by Ian Gregoire
For the next few anxious moments, it felt as though everyone in the room was holding their breath while Kayden stood with an ear pressed against the oak door, listening. She heard the muffled footsteps of what sounded like two people walking the corridor. Her impression was quickly confirmed by two distinct voices. Eventually, the sounds subsided then faded away; the corridor fell silent once more. She pulled away from the door, satisfied that they remained undetected, then turned to face her companions. She created a small illumination orb in her hand, casting a pale blue glow across the dilapidated room. “I think we’re in the clear for now,” she said, her voice a little above a whisper.
“But clear from whom?” asked Neryssa. “Whoever that was out there must be from the Order, which doesn’t make sense. Or we have a rogue Sanatsai on our hands, which makes even less sense.”
“That’s what you meant when you said things are worse than I realised.” Lazar’s statement was muttered more to himself, in a moment of perceived realisation, rather than a response to Kayden.
“Oh, for crying out loud!” There was nothing feigned about Kayden’s exasperation. “Hasn’t anyone else been paying attention tonight? Did I not mention, moments ago, that we cannot trust the accuracy of the intelligence we were provided with to plan the mission?”
“Just because someone decided to light a few poxy lanterns?” challenged Vartan.
Ignoring him, Kayden continued. “The information stated there would be no more than a dozen men patrolling the perimeter of the fort; I counted almost thirty while we waited in the trees for nightfall. But that was hardly a surprise; the figure of twelve men was never plausible to begin with. The whole reason for soldiers from the King’s Guard being deployed to guard a fort that was abandoned two centuries ago is to prevent bandits from using the ruins as a staging area to launch raids against the nearby towns and villages in the neighbouring province.
“Given the reputation some of these bandits have earned for themselves, it is doubtful they would be deterred by a dozen soldiers. Besides, the structure is simply too large for twelve men to prevent anyone from sneaking in unseen. You would need at least five to six times that number to adequately secure the location. So my guess would be the actual number of guards present tonight is closer to eighty, with most of them inside the fort.”
Kayden noted from the expressions on the faces of her five colleagues that their confidence in the success of the assignment had been dented.
“If that wasn’t bad enough, not only was the number of guards on duty inaccurate, it’s now obvious that so too is the composition of the guards. The intelligence we were given led us to believe that only soldiers from the King’s Guard would be involved.”
“Well, how do you know that’s not the case?” queried Bartis.
She frowned at the stupidity of her fellow apprentice. “Are you seriously suggesting that you failed to notice the invoking of Kiraydan to light up the sky when we began our approach?” It was a rhetorical question; everyone had seen the lightning flash orbs erupting in the night sky. “Wielders of Zarantar are not permitted to serve in the armies of The Nine Kingdoms; neither the Sanatsai, nor the Jaymidari, and certainly not the Saharbashi—if they still exist.”
“And, by law, anyone who is born imbued with Zarantar is required to join the Order or have their Zarantar bound,” interjected Sinton in understanding. “So how can there be soldiers among the King’s Guard who are able to invoke Kiraydan?”
“Exactly!” Kayden was pleasantly surprised that someone else also got it. “We should assume there are several Sanatsai present. At one point during our infiltration five orbs went up simultaneously. So, at the very least, there are five of them outside, plus whoever that was we nearly crossed paths with moments ago, inside.
“Whether it’s routine for the Order to provide personnel to assist the King’s Guard or if they are here specifically to hinder our attempt to complete the assignment, it should be clear, now, that following Lazar’s plan is no longer viable.”
“Hey! There’s nothing wrong with the plan,” protested Lazar, with little conviction.
“No, Kayden’s right,” rebutted Sinton. “Your plan made sense when we believed the interior of the fort would be empty. But now? Come on! There’s no way we can stroll through brightly-lit corridors to reach the central stairwell of the keep if there are patrols inside. And according to the layout of the fort, that central stairwell is the only way to reach the top floor.”
“That’s…not exactly true.” Kayden’s voice was thick with smugness.
Sinton glanced sideways at her. “Kayden, if you know something the rest of us don’t know, now is the time to share.”
“Before I fill you all in on what our next move is, I want consensus, right now, that I am to assume leadership of the mission from this point on.”
“That’s not going to happen,” objected Lazar.
Kayden ignored Lazar’s protestation, and looked expectantly at Sinton, Neryssa then Bartis, in turn. She knew it was only necessary to get the trio to side with her in order to overrule the objections of Lazar; it was safe to assume Vartan would support his friend, regardless. “The three of you know I’m right. Persevering with Lazar’s redundant plan will see this assignment end in failure. You may be fine with that, but I’m not.”
The tension increased as she waited on the silent ruminations of her cohorts.
“Oh, all right,” piped up Bartis, finally. “If you have an alternative to the agreed upon plan, then yes, I think you should lead the mission from here.”
“I’m with you too.” Sinton’s decision provoked the faintest flutter of a smile to touch Kayden’s lips. She never doubted his support; Sinton was one of the very few apprentices of the Order who truly appreciated both her abilities and her single-minded determination to succeed.
“What about you, Neryssa?” she pressed the other young woman.
Vartan placed a hand upon Neryssa’s shoulder, gripping tightly. “Don’t even think about it.” His raspy voice was almost a growl. “The last thing we need is ‘girls sticking together’ shenanigans derailing this mission.”
Neryssa shrugged off his hand, irritation written all over her face. “If it wasn’t for Kayden this mission would be over already. We would have been caught, out in that corridor, a short while ago.” She turned her head to address Lazar. “Whether you like it or not, even you must admit this entitles her to an opportunity to pursue another course of action.”
As far as Kayden was concerned Lazar didn’t have reasonable grounds for prolonging his opposition. With only Vartan prepared to stand up for him it would be churlish not to acquiesce to the wishes of the majority. They all wanted the same thing, after all—to successfully complete the assignment—though it would no doubt irk Lazar if he was compelled into acceding to her wishes. He clearly didn’t enjoy having to deal with someone who didn’t simply fall into line, letting him have his way. Or maybe he just found her abrasive, headstrong, and downright overbearing; but that was his problem, not hers.
Kayden noticed the subtle change in Lazar’s expression, and she had a pretty good idea what he was thinking. If he reluctantly agreed to the change of leadership, at least he would have the satisfaction of knowing that when the mission inevitably failed, he could lay the blame entirely at her door.
“All right! Fine! I guess the majority has spoken. I relinquish leadership to Kayden.” He flashed Kayden an insincere smile to go with his begrudging tone. “Good luck coming up with a new plan in the time we have left. Not only do you need to guide us to the top floor of the keep, unseen, to acquire the mission objective; you need to get us back out of the fort again, unseen. Then we’ll need to make our way to the rendezvous point before sunrise.” He appeared rather confident she wouldn’t be able to pull it off.
“You needn’t concern yourself with that,” she quipped with a wry smile. “I already devised a superior plan a week ago.” She caused the illumination orb in her hand to float u
p and over her head as she turned around to face the door behind her. “Sinton! Bartis! Form up close behind me. Neryssa, you’re in the middle. Lazar and Vartan, bring up the rear.”
Neryssa took up her position behind Sinton and Bartis. “Aren’t you going to tell us your plan?” she inquired. “We’ve just established we can’t risk walking through lit corridors, and you implied there was another means for us to get to the top of the keep.”
Without looking back over her shoulder, Kayden replied. “There is a network of hidden passageways throughout the fort. We’ll use them to forgo the need to access the central stairwell to reach the top floor, thereby avoiding any risk of bumping into a patrol.”
“Wait a minute!” blurted Lazar. “There were no secret passages marked on the layout of the fort.”
Kayden peered over her shoulder. “They wouldn’t be secret if they were etched on a map for any idiot to look at.” There was no attempt to conceal the condescension in her voice. “Now,” she continued, turning her attention back to the door in front of her, “if there are no more pointless questions, let’s get moving.”
“Kayden! One more thing before we go,” said Sinton. “The Sanatsai we almost ran into earlier, how did you know they were approaching? You reacted before the light from the invocation of Sinjaydan became visible.”
Kayden didn’t immediately respond.
“I just knew,” she conceded, evasively. “That’s all that matters. Now it’s time to go.” She opened the door, her illumination orb floated ahead of her as she led the group back out into the corridor.
After several minutes spent retracing the steps they had taken through the south wing, Kayden finally began to lead the group through areas they had not previously been through. It wasn’t long before she eventually brought the party to a halt at the turning into a long corridor. She stared intently, straight ahead, at the T-junction at the opposite end of the corridor.
Something was wrong.
Around the right hand turn of the junction, someone—a Sanatsai from the Order she assumed—was present. But there was no reason for anybody to be lurking there, at all. She knew that particular turn led into a short, dead-end corridor with a couple of ramshackle storage rooms leading off it.
“Why have we stopped?” Sinton whispered over her shoulder. “Is there a problem?”
Looking back over her shoulder, Kayden pressed a finger to her lips then returned her gaze to the corridor ahead. After a moment of deliberation she whispered, “Stick close to me,” then deftly tiptoed forward, down the corridor, towards the nearest open doorway. The rest of the group followed close behind.
Inside the empty room Kayden casually waved her hand up at the illumination orb floating overhead, her invocation of Yuksaydan neutralising Sinjaydan, darkening the room as the orb winked out of existence. Without preamble she began to explain, in a hushed tone, the situation. “There is an access to the hidden passageways around the right hand turn at the end of the corridor. I have reason to believe there might be someone lying in wait for us there. I need the rest of you to remain here while I go ahead to investigate.”
“Do you really think we’re going to fall for that?” retorted Vartan. “We stay here twiddling our thumbs while you take off without us to complete the mission alone?”
“Don’t be silly, Kayden wouldn’t do that,” protested Neryssa.
“Of course I would,” she said. “But it’s too late for that now. If I wanted to give you all the slip I should have done it before we even entered the fort. As things currently stand, I’m going to need you if I want to successfully complete the assignment from here. So you needn’t worry about me ditching you all, as tempting as that idea may be.” She took a resigned breath. “Anyway, as I was saying, I need to be absolutely certain someone is waiting around that corner before I decide our next move. I’m just going to take a quick look then I’ll come straight back.”
Without waiting for agreement, she quickly and quietly exited the room.
Out in the corridor once more, Kayden crept stealthily towards the end, keeping close to the wall at her right hand side. As she inched further along the corridor, her certainty increased that a wielder of Zarantar was nearby, vindicated by the faint traces of a pale blue glow around the corner. The illumination wasn’t growing brighter, meaning it wasn’t moving closer, nor was it getting fainter, indicating it wasn’t moving away. Whoever was around the corner was stationary.
Kayden reached the end of the corridor, stopped, held her breath and listened. She could hear noises coming from around the corner, but those sounds couldn’t possibly be what she was imagining them to be. But she would have to risk peering round the corner for a quick look, just to be sure, one way or the other.
She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head, pressed her back against the wall then slowly squatted down onto her haunches. She mentally counted to three then cautiously peeked her head round the corner.
Drat! You have got to be kidding me!
Halfway along the dead-end corridor an illumination orb floated close to the ceiling, casting pale blue light upon two figures standing below. The couple were engaged in a session of increasingly heavy petting. From the uniforms they were wearing Kayden knew at once they were Sanatsai from the Order. But she did not recognise either of them, which meant it was unlikely they were instructors from her campus. Wherever they were from, they were now being incredibly amorous between her and the concealed access to the hidden passageways set in the wall at the end of the corridor, and it didn’t appear as though the couple had any plans to vacate the area any time soon. The woman had just released her partner’s straining erection from the confines of his garments, giving it a playful tug as they continued kissing. It wasn’t long before she slowly sank to her knees to…
Kayden looked away then stood back up. She remained where she was, unmoving, giving thought to how best to draw the lovers out of the corridor. A solution to the problem came to mind rather quickly; she knew exactly what needed to be done. She nonchalantly walked straight back to the room where her fellow apprentices awaited her return.
“So what’s the situation?” asked Sinton.
“An unexpected obstacle stands between us and access to the passageways,” she answered with a sigh. “Two Sanatsai have decided that this is the appropriate time and place to be intimate with one another.”
“You’re telling us two members of the Order are fucking around that corner?” Vartan inquired incredulously.
“Watch your language, you pig,” she hissed. “And, no, they aren’t. But if we don’t draw them out right away it probably won’t be long before they are, and we don’t have time for that.”
“Can we assume you have a plan to get us past them?” Neryssa asked.
Kayden flashed her counterpart a habitual smug look that likely went unnoticed in the dark. “What do you think?” The condescending tone made it abundantly clear that, yes, of course she had a plan. “But I’m going to need a volunteer to come with me to make it work.”
“Count me in,” said Sinton.
“Not you, Sinton.” Kayden’s retort was very matter-of-fact. “Vartan will be my volunteer.”
“What?” blurted the surprised apprentice.
“You seemed so concerned that I might try to ditch you all, earlier on.” She hadn’t forgotten about that. “So you get to come along this time, to keep an eye on me. Besides, I think it’s for the best that I keep you and Lazar apart before either of you get any stupid ideas about him reclaiming leadership of the mission while my back is turned.”
She couldn’t be absolutely certain in the dark, but it looked as though Lazar and Vartan exchanged guilty looks as they glanced at each other.
“So what’s the plan?” asked Neryssa.
“Vartan and I will head back the way we came, to create a noisy diversion that should draw out our amorous friends from around the corner,” Kayden replied. “Chances are it may also attract the attention of any nearby patrols
, so the moment the Sanatsai rush past this doorway to investigate the disturbance, you make your way around the corner then wait for me to rejoin you.”
She glanced at each of her colleagues, awaiting further questions but none were forthcoming.
“Very well, if there are no more questions,” she created an illumination orb, “Vartan, you’re with me.” She sent the orb floating out of the door then marched swiftly out of the room after it. Hesitating briefly, Vartan dubiously followed in her wake.
With her reluctant assistant in tow Kayden did not stray too far from the room where they had left the rest of the group. She led Vartan back through half a dozen deserted corridors then stopped outside the open double doorway of a large room she guessed had once been a communal room. She glanced at a single doorway on the opposite side of the corridor, about thirty yards back the way they had just come. She gauged that she would have more than enough time to exit the communal room then dart into the other room, once she had created her diversion. There she would wait until the Sanatsai passed by to investigate the commotion, before making her way back to the rest of the group.
“What are we waiting for?” Vartan whispered irritably at her side.
“Nothing! Follow me.”
She trailed behind her illumination orb as she sent it floating into the room ahead of her. The pale blue glow highlighted the sparse surroundings of the room. There was only one piece of furniture in the room—a badly damaged oak table with one of its legs missing, against one wall. Presumably the room had been stripped bare when the fort was abandoned, or in the intervening years. She halted in the centre of the room then sent her orb floating straight up to the ceiling and silently stared upwards.
“What are we supposed to be looking at?” queried Vartan.
Kayden tore her eyes away from the ceiling to stare vacantly at Vartan. “I’m going to assume that as a level seven apprentice you have successfully mastered all the applications of Zarantar taught as part of the level four syllabus.”
