They rode for several hours as the night sky turned from deep blue to ink black. When they came to a clearing in the forest by the roadside, the Captain called a halt. The sound of the fast flowing River Erallium filled the air, making quiet talk impossible.
Liran dismounted and pulled a skin of water out of his saddle bag. He drank slowly. Jaline had provided him with some food, but he couldn't eat, not while Joran was still in danger. He checked his horse and then tied it up to graze and joined the others.
His men were tense. Their concern showed in their movements and voices. He was worried too. His life had been turned upside down, and he had no idea how to right it.
The Queen's guardsmen, however, were composed. Their captain approached and sat down beside him. He looked away, feeling angry and frustrated, unable to rage at her when it was only the situation that troubled him. No, that wasn't right......he was angry that she was in control when he felt that he ought to be. It was his son who was in danger.
The Captain turned to him. "I need to understand how the fortress is positioned," she said, "in order to devise a plan.""
Liran clenched his fists. Why had his mother arranged things this way?
"Tell me where the entrances are and which places are they most likely to be holding Joran." she said.
He released his fists and his breath.
She handed him a stick and smoothed out a patch of dirt in front of them. "Please, will you sketch something here?"
He took the stick, suppressing his frustration as best he could. This would help Joran. He began laying out the land around the fortress. Having lived there all of his life, he knew the place so well he did so without thinking.
"The fortress was built on a spit of land that reaches out into the sea. It's right at the mouth of the River Erallium. It's positioned on an angle, so that three corners of the building are right on the edge of the water but the fourth corner faces towards the cliffs behind the beach." He scratched the curving line of the water, and then a parallel line of cliffs behind it. To one side he drew the river, the line of which came to meet the coast. There on the corner where the river met the sea, he drew a square to represent the fortress. He looked at the drawing of his home and wanted to weep. Joran was there, and Rainna held him captive. He had no idea what she wanted or what she might do. He forced himself to continue.
"On the corner facing the land, there is a draw bridge that opens out onto the beach to allow people with horses or carts to get up to the main floor where there is a large courtyard." He used his stick to indicate the spot on his sketch. ""There are also several doors on the sides of the building at ground level that lead inside below the courtyard level. The living quarters are located on the ocean side where a four storey, l-shaped structure rises up to overlook the water on one side and the interior courtyard on the other side. The best rooms are on the top floor. I believe that Rainna will be somewhere up there."
"Why do you think so?" the Captain asked.
"She always liked the view from there. You can see people coming from far away."
"You mentioned a secret passage before - the way they broke into the complex. Where is the entrance?" the Captain asked.
Liran hesitated. This was a close-kept secret he didn't want to divulge to a woman he had just met, especially to one he didn't really like. He looked at her and for a moment. She looked so young-too young to have the necessary experience for this task. There was too much at stake, and she was too sure of herself. A conceit of young people, Liran thought, to be so certain and naïve enough not to know when they are wrong. It had been a long time since he had been that young, for he was now over a hundred years old, but he could still remember.
Could he really trust her? Did he have any choice? How could his mother have placed so much confidence in a mere girl? He had always considered his mother to be a skilled ruler, but now he wondered. Was there something he wasn't seeing?
He sprang up from his seat and paced. The Captain followed him with her gaze.
"This secret passage will likely be guarded, but other routes leave us out in the open, where we will be spotted from far away" she said. "At least by entering through a hidden passage we will have the element of surprise. We have to be ready when we reach the end of the tunnel to attack whoever is posted to guard it. If we leave one guard alive, we can question him to find out where the others are located."
She made sense, but Liran was still reluctant. Too much was unknown.
"Have you even done anything like this before?" he asked.
"Yes," she said, "many times."
She rose and smoothed her tunic. "I was posted with the fifth cohort of the Estallese Legion. We carried out many difficult rescues." She looked up at him, waiting.
"They specialize in espionage, if memory serves," said Liran.
"The Queen asked me to do this because she knows I am the most suitable person for this task. Since you clearly doubt me, would it help to know I am hand-sworn to her service?"
Liran's jaw dropped open, but he held his tongue. Hand-swearing was no longer a generally accepted practice among the hilliri. He looked down at his palms. The surface was slightly shiny; the sensitive skin there allowed him to make contact with another's mind with a simple touch. It was a gift of his mother's race. Long ago, an employer or a skilled proxy could use this ability to sift through a servant's mind; they would clasp the servant's hands, creating a mind link, and search their memories to be sure they hadn't lied about their past or motivations. It made him shiver to think of the invasion.
"Why would you submit to that?" he asked.
"Queen Liriel said that I would always be challenged because I am trillas, that it was an effective way to stop people from questioning my authority."
His mother had been correct. It was an effective way to assure everyone in Kalad that she had full confidence in her servant. Whatever this young woman was, she couldn't have any agenda to harm his mother.
"The entrance to the secret passage is located on the cliffs overhanging the beach. There is an opening there where a long curving staircase cut into the stone goes deep into the ground until you are down below the beach level. It was carved in my father's time. It goes from there all the way under the beach right into the lower level of the fortress. It's a long, narrow passage with many turns."
"I still think that sounds like our best choice," the Captain concluded.
"I should tell you," Liran added, "that I left four of my companions near the border hiding in the woods. They were trillas, and would not have been welcomed in Kalad.""
"Good, then we can add them to our number when we pass by," said the Captain.
"How do you manage as a trillas to work in Kalad?" Liran was subjected to open hostility from the moment he arrived in Kalad, and he was only half trillas.
"As a woman officer in the Legion I have been treated worse."
"So you are Estallese, then?" he asked, surprised at his own curiosity. He didn't want to like her.
"I was born and raised in the capital, Glorianna." A wistful smile spread across her face.
"Why did you leave the empire, and why go to Kalad where you are a foreigner?"
The Captain shrugged.
"I needed a change of scenery, and a chance to meet new people."
That felt like a very simple answer, and perhaps not quite truthful. For the moment Liran let it pass.
The Captain went around and gave notice that they would be moving on soon. She was a tall woman, and her height seemed to give her some authority over the hilliri guards who were often shorter than her. There were three trillas among her group, with the look of the Estallese about them. They were all fair skinned and freckled, with reddish highlights in their hair. Liran saw that they all obeyed without objection. However young this woman was, she was a leader.
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I hope you enjoyed this instalment of Unsheathed. If you did, please consider voting so that it has a chance to receive some more attention by rising up the ranks in the Fantasy category. I also enjoy comments, so please feel free to let me know what you thought.
Cheers!
Rebecca