by Guy Antibes
The Duke of Applia had light blue eyes, uncommon for a Parantian. He remained standing but raised his arms. “Sit, sit. This is a time for excitement! You are all my servants, my comrades. Tomorrow we will make a new Applia, which I hope will lead us to a new era in Paranty.”
Ricky could easily imagine what the duke meant instead of era. The duke wanted a new dynasty with himself as the founder. Ricky didn’t care much for the speech. Some of the duke’s words were ingenuous, and others were outright lies. The man had secretly taken control of Applia. Tomorrow night there would be widows aplenty in Applia and in all of Paranty. The conflict would empty out the Home.
He caught enough of the Duke of Applia’s babbling to know his goals didn’t coincide with Saganet’s. The man finally sat after cheers from the fooled inmates. Ricky noticed Gil staring at him. He nodded as he clapped politely. Ricky looked around to see other less vocal inmates. He hoped they were the leaders.
Lunch was served. There were no lines. Guards and cooks brought out plates of food and set them out for the inmates. Ricky tasted his lunch. He expected a tastier meal but was disappointed. They were expected to stay seated when the front table filed out.
A guard gave Ricky a note to meet in the warden’s office immediately. Was Pacci going to give him a farewell beating?
About ten guards milled around outside the warden’s office. Not all of them wore the Home’s uniforms.
Pacci stepped out and made eye contact with Ricky. “Valian, come here.” He put his mouth close to Ricky’s ear. “Watch yourself. Don’t mention the beatings or you won’t live to see tomorrow morning.”
“Young Valian,” the Duke of Applia said as he rose from behind the warden’s desk. “I attended the Novice Competition Finals in Tossa last summer. I was greatly impressed by your performance. Astonishing, really, for someone your age.” The man grinned, but the smile was greasy and unpleasant to Ricky. “I can remove you from the Home, despite Antino’s objections. I think we have better use for you in my personal guard.”
The offer stunned Ricky. He hadn’t expected his competition performance to be his way out of the Home. Pacci glared at him behind the duke’s back.
Ricky looked at both men. The duke’s instrument was Pacci. That made the duke guilty of everything Pacci did, including the murder of Henni, the library guard.
“With due respect,” Ricky began, mentally stating that neither Pacci or the duke deserved any respect, “I would rather fight with my friends and with the inmates, or prisoners, as Warden Pacci calls them. If I am alive tomorrow afternoon, I will consider such a graceful offer.” Ricky bowed to the duke. His words and sentiments were just a performance. He had people to protect, and he wouldn’t be able to do that waiting for another opportunity for the duke to push Ricky into harm’s way.
The duke turned red. “It’s my one and final offer.”
“I am sorry.” Ricky bowed his head and looked up into the gloating eyes of Pacci.
“Rest up along with the others. Tomorrow is likely to be a taxing day for all of us.” The duke looked very displeased and flicked his hand, dismissing him.
Pacci followed Ricky out the door. “I’m not sure why you didn’t jump at the chance to save your worthless life,” Pacci said into Ricky’s ear. “I assure you I am not a fan of performance sorcerers. Enjoy your afternoon; it will be your last.” He twisted Ricky’s ear before pushing him back towards Building Two.
Ricky didn’t have to wonder if he had done the right thing as he walked by himself to his cell. The door was open. Master Pisan sat on his bed.
“Nice pillow you have here,” he said. “What did the duke want?”
“What do you care, Master Pisan? You know you’ll be out of a job tomorrow. Everyone will be gone. A new warden will undoubtedly be running the Home.”
“Me,” Pisan said. He sneered at Ricky. “Me.” He jutted out his chin at Ricky.
“Not if I have any say,” Ricky said.
Pisan took his belt off and closed the door. “I want to tell Lady Taranta that I finally killed you. She might pay me extra to know I throttled you to death.”
Ricky shook his head. “So I don’t have anything to lose, do I?”
Pisan furrowed his brow. “What do you mean by that?”
Ricky pulled out one of the switches from his stupid red cape. “I am the one who will be doing the beating.”
Pisan laughed. “With a stick?”
“With a stick. You’ll find I am not defenseless.” Ricky stood eye-to-eye with Pisan, who was a short man.
“You can’t fight me.”
“Let’s do it,” Ricky said.
He grabbed Pisan’s belt before the man had a chance to use it as a whip and struck with his switch on Pisan’s hand as hard as he could. Pisan wailed and let go of the belt. Ricky backhanded the switch across Pisan’s cheek, drawing blood.
Ricky shouted the faint spell, and Pisan collapsed at his feet. As much as the man deserved to be killed, Ricky put the man on his stomach and gave him about twenty good whacks on his bottom. Ricky wouldn’t be the only person needing a pillow.
Gil opened the door. “I came to talk about tomorrow.” He looked at Pisan on the floor and gasped. “What have you done with Pisan?”
“A little payback,” Ricky said, turning his head and cracking his neck.
“Much deserved, but won’t he snitch to Warden Pacci as soon as he wakes up?”
Ricky realized that he had acted without thinking his attack through. It didn’t matter, as he instantly came up with a solution.
“Help me hide him.”
Gil waited for the corridor to empty before the two of them carried Pisan to the cleaning closet.
“I have a key,” Ricky said. He unlocked the door and stopped. The two cleaning ladies lay dead on the floor. Both of their necks were red from strangulation. Probably the same belt that Pisan would have used on him. Ricky looked at Pisan and then back at the bodies.
“He must have killed them!” Gil said.
They rushed to carry Pisan in. Dirty sheets filled half the little room. The two women had done no wrong except to listen to someone talk at the wrong time or nag Pisan about something or other. The disgust of it all made Ricky nauseous.
Ricky stared at Pisan’s body. He couldn’t let Pisan’s act go unpunished, so he spelled a cloud in Pisan’s mind and turned the smoke into pellets. Pisan had stopped breathing by the time Ricky covered him with sheets. Gil might never know, but Ricky thought Pisan deserved to die by a technique Ricky had perfected on a chicken. Pisan made hens look good. They straightened out the poor women’s bodies and left the room.
“This is a master key that I created,” Ricky said as Gil stood, staring as Ricky tested the latch to make sure it was locked. “We have to leave here. Back to my room.”
“What was he doing in your cell?” Gil asked after he closed Ricky’s door.
“He was paid to kill me. He might have done it had I not bitten back,” Ricky said.
“He’ll wake up for sure.”
Ricky shook his head, knowing Pisan had passed away. “I’m not going to worry about it. How did the organizing go?”
Gil shook his head. “You don’t have to concern yourself with Mattia’s unit. The others will do what they wish to do. Unit three has a task that they aren’t allowed to talk about.”
Ricky pressed his lips together. He’d feel a lot better if he had reached Saganet before he left for Applia. “Be prepared for anything. If nothing else, when I say run, leave the field as a unit. Once you are away from the soldiers, scatter, for all will be on their own. I suggest leaving Applia, but winter starts tomorrow, and it may be difficult for some. Once the duke is on his own, I would guess his rule will be very harsh.”
“I enjoyed all the training,” Gil said. “I’ve been here for four years. Warden Sarini made it a tolerable place and with the training…” Gil looked out Ricky’s window. “I guess I had something I enjoyed doing until Pacci turned the plac
e into a madhouse.”
“Maybe you’ll become a soldier or a guard,” Ricky said. “All I care about is getting as many saved as possible.” He didn’t tell Gil about the duke’s offer.
~~~
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
~
A S RICKY CREPT DOWN TO THE EMPTY BASEMENT, he didn’t see any guards, and the corridor looked desolate to Ricky’s eyes. He opened the door to his old cell and examined the cloaks, picking out four, trying to get ones that fit. They weren’t clean, but they would provide more protection from the cold and would allow them to shed their bright capes.
He stood in the dim light and looked around. The cell held memories, but not happy ones for Ricky. He passed the library and sighed, thinking of the treasure hidden within.
Ricky moved upstairs and opened the door to Siria’s suite. Even with the little light available, he saw Warden Sarini sit up on the sofa.
“Ricky?” she whispered.
He sneaked in and closed the door behind him. “I brought gifts for tomorrow.”
The warden made a face in Ricky’s sorcery light. “Stinky gifts.”
Siria stood at the door to her bedroom. “The cloaks? I thought you would forget them.”
“No, despite the smell, wear them under your capes. When the action heats up toss your red capes aside and run away from the conflict.”
“You think this will save our lives?”
“Maybe not, but you’ll stand a better chance not being a target for an archer from across the square.”
Siria sighed. “You’re right. I don’t like it when you are right, but you are.”
“He’s right, and I like it,” Warden Sarini said.
“The Duke of Applia asked me to join his forces. If I did, I wouldn’t have to fight tomorrow.”
Siria frowned. “So you’re deserting us?”
“Would I be delivering these if I were? I’d only be preserved until the duke was ready to throw me away another time.”
Siria yawned. “I’m going back to bed and enjoy my last night.” She shut her door.
Ricky stayed for a moment. “I killed Pisan,” he said to the warden.
“He deserved it. So nasty. I would have gotten rid of him long ago, but Antino liked him.”
“He killed the two cleaning ladies for Building 2 and thought he’d do the same to me. I had to tell someone. Gil Bisacci knows about the women, but not Pisan, so he doesn’t count.”
“And I do? If you did that under other circumstances, you’d be in the Home for years to come.”
“These aren’t other circumstances,” Ricky said. “I have something else to tell you. I shouldn’t, but I will. Master Mattia likes you. I thought you should know.”
Warden Sarini lifted a corner of her mouth. “I know. Under other circumstances…He’s a better man that became trapped by bad choices. I feel sad for him.”
“You learned two secrets tonight.”
“And I won’t be able to do anything about them. For one I’m glad, and for the other, I feel a touch of melancholy.” She slapped Ricky on the shoulder and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. “You truly are such a good boy.” She caressed his cheek with the back of her hand. “Thank you for being a friend when I thought I didn’t deserve any.”
Ricky felt very awkward all of a sudden. “I need to leave.”
“Then go. We will march together, tomorrow, wearing our stinky black cloaks under our stunning red capes.”
Ricky left it at that and departed. He dodged some guards on his way to his room and entered, surprised the door was open. Then it dawned on him. The door-locker was unavailable, lying in a cleaning station down the hall.
~
Ricky woke up before the breakfast bell. The weather looked bright but cold, with a new layer of snow on the ground. He put on multiple layers of his clothes and sat on his bed. He didn’t have much time to connect to Merry.
He took a deep breath and used all the will he could to establish a connection with his benefactor. Ricky relaxed a bit when he felt the link slide into place.
Merry?
Oh, Ricky. You are so much clearer! I was so worried. You said danger and then only a few scattered words, or are they thoughts? Anyway, only a few got through. Is there a rebellion in Applia? We arrived late last night, and we are waiting in the inn’s dining room for Saganet.
Ricky was concerned. Make sure Effie keeps him from going out. His network in Applia has been compromised by the Duke of Applia.
Oh! Oh! There he is. Get him, Effie! It’s important. Go! Go! Go!
Ricky hoped Mistress Doubli wasn’t jumping up and down talking to someone who nobody saw.
I just told him. He says he already figured it out. I was so upset, Merry said.
Tell Saganet what I’m telling you. Is he sitting down at the table? Don’t blurt out my words. It’s a secret.
This is serious, isn’t it?
Very. The Duke of Applia is going to attack the Royal Barracks today. It may be at noon since we haven’t mustered yet.
What is this ‘we haven’t mustered’ business? Merry asked.
He is using all the inmates over fourteen, boys and girls, at the Juvenile Home as a diversion. We are going to draw out the soldiers from the barracks, and then the duke’s militia will attack the exposed soldiers.
Ricky waited while Merry repeated the information.
Saganet says that puts you between two armies, Merry said.
As intended. The duke doesn’t care how many of the boys are killed. I am certain I am one targeted to be eliminated during the conflict, as well as some of the people I have met. Saganet has to warn the King’s soldiers. He must forsake his political feelings this once. Tell him that. I’ve got more to say.
Ricky waited longer. He wondered if the connection had been cut, but the link was still locked in.
Saganet knows the commander of the barracks. He will warn them.
Tell Effie that Warden Nania Sarini is another person targeted to be killed. If she can help in some way to save her, I would appreciate it. I told the warden that I would protect her, but I’m not sure I can do that while I’m engaged keeping the Home’s youth alive. She should be wearing a red cape.
Ricky hoped that Merry didn’t get the message distorted. He had no way of knowing. At least he had kept Saganet from being captured at his contact’s house.
Is there anything else?
Ricky talked for a few more minutes and ran out of things to say or plan. He couldn’t do anything else until the situation developed. At least he had a chance to save soldiers’ lives and some of the boys. Everything else depended on the direction chance pointed them.
Someone knocked on Ricky’s door. “Time to muster. Go to your unit’s practice area.”
Ricky heard the same message repeated down the corridor while he prepared to leave. He wore two pairs of socks and layers of shirts and underwear. He wrapped a cloak around him and buttoned it up, followed by the red cape.
If he had to wield a sword, Ricky decided he would have to shed layers, but he expected that he would be using his version of battle sorcery more than anything else.
Gil stood outside his cell. “I suggest that you use the washroom if you haven’t used your chamber pot.”
Ricky nearly turned around to return to his cell, but ducked inside the washroom and waited in line until he was through and emerged. Gil still waited.
“Thanks, I would have forgotten.”
“Don’t thank me; Master Mattia has been spreading the word for the last half an hour. Let’s go. I don’t suppose you were able to get a last-minute message out?”
Ricky just smiled. “Be prepared for anything. We have a long way to go, and the strategy we worked out yesterday is the same strategy for today. I suppose no one noticed the state of the linens in Building Two?”
Gil laughed. “Not at all. Everyone has better things to do.”
“I wouldn’t use the term ‘better,'” Ricky said.
; “I guess not.” The two of them descended the stairway and joined the rest of Mattia’s unit buckling on swords and taking a knife or two from a barrel full of them. The weapons couldn’t be very good considering how they were distributed, so Ricky grabbed a knife but refused an offered sword. His part of the conflict would be fought by will and song.
Mattia stood above the rest on the back stairway leading outside.
“I stand a bit reluctantly in front of you. Be wary. You will not be reserves as you were originally told but will be an advanced force attacking the Royal Barracks. Do not think to run. Guards will surround all units as we march. Any inmates who choose to run will be cut down. No one will be given any quarter. Am I understood?”
Mattia’s announcement was met with some grumbling. “Once the fighting begins, you are all on your own.” Mattia looked at Gil who looked out at the unit and nodded. The grumbling stopped. Word had been spread to Mattia’s group.
“Good luck. Valian, stay behind. I have additional orders for you.” Mattia looked at Gil. “Bissaci, you lead the troops.”
The youth walked up the stairs.
“Young Valian, do you have something planned?”
“You mean a few surprises?”
“I do.”
Ricky nodded. “Watch out for Warden Sarini. I’ve asked another for help, so between the two of you, she might stand a chance.”
Mattia pursed his lips, looking grim. “I’ll look for her red cape.”
“The woman without the red hair,” Ricky said referring to Siria.
“Good luck,” He put out his hand.
“I’ll see you later this afternoon,” Ricky said.
Mattia nodded and ran up the stairs. Ricky followed slowly after. He looked around the field and spotted two red capes. He walked over to join them.
“Black cloaks?”
Kela flashed her cape open revealing the ratty cloak beneath. “I must admit it is warmer.”
Ricky looked around. “Where is Warden Sarini?”
Siria searched the grounds as well. “There, a red cape, walking with Pacci.”
Ricky’s heart fell. The warden wore heavy manacles and something around her neck. It looked like a leather leash because Pacci held the other end.
