The edge of shadow, p.15
The Edge of Shadow, page 15
part #5 of The Kin of Kings Series
“What will I do with these beetles?”
“I’ll make a portal back to the colony, and you will bring them there. They will get rid of the bodies we left there, and we will enclose them somewhere in the colony to be used later. That’s why we need the akorell stone charged, but make sure you do it in one of the back rooms, in case someone opens the cellar doors.”
“I might be able to make the portal,” she said. “I made a small one to break the bar of my prison cell.”
“But if you fail, we’ll have to wait another day for it to charge again.” There was a pause as they each pondered. “But I do need you to learn…if you are capable,” Basen continued. “We will have to make many portals back and forth.”
“We need another akorell stone for me.”
Basen shrugged. “We do know where akorell metal is. A lot of akorell metal…”
He could see by the twinkle in Sanya’s eyes that she had the same thought. Why don’t they make ten?
*****
People noticed Basen everywhere he went in this poor district of the city, their gazes lingering long enough to make him certain that most everyone knew each other and could spot a stranger a street a way. Fortunately, there was nothing about him suspicious enough to be reported. He smiled at everyone who met his gaze, as a friendly face was more likely to get away with something than a mean one. He kept his bloodstained arms pressed against his sides until he found a shop and purchased a new outfit.
There was only one guard patrolling the streets, and the people of the district looked at him in the exact opposite way they looked at Basen. All had mastered a way of seeing without looking, of watching without moving anything but their eyes. Basen wasn’t the danger here; the guards were.
As Basen left the district and came closer to the center of the city, people were less cautious around guards. Instead, their irritation was as plain as if they’d smelled something foul.
There weren’t enough guards to stop an uprising unless everyone from the forest came to stand up to the citizenry, but Basen had no way of gaining the people’s support. At least not that he knew of.
He roamed for hours, revisiting streets twice, sometimes three times to ensure he remembered key locations. Eventually, he witnessed two men fighting outside a bar. Two onlookers seemed to know the men but did nothing to stop the fight until a guard started down the same street. Then they grabbed their friends, threw them down, and jumped on top of them as if trying to put out a fire on their backs.
The belligerent men fought in hopes of freeing themselves until they became aware what their friends were telling them about the approaching guard. The two pairs jumped up and went in separate directions.
Basen circled around the castle, getting closer and closer the way a boy might test the feeling of fire against his hand. The only people who smiled at the guards were other guards as they walked past each other or stopped for a chat. Unlike in his new home district, no one seemed to think Basen was an outsider here, and eventually he found little reason not to venture to the castle.
There were a few guards outside the closed doors while others patrolled the main road. Most of them looked either content or resigned to boredom, while some glanced around almost mischievously as if searching for something to do. None were vigilant like the men on the eastern wall watching the forest.
Basen made his way over to the nearby training center. It was empty, so he walked inside to fortify the memory. He would probably have to make another portal here eventually if he were to win this war.
The road around the training center was almost as wide and well-paved as the road to the castle, but unlike that one, this road was empty. Weapon shops and teachers of magic for hire still seemed to be in business, but there were no patrons to serve.
Almost everyone who can fight is already doing so?
Basen wondered again about his mother, and now about the other family of students who’d come to the Academy. Hopefully they were safe with Juliana or they’d escaped with the Academy’s troops. What about the others who’d come there previously because they’d been bribed with the promise of food—like Effie’s and Steffen’s parents? If the war starts to turn in our favor, Ulric could use the safety of our families against us as leverage.
The thought brought on the same discouragement as remembering how outnumbered they were. Basen had to find some sort of advantage in this war, and soon, something more than making portals. He could feel a plan for victory was there waiting for discovery, so close yet just out of reach.
Basen strolled by the castle again on his way back, this time going around back for a look at the stables. He knew little about horses and didn’t see how they would be of much use in this war, but he was hoping everything would change soon enough. He’d better be prepared by learning all he could.
Either there weren’t very many horses or most of the animals were kept somewhere more secure. A few guards stood outside the entrance while workers tended to the animals within.
Basen witnessed a man approach the guards and ask to join Ulric’s army.
“It’s too late,” one soldier said. “You should’ve joined earlier.”
“We’re not recruiting,” the other added in punctuation.
The man wanting to join was twice Basen’s age, but he looked in no way feeble. They really must be confident to refuse any others to pad their ranks.
Basen couldn’t let himself succumb to the hopelessness that kept trying to drag him down. He refocused his thoughts on learning the city, finding out which locations had more enemies, and which had less.
He made his trip home using only moonlight. The longer he could keep his ability with bastial energy a secret, the better.
He opened the cellar doors. “It’s Basen,” he announced.
Sanya walked into view from around a wall. “What did you see?”
“First, what is that I hear?” It sounded like the walls were whispering.
“The febeetles.”
He descended the stairs and cautiously peered around her. It looked as if hulking shadows had collected on the floor and along the base of the walls. He made light and could hold his ground no further as he backed away in a hurry. There were thousands of the black beetles squirming around, most as long and as wide as two fingers put together.
“It was night,” Sanya said, “so I went to fetch them. I couldn’t handle the boredom of staying here any longer.”
“Did anyone see you?”
“A few people.” She crossed her arms. “You couldn’t have prevented that if you were with me. You would’ve just made it more likely for us to be seen.”
He held back his annoyance at her leaving without his permission only because she was right. “Did they see you come back here?”
“No.”
“What about guards?”
“There were none.”
“And the febeetles—you have them under control?”
“Yes, relax.”
He wasn’t sure he could while standing in the same room as thousands of flesh-eating creatures, but he did need to at least get off his aching feet. He moved to the other side of their sanctuary, as far as possible from the febeetles, then took off his boots and lay down.
He told Sanya of the one image he couldn’t get out of his mind. “I saw a man trying to join Ulric’s army, yet they refused him because they don’t need any more.”
Her biting tone surprised him. “With so many more than us, what’s the point to kill Ulric! Someone will just take his place.”
“Don’t lose hope, Sanya.” Basen closed his eyes. “I’m trying to take your advice to relax.”
“And while you’re doing that, your allies are dying.”
She sounded exactly like the old Sanya, always starting trouble whether it was on purpose or not.
He let out a frustrated breath as he sat up. “They are your allies as well now.”
“No, they want me dead.”
“We’ve already discussed this! Why are you reasonable at times and at other times you’re denser than a brick?”
“I’m not. You’re the one refusing to see the reality of our position.”
“What are you saying? You’re not going to help anymore?”
“I’m saying there’s no point. Ulric doesn’t even recruit anymore!”
I should’ve never told her that. “What do you propose then?” he asked sarcastically. “That we die?”
“You can do what you want on your journey toward death. I’d rather leave and avoid the journey altogether. I’m going to steal some money and take a boat to Greenedge, when I’m able.”
He felt as if he’d just stepped outside into a thunderstorm with no coat. But there was no going back to the beginning of this conversation. The door was closed behind him, Sanya’s rage at a dangerous level.
He needed to stop inciting her. “I need your help.”
“Would you help people who plan to kill you after you save them all?”
“When they see your dedication—”
“They will do nothing but use me and then kill me!” A river of febeetles poured into the room.
“Sanya!”
She spun and aimed her hand. The febeetles retreated out of sight.
“You’re making me lose my focus!” she growled. “I’ve been dedicated to your allies by going to the Academy to turn myself in and by helping them in this war. But today I realized that nothing I do will take back what I’ve already done. It doesn’t matter how horrible I feel for my mistakes or how much I want to help. No one cares.”
“I care. I’m sure others will as well when they give themselves a chance to accept your help.”
She ignored him. “I’m not even asking them to take my guilt away by forgiving me. I’m asking for a chance to use my life for something good in this world. It’s the only way to balance out the bad.”
If Basen wasn’t going to be heard, he saw no reason to speak. So they said nothing as they listened to the febeetles squeaking and scurrying about.
After a long while, Sanya shook her head. “There’s nothing more we can do here, Basen. Ulric is too smart and too powerful. The Academy is lost. All cities are lost. Everyone loyal to the school will die if they don’t give up or run, like that one soldier told us. He knew the truth. You need to decide what you’re going to do now because I’ve made my decision.”
She showed him a questioning look. Was she asking if he wanted to come with her?
He couldn’t even look her in the eye, his disappointment too overwhelming.
“I refuse to give up. I refuse to leave. And I refuse to die.”
“Then death will be chosen for you!” Fury colored her words, but his level of anger probably beat hers. She had made a choice not to listen to him even before he started speaking. He grabbed his boots, then stormed off to get as far from her and the febeetles as he could.
With her injury and the febeetles to manage, she wouldn’t be leaving just yet. He needed her, as much as it pained him to realize. He would have to come up with a plan soon, something so solid that she could not fail to see their chance for success.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Basen didn’t see or speak to Sanya the rest of the night. He went to see Millry on business, apologizing for waking her while explaining why it was an urgent matter. Fortunately, she was happy to help and told him to wake her whenever he needed.
Late into the morning, he had figured out what to do and it was finally time to tell Sanya. He walked over to the other side of the burned basement to find her slumped against the wall, awake.
“I’m glad you’re still here,” he said.
“I won’t be when I can travel.”
“I think you’re going to change your mind when you hear what I have to tell you.”
She lifted an eyebrow, barely glancing at him. “You actually believe that.” She spoke with surprise.
“I do.”
Sanya shut her eyes and took a breath. “I don’t want to start this again, Basen. Your time is better spent finding the people you care about the most and getting them out of this territory with a portal.”
“No, we can win this.”
She laughed bitterly. “I’m amused to hear how you expect to manage that, and it’s not like I have anywhere to go while I heal. Tell me how you plan to win when we are severely outnumbered and in no position of advantage.”
“We are outnumbered, but you’re wrong about having no advantage. Our numbers are the advantage.”
The slight amusement was gone from her expression. “I changed my mind. I’m not in the mood to deal with stupidity.”
He held back a sigh. “If you don’t keep your mind open to new ideas, you won’t believe my plan no matter how brilliant it is.”
She let out one derisive laugh. “Brilliant, you say.”
“You won’t know until you listen to it.”
“Fine. Go ahead.”
“If there was to be a battle between all our forces and theirs, then you would be right. As badly outnumbered as we are, we would certainly lose. But there will be no battle like that if I can help it. Ulric has no objectives left to be taken. What was once ours, the Academy and Trentyre, are now his. There are no leaders or officers in fixed locations that he can kill to ensure a swift victory. He has to eliminate all of us, which means he has to find us first.”
He paused to let the meaning of his words sink in. Sanya seemed slightly bored, offering no feedback.
“Don’t you see it now?” Basen continued. “Terren told us to retreat for a good reason. If we’d stayed to fight, we would’ve been destroyed. Now we have an advantage.”
“Not an advantage. Terren only delayed the inevitable.”
“It is an advantage! You have to change the way you’re thinking to see it.”
She took in a long breath, then let it out in a sharp exhale. Her eyes drifted around as she clearly refused to believe him.
Basen knelt right in front of her. “Sanya, if we go back to the forest to gather our allies, we’re doing exactly what Ulric wants and expects us to do. Their numbers will eventually lead to victory as they hunt us down. So we’re going to fight in another way.”
“How do you expect to do anything without gathering your allies in the forest?”
“We will find our allies,” Basen specified. “But we will never gather because that’s how we’re going to lose. In fact, it’s the only way we’re going to lose. We will communicate with each other to maneuver around our enemies and engage them in combat only when we have the advantage.”
There was no way Sanya could argue against this.
She rolled her eyes. “Those are just words.” She sat up straight and spoke with mock heroism. “I will heal ten times stronger and kill anyone who dares stand in my way!” She slouched again. “See, it doesn’t matter how good it sounds if it isn’t true.”
He paced away from her so he wouldn’t scream, taking a few moments to breathe out his anger and gather himself. Then he returned.
“You’re right,” he said with controlled frustration. “Right now, everything I say is just words. But every good plan starts as just words. Before you run off to who-knows-where, give me more time to figure out all the steps needed to put this plan to action. I need your help with the beginning and probably the end. That’s all I ask!”
“You want my help,” she corrected. “You don’t need it.”
“No, I need it. You’ll see why soon enough. Heal as quickly as you can.” He went back to his side of the basement. There was no time to waste. Although he couldn’t hear the drumming from here, he knew more of his allies had to be dying each day.
“What are you doing now?” she called after him.
“Prepare to be surprised,” he hollered back.
“You don’t prepare for a surprise,” she replied with irritation.
“It’s a nice way of saying be quiet as you wait!”
He dressed himself in the full enemy uniform, the blue coat with bronze buttons and the regal pants to match. He even donned the cap covering all of his black hair that had gotten too long for his taste over the weeks. He didn’t have a mirror, so Sanya’s reaction was all he could use to judge his appearance.
He sauntered back to her and puffed out his chest. Her eyes widened but she said nothing.
“I look that good?” Basen teased.
“Yes,” she answered, then in a flat tone, “I hate how good you look in that.”
She didn’t seem to be trying for humor, but he couldn’t hold in his laughter.
“What about the tear in the hat?” Sanya asked.
“Millry. It turns out she’s very talented at many things.”
“What are you going to do dressed like that?”
“Begin my plan.”
“With what exactly?”
“Prepare…” He stopped himself. “You will be surprised.”
He started up the stairs.
“Basen, what? Basen! Come back here!”
He would let her curiosity run wild. “I might be a day,” he called back. “I’ll have Millry check on you.”
*****
The real reason Basen couldn’t tell Sanya what he was doing had nothing to do with surprising her. He needed to avoid the inevitable conversation about the impossibility of winning this war. If she knew how dangerous what he was about to do really was, she would’ve filled his mind with futility, which might very well be the death of him.
At least a hundred enemies had seen his face when he’d killed Tauwin. The uniform and hat should mask him well enough, but a skilled enemy psychic could discern if he was an imposter. His mission was his only focus. He couldn’t let his thoughts veer off toward doubt or panic, as there was no way to know who might be reading his energy.
