The Book of One: A New Age

by Jordan Baker

  Elaine and Carlis accompanied Captain Nathas to the courtyard as he left to return to the Academy while Ehlena sat and poured herself another crystal glass full of the strong wine. She knew that Aaron could not have had anything to do with what had happened to the royal princess. She had met him when he had been a simple boy living with his uncle near a small village. She had seen the place where he had lived. There was nothing politic about him. That was part of what drew her to him. She had seen him only days ago, and Ehlena was sure that he was blessed by the Lady, herself. Nothing about Aaron would suggest that he had anything to do with the kind of story she had just heard. She thought of Aaron lying dead at the bottom of some cliff and a part of her knew that, somehow, it could not be true.

  EPILOGUE

  The guards were too busy gossiping about the reports of the princess’ death to notice the muffled click and the low creaking of the heavy steel door opening in the nearby passageway. They also did not notice as two figures carefully stole along the shadows at the far side of the room and slipped into another passageway.

  Jax and his new partner, Lomar made their way along the corridor and stopped at a large metal grate that was built into the heavy, stone wall. Jax took a piece of leather and held it over the large lock then twisted it until a few drops of liquid fell from it into the mechanism. He then pulled out a piece of metal and, within a few seconds, the heavy lock clicked and opened. Jax held the leather firmly over the large hinge and gestured for Lomar to pull it open carefully.

  Lomar, an ugly, heavyset man with a long scar that ran from the top of his bald head across his face to the left side of his chin, pulled at the grate and it swung open. The hinge squealed as rust fell away from the metal pin inside and Jax pushed the oiled leather harder onto it in a vain attempt to muffle the noise. The noise could not be helped but it seemed no one had heard and now the grate was open. It would lead them into the sewers of Maramyr and away from the dungeons and the guards whose only concern was which of them to put to death first. Jax pulled the grate closed as carefully as he could and replaced the lock as best as he could. He managed to get the lock hooked on the proper place but could not get his hand far enough through the metal bars to snap it shut. It hung, unlocked but would only appear so to anyone who looked at it closely. Not that it would matter, once the guards discovered that they were gone from their cell, the whole city would be looking for them.

  Lomar was a rapist and a murderer who often committed both crimes at once and in varying order. He had occupied the cell adjoining the one assigned to Jax. Not the most affable character, Lomar had only began to talk to Jax when he discovered the long-haired thief doing strange things in his cell. When he discovered that Jax planned to escape, he insisted that he take the big man with him. Jax had not wanted anything to do with him, but Lomar promised to call the guards the moment Jax set foot outside his cell without him, so Jax was stuck with him. The only comfort Jax took from his companion is that the man had been in the cells longer than he had, and his smell was so overpowering that Jax could no longer smell his own rankness.

  They carefully made their way through the sewers, keeping to one general direction until Jax was sure he knew where they were. As a thief, he had learned certain parts of the Maramyrian sewer system. It was not the most convenient way to travel the city, but most definitely the least noticeable. Luckily, there was still some daylight in the outside world and it filtered in from place to place allowing them to travel more easily. Still, they found themselves feeling their way along certain portions of the tunnel system. Finally, they reached the spot Jax had been looking for. There was a long ledge running along one side of this particular tunnel and Jax counted the stones until he found one in particular. He pushed it with his hand and there was a low scraping noise of stone sliding on stone. To the left of the stone, a piece of the wall had slid away, revealing a small cache of weapons and money that Jax had stored for an occasion such as this one.

  He had just reached inside when a heavy blow to the side of his head sent his jaw slamming into the rock ledge. Hurriedly, his hand grasped and found what it sought and he spun round to plunge a long dagger into the side of the big ugly man before he could swing at him a second time. Lomar did not even realize what had happened and was still pulling his arm back to swing again at the smaller man when he discovered he could no longer feel his arm. The last thing he saw were the eyes of the thief, looking at him as he shook his head.

  Jax pulled the dagger from Lomar’s side. It had plunged straight through and pierced the big man’s heart. Lucky, Jax thought, for he would not likely have survived had the big man hit him again. Lomar’s dead corpse crumpled into the fetid sewer water as Jax tore off his shirt and wiped off the dark sticky blood that had covered his hand and forearm when he had stabbed the man. He knew where there was a water source nearby that was veritably clean. With his clean hand, he reached back into the wall and pulled out a bundle of fresh clothing and several other items he would need.

  He had overheard the guards talking about the princess having been killed and that Maramyr was planning to go to war with Kandara and the army was recruiting any and all who came to the city to join up. The first part was unfortunate but the second part was good news. It meant that Maramyrian soldiers would be posted throughout the city and there would be new members in their ranks who were likely green and barely trained. Those types were usually stuck with guarding things like gates and walls. The best thing to be at times like these was a soldier. First he would have to get himself cleaned up then he would have to find a member of the Maramyrian Army who wouldn’t mind being knocked unconscious and being liberated of his clothes and hopefully his horse as well.

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