Blood of the Redd Guard - Part Two Read online

  His son was still recoverable. It would take time and patience. And prove to be the hardest battle that Helam had ever fought.

  “How long?” Helam asked, gruffer than he intended.

  “What?” The question took Molach by surprise.

  “How long have you been Kopal?” Molach looked away. “Don’t deny it. I’ve known about your mother for half a decade. When did she recruit you?”

  Molach’s answer was quiet and Helam had to strain his ears to hear it. “Four years ago.”

  “Just after you took the oaths,” Helam said. Molach taking the oaths and following in Helam’s footsteps had been a proud moment for Helam. The memory took on an ugly hue.

  Molach nodded. “We have everything backwards about the Hunwei. They’ll be coming to help us.”

  “You have evidence of this?”

  “Not exactly. There is a book…” He trailed off but then started anew with greater force. “Not all of the Hunwei left. Some stayed in hiding and were befriended by people. They told a story of how the Hunwei are the guardians of the stars.”

  “If they’re guardians,” Helam said, struggling to keep his voice calm. “Why did they destroy almost every living thing on this planet? We don’t even have one fifth of the technology of our fathers!” The last few words came out as more of a shout. Helam took a breath and forced it out at an even rate.

  “A misunderstanding. If we don’t fight when they return, they’ll accept us into their service.”

  “You mean we’ll become their slaves.”

  “No, no. We’ll help them protect the stars.” His son’s voice had a faraway sound to it. “They’ll take us into their ships and give us their weapons.”

  Helam sighed. “So because of some crazy book your mother gave to you, you’re running around on rooftops, assaulting generals and assassinating scribes.”

  Molach didn’t answer.

  “Son, you’re wrong. The Hunwei will not bring salvation. We have to fight them, to our dying breath. Look around you at this once great city! We used to have ships that flew in the sky, running water and privies inside our homes. All of that is gone because of where they left us. This fanciful book of yours is nothing more than a lie.”

  “It’s true dad. The Hunwei that remained are still alive.”

  “You’ve seen them then?”

  “Well, no. But I’ve talked to people that have.”

  “Your mother’s seen them?”

  “No, of course not, she doesn’t have the free time to travel to--” Molach didn’t finish the thought and looked at his dad. “The Kopal have killed people for knowing less than I just told you.”

  “Is that a threat?” Helam asked.

  “No.”

  “You’re going to tell them you told me?”

  “Of course not, but mom will guess. She seems to have an ability--”

  Helam cut him off with a raised hand. “You will not tell your mother anything about this conversation, understand?”

  Molach gulped and nodded. It broke his heart to hear his son spouting Kopal lies more than it did to see his son lying wounded in bed from a cut that Adar had given him. He attempted to summon anger towards Adar but found that he couldn’t. If Helam had been in Adar’s position, he would have done the same thing, if not worse.

  “The woman that was with you when you attacked Adar. Who was she?”

  Molach went white. “She’s dead?”

  Helam nodded. “Sycanon root. Are you expected to take the root now too?”

  “Are you going to turn me in?”

  “Not yet.”

  “As long as I’m not in custody, my oath doesn’t come in to play.”

  Helam resisted slamming his fist into the wall. “You took an oath of death?” When Molach nodded, Helam growled. “What did your mother get you into, son?”

  “This isn’t her fault.”

  Helam didn’t answer as he stared off into the dark corner of the room. All this time, his son had been walking around with a death oath hanging around his head. What a fool Helam had been. He should have never trusted Elaire. When it was clear that she hadn’t reciprocated the love that he’d continued to feel for her, he should have taken a long look at their situation.

  Helam kept his voice quiet. “The Kopal have been more active. The Hunwei are close?”

  “A couple of months away, by our best reckoning.”

  Helam didn’t know how to respond to the claim. The best estimates from his scribes put the return five years away, but they’d given him a twenty-year range of time from that date. His chief scribe had been emphatic that these were guesses based on more than twenty different records that conflicted with each other more often than they agreed. If by some outside chance the Kopal were right, than Helam would need to get into the Rarbon Portal immediately.

  There were a hundred different accounts on what had been hidden behind the Rarbon Portal and while there were many records that hinted that the Portal contained weapons that could be used to fight the Hunwei, none of them outright said it. Helam had long been of the belief that the Portal contained information that they would be able to use to manufacture the weapons of their fathers.

  If Helam could bring his plan to fruition, than he’d have rid Rarbon of the Rahids within a year and be Ghar within two. He’d been relying on the fact that his scholars couldn’t agree on the timing and that he’d have plenty of time to rebuild their weapons and ships of old.

  The thought of it being a couple of months away put him into a cold sweat but there was only so much he could do unless he was willing to enact his final most desperate plan. That involved taking Rarbon Palace and the Portal by force, a risky plan at best. A disastrous plan at worst.

  “Adar’s smart enough to know that there’s a handful of people in Rarbon at your skill level. The fact that you walked away from a fight with him today means that he’s going to start looking at those men for signs of wounds.” Molach groaned but Helam continued. “I’ll buy you tonight and maybe tomorrow morning, but you’re going to have to be up and moving about by tomorrow evening. I don’t care if it hurts and you make the wound worse, you’re going to have to act as if nothing is the matter. Can you do that?”

  Molach nodded and Helam wondered if there was a way to say what he wanted to say next. Telling Molach that he was insane and had been deceived wouldn’t work. Helam needed to provide his son with no other option.

  “Another thing,” Helam said instead, “hand over your vials.”

  Molach stared at him without responding.

  “Don’t play games with me. I know that you have them. I’ll bring in Tymy to hold you down if I have to, but I’m not leaving this room without them.”

  After an awkward silence, Helam moved as if to go to the door but Molach spoke. “Stop. That won’t be necessary.”

  Molach held out his hand. There were three vials.

  “Which one is the poison?” Helam took them and held them up to the light. They looked identical to him.

  Before Molach could answer there was a knock on the door.

  “Quiet.” Helam went to the door and opened it a crack. When he saw that it was Lieutenant Briggs, he told Molach he had to see to something and would be back in a few minutes. Before leaving, he put the vials into his pocket and hoped that they wouldn’t break. They looked fragile enough that he was afraid they’d jostle one another and crack open. He didn’t know much about sycanon root and he couldn’t remember if it was toxic to the touch as well.

  “What took so long?” Helam asked once he and Briggs were in his office with the door shut. “You should have been back hours ago.”

  “Birgemat is dead--”

  “You already executed him?” Helam wasn’t about to criticize the lack of updates if the problem had been resolved.

  Briggs shook his head. “No. Jarren got jumpy and administered him sycanon root when no one was looking.”

  “He wha
t?” Helam demanded through clenched teeth. Adar was going to jump to conclusions when he found out about this. He already suspected Helam of being Kopal and had witnessed a Kopal commit suicide tonight. From Adar’s perspective, one of Helam’s men had a warrant for Birgemat who had just died of the same cause. “A slit throat would have been better. You killed Jarren?”

  “He disappeared. I didn’t know what he was doing until it was too late.”

  “So there is a witness who Adar knows by name that can tie us back to Birgemat.”

  When Briggs didn’t respond, Helam cursed and pounded his desk. A knock on the door broke the silence and Helam called for them to go away. When the knocking persisted, Helam yanked it open, intending to berate whoever was on the other side. When he saw that it was a pale Kiral with a nervous looking but better composed Hanri, he took control of his temper.

  “Sorry to keep knocking,” Hanri said. “I have news that won’t wait.”

  Helam nodded his head for Hanri to come in and shut the door on Kiral. He realized when she was gone that he should have said something to let her know she’d done the right thing by bringing Hanri to him, but it was too late now. He’d have to make it up to her later.

  He looked at Briggs but didn’t say a word as he sat down behind his desk. One of the first things he would do once he was done dealing with the current mess would be to move his headquarters back to the Inner Wall. This comfortable room was just another reminder of how his wife had betrayed him.

  “What do you have for me?” Helam asked.

  Hanri hesitated and looked at Briggs. “Speak. He’ll know the details of what we’re doing soon enough.”

  “Your wife met up with several men and went off base. My men followed them through the city to a house where they met up with several more.” Hanri licked his lips and looked at Briggs who was doing his best to cover his shocked expression. No doubt, he was surprised that Helam was finally having his wife followed. “Are you sure you want him here? What I have to say next isn’t pretty.”

  Helam nodded and after a lengthy pause, Hanri continued. “One of my men snuck into the house. For whatever reason, the Kopal didn’t post a guard. He found them…” He trailed off and looked at Briggs. “My man found them with a captive young woman.”

  “Were they torturing her?” Helam asked. There had been a woman with Adar at the archives. Helam hadn’t learned her name but remembered that she was Semal’s scribe. It still irked him that Briggs had burst into the Palace archives and caused a scene. She had taken it all in with a considering look. Could this be the same woman that Elaire now had captive?

  “He didn’t stay long enough to find out.”

  Helam hadn’t sent guards with Semal because he assumed that Adar would have seen to the old professor’s protection. If the Kopal were torturing this girl, it meant that Semal was well guarded and they had decided to go for an easier target.

  It could also mean that cooler heads had prevailed and they’d decided to see what Semal had been able to learn before deciding whether they needed to murder such a high profile figure.

  Helam needed to strike a blow to the Kopal and push them back into hiding to have a chance at providing Molach with a fresh start. If Helam could bring these traitors to justice in front of Semal’s scribe, she’d be able to tell a convincing story about how Helam wasn’t involved. It wouldn’t be enough to convince Adar, because he’d never be convinced, but it might be enough to convince the other generals and the Rarbon Council members. That would keep Adar at bay for a little longer.

  “How far to the house?” Helam asked.

  “Less than ten minutes. Five if we run.”

  “Will thirty men be enough?”

  “There were about twenty but as I said, they don’t have a guard posted. We can take them by surprise.”

  “Better make it fifty. Briggs, you have five minutes to gather the men and have them meet us at the gate, will that be a problem?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Good. After that, I want you to begin marshaling our forces. Do not sound the alarm. Once that is done, take this list of people.” Helam removed the paper from his pocket. “Round them up and execute them. Use Hargash and Mondel for the dirty work. They won’t talk and they’ll obey your orders. I’ll see to the proper paperwork later. I want them all dead by the time I get back. Understand?”

  Briggs took the list. “Sir?”

  “What is it?

  “There are prominent Paroke officers on this list. I’ll have to go into Rarbon city for a couple of these.” Briggs froze when he saw the last name. “Councilman Barrow Hobson?”

  “All Kopal. Kill them by the time I get back. Can you do it?”

  Briggs swallowed and looked at the list again. “Yes, sir.”

  Chapter 11

  Adar wasn’t sure what time it was when he walked onto the Napael grounds, but he wasn’t tired despite the late hour. He was surprised that he wasn’t more fatigued given that he’d spent the last couple of days traveling. Perhaps it was all that had happened at the Paroke base or maybe it was a combination of that and the possibility that the Rarbon Council may assign his first task in the morning. Whatever the cause, he was glad for the energy boost because he still had a full night ahead of him.

  Before returning to the Napael base, Adar had escorted both Nelion and Semal to their respective homes.

  On the way, Adar had insisted that they stop at a Rarbon City guard station where he requested guards for both Nelion and Semal. The local captain had been hesitant to give Adar the ten men he’d asked for but Adar had promised to relieve the men within a couple of hours with some of his own. Figuring that Nelion was in the least amount of danger of the two—the assassin had targeted Semal—he’d left three guards with Nelion at her apartment and the rest had been assigned to protect Semal and his home.

  When Adar had arrived back at the Napael Inner Wall gate, the first thing he had done was to send ten men over to replace the three city guards he’s assigned to Nelion and twenty over to guard Semal. If the Kopal were going to make a move on either one of them tonight, Adar wanted them both to have more protection than they needed.

  The Kopal had proved to be slippery and devious in the past. It was best not to take chances.

  While it wasn’t likely to turn anything up, Adar had also summoned Maual and instructed him to take several men and keep watch at the Paroke Inner Wall gate for General Helam and follow him if he left the Paroke base. Maual had looked surprised when he had heard the instruction, but hadn’t said anything about the order. It was likely a waste of time, but given everything that had happened tonight it seemed the prudent thing to do.

  Adar had promised Maual that he’d find some men to relieve them in twelve hours but Maual had said that wouldn’t be necessary. Maual had a group in mind for the task that had done this sort of thing before, and they had a system worked out. Adar had been so distracted that he hadn’t even thought to ask Maual what that had meant until after he’d departed. Adar made a mental note to find out more the next time he saw Maual.

  As Adar crossed the Napael base, he couldn’t help but compare it with Paroke. In place of what used to be a mountainous refuse pile, several large bins for trash were now emptied every hour. The base was far quieter and lacked the tumult of the tavern.

  When he passed the training grounds, he noticed the recruits he’d seen earlier in the evening standing at attention while their sergeant yelled at them. He spotted Landal among the men and noticed that his sword was in the correct position. In the dark and standing at attention, Landal almost looked like a soldier. Give it a few more months and the kid would be able to fight as well.

  Several smaller groups of men also sparred a little further out from the recruits. Adar longed to join them because he hadn’t had a good practice session in a couple of days, but he needed to see how much progress Tere had made with the prisoner.

  Calling it the dungeon was a b
it of a misnomer as it was just a small shack on the far side of the training grounds that didn’t even have a basement. Adar might one day name it something more appropriate, but there were enough other things to do that changing names was at the bottom of his list for now.

  There was a crowd of soldiers around the shack and they grew silent when they noticed Adar approaching. One of the soldiers nudged another and he disappeared into the structure. Both Tere and Lucas had come out to meet Adar by the time he had reached them. The looks on their face told him everything he needed to know.

  “How?” Adar asked when he met up with them.

  “There was foam around his mouth,” Tere said. “Sycanon root.”

  “We searched him.” Adar had ordered the man stripped and had all his clothes examined for this very reason. “Did he have a vial hidden under his skin or in a crevice somewhere?”

  “I don’t think so.” Tere shook his head and motioned for Adar to move out of earshot of Lucas and the others. “A Lieutenant Briggs from Paroke Army was here earlier, trying to pick him up. He had a warrant. Something about the whole thing was unsettling. What are the chances of both Keen forgetting a poster and then this Briggs fellow showing up the same night we came in with the captive? So I began to dig into it, even before our guy here swallowed the root.”

  “You think that the warrant was a plant?” Adar growled, he’d been bothered that Keen hadn’t known about the warrant but he’d written it off to an oversight on the part of Keen. He should have known better. Keen’s memory was well known throughout the officers, which was part of the reason he’d been promoted despite his past.

  Tere nodded. “I sent somebody I can trust over to Laor army with a copy of the warrant. If he finds a duplicate, I wasted time and proved I may be paranoid. If he doesn’t, I told him to go to Korew as well just to double check. But that’s not all. Jarren Alfaro has disappeared. His shift doesn’t end until morning. When I asked him a few questions about the warrant he seemed nervous but answered everything to my satisfaction. Within the hour, our prisoner was foaming at the mouth and Jarren wasn’t anywhere to be found.”