The King's Questioner

by Nikki Katz

  They assessed the building from afar, looking for exits and trying to determine how the seating would be arranged. Kalen laid out the plan. “Cirrus, I need you to get in there and find a way to get ex-brother Gabriel and me at the same table. I will try to keep him in the game until we move to the head table, but if he is losing, I’ll make sure to lose, too, so we can exit at the same time. Luna, you need to scope out the building. Find any possible exits. Also, keep an eye on the stands. Be on the lookout for any other magicked items and notice any agitation or changes in mood in the crowd.” He paused and brushed the key at his neck. “We need answers tonight.”

  The duo made their way to the center pier, jostled their way through the ever-growing crowd, and split apart. Kalen approached the front door, strolled to the main table, and tossed them his coin. There were forty players spread over five tables, and once each table was down to two players, those would advance to a final table to determine the champion.

  The woman directed Kalen to the last table where it sat on the far edge of the main floor. He walked past the tables, eyeing the other players. There he was. Patchy blond hair tied at the nape of his neck. He wore a drab gray robe and pants, loose fitting, as if he couldn’t quite give up his role at the monastery.

  And he sat right across the table from Kalen, watery eyes staring at the hands he twisted. Cirrus had done his part— whether it had cost him coins or a few minutes of flirting, Kalen didn’t know.

  The best player at the table was no doubt the troll-like male sitting directly opposite him. He had an expressionless face that would offer no tells. The player at Kalen’s right would be out first but most likely would stick around to watch the play, especially since he reveled in talking. Gabriel kept twisting his hands and continually looked around the room, seemingly in a heightened state of anxiety.

  The dealer passed out the first hand, and the table quieted. Kalen watched the other players examine their cards, noting any facial movements, tics, and gestures. Play passed to Kalen, and he barely deigned to glance at his cards before tossing four onto the table. Without anyone increasing the bet, it didn’t much matter if he won or lost, just as long as he kept close to Gabriel’s stack. He needed to lose at the same time so they could leave together or stay winning with him to the end.

  Play continued over several hands. Two of the players dropped out, and Kalen held back from attempting to win further hands as Gabriel came precariously close to losing the last of his chips. Sweat beaded on the man’s forehead, and his pale cheeks turned red as he contemplated his latest hand. He laid his cards down and cracked each finger on his right hand and then his left.

  “It’s your turn, sir,” the dealer said.

  “Fine.” He piled his remaining coins in the middle of the table and nearly collapsed onto it. His elbows caught the edge, and his hands supported his chin.

  Kalen readied himself to leave the table if Gabriel lost. He waited with bated breath for the cards to turn over.

  Suddenly a voice carried through the crowd.

  “Grab that man!”

  CHAPTER

  13

  Shouts echoed off the glass walls.

  “He’s a wanted criminal!”

  Bounty hunters.

  Kalen was up and around the table before Gabriel even attempted to stand. He grabbed Gabriel’s wrists and pulled him backward. Gabriel kicked out at him, but Kalen sidestepped and remained upright.

  Cirrus was at his side within seconds to help him restrain the ex-monk.

  “Over here.”

  Kalen heard Luna’s voice from his right, and he and Cirrus dragged Gabriel in that direction. Gabriel managed to hook his foot behind a chair and swung it so it caught Kalen in the side. He grunted but didn’t let go.

  The crowd surged around them. Cirrus led the way, pushing through while Kalen shoved Gabriel ahead, sandwiching the man between them.

  Luna led them toward the glass wall, which overlooked an expanse of water beyond. Kalen’s jaw tightened. What was her plan?

  They reached the wall, and Luna motioned for them to stay behind her. “There’s a lock there, at the bottom. It’s a hatch that drops to the water.”

  Kalen bent over to examine the lock while Cirrus held on to Gabriel. The man continued to thrash around and kicked out, his foot connecting with Luna’s shin. She growled deep in her throat and lunged at him. Her hands were on his neck, and suddenly his eyes rolled back and he dropped to the floor.

  “Night lily?” Kalen asked as he dug out the lockpicks.

  “No, a move Jasper taught me.”

  Kalen spun the circular bronze cover to the side to expose the lock. He slipped in the pick rakes and twisted.

  Shouts continued to echo around them.

  “There he is!”

  “Grab him!”

  “There’s a reward!”

  The crowd surged forward. Cirrus began to shove at those who got close, yelling at them to stay away.

  Kalen finally heard the lock release and grasped the hook to lift the cover open on its hinges. He dared a glance over his shoulder, and what he saw made the key around his neck turn to ice. A figure stood off to the side of the room, tall and thin, his eyes black as midnight. The man from the Impérial, just as Luna had described him. Even more startling, the eerie silent twins stood on either side of him, their heads tilted toward his, their eyes now equally as black. His mouth moved as if he were directing the other two. Suddenly people close to them began to panic.

  “I can’t see!”

  Within seconds Kalen’s vision faded to black. He rubbed at his eyes, frantically trying to see again, but it was like he’d gone completely blind.

  Beside him Cirrus spoke in a frantic voice. “What happened? Did someone turn out the lights?”

  Sounds of panic and chaos resounded as people fell and elbowed one another in their hurry to get out. Something drove into Kalen’s shoulder, and he braced himself with his hands.

  A low, soothing voice swept over the crowd. “Please remain quiet and still. I will move around you. If you do as I ask, you will not be harmed.”

  Silence fell.

  Luna spoke quietly. “They’re headed this way.”

  “We need to go. Now,” Kalen muttered. “Luna, help Cirrus through the hole.”

  “Do not move.” The voice again. Kalen heard more in the tone now. It was as if the lack of sight had enhanced his hearing. The words echoed inside his mind.

  “Get me out of here.” Cirrus crashed past Kalen, his elbow digging into Kalen’s side. A gust of air and a splash seconds later.

  “I said don’t move.” The voice was closer.

  “Hurry,” Kalen said.

  Luna gripped his arm and whispered in his ear. “Scoot forward. Your feet are right there.”

  His hands groped around him as he reached to pull his picks out of the lock. He dropped them into his vest pocket, gripped the edge of the hole, and plummeted into the water below.

  Kalen spit water out of his mouth as he sputtered to the surface. His eyes peeled open, and he heaved a sigh of relief that he could see again. His cloak billowed around him, keeping him buoyed. He swam out of the way and waited for Luna to push Gabriel through the hatch. Moments later the body splashed, and Kalen swam over. Gabriel floated facedown on the surface, and Kalen wrestled with his gray tunic to flip him onto his back. He tugged him away, and moments later Luna herself plunged into the water.

  Lightning fish darted around them as Kalen tried to keep Gabriel from sinking. He worked his arms underneath the man’s armpits, leaned back, and kicked himself backward in the water. He tilted his head to motion the other two past him.

  “Find us an empty dock,” Kalen told Luna. “I need to access his memories before he awakes, and I don’t want to do it while treading water.”

  Luna swam around the massive supports in search of somewhere they could climb out. Cirrus seemed paralyzed by the inky water. His eyes darted from their surroundings to the water’s surface
as soon as a lightning fish came within view, and his breaths came short and fast.

  “Cirrus.” Kalen waited until the prince made eye contact. “You’re fine. Be glad you can see again. Let’s swim slowly toward the shore.” They needed to get away from there quickly, before someone followed them into the depths of the water.

  They had only swum a dozen yards before Luna reappeared and led them to the right. They swam under one pier, and Cirrus’s breath became shallow again. As soon as the sky appeared above, he relaxed, but only slightly. A lightning fish was intent to be their friend, swimming off to Kalen’s side.

  They reached a dock that sloped into the water. It was small, meant for only one boat. Kalen dug his back against the wood and pushed Gabriel onto the surface before climbing up after him.

  “I’m not sure how long he’ll be out,” Luna said. “But I’ll be here and ready if he starts to awaken.”

  Kalen stripped off his gloves. “Cirrus, you go ahead and find horses. You’ll be better at finding ones capable of our journey.” They had no choice but to leave now that the bounty hunter had set the entire city against them. “We will meet you at the inn.”

  Cirrus nodded and walked up to the pier above before turning the corner and disappearing from sight.

  Kalen laid his palm flat on Gabriel’s bare forearm. He closed his eyes and entered the mind of the ex-monk. A wave slapped the dock, and he registered the disorientation of his body as it swayed, but his mind was locked elsewhere.

  He found himself in a library. Each book resting on the shelf held a different memory, but only a few were locked within chains and padlocks. Either Gabriel hadn’t done much in his life that warranted secrets, or he didn’t care to lock them away.

  The shelves were labeled in looping script. Kalen found one categorized as The Catacombs and selected a book. He opened the cover, and the pages fanned to envelop him in memories, pulling him into a dark hall that ended in an open doorway. The utter darkness of the room pulsed, and shadows slipped down the wall and into the hallway to pool at his feet. They writhed up the other side and filled the length of the space. Gabriel stood, frozen. Listening. A song poured through the open doorway, wrapped in colors Kalen had never seen. Yellows with hints of purple and gray. Green with a touch of red and orange. Melancholy laced with poison. A child’s lullaby sung by an ageless, soft soprano. The voice was off-key, but the words were clear, the melody discernible.

  Darling girl, I love you still.

  Rain will fall and Reign you will.

  Darling girl, don’t be afraid.

  Reign you will and rain will fade.

  She was sadness, this angel of the catacombs.

  Kalen closed that book and opened another. The same room, only this time Gabriel had stepped farther into its depths. In the center of the cavern, light streamed in from above, a narrow, dust-swirled beam of sun. It seemed to come from miles away, its heat long since having dissipated by the time it reached the cold damp of the catacombs.

  The singing began again, the colors the same, only darker, more tangible, and more sinister. The tune haunted Gabriel as the words echoed loosely off columns and coffins and the ridges in the dark outskirts of the room.

  Ribbons of emotion wrapped around Gabriel, winding up his arms and legs to bind his chest. He wanted to run away and flee this insanity, but his curiosity dragged him forward. His toe caught an uneven lip in the floor, and he stumbled. He caught himself against the wall, wincing in pain.

  The singing stopped.

  Whisper-soft movements. Gabriel stayed perfectly still. A swirl of dust off to his left. The faint outline of a person, draped in pale panels of fabric. Even paler skin, a face dotted with freckles. Light eyes, blue gray in color, framed by long lashes. Auburn hair, some of it knotted and much of it tangled, fell to her waist. She gripped a desiccated flower in the hand hanging loose at her side. The dried petals dusted a trail of pale pink to line the floor, a narrow path that traced her route through the room.

  She almost walked right past Gabriel but then stopped, her bare feet close enough to touch his boots. She turned toward him, and her eyes scanned his face. Her free hand reached up slowly as if lifted by a delicate string, and her index finger traced the skin from his temple down past his cheekbone to his chin.

  “Hello.” Her speaking voice was liquid over sand, gravelly yet feminine, and lower than when she’d been singing. Her hand fell to her side and was quickly lost in the fabrics draping over her waist and legs. “My name is Reign. Can you please help me?”

  Gabriel swallowed. He wanted to help her, but the binds tightened. His lungs felt ready to collapse, and each breath was a struggle. Even as she reached out for him, her expression full of longing and despair, he pushed against the bindings, turned, and ran.

  “No…” The wail chased him through the darkened tunnels.

  Kalen readied himself to leave Gabriel’s mind when the memory shifted, the scene brightening as the monk raced out an opening into the dim light of dusk. A man stood there, absurdly thin and tall, with light hair and eyes. He looked like he’d been expecting Gabriel.

  “I have to get out of here!” Gabriel practically shouted the words. “I can’t stay any longer.” He grasped at the man’s hands, but the man pulled away. “Can you help? I have no money to travel.”

  The man tipped his head forward and withdrew a small chest from beneath the folds of his cloak. The chest looked identical to the one Kalen had seen in Genevieve’s tent earlier that day.

  “Take this to Antioege. You will be met there by someone who will retrieve the amulet. Do what you want with the chest.”

  The monk began to shake. “I can’t be around the amulet’s powers, though.”

  The man shrugged in nonchalance. “The chest will give you some respite; however, if it’s too much, I can find someone else to make the journey. You asked for assistance in leaving. I will provide coin and a horse, so the travel will be easier. Be glad it’s not winter.”

  Gabriel twisted his hands together. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

  Shadows curled in at the edges of Kalen’s vision, and the memory ended.

  So that was how the crystal had been brought to Antioege, and ultimately Mureau.

  And the girl. Reign. She had to be the princess.

  Kalen closed the book and replaced it on the shelf. Then he took a deep breath, knowing there would be pain on the other side, and yanked himself from Gabriel’s mind.

  His hand slipped off the monk’s arm, and he tried to stand, but the needles in his head doubled him over.

  “We need to go,” Luna said softly. She helped him shakily rise to his feet, and he pushed his hands into his gloves. Luna nudged Gabriel closer to the wall so he wouldn’t flail upon awaking and roll into the water.

  With tentative steps, Kalen followed Luna up the incline to the pier, where they found themselves in a narrow alley between two buildings. Kalen’s arms brushed the exterior walls as he made his way through and then onto the open extension of walkway beyond. They took a moment to get their bearings before heading toward the series of pier and bridge crossings that would lead them to the outer reaches of the shore.

  A wind whipped up from the sea, and Kalen began to shiver. The Antioegen clothing was thin and silky and stuck to him, chafing and frigid. His gloved fingers were the only things that remained warm.

  It took them a while to make their way across the piers, but they finally reached the shore and slipped off the paved walkway onto the cobblestone streets leading farther into the hills.

  In the alley behind the inn, Cirrus waited with three horses.

  “Were they difficult to procure?” Kalen asked.

  “You’d be surprised at how easy it was.”

  Kalen looked at him quizzically.

  “We had a little bit of a follower. Robert met me as soon as I made it to the upper piers and asked if he could help. I’m not surprised. My charisma is known to bring all types of unsolicited assistance.”


  “I’m sure the food helped,” Luna muttered.

  “Anyway, I told him we needed horses, and he said there were several at the monastery.”

  “Did you pay him?” Kalen asked.

  “Of course I did.” Cirrus looked pained. “However, I’m not sure if the boy will actually hand off the money. He doesn’t seem too thrilled with his current custodians.” He reached over to a grab a low-hanging small red fruit from a tree. Before Kalen could stop him, he’d taken a huge bite. His mouth puckered, and he spit it out. He tossed the rest of the fruit down the street. “I wouldn’t even give that to the horse.”

  “Plaeria,” Kalen told him in way of explanation. “They use them in some of the sour breads.”

  Cirrus swallowed and wiped at his mouth. Then he glanced toward the inn. “I was going to suggest we stay the night and leave at sunrise…”

  Kalen stared at him.

  “Teasing. I know we need to get on the road, but I do want to grab our bags.”

  Luna held up a hand. “We might want to try a different route. I can hear the twins inside the front door.”

  They stared at her slack-jawed.

  “Were you going to tell us?” Kalen asked.

  “Once you stopped discussing the local fruit offerings, I was going to tell you.”

  “What are they talking about? Is the bounty hunter with them?”

  “No mention of him, but they don’t seem very happy with how the tournament ended.” She tightened her hood around her face. “They are pretty chatty for not actually speaking aloud.”

  Kalen rubbed at his key. They needed their clothing and coins for travel.

  “Is there an issue here?” Cirrus asked. “I can take on two girls.”

  Luna smirked. “I’m sure you could bore them to death with your tales of travel, but it’s probably better that we get away without them knowing. I can get to the second story from outside the building.”

  “Be careful. The other one might be in wait upstairs.” One of the horses sidestepped, and Kalen stroked its forehead to keep it calm. “Leave some coins on the nightstand for the innkeeper’s trouble. And hurry.”