by Garry Spoor
~~~***~~~
Vesper didn’t actually follow Daniel. Instead, he took his own route through the Manor House, but they ended up in the same place. While Daniel entered through the door, the yarrow came in through a small mouse hole underneath the hutch. Kile had never seen the room before, although it was difficult to tell, from her vantage point. It was well carpeted with paneled walls and could have been the same room she’d had supper in the night before, except there was no fireplace. As she peered out from under the skirt, she could see Roland sitting behind his desk. He was having a heated discussion with his adviser and looked agitated. Jerald, on the other hand, looked annoyed, but he always looked annoyed.
“… and you are to cut her some slack,” Roland was saying, pointing a finger at the dark-robed man.
“But sir, she is so… unrefined.”
“I don’t care, Jerald. This means a lot to me. If you screw this up by alienating her, you may find yourself looking for a new job.”
“Yes, sir, of course, sir.”
Roland gestured for Daniel to take a seat. “So, is everything going as planned? Will she be ready?” he asked.
“I think so, sir,” Daniel answered. “There was just a small problem with the nonays.”
Roland slowly looked over at his adviser. “Nonays? I thought we decided there would be no nonays.”
“But, sir, I simply thought she would need some assistance getting ready.”
“She doesn’t need assistance, Jerald. She has proven she can take care of herself. Daniel, let the nonays know they won’t be needed.”
“Oh, well, sir, you see, it’s kind of been taken care of.”
“What do you mean?”
“She had the dogs chase them out of the room. They ran screaming down the hall and hid in the lavatory.”
“Oh, yes, this is going to work out very well,” Jerald mumbled.
“Enough,” Roland said, shaking a finger at his adviser. “This is why I told you to leave her be. We have to tread lightly.” He turned back to Daniel. “Where did she get the dogs?”
“They’re our dogs, sir. They must have come in from the kennels.”
“How many?”
“I only saw three.”
Roland fell silent for a moment and turned to Jerald. “I want you to make sure there are no other dogs running loose in the Manor House. Leave the three. As long as they stay with her, they shouldn’t be a problem. Post a guard at the end of the hall to watch. Let me know immediately if any of them leave the room.”
“Of course, sir.” Jerald pulled open the door. “The guards are now watching the watchdogs,” he mumbled.
When the door closed, Daniel leaned forward in his chair. “Are you sure this is wise?” he asked Roland.
“I know what I’m doing.”
“I hope so. I’ve known Kile a long time, and she can be… unpredictable.”
“Yes, I am aware of that,” Roland said, looking around the room, but he wasn’t looking around as a normal person would. He was looking at the base of the walls and in the corners. He was even trying to look under the hutch and was getting up from his seat to get a better look when somebody knocked on the door.
Roland quickly sat down and motioned for Daniel to answer it. When the door opened, someone in the hall spoke.
“Hunter Leary,” he said, noticing Daniel.
Kile didn’t recognize the voice.
“I’m not a Hunter anymore,” Daniel told him.
“No, of course not.” The man in the hall sarcastically replied, stepping into the room. All Kile could see were his iron-shod boots when he walked past the hutch. He took a seat on the far side of the room. Another man entered wearing the same type of boots but stood silently by the door.
“Master Parker, thank you for coming,” Roland said to the newcomer.
Could this be Parker, the new head of the Hunter’s Guild?
“Your Highness.”
Roland leaned forward in his chair, clasping his hand in front of him on the desk. “So, tell me something good for a change.”
“Well, it would seem, despite our little setback, everything is moving as planned.” There was a smugness to Parker’s voice.
“Little setback,” Daniel exclaimed. “You nearly destroyed an entire province.”
“A minor province,” Parker pointed out. “It was one of the reasons we chose to take it through Shia in the first place. Would you have preferred we take it farther south, like through Sutton? The threat would have been far greater—it could have even affected Baxter’s Bay. This way, we lose what? A few farms?”
“Still,” Roland interrupted. “I thought your men had it under control.”
“We did, well, until the mystic got curious. I told you before, we should have dealt with him earlier.”
“Like you did Galan?” Daniel asked.
“I thought you’d be happy with his demise,” Parker said. “Didn’t they try to kill your little friend? Besides, you have to make sacrifices for peace.”
“Peace.” Daniel laughed. “Is that what you think you’ve accomplished?”
“Of course,” the Hunter answered. “Haven’t you heard the news? Balaa was responsible for the darkness that spread across the Shia Province. A preemptive attack to force us into an unfair trade negotiation.”
“And you think people are going to believe that?”
“They already do. Look, I was all for the original plan, but hey, you have to improvise. If we can’t destroy Balaa directly, misinformation is as good as anything. Now there will be no complaints when the Hunters retaliate.”
“Easy now, Master Parker,” Roland said. “We hold off on any large-scale assaults until we have a better idea of what Shaheed is willing to do.”
“You know what he is willing to do.”
“I do, but we also have to think about our economy. The war took a heavy toll on us, not only in manpower but in productivity. We wait until spring. The scars of the war will heal a bit by then. The people will more receptive.”
“I disagree, Your Highness. I say, strike while the iron is hot. This can actually work to our benefit. The people believe Balaa was responsible for the black cloud. We can use this opportunity to show the citizens their lords are not prepared for such attacks. This is your chance to do away with the provinces and unite the kingdom, once and for all.”
“And what if the lords have a problem with that?” Daniel asked.
“The Hunters will deal with it,” Parker answered. “It is why you hired us.”
Roland thought for a moment and slowly nodded. “He makes a good point, Daniel. This may have worked in our favor. If we had released the Maligar in Balaa as we originally planned, we would have ended the threat too quickly. There would have been no reason to disband the Council of Lords. Now the provinces see they are vulnerable.”
“They will be begging the crown for protection,” Parker added. “Hell, if we play it right, they may even remove the lords themselves.”
“I suppose,” Daniel reluctantly agreed. “It would bring an end to the infighting.”
“Of course it would,” Parker said. “Most of these peasants don’t even know who governs them. They don’t care if it’s a lord or a king. In fact, I daresay, most would prefer the king. It offers them some small sense of stability and belonging. We are doing them a favor.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“Sometimes you have to force people to change in order to help them,” Roland added. “I only wish my brother had seen it earlier.”
“Then it’s settled.” Parker shifted in his seat and leaned toward the king. “That only leaves the matter of… the girl.”
“Leave her to me, Master Parker,” Roland said. “I have it all under control.”
“I would like to believe that, Your Highness, but the information my men have gathered leaves me in doubt. Her skills are unknown, unnatural. She is a freak of nature and that makes her uncontrollable. She also knows the truth, and that makes her
dangerous. I think you should leave her to us.”
“And what?” Daniel asked. “Will you handle her like you did Master Adams?”
“I regret what happened to Master Adams, but, you have to understand, he was a liability. He was getting too close to the truth. Besides, I think we can find a more suitable arrangement for her. Wild animals should be kept in cages.”
“Wild animals can also be tamed. It all comes down to how you break them,” Roland said. “Once she is mine, I will keep her on a short leash and train her properly. Her skills will be a great asset to us.”
Parker sighed. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” he said before getting to his feet. “Wild animals have also been known to turn on their trainer, often with disastrous results.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
The silent man opened the door and stepped out into the hall. Parker stopped in the doorway and turned to the king. “I will report to you when I receive news from my men in Balaa.”
“I will be waiting,” Roland said. He waited until the door closed before turning to Daniel. “So, what is it? You seemed put out by your new Guild Master.”
“I am no longer a Hunter. Therefore, he is no longer my Guild Master,” Daniel said.
“Fair enough, so what is your concern?”
“I don’t trust him. I think he’s planning something.”
“Of course he is,” Roland said. “If there is one thing you must understand, everybody wants something. It’s a matter of finding out what it is and using it against them before they can find out what you want and use it against you.”
“Seems a little cynical.”
Roland laughed as he got up from his desk and walked around to the front. He sat on the edge and placed a hand on Daniel’s shoulder.
“That is life, my friend,” he explained. “Take you, for instance. You wanted acknowledgment for your skills. You definitely weren’t getting it at the Guild Hospital. There, you were merely another healer, but here, you are the king’s physician. You can’t deny that when you walk down the streets now, people stop and notice. They know you and they know what you can do.”
“And you used that against me?”
“Of course I did. How else would I have gotten you to spy on Kile? Though I must say, you didn’t exactly do a good job at keeping her out of trouble. Fortunately everything worked out in the end. Maybe not as planned, but you can’t expect perfection.”
“I suppose not.”
“Don’t look so gloomy, Danny. This is a big day for your friend. You should be happy for her. Not only is she being knighted, but she’s getting married. There’s still a couple of hours before the ceremony, and I hear one of your other little friends is performing at the Fat Gopher. Why don’t you go see his show.”
“Maybe I will. I’ll check in on Kile when I get back.”
“There you go. Things are looking up, Danny.”
When Daniel left through the door, Vesper left through the hole in the wall, beneath the hutch.
~~~***~~~
Kile opened her eyes and stared at Vesper, but she wasn’t actually seeing the yarrow; she wasn’t seeing anything. She was completely numb. The one person she considered her best friend had betrayed her. And what about Roland. The man she… what… almost married? The thought sent a shiver down her spine. How could she have gotten it so wrong? How could she have missed it? It was all there, right in front of her, but she refused to see it. They played her. They played her right from the beginning. That’s why Daniel was waiting for her outside the Tower. That’s how he knew she was summoned to the palace, why he never let her out of his sight, why he kept trying to talk her out of reading the temple walls. He was trying to keep her from learning the truth. They used her. Daniel, Roland, Heaney, how many more people were in on it?
Getting to here feet, she walked toward the door and stopped. Where was she going? What was she going to do? Was she going to confront the king, here, in the Manor House? Did she even want to?
She thought she’d found solid ground, some stability in her life, but it was all falling away beneath her. Nilak told her she would have to find her own way, that she had to learn how to live among the vir, but why? They didn’t want her—they never did.
Turning back to the table, she grabbed the bundles and pulled them apart, tossing the clothing carelessly onto the floor until she found what she was looking for. A pair of pants and a simple shirt. She tied them together and set them aside before getting undressed.
“Get ready, Vesper, we’re going,” she told the yarrow. “Shebara, Keefer, Lalina, I am going to need your help.”
-Anything, Kile,- Keefer said.
“When I tell you to, I need you guys to run through the halls. Split up. They’ll be waiting for us.”
-Leave it to us,- Shebara added.
Four dogs ran out of the room, one of them was carrying a bundle of clothes in her mouth and had a yarrow on her head.
~~~***~~~
It wasn’t difficult getting past the guards. Kile thought they would attempt to capture the dogs or at least try to stop them, but instead, they ran away from them. The guards actually scattered when the four dogs ran down the hall. Once they reached an intersection, they split up. Shebara stayed with Kile as Keefer went one way, and Lalina when the other.
-This way,- Shebara called out as she led Kile through the Manor House. She took her through the staff wing, scaring the hired help. Down the back stairs and through the kitchen, they exited through the service door and into the alley. When they reached the streets of Yuton, they slowed their pace.
-Thank you, Shebara. I would never have been able to find my way out.-
-There is no need to thank me,- Shebara said.
-Still, I hope you don’t get into trouble for this.-
-We will not get into trouble. The vir do not know one of us from another. Only those who feed us do, and they will not tell.-
-I hope you’re right.-
-Where will you go now, Kile?-
-I’m not entirely sure. At the moment, I want to get Grim and get out of here. I’ll know where I’m going when I get there.-
-I wish you well, sister.-
-Thank you again, for everything.-
Shebara returned to the alley while Kile headed toward the stables. She casually walked past the curly-haired man with the long beard, who was now mending an old saddle. He glanced up from his work but paid her little heed. It was almost as if seeing a dog with a yarrow on their head, was a common occurrence. Making her way to the back of the stables, she found Grim.
-Oh, no, what have you done now, child,- he said upon seeing her.
Kile took the empty stall beside the mountain pony and quickly changed back to her vir form. The transformation was all too easy and she was beginning to understand why the Orceen chose to remain in their new shapes.
“I didn’t do anything… yet,” she said, untying her clothes and getting dressed. Pants and a simple shirt were all she needed and all she wanted. Boots would have been nice, but they weren’t necessary. Animals don’t wear shoes. Besides, it would have been difficult carrying them through the Manor House.
-I take it we are leaving?- Grim asked.
“They lied to me, Grim. All of them. I can’t trust any of them anymore.”
-Isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration? What of that little fellow, you know, the one who makes the pretty images?-
“Alex?”
-If that’s what you call him. Has he lied to you?-
“Alex? No, Alex has never lied to me.”
-And what of the colorful airhead?-
“Emara is not an airhead. She might be a bit flighty at times, but she’s not an airhead.”
-Whatever, has she ever lied to you?-
“No. Of course not. Okay, maybe everybody hasn’t lied to me, but some people have.”
-What did you expect, child? They are vir. They lie all the time.-
“Yeah, well, it doesn’t matter. I�
�m still going.”
-Just like that?-
“Yeah, just like that. I’m finished with the lot of them.”
-And so you’re simply going to walk away?-
“What’s with you? You’re always ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Why not now?”
-I didn’t say I wasn’t ready to leave.-
“So, what, you think I should stay?”
-I didn’t say that.-
“Then you think I should leave?”
-I didn’t say that either.-
“So, now, all of a sudden, you don’t have an opinion. I find that a little hard to believe.”
-All I’m asking is, why the rush to leave this time?-
Kile thought about it and shrugged. “Because… they lied to me.”
-It wouldn’t be the first time. Try again.-
Kile took a deep breath and sighed. “Because they betrayed me. They used me. They want to continue this senseless war, and there’s nothing I can do to stop them.”
-The vir will do what the vir will do. They always have. It is in their nature. You can no more change them than stop the sun from rising.-
“So what should I do?”
-Nothing.-
“Then we’re leaving.”
-But… do you honestly want to leave this way?-
Kile grinned. “You’re right. I still have one last thing I have to do.”
-I kind of thought you did.-
“Thank you, Grim,” she said, stroking the mountain pony’s nose. She lifted Vesper off her shoulder and placed him on the horse’s head. “You wait here, Vesper. I think I should do this alone.”
-I’ll pick you up out front, after the ceremony.-
“Don’t be late.”
Kile made her way back into the Manor House, through the servant’s entrance. She was surprised to see Shebara still in the kitchen. It was almost as if the dog expected her to return.
-I thought you were on your way,- she said when she saw Kile.
“I was, but I realized I had some unfinished business.”
-Is there anything I can do to help?-
“As a matter of fact, there might be.”
