More relieved than he could say, Theron smiled. “Yes, I’m here. What happened?”
The frown on his father’s face deepened. “You can’t be here.” He stopped, taking a few gasping breaths. “The guards are looking for you.”
“You’re hurt.”
Kino tried to sit up, wincing. “Of course I’m hurt, son. I’m not here on holiday.”
The more they spoke, the more the reality of it sunk in. Though he didn’t really want to know, he couldn’t help asking. “Why are you here?”
The older man was shaking his head, answering the question that hadn’t been asked. “They didn’t bring me here. I came here. Looking for you.”
“I don’t understand.”
Kino looked through the cell door, grimacing as he shifted forward, trying to stand. “Theron,” he hesitated, almost as if what he planned to say was painful. “You need to leave. They’ll catch you, son.”
“Don’t worry about that. I have to get you out of here.”
“No. I should stay here, until they release me.”
Theron looked at him as though he’d lost his mind. “Kino, they don’t release people from this place. You know that.”
“I’d be defying the Emperor to leave without his pardon.”
Resisting the urge to swear, Theron reasoned, “How can he pardon you, when you’ve done no wrong? Come, Oto-san.” Grasping his father’s arm and lending him a shoulder, he said, “It’s not right for them to punish you for something you haven’t done.”
It may have been that Kino was too weak to argue, but he didn’t protest any further, struggling to his feet. Theron didn’t comment on the weakness he felt in his father or the hitch in the man’s unsteady breathing. He concentrated on getting past the other cells, past the guards’ sleeping quarters and up the innumerable stairs into the fresh night air.
Once there, Theron paused, unsure of what to do. Kino spoke, and Theron heard quiet certainty in the older man’s voice. “I’ll be alright. I’ll find my way.”
“No. Where will you go?” There might be those who served time in the dungeon and were released (though not that he’d heard). It was certainly more likely for one to enter it and never leave. “Once they discover the cell is empty, you won’t be safe.”
“I should have stayed.”
Theron felt his patience slipping. “And do what? Wait for death? Because she would have come knocking before they let you go.” He shook his head, sighing. “Oto-san, things aren’t what they seem. Let me get you to safety.” The older man looked like he’d say more, but his eyes dropped and he nodded. Again, Theron didn’t know if it was because he agreed or was too tired to disagree. He found he didn’t care. Kino needed food, rest and time to recover.
It was obvious that making the trek alone would be too risky for the older man. Theron looked into the darkened woods, thinking his only option was to get his father deep into the brush, out of the patrol route and hope he could get back here and find his way into the tunnels without being discovered.
A sound and a voice came softly from their left. “Can I help?” Theron knew already who it was when he turned, but Kino uttered a startled oath, jerking sharply, gasping at the pain he’d caused himself. Ria darted forward, into the flicker of torchlight from the dungeon entrance. “Isao-sama, it’s just me,” her eyes were wide and worried. “Sorry!” Theron felt a rush of warmth run through his irritation that she was putting herself at risk again. When he’d tried so hard to have her stay safely with Mako, Kit and the horses.
To be honest, though, right now he was grateful she’d come. She had a talent for avoiding detection. He and his father needed that right now. “Can you get him back to camp?”
“What is she doing here, Theron?” The former Protector turned on the present Protector. “You’d allow her into this horror? Iriana, you cannot be here.”
Ria didn’t answer her elder, focused on Theron’s question. “Yes, but what are you planning? You’ve taken too long. We will have to move soon. Mako found the patrol routes are criss-crossing and moving across the forest paths. We’ll be discovered, if we don’t move soon.”
“How long do we have?”
Ria started to answer, but Kino snapped, “Mako. Mako is with you?”
Surprised at the anger in Kino’s voice, Theron frowned. “Yes. I had to …” and here he broke off, remembering that moment when he had placed a blade at the guard’s throat. He pushed the thought away. “He chose to help us,” he hurried to reassure him. “He helped us, Kino-sama.”
“Helped you do what, Theron? In less than a fortnight, you have gone from being the Mamoru, the most honored servant to the Emperor, to what? An outlaw, without honor.” He tried to pull away from Theron, but didn’t have the strength to do so. “You defy your duty, your Emperor, and you have involved Akiyama-sama in this – this lawlessness.”
“I did not involve him, he involved himself,” Theron bit out, shame burning through him at his adopted father’s words. Memories flashing over the events that led him here, he told himself Kino couldn’t know. That it was not a dishonor to break his service to an evil ruler. An insane murderer. “It is not what it seems, Oto-san,” Theron found himself stumbling on the words, not knowing how far his adopted father’s anger might go. “Let us get you to safety. Let me find Lady Lynea. I cannot protect her when I am here.”
At the mention of the Emerald Lady, Kino’s expression softened, but his voice still had a hard edge. “What do you need to protect her from? I was brought before the Emperor, Theron. He was furious. He told me what you’ve done.” His voice shook and he stopped talking, his breathing ragged in the night air. Finally, he said, “I know that you love her. But she belongs to another.” His eyes dropped from Theron’s, as the weight of his years and what he’d been told seemed to strip the strength from him.
Theron felt a flash of anger overwhelm his concern. His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean by that?”
“It should be obvious. You can’t hope to have a life with her.”
“How can you think I would do that?” Theron’s voice rose, sharp in the crisp air. From the corner of his eye, he saw Ria glance around quickly, her gaze checking the door of the dungeon and the path that ran around the rear of the palace.
Blinking, he stepped closer to his adopted father, lowering his voice. “You should know me better.”
“I thought I did.” Kino looked away with a hitching kind of turn that pulled at Theron’s attention. The torchlight from the dungeon entrance was faint where they stood, but he could see the edge of a bruise across the left side of the older man’s cheekbone. It was nearly hidden by the older man’s hair, hanging ragged around his face – so different from how he normally kept it, smooth and tied back.
He shook his head, exhaling a sharp breath. “What did they do to you in there?”
Kino’s gaze jerked back to his, but instead of answering the question, he said, “They were looking for you, and they tried to get me to tell them what I did not know.” Taking a step back, he leaned one arm against the wall for support. “And they were looking for something else, stolen from the Emperor. Do you have this thing?”
“What thing? I don’t have anything of the Emperor’s.”
Kino made a frustrated noise. “No, he acted as if you knew of it. That you had it, and after –”
Frowning, Theron said, “After?”
“After you tried to kidnap the Emerald Lady,” Kino said. “I heard two of the guards talking, later. They said they saw you visit the lady’s rooms, late, four nights ago. You attacked the Emperor. The Imperial Guards.” The old man shook his head. “They didn’t know I could hear. They wouldn’t lie, talking among themselves.”
It seemed like Kino would have said more, but Theron only heard the disappointment in his voice, and it wrung something tight and desperate in him to hear that from his father.
Ria wasn’t looking at them, her eyes focused into the darkness surrounding them. She looked despe
rately unhappy. “Oto-san. That’s not what happened.” Unconsciously, Theron placed a hand on Ria’s shoulder, as if he could shield her from what his father had said. “Everything I’ve done is to keep Lady Lynea safe.”
“She’s not in danger!” his father snapped, before sighing, his voice taking on a heavy note. “I’ve seen you with her.” Finally, Kino looked at him, really looked at him. The older man shook his head. “Even now, your eyes tell me you’re lying.” The words, however softly spoken, cut deeper than any knife.
Though he couldn’t quite meet his father’s eyes, he said, “No, I’m not lying. Much as the Emperor and those guards might wish I were. As they might even believe.” Placing his arm around the other man’s shoulders, he turned him toward the Emperor’s woods. “We can talk later, father.” He looked back at the entrance to the dungeon. Even now, the clock was ticking. “We need to get you away from here.”
Hearing those words seemed to shake Ria from her thoughts. “Let me go with him,” she said, gesturing broadly toward the shadowed tree line. “We’ll leave the same way I got in.” Theron opened his mouth, worried about patrolling guards. He could, at least, escort them to the edge of the grounds. Kino was in no condition to fight and considering his view on recent events, Theron wasn’t certain the man would, if they were caught. But Ria tilted her head at him with a wry smile, almost as if she could read his mind. “You know that I can find my way. Probably more easily than you.” Reaching forward, she put a hand on Kino’s elbow and pulled gently. “I’ll get him to the camp.” Quietly, she said, “Go find the lady.”
He started to say “no,” or “it’s too dangerous,” but she shook her head, looking away.
“Just go, my lord. You don’t have much time.”
Theron felt his stomach churn at the unhappy twist to her mouth and the way she had addressed him. Don’t call me that, he didn’t say. He pushed down the urge to say it out loud, and to tell her that what his father had said was wrong. Now wasn’t the time. He needed to hurry and Kino needed to be away from here. So he said nothing, nodding tightly. He could trust her.
He had to get moving again. After all that had happened, it was clear now that somehow Tatsuo had eyes on him. Was able to track him. The Emperor may even know he was back on the grounds and decide to move Lynea again. Saving his father notwithstanding, Theron was a fool for taking so long. As soon as Ria and his father faded into the dark, he turned, heading back to the dungeon.
˜ ˜ ˜
Ria lay a palm against Kino’s shoulder, silently beckoning him to follow. Moving away quickly, she hoped that he would follow. A moment later the muted rustle of his footsteps sounded in the grass behind her and she let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding.
Blinking rapidly, she let her eyes adjust to the darkness of the grounds and the shadows between the pools of light that the torches around the buildings gave off. She focused on keeping her eyes on the shadows, telling herself it was so her eyes adjusted more quickly. Truthfully, though, it was more to distract herself from what she’d just heard, than for her night vision. She knew this area of the grounds well enough that she could almost navigate it blindfolded.
She felt her stomach roll, thinking about the words Kino and Theron had exchanged. That conversation had been headed nowhere good. She hadn’t realized, standing outside of Kino’s house (and eavesdropping) that Theron was his son. How could a father accuse his son of such things? Especially one who was trying his best to do his duty. She felt a spike of anger for the man following her. She had always respected Kino before this. Didn’t he see that Theron had been set up?
“Where are you taking me, Ria?”
“Shh.” Ria was harsher than she strictly needed to be, but she couldn’t feel badly about it. “Please. We will be discovered.” Sound carried far in the night air and they were nearing the next patrol route. If a guard were to be a few minutes early or late, “We have to hurry, Kino-san. The next guard will be through here soon.”
“How do you know that?” His voice was lower now, obviously heeding her earlier warning. As angry as she was with him, it bothered her to hear the kind old voice, rough from whatever he’d been through in that horrible place.
“I visit here, sometimes,” she replied softly. Unconsciously, she caught the edge of her lower lip in her teeth.
“You visit,” he repeated, with no particular inflection to the words. Ria realized she didn’t know him well enough to know what that meant. She kept her eyes ahead of her, breathing slowly and trying to will the lump of anxiety in her stomach to shrink. For all that she was angry with him now, Kino was one of the only people in the village who spoke to her like she wasn’t a pariah. Like she meant something. Sneaking onto the palace grounds was breaking the law, technically, but Ria didn’t really think of herself as a criminal. Especially when she belonged at the palace. It felt like home.
Now, after hearing the disdain in Kino’s voice, the accusations he’d made to his son (… his son. She’d examine that a little more closely later), who happened to be the Mamoru, who only answered to the Emperor. She cringed inside.
What would Kino think of her, the village outcast who broke the Emperor’s law regularly enough to know the patrol routes of the guards? But he didn’t comment and she decided it might be better to keep quiet and concentrate on getting them away. The grass did a good job masking the sound of their steps. And for all that Kino still seemed to be in pain, Ria noticed his movements gaining confidence, as though his strength was returning, the further he got from that awful place.
She wondered, not for the first time, how old he was. The lines of his face said he had seen many summers, but he didn’t move at all like the other elders Ria saw in the village. By that alone, he could be a young man.
Ria had heard the shopkeeper say Kino had served at the palace before he retired to his farm, tending to his horses, goats and the sow with her piglets. He was so gentle in speech and manner that in all her time delivering his groceries, it had never occurred to her to wonder what exactly he had done at the palace.
They were reaching an area lit with torches. Putting an arm out to warn the man beside her, Ria looked for guards. It was the only point where they had no choice but to be visible. This area could also be seen from several vantage points. No matter how many times she found her way on and off of the palace grounds, this part always made her heart beat faster. She looked at her companion, concern creasing her forehead. “If we can stay low to the ground and hug the left side of the path, it will be much easier to avoid being seen.” She grimaced apologetically, saying, “We will have to be quick here, Kino-san.”
She looked back to see the older man take a deep breath, he was looking across the area she had indicated. Ria could just make out the faint frown on his face. “I will manage.”
Ria had seen and been through enough in the past few days to hear what was underneath his words. She looked more closely, noticing his shoulders were hunched and shadowed, making his chest seem almost caved in. Whether from fatigue or the ache of whatever mistreatment he’d received while a prisoner, she did not know. “Are you certain?”
“Yes,” he snapped, stepping toward the swatch of torch lit ground. Stepping in front of him, Ria blocked his way. He wasn’t moving as he should. “Kino-sama, please wait.” She could tell the shadow of him crossing this lighted area of the grounds would be too large. He paused and for a moment Ria feared he’d push past her anyway, but he didn’t. Instead, he let out a long breath, more of a sigh than anything else.
Kino did feel stronger than he had when Theron had freed him from the cell, but there was no denying that he was not the man he had been a few days ago. Theron had an idea of how damaged he was after his short and painful incarceration, but he had tried not to let the girl beside him see it as well. He had his pride. And he didn’t want to worry her.
He needed to be honest though (Ria had apparently seen beyond his pride anyway), he did not think he could do what
she was asking. His left side was engulfed in a burning ache, the leg on that side trembling treacherously. Both legs were a mess of bruises, that torture tactic serving to both wear him down and prevent him from attempting escape. A crouching run was out of the question. “My apologies, Iriana. I cannot do what you’re asking.” He grimaced. “Is there another way we can go?”
She looked down. “No, I’m sorry.” Her forehead creased. “In the last few weeks the patrols have increased. There is really only this one path on and off the grounds, now.” She sighed. “If it were during the day, they may not notice us run across, but now …”
She didn’t need to finish the sentence; Kino knew how it ended. Crossing now, lit against a dark backdrop, they would be painfully obvious.
“Ah. Then I guess I will need to move quickly enough.” He backed up, further away from the damning pool of light. “Give me a moment to gather my strength.” Kneeling, he placed his palms on his thighs, elbows out. He took a slow, deep breath, turning his focus inward. Much as he hated to use it, the Kamiryoku lay within him, waiting. The gift should have been passed on, but there was no one to accept it. He pushed back the twinge of unhappiness. It was fortunate he hadn’t passed it on, because he needed what it could give him, now. These old bones no longer have the strength, for the moment. He needed Strength. Beyond mortal bones, muscle and will. Meant only for emergencies such as this.
Unlike Shield and Seal, this gift did not require any movements (otherwise, the lady under the Mamoru’s protection would be dead before he could use it). The price for that speed was a higher cost. This gift could only be used by drawing energy directly from his core. If used for too long, he could actually drain enough of it to kill himself. It was, in some ways, the most powerful and dangerous of three divine gifts. Meditating made it easier to use and after the last few days, he should take extra care.
Splinter (Trapped Souls Book 1) Page 26
