The Guardian's Grimoire

by Oxford, Rain

  When that person snuck away from the crowd, I made my way through the narrow passages until I came out close to my room. There were guards standing outside and I was sufficiently hidden from view when the assassin arrived at my door.

  The unsuspecting guards didn’t try to stop the assassin from knocking on the door frantically.

  “I have a message for Mordon!” the assassin pleaded.

  I heard the door open, but I knew Mokomo and Jedes would follow my plan, even when they didn’t know what it was.

  “The prince is not seeing anyone,” Mokomo explained.

  “It’s important. I have a message from Haru-joul. You have to let me speak with Mordon.”

  “The prince has been attacked; nobody is going to see him until a thorough investigation on every person in the castle is complete.”

  There was a scuffle before the assassin grunted, having been shoved away. People often tried to strong-arm the old physician because he looked frail and weak and had a stubbornness that rivaled the king’s, but he was actually the man who trained my own father in combat.

  Instead of waiting to hear what came next, I continued through the servant passages to the hallway right outside my father’s private chambers. I tried to ignore the guards.

  “Mordon! You should be in bed!” Amo-ser said.

  “I need to speak with my father right now.”

  Amo-ser put his hand on my shoulder and the worry in his eyes warned there was a fuss-fit brewing. Amo-ser was my private bodyguard when I was little and since I was pretty accident-prone, he still felt the need to take care of me. When I glanced down, I saw his point; my bandages were soaked through with blood.

  “Go get Mokomo,” Amo-ser told the second guard.

  “It doesn’t hurt. I need to talk to my father.” I shook off the guard and pushed open my father’s door without even knocking, then shut it before scanning the room. My father was sitting at his table with a goblet and an old book.

  He observed me expectantly: “A king is never surprised or caught unaware,” as he often lectured me. “You must be feeling better,” he said.

  “I didn’t die from the poisoned dagger. I’m sorry to bother you, but the assassin is coming this way and I just thought I should probably do something about it.”

  “You know who it is?”

  “I do.”

  “How do you know he’s coming after me now?”

  “Because I gave her no other choice.”

  “Her? Don’t tell me the assassin who overwhelmed two of my guards, doused the torches from outside the room with powerful magic, and nearly killed my son is a woman.”

  The moment the words left his mouth, the torches went out and it was dark again. While there was a window, it was a dark and cloudy night with no moonlight to illuminate the room. Instead of getting my father to safety, I pulled my bow from my shoulder, took an arrow from the quiver strapped to my leg, and notched it. Facing my body perpendicular from where I knew the door was, and aimed.

  It was about a minute later that the door finally opened and the assassin gasped in surprise, nearly dropping her torch. Haru-joul’s maid was a small woman in her late sixties with a very fragile façade, probably strenuously built up to keep her from being victimized by more dominating people. Her carefully humbled makeup and clothes couldn’t hide the envy and hatred emanating from the woman.

  Knowing she was powerful in magic, I couldn’t afford to let her open her mouth. I released my arrow… Unfortunately, it hit the wall beside her. Unlike last time, she had a torch, which I immediately understood the purpose of as she raised it like a sword. People with so much hate usually had a weapon of one form or another. Obviously as a servant, she didn’t have the education to outsmart her enemies, and since swords and guns were not very feminine, it made sense that she would use magic.

  I pulled another arrow and notched it, but before I could draw the string, a blast of fire hit me square on the chest. Yes, her aim was better than mine, but I had to grin snidely as she gawked. The bandage was wet with my blood and took no more damage than my flesh. Instead of burning in pain, I pulled the heat into me and aimed my bow as I pulled the string back to my cheek. I breathed in… and out… aimed again… breathed in… and as I breathed out, I released my heat into the arrow until the tip caught on fire. I imagined her throat was Haru-joul’s face… and I released the string.

  * * *

  “Where are you going this time?”

  I didn’t bother to look up as Jedes entered my room, and continued shoving clothes into my bag. “I don’t know yet. I’m running away.”

  “What did he do?”

  I threw down the shirt in my hand because I didn’t want to rip it in frustration… especially not in front of her. “The king decided that since the assassin was Haru-joul’s maid, that she was the one in real danger, and since I exposed the assassin, that I was saving the princess’s life! Now he believes that she needs someone to watch over her and that someone is me! I have been ordered to take her on a romantic trip and was advised that I discover that I am actually attracted to her and want to marry her! The next attempt on my father’s life will be from me! And would you stop laughing?!”

  “I’m sorry,” she lied, trying to compose herself. “I know how much you are looking forward to that, so it’s too bad that you have to go to Banjii for that treaty over the Caito islands.”

  “Wait, what?”

  “Soe-mor wasn’t very specific on the date, but I’m pretty sure when your father tells you the date of your romantic getaway, you will remember that Soe-mor is expecting you then.”

  Hint, hint…

  “You are fantastic.”

  “I know. But I still don’t understand how you knew the assassin was Haru-joul’s maid.”

  “I explained it many times.”

  “I understand what your plan was. The stable boy didn’t say who you were, so she was the only one who knew it was you, because you were the only one who could have known it was her. She went to your room to try to stop you from talking, but failing that, had to go after your father before you could. Only she was too late. I understand all that. What I don’t understand is how you knew it was her. You said you got her scent when she stabbed you, but you never met the maid.”

  “No. I knew for sure what she was because of her scent. I didn’t know what she looked like until I saw her leave the fire. Emotions and intentions are extremely easy for me to detect; they often cloud other smells. When she stabbed me, I got a deeper scent. It wasn’t that I recognized her, but what she was in contact with. She had Haru-joul’s scent infused with her own, so I knew she had a lot of close contact with the princess. She also smelled of Haru-joul’s oils; the kind that Haru-joul would pour into her bath water. What was most out of place was the scent of the Zendii stable boy and tokuami.”

  “The twins said Haru-joul’s maid and the stable boy were kissing. But you couldn’t have been entirely sure.”

  “I was. There were many more things, like how she didn’t have a trace of Ome-mor’s scent on her. Who else but a personal maid has so much contact with the princess, and absolutely none with her father? Still, when I spoke with the stable boy, I could smell the assassin on him, but I could also smell that he wasn’t the killer.”

  “Well, she will never bother the king again.”

  “That’s right. Now, my father doesn’t need me, so I’m getting out of here before I end up married to a dejeva.”

  As soon as I picked up my bag, I heard a loud fight. Realizing it was coming from somewhere in the castle, I dropped my bag and left my rooms to follow the sounds. Unfortunately, the brawl was taking place in the throne room. There were several spectators on the balcony by the time I arrived to see what was happening.

  A man in farmer’s clothes was being held, forced to his knees. He had a desperation about him that worried me, but it wasn’t quite the desperation of a madman who was ready to kill. By the looks of several of the younger guards, he had put
up a good fight.

  “You shut down the schools in my town and charged us for doing it!” he yelled, responding to my father’s apathy.

  “They were violating tax laws,” the king said, almost yawning.

  “We couldn’t afford to feed the children when you were already taking too much.”

  “Your city is subject to the same laws throughout the land. If your people are poor enough that you cannot afford to feed your children, perhaps now that they are out of school, you can put them to good use. Make the children earn their food. The boys can farm and the girls can make stuff.”

  “We have nothing left! We have no money, no food, pillagers have ruined our crops and homes, and if we can’t scrounge up more money for taxes by the end of the month, the only people who can physically work will be imprisoned.”

  “Then I suggest you beg your own king for help. You are not part of this kingdom. You bring your problems to your king and if he feels he cannot handle it, he brings them to me.”

  “The king of Cielse doesn’t care about his people. You are the king of Mokii; we are all your people to take care of.”

  “Then leave Mokii. I have no time to worry about one little village when I have an entire land to run.”

  “You will regret this,” the farmer warned. “You prevent our children from getting an education. You force our working men to starve, paying for your fancy castle. And when you send men to take money we don’t have, you will take husbands from their wives. This will not stand. There are many cities all other Mokii that are ready and willing to bring down your house.”

  “Get out. Never come back to my kingdom. Taxes will be due at the end of the month, as they always are.”

  The farmer left and I groaned. My father’s greed was going to get him killed, and it looked like it would happen sooner than I thought. I started constructing a plan to clean up this mess. There was always a way to fight greed with kindness… and stealth.

  Jedes patted me on the arm. “I will go unpack your bag.”

  About the Author

  Rain Oxford is a middle school teacher who is compelled to spend every free moment writing. The Asian-influenced cultures she creates were inspired by Japan, where she attended Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto on an exchange program. She does most of her writing in a secluded cabin in the woods, with a four-pound Maltese as a companion. When she’s not teaching or creating worlds, she usually enjoys cooking, playing the piano, or photographing exotic wildlife.