by Fel
Tarrin made use of his ability to leave the grounds, and visited his family every four days. He was always careful to take only Dolanna, and he always left them in various places around the city while he went to go see his family. They had decided to take Anrak up on his offer, and spend the winter in Ungardt lands. Anrak was waiting for a break in the stormy early winter, trying for a few clear days that would let him get up to Tykarthian ports before the next storm, and port-hop his way home.
It was the day of that departure that Tarrin broke his routine and slipped out of the Tower in the pre-dawn hours, then ghosted his way through snowbound streets in Suld. They planned to leave on the highest tide, taking advantage of a clearing of the usually cloudy skies and constant mixture of rain and snow that made Suld famous for bad winters. It had been cold enough to make it snow for the last five days, and it had managed to pile up to impressive levels along the sides of the streets.
By the time he reached the house, they were already packed and waiting on some of Tomas' men to pack their belongings on a sled. Jenna looked miserable in her heavy furs and cloak, with a red nose and eyes that told him she'd been crying. Jenna and Janette had become quite close, and now they were separating. Tarrin hugged his mother and father, then picked up Jenna and held her in his arm as he greeted Tomas and Janine. Janette was still in bed, for they didn't want to wake her up and put her through the goodbyes. She had said her goodbyes before bed the night before.
"Looks like this is it," Tarrin told his mother.
She nodded. "It'll be good to visit home," she said. "I was worried that Jenna wouldn't be able to see her birthright."
"I'm going to be cold," Eron complained.
"Live with it," Elke told her husband. "You agreed to it."
He chuckled ruefully. "I know, but I'll still be cold."
"When are you planning on coming back?" Tarrin asked.
"Next fall," she replied. "I think we'll go back to Aldreth. It was nice to live in Suld, but I miss the village life."
"There are a number of villages on the coast, mother."
"I know, but Aldreth is our home. I don't think your father and I would really feel comfortable in some other village."
"No, I won't," Eron agreed. "Aldreth is the place for us, son. It took leaving it to really ram that home."
"At least I'll know where to go when all this is over," he said with a smile.
"We're ready to go!" Tomas called from the sled.
"Well, this is it," Elke said, embracing her son. "You take care of yourself. And write to us."
"I'll try," he promised, hugging her back. He turned and embraced his father, clapping him on the back. "You stay warm."
"I'll be spending the winter by the fire," he laughed. "You just stay well."
"I will." He cuddled Jenna close, then tapped her on the nose. "You stay out of trouble, stripling," he told her. "Mind our parents. And no using Sorcery on your cousins!"
"I'll be careful, I promise," she said with total insincerity. Jenna had learned some simple Mind weaves, especially one that made people take her suggestions as good ideas, and try to carry them out. That had already gotten her spanked about five times. A willful teen with the power to make others do what she wanted was a very bad combination.
"I mean it," he warned. "If mother and father tell me you're tampering, I'll come up there and kick your butt."
"They won't, I promise," she said with a grin.
Tarrin carried Jenna just a little ways off from their parents, to look at the sled. He set her down and looked at her for a long moment. Jenna, his sister. She was already blossoming into a lovely young woman, and she had a maturity to match her skills with her magical power. But she was also a child, and a child that Tarrin trusted. He and Jenna had always been close, even though they did fight as often as other siblings. She was leaving, and with his life ahead of him uncertain, she was a good friend to have. "Jenna, I want you to do something for me."
"What, Tarrin?" she asked.
He reached under his red Initiate shirt and pulled out a small wooden box. "I want you to take care of this for me," he said. "It has some things in it I've owned for a long time, interesting little things I found in the forest. I don't know where I'm going to be this time next year, and I really don't want to lose these. Would you take care of them for me?"
"Of course I will," she promised, taking the box. "May I?"
"Go ahead," he said, and she opened the box. "Wow, Tarrin, these are really neat," she said, holding up the gossamer wing. "What kind of insect owned this?"
"I have no idea," he said. "That's why I've kept it. Someday, maybe I'll find out."
"Who knows?" she said, putting it back in and closing the box. She slipped it into a small pack that probably held some of her personal belongings. "I'll take good care of it, Tarrin," she promised. "It'll be just fine."
"I hope so, brat," he said with a teasing smile, picking her back up again and whirling her around, making her giggle, then carrying her back over to his parents.
"Why didn't you bring Allia, Tarrin? I wanted to say goodbye," Elke complained when they returned.
"She's asleep, and she needs to sleep," he replied calmly. "I'll tell her for you, mother. Now you have to go, before Grandfather tans your backside for making him miss the tide."
After one more round of kisses and hugs, he watched his precious family pile into the sled, and with Tomas, start off for the harbor. Janine, with a heavy robe around her to ward off the chill, stood on the porch beside him, watching them go. "They'll be alright, Tarrin," she assured him.
"I know," he sighed. "Mother and father have always made their own luck, Janine. Now that they're out of the line of fire, they'll be just fine. I'm more worried about me."
"You have time to come in for some breakfast? I'll have Deris make you some pancakes."
"No, this wasn't a sanctioned visit, Janine," he told her. "I'm going to get in trouble for this as it is. I have to get back. I just wanted to be here to say goodbye."
Janine patted him on the arm. "A year isn't all that long, Tarrin. You'll probably be there to welcome them back where they call home."
"I hope so, Janine," he said soberly. "I really hope so."
The game of Beri Bally Bell that Miranda and Jervis cooked up had taken time to develop. But it was the nature of spies and other perpetrators of intrigue to have a great deal of patience. Splitting time between her scribing duty and her planning, Miranda had managed to work out most of the details with her rabbit Wikuni counterpart in just a few days. The real time came from pulling back their people and preparing them for the mission at hand. The sudden pullback of spies on the grounds and in the city had confused Ahiriya, but it did not stop her from her aggressive blockade of all useful information, nor did it stop her hunters from trying to root out and destroy the agents the Wikuni pair had laced through the Tower, Court, or among the parlors of the noble houses.
It began later that day, when a certain agent belonging to Jervis was spotted by a Royal guard slipping quietly out of the office of Duncan, the Keeper's personal secretary. Inspection of the office had revealed several drawers and cabinets had been opened and rifled, drawers and cabinets that held sensitive information. This incensed Ahiriya, and she sent out her people to totally disrupt all operations in the Tower.
She had taken the bait.
Miranda had seemed rather smug that afternoon, as she sat quietly on a stone bench in the courtyard as Keritanima read from the book, teaching Tarrin and Allia more and more words from the Sha'Kar tongue. She had a needlework hoop in her lap, and her small needle flashed rhythmically back and forth as her precise hands created an intricate geometric pattern in one of Keritanima's frilly dresses. Keritanima, ever in tune with the subtleties of her oldest friend's moods, seemed irritated by Miranda the entire session. By the time the sun began to creep behind the living wall forming the boundary of the hidden courtyard, she looked almost completely exasperated.
The cour
tyard itself had become one of the Tower's great mysteries to Ahiriya and many others. They knew that Tarrin, Allia, and Keritanima disappeared into the maze for hours at a time. They knew that they had to be doing something in there for such a long period of time every day. Scouts, trailers, even attempts to follow them from the tops of the Tower all failed, however, because Tarrin and Allia knew how to cover signs of their passage, and the magic surrounding the courtyard hid it from probing eyes. People sent in to follow the trio were always left lost, wandering the maze for hours themselves, just to try to find the way out. The maze was huge, and it was very deceptive. Only a handful of people on the grounds knew their way along every twist and turn. The only ones that weren't Tarrin, Keritanima, Allia, or Miranda happened to be the four gardeners that kept the hedgerow walls neat and trimmed. And they swore up and down repeatedly that there was no courtyard within the maze, and there was nowhere other than a walkway itself where the three could go. It drove Ahiriya crazy, and it also stretched Keritanima's little game very thin.
The other thing had been the brands. Keritanima had always been very careful never to let others see them, but they had finally been seen that morning. Tarrin hadn't been the only one to leave early. She had visited the baths, and had the bad luck of crossing paths with a patrol of guards wearing nothing but a towel. The brands were in plain sight, for her fur wouldn't grow back over them, and she had little doubt that Jervis would have a report on his desk concerning them by morning. They had already talked it out, and she wasn't that worried about it. "We're starting to run out of time," she told them calmly after debating the issue. "They're moving quickly, and so are we. If I have to reveal myself, then so be it, because I have no intention of going back."
And that was that.
"And what are you so happy about?" Keritanima finally exploded at Miranda when they finished at sunset.
"Oh, nothing," she replied with a mild smile. "I've been working out a little deal with Jervis. It should be going off any minute now."
"You did what?" she gasped.
"Oh, come now, Highness, it's not like I haven't gone behind your back before," she said with a cheeky grin. "Jervis and I had an idea, and we decided to go with it. We should have the upper hand in the Tower and the city by morning."
"And what marvelous plan is this?"
"Oh, one of Jervis' men sacked Duncan's office," she said, biting the thread in two. "That made Ahiriya angry, and she overreacted, as usual. We're already in place to make her pay for it."
Keritanima blinked, and then she laughed. "Miranda! That's so blunt!"
"Yes, it was," she smiled. "Sometimes brute force does have advantages."
She laughed again. "I think I can live with Ahiriya's displeasure," she grinned.
"What difference does that make to us?" Allia asked.
"When Ahiriya goes to get Jervis' men for the break-in, Miranda's men will be there to get the drop on them," Keritanima explained. "They'll never expect Miranda to put a hand in, because what goes on between Jervis and Ahiriya isn't supposed to concern her. There will probably be open fighting in the halls of the Tower."
"Possibly," Miranda admitted. "Even if the Keeper throws most of our people out, there won't be many of Ahiriya's people left to interfere. In a scenario of smaller numbers, we have the advantage. Ahiriya has more territory to defend and fewer people to do it with. That gives us the advantage."
"I sometimes think that war is less complicated than this game you play, sister," Allia said. "It is fighting without fighting."
"The real fighting is probably going on right now, sister," Keritanima told her. "By morning, we'll see who came out on top."
"It will be us," Miranda said confidently. "I estimate we'll have twice the people that Ahiriya will have left, and the attack will put her out of sorts. Between Jervis and myself, she won't be able to keep us away from the information that we want for very long."
"That is very clever, Miranda," Keritanima said approvingly. "I think I'll have to kiss Jervis soundly on the lips after this. He actually came in handy."
"Jervis is a worthy adversary, Highness," Miranda said mildly.
"I know," she replied, then she gave Miranda a strange look. "Exactly when did I lose control of things here?"
"When you started learning Sorcery," Miranda replied with a cheeky smile. "You've been neglecting your operations, because you're so wrapped up in your training. It's a good thing I noticed it, and stepped in to pick things back up."
"I did, didn't I?" she said ruefully, scrubbing the back of her head with her clawed fingers. "That was very unprofessional of me."
"We're all entitled to the occasional mistake, Highness," Miranda told her with a dismissive wave of her hand.
"Well, there is one thing for certain," Allia said. "It will make things nervous."
"That's true," Keritanima agreed. "If Miranda's right, it won't take us long to find out what they want from us. I can get that information from Erick, because I know he has it. And with as much as I've learned, we may be able to make it if we run."
"Only if we have reason to run," Allia said.
"True, but I have the feeling that we will," Keritanima agreed. "We'd better get back to our rooms. With the impending chaos coming, we'd best be barred in and safe."
"Yes," Allia agreed. "If there is going to be fighting, as you suspect, then we should keep ourselves clear of it." She stood up. "Let us sneak back in one by one. If there is alot of tension out there, let us not enhance it with our sneaking about."
"Good idea," Keritanima agreed. "Go on, Miranda. I know you want to go see Jervis and see how things are going."
"Yes, the thought did cross my mind," she smiled, placing her needlepoint in a shoulder satchel, then sauntering out calmly.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Kerri," Tarrin said, standing up, hunching over, and then flowing into his cat form. "I'll sneak out the back," he added in the unspoken manner of the Cat.
"See you tonight, my brother," Allia said, and he turned and wormed through a small hole in one of the hedges, following a path his cat's paws had tread a hundred times before.
Tarrin had done it many times before, and had never had any trouble. Because they ignored the many cats on the grounds, he was able to pick his way over to the North Tower with very little problem. But this time, he was met by the slim, pretty Sorceress, Jula. She was standing in his room, arms crossed, and she was staring at the door when it opened. "Jula," he said in some surprise. "What are you doing in here?"
"And what were you doing off the grounds?" she demanded. "I saw you in the streets of Suld this morning! They didn't give you permission to leave!"
"I had to see my parents," he replied calmly, stepping in and closing the door. "It was important."
"Tarrin, that Ward is there for your protection more than it's there to stop you from leaving," she said in exasperation. "It stops whoever is sending things after you from getting them onto the grounds."
"Like it stopped that Doomwalker?" he asked, stepping past her, towards the closet. She turned to keep her eyes on him, but he didn't pay her very much attention.
"How Jegojah got onto the grounds is something they're still trying to figure out," she said to him bluntly. "Doomwalkers are very powerful, Tarrin. There's a good chance it was able to breach the Ward with its own magical power."
Tarrin stopped. "How did you know its name?" he demanded.
He turned around, but it was too late. Little Jula, kind Jula who had braided his hair, had healed his father, had been there for his family, had been his friend, one of the few Sorcerers that Tarrin would trust enough to put his back towards, snapped a black metal collar around his neck. The very same collar that had been used on Jesmind. The instant that metal touched him, he felt its alien magic assault his mind, sweeping through it in a black wave of numbness. Tarrin's mind instantly boiled with nameless fury, and his eyes ignited from within with the unholy radiance that betrayed his anger. That rage attacked that mind-num
bing magic, pushing at it, grabbing it and trying to tear it asunder, but the raw power of the attack was overwhelming, and the magic had specifically been created to subdue one of his kind. In sudden desperation, the Cat reached out, touching the Weave, but for the first time, the magic was not there to respond to his call. With a strangled cry, his claws snapped out and he lurched at that pretty face, a face etched in stone as it calmly watched the Were-cat struggle against the magic trying to wrest control of his mind.
But if he made it or not, he had no idea. His consciousness lost its footing, and he felt himself spiralling into a vast prison of black emptiness, and he knew no more.
He had been defeated.
Jula swallowed, putting a hand to the pit of her stomach. He almost got her. Had he had one more step, those claws would have found her, and she would have not lived to see if it would work. Tarrin had stopped when he was but a finger's width from her throat, and then slowly stood upright, his face losing its mask of rage, and his eyes draining of that curious inner radiance that marked his anger. He was now docile, and suppliant to commands.
"Tarrin," she called calmly.
His ears picked up, and he looked at her.
"You will accept orders only from me. Do you understand?" He nodded mindlessly. "Follow me. Speak to no one as we walk."
"Tarrin do," his voice replied, but there was nothing in it that even hinted that the voice was alive.
It was a night of chaos, punctuated by shouting, and the occasional clashing of sword on sword. At first, it was very uncommon and erratic, but then it became so obvious that the Keeper was forced to mobilize the Tower Guard to put a stop to the violence. But even that only contained it, for the men that worked for Ahiriya were spurred on by their mistress, to seek out and eliminate the infestation of opposing agents. But what Ahiriya didn't understand until it was too late was that that was exactly what her counterparts wanted her to do.
