Thank you. I keep forgetting to look at it all with the eyes of faith.
I also forget.
The avenue opened up into a wide expanse before the largest tent so far. The tent was constructed in the same brown canvas as the rest of the camp, but a banner of midnight blue hung like a curtain over the front opening. Before it, four men and a small host of blue-clad defenders waited to greet us. I immediately recognized Errol Silas’ gray and red hair and diminutive stature. His gaze never left Hadrian, but he did send to me as I dismounted. His plum taste flickered across my tongue, and I couldn’t help smiling at the warmness of his greeting.
“Sept Son Aleron,” the oldest man said as he stepped forward and saluted Hadrian.
“Tristan.” Hadrian stepped forward to take the man’s hand. “You escaped the compound.”
Tristan frowned up at Hadrian. “Of course. Don’t let the silver hair fool you. I still have quite a few tricks.”
“The secret passage under the walls?”
“Sealed from both ends as we left.”
Hadrian nodded. “Horace?”
Tristan lowered his eyes. “Died defending the gate.”
Both men lowered their heads in grief. “If only the Almighty had given him more time to see the truth,” Tristan sent.
“His timing is ever perfect.”
“Amen.”
The greetings continued. I wasn’t able to catch most of the names and the ones I did catch, I promptly forgot as my mind became preoccupied with keeping me upright and awake.
“Is it possible for us to retire for a few hours?” Hadrian asked Tristan. “We have been traveling all night.”
“We wondered if you had chosen to travel by night. Your quarters have been prepared through there.” He turned and gestured toward the midnight blue curtain. “The rest of your party can stay…”
“My assistant and defender will be staying with me.” You and Renato will be with me. Hadrian’s thoughts were edged with exhaustion, making me wonder how much of what I was feeling was my own body’s weariness. Being unable to separate my own sensations from Hadrian’s definitely caused confusion, a negative side effect of commisceo.
“As you wish, Sept Son,” Tristan replied, but his face betrayed his desire to ask why. “I will see that two more cots are brought in for them. As always, there will be defenders placed around the perimeter to maintain your safety.”
I am not sure he will approve of my presence in your quarters, I pointed out to Hadrian.
I am not going to give him the chance to comment on it. Gesturing to Renato and me, Hadrian pulled aside the curtain and entered the tent. Hurriedly handing off my mount to a waiting soldier, I pulled my gear from behind the saddle and hefted it over my shoulder. Keeping my head down to avoid the curiosity of the onlookers, I followed my brother into the sept son’s tent.
Once inside, I dropped the saddlebags to the floor to the right of the door. A jumble of thick rugs covered the ground, three oil lamps hung from wires strung between the supports, and a collection of furniture was situated around the space as though it was a royal bedroom. A desk supplied with paper, quills, and blotter stood next to a bed heaped with heavy bedding.
“Sept Son.” Tristan entered practically on my heels. It was surprising he didn’t trip over me and my gear as he rushed through the flap. “Hadrian, I hardly think this is wise. No offense intended toward you,” he added with a slight bow in my direction. “But allowing a daughter of a royal house to sleep in the same quarters with you is hardly an acceptable arrangement.”
Hadrian closed his eyes for a moment before turning to his older adviser. “All we need is to give her some privacy. A tapestry hanging across from there to there,” he gestured to two points at the end of the room farthest from the bed, “should be enough to give both of us privacy. I am purposefully, including her brother in our arrangements. I trust that he will have enough interest in her well-being to be sure that I will not do anything inappropriate. And, in her capacity as the strongest defender-trained Talent to our knowledge, it is her duty to be accessible at the slightest need.”
My eyes widened. His instantaneous regret over proclaiming my skills passed between us like an apology.
“But she is a female.”
Hadrian sighed, his frustration level visible on his face and in every line of his body. Even without the commisceo link, I would have been able to see the stress. Surely, Tristan could see that he was getting close to his breaking point.
It took him a moment, but Hadrian finally managed to speak without shouting. “I can see that, Tristan.”
“Unless you are intending to marry her…”
Hadrian cut him off. “I have been under contract to marry her for three years, Tristan. I am hardly going to ruin her reputation more than I have already by not marrying her yet. Now can you please get someone in here to attend to a partition for us and then leave us to sleep?”
Tristan frowned, obviously not agreeing with Hadrian about the situation, but still, he saluted and left.
“That was a bit more than necessary,” Renato observed softly.
“Tristan of all of them should realize the seriousness of the situation. We are at war. It is possible that none of us will be living in a week. Who will care about this, then.” Hadrian turned and busied himself unpacking his gear.
The Almighty will. The thought formed and passed across our link before I even realized it. Hadrian’s hands paused. He lowered his head, and his shoulders sagged. A surge of shame and grief flooded our connection.
Renato immediately asked, “What is wrong?”
Straightening his shoulders again, Hadrian answered with an abrupt, “Just prepare for sleep.”
He refused to meet my eyes or look at me, keeping his back to both of us until the men arrived with the cloth for the partition. After a half hour of tense silence, we settled into our sleeping positions. It wasn’t until then that I realized that we had not disconnected our link. I was thankful for that small grace. Hadrian wasn’t doing well, and the connection helped keep me aware of him even more than I would be without it. If something happened, I was certain Hadrian’s reaction would wake me before he did something foolish. I settled into a more comfortable position and sought the Almighty’s face, pouring all my worries and concerns out at His feet.
* * *
Hadrian
She was right. I let my frustration and fear control my actions. Father, why have you chosen me for this task? I am weak, prone to pride and hasty actions. I adjusted my pillow for the fifth time and tried to get my body to relax. Even after at least an hour of pouring out my heart to the Almighty, sleep still escaped my senses. My legs were restless. I felt like I needed to move. I tried to ignore them and began reciting passages from the Revelation in my head.
The passage that came readily to mind convicted me yet again of my actions in the past day. I was reminded that the Almighty reveals His glory in our weaknesses. He, alone, knows the extremes that we are capable of handling, and He will not push us past what we can endure with His help. All of the truths that my parents instilled in me from my youth flooded through my thoughts.
But Almighty, I am not strong enough. I might not survive. My strange dreams and the indications I tried to ignore for the past six months gave every indication that the Almighty might demand everything I had, even my life. I have told you, Father, that my life is Yours, yet You continue to spare it at the cost of so many lives. I know I should trust you and follow, but I am weak. Please help me. Father, give me faith and patience. I need peace to face this, wisdom to lead these men into battle, and courage to face the end in a way that will glorify you. I am your instrument. Please give me the resources to glorify You.
Another hour passed, marked by the rotation of the guards on the other side of the wall, before I managed to drift off. Then, Renato was waking me because an urgent matter regarding the latest recon team’s debriefing needed my attention. I felt as though I had not slept at all
.
Thankfully, Zez still slept peacefully when I left the tent, a replacement defender and Renato in tow. She needed the sleep as much, if not more than I did. One of us should be alert at least most of the time.
* * *
Chapter XIII
Zezilia
Now?
I whipped out of bed to my feet and reached for my ferrum. It wasn’t until my fingers closed on the hilt that I realized that I was completely alone. As the haze of grogginess slipped away, my Talent-senses jumped to life. Four defenders circled the tent keeping a constant perimeter, but I was the only one inside it.
Hadrian’s presence filled my mind, though. His agitation at something set my teeth on edge. It took a solid three minutes of concentration to work out the borders between my thoughts and his. They seemed to have moved as I slept, closing in on my part of the link. However, now that I was awake, my share expanded again.
My heart settled back into its usual rhythm as I concentrated on the basic routines of preparing for the day. From the color and intensity of the sunlight coming through the canvas of the tent, I guessed that it was mid-afternoon.
I dressed quickly, splashed cold water on my face and neck, and entered the main part of the tent. I was struggling with the catch on the left shoulder of my defender uniform when Selwyn’s taste, a wild tang bringing memories of willows, flickered in a questing pulse across my tongue.
“Zezilia? May I come in?”
“Of course,” I replied. The silver catch would not engage. I grimaced at it as Selwyn swept aside the door hanging and stepped inside.
“Can I help? Those can be tricky until you get used to them.”
I sighed heavily. “Yes, please. This is only the fifth time I have worn this, and I am still awkward.”
He approached, slid the catch home, and retreated within seconds. “It suits you.” I looked up from buckling on my ferrum and belt to find him scrutinizing me. “Has Ilias been taking good care of you?”
“Of course. Why would he not?”
He shrugged, a movement so like his brother, but also very much his own. He definitely used it more than Hadrian. “Ilias can become myopic at times and forget about the basic courtesies.”
“I have been well cared for considering it is actually my job to protect him.”
Selwyn snorted at that but didn’t comment. Instead, he changed the subject. “Ilias said you were awake and needed an escort.”
I nodded and reached for my cloak. It was probably warm enough to go without, but who knew when I would be returning to the tent.
“He, however, didn’t tell me how he knew. He is far enough away for a usual sending to be impractical and draining, even for him. No messengers have arrived to carry the message, and obviously, you haven’t been awake long.” His piercing gaze bore into my back as I picked up my gloves and tucked them in my belt without turning around to face him. “Do you care to explain this to me?”
Taking a deep breath, I turned and looked up at him. Meeting his gaze with a steady one of my own, I replied, “I can’t explain it.”
“Because you don’t want to or because you promised not to.”
“The latter.”
“You promised Ilias?”
I nodded. “Now can you take me to him?”
“In a moment. First, I want to know what is going on with Ilias. He is preoccupied, evasive, and annoyingly grumpy. I can see that he isn’t getting enough sleep or taking care of himself, as usual, but there is something else going on, and I intend to get to the bottom of it. Even Emil is worried, and things have to be pretty serious for him to get worried about someone other than himself.” Selwyn glowered at me. “I think you know something, and you aren’t telling me.”
I closed my eyes, secretly glad that someone other than just myself sensed it. Of course, Korneli had picked up on Hadrian’s discomfort too. And he had asked me to watch Hadrian’s back.
Then, I opened my eyes and met Selwyn’s pointed glare. “Korneli senses the same thing, and he is worried that Hadrian is planning something drastic and holding it secret from all of us.”
“That isn’t what you promised Ilias to keep secret,” he observed as his brows furrowed. “If Korneli is worried too, then something is definitely going on. Is this another issue, something to do with Ilias’ worries?”
I shook my head. “I am concerned. I am certain he is intent on some goal, but I haven’t been able to figure out what it is. I was going to ask him straight out, but he hasn’t given me the chance. I think he is avoiding me so I can’t ask him.”
Selwyn’s head came up so fast that I jumped. “Commisceo! You two are commisceo-linked! That idiot!” He took a deep breath and struggled to control his anger. “To try something so experimental at a time like this is stupidity. He is risking yours and his sanity right when we need him to be the most clear minded. If he weren’t the sept son, I would…” As though remembering my presence, he stopped the next words from coming out. Then he met my eyes again. “Please excuse the outburst. Ilias is an idiot to start using commisceo now. How long have you been doing it?”
“About three days.”
“Are you linked now?”
I nodded. “We didn’t disconnect this morning in all the confusion of our arrival, and both of us need to be aware and actively involved in order to sever the connection—unless one of us ConProps.”
Selwyn nodded. “And, Ilias cannot ConProp, even if it would save his life,” he muttered. His mind was obviously somewhere else.
“Can you take me to Hadrian now?” I asked. “I promised Korneli I would stay with him and watch his back.”
Selwyn abruptly pulled himself back to the present. “Certainly, considering everything, you are the best one for the job. After that, I need to get some things moving.”
A sudden fear that our secret would get out prompted me to catch his arm. “You won’t let this become public knowledge, right?”
He shook his head. “I will make sure that we have a way of following Ilias and saving him from his own foolishness if he does try to sneak off on a personal quest. I will let you know what to do if he tries it. We can’t have the sept son exposing himself unnecessarily. Now, come. Ilias is on the other end of the camp, inspecting the men.”
He swept the curtain aside and ushered me out into the sunlight. I wasn’t sure if I should be encouraged or concerned that so many people were looking out for Hadrian. Despite Selwyn’s lack of trust in his brother’s decision making skills when it came to his personal safety, I doubted Hadrian would do anything without a very compelling reason.
* * *
Hadrian
I wasn’t sure gathering out in the open was wise, but then I considered the size of the tents available. There was no way to fit all forty of us in one tent without some serious issues. Instead we were gathered in one of the communal areas throughout the camp. Unlit torches on rough wooden stakes surrounded a makeshift table made from an overturned wagon bottom. The map spread across the table in the sunlight was detailed enough for our purposes, but I could see a few inaccuracies in the areas that weren’t vital to our operation. If there were time, I would have ordered that an updated map be provided, but time was something we lacked.
“The mesitas’ army of 50 legions, about 300,000 men, left Summis four weeks ago.” Hectorius, the coordinating officer for intelligence, pointed a gnarled finger to the city on the map. “We have news that they passed Crotia five days ago. That places them here.” He tapped an area only two days’ journey from my compound. I frowned. “At the rate they are traveling, they can attack the compound by morning in three days.”
“Do they know of our existence?” Plantonio asked. Recently promoted to centurion and assigned a command of 1,000 men, he was determined to understand every aspect of the situation. Usually the position would command 6,000 men, but our numbers were such that only a 1,000 per centurion was practical, especially considering the tactics we intended to use.
Hectoriu
s shook his head. “Selwyn’s spies have been in contact with Cayphis Honorus, and he assures them that our whereabouts are still hidden. If they were known to the mesitas, we can be sure that he would turn to deal with us first. As you can see, with only a slight change in plans, they could attack us in two days and then move on to the compound.”
“It wouldn’t be a wise military move, though,” Korneli pointed out.
“No one ever said the mesitas possessed military wisdom,” Plantonio replied.
“True,” Korneli agreed.
Hectorius pointedly cleared his throat. “This is our objective.” He stabbed the point on the map where the compound lay. “The sept son has made his intentions clear. We attack, incapacitate the Elitist leaders, gather the Elitists willing to surrender, and then retreat with them to the prearranged meeting place.”
Hectorius pulled another map from underneath the first. This one depicted the compound, including walls, buildings, and surrounding lands. A twinge of homesickness pinched my stomach when I spotted my study and personal quarters among the places labeled.
“Working in cohorts of 500 men, we are going to penetrate the walls here, here, and here.” He indicated three of the seven secret entrances through the wall. “According to Defender Selwyn, the Elitists have concentrated most of their armed forces on the gate, the offices, and the treasury. The rest of the compound has been allotted to women and children.”
“Wait a minute.” I raised my hand just as Zezilia and Selwyn appeared round one of the tents and approached our group. “They have brought their women and children with them?”
“It appears as though they have completely abandoned both of their hidden compounds, master,” a young man replied. He could be no older than twenty, but his shoulders were squared with the confidence of a man who earned respect. They start so young, Father. What are we doing to this generation?
The Defender Page 14
