Night Study

by Maria V. Snyder

  Valek sank into a chair. No need to worry about the Commander ordering his execution. Opal would kill him first.

  Ari studied his expression. “Something up?”

  Valek glanced around the nearly empty room. Lowering his voice, he said, “Yes. All the orders I gave earlier are void. We will ignore Owen and not do any investigating.”

  Janco laughed. “Yeah, right.”

  “I’m serious. The Commander made it quite clear that disobeying his orders will be considered treason, punishable by death.”

  “Owen must be pulling the Commander’s strings,” Janco said. “Everything about this situation stinks.”

  “It’s dangerous, and you two will obey his orders.” Valek’s tone was firm.

  “Come on, Valek. It’s us,” Ari said. “We won’t let you do it all on your own.”

  They knew him too well. “I can’t ask—”

  “You’re not. We’re volunteering.”

  “Yeah,” Janco said. “We’ll play the good little soldiers. No one will suspect a thing.”

  “You’ve never been the good little soldier,” Ari said. “If you start now, everyone will know something’s up.”

  “Yeah, well, you know what I meant.”

  “Who else is in on this?” Ari asked. “Maren? Yelena?”

  Valek touched his chest. “Yelena, but not Maren. Not until I know where her loyalties lie.”

  “Yeah, that whole business with the Curare factory and Owen. She’s holding something back.” Janco rubbed the scar on his right ear. “It’s wonky.”

  “Wonky? Are you three years old? What kind of word is wonky?” Ari asked.

  “The fact that you don’t know what it means shows your limited vocabulary skills,” Janco countered.

  “I’ll assign you regular, Commander-approved tasks,” Valek said before they launched into an argument. “Any extracurricular activities must be done on your own time. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir,” they both said.

  Valek then explained about the Commander’s directive regarding Yelena.

  “Harsh,” Ari said. “But she’s not going to stay as his adviser.”

  “She can’t go back to Sitia,” Janco said in alarm. “Not with that Bumblebee assassin after her.”

  Valek didn’t bother to correct Janco. “She’ll come with me to the coast when I investigate those thieves. The Commander doesn’t need to know.”

  “Risky. Very risky,” Ari said.

  He agreed, but there was nothing else he could do.

  * * *

  Exhausted from the long emotional day and lack of sleep, Valek considered bypassing his office and going to bed. Then he remembered he’d asked Maren to stop by tonight. He changed course.

  Valek slowed when he turned down the corridor to his office. Flames glowed from two lanterns. The rest remained dark. An oversight or blown out? A pool of darkness covered the area in front of his door. Uneasy, he yanked his knife from its sheath and pulled a Curare-laced dart from his belt with his other hand, pinching it between his thumb and finger. He paused, sniffing. No strange cologne or perfume tainted the air. Magic didn’t stick to his skin.

  He approached the door. Nothing happened. Stopping in front, he waited, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness. He strained to hear anything that might indicate a person lurking in the shadows. Nothing. The three locks appeared to be untouched. Valek put the dart between his teeth and reached for his key.

  An invisible force slammed into him from the blackness, knocking him down. He rolled onto his back as the force tightened around his body, dragging him away from his office and deeper into the darkness. He slid to a stop, but was pinned to the floor. Then it contracted again. He lost his grip on his knife. Breathing turned into an alarming effort.

  A black form advanced. Then the shadows shifted and Owen emerged. Rika and Tyen stood behind him. The magician had trapped him in a null shield. A helpless rage built inside Valek as he sipped in tiny amounts of air. Not enough. Light-headed, spots swirled in front of his eyes. Death by hug. He would have laughed if he had the breath.

  Owen knelt next to him and the pressure on his chest eased a fraction. “You’re not going to obey the Commander’s orders despite all your yes, sirs and no, sirs. And I can’t have that. So you’re going to have an accident. Poor Valek fell while scaling the castle walls near the guest quarters. The next time you wake, you’ll be flying through the air. Enjoy the ride.”

  The null shield compressed around his chest, squeezing the breath from his lungs. A vision of Yelena flashed. With the last of his strength, he spit the dart at Owen. The magician jerked back, cursing. The force lessened. Valek gasped and tried to move, but he remained immobilized.

  “You missed,” Owen said, increasing the pressure.

  Regret pulsed as Valek fought for consciousness. Sorry, love.

  Boots clacked on the stone floor as Maren strode down the hallway. Owen, Rika and Tyen froze. Once again, Owen’s hold on Valek slipped just enough to allow air to revive him, but not enough for him to warn Maren.

  Maren muttered something about lazy servants as she used one of the lit lanterns to light another one closer to Valek’s office.

  “Rika,” Owen whispered.

  The woman closed her eyes. “Done.”

  Valek assumed she’d used her magic to create an illusion to hide them. Since the null shield around him blocked magic, he didn’t feel its sticky touch.

  Maren knocked on the door, waited and knocked again. Sighing, she leaned against the wall. Valek’s three captors glanced at each other. Then Owen stared at Maren.

  She yawned. Her eyelids drifted shut. With a grunt, she shook her head and straightened. But it didn’t take long for her to slide down the wall into a sitting position. Relieved that they didn’t plan to kill her as well, Valek watched as she rested her forehead on her bent knees.

  “Okay, I’m here,” Janco called from the other end of the hallway. “Although I don’t know why you need me.” He drew closer. “Valek trusts your judg... Are you sleeping?”

  “Mmm?” Maren raised her head as if it weighed a hundred pounds.

  “What— Ow.” Janco pressed his hand to his right ear.

  Don’t look. Don’t look, Valek chanted in his mind, fearing for Janco’s and Maren’s lives.

  But Janco turned and peered into the darkness. He fingered the hilt of his sword while rubbing his scar with his other hand.

  No. Don’t. Look away.

  Janco turned his attention to Maren. “Guess the servants decided to take off early tonight.” He pulled Maren to her feet. “Come on. Valek probably went to bed.”

  “No.” Maren resisted. “He said to meet him.”

  “Yeah, well, he didn’t get any sleep last night. We can talk to him in the morning. Besides, dark hallways give me the creeps.”

  He guided her back down the hallway and out of sight. Thank fate.

  “Let’s go, before someone else comes along,” Owen said. “Tyen, pick him up. Don’t use your magic. Rika will keep us hidden.”

  “He’s conscious,” Tyen said.

  “But he can’t move. Hurry up.”

  The big man hoisted Valek up over his shoulder. As they traveled though the castle, Valek contemplated his very short future. Was being awake when they pushed him from the window better or worse than waking up in midair?

  Worse, because now he had time to think about how easily Owen had captured him. How stupid he’d been to think Owen would wait. How Yelena would react to his death—badly. How he’d promised her forever and he didn’t last a day. How he always assumed he’d die fighting and not trapped and utterly helpless, slung over a brute’s shoulder like a rag doll, unable to curse or rage at Owen. Or at the Sandseed Clan, for teaching the magicians how to form those blasted null shields in the first place.

  A whirlwind of emotions spun, making him dizzy. Or was that the lack of air?

  The trip to the guest wing took much longer than necessary. Owen an
d company made a few wrong turns and wasted time arguing about the right way. Their lack of knowledge reminded Valek of Janco’s comment about having the home-court advantage. Too bad it really didn’t make a difference for his current situation.

  When they finally reached the guest wing, Owen opened the door and they hustled inside. Rika closed and locked it behind them.

  “The window,” Owen ordered. He unlatched the shutters. They banged on the stone walls, letting in a gust of coldness.

  Tyen propped Valek on the window’s sill. A four-story drop loomed below. Valek’s heart squeezed in triple time, pumping liquid fear through his immobilized body.

  The tightness around his chest eased as Owen put his hands on Valek’s shoulders. Valek braced for the shove, but instead, Owen asked, “Any last words?”

  Oh, yes. About a million. And all for Yelena, but this might be his only chance to strike a blow. “I’ll...tell Ben...hello.” Valek panted, trying to fill his lungs.

  Owen’s grip turned painful. “Did you murder my brother?” Anguish and anger creased his face.

  So much for the theory that Owen ordered their deaths. “Not me...another...assassin.”

  “What about Loris and Cilly?” Rika asked.

  “Them...too.”

  “He’s lying. He killed them all. They were a threat to Yelena,” Rika said. “Finish him.”

  “If I’d assassinated Ben...I’d be bragging about it...especially now.”

  Owen shook his head. “He’s just delaying the inevitable. It’ll be easy to learn if he’s telling the truth. Goodbye, Valek. Oh, and here’s something to think about during the few seconds you’ve left to live. Yelena’s next.”

  12

  JANCO

  “What’s your rush?” Maren asked.

  Janco hustled her along the hallways of the castle. The need to hurry pulsed in his veins. “Something’s not right,” he said.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Outside Valek’s office. That darkness was...odd...weird. I felt strong magic. And his knife was on the floor. Didn’t you see it?”

  “No. I was—”

  “Too busy sleeping. And that was strange, too.”

  “Yeah, I guess.” Maren remained quiet for a while. “Do you think something happened to Valek?”

  Did he? He considered the clues. “Yes.”

  “But he’s immune to magic.”

  Janco forgot that Maren didn’t know about null shields. No time to explain it to her. “Yeah, well, Owen could have shot him with a dart of Curare.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “To get Ari. We need reinforcements.”

  “You need a couple magicians to fight them.”

  “Ari’s got the best aim with the blowpipe. Curare works on magicians, too.”

  “But can’t that one guy move objects with his magic? A dart wouldn’t reach him.”

  Janco skidded to a stop. “Oh, hell.”

  “And I’m sure they’re gone by now.”

  They wouldn’t wait for Janco to figure it out and return. What to do? Janco closed his eyes. He ejected his chaotic thoughts, suppressed his worry and fear for Valek and concentrated on the logic. If Owen killed Valek, the Commander would be upset, but if Valek disappeared... But he couldn’t hide a dead body, it would stink after a few days. They could smuggle the body outside the castle by hiding it with an illusion. Too risky. Maybe they planned to keep him locked up. But where? And would they risk the possibility of Valek escaping? Probably not.

  This was going nowhere. He switched his line of thought. Where was the one place the Commander had said was off-limits? The guest suites! Janco opened his eyes.

  Maren waited with her arms crossed. “Got something, genius?”

  He ignored the insult. “Come on.” Janco ran and didn’t bother to check if Maren followed or not.

  Ari jumped to his feet when Janco burst into their apartment. “What’s wrong?”

  Janco raced to his room, grabbed his bag of tricks and dashed back. “Reema, stay here. Ari, come on.”

  “Weapons?” Ari asked.

  “Got ’em. Let’s go!”

  Maren remained in the hall. Janco shot past her, heading to the nearest stairwell. Her and Ari’s pounding footsteps sounded behind him.

  “Are you going to tell me what this is about?” Ari asked him.

  “He thinks Valek’s in trouble,” Maren answered.

  “Thinks?”

  Maren explained about the oddness in the hallway outside Valek’s office. It didn’t take Ari long to reach the same conclusion.

  “The three of us can’t fight three magicians,” Ari said.

  Janco reached the stairs and bounded up them three at a time. At the fourth floor, he stopped, putting his hand up to signal all quiet. He peered down the hall. Empty.

  Giving Maren and Ari the wait signal, he crept down the corridor until he reached the turn that would lead to the guest quarters. A quick peek confirmed no one lurked in the shadows. But a creepy-crawly sensation brushed his skin.

  Magic nearby. Lovely. At least it wasn’t the sharp pain of an active illusion. Janco returned to his friends. He explained his plan in a whisper, then dug into his bag of tricks.

  Ari raised his eyebrows when Janco handed him a blowpipe and darts.

  “Just in case,” Janco said. Then he gave Maren the most important item. “Make sure it gets as close to the action as possible.”

  “What if there’s no action?” she asked.

  “Then we find it,” Ari said. “No stopping until Valek’s safe.”

  Janco flashed his partner a grin. While Maren might doubt him, Ari was all in.

  In silence, they ghosted through the hallway. When they reached the door to the guest suites, Janco knelt on one knee. He twisted the knob. Locked. Janco whipped out his lock picks. Using the one with the mirror, he inserted it under the door and confirmed no one guarded the door. A cool breeze blew over his hand and voices murmured from inside.

  “A window is open,” Janco whispered. “We’ll have to move fast.”

  Inserting his diamond pick and tension wrench into the lock, he aligned the pins in record time and slowly turned the cylinder. Even though every nerve tingled with the desire to hurry, he eased open the door. It about killed him to move that slow.

  Owen, Tyen and Rika stood in front of the window with their backs to the door, talking. Strange, but good fortune for him. Where was Valek? He scanned the rest of the room.

  “...Valek,” Owen said.

  Janco’s gaze jumped back to the others and he spotted his boss through a gap between Tyen and Rika. Valek sat on the ledge with Owen gripping his shoulders, talking to him. Pushing the door wider, Janco entered the room and signaled Ari and Maren to follow.

  Owen said, “...Yelena’s next.”

  “Now!” he yelled at Maren.

  The three magicians whipped around just as she threw a glass ball at their feet. It shattered on impact. A knockout gas hissed from the broken shards, fogging the area. But the breeze from the outside would soon clear the air. Then they’d have three pissed-off magicians.

  Owen and the others stumbled to the ground. “Ari!” Janco pointed to the prone magicians. “Curare.”

  But Ari raced through the fog to the window instead. The empty window! Shit. Fear burned in his gut. Janco held his breath and dashed after Ari.

  His partner leaned out. Oh no. Janco joined him, preparing to see the worst.

  Ari held Valek’s arm as the man dangled in midair. The big man’s arm muscles strained with effort. Janco reached for Valek’s other arm. Together they heaved their boss into the room.

  “They’re reviving,” Maren yelled.

  “Go,” Valek ordered.

  They sprinted for the door and didn’t stop until they reached Valek’s suite. Valek unlocked the door. Or tried. His hands shook and the key rattled in the lock. Ari nudged Valek aside and finished the task. The housekeeper had lit the lanterns, but the m
ain living area was empty.

  Valek called for Yelena. He raced up the stairs, then returned a few minutes later, wild-eyed and frantic. “She isn’t here. Owen said she’s next. We need to search the castle!”

  Ari blocked Valek. “Owen didn’t have time to set a trap for her.”

  “But what if he’s looking for her right now?” Valek tried to push past, but Ari clamped a hand on his shoulder.

  “He won’t just grab her in front of witnesses. He’ll have to plan. Let’s just take a moment and think. Okay?” Ari guided him to the couch.

  Valek just about collapsed onto the cushions. Concerned by his boss’s stunned expression, Janco rummaged for the good stuff in Valek’s corner cabinet. No one said a word as Janco poured healthy shots of whiskey into four glasses. He handed one to each. They clinked the glasses together and downed the alcohol in one gulp.

  Fire burned his throat and warmed his stomach. Janco refilled the glasses.

  Valek stared into his, swirling the amber liquid around. “That’s the closest I’ve come to...” He pulled in a deep breath, then raised his glass to them. “Thank you.”

  “Thank Janco,” Maren said. “He’s the one who figured it out.”

  “Yeah, but I couldn’t have done anything without you and Ari.”

  “We’re a team. This is what we do,” Ari said.

  They drank. This time Janco sipped his.

  “Now we can concentrate on finding Yelena,” Ari said. “Has anyone seen her since she returned from her ride with Reema?”

  No one had.

  “We’ll divide the castle into sections and each take one,” Valek said.

  “No can do,” Janco said. “If one of us runs into Owen or his goons, we’ll be in trouble.” He scratched his goatee. “We should stay together. Let’s list the places she’s most likely to be.” He glanced at the dark windows. “Supper’s over. How about the washroom?”

  “Or she could have gone to say goodbye to Reema and found her alone,” Ari said.

  Valek stood. The whiskey appeared to have steadied him. “Let’s go.”

  They left the suite. As they headed down to the washrooms, Janco asked Valek, “Are you going to report the attack to the Commander?”