The Refugee (The Korvali Chronicles Book 1)

by C. A. Hartman

  They reengaged their devices and emerged from the tree’s canopy. Eshel walked north again with Catherine just behind him, past Fallal Hall and out beyond the white stone wall. They entered another garden, surrounded by more large stone buildings, where Eshel stopped.

  “Stay here,” Eshel told her.

  Eshel strode toward the white building, crossing a tiny stone bridge that spanned a burbling creek. He glanced at the small tree he passed; it had grown since he’d last seen it. He employed his device, input a code into the console, and entered.

  He saw no one as he walked quietly past the atrium filled with a dark pond and pink-flowered vines that crept up the glass. He continued walking until he reached another room, brightened from the light streaming in through the glass roof.

  There, at her desk, stood his mother. Having heard the door, she kept her eyes toward the front room, her hand in her pocket, ready to defend herself. Eshel disengaged his shell.

  His mother, startled, stared at him with the gray eyes of a Shereb. They approached one another as he pressed his cheek to hers. Eshel’s mother, almost as tall as he, kept a warm hand on his head. When she let go, she spoke. “You have escaped.”

  “Yes.”

  “What is this technology that obscures you from my view?”

  “It is a combination of Korvali and human technologies,” Eshel said.

  His mother’s expression changed. He knew she was intrigued by the idea, but also bothered by his mingling their expertise with that of the others. “You shouldn’t linger, Son. They will look for you here. You must go east.”

  “No. I have… another way.” Eshel paused. “Once they know I am gone, you will be in danger. You must leave this place, and you have only two hours to do so. You know where to go?”

  Fashal examined him for a moment. “I will clean your traces. They won’t know you were here. There is no need for me to hide.”

  “There is.”

  She watched him closely, a glint of recognition in her expression. “You are going to identify the one who murdered your father.”

  “He cannot receive punishment without evidence.”

  “There isn’t enough time to find Elisan’s aides. They are too many.”

  Eshel paused before revealing the truth. “Elisan’s aides did not kill Father.”

  Her eyebrows went up. “Who did?”

  “One of the malkaris’s sons. And only one of them is capable of such an act.”

  Fashal’s face paled as she looked away momentarily. “Ivar.”

  Eshel paused. “I will need some of Father’s supplies.” She showed him where she’d hidden Othniel’s things and Eshel rummaged through it all and found what he needed. As he prepared to leave, his mother stopped him.

  “When you obtain the necessary evidence, give it to me. I can ensure his exposure and punishment better than you can.”

  “No,” Eshel said. “You must leave here. I will handle this.” He again pressed cheeks with his mother, reengaged his device, and left.

  Without a word, he led Catherine back into the walled garden and back to Fallal Hall. The rain came down upon them once more. Once inside the great Hall, Eshel led them up stone steps to the fourth floor. He put his hand out and Catherine immediately gave him the rectangular device. He entered the code and opened the door, just cracking it and peering inside. Once inside, he carefully closed the door and returned the device to Catherine.

  Visions of the past flooded him. Disgusted, he did his best to remove the images from his mind.

  Eshel walked down the large hallway, squinting at the light from the rooftop windows high above them. Once arriving at a doorway, he stopped. When Catherine handed him the device again, he decoded the door and entered. No one was present. He moved on to the next one. No one was there either. As they continued down the hallway, he began to hear voices. Eshel followed the voices, passing another doorway and stopping at a fourth. The voices grew louder, echoing off the white stone that surrounded them. Eshel decoded the door and peeked in. Then he turned, grabbed Catherine’s arm, and pulled her in quickly.

  Eshel and Catherine stood in the alcove of Ivar’s apartments, out of visible range from almost anyplace within the large living quarters. He glanced back quickly to ensure Catherine was ready, and he emerged from the alcove.

  Two young males in blue robes sat at a stone table, talking among themselves—Moeb and Vashar, the younger of the malkaris’s four sons. Their eyes were a pale gray, and their short hair had just enough red in it to make them stand out from the populace. Rain pattered on the ceiling of the living area, its tinted glass casting a bluish hue over the room. The large window on the far side of the room offered a spectacular view of the sea.

  Eshel walked slowly, making his way around the table, glancing around him carefully. Once behind Moeb, he passed his father’s scanner close to him. After running only briefly, the instrument indicated that Moeb’s DNA didn’t match the sample his father had secretly collected from his murderer. He looked around, wondering where Ivar was.

  Eshel moved on to Vashar, passing the scanner close to him. As the instrument began scanning the image, its processing time taking considerably longer than had Moeb’s sample, Eshel waited, recalling that the smaller instruments functioned more slowly. But as it went on, Eshel began to wonder if the instrument would yield an unexpected result, that young Vashar would be capable of such treachery on his own. Perhaps his father was less suspicious of Vashar and more likely to walk alone with him, where Vashar could deploy his weapon. But just as Eshel began to accept this speculation as possibility, the scan halted. Vashar’s DNA didn’t match.

  He glanced at Catherine and motioned for her to stay near the door while he went to search the apartments for Ivar. Catherine waited, attentive and calm. He had strongly opposed her request to accompany him, but she’d insisted. Now, her presence brought him solace.

  Before Eshel got far, he heard a voice from around the corner. Ivar walked in, singing and throwing grain at his brothers, both of whom leveled a few curse words at him. They were words Eshel never used, even at his most angry, and words his mother and father had forbade him to use. Eshel felt himself grow angry at the sight of Ivar. Two steps… two steps and he could engage Ivar, choke him, watch him perish, and walk out the door with Catherine. But Eshel made no move. He must obey Doctrine and pursue justice properly.

  Eshel attempted to scan Ivar as he walked by, but he was too late and didn’t get an adequate reading. Ivar paused his walk again, continuing to toss the grain at the others. Eshel made another attempt to scan him, but before he could, he bumped into a large potted plant whose prickly tips stabbed him in his side. He gasped.

  Moeb turned around and looked right at him. Eshel froze, and then slowly backed away from the plant. When Moeb’s eyes still focused on the area near the plant, rather than on him, he relaxed slightly. He glanced at Catherine, who’d advanced a couple of steps toward them. Moeb ceased his staring and refocused on Ivar.

  Eshel recovered himself and waited, hoping Ivar would be still or sit down. And soon, Ivar ceased his grain assault and took his place at the table. Eshel continued his pursuit, making sure to avoid the spiny plant, and scanned him.

  Eshel glanced at Catherine. She waited only for his sign. He looked back at the scanner, waiting for it to process the information. Ivar’s scan took even longer than Vashar’s had, which only confirmed Eshel’s suspicions. He’d longed for this moment, to follow through on what he’d begun before he had to abandon his investigation and leave Korvalis. Finally, the scan finished.

  Ivar’s scan didn’t match.

  Eshel studied the readout more closely, making sure he’d read the result correctly. Although uncommon, such an instrument occasionally malfunctioned and simply needed to be powered down briefly. Eshel turned off the scanner, waited a few moments, and turned it back on. He scanned Ivar again, deaf to Ivar’s cold voice and blind to all that was around him, and he waited. It yielded the same result
.

  Ivar didn’t kill his father.

  Eshel stood motionless, wondering what had gone amiss. Did the scanner no longer function? Not likely, as it wasn’t that old, and the estimated match percentages for the other boys fell into the expected range for sibling DNA. He went through every memory he had of his investigation before leaving Korvalis, attempting to identify the source of his mistake. Then, a horrible, sickening dread came over him. He stood there, still frozen, trying to adjust his mind to the unthinkable.

  He saw movement from the corner of his eye: Catherine, gesturing to him. She pointed at her device. He snapped out of shock, stepping around the table where the young men sat talking. They quietly left the apartments and Catherine changed her device. That left them only one spare.

  Eshel looked around, the feeling of dread still nearly overwhelming. Seeing no one, he turned to Catherine to check the time. He felt her watching him, waiting for explanation. But he avoided her gaze, leading her out the door, down the stairs, and outside again.

  The light rain sprinkled upon them, and Eshel was overcome by sudden visions from the past. He stopped and knelt down, hoping they would subside. He barely heard Catherine speak his name. The visions ceased, enough for him to recover and keep going. “One last stop,” he told her.

  Again they traversed the gardens, Eshel walking swiftly and Catherine jogging a little to keep up with him. He led her into another building and proceeded down endless labyrinthine hallways, dark and in shadow, with no windows and many closed doors. There were few people around. Familiarity washed over him as he quickly navigated the place in which he’d spent so much time.

  And then he stopped. “I will not need your assistance here. Please wait until I come out.”

  “Check your device,” she said.

  He did; it blinked, once per second. He changed it, glancing at Catherine. “Do not worry.”

  As Eshel stepped into the laboratory, another series of strong memories flooded him—memories of his father, of their colleagues. The clearest one was of the schematic Eshel had made, outlining his plan, the one where he would manipulate his own epigenome and survive his escape. But despite the familiarity of the place, this wasn’t his lab.

  It was Elan’s lab.

  Eshel proceeded to the back room. It was silent, except for the quiet hum of the computers. And there, in the back, sat a man in a blue robe. Eshel observed his friend, the one he’d played with as a child, sat with during their schooling, discussed science with, swum countless waters with… who’d given him the codes to their apartments, attended Othniel’s rite of death, and whose daughter he’d played with. Eshel silently walked to where Elan sat, examining the code he’d written, presumably for his next project. He scanned him.

  He watched the display, the slow processing of the scanner attempting to make a DNA match. Finally, the scan halted and the scanner’s display lit up, offering him the result he’d expected from Ivar. He stared at the display for a moment before putting the scanner back in his pocket. He continued looking at Elan, who worked silently, who would’ve begun work early that morning, after a swim, and would probably stay until well into the evening. Eshel, standing a mere meter away from where Elan sat, disengaged his shell.

  “Elan.”

  Elan turned, his expression one of surprise. “How did you get in here?” he said, standing up and facing Eshel, his gray eyes making contact with Eshel’s. “Did they release you?”

  “I know you killed my father, Elan,” Eshel said, staring Elan down. “I know you deceived me. I want to know why.”

  Elan hesitated, his expression changing slightly. “You are my friend, Eshel. But it is my duty to protect Korvalis. Your father was a traitor. If I did not kill him, another would have.”

  “I don’t want to know why you believe he deserved to die. I want to know, why you?”

  “You know why.”

  “I want to you to tell me.”

  As Elan gave him a chilly look, he no longer looked like the friend he’d known throughout his life. “Because you would not suspect me.”

  “You are correct, Elan. I never suspected you.”

  “How did you find out?”

  “You are cunning. But my father was more so.”

  Elan raised his eyebrows. “You will not reveal your subterfuge? It does not matter. No one will believe the evidence of a traitor. Even if they do, they can do nothing.”

  “I do not need them to,” Eshel said.

  “Oh? You will attempt to leave us again, to flee and live among the outsiders?”

  “Yes,” Eshel said.

  And before Elan could react, Eshel retrieved the weapon he’d taken from his father’s cache, quickly injected Elan’s neck without touching him, and immediately backed away.

  Elan, stunned by the attack, put his hand to his neck. He found the micro-syringe and pulled it out. He stared at it, as if attempting to decipher how it worked. But it was too late. Elan began to stagger, and soon slumped to the floor. He started to convulse. Eshel, unable to bear any more, looked away.

  Once Elan’s body remained still, Eshel faced him again, watching the limp corpse of his friend lie motionless on the laboratory floor. He knelt down, taking a deep breath to control the sick feeling he had, and came very close to vomiting. He calmed himself. After a few moments, Eshel retrieved the tiny syringe from Elan’s hand, careful to avoid touching him. He retracted the needle, put it in his pocket, and exited the lab.

  “Did you get what you needed?” Catherine said, her expression concerned.

  “I did. We must leave.”

  Eshel set to walking again, his pace even quicker than before. Catherine followed him, winding through the numerous quiet hallways, until they reached a door that led them outside to the gardens. They pulled their hoods over their heads as rain fell upon them. They headed south, through the gardens, beyond the curved door of the white stone wall, and away from Fallal Hall. About halfway to the craft’s location, Eshel stopped walking. He turned and looked back at Fallal Hall in the distance, its white stone rising above all, gleaming through the rain.

  It was time… time for them to return home.

  CHAPTER 26

  After sitting alone in the quiet for hours, Catherine finally saw Station 10 in the distance. Tom dozed, and Eshel had been asleep for some time. She whistled.

  “What,” Tom said groggily, as he sat up.

  “We’re in range.”

  Catherine sent an encrypted message to the Captain: Mission accomplished. ETA: 3:12. Tom slowed the Mosca and pulled into a vertical structure, landing on one of the shielded platforms near the top, designed for smaller ships. He got out and gave a few commands. Catherine watched the robotic arm find their fuel tank and latch onto it. When Tom came back in, he walked past Catherine to where Eshel sat, newly awakened.

  “Esh, why’d you put Finnegan in charge of this operation?” he said, pointing at Catherine. “And why’d you give her all the intelligence, and leave me to sit by like an idiot? I’m a soldier with a lot of field experience—I’m trained to do this kind of shit!”

  Eshel, visibly surprised at Tom’s sudden outburst, sat up. “Why are you angry? The operation was successful.”

  “That’s not the point! Do you have any idea what it was like for me to sit and wait for all those hours with, no offense,” he glanced back at Catherine, “a whitecoat in charge?”

  “Only Catherine had the necessary knowledge to do this, Tom.”

  “Don’t give me that shit! You weren’t even where you said you’d be. It’s damned lucky she found you in that place. If you’d trusted me with more intelligence, I’d have been more helpful and the op would’ve been far less risky.” He ran his hand through his curly hair. “You don’t trust me, man. And that pisses me off, considering all I’ve done for you.”

  Catherine could see Eshel starting to get angry. But he took pause before he finally answered. “I have not adequately shown… what is the word…gratitude, for all you h
ave done for me. I am sorry for that.” Tom deflated a little, glancing at Catherine again. “You are correct. I do not trust you, as I do Catherine, for many reasons. And you are not one who keeps secrets.”

  Tom shook his head vigorously. “I can keep secrets when they’re important. For example, when you gave me that bioweapon casing for my birthday, I know you had others made. I know you probably used a bioweapon on those gumiia assholes after the CCFs. I have contacts, Eshel. I know things. And I never said a word to anyone, because we can’t always look out for you and you deserve to defend yourself any way you can against those vest-wearing goons.” He stood, hands on hips, looking at Eshel. “So… what it’s gonna take for you to trust me?”

  Eshel stood up. “If you share with nobody what you learned during this operation—nobody at all, including the Captain—you will have earned my trust. Until then…” Eshel bent over and removed his shoes. He began pulling his robe over his head, taking it off altogether and setting it on his seat. He stood completely nude.

  Catherine gasped. Tom looked shocked… and uncomfortable.

  “It is forbidden to allow any outsider to see a Korvali unclothed,” Eshel said. “Only Catherine has seen me this way. I deceived you about not engaging in physical relations with her, for reasons I will share with you at another time.” He put his robe back on.

  They heard a noise—the robotic arm detaching itself from their craft. Tom left and paid for the fuel. When he returned, his expression was serious. “Hey, man… thanks for everything you said.” He laughed a little, shaking his head. “I didn’t need to see you naked… but I appreciate the meaning of the gesture. Look… I’m sorry too, for some of the shit I said… you know, that night after the party.”

  “Thank you,” Eshel said.

  Tom grinned. “Say ‘thank you’ to the Captain. This trip cost a fortune!” He rapped his hand on the bulkhead. “Alright… let’s go home!”