The Starfall Knight (8 page)

“You want to rule Sirinis?” Alessa asked.  “We exchange one barbarian for another?  For two?”

“Do you like living like this?  We all saw you check your crotch as soon as you awoke.  What life is this?”

“I know the reputation of Nasius and Dene,” Alessa replied.  “Their histories are as dirty as Tarius’.”

“Ruling with force would be better than living under Tarius’ free-for-all.”

“Even so, I’m no one.”  Alessa shifted in the chair.  Her eyes were growing accustomed to the dim light.

“You are Vantanis’ daughter,” the man said.  “And he is trusted by Tarius.”

“That’s right,” Alessa said.  “But I am not Vantanis.  I am no one to Tarius.”

“You underestimate your influence,” the woman said.  “Your charms are considerable.  Leonus is testament to this.”

“What do you want?  Do you want me to kill Tarius?”

“Even if you did, Leonus would take over.  No, we have people loyal to us in your camp.  We will contact you.”

Alessa squinted, the forms of her captors growing distinct as her eyes adjusted.  “Very well, Nasius.”  She turned to a smaller figure flanked by two bulky thrashers.  “And you, Dene.”

The two faction leaders swore softly but did not enter the circle of illumination.

Alessa continued, “If Tarius is destroyed, my father and I will take prime position.”

“Agreed.”

“Good.  Now, release me.”

Serpens thrashers dumped Alessa at the edge of Tarian territory along with barrows full of refuse and garbage.  She hadn’t dared mention anything about Elina to Dene or Nasius – they didn’t need to know about her precarious position.  As Alessa picked herself out of the pile of filth, she knew that Elina had gotten the better of her this time.

The fierce rain soon cleansed Alessa and she plodded to her original destination.  The narrow paths and trails remained empty as the storm continued to pummel Sirinis.  When she caught sight of Tarius’ smithy and cabin, a pair of guards trudged out of the smithy’s shelter and into the rain.  They grabbed Alessa’s arms and frog-marched her towards the cabin.

“I’ve done nothing wrong!” Alessa said.

“Don’t care,” one of the guards replied.  He seemed more annoyed with the rain soaking his leather jerkin.  “The Imperator wants to speak with you.”

The guard shoved Alessa towards the cabin door.  She stumbled onto the covered porch, thankfully out of the rain.  Water dripped from her clothes.  Before she could knock, the door opened, revealing Tarius.  Behind him, Elina shot Alessa a smile, almost a snarl.

“Enter,” Tarius said.

Alessa bowed her head as she passed the threshold.  Despite Tarius’ age, his chest and arms still bristled with muscles wrought from years of smithing.  He closed the cabin door behind Alessa.

As leader of the largest gang on Sirinis, and by default the Imperator, Tarius’ cabin was larger than most.  The entryway melded into a corridor that led to more rooms at the rear of the cabin.  To Alessa’s right lay a sitting room adorned with leather chairs, rugs and the spoils of war – blades, shields, flags and other paraphernalia looted from enemy aerocks.

“You must be cold,” Tarius said.  He tossed a clean linen cloth to Alessa.  “Dry yourself and be seated.”

“Imperator!” Elina said.  “Is this how you acknowledge treachery?”

“What treachery?” Tarius replied.  He made himself comfortable on a leather chair and crossed an ankle over one knee.  He rested his forearms – marred with endless burn scars – on the bear-skin arm-rests.  “All I have is your word.  I will speak with Alessa.”

“You are blind!  What would you do if you lost him?”

Tarius’ eyes narrowed.  “No one is to disturb Vantanis when he is piloting the aerock, to say nothing of the storm.”

Elina scowled but said nothing further.  She stalked out of the front door, slamming it shut.  The echoes reverberated through the sitting room as Alessa towelled off the worst of the rain and wrapped the cloth around her shoulders.

“So,” Tarius said, “is it true?”

“Is what true, Imperator?” Alessa asked.

“The theft of food from my son.”

“No, of course not.”  Alessa forced herself to relax as Tarius held her gaze.  She clasped her hands together loosely and leaned an elbow on an arm-rest.  “There must be a mistake.  Elina’s word is suspect – she is jealous.”

Tarius nodded.  “I thought so too.”  He leaned back, massaging his forearms.  The old burns pulled and twisted in his pock-marked skin.  “But upon the word of Elina, I also have the sworn statement of Leonus, Pelio and Brunos.  Between the three of them, they knew the contents of the crate.  Pelio and Brunos aren’t the sharpest of blades but they can follow orders.  And my son has no reason to lie to me.”  Tarius smiled – at least, his mouth did.  His eyes did not.  “I know how fond he is of you.”

“I’m not accusing anyone of lying,” Alessa said, “but people can make mistakes.”

“Yes, that they can.”

“So, if someone were to make a mistake, wouldn’t it be prudent to let bygones be bygones?  People can learn from mistakes.”

“Perhaps,” Tarius said.  He crouched next to Alessa’s chair.  Like most of his thrashers, he had a shaved head – the barest of brown hair had begun showing.  Tarius’ green eyes bore into Alessa’s gaze.  “We have an unfortunate situation where someone, for whatever reason, is now short of the food originally allotted to him.  And I’m sure you’re aware that our predicament grows more dire the longer that we are unable to feed ourselves.”

Tarius rested a calloused hand on Alessa’s wrist.  The musk of stale cider rode on his breath.  “If someone were to search your father’s hovel, I’m sure that the missing food would not be found.  I’m sure that you would have eaten it, leaving no trace, no evidence.”

“If it were stolen in the first place,” Alessa said.

“Indeed.”

He stood up and began pacing the room with deliberate steps.  “I am loath to make judgments without proper evidence.  You know all about that, proper procedure and all that, don’t you?  From your father’s books.  I’m not quite as literate as your father – or you, for that matter – but I’ve lived a lifetime eking out an existence on this Tyn-damned aerock, trying to make order out of the filth and chaos.

“So, I will make no judgment upon you, Alessa.”  He stopped next to his chair and gestured to the door with a jerk of his chin.  “Go.  While I make no judgment, I’m sure our fellow Sirinese will.”

Alessa’s breath caught.  She rose and stepped to the door with the realisation that even Leonus had betrayed her.  With her father preoccupied, once Alessa stepped back over the threshold, she was on her own.

“Thank you, Imperator.”

She opened the door.

A ranger page burst into the amphitheatre.  The lad clasped his shirt to his nose and leapt down the stairs towards the stage.  “Ranger Devan!  Ranger Devan!”

“What is it?”

“Your squad is readying.  Captain Benton has requested your presence.”

Devan smiled.  “I’m sure Captain Benton is aware that I’m off-duty.”

The boy blushed.  “Captain Benton told me to say, ‘Stop flogging the log and get geared up now.’”

Rika tittered and Orval cleared his throat.  The old professor wandered away.

“That sounds like my brother,” Devan said.  “Run ahead and tell him I’m on my way.”

The page nodded once.  “And Ranger Rika?”

“Yes?”

“Captain Benton expects you as well.”

“Oh, damn.”

The boy bounded back towards the exit.  Devan turned to his friends and shrugged.

“It’s all right,” Rika said.  “Let’s go.”

Tayu nodded and clapped Devan on the shoulder.  “I’ll let you know if I find out more.”

“Thanks.”  Devan and Rika trotted up the stairs and left the amphitheatre.

A squad of city guards kept a cordon around the structure although the crowd was no larger than the usual number of tradesmen, students and merchants who required access to the university.

“Sir!” a guard called out.  “Is everyone all right?”

Devan nodded.  “Nothing a few buckets of water and a mop can’t clean up.  We need to report to barracks.”

The guard saluted and Devan continued on his way with Rika.  Walking through the middle-tier of the city without official business still felt alien to him.  There were few street-side stalls as the merchants, craftsmen and other shop-owners operated out of buildings constructed of stone, in the style that mimicked the sweeping architecture that dominated the upper-tier.  As the main thoroughfare dipped towards the lower tier, Devan’s stride loosened.  Like coming home.

A buzz followed Devan as they trotted towards the ranger barracks and training grounds.  Conversations were animated and pointed.  Army squads marched towards the gates with full gear and rucksacks rather than parade regalia.

“Exciting,” Rika said.  She jogged ahead.

Curiously, no guards or look-outs were present on the outer wall of the ranger barracks.  Squads of Devan’s fellow rangers had assembled in varying degrees of readiness in the training yard.  Pages scurried back and forth with armour, weaponry and survival kits.  Just outside the officers’ quarters, Romaine consulted with her senior staff.  She glanced at Devan without acknowledgment and returned to her discussions.

He entered the squad’s barracks and his eyes quickly adjusted to the interior gloom of the squad wooden structure.

“Nice of you to join us,” said Terson.

“That will do,” Benton called out.  “We’ll all have enough on our plates very soon.”

Terson grunted and turned back to packing his equipment.

“Gear up, Devan,” Benton said.

“Yes, Captain.”

Rika hopped over to Devan and helped unpack his chest of gear.

“Thanks.”

“No problem,” Rika said.  “I just spoke with Sergeant Lora.  They say they’ve never seen one so fast.”

“One what?”  Devan produced his ranger tunic and trousers.

“Not those,” Rika said.  She pointed to the leather armour.

“Oh, it’s that serious?”

“Aye.  The aerock.”

“What?  Oh.  It’s fast?”

“From the south,” Rika said.  “Came through the storm to the south.  The same one on the night we brought back the Knight.”

Devan pulled the leather cuirass over his head.  “This will be interesting.”

Alessa stepped onto the porch and Leonus turned around.  Brunos, Pelio and Elina flanked him, lounging against the railing as the rain pelted the ground and the shacks.  Alessa slipped her hand into a pocket and felt the reassuring weight of her small knife.

“You broke my heart,” Leonus said.  He produced a dagger and handed it to Brunos.  “You betrayed me but I suppose I shouldn’t have expected anything less.  Elina was right.”

Leonus produced another pair of knives and gave them to Pelio and Elina.  Alessa backed away and pulled out her own pathetic blade.  Moons, but she needed only a broom handle.

Elina cackled, her chins wobbling in unison with her saggy breasts.  Brunos stepped forward and licked his lips.

Alessa leapt over the porch railing and yelled, “Help me!”

The thrashers in the smithy peered out for a brief moment.  Grunos appeared and frowned.  He must’ve seen his brother and as Alessa darted past, Grunos dutifully ignored her.

The constant rain had turned the ground into mush.  Alessa stumbled as her feet sank into the muck.  Soaked once again, Leonus, Pelio, Brunos and Elina surrounded her.  Their knives glinted even in the overcast light.

“Hold.”

All eyes turned to the cabin.  Tarius stepped out.

“Father,” Leonus snarled, “you said we were done with her.”

“I know what I said,” Tarius replied.  He gestured to Grunos and the lead thrasher approached Alessa, squinting in the downpour.  “Look-outs have made a report.  I will require her services.”

“After what she has done?  You trust her?”

Grunos shouldered past Leonus and his friends and pulled Alessa to her feet.

“Perhaps,” Tarius replied.  “Co-operation for mutual benefit can be a powerful motivator.”

Grunos marched Alessa back to the cabin and she found herself staring at Tarius even as the rain pelted her face.  He looked down on her and said, “What say you?”

“You have nothing I want,” Alessa replied.

Tarius motioned with his chin and Grunos withdrew back to the shelter of the smithy along with Leonus and the others.  “No?  Not even your life?”

“Maybe I’d rather die than live like this.”

“What if I gave you Elina?” Tarius said.  “If only you knew how many times she has petitioned me and wasted my time.”

“You wouldn’t,” Alessa replied.  “Your thrashers would be hard pressed to find another hole as willing as her.”

“Then, what?”

“Captaincy.  Independence.  Someone touches me, and they might as well be punching you.”

Tarius crossed his corded arms, tattoos stretching on his skin.  “These things must be earned.” 

“How?  Against Elina and the rabble she can bring against me?”  Alessa spat on the ground.  “You speak of fairness in your corner of Sirinis but you’ve never walked in my shoes.”

“If you want it, you take it!”

“And so I did!  Within hours, Elina came running to you like a child to a parent.”

“So, you admit stealing the food?”

“I wanted it.  I took it.”

Tarius did not reply.  His lips curled up.  “You stole from my son, Alessa.  Bold.”  He leaned over the railing.  “Come inside and dry off.  I wasn’t lying when I mentioned co-operating for both our benefits.”

“You’re not angry that I stole from Leonus?”

“Not angry.  Disappointed – in him as much as you.  I will, however, ask you not to steal from him again.”

“Fair enough.  Now, what is it you have for me?”

“Opportunity, Alessa.  Like a raw ingot, great opportunity.”

“Horses?”

“What’s wrong, Devan?” Terson said.  “Scared of heights
and
scared of horses?”

“Aer take you, Terson.  I was surprised, that’s all.”  Devan tossed his rucksack over the saddle of the nearest mount and tied it down.  Terson scoffed and urged his horse towards the city gates where the rest of the squad waited.