Emblems of Power

by C L Patterson

  You idiot, Kosai thought. You can’t die, not here. Kosai kicked harder, rising slowly to the surface. Kick, kick, kick, kick, he said to himself over and over again. He reached the surface again and took a breath. The ocean turned to a dark blue, and Kosai fell upwards, out of the ocean. The night sky turned back to the dark purple, and then to the bright purple light. The light shrank until it was the size of a pea. Kosai opened his real eyes and saw Mearto standing over him.

  “You idiot,” she scolded. “You can’t die, not here, not like this. There was a reason I told you no. You’re not ready.” Kosai was shivering and coughed. He ran his hands through his hair, expecting to find salt water, but instead it was sweat. “You are so pathetic.” She took one of her cloaks that hung on a hook and threw it around Kosai. “I take it you learned your lesson.”

  “Yes,” Kosai said. He coughed a second time. “Next time I will get straight to diving.”

  “Fool!” Mearto yelled.

  “I am sure you had weeks of preparation!” Kosai barked back. “I don’t have that much time.”

  “No, as a matter of fact, I didn’t have weeks of preparation. It was decided for me, and it was tried. But I lived for a much different reason.”

  “And what was that reason?”

  “That is none of your business! You almost died. I saved your life. By right, your life is mine. And don’t talk to me about you not having that much time. The time you have here is what I give you.”

  “And the time you have is what the Captain gave you.” Kosai stared at Mearto and wrapped her cloak tightly around him. Mearto stood, scowling over him.

  “Don’t you understand that you are no use to anyone dead? It’s over for all of us if you’re gone. Why are you so adamant about getting yourself killed? Why do you want to force my hand?” She paused, turned and looked at the bookshelf. “You have something else you’re supposed to do here, aren’t you? Becoming a Forced Conduit is just your foot in our school. There is something else, something that the Captain wants you to find isn’t there? Why else would you want to hurry the Awakening? You threaten to kill yourself, I succumb to your desires to hurry the process, leaving you time to do something.” Kosai coughed again and began to shake. “And I think I know what over. It’s about the trade routes, isn’t it? The Seer thinks that I am the one leaking the trade routes, and with you being a Forced Conduit, it fits perfectly into his strategy to have you watch me.” The scent of lilac and sea salt filled the room as she spoke. Kosai nodded. He was too weak to come up with another story or explanation.

  “The Captain told me though to keep an eye on everyone,” Kosai said, “not just you. He thinks that the Seer wants me to watch you so that he can go unnoticed. It doesn’t rule you out as a suspect, but yes. That is why I need to hurry this up. Every day I sit here and study, people are dying.” Mearto chuckled again.

  “You are too weak to be left alone right now, but I think this evening, you and I should go out. I’ll prove to you that I am not the one behind it all, and perhaps you and I can work together on this.” She sighed and smiled. “A little more than a week and someone is trying to kill you, you almost kill yourself, and I discover that you and I have more in common than I first thought.”

  “So it seems,” Kosai said dryly through his teeth.

  CHAPTER 12

  There was a knock at the door.

  “Enter,” Mearto commanded. She said it in such a way reminded Kosai of the Captain and in other ways, not like him at all. She was tall, firm, and controlled. She laid out her words with precision and each word had an air of authority and power. But in other ways, she seemed soft, gentle, and even with the threats and insults, Kosai understood that there was a sense of genuine concern. She was just… different. It was the smell of lilac and sea salt, Kosai decided that made her different. He felt calm around her, even when she was barking orders or scolding him.

  “Sorry to bother you.” It was the matron. “But there is a guest for Kosai waiting in the board room.”

  “Thank you,” Mearto said. She dismissed the matron and waited until the door was shut. “Are you fit enough to walk?”

  “I’ve felt worse,” Kosai said. He took a deep breath and coughed roughly, spitting up a glob of phlegm. He swallowed it, stood and hung the cloak back on the hook.

  “You should wear that. You look cold and weak.”

  “The pain is good for me, it will make me stronger,” Kosai said with a smile. Kosai opened the door and walked out. Mearto followed closely behind. “I’m quite alright,” he whispered to her.

  “I’m not letting out in this condition without some assistance,” she said. Kosai shook his head, not to disregard her comment but to clear it from his mind. The floor spun slowly, and even though he felt cold, his face was covered in sweat. He stumbled, fell against the wall, slid down to the floor and coughed again. Mearto reached down to help him up.

  “No!” Kosai said as he brushed her arm away with his. “I can do this.” Mearto folded her arms across her chest and stared at her student. Kosai pawed up the wall, regaining balance, took a few more steps and fell again, stumbling like a baby trying to walk.

  “Apparently not,” she said. She grabbed Kosai under the arms and helped him to his feet. After he was on his feet, she placed one arm over her shoulders, held his left hand in hers, and tucked her right arm around his side. Kosai breathed through his nose, smelling the lilac and sea salt again. He smiled.

  “Apparently not,” he agreed. Together, they walked slowly towards the board room. They stopped at the door and Kosai took another deep breath.

  “Can you go in on your own?”

  “I think so,” Kosai said. Slowly he opened the door and entered the room. He smiled again, seeing the Captain sitting towards the middle of the long table. The Captain stood. Kosai took a couple steps towards him before faltering. He caught himself in a chair. Holding himself up on the chair, Kosai saluted and stood as close to attention as possible while bracing himself on the chair. He noticed the cast on the Captain’s arm, but said nothing.

  “Sit Kosai, you look awful,” said the Captain. Kosai nodded and sat on in the chair. The Captain stood up from his chair and sat next to Kosai. “Is everything ok?” he asked Mearto.

  “He’ll be fine Captain,” Mearto said, taking a seat on the other side of Kosai. She glanced at the Captain’s cast and then looked up at the Captain. The room started to smell like lilac and sea salt. “We have been trying to prepare him for the Awakening through mental exercises. Unfortunately, they have quite the affect on the body.”

  “I’m fine, really,” Kosai said.

  “The pain is good for you. It will make you stronger,” the Captain said, placing a firm hand on Kosai’s shoulder. He looked up at Mearto. “If you don’t mind, I have some private business to discuss with my student.”

  “She can stay,” Kosai said. The Captain looked at him, then at Mearto, and then back at Kosai. “She knows the other reason I’m here and she claims innocence.”

  “Kosai!” the Captain said disapprovingly.

  “Captain,” Mearto said calmly. “Do not be mad at your student. He did not divulge anything to me. As a matter of fact, he held his secret well and was very strategic in making time for his investigation. It was only after his recent near death experience that I was able to discover his secret.”

  “Near death experience? Kosai, what happened? What did you tell her?”

  “ ‘I don’t have time for this’,” Mearto said.

  “Excuse me?” the Captain said, even more angrily.

  “Those were the words he said to me, ‘I don’t have time for this’. From that, as well as surrounding events that were completely outside of Kosai’s control, I was able to discover his secret. Luck just happened that I discovered it when he was mentally unable to put on a rouse.”

  “How convenient for you then,” the Captain said coldly. Mearto chuckled.

  “You two are
so much alike. Rest assured Captain, I am not the one leaking the information about the caravans, and I have proof. If you would like to escort Kosai and I this evening, I will show it to you.” The Captain stared at the desk, and then looked at Kosai.

  “Will he be fit for travel this evening?”

  “He should be. The effects, though dramatic and draining at first, wear off in a few hours.” The Captain nodded. Kosai folded his arms on the table and laid his head down and breathed heavily.

  “Kosai, are you sure you can be here? What I am about to say is extremely important. You need to remember every word.” Kosai sat up slowly and straightened his posture.

  “I’ll be fine Captain. It’s just like any other time I was laid up and you lectured me.” After making sure that Kosai was coherent, the Captain explained his investigation with the syndicate. He talked about the secret notes, the private use of the government caravan by managing syndicate members, and of Leudoy, the syndicate merchant that the Captain borrowed the ring from and his living conditions.

  “But that wasn’t all. On the journey back from Linnouse, we were attacked by the Dark One. That was when my arm broke. The only reason he didn’t kill me and the rest of the guards, he said, was because he still had a need of me and them.”

  “How,” Kosai said weakly. “He has no association with the Guard.”

  “I think the more important question, Captain,” Mearto said softly, “is did you find anything linking the syndicate to the leaked route information.”

  The Captain shook his head.

  “None, just suspicion,” he said.

  “And what is that suspicion?” Mearto asked.

  “For the Dark One to make such a claim insinuates that he somehow has control over the Guard. We take our orders from the Capital only. I suspect that the Dark One has some measure of control over the council at present. The higher-ranking members of the syndicate are also doing something between themselves while the lower-ranking members live on the brink of poverty. I have spent this past week watching them, and my gut tells me that they know about the trade routes, but I have nothing to hold over their heads!” the Captain slammed his right fist on the table. “Tell me you’ve found something.”

  I’ve found something alright, Kosai thought, placing his hand on his chest and rubbing in a small circle over the book as if he was comforting a pain.

  “I haven’t, Captain,” Kosai said. “I’ve been trying to make time, but until now, the situation hasn’t presented itself. There has been an additional development however.” Kosai talked about the boys that tried to kill him, their denial afterword, and that the Seer declined to See what actually happened. “Mearto shares a common interest with us too.” Kosai looked at Mearto and she picked up on the cue.

  “I, like you and Kosai, have some reservations about the Seer. He dictates trade routes to Jaiken and I, mediates in the Oasis in the afternoons, but beyond that, he is rather reclusive. I found it highly suspicious that he would call on you and Kosai to investigate the leak, claim innocence, and then be absent most of the day.” The room was silent again. The Captain stared at the desk and scratched his chin.

  “There is something you should know Mearto,” the Captain finally said. “When I was with the Seer, alone, I asked him to See who was leaking the trade route information.”

  “He saw me giving the information didn’t he?”

  “Yes,” the Captain said slowly and cautiously.

  “And he told you that he can only See, not hear, correct?”

  “Yes,” the Captain said again with more confidence. Mearto laughed slightly.

  “I know exactly what he Sees, and it is not what he thinks. Please, you must come with me tonight and I will prove to you that I am innocent.”

  “Do not treat this lightly. You must prove to me that you are innocent. Treason is the crime being committed, punishable by death or a life at the Gate.” Mearto’s facial expression changed instantly and folded her hands across her lap.

  “I am not committing treason. In fact, I am doing the opposite. I am compiling evidence against who ever is. And, I am trying to mitigate future losses through negotiations.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Kosai, “you hint that the syndicate is betraying the routes, yet claim that your association with them is the opposite of treason.”

  “The syndicate group that I meet with is parting ways, as it were, with their parent company in hopes to aid the people. In the room where we meet, a large map is placed on the table. Future routes, previous failed and successful caravan routes, as well as financial planning are all discussed. The Seer doesn’t understand that I am assisting them in their plan to break away from the syndicate.”

  “How will you prove this to me?” The Captain leaned back and folded his arms over his chest.

  “Meet Kosai and me at sunset, next to the fountain, but in a disguise of some sort.”

  “Fair enough,” the Captain said. He stood up again. Kosai tried to push his chair out to stand as well, but couldn’t find the energy to do so. “But any sense of foul play-”

  “Captain,” Mearto said softly. The room filled with the lilac and sea salt smell again. “I swear no harm will come to either of you, if so you may charge me with treason and send me where you will.” Mearto bowed slightly and the Captain nodded.

  “On that note, I have something I want you to look at,” the Captain said. He untied the pouch on his hip and tossed it to Mearto. She opened it and poured out a portion of the black sand into her hand.

  “Dead Earth,” Mearto said slowly, examining each grain that rested in her palm. “Where did you find this?”

  “On one of the earlier caravans I went on. Kosai’s old sword was stuck in the ground and covered in the stuff as well as a black, paste-like substance. It burned my hand as I poured it into the bag. I thought it might be of some use against the Dark One.” Mearto continued to stare at the sand, and then carefully poured it back into the pouch. “But before he dissapeared, he said that it wouldn’t do any good,” said the Captain.

  “Do you have the sword with you?” Mearto asked in a slow, even tone.

  “I do and wanted to ask you questions about it as well,” he said as he pulled Kosai’s blade from his belt and laid it on the table, the handle pointed towards Mearto. Kosai groaned when he saw the chipped and blackened edge of the blade. Mearto cautiously picked up the sword and examined the red tint of the blade and the black-stained edge closely. She placed her finger on the edge of the sword and then recoiled quickly.

  “Clever of you to take the sand with you, because the pouch solidifies what the Seer has said about Kosai. But it also brings with it some troubling news. Dead Earth is earth that had the Faye, or the world’s energy, the power that grants life to all living things, sucked out of it. It would be comparable to draining you of your blood. Usually, Dead Earth is the beginning of a Seep. I strongly suspect that after Kosai injured the Dark One, that he took Kosai’s sword, stabbed into the ground, and sucked the life from the surrounding area in order to heal himself.”

  “And what of the pain I felt in my hands? How are you able to handle the dead earth?”

  “The pain you felt on your hands, Captain, was the Dark One’s blood and that blood is also what has stained this blade.” Mearto placed the blade on the table and looked at the Captain. “It is a challenge, Captain, to Kosai as if he were saying that he isn’t afraid of him.”

  The Captain placed Kosai’s sword back in his belt and then laid a hand on his son’s shoulder. “Kosai, feel better by this evening,” he said in a tender voice. “Teach him well,” he said to Mearto.

  “Yes Captain,” Mearto replied. She bowed a second time as the Captain left. She waited for a moment and then turned to Kosai. “Do you feel like walking again?”

  “I will in a minute I think. My strength is coming back,” he groaned. He placed his hands on the table and pushed himself up. “The floor stopped spin
ning.”

  “That’s the worst of it, but for you, not the last of it,” Mearto said. Kosai took a couple steps towards the door. Mearto took a step towards him, arms outstretched. “I can walk now. Just tired, that’s all.”

  “Good,” she said. She placed her hands by her side. “We can talk more in my office.” Kosai and Mearto walked slowly, but straight.

  Each step brought renewed strength, and it wasn’t long before Kosai felt almost as he did before the Awakening, save for being slightly drowsy. At his teacher’s office, Kosai sat in his chair and Mearto sat behind her desk across from him.

  “There are still two things that I am concerned about,” Mearto said. “First, how did you begin the Awakening without assistance?” Kosai rubbed his eyes for a moment, playing off his drowsiness to think of an answer.

  “I read some words down in the library. I committed them to memory and repeated them over and over.”

  “Ah,” she said as she grabbed a piece of paper, pen and ink and jotted down a note. “More importantly, I sense that the Captain doesn’t trust me. I sense that you don’t trust me either. Why?”

  “Create a common enemy, gain confidence, find weakness, exploit,” Kosai said in a monotone voice as if reading from a textbook.

  “You and the Captain see this as a cover then, to get closer to you and then what? Kill you? It’s irrational. I have no motive. It is more important to me that you stay alive.”

  “Your trust will either be earned or lost this evening. The Captain perceives more than most give him credit for,” Kosai said.

  “You need your rest. Go to your bunk. I will be close by if you need anything. Dismissed.” She waved her hand. Kosai stood, thought about saluting, didn’t, and walked cautiously back to his bed. Once he lay down, he took the book out from his shirt and opened to the sixth page, licked his thumb, and pressed it into the paper.

  “How did your practice Awakening go?”

  “Terrible. I almost died,” Kosai whispered. No one was in the Dormitory yet, but he didn’t want to run the risk of someone walking in on his conversation. “Once Mearto broke the trance, the floor would not stop spinning and my body felt terrible. I don’t think I made any headway about practicing for the Awakening, though she did talk about the trade routes.”