by Ian Gregoire
In the diminishing light of late evening, she had decided that Onyx deserved a well-earned rest so she dismounted and led him off the road in search of a safe spot to set up camp. She settled for a spot at the edge of some farmland, where she pilfered several carrots and a couple of cabbages that she fed to Onyx as a treat, in addition to his bag of oats. It wasn’t the first time he ate better than she did during the journey.
Now, she stared vacantly at the orange glow of a sun disappearing below the horizon, thinking about what she needed to do once she arrived in Nagornorak. If she was going to find Josario before the Order could make a move against him, she would have to find someone who was familiar with his cult and prepared to take her to him.
As late evening gave way to dusk, Kayden invoked Inkansaylar to form a barrier sphere around her mini camp, then created an illumination orb courtesy of her invocation of Sinjaydan to keep the encroaching darkness at bay. She sent the orb floating up above her head before closing her eyes. Feeling Onyx’s gentle breathing at her back made her feel so relaxed she soon drifted of into restful sleep.
It felt like only moments had elapsed when Kayden’s eyes fluttered open, but she found herself lying on her back, staring up at Onyx’s equine face towering above her in the light of early morning. He seemed agitated, and she sat bolt upright as soon as she realised why. She could sense Zarantar nearby, drawing closer. Three Sanatsai were approaching. Quickly, she scrambled to her feet and stared through her barrier sphere, scanning the farmlands. There was no sign of the interlopers, meaning she was sensing three invocations of Raytandushay. It seemed the three-strong group mistakenly believed that invisibility would allow them to catch her unawares.
She stroked Onyx’s neck. “Calm down, boy,” she crooned. “I will take care of this.”
Eyes intent on the ploughed fields before her, Kayden waited until the approaching trio were within hearing range.
“If you are friend, show yourself!” she yelled. “If you are foe, turn back while you still can.”
Immediately, she sensed the group slow to a halt two dozen yards from her barrier sphere. Moments later, a single man gradually came into full view, wearing a hooded, black cloak. He was tall and strapping, with two weeks worth of facial hair embellishing his olive complexioned face. His two similarly-attired companions became visible shortly after, and all three men stared at her with serious expressions.
Kayden let out a sigh of relief; none of the group was wearing the black and three shades of grey uniform of the Order. For the briefest of moments she’d feared that the men had been sent to catch her and bring her back. She watched and waited as the Sanatsai trio closed the gap between themselves and the radius of her barrier sphere to just a handful of paces.
“You can end your invocation, now,” said the stubbly lead Sanatsai. “Your Anzarmenian misadventure is over.”
Maintaining her composure, Kayden suppressed any involuntary reaction that might give away her surprise at being addressed in the common tongue of the Nine Kingdoms. It now appeared the intruders were from the Order, but she didn’t recognise any of them so they couldn’t know for certain who she was. All she had to do was maintain her cover as a wandering traveller, and persuade them that they had the wrong woman.
“I don’t understand what you are saying,” she replied in Anzarmenian. “Do you not speak Anzarmenian, or Zenoshanese, perhaps?”
A wry smile curled the lips of the lead Sanatsai. “Don’t waste your time trying to keep up the pretence,” he said. “Just how many slant-eyed nuisances do you think are gallivanting around southern Anzarmenia, Kayden Jayta?”
This time Kayden couldn’t help but react to the Shintanese words coming from the Sanatsai’s mouth. She scowled at him, pursing her lips and clenching her fists.
“It seems you understand me just fine, apprentice,” he quipped.
Kayden promptly brought down the barrier sphere. “What’s the meaning of this?” she demanded, adopting the common tongue. “I am on holiday. I don’t need to return to campus until the first day of next term.” Onyx reared up violently beside her, cutting her off mid-sentence. Backing away from him she said, “What’s got into you?”
“Don’t worry about your friend.” The lead Sanatsai back-pedalled warily from the flailing hooves. “We’ll take good care of him when you’re gone.”
Suddenly, Kayden sensed an imminent Zarantar strike. With a wave of the hand, she invoked Yuksaydan just in time to neutralise the Sanatsai’s effort to seize her around the throat and break her neck with his opposing invocation of the ‘unseen hand’. Capitalising on his wide-eyed surprise at being thwarted, she repeated her invocation, this time knocking him off his feet and sending him hurtling backwards. He collided with one of his comrades, and they both fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. Without hesitation, the still standing third Sanatsai retaliated, invoking Balatlaydan to unleash an incendiary orb at her.
A rectangular barrier shield, induced by Kayden’s invocation of Inkansaylar, materialised in the path of the flaming orb, and it held firm when it was struck. The resultant detonation caused Onyx to bolt in panic, and he knocked Kayden over as he galloped away.
Winded by the collision, Kayden was given no time to get back to her feet. The third Sanatsai pounced on top of her, thrusting a dagger down at her chest. She caught hold of his wrist in both hands, and only just prevented the sharp blade from finding her flesh. As she was about to invoke Yuksaydan to toss him away, she was distracted by boots scampering across the grass from the corner of her eye. No doubt the other Sanatsai were going to pile on top of her to ensure a successful kill. Gritting her teeth, she unleashed the ‘unseen hand’, and a massive eruption tore up the ground beneath the onrushing Sanatsai, launching them and multiple clumps of turf several feet in the air.
Still pinned to the ground beneath the weight of the dagger wielding Sanatsai trying to kill her, Kayden invoked Yuksaydan again to throw the man off her body, propelling his body into the air before his colleagues fell back to the ground from the previous Zarantar strike. She scrambled back to her feet, just as her Sanatsai assailants hit the ground one after the other. Mind racing, she quickly back-pedalled from the three men scattered across the torn-up earth. For reasons she couldn’t work out, the Sanatsai were determined to kill her. It crossed her mind that maybe they weren’t from the Order as she’d assumed, and yet, whether or not they were imposters didn’t matter. She was furious with them, and was going to make them pay for their actions.
None of the three men appeared injured as they picked themselves up off the ground, but they did look concerned. With good reason, thought Kayden. She invoked Inkansaylar, and a large barrier sphere immediately encompassed her scattered opponents. She promptly caused it to constrict, to force them closer together. As the translucent bubble continued to slowly shrink, she intensified her invocation in response to the concerted attempts to neutralise it from within. It came as no real surprise that her Zarantar was more powerful than the three Sanatsai combined, yet Kayden couldn’t help but be amused by their panic-stricken faces as the barrier sphere became smaller and smaller. Soon, the translucent bubble was so small that the men trapped inside were forced to crouch, unable to stand upright. As their bodies were squeezed tightly together, Kayden took perverse pleasure in their hysterical screams for mercy. She looked on in morbid curiosity, wondering what three people being crushed to death would look like.
Suddenly, Kayden realised she was moments away from committing cold-blooded murder. She ceased the constriction of the barrier sphere immediately. For several seconds she stood motionless, disturbed by what she had almost done. It almost felt like she had become someone else. She took a moment to compose herself with calming breaths, then caused the barrier sphere to expand, until her three terrified captives were able to stand upright. Staring pointedly at her attackers, she ambled forward to stand just a yard outside the impenetrable bubble.
“Start talking!” she snapped, glaring at the l
ead Sanatsai. “Why are you trying to kill me?”
“You… you were refusing to come back,” he replied, sounding aggrieved. “You resisted.”
“Are you out of your minds?” she yelled. “Do you know who I am? Fay Annis is my master, and you’re going to be in so much trouble when she finds out about this.” She kicked the barrier sphere and her foot bounced off it harmlessly.
“We were just following orders,” he said.
The claim struck Kayden like a slap across the face. “What are you talking about?” she asked. He had to be lying. “Who could possibly have given an order to murder an apprentice?” She wanted to believe he was lying to cover for himself and his partners in crime.
“It was Rendai Benzino Ardan,” said the Sanatsai. “Yesterday he issued orders for the roads leading to Nagornorak to be monitored. He wanted you apprehended, and if you offered any resistance we were authorised to kill you.”
Kayden was silent for a moment. She didn’t recognise the name, but she knew that Rendai was the honorific title bestowed upon members of the Council, and the highest rank one could attain within the Order. Frowning, she was forced to consider the possibility that the Council really had authorised her death in order to prevent her interference with the planned mission to eliminate Josario and his cult. It was day twelve of her manhunt so it was more than likely that Fay had become aware of the situation and had informed the Council. But Master Ari and Sister Idelle were on the Council; surely they wouldn’t have agreed to a proposal to kill her? However, they were just two voices in a group of thirteen. The other members, who had never met her, were probably all in favour of killing her.
Looking at the three would-be assassins, Kayden found herself feeling even more determined to succeed in her mission. Now she had to decide what to do with them before continuing on her way. She couldn’t just kill them. Nor could she leave them in a position to pursue her and hinder her progress. But first she needed to interrogate them for information that would help her complete her mission.
“Gentlemen,” she said. “You have one chance, and one chance only, to persuade me not to kill you.” Their ears seemed to prick up at the announcement. “Tell me where to find Josario.”
There was no reply, and Kayden couldn’t decide if the confusion she saw on the faces of her three captives was genuine or feigned. But she had a pretty good idea how to loosen their tongues. She promptly caused the barrier sphere to constrict.
“For pity’s sake,” shouted the Sanatsai who had tried to stab her. “We don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, you don’t know who the Usurper King is, huh?” she snapped. “No more lies!” Again she kicked the barrier sphere as it continued to shrink.
“What’s the matter with you?” said the lead Sanatsai. “Josario disappeared at the end of the Great War. No one knows what became of him, but he is long dead.”
With a sigh, Kayden stopped the shrinking of the barrier sphere. “Let’s try this one more time, shall we?” she said, as if speaking to naughty children. “At some point next week, the Order is going to execute a mission to eliminate a cult here in southern Anzarmenia, is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“And who is the leader of this cult, dummy?”
“A man known only as Master Yosarian.”
Finally Kayden understood the confusion. It appeared the Council wanted to conceal the true identity of the cult leader. The men and women who were due to take part in the mission to wipe out the cult probably had no idea that Master Yosarian was actually Josario Sandolari.
“Well, that’s obviously who I meant. Master Yosarian,” she said. “Tell me where to find him.”
“I can’t,” said the lead Sanatsai. “Yosarian never stays in the same location for longer than a day. His followers have eleven communes spread around the countryside southwest of Nagornorak. He constantly moves from one commune to another, so on any given day we cannot be certain where he will be, that’s why all the communes will be raided simultaneously.”
Kayden had no reason to suspect he was lying so she accepted that there was nothing more she could learn from the trio. Now she had to take care of them before resuming her mission. She neutralised the barrier sphere, but before any of the men could thank her for sparing their lives, she promptly invoked Turmiraydan to unleash three concussion orbs. The luminous, pale green orbs found their targets, and one by one the three Sanatsai fell to the ground, unconscious. Wasting no time, she invoked Yuksaydan to rip the clothing from their prone bodies, piling the shredded garments and footwear in a heap several feet away. She stepped away from the naked men, and casually thrust her hand in the direction of the discarded clothing. A single incendiary orb materialised in the air, floating slowly towards the piled-up heap. It landed gently on top of it and detonated, destroying the shredded garments.
That should keep the Order off my back for a while, thought Kayden. She had increased the strength of her invocation of Turmiraydan to ensure that the three Sanatsai would remain unconscious for half a day rather than just an hour. When they eventually woke up, she would be long gone, and they would find themselves lying naked in a field. In that state, pursuing her would not be their priority. They would have to get back to wherever they were based, undetected, so as to avoid causing a scene. While they had the option to make themselves invisible, they would be well aware of the danger in doing so without their siphon cloaks. Maintaining the invocation of Raytandushay for a prolonged period without a cloak could drain a Sanatsai to the point of death.
For the briefest of moments, Kayden worried about the possibility of something fatal happening to the three men after she left them, but she quickly decided that no blame could be attached to her if they did meet their end once she was gone. After all, they would still be alive when she resumed her mission. She certainly wouldn’t feel any guilt over their deaths. They had tried to kill her, while she had generously allowed them to continue breathing. Now it was time to to get back on the road to Nagornorak. But first she had to find Onyx.
Peering down at the bridle and saddle on the ground alongside her two burlap sacks, Kayden groaned at the prospect of carrying them around as she searched for her runaway horse, especially because she didn’t have a clue where to begin looking. As she contemplated which direction to set off in, a smile slowly curled her lips when she realised there was no need to aimlessly wander through fields to find Onyx.
She invoked Makfayshulat to levitate straight up into the air. Once she attained sufficient height, she stopped ascending and hovered high above her mini camp. Slowly she rotated in the air as she scanned the ground below, trying to catch sight of her black beauty. She had spun almost full circle when she spotted a lone black horse grazing in a meadow about a quarter-mile away.
“There you are,” murmured Kayden, relieved that her four-legged friend wasn’t still galloping away back in the direction they had come from.
She stared down at her belongings on the ground, and promptly invoked Yuksaydan to seize hold of them. The ‘unseen hand’ pulled the bridle, saddle, and burlap sacks up into the air, to follow in her wake as she drifted steadily across the sky towards Onyx. A short while later she touched down in the field beside him, and her belongings dropped to the ground likewise. Raising his head from the dewy grass he was happily chewing, Onyx whinnied at the sight of her.
“Yes, it’s me, big boy,” she said. “I’m alive and well, no thanks to you.” She gently patted his neck. “You almost got me killed back there, you know that?” She flinched when Onyx snorted and vigorously shook his mane. “There’s no need to beat yourself up about it; I forgive you… this time. Just don’t let it happen again.”
Kayden smiled as she bent down to retrieve the saddle. She couldn’t be mad at her equine companion. Since becoming his owner, she had grown so attached to Onyx she was just glad not to have lost him. A few minutes were spent getting him bridled and saddled, then she was ready to resume her journey to Nagornorak
. With her burlap sacks secured over Onyx’s rump, she clambered up into the saddle.
“Time is of the essence, my friend,” she declared, grabbing hold of the reins. “The Order knows that I’m here, and it seems my death has been sanctioned if it means preventing me from accomplishing what I set out to do.” She tugged the reins to steer Onyx in the direction of the road to Nagornorak. “Let’s get to Nagornorak as quickly as we can. The sooner we get there, the sooner I can hunt down Josario.”
Kayden kicked her heels into Onyx’s flanks, urging him into a canter. They were quickly away from the field and back on the road to Nagornorak, with ten miles to travel.
Clad head to toe in black, Fay stood alongside Shadow, stroking the trusty mare’s flank while she drank her fill from the stream. She was more than happy to take a rest stop for the sake of her horse. In the two days since leaving Temis Rulan with Ari’s blessing, to get Kayden safely back, Shadow had made swift progress towards Nerezan. After crossing the border from Darmitana, the journey to the Anzarmenian capital would ordinarily take three days to complete, but having pushed Shadow hard, Fay was confident her expedition wouldn’t enter a third day. The destination was close enough now to have reasonable expectation of arriving in Nerezan by nightfall. Once Shadow duly finished drinking and raised her head, Fay led the grey mare away from the stream back to the nearby tree where she had set down her saddlebags. From her provisions, she removed two of the apples she had plucked from an orchard the previous day, and fed the crunchy morsels to her appreciative mount.
Fay estimated that it was about midday. Since commencing her search and rescue mission, she had avoided thinking about Kayden’s whereabouts and well-being, as it was likely she had not yet come to harm. But now that her reckless escapade was into its twelfth day, Kayden could feasibly have encountered the cult of Yosarian by now, so it was no longer possible to avoid thinking about it. Fay felt a burning need to know for certain that her young friend was still alive. She stepped away from Shadow then stood motionless, facing south. Closing her eyes, she cast out her senses into the distance. Moments later an unbidden smile curled her lips. She could feel Kayden’s presence over three hundred miles away. At last she had the confirmation she needed. Her apprentice was still alive, and Fay was taken aback by just how strong Kayden’s presence felt from so far away. The observation opened the possibility that she could reach out to Kayden with her mind.
