Secrets of the Swords, Book 1

Chapter 23: Tying it Together

Suthe glared across the table at the pair of eyes studying her, not in the slightest mood for such scrutiny.

"What?" she finally snapped, her grip on her mug of tea tightening as though it were the key to getting rid of the queasy sensation in her stomach.

"What are you thinking about?" Ulsper asked, breaking his silence at last.

"I'm thinking about why you're staring at me," Suthe replied, feeling her scowl deepen. "I already said I was sorry for messing up, didn't I? So why do you keep looking at me like that?"

It didn't seem to be the response Ulsper was looking for. He frowned and turned to stand up from the table.

"If you're upset because I'm not progressing fast enough in Nem Koel's meditation practice, it's not for lack of trying," Suthe added. "I get it. This is a way for me to control what I'm doing, and it's not like I want to be found out—oh gods of the under-heaven, I think I'm going to be sick."

Of course, Nem Koel had to choose the moment Suthe was busy gagging and trying not to empty her stomach to saunter up beside them.

"Under-heaven?" the military trainee asked, not showing much sympathy for Suthe's plight. "Don't you mean hell?"

"You're not supposed to call it that," Ulsper explained simply, since Suthe was still trying to keep her breakfast down. She shot him another glare to show that she did not appreciate someone else explaining on her behalf.

"Oh." Nem Koel shrugged. "Why not?"

"Bad luck," Suthe rasped, straightening back up and taking a sip of her tea. She didn't miss the way Nem Koel sent a confused look Ulsper's way, and his quick eyebrow lift in the direction of the empty shelves to his right, where the contraband alcohol had been the previous day.

Suthe scowled again. It wasn't her fault that she hadn't known what scorpion wine was, or that it had to be disguised as water because it was so illegal.

"Why are you here?" she grumbled, rubbing at her temple to ease the headache that had taken up residence there. "More meditation practice today?"

Nem Koel shook her head. "No, actually General Yenh wanted me to pass on the information she's found about the swords. She would have come herself, but she thinks that I'd draw less attention by visiting you instead."

Suthe straightened up the same time Ulsper did, though she added a wince after the motion. "What news?"

"Well.." Nem Koel remained standing, instead opting to put a hand on the tabletop and lean against it. "After you sent word about what that smuggler said last night, Ulsper, she's been looking into the history of the royal mines. You know, they've been shut down ever since the Rebel King overthrew the Lanfu Dynasty."

"Wait, hold on, what?" Suthe shook her head, feeling a bit lost. It was a struggle to piece together what had happened after she had started drinking the last night—and the conversation with the smugglers had been in Shun Dwo, so she hadn't been able to understand a thing, anyway.

"The boy mentioned someone who may be an expert on Pretian designs," Ulsper explained. "We think that person may have had a connection with the royal mines."

Suthe felt her bad mood only worsen. "Okay, remind me again...the swords came from northern Pretia, so this is a good thing?"

Nem Koel nodded. "When Pretia split into Andilir and Montmyth, the traditional designs changed," she explained. "Andilir adopted the more elaborate style typical of the Lanfu Dynasty, and, well, I'm sure you know about the different regional designs of Montmyth already. So it's been difficult finding someone who's familiar with the ancient style of craftsmanship. Since all Pretian artifacts came from mines in Andilir, we've been looking for a place that might still remember the ancient designs."

"And that's where the royal mines come in?" Ulsper asked.

Nem Koel nodded. "They kept a record to archive past works, even dating back to before the Lanfu family came into power."

"But you just said the mines closed," Suthe said. Then her eyes widened. "You don't mean we have to go break into an old abandoned mine to find the blueprints, do you?" The idea of creeping about in a dark, spooky cave already had her shivering.

Nem Koel shook her head. "No, no. The documents would have been either removed or destroyed already, anyway."

Suthe let out a breath. "Then what—"

"Even though the mines have closed, General Yenh thinks she's found a link," Nem Koel explained. She leaned closer over the table. "There's a kind of network, of sorts. It's dangerous for her to look too much into it, because of her position, but we think it's a group of people still loyal to the Lanfu family."

"The Lanfus are all dead, though," Suthe said. "Right?"

Nem Koel nodded. "Yeah, but people still hold out hope, just because they never identified the youngest prince's body. He was a sickly child—it's more likely he was just mistaken as one of the slain children of an older prince's concubine." She scratched at a bump in the tabletop, suddenly distracted.

"They even killed the children and concubines?" Suthe gasped. "What a monster."

"Still," Ulsper said, bringing the conversation back on topic. "Even if these people don't have a living person to support, the values that the Lanfus upheld are far more promising than Yun Sao Guixi's empty words. If we're able to get in contact with this network, they might hold the key to figuring out what we're dealing with."

Suthe slumped forward. "So we're supposed to find a secret group from a long-lost dynasty that is loyal to a ghost family. Sounds like we're off to a great start."

"It is a bit difficult to find out where to begin our search," Nem Koel admitted. "We'd need to find someone connected to the royal mines first before we can gain access to the network."

Ulsper suddenly jumped to his feet, and Suthe swore as she ended up spilling the hot tea on her hand in surprise.

"Uhi," the spy said. "I knew I was forgetting something." He looked at Nem Koel. "Where's Saer Lon?"

"Uh, out...doing stuff," Nem Koel said, looking uneasy.

"Ulsper, what's going on?" Suthe said, flicking droplets of tea off her fingers and surreptitiously aiming them in the spy's direction. Unfortunately, none of the drops made it far enough to reach him.

"Uhi was one of the smugglers working with Saer Lon last night," Ulsper explained, turning to face her. Suthe quickly lowered her hands and pretended as though she hadn't just been using him for target practice. "When he tied my hands last night, he used a royal stonemason's knot. He would only know how to use that if he had worked in the royal mines."

Nem Koel straightened up from her slouch over the table. "I'll go find Saer Lon!" she said. "I'll let her know we need to get in touch with him, and arrange a date to meet."

Ulsper nodded. "Just one thing...maybe don't mention that it's me who would like to meet him," he said. "I didn't exactly make a good first impression."

~*~*~*~*~

Thank you everyone for your patience with these random updates.  Special thanks to @DawaniBucad for her encouragement in the last chapter.  This one is short but I think it works out well, as Suthe's hangover was a good opportunity to go over some parts from the last chapter.

Thank you for reading!