A Warrior's Redemption (The Warrior Kind) (30 page)

“What can we do then?” I asked.

Sebastian gazed sadly out one of the windows of the study bedroom, “There’s not much that we can do except to avoid doing one thing. The Valley Lands for hundreds of
years have relied on the wall at Kingdom Pass to keep them safe and they will do so again, which is exactly what they cannot do! If our forces commit to holding Kingdom Pass at all costs it will become a Valley Lander bloodbath of epic proportions. A strategy that involves a different set of rules than simply relying on an outdated defense is critically needed or I fear all will be lost. You must convince them of this Roric! The siege engines they have created will level Kingdom Pass to the ground within hours, but what’s worse than that is that they have found several of the passes over the mountains and have entered into a secret military alliance with the Attorgrons. Kingdom Pass will be attacked from two sides, something it was never designed to be able to withstand. The situation is grim and the correct plan of ac
tion unclear, but at least we know what not to do and we must act on that accordingly and hope for the best for what follows that it will go in our favor. It is up to you to convey that to the Valley Lander high council.”

“Why can’t you come and instruct them as to what is best to be done? Surely they would listen to you before they would to me!”

“Not necessarily Roric. While I may come from a respected blood line and have been quite useful over the years to my country I am and will always be viewed as the illegit
imate son of a greater man than I could ever hope to be. In the eyes of many I’m fit for nothing better to do for my country than being a spy. You however have what they want. You have the respect that your family name gives
you, the honorable actions of a hero to your credit, and the physical abilities and presence of character that say you’re likely to win any fight you find yourself in. They’ll love you and you’ll be surprised at how eagerly they convey all the responsibility that they can onto your shoulders to get free of it themselves. You’ll see what I mean. Very few people, when it comes down to life and death situations that correlate to every decision that is to be made, actually are willing to step up to the task and do what is needed when it is need
ed.”

I shook my head slowly in denial, “I don’t think I’m the man for the job Sebastian. You’re asking for a lot more than I think I’m capable of.”

Sebastian smiled, “Which is precisely why you probably are the best man for the job. The Creator loves a humble heart Roric and if our people are to continue on it will take an act of the Creator to do so and people who know that they don’t have all the answers and that instead look to the Creator for their help in time of need rather than themselves. You’ll do just fine. Now back to the matter at hand. I have one more intelli
gence report to gather before you’re off on your way back to the Valley Lands.”

“You’re staying? Surely there’s no reason for you to stay here any longer! Why don’t you come with me?”

Sebastian looked reflective, “Two reasons, one is that I would slow you down for you will need to move quickly if you are to escape. I also fear that the enemy may have become aware of my involvement in spying on them and I do not wish to pose a risk to your escape because of my notoriety.”

“Why do you think that you have been found out?”

Sebastian quickly corrected, “Might have been, I’m not sure yet. A courier that we bribed in order to gain access to the letters he carried was replaced unexpectedly with another courier. We cannot find any clues as to the whereabouts of the old courier and his replacement seemed to cave in to easily in our attempts to bribe him. We had arranged to meet at a certain location, but I withdrew from the meeting place before it was time for us to meet, some sixth sense of mine I suppose. I sent a third party in my place that knew nothing of my involvement and the courier himself had never actually seen me either so he did not know that he was not meeting with me.”

“It was a trap?”

“Yes it was. Most disturbingly was who was involved in the deception. The Zoarinians have a secretive sect in their higher ranks of hierarchy that oversee the most intimate affairs of the empire, including the actions and private lives of the governors themselves. They are very cunning and I have been told quite evil.”

Interrupting him I said, “I think I know of who you’re talking about. Are there many of them?”

“Nobody knows, but whenever they are involved its serious business. I have kept a low profile throughout most of my spying career, ever careful to never reveal too much at any one time as to my involvement in the spying community, but as of late I’ve had to take some risks, which men of their cunning could possibly piece together given enough time.”

“It would then seem to me a good idea for you to get out before they do find you out!” I said not understanding his reticence against leaving.

Sebastian looked up at me, “Better that I stay and deflect the attention from you. I don’t mind sacrificing myself for my country or I would never have come here in the first place and besides I don’t have long as it is anyway.”

“You’re dying? That’s your real reason for staying isn’t
it.
”

“Yes I suppose, but I would appreciate it if you kept it to yourself.”

I nodded and asked, “You mentioned that you still have some information to gather yet before I can leave?”

“Yes, I’m having a get together tomorrow night. The exchange will be made then and you will depart shortly there
after with it, while I will remain here. Now I’ve kept you long enough from your much needed rest. Rugar show my nephew to his quarters would you.”

The man from the carriage separated away from the wall behind me at his master’s request. It didn’t surprise me that he had slipped unnoticed into the room sometime throughout the course of our conversation. The man was skilled. I followed Rugar down the hallway to a room he indicated.

“Rugar, my horse has he been..?”

Rugar held up his hand forestalling my question, “I saw to it myself master Roric. He is a very fine animal, a fit mount to carry any warrior into battle, but I pray he never knows another master other than you to grace his back.”

I looked at him appreciating his comment. What would he do when the master he had served so faithfully through the years was no longer around to serve? That would be a sad day.

Chapter Fifteen

The Dark Ones

Krista lay in her bed awake wondering over the events of the evening. The poor little girl had only managed a couple mouthfuls of fresh doughnut and a cup of milk before she had slumped over in her chair fast asleep. She lay beside her now in the bed sleeping peacefully.

Krista’s thoughts kept drifting back to the girl’s protector and the odd unspoken sense of connection she felt with him. What was it about him that was somehow familiar? A blush rose to her cheeks as she acknowledged that he hadn’t been the only one looking. Usually she didn’t pay attention to men any longer then it took for her to judge how much of a threat to her they were and what their weaknesses’ were. After she knew those things it was much easier to handle them and keep them at arm’s length, but with him it had been different.

With him her thoughts had been of what it would be like to be within arm’s length. He was strong and yet he handled Zarsha with tenderness, as the evening Zacka bird does her young. Would he be like that with a woman or would he turn into the groping monster so many men seemed to be, when they thought no one was looking. He liked the way she
looked, she was sure of that, but then she hadn’t met any men who hadn’t liked the way she looked either. But it was different with him somehow. She wanted him to see her as beautiful.

What was wrong with her? She needed to get her head on straight. She was a slave even though Sebastian treated her more like a granddaughter. To be seen as beautiful in her world was only to have more of oneself taken ad
vantage of. Sebastian had been good to her and she was lucky to have it as good as she did now. Everything could have been a lot worse without him.

She closed her eyes and finally drifted off to sleep. The big serious eyed warrior from the north would just have to stay in her dreams and be nothing more, because she already had it as good as a slave could hope to and she would be content with that.

I sipped punch from the cup in my hand as I watched the couples go by on the dance floor. Well that wasn’t exactly the whole truth. I watched her and no one else.

They called her Sebastian’s Passion Flower. It was her owner Sebastian that she now glided in the moves of the dance with. Sebastian’s idea of a gathering and mine were two different things.

This extravaganza was a fully fledged ball. Several women had come up to me seeking my hand in the next dance. I had let them down as gracefully as I could. The simple matter of fact truth was, I couldn’t dance and in this setting it was embarrassing to have to admit to. In the arena I had danced, but that had been a dance of death with the goal of staying two steps ahead of it and hopefully finding another step after those two were gone. Here in this glittering world of manners and decorum I was completely lost.

There was no end of beautiful women present, but the only one I had eyes for was the girl in Sebastian’s arms. The rest of the women pre
sent at the ball could have been turned to pretty flowers adorning the wall paper for all I cared, but her, she was amazing!

She had changed so much and yet she was the same. In a way I thought to myself it was easier to relate to her then any of the finely dressed higher born people around me. What was so amazing about her? What consumed me with a passion to know everything about her and to spend every moment of my time with her? She was beau
tiful, but so were the other women, only they didn’t make me want to lose control like looking at her did.

It was alarming and I made myself look away and focus on the seriousness of the event instead of the growing infatuation I had for Sebastian’s slave girl. The dance was over. The noise of the crowd grew with the chatter of conversations and I turned back to the re
freshment table to get some more punch.

I had the dipper half raised to refill my glass when another glass came into my field of view. I looked at the hand holding the glass and followed it up to its owner’s eyes. She was even more breathtaking up close. She had an impish look on her face as she stared across the punch bowl at me.

“Master Roric.”

“Yes?”

“You’re spilling the punch on your shirt.” She said, as a smile crept out at the corners of her mouth.

Somewhat dazed feeling I looked down at the punch bowl and my shirt. Sure enough I had spilled some of the bright red punch on the white shirt that I wore. I mopped it up with some nearby hand towels, which only spread the red stain further across the shirt. My face was tinged red with embarrassment and I avoid
ed meeting her eyes as I filled her glass with punch.

“Thank you.” She said softly a tinge of humor still in her tone as she turned to leave.

I asked her quickly before she went back into the chattering throng that I felt like a foreigner among, “What’s your name?”

She half turned and looked back at me speculatively and then answered, “Krista Denas.”

She walked away from me then. The exotic tattoo on the back of her left shoulder pulled my eyes up and away from the swaying of her hips, as she glided away from me. I went still inside at the sight of it.

My back suddenly itched all along the lengths of the burn marks there of my own brand of slavery. I knew what the exquisitely tattooed flower so artfully covered up. The symbol of our shared shame, as be
ing viewed as less by others, lay beneath the artful application of ink.

Suddenly, as I watched her leave, I saw her whole back tense up into a tight knot of tension and she stopped abruptly. She was staring at the far end of the room as if the devil himself had just walked in. Following her gaze I saw that an aging portly man with silver tipped hair had entered the room with a much younger blond haired companion on his arm. He had the appearance of haughty influence about him and the dead eyes of a cold hearted back stabber.

Krista started walking again. She set her cup of punch down on a table and with a speed of hand I was impressed with, she slipped a table knife from off the table beside her, unnoticed by the table’s occupants. She continued walking slowly and purposefully towards the man, with the knife’s blade held up the back of her wrist out of view.

The huntress’s approach hadn’t gone unnoticed by everyone. My alarmed eyes met Sebastian’s from across the room and we shared an unspoken communication. I quickly caught up with Krista. My left hand closed over her right hand forcefully immobilizing the knife it held in place.

She gave a surprised jump as my hand closed over hers and glanced quickly at me. She made as if to struggle, but Sebastian had arrived at her other side and she stopped the attempt to struggle completely. She didn’t resist as we moved her off from the main room the ball was taking place towards the inner chambers of the mansion.

Sebastian opened a door and we all entered. This must be her room. It was tastefully decorated with bright silks and tapestries and feminine nicknacks. The wooden floors had colorful area rugs spread across them.

The room served as yet another insight into the life of this enchanting woman. Se
bastian led Krista to a sofa and had her sit down and then he sat down beside her.

Taking one of her hands in his he asked, with evident concern in his tone of voice, “What is the meaning of this behavior Krista? Who is that man to you and why were you going to kill him?”

Krista’s head was hanging down and her countenance was downcast as she responded softly, “I’m sorry Sebastian! I didn’t mean to cause a scene and lose control like that. It won’t happen again Sebastian I promise!”