Blood of the Redd Guard - Part Two Read online

  BLOOD OF THE REDD GUARD

  PART TWO

  Dan Decker

  Text Copyright © 2015 Dan Decker

  Cover Image © Can Stock Photo Inc./prometeus

  All rights reserved

  Published by Xander Revolutions LC

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Dedication

  For my wife, son, and family.

  Blood of the Redd Guard - Part One

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  Contents

  BLOOD OF THE REDD GUARD - PART TWO

  Dedication

  Blood of the Redd Guard - Part One

  Your Free Novel is Waiting

  Contents

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  BLOOD OF THE REDD GUARD

  Your Free Novel is Waiting

  Books by Dan Decker

  Author’s Note

  About the Author

  Chapter 7

  Adar smelled perfume and looked over his shoulder when he heard quick footsteps shifting on the gravel. It wasn’t often that he noticed a feminine scent on the Napael army base. A flash of surprise danced across the woman’s face when she saw him turn to meet her, but it was gone as quick as it came.

  He hadn’t made it ten steps from the stables and was annoyed at the interruption. It was also a bit disconcerting to be so easily found, but now that he was a general, people would take note of him wherever he went in Rarbon. This was especially true while he was on his own base. It was going to take some getting used to.

  The moons highlighted the woman's damp angular face as she let out a gasp of breath. Her knee-length brown dress made him think of a scribe until he saw her silk blouse and the gold necklace that hung askew from her neck. She also wore a dagger on her belt. Scribes wouldn't wear such expensive garb. Without intending to, his hackles went up. He'd learned the hard way to be wary around well-dressed women.

  “General Rahid,” she heaved. There's been...” she trailed off and took a deep breath. When she exhaled, it came out as a soft groan.

  Her blouse had a tear along the side and blood trailed down one arm. Were those tears intermingling with the sweat on her face? The nearest light source was a lantern hanging from a wall of the stables but it wasn't close enough to determine if her eyes were red from crying.

  “Kyson’s dead.” Gasp. “Murdered.” The last part of murdered was cut off because she expelled a breath and struggled to keep from choking up. She paused and looked at him as if expecting him to make a connection. Adar bit his lip as he tried to put a face to the name. Nothing came. While it was true that he’d met many new people in the last few weeks, most of them had belonged to Napael army.

  “Did this happen here? To one of my men? Or in Napael territory?” When she shook her head, he continued. “I don’t know a Kyson and this is outside my jurisdiction. There isn’t much I can do other than point you to the proper authority.”

  “Semal sent me to fetch you to the Paroke army archives. Kyson is his scribe.”

  Paroke. Helam’s army.

  A chill filled Adar as Helam came up again so soon. Was this a trap? Had Helam been pushed over the edge? Sending a young woman to lure Adar to his demise?

  No, if Helam ever did decide to kill Adar, he wouldn’t let it happen anywhere that could be tied back to him. He wasn’t that desperate.

  Who was Kyson? Was she referring to the tall man he’d met last time he visited Semal Bray? The name sounded like it was right for the fellow but Adar couldn’t remember.

  He frowned. Things would make a little more sense if Semal was involved as she claimed. The longer Adar had to mull it over he did seem to remember that the tall fellow’s name was Kyson. It would appear that he hadn't been far off when he'd noticed her dress, she was a scribe, though most of them didn’t dress as nicely. The necklace she wore had to be worth twice her monthly salary.

  Semal did have a penchant for secrecy. The last time Adar had seen Semal had been more than a month ago, just after Adar’s return to Rarbon. He should have made an effort to see the professor sooner but much had happened in the intervening time. After their last meeting, Adar had left with a fierce determination to make his way into the Rarbon Portal as fast as he could. Despite all of Semal’s efforts over the years, he still hadn't turned up anything else that would be of use in fighting the Hunwei when they came. The portal was still their only option.

  The scribe opened her mouth to continue but he spoke over the top of her. “Are you sure Semal meant me? If it happened in the Paroke army archives, you should be looking for General Morgol.”

  She shook her head. “Professor Semal said your name specifically. There's something he wants you to see firsthand.” She gave him an annoyed look. “Don't bother to ask what, he didn't have time to tell me, though I assume it has something to do with the mask that man wore.”

  The mention of a mask made him think of the Kopal, he studied her face, looking for any traces of deception. In addition to the sweat, her voice was a little unsteady. He wondered how well she’d known Kyson. He wouldn’t usually have questioned a summons from Semal, but being summoned to the Paroke base wasn’t something to obey without question.

  Protocol dictated that before entering the base, Adar had to notify Helam of his presence. He doubted that Semal had thought of that before summoning him and wondered if Semal would be happy to have Helam showing up as well. If there had been a murder as the woman claimed, news of it would get to Helam with time, but if Adar showed up, Helam would come to investigate. Adar would do the same thing if Helam showed up on his base.

  Should he try to go in disguise? Perhaps change into civilian clothes? Adar discarded the thought as quick as it came. No, even before he was made general, Adar had been well enough known that many soldiers recognized him on sight. He was after all the son of Rahar Abel and would be noticed for that alone. If the Paroke guards recognized him, word of his presence would get back to Helam and then Adar would have a worse problem on his hands.

  If Helam did come to the Paroke Archives, Adar could take this as an opportunity to catch Helam off guard with a few pointed questions about the captive. Adar discarded that thought as well, because if he did that he would have to turn the captive over sooner than he was planning.

  “Lead on scribe.” Adar motioned for the woman to head towards the Inner Wall gate since she knew her way around the Napael army grounds well enough to go about unescorted. She had probably been in one of the Radim armies, either Korew or Verag, the only armies to accept female recruits. From what little Adar had been able to observe of the two organizations, both maintained a higher level of discipline than most of the others, which wasn’t saying much. The woman was young enough that she must have recently finished her enlistment and then found employment as a scribe working for Semal. Her service in the army might also explain the expensive necklace. Some Radim soldiers weren’t above looting.

  The woman frowned. “Call me Nelion.”

  “Sure thing.”

  Nelion didn't slow when they arrived at the Inner
Wall and the guards didn't challenge her as she forced her way through. Adar gave the men a small frown as he came to a stop before them but decided not to mention it. He supposed that they were more used to keeping people out than in. He would instead say something to the officer in charge of the guard. All civilian traffic should be recorded, it didn’t matter whether it was coming or going.

  Adar didn’t know either of the guards, so he addressed the one that looked older.

  “Soldier, find Lieutenant General Tere Huel and tell him to triple the watch on the prisoner—he’ll know who I mean—and begin the interrogation. Inform him that a warrant for the prisoner has been found.”

  “Yes, Sir. Will that be all?”

  Adar thought about it. “Tell him to not allow a transfer of the prisoner until I come back.”

  With a nod of his head, the guard took off at a run. It was nice to see that the man had noticed the urgent tone in Adar’s voice. In theory, Adar shouldn’t have needed to include the last instruction, but it was best not to take chances.

  Like the Outer Wall, the Inner Wall was a warren of passageways, stairs, and rooms. Adar's own quarters and council chambers were located several flights up. When they came to the intersecting hallway that circled the entire circumference of the Inner Wall connecting all the Radim armies together, Nelion didn’t take the turn and instead pushed on through to the other gate and out past the guards on the city side of the wall.

  That gave Adar pause. He'd been expecting her to take the path around the inside of the wall. While it wasn’t as direct, the path was kept clear so messengers could run. Perhaps she didn't want to mess with the various guard stations at every section of the wall when they entered into a new army's territory. She would be stopped because she didn't wear a uniform and Adar would have to vouch for her.

  Or did she want to avoid guards that might notice her leading him along?

  He studied her back as he wondered if perhaps he should call for several of his men to join him. While she alone didn’t pose much of a threat to him, she could lead him into a dangerous situation. The only thing that stopped him was that Semal liked to keep a low profile, and if Adar showed up with a squad of men in tow, he would be anything but pleased. Adar resolved to be vigilant as he followed her, wondering how many men had been led to their doom by a pretty face.

  Paroke army manned the northeast section of the city wall and it was not a quick trip from where Napael army was located on the south side of the city. Nelion sometimes made as if to run, but Adar refused to follow her lead. It wouldn't do for others to witness him hurrying unless there was a dire need. Nelion looked back several times in frustration and urged him to move faster. Each time, Adar gave her a mirthless tight grin and continued at his steady pace.

  It wasn't that he wasn't sympathetic for the situation or her desire to hurry; he was just more interested in maintaining his decorum as he traveled through the city. While Adar didn't consider himself image conscious, he recognized that there were certain limitations to what he would be able to accomplish if he didn't take care to cultivate an image of authority and respect. He didn't know why it was so important that Semal had sent for him but he couldn't afford to make many mistakes where the people of Rarbon were concerned.

  Adar did a double take when he saw a squad of marching Redd Guard ahead. Their red leather uniforms made them stand out wherever they went. The dark skinned man at the front was big and bald. Adar was familiar with the man and because he didn’t know the large man’s name had always thought of the man as Boulder.

  Boulder had scars running down the side of his face and neck. His muscled bulk looked as though it had stretched his leather uniform to the point that it would break if he were to flex. He looked at Adar but his face didn’t show any recognition. Adar hid a smirk as Boulder looked away, not doubting for a moment that Boulder had recognized him.

  Their sole job was to keep Adar out of the Rarbon Portal until he passed the tests to become Ghar. In the past, Adar had tried to make conversation with some of the Redd Guard but they’d rebuffed his attempts. As a kid, he’d been able to procure a few smiles but that had stopped as he aged.

  Once the Redd Guard had passed, Adar tried to remember what he knew about the intricacies of Paroke army. He had never been on the Paroke army grounds and wished that he hadn't spent the better part of the year outside of Rarbon. Too much had changed in the intervening time. He didn't know half of the new Council members and if the rumors were to be believed, Helam had become more daring in his insubordination towards Abel.

  Of course, Adar might not have been promoted as fast if he hadn't come back with one of Derren’s tablets, even if it was broken and useless.

  Still, it was annoying to be out of touch.

  As they walked, Adar tried pumping Nelion for additional information but other than terse one-word answers he didn't get much out of her.

  When they at last arrived at the Paroke army gate, the guards recognized Nelion and waved them through. Stifling his surprise, Adar had to suppress his desire to chastise them for their lack of attention to procedure. Her visit to the base should have been logged. While it was true they would have seen her leave not more than an hour before, it still was a breach of protocol not to record the return visit.

  Adar addressed one of the guards, a blonde haired man who was having trouble keeping his eyes open and had been leaning against the stone doorway when they approached. His hair was a little too long and there were a couple of days of scruff on his face.

  When Adar asked the man to inform General Helam that he would be visiting the archives, the guard stared at him until his companion elbowed him in the ribs and pointed at Adar’s triple sword pin on his collar that signified his rank as a general. It rankled Adar to let Helam know of his presence, but there was no way around it.

  The guard coughed out a “Yes, Sir,” before breaking into a run. The other guard shrugged and mumbled something about the first being a new recruit.

  Giving the man a look that he hoped conveyed his disapproval of how they were handling things, Adar continued through the Inner Wall and out into the Paroke courtyard where he found Nelion waiting with an impatient look on her face.

  The smell of manure and rotting garbage hung heavy in the air, drawing Adar's eyes towards a pile of refuse that wasn’t more than fifty feet away. It was over two stories tall and he could see feral cats, rats, and dogs scavenging through the pile. He even spotted a goat near the top, pawing through the trash.

  There had been a similar pile when Adar had taken over Napael army and it had been cleaned up during his first week. Trash was now either burned, placed into a compost pile, salvaged for metal or glass that could be melted down, or buried daily. The fact that this trash pile sat so close to the entrance of the Paroke army grounds filled him with a resolve that in the near future such things would be cleaned up on all the Radim army grounds. Even Helam would have to follow an order if it came from a Ghar.

  Clenching his fist, he focused on Nelion. She was well lit by a lamp that hung off a nearby pole and it was the first good look that he’d gotten of her. He’d been so focused on the riddle she posed, that he hadn’t noticed the way her straight blonde hair complimented her face.

  He gave her a smile that she didn’t acknowledge before she led him down an alley that ran behind a row of buildings that were parallel to the Inner Wall. These buildings varied in height and layout from those that had been built in similar fashion on the Napael grounds. He was disoriented by the different layout because there was a three-story building where he’d been expecting open ground. If Adar’s commission had been Paroke army instead of Napael, he would have had this building torn down. It was excessively close to the gate.

  As he followed Nelion into the shadows of the alley, he noticed a tavern on the bottom floor of the building. The sign out front identified it as the Graceful Gal. The sound of laughter, both from men and women, came out of an open window. If
the stench from the refuse pile wouldn’t have been so overpowering, he imagined the smell of the tavern would have been laden with sweat, perfume, tobacco, and beer. It was a given that most soldiers would frequent such an establishment, but bringing it onto the army grounds? That was several notches below wise and invited all sorts of trouble.

  Nelion increased her speed without looking back to see if Adar was following. Was it just his imagination or was her back straighter? Cursing, Adar increased his stride, hoping that nobody would notice him. He wouldn’t know where to find the archives without the woman and he didn’t like the idea of going back to the tavern or the guards for directions.

  When she turned a corner without so much as a glance over her shoulder, he restrained from breaking into a run. It was bad enough that she’d got him to hurry as much as he had.

  Would the building have a sign? The Paroke archives were the largest of any of the armies and it was said to rival that of the Rarbon Palace archives. He sped up, it was best not to chance it.

  Adar went around the corner in time to see two shadowed figures jump off the roof of a one-story building. Both were hooded and had Radim swords on their back. When they landed, they turned their drop into a roll and came up on their feet without any audible sound. It was a move he’d practiced hundreds of times, same as any other Radim soldier.

  The first was ten feet from Nelion and charged towards her as soon as he was up, drawing his sword from his sheath as he did.

  Adar broke into a run while unsheathing his own sword, his boots clattering on the cobblestones of the road as he closed the gap between the closest figure and himself. The other man must have heard Adar’s approach because he drew his sword and flipped around, but it was already too late.

  Adar ran his sword through the man’s stomach, swept his foe’s feet out from underneath him, and pulled out his sword all without stopping. It was only as the figure cried out, that Adar realized he had just put his sword through a woman. As she fell, her hood fell open and blonde hair spilled out from underneath. She wore a black mask that covered most of her face, leaving a place for her eyes and mouth. She screamed again, piercing the quiet of the evening.