inviting a fight.

  That’s basically what Taelien did in Orlyn, even if he didn’t realize it at the time.

  I’ve never gotten to pick a fight with a whole government like that. Lucky bastard.

  Taking that approach was extremely tempting, but it wasn’t what she was there for.

  She’d agreed to play a different role, and sadly Silk wasn’t there to bash any heads. At least not immediately.

  Who’s on my contact list for Selyr? Let’s see... Stranger wouldn’t be a good fit for this, Star is too eccentric, Scribe obviously is already involved... Hm. Stillness might be useful, if I can track her down.

  I guess there’s always Scullery and Scone. They’re hilarious, but probably not in a way that would be useful.

  Might be easiest to go straight to someone associated with the Thornguard.

  She wished she had a physical list. It would have been a lot more convenient than relying on memory, but the security problems with that approach were obvious.

  Before getting too deep into her plans, she checked her mirror to see if she had any new letters.

  Silk,

  Symphony moving pieces toward “Kyestri”. Avoid.

  -Scribe

  Velas wrinkled her nose at the message. She didn’t write a reply.

  Quotes around Kyestri, huh? Was he on the replacement list? Hm. That’ll be useful to know if I do get tangled up in that business, but...

  She shook her head. It didn’t concern her, at least for now.

  After a few more minutes of deliberation, she settled on an option and got to work.

  She’d worked in Selyr before, but not much. Fortunately, Lydia had a map, and it was recent enough to point her toward the area she wanted — Fort Kaldri, the base of operations for the Thornguard’s Bladebreaker division.

  Cassius Morn had been a member of that division before “disappearing”, which meant that Sterling probably had contacts there. It was possible that Sterling’s connection with Cassius was of a personal nature rather than going through standard channels, but it seemed like a good place to start.

  Unlike in most cities, starting at the front gate and actually identifying herself was an option here. She didn’t have any formal rank in the Thornguard, but their whole organization was pledged to the service of the vae’kes, and that meant extending help to the servants of those vae’kes as well. She could have just told them that she was Silk and gone through the “proper” channels to verify her identity.

  But that was both slow and boring, so she found herself breaking into the fortress in the middle of the night instead.

  Fort Kaldri was built to resist a conventional assault, but she judged it one of the easier bases to infiltrate. It was built at the top of a hill with a very traditional moat-and-drawbridge setup, with the drawbridge being up for the night. Beyond that, the fortress’ high stone walls, with a few patrolling guards atop them. There were five watchtowers — four on the corners, and one just above the center in the front, overlooking the drawbridge.

  There was forest cover on the way up the hill, which kept her relatively concealed. If she ran into any patrolling guards at this stage, she’d have raised alarms, but she didn’t see any.

  From there, she circled around to the back of the fortress, staying within the forest cover as long as possible.

  A quick glance didn’t show her any obvious figures on the parapets. She judged the dimensions of the fortress to be about eight hundred yards in each direction — large enough that she didn’t think that someone in the corner watchtowers was likely to see her unless they were looking straight in her direction.

  At that point, it was less about luck and more about speed.

  She rushed out of the brush, jumped once, and concentrated.

  Surge.

  A blast of motion sorcery carried her across the moat and toward the wall.

  Surge.

  A second blast altered her trajectory, carrying her upward at an angle toward the top of the wall.

  The arc of the blast took her a little too high. Rather than use a third motion calling spell, she concentrated. Motion shaping was a more recent skill development for her, but after the Wandering War had used it to pull her out of the air, she’d realized how useful it could be and begun to practice.

  She felt the essence propelling her, then subtly shifted the direction and level of force. Just prior to landing, she wove a different type of shape.

  Silence.

  She landed on the parapets without a sound, ducked, and looked from side-to-side.

  No patrols nearby. Good. Lights are on in the towers, but I doubt they saw me.

  From there, it would have been a simple thing to hop over the opposite side of the wall into the courtyard below, but she took a moment to orient herself first.

  Her target was in an officer’s quarters in one of the six buildings on the northeast side of the facility. She took a moment to find it — the layout was a little different from her map, due to the addition of new buildings — and then jumped in that direction.

  Surge.

  A little bit more force, this time directed downward, and then a similar application of shaping took her down into a copse of trees not far from her destination.

  There were patrols out in the base itself, but fortunately none of them seemed to be looking up. She took a mental note of the locations of the ones she saw during her descent, and then cautiously made her way toward her destination.

  The door was locked. She fished out a bit of metal from her hair, trying to pick it, but without success.

  Must be one of those ones where you have to hit multiple pins at the same time, she grumbled to herself. Lockpicking was never her area of expertise. Maybe she could have sorted it out eventually, but she didn’t have the patience for it.

  She located a nearby window instead, pressing her hand against the bottom.

  The window was on the second floor of the building, without any sort of balcony or platform for her to stand on. That made for an interesting shaping exercise.

  Surge.

  She blasted herself upward from the ground, then shaped the force below her to stop her movement just at the level of the door.

  Then she held the remaining kinetic energy in place, leaving herself floating in mid-air. It wouldn’t last more than a few moments, though.

  Silence.

  Push.

  She shaped the burst of motion at the bottom of the window frame, successfully flipping the latch on the inside of the window. Then, with it unlatched, it was trivial to lift.

  The spell holding her airborne failed, so she used another, bursting herself back upward as she fell and throwing herself into the window.

  Her body was beginning to ache from the expenditure of sorcery, but that wasn’t her biggest problem.

  Silk’s legendary veils covered her face and much of her body, thoroughly obscuring her identity. If they weren’t enchanted, she would have been virtually blind. Fortunately, they were enchanted, and that meant the only problem she had to deal with was constantly getting snagged on...well, everything.

  In this case, she managed to catch on a stray nail
on the inside of the window frame.

  The jolt of getting caught pulled her backward, and she landed gracelessly — but fortunately, still soundlessly — in a pile on the floor of the room.

  The enchantments on the veils ensured they didn’t tear easily, but that just made it harder to dislodge. She tried to stand, failing and getting caught even worse. It took her a few awkward moments before she decided to pull that veil free, adjust the other ones, and then try to unwind the veil that was caught.

  Ugh. I wonder how many previous Silks this outfit has killed.

  She finally ended up pulling the entire nail out of the wall to free herself, then righted herself and examined where she’d ended up.

  She was in someone’s bedroom. From the pile of clothes on the floor, there were two...no, three people in there. Only one of them was an officer.

  She gave the unconscious figures an amused smirk.

  None of them appeared to be who she was looking for, unfortunately, or it would have made a great entrance once she’d fixed her outfit.

  She closed the window — still under the veil of her silence spell — and slipped out the door.

  That led into a larger living room. She crossed it without much concern for the contents. She wasn’t here to rifle through a random Thornguard officer’s things, as fun as that might be.

  The next door took her into a hallway. She closed it behind her, then headed down the hall toward her destination.

  When she rounded a corner, she nearly ran face-first into a patrolling guard.

  “Wha?” He stammered, his hand fumbling for a sword on his belt.

  Velas was faster, as usual. She wasn’t carrying the Heartlance — that wasn’t Silk’s weapon of choice — but she had a knife at the guard’s throat a moment later. “Sssh.”

  “Ahh!” He managed, stumbling backward. Silk followed his movement, keeping her knife in place. And then, after a beat, he said, “Ohh! Silk, it’s just you.”