I can still feel it. The Aspect within given to me by Wisdom. I imagine its presence is akin to feeling hungry or tired. Something so innately part of me that it requires no thought. Woven into my very existence. Sorcery. Knowledge of the magic that humanity once discovered…and abused.

ARC 5 - PARACLETE

CHAPTER 10 - WICKED GAME

“Only one of us can go. The other has to stay with the princess.”

Raegn gave a stiff not. Chasing down answers wasn’t their mission, Victoria was. Still, splitting up was not one of the better options when they’d war-gamed the variables and countless possibilities prior to their journey west. In this instance, guarding the princess was the easier of the two tasks, but the more Raegn had been around her lately, the more uncomfortable he’d been.

“I’ve some experience with sneaking about like this, but I’d assume you’re better,” he said. “You’re the better guard for her as well.”

Nora looked up at him quizzically from where she sat on their shared bed, polishing her armor. “Why do you say that?”

“She talks to you more. Seems more comfortable with you.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” His partner’s smile turned devious. “I heard part of your conversation the other night. You told her things you’ve not told me.”

Raegn felt his cheeks warm. It was true, but not because he thought Victoria would be any better at helping him. Nora was more logical, more reliable, and he was far more comfortable with her. They’d spent nearly every waking hour together for several seasons now. The princess...

“I can’t describe it,” he muttered, letting his head fall into his hands. “She asks simple questions and before I know it I’m spouting things I hardly knew about myself. I don’t know how she does it.”

Nora rose from the bed and gave him a squeeze on the shoulder as she passed by towards a pitcher of wine. “She does it to me, too. She might be better at her father’s game than we realized. Than even she realizes.”

Raegn grumbled in agreement. The goblet Nora poured for him wasn’t filled with chilled liquid, but the tartness of it did have a way of cutting through the blanket of heat that lay atop him day in and day out. They sipped quietly for a time, Nora seemingly pondering her armor as much as the decision that was to be made. A particularly large swig made Raegn brace and slowly let out a fermented fruit filled breath. He opened his mouth to give in and allow Nora the thrill of being the one to chase down the lead on the training camps Tanis had inadvertently given the day prior when the door between their room and Victoria’s flung open.

“I’m coming with you,” the princess declared as she entered.

“Pardon?” Nora asked with a single brow raised.

“You heard the same as I did,” Victoria continued, taking up a dignified position next to where Raegn sat. She wasn't tall, half a head shorter than her female Crownguard, but so long as he sat and she stood she did loom over him a bit. “I assume that you’ve already come up with some sort of plan," Victoria continued. "I’m telling you that I’m coming with you.”

“Absolutely not.” Raegn didn’t even realize he’d stood from his chair, but there he was, staring down the Elysian heiress, their chests practically touching as they postured at one another.

Nora was the first to break the standoff. “Your Grace, I’m not sure you understand the risks,” she said.

Victoria kept her eyes locked up into Raegn’s. They were very blue, he noted, as he forced himself to do the same. He'd never seen them so set before, either. Normally they danced about searching for safety. Victoria might bear the charge of Elysia’s ruling bloodline, but he’d be damned before allowing the foolish girl to risk not only her life, but his or that of his partner as well.

“For one, it’s not safe,” Nora continued. “Keeping oneself alive in a fight is challenging enough. Protecting another is something that should be avoided whenever possible. And, if we were to do such a thing, some measure of discreteness would be required. I’m not sure you have the requisite—”

“I can sneak around just fine,” Victoria interrupted. “And you’re Justicar,” she added, finally breaking away and turning her judgmental gaze to her other Crownguard. “Isn’t protecting in your nature? Part of your charge?”

Nora froze for a moment, unable to come up with an answer.

“You’ll get us all killed,” Raegn said coldly.

“But if I go, that means both of you can, too,” Victoria countered. “If it really came down to it, you two could more than hold your own. Besides, who said anything about fighting? We’re only going to observe. If we’re seen, we’ll simply leave.”

Three sets of eyes fulfilled every possible combination of looking at the other sets. Raegn looked to Nora for some sort of support. She back at him in stunned defeat. And Victoria took her turns glaring them down in triumph.

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, yet the moon was new and hardly a sliver of its pale light reached the streets of Shaktika. Cut-out windows revealed only darkness within unless the light of candles or some other fire illuminated the shelter to be found inside. The citizens of the desert city were few, but there were enough that three more walking shoulder to shoulder weren’t seen out of place. They were fortunate, too, that the winds rose each evening. Wearing a concealing hood would not be seen as insidious, for most others walked about with scarves or parts of the headdress untied to cover their nose and mouth from the dust.

The two Crownguard had ditched their gilded armor for simple traveler’s attire of earthen tones, though each still wore a sword belt and equipped several knives beneath their cloak and other layers. For the first time he could remember since leaving Elysia, Raegn actually felt comfortable in what he was wearing. Victoria, too, much to his surprise, seemed more at ease in the simple garments she wore. There were no jewels around her wrists or on her fingers, no chains of gold dangling over her collarbone, and certainly nothing of value in her ears. She looked every bit a plain girl.

The more common look suited her, Raegn decided as they walked through the streets. She carried herself like a royal when she moved about the palace, but the effort it took her always seemed a touch obvious. If she would simply admit to who she was - let the things she felt rise a bit closer to the surface - then perhaps the heiress might be more relatable.

Or cry more often, he thought. Perhaps not, though, if her bullheaded negotiation tactics earlier in the evening were to become the new normal.

Raegn leaned back to get Nora’s attention from behind the princess’s shoulders. “I cannot believe we were talked into this,” he whispered.

“I can hear you,” Victoria said with a huff.

He sighed, then gave up any semblance of secrecy. “Having to walk about like this is bound to take more time. If only one of us had come, we could move about the city freely.”

“We are moving about freely,” the princess pointed out. “And as I said while we were changing, I asked Edolie to inquire about shipments west last night under the guise of acquiring some exotic trinkets. The other servants eagerly told her the road from the southern gate is the only one used. It’s not much of a guess to say they’d transport people on the same route.”

Raegn’s face tightened some, then more so when Nora shot him a mocking grin.

Some help you are, he thought.

His glance away to hide his embarrassment, however, revealed more than the smug princess ever could. A hooded figure was mirroring them on the opposite side of the street. The person slowed some when his head turned towards them, then matched their pace once more after he feigned looking away. He played the game for several blocks more as the buildings became more run down, colored curtains replaced by mud-soaked ones and sunburned vines clinging in the cracks of walls. Each time he made a move that might bring his sight near, their shadow slowed or stopped, feigning any activity other than the truth. After rounding a corner and turning south, however, their pursuer had little recourse but to reveal their nature.

The shadow darted into the first alley just as Raegn turned back on them.

Too slow.

“We’re being followed,” he whispered and grabbed Victoria across the shoulders to prevent her from turning. The longer they pretended they were unaware the more they protected their own element of surprise.

Nora stretched the plan of playing ignorant as she began to quicken their pace until it was almost a light jog. Raegn brought in a drip of the Light, not for sight, but for hearing. Padded footfalls hit the ground faster than their own, then stopped for a moment only to start again.

Moving in and out of cover. A smart move, but the distance they were covering forced their tail to stay close lest they miss a rapid turn or two. Nora, thankfully, realized the same. When the footfalls paused for a moment and they broke their pursuer's line of sight around another street corner, she shouldered into Raegn, forcing both him and Victoria into an abandoned mud hut. Victoria gasped, but Nora forced a hand over her mouth and brought a finger up to her own to keep her silent. Raegn released his hold on the princess, then took up a position next to the door, his back pressed against a wall covered in cobwebs.

The footsteps approached.

They came hurriedly at first. Panicked, even. Then slowed. A normal walk, save for a delayed step now and then.

They were searching.

The faint light of the moon broke as the figure crossed in front of the mud hut's lone, boarded-up window, hiding the whites of Victoria’s eyes as its long shadow crossed over her.

A breath of patience. Then a moment more.

Raegn ripped the figure out of the street, grabbing a slender arm and twisting it behind the person’s back as Nora rammed a fist into their gut with one hand followed by a kerchief into their gasping mouth. They were wiry and slim, whoever they were, and Raegn let them fall to the ground. He kept the one arm wrenched behind them while he swept across their belt line and chest with the other. No weapons. Not much of anything save for a bit of curve in the hips and…

Raegn yanked his hand away, not intending to fondle the girl any further. Nora cocked her head at his movement, then slowly pulled back their pursuers hood. Her eyes widened. She slapped at his hand to free the girl, then hurriedly pulled the rag back out of her mouth. Their follower gagged some as the dry cloth came free, then turned on Raegn.

“You’ve got strong hands,” Tanis said with a wry grin.

Odd, that dread always settled in the stomach. He’d intentionally not eaten much simply to avoid the fatigue that followed a larger meal. It would've only compounded with the late timing of their little excursion. Now, though, it felt as though he’d eaten an entire boar given the weight in his gut.

“Tanis?” Victoria found her feet and stepped out from where Nora had left her. “What are you doing here?”

“Following you,” the Shaktikan princess said. She took a moment to rise to her knees, massaging just below her ribs.

“My apologies, Princess Tanis,” Nora said. “If we’d known it was you…”

“You wouldn’t have been as rough?” Tanis started to laugh, then groaned and settled on a smile instead. “I deserved it, I suppose.”

“Why were you following us?” Raegn demanded.

“The same reason anyone follows anyone else. To see what you do.”

A simple answer. An admission even, though it gave little away as to what she intended to do with anything she might observe. Raegn caught Nora nod towards the edge of the small room. The two Crownguard stepped away, leaving Victoria to worry after the bruise liable to form on Tanis’s stomach.

“I think we should head back,” Raegn whispered. “She has no proof of what we were doing if we leave now.”

“We ran. I feel like that implicates us in something,” Nora countered.

Raegn bobbed his head back and forth, trying to sort out a plausible reason. “We say we feared a threat against the princess. An overreaction, maybe, but it’d be hard to blame us.”

Nora gave it a quick thought, then a curt nod in agreement. They came out of their hushed huddle and hasty planning to find expectant and waiting eyes from the Shaktikan Crown Princess.

“Are you ready to continue?” Tanis asked.

“Continue what?” Raegn feigned. “We were simply out for a walk and about to take Princess Melrose back to the palace.”

“Oh.” Tanis hung her head in a bit of a pout. “Well, that’s a shame. I thought you were going to see the Selected.”

Victoria perked up. “The Selected?”

“Those with affinity that father sends to the training camps,” Tanis clarified.

No, Raegn thought. They needed Victoria to stay out of this.

“And why would we do that?” he deflected.

“Because I told you about them figuring you would.”

Raegn blinked, bewildered by the statement. She’d done it intentionally?

“We were—,” Victoria began, but Raegn spoke over her. She’d confess to too much if he let her finish. Convincing them to let her come along was a certain type of uncharacteristic bravery that Raegn could admire. Spouting off what amounted to conspiracy against their hosts was altogether different. Still, if Tanis was trying to play them, they might as well try to find out why.

“If we went, what would you plan to do with that information?” he asked.

“Raegn!” Nora hissed.

It was the exact opposite of their just-agreed-upon plan. Technically, he hadn’t admitted to anything, though.

“Do with it?” Tanis seemed surprised at the words, but the act wouldn’t fool him. Not twice. “I was curious to see how you’d react, I suppose. I’d not yet formed an opinion all of you, first impressions aside," she added with a glance towards Victoria. "So, I guess I wasn’t going to do anything with it.” The Shaktikan royal paused and her eyes narrowed slightly, judging their reaction. “Does that mean you were going?” she asked.

It was too hard to discern any truth from her lips. Perhaps her intent was as innocuous as she said. Perhaps not. She’d poisoned their opinion. His and Nora’s, at least. Victoria, unfortunately, was a separate entity in that regard.

“I wanted to see for myself if what you said was true,” the Elysian princess admitted. “My guards were simply escorting me.”

Nora hung her head in dismay and Raegn sighed in begrudging admission. Foolish girl, he thought. Mere hours after he'd admitted the princess might be better at the game her father had mastered than he'd given her credit for and now she'd simply played brazenly right into their opponent's hand. Victoria had taken the blame on herself, sure - not that it would save them if the Emperor learned of the night’s activities and declared them treacherous.

“Well, they’re very good escorts,” Tanis mused with a rub of her stomach. “Come on, then. I’ll show you.”

She rose, tucking her black hair back beneath her hood as she turned to leave. She paused, half-turned, and held out a hand. Victoria took it and allowed herself to be led into the night.

“If the Tsurat’s meant for us to know of this, her father would’ve told us,” Raegn said under his breath as he moved to follow.

"She has us by the neck,” Nora agreed, shaking her head in disbelief. “More cunning than I thought."

Shaktika wasn’t tiered in exactly the same fashion as Bastion - the city was built on flat ground rather than up the side of a mountain, after all - but some streets were higher than others. From behind a half-wall and perched above a wide alley just off the main route to the southern gate, they waited in silence at Tanis’s behest.

A wagon arrived, pulled by two large horses with coats as black as the night. Heavy bars had been crudely fastened to the wagon’s lip with rusted brackets, turning it into a mobile prison cell. Two of the guards dismounted, leaving the third, the coachman, Raegn presumed, to make sure the horses didn’t bolt. One of the guards approached an unassuming door, gave a sequenced knock, and stepped back in wait. After a moment, the door swung inward, pulled open by a single guard with a lantern dimmed so low that it hardly lit the doorway. Unheard words were exchanged, the guard with the lantern nodded, then stepped aside.

The Selected emerged.

Their bodies bruised and their wrists tightly bound, each wore the same coin wrapped in leather around the arm the Order used to temporarily deny the use of one's affinity. Their only clothing was ragged pants, regardless of their gender, Raegn noted. Likely a way to make them feel less than human.

The group was led to the wagon and forced inside with violent prodding from the two wagon guards despite shuffled steps due to shackled ankles being the only sign of resisting.

“What do you plan on doing?” Tanis asked.

Stop them, Raegn thought as he watched one girl's knee buckle from a kick to the back of her leg. It was the easy answer, if one looked only at the surface. Go down, subdue or kill the guards, free the imprisoned. Simple. That was, until he factored in that he and Nora were liable to be the only two fair-skinned people in the whole city capable of such a feat. It was safe to assume Emperor Tsurat was keenly aware of the Selected as well as the presence of the two "thin-skinned" Elysians trained to fight. They’d be easy suspects. And what would become of the Selected after their heroics? This lot had hidden their affinity and been captured. If they returned home they’d simply be captured again.

Not to mention, this was a matter on a scale Raegn was unfamiliar with. What say did he or Nora have in how a ruler treated his people? If all they had to do was report their affinity to avoid imprisonment, was there any ill-begotten justice in capturing those who refused? Light, they didn’t even know what happened to the Selected once they were taken out of the city.

“We’ll do nothing but watch,” Nora answered, arriving at the answer before Raegn could.

“Shame,” Tanis muttered. “But I guess they’ll handle it.”

The group of Elysians looked curiously at their Shaktikan guide, then followed to where she pointed. Like predators in the night, figures descended from every shadow around the moonlit street. They moved quickly and silently, only small shimmers of steel giving away their exact position as they surrounded the prison wagon.

“The rebellion?” Victoria whispered. It wasn’t hard to discern the excitement in her voice, and it didn’t seem to be fueled by worry.

Tanis shrugged as if the answer wasn’t completely obvious. Had she wanted them to see this? Known it was going to happen? Raegn could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. The Shaktikan princess was inundating them with knowledge they should know nothing about. One slip of Victoria’s tongue at the wrong moment would damn them all in the Emperor’s eyes. Light, even if he or Nora were overheard by a servant their words would make it to Khada’s ears. What then?

The rebels closed in on the wagon. Curved swords were drawn by the guards, held proudly at first, then lower in disheartened realization as more figures stepped out of the shadows. Each rebel wore a simple white mask, very much akin to that of a Justicar, though there was a carving on the forehead, centered above the slits for eyes. A new moon, Raegn realized once a touch of Light focused his eyes and revealed the thin, curved sliver. The Shaktikans glorified the sun, so the rebellion had chosen the opposite.

The skirmish made hardly a sound in the night. Blade met blade only twice, each guard taking another in the back the moment they resigned themselves to the hopeless fight. Their bodies were drug into the darkness, a smear of red on the stones the only sign they’d ever been there.

Two of the rebels hopped up on either side of the coachman. They gave enough words of encouragement that he cracked the reigns and set the wagon off down the road as several other rebels hung from the bars of the prison wagon. The rest simply shrunk back into the shadows as they’d come, disappearing into complete darkness so that not even Raegn’s enhanced sight could find them.

“That was incredible,” Victoria whispered as the wagon rounded a corner out of sight.

“Was it?” Tanis asked with a grin.

By the time they made it back to the palace, Raegn’s shoulders ached from the tension he held in them. Tanis had led them nonchalantly through the streets, idly chatting away with Victoria about the next morning’s breakfast fare. Nora must have been at the same loss for words, for she made no attempt to get his attention. They’d have time to talk later, of course, not that either would have anything to say. Raegn reasoned they both had the same question, yet neither had the answer.

What were they supposed to do now?

He had no room in his thoughts for anything else. Their visit had been shaky to begin with, given the limited hospitality they’d received from the Tsurat family. Now they simply walked a knife’s edge. And Tanis held the knife. She could easily tilt it one way or the other, forcing their fall.

“Enjoy the rest of your night,” the Shaktikan princess said with a wink in Victoria’s direction when she split off towards her room.

Yet there was no enjoyment to be found. She would know that, Raegn groused. She’d played them like a fiddle and revealed herself as far more a threat than Tirin’s boorish advances. Worse, Victoria loved being around her. Tanis’s amenable demeanor, on the surface, gave the Elysian heiress something she could find nowhere else in this Light-forsaken desert.

They’d spent over half the night out and, still, the morning came slowly and with little sleep to precede it.