by Kate Sander
“Tell me that no one helped you and you acted on your own. You were paying off your gambling debt and the Melanthios approached you and told you to do it.”
Treasury nodded fiercely, “Yes! Yes that’s how it went. They approached me, I don’t know who I never saw them again. But they were for sure Melanthios. They gave me money and I did it by myself,” he sobbed harder, “I betrayed everything to pay back my debt.”
Intelligence smiled and removed the knife. Treasury gasped with relief. Intelligence stepped back and Justice stepped forward.
“Treasury,” he said, “You are convicted of treason. You will be hung immediately for your crimes.”
Treasury nodded and wept, vibrating and shaking.
“Clean him up. Get him clean robes and shoes. We will send for him later today,” Intelligence said to one of the guards. Intelligence, Justice and Armend left the room.
Justice embraced Intelligence and said, “Remind me, darling, to never piss you off.”
Intelligence laughed, but made sure to pointedly stare at Armend. Armend bowed his head slightly, letting her know the message was received. That show in there was a small fraction of what was in store for him if he ever made her angry again. This woman was far too dangerous to keep alive.
“Well let’s head up to the council meeting,” Intelligence said, leading them away from the door. “I hate to keep the King and Queen waiting.”
Justice laughed and they followed. They walked up to the council meeting in silence, each preparing themselves for the role they needed to play. When they approached the council room door, they each shrugged their shoulders and loosened their muscles. It was show time. Intelligence cracked her neck and opened the door.
The council chamber was dead silent. The King and Queen were seated at the head of the table. The King’s eyes were closed in thought. The Queen was sitting back in her chair and was shooting daggers at the three as they entered the room. She was paler than usual, but she kept her eyes steady. Omega was “sleeping” as usual. Goods and Housing looked to be in utter shock.
“We are sorry to keep you waiting,” Armend said as they walked in, “We kept the interview long as we had to be sure. I don’t think any of us wanted to believe it.”
The King opened his eyes, “Thank you for being so certain. We all appreciate you for your efforts. Please,” he said, eyes boring into Intelligence, “Tell me.”
Intelligence nodded and stayed standing as Justice and Armend took their seats. Armend marvelled at how this woman was laughing five minutes ago, and now she looked harried and scarred.
“I didn’t want to believe it,” she said. “I swear I gave him every chance to recant his statement.”
Armend looked at the Queen. White, lips pursed, eyes red. Everyone else would think that it was due to the betrayal of Treasury but Armend knew. She was letting another man hang for her crimes. Armend hoped that she would jump up and confess, but she looked determined. She would let Treasury hang and not say a word. Armend felt a mix of respect and loathing.
“Sebastian saw Treasury giving money to a trader that works with the Melanthios. When he approached Treasury, he grew angry and attacked him. Sebastian was surprised and fought back and managed to get Treasury under control. Sebastian brought him to me. Treasury was gloating about how he had set up the prison break alone and how the Melanthios were coming to make us all pay. He laughed and spat in my face when I asked him why. He said mostly because he wanted to and he hated our dear King and Queen, but he also took money. He was paid to betray us all.”
Intelligence sat in a huff. The Queen kept tight-lipped and silent. The King looked to her first then, misreading her, grabbed her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. The King looked at Justice. Justice rose, “I have already convicted him of his crimes. He was all but singing his guilt to the rooftops. In my opinion he wanted us to catch him and he wanted to gloat in our faces.”
The King nodded, “He will be hung this evening. His crimes are the highest forms of treason. Someone wake Omega, this is important.”
Armend nudged Omega awake.
“We need a new Treasury,” the King said, “I don’t trust anyone anymore. I am asking for a vote to place one of our council as Treasury as well, giving them double the vote and double the power. This is only in interim, as I will need to find another Treasury soon. At this time we cannot have a new member of council and we cannot have a weakness.”
They gasped. Goods rose forgetting himself, “Sire, this amount of power has never been given before!”
“I understand!” The King snapped, “But it needs to be done. I nominate Armend. He was my father’s most trusted advisor and I believe he will do right by this council and by me.”
Armend made sure to blush. He rose and said, “This is a great honour, my lord. I accept your nomination.”
“Good,” the King said, “That’s two votes “yay” for Armend. Justice?”
“Yay,” Justice sang.
“Three votes. Intelligence?”
“Yay.”
“Four votes. My Queen?”
“Nay,” her first words of the afternoon. Everyone was shocked. The King and Queen always voted the same in council. Always.
The Queen no longer trusted him. The King stared at her and stammered, “The monarch is divided. There needs to be one more vote “yay” for this motion to pass. Goods?”
“Nay,” he said, giving a nod to the Queen. She didn’t acknowledge him. She had returned to pursed white lips.
“Four yay, two nay. Housing?”
“Nay,” she said gravely.
“Four to three,” the King said, “It’s up to Omega.”
The council turned to stare at him. Barely awake, he grunted, “Yay.”
Armend hid the smile. The deal was done. He had done it! He now had more power than anyone on the council.
But now he wanted more.
“So be it. Peace! You are now interim Head of Treasury as well. Use your power wisely and for the good of this council and Solias.”
Armend stood and bowed, being sure to stare at the Queen. She met his gaze back. The chess game was set, they now both knew their enemy. The King rose, “We need to go and hang that bastard.”
The council rose, now one member smaller. They walked to the gallows. There had been no time to inform the masses that there was a hanging that evening. The gallows usually held thousands of people from Solias who gathered to boo and throw rotting food at the convicted. Today it was quiet, the evening still. Just the council gathered on the raised wooden platform.
The old Treasury was walked forward by a couple of guards on either side. Despite what Intelligence had reported, he looked like a broken old man. The King didn’t notice, and stared angrily as he was brought to him. Armend watched as Justice said ceremoniously, “You are convicted of treason against the crown. You will hang for your sins.” The old Treasury nodded weakly, defeated. The King waved the executioner off. Armend watched as the King kept his promise. He tied the noose himself.
The Queen kept her eyes on the prisoner and didn’t flinch when they dropped the floor out from under him. Armend was impressed. She was a woman on a mission and was letting someone else be hung for her crimes. This woman was probably the most dangerous woman in Solias.
She needed to be controlled, and he knew exactly how he was going to do it.
17
Senka
They were still in the forest. They had stuck to the plan, travelling by day, resting by night. Senka was normal during the day, even happy. She signed with Jules and even laughed sometimes. She taught him how to survive in the wilderness. How to find water and how to find food. They hunted rabbit and squirrel. She never allowed him to hunt anything larger, saying that they didn’t have enough time to use the full animal and tan the hide.
Jules didn’t disagree, he wouldn’t be able to survive on his own out here, and they both knew it. The only time Jules was useful was when he was protecting her fro
m the imaginary lights in her head at night. That was a role he was happy to play.
Senka was signing to him, “When you’re fighting, you tend to drop your guard. It almost got your head taken off the last time with that big ole’ bitch with the hammer.” She stopped to grab some water from a stream, and heard them in the trees. They were almost silent, but Senka had very good ears.
They were surrounded, and there would be no escape.
Slowly, she removed her bow from her shoulder. Blissfully unaware of the danger they were in, Jules kept drinking from the stream.
Without changing the rhythm of her signing, she said, “Keep your head on. Don’t jump or look around. We are surrounded. The only way out of this is to earn respect.”
To Jules’ credit, he didn’t jump or turn. He merely nodded and started washing his face in the creek. Senka stayed crouching by the creek, bow off her shoulder.
Silently, ten men emerged from the forest, completely surrounding them. They were all dressed in greens and browns, the same colours of the forest. Their dark skin gave them away as Melanthios. Senka scanned quickly and soon found the leader. The woman was standing slightly ahead of the others in the circle. She was tall and strong, with a bow drawn pointed directly at Jules’ head.
Senka knew she had to act fast. She dove with the bow in hand and pulled an arrow out mid roll. Rising, she fired at the woman in a fluid motion. The woman didn’t move, and the arrow whizzed by her head, missing her by a half inch. The arrow thumped into the tree beside her head. The woman smiled and yelled, “Strangers, rise and drop your weapons.”
Senka nodded and dropped her bow. She unhooked the belt with the daggers on it and let them drop to the ground. Jules followed suit and let his sword drop to the ground with a bang. Senka had a flash of Vigo dropping his sword in her cell. Shaking her head, she focused. Now was not the time to remember traitors.
“Who are you?” The woman asked. The others closed the circle, stepping in time to give them no exit. Multiple bows and weapons were drawn and pointed directly at them.
“Good thing we’re not trying to escape,” Senka signed to Jules.
Jules snorted and then tried to regain composure.
“Whatever you say,” the woman said, approaching them. She had switched her aim to Senka, clearly judging her as the bigger threat. “You can speak out loud.”
She was close enough to see, so Senka opened her mouth. The woman nodded. “You,” she said to Jules, not taking her eyes off Senka, “What did she say?”
“She said that it was a good thing we aren’t trying to escape,” Jules replied.
The woman laughed, “Yes, it is. You have earned yourselves a council in the village. Put your hands out.”
They obliged, and a couple of men came with lengths of leather. One was very large, with a huge hammer across his back. His bright brown eyes glinted as he nodded to Jules and bound his wrists. The other was a tall spry man with brown eyes and an intricate tattoo covering one side of his face. He bound Senka’s wrists, never touching her, and said, “Sorry about this. Rules is rules, yah see.”
Senka nodded.
“No one sees the entrance to the village. We have to protect ourselves,” the woman said.
Senka signed, “Don’t forget our weapons.”
Jules repeated it, and the woman smiled and ordered two of her men to pick up the weapons and bring them.
Another man approached to put a leather hood over her head. He grabbed her shoulder roughly and Senka wrenched out of his grasp. She turned and kicked him square in the chest with both feet, falling heavily to the ground. The man went flying backward and landed in a heap.
“Senka!” Jules yelled.
She didn’t hear him. Hopping to her feet, hands still bound in front of her, her eyes blazed and she focused on the man. He was lying in the fetal position, breathing heavily.
The woman was yelling something to her men and the bows were raised again. With a wild scream, Senka charged the downed man.
“Senka no!” Jules yelled again and threw himself between her and the man on the ground.
Senka stopped when she saw him, eyes angry, breathing heavily. The woman’s arm was raised ready to signal her men to fire at any moment.
“Senka it’s all right. They didn’t know.” He held his bound hands out in front of him, trying to get through to her. “They didn’t know okay?”
Raising his voice to address the woman, he said “She doesn’t like to be touched. It’s not my place to explain why. Look at her face, you know she’s been through hell.”
Men approached and dragged the downed man away. Senka was entirely focused on Jules, staring intently at his bright blue eyes. Jules never looked away.
Jules watched her brown eyes, “I can do it,” he said again, in a loud voice to the woman, “Give me the bag. I’ll put it on her. She won’t mind. Right Senka?”
Senka nodded stiffly. The woman was watching them, intrigued.
“As long as she can’t see, I don’t see a problem. Eli!” She said to the man with the face tattoo who had bound Senka’s wrists, “Give the bag to the man. He will make sure she cannot see first and we will cover his eyes second.”
Eli rushed forward and gave the leather to Jules. The woman watched as he carefully put the bag over her head, making sure only the leather touched her. He never broke contact with her eyes.
“Senka, are you good?” Senka gave a terse nod.
Jules turned back to the woman and said, “Ok, I’m good.” They covered his head with a leather.
“Now how will we lead them if she does not like to be touched?” The woman asked.
“Only by men,” Jules replied for her, slightly muffled through the hood, “I believe if you lead her, my Lady, she will suffer it to see the village.”
Senka gave another quick nod.
“Very well,” the lady said, “Because I respect you, and your life I know nothing about stirs pity in my heart.” Senka heard her soft footfalls approach, “Now lady,” she said to her, “I will guide your hand to my shoulder. You will be touching me, I will not be touching you. If you strike me, my men will be forced to kill you.” Senka nodded and felt a soft hand grab her wrist and guide it to a shoulder. Senka felt her muscles tense at the touch, but forced herself to be guided to the lady’s shoulder. She instantly relaxed when the hand let go and she was allowed to grab the shoulder herself.
“Ujarak, lead the man. We have quite a distance to go, but we will go slowly so no one is to lose their footing. If the lady falls, only I will be the one to help her to her feet. No one else is to touch her.” The men mumbled in agreement, clearly not wanting the same fate as the man who’d touched her. He was still breathing heavily and leaning to one side, a couple of ribs broken.
Senka felt her heart go out to the woman in front of her. A quick check of the auras around her told her what she needed to know. The woman’s was an aqua color, a bright swirling mass of bright and beautiful blue. She recognized the forest green of Jules beside her. She realized his aura had changed slightly. What she had originally interpreted as an average green was actually a swirling mass of forest and lighter greens, intricately woven together in a dance of light. The man leading him, who the lady had called Ujarak, had an aura of stone grey. The other, who the woman had called Eli, had a mass of dark orange. Senka relaxed. She trusted everyone here.
She allowed herself to be led through the forest, checking on Jules’ aura every once in a while. She was increasingly drawn to the beautiful forest green aura. Blushing, she was glad she had a hood over her face.
Jules stumbled a bit, and the man called Ujarak helped him to his feet. These were good people, only trying to defend their home. She hoped her presence wouldn’t kill them, like she’d killed everyone else. If these lights came to her at night with all the others she had taken, she was sure it would be the end of her.
They walked for a long time. Senka lost track. She held the woman’s shoulder and continually checked
Jules’ aura. There was really no need, his heavy breathing was probably heard throughout the forest, but the green light so near was a comfort.
They slowed and the woman said, “We will be entering a cave. I will need you to trust me and not to panic. There will be an end, though it feels infinite. You will not need to duck.”
Senka nodded and felt the cool breeze and presence of rock around her. They continued to trudge, now in single file. The stone pressed in on either side of her. How did the vast man named Ujarak fit through? He grunted and groaned behind her, so clearly it wasn’t easy. She was grateful to the woman for the warning. Without it, she would have been certain the woman had brought them there to die.
The coolness ended and they stepped out into the forest again. The wind blew through the trees and the birds chirped their greeting. “We will allow you to see now, but we will keep your hands bound. I know you could kill us all anyway, but allow us this small, insignificant comfort.”
They both nodded.
“Take the man’s hood off first, and allow him to take the woman’s off second.”
Without thinking, Senka signed, “Thank you.”
The woman seemed to understand and said, “You’re welcome. Like I said, you earned our respect.”
Senka heard Ujarak take Jules’ hood off, then waited. Jules came to her and whispered, “How you doing?” as he undid the tie of her hood. She nodded and they both pretended not to notice the lack of flinch when he accidentally touched her shoulder as he removed the hood. The bright light assaulted her eyes. It was midday and the forest was lit with the sun overhead.
She blinked a few times, eyes adjusting to the light. The group of ten Melanthios were standing around them.
“Introduce us,” she signed to Jules.
“I’m Jules. This is Senka.”
“I’m Tory. You met Ujarak, he’s the big bastard leading you. And the skinny one with the terrible taste in self-decoration is Eli. They are my right hand guys. The rest of these guys would take too long to introduce, but they won’t hesitate to kill you if you try anything,”
