Dedicated to Parogar, because Word is a jerk and why the hell not.
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Chapter 33 - The best laid plans
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Tayne’s boots barely hit the sand of the arena floor before he cupped his hands over his mouth.
“Verdrana! Alicia!”
The blonde and brunette lowered their swords and turned to face the noise. Verdrana raised a tentative hand in greeting. Tayne glanced around as he approached, searching with borderline desperation for Skye’s shorter figure.
He crossed the arena quickly, Jesse just behind him.
“Where’s Skye? Did she train with you?”
The fire in his muscles was barely noticeable. While grateful, it didn’t make sense. They’d felt like he’d never stand again after reaching the Queen’s chambers. Now they were strong, willing to co-operate and most importantly, they wanted to find Skye just as much as he did.
“Yea, she did. We finished about...” said Verdrana, looking to Alicia who shrugged. She turned back to Tayne, “...half an hour ago? She dismissed herself, saying she felt tired.”
Tired. That wasn’t like Skye at all. She’d drop dead before admitting she was tired.
Tayne thought fast.
The King didn’t know Skye well enough to judge her stubborn brand of strength. He’d accept that she’d merely retreated to her quarters. That was assuming whatever had caused her a problem in the first place wouldn’t get in the way, but he’d work through that when Skye could tell him.
Was half an hour enough time for Skye to get to the Queen, or did he have a solid alibi for the Sentinel? Could he prove her innocent this easily?
The image of the Advisor came unbidden to his mind, and he suddenly knew that an alibi didn’t matter anymore. Somehow, the Advisor would twist it and mutilate the situation to make her guilt apparent.
Tayne ran a hand through his hair. I need to find her. Now. “Where did she go?”
It was Alicia who replied. “Her room.” Tayne turned to leave, but she caught him, stepping in his path.
“Tayne? Skye was acting odd, mumbling something about Naisha, you run off like a mad man and return a little while later running like the Hunter’s after you? What’s going on?”
Tayne only had one answer for that. “I don’t know.” When Alicia didn’t move, he added, “Keep looking for her -- spread the Whisper. If you find her, get her to my office. Protect her. Do you understand?”
Both women nodded. Verdrana’s hand went to her sword and her face hardened.
“We’ll stand by you, Tayne. No matter what.”
Tayne placed a hand on her shoulder, grateful for the support.
“I know, Ana. I just hope it won’t come to that. Now go -- spread the Whisper.”
They ran off with a second nod in opposite directions, fingers sweeping anything remotely silver in their path. Tayne turned to Jesse.
“Jess, I want you to go and seal Alguarde’s gate.”
The conflict was evident in the young Silverborn’s eyes. Tayne imagined the thoughts passing through Jesse’s mind. Was he being sent off, out of the way? Wasn’t he trusted to stay by his leader’s side, to find Skye before danger caught her in its grasp?
When Jesse’s head began shaking ‘no’, Tayne spoke before he could voice the refusal. There wasn’t time.
“There’s a very good chance that she won’t be in her quarters. Something’s happening here that we don’t understand, Jess, but instinct is telling me that someone wants Skye gone from Alguarde. I don’t know who it is or why they’d wish such a horrible fate to her, but we need to stop them before it happens. To do that, I need you to seal her inside Alguarde, assuming she isn’t gone already. Okay?”
Jesse’s mouth opened and closed twice before he found his voice. “Tayne, look, when we were in the chambers, and when I’ve been in with the King’s council and the... the Advisor, I’ve noticed these... weird things, things that shouldn’t be happening but they are, and...”
Jesse gripped his head and staggered to the side, face twisted in obvious pain. Concerned but anxious to be moving, Tayne steadied him but took a side-step away.
“I know, Jess. I don’t trust the Advisor either, but we can’t act without thinking. Right now though, you need to get those gates closed.”
Tayne spared one more glance for Jesse before running for Skye’s quarters. Leaving him there was harder than it should have been, but Tayne reassured himself with the last image of Jesse releasing his head, slowly coming upright with shaky steps away from Tayne.
Deities, give me strength. Don’t abandon us in this hour of need.
The world had taken on a slight shimmer at some point between leaving the Queen’s chambers and now. Things seemed sharper, more defined as he ran. Whispers called out to him despite not being in direct contact with his skin, filling his mind with the same message in various forms.
Find Skye. Bring her to Tayne’s office. Defend her until Tayne arrives.
Skye’s in trouble -- Get her to Tayne’s office, pronto. Defend her. Spread the message.
There was one, however, that resonated on a different level. One that he couldn’t quite catch in its entirety, despite several attempts to decode it while still navigating the corners and hallways to Skye’s quarters.
Strangely, it reminded him of Nathaniel, the first Silverborn casualty during Skye’s retrieval.
Tainted are hunting, they’re... .... the elf and Tayne, possibly the half-bl.... .... ............ but...
The Whisper was at least a month or two old. The words weren’t encrypted; they simply just weren’t there anymore. Tayne realised the Whisper had been done in a hurry. Carefully imprinted ones could last years, if not centuries.
Tayne strained his Silverborn sense to catch the ending.
...he’s coming. The Hunter is coming.
Tayne rounded a corner, pushing off the walls to keep his speed. Distracted by the deteriorating Whisper, Tayne crashed head first into another Silverborn and fell to the floor in a mess of silver armour and surprised gasps.
“What in the -- Tayne?!”
Tayne pushed himself up and offered a hand to Luke. Luke was barely on his feet before Tayne started running again.
No more delays. Get there, find Skye, and keep her out of the Advisor’s reach. No matter how much I want to see her kick his ass, she needs to have a secure place in Alguarde.
Another set of footsteps followed him down the corridor. “Tayne! What’s going on? I heard the Whisper, I’ve been looking for you! Why is Skye in trouble?”
Tayne stopped to allow Luke to catch up. When his friend was by his side, he continued.
“The Queen’s been poisoned and the Advisor’s blaming it on Skye and succeeding because of a stupid argument you got yourself into earlier today with the Advisor.”
“I didn’t think--“
Tayne cut him off. “No, you didn’t. We’ve got an hour, probably closer to forty minutes now, to find Skye and prove she didn’t do it or they’re going to imprison her if not worse.”
Luke laughed at that. “What does the Advisor think he can do? Confine a Sentinel?”
“Shut it, Luke,” said Tayne. They were in the last corridor now. The door was ajar, neither completely open nor shut. Tayne slowed and drew his sword.
“There are things at work here that we don’t understand. They don’t even need to confine her. Word gets out that the Sentinel poisoned the Queen, probably brought demons here and that the authority is too scared to punish her with imprisonment and the people will slowly but surely exile her if she doesn’t do it herself. Skye won’t hurt them to save herself. She’ll leave by herself. Then, it’s an easy step for the shadow Sentinel to send the tainted after her and strike.”
Luke copied Tayne’s movement, taking his sword from its sheath. “Who would do such a thing, though? Frame a Sentinel for crimes she didn’t commit?”
“I intend to find out,” said Tayne. “But for now, we need to find her and prove that she’s innocent before the Advisor can escalate this any further.”
Tayne held up three fingers and nodded at Luke.
On three, said the gesture. Two, one...
They moved as one through the doorway, raised blades fanning left and right in perfect time. Tayne kept his back to Luke, scanning the left side of the room while Luke watched the right. Years of disciplined training kept worry from fixing his eyes upon Skye’s bedroom door. Even so, he couldn’t help but notice how it wasn’t quite shut, like the handle hadn’t quite clicked into place when someone had left.
A long minute passed before Luke said, “All clear.”
“Here too.”
Tayne motioned Luke over and crouched beside the door. He peered through the gap between panel and frame, half expecting to see green and purple light fighting for control as had greeted him the night before. He saw nothing unusual and with a reluctant hand, Tayne pushed the door inward.
Oh deities... What happened here?
The room was trashed.
Books and scrolls were scattered across the room, the dresser spewing various items of clothing onto the floor. The covers were piled together by the foot of the bed and the side table lay upended on a pile of dirt and clay fragments. A slight breeze from the open window stirred the curtains, but other than that, nothing moved.
Skye was nowhere to be seen.
Tayne dropped his sword and ran into the centre of the room. He thrust his head through the curtains and out the window, frantically searching the narrow grass covered strip for the elf. He found nothing but residues of green magic clinging to their blades.
Why the hell did we give her the room with the window?
It was Luke who spoke first. “Her blades, armour and cloak are missing.”
“She was training with Ana and Alicia earlier, not unusual. Why in the Nether does her room look like it’s been searched?” A horrible thought occurred to him. “The Advisor wouldn’t have dared... would he?”
Luke’s face hardened. Cursing himself for voicing the thought, Tayne answered his own question.
“No... he couldn’t have. He was the one that collected the antidote ingredients and he couldn’t have beaten me back here. The man wouldn’t run to earn his own city. So who the hell was in Skye’s room?”
Luke dropped his gaze to the floor in shame. Tayne ignored his friends curious behaviour and glanced around the room, searching for clues. He righted the side table and inspected its solitary drawer, then lifted the bed covers to look underneath. When it amounted to nothing, he ran his fingers through his hair and clutched it so hard strands of hair pulled from his scalp.
They didn’t have time for this. Skye didn’t have time for this.
“Tayne, look.”
Tayne followed Luke’s finger to the ground. It hovered above the dirt and clay fragments scattered around the central floor area next to the bed. He was puzzled for a moment before realising what had caught Luke’s attention.
“They’re glowing.”
Just like the blades of grass outside, the dirt resonated with an emerald glow. It was faint, but it was there, swirling around the grains of dark soil.
“Did she have a pot plant in her room or something?” asked Tayne. Were they finally getting somewhere with this mystery?
When Luke nodded, Tayne nearly hugged him.
“I bought her one this afternoon as... uh, well an apology for losing my temper with the Advisor. I think this was it. Since there’s no flower in sight, I’m going off the clay colouring.” He picked up a small fragment and ran it between his fingers. “It seems the same, but it’s the magic that’s making me think it’s the same one. It was going haywire in the greenhouse; every plant she touched was left with some greeny-gold glow.”
Luke pushed the dirt around with his finger as he spoke. Tayne watched, trying to figure out why there were voids in the middle of the dirt spatter. Something had been there, he was certain. But what? They were long, mostly straight and reminded him of--
“Stop that!” Tayne’s hand shot out and grabbed Luke by the wrist. Luke cried out in surprise, toppling backwards on to the pile of blankets. Tayne tensed and pulled him back. Luke shot him an incredulous glare.
“What the hell was that for!”
“The pattern! Skye was here when the dirt fell! Look!” Tayne traced the outline with his finger. “She was sitting here,” he said, pointing to the place beside where he’d righted the side table. His finger moved away from the bed, following the dirt-void, “...one leg, two leg, and her arms were either on the table or on the bed.”
And that wasn’t the only revelation dawning on him. Words from last night’s out-of-body experience were running through his head. The shadowy figures of a crowd, a girl, and her plant replayed with startling detail.
‘At the time, I didn’t realise, but I think the plant responded to my emotion, sensed that I was in need. All I remember was it exploding from my hands.’
“Something upset her,” murmured Tayne. He caressed the ground, willing the dirt to speak to him.
“Gee, how’d you figure that out? Was it the room being a complete mess, her rapid departure from the public eye or the whole disappearing act that tipped you off?”
“No... This is different,” said Tayne, ignoring the sarcasm. He continued, talking more to himself than to Luke. “This was something big. She’s got a fair amount of control over her power now, especially away from the forest. So how did this happen?” He crouched down, looking for other anomalies in the dirt.
The dirt’s been scraped up in one area... probably where the flower fell. So why did she take the flower and not bother with anything else?
A quick search of the rest of the room revealed that it wasn’t just her armour and blades missing: her pack, along with a few changes of clothes and two books from the Sentinel library Tayne had seen on her desk last night were gone, and he was willing to bet they weren’t the only things that would be found missing.
“She’s leaving, Luke. Skye’s going to leave Alguarde.”
"And I bet this'll tell us where she's gone," said Luke, holding up a small piece of paper with scribbled words.
*+*+*+*
Tayne had never pushed himself so hard.
The slight shimmer shifted into a veil of silver over his vision as he ran out of the sleeping quarters and into the main arena once more. There, he found Verdrana ordering various pairs of Silverborn to different patrol routes and setting up different methods of communication between them. In Nissa’s absence, Tayne was grateful for Verdrana’s assumed control. Much of Nissa’s capable demeanour had rubbed off on her.
He passed her without a word. There was the chance that Skye was still in Alguarde, however small.
Someone had the sense to saddle Wing and leave her just outside the Silverborn headquarters. With a quick prayer to the deities for luck, he mounted Wing mid-stride and asked her to gallop down the main road. The shimmer from the wards upon the inner wall nearly blinded him. He trusted Wing to guide them safely through while he shielded his eyes with his cloak, though it had little effect on the ward light’s intensity.
Luke will go back to the castle, keep an eye on the Advisor and the King. Who knew that their hatred for each other would ever come in handy?
Tayne wondered if he’d done the right thing, but realised he had little choice. There simply wasn’t time to explain his plan to anyone else. If things played out as he’d predicted them, Luke would provide an adequate distraction to Donovan’s antics and hopefully put him off balance enough for the Silverborn to slip under the Advisor’s radar.
Wing thundered down the main road, weaving between guards and civilians alike to reach the main gate -- the same one that had shielded them from the Master’s view many weeks ago.
It seems like it’s been forever since we found her.
With a certain amount of relief, Tayne saw a figure dressed in silver arguing with the guards in front of the half-closed gate. Jesse heard Tayne approach and waved off the guard he’d been talking to.
“Tayne! I’m so sorry, I got here too late,” said Jesse with a defeated look on his face.
“She’s gone, isn’t she?” asked Tayne.
Jesse gave him a glum nod. “Guards said she barged past them, running like a mad woman. They didn’t even try to stop her.”
“It’s okay Jess, nothing we can do about it now. If anything, the fact that they’re still open will help us. We’ll find her. I think I know where she’s gone.”
“To Naisha, right?” said Jesse. When Tayne raised an eyebrow at him, he added with a blush, “Well... it only makes sense doesn’t it? It’s probably the only thing that could draw her out of Alguarde and send her running like that.”
Tayne supposed that made sense. He couldn’t think of any other reason why Skye would leave so suddenly, although it would have taken him longer to reach Jesse’s conclusion without Alicia’s earlier information of Skye mumbling about Naisha.
First you let this entire thing happen under your nose, then an initiate Silverborn figures out the mystery a whole lot quicker than you with no direct clues. Good work Tayne. Why not let the initiate take over leadership too while you’re at it?
Tayne allowed himself a moment of self-loathing before drawing in a deep breath and banishing the doubt. The silver edge still filtered his vision, and a faint trail of emerald on the ground kept drawing his eye. It was the same shade as the magic on the dirt in Skye’s room.
And assuming I can still see it in half an hour’s time, that’s how we find her.
He didn’t trust himself to remember the way to Naisha, despite Skye’s careful detailing. Most of his memory was taken up with remembering the keystone pattern.
Jesse shivered and glanced up at Tayne from the ground. “Tayne, do you think she actually did it?”
There wasn’t any doubt what he was asking about, and Tayne had long since reached a conclusion. He met Jesse’s eyes, letting his resolve show.
“No, she didn’t. Although--“
Clang, clang, clang.
Tayne cut off his sentence and looked behind him. High in the castle tower, the bells were ringing. They resonated throughout Alguarde; the loud declarations telling all that the emergency procedures were underway.
The effect was immediate: people screamed and rushed towards safety. A stampede of people formed rapidly from all sides, and Tayne pulled Jesse on to Wing’s back to prevent him from being knocked around by terrified bystanders.
“Bastard. There was no way that was half an hour,” Tayne said through gritted teeth. Jesse hung on to Tayne’s belt while Tayne guided Wing through the throngs of people, the number of which seemed to be increasing by the second.
The Silverborn knew their orders. On the emergency bells, they were to gather inside the inner gates and await further instruction unless exceptional circumstances prevailed. And so, when Tayne and Jesse arrived back at headquarters nearly all the Silverborn were accounted for, most wearing confused or angry expressions.
Tayne spotted Wrain moving towards him, the knight’s taller figure easily recognisable. Jesse dismounted and Tayne followed him to the ground, pulling the reins over Wing’s head.
“Where’s Skye?” asked Wrain.
Tayne gave him a grim smile. “I’m afraid you’re about to find out. I need you to trust me, Wrain. Everything’s about to go to the nether and back again.”
Sure enough, barely two minutes later the Advisor arrived on his mount with a lengthy scroll, flanked by two royal guards.
In such a time of crisis, he still manages to draw up those ridiculous scrolls. That, or he already had one conjured up to play out whatever twisted fantasy he imagines in his ever-present free time.
“Tayne of the Silverborn, step forward!”
Reluctantly, Tayne did so. The Advisor remained mounted, choosing to peer down his nose with a haughty expression on his face. One that said, See? I told you this would happen.
“By order of his royal highness, King Darien the first, it is decreed that the one known as Sentinel Skye is guilty of treason against the crown.
“She has fled the city but shall not escape retribution so easily. You, Silverborn, are tasked with capturing the Sentinel through any means necessary and returning her so she may be brought to justice. You are to use any and all resources available to you and will be assisted by the Kingdom’s army acting under orders from King Darien.
“Signed, His Royal Highness, King Darien the First.”
Donovan handed Tayne the scroll, and for a moment, Tayne was tempted not to take it. To simply turn his back and ignore the wretched thing. He felt the eyes of every Silverborn on his back, waiting for his next move.
Behind him, Wrain coughed, and Tayne forced himself into action. The plan required this to happen. He’d predicted it himself. His hand moved mechanically outward and grasped the scroll, but his eyes never left the Advisors. Just like the smirk never left the Advisor’s face.
It didn’t take long after the Advisor was gone for the Silverborn to break their silence. Each member turned to another and unleashed a torrent of questions, hoping their neighbour would have the answer.
Wrain grasped Tayne’s arm, his eyes like fire. “What happened?
“The Queen was poisoned with an elven recipe. Nissa’s cured it, as far as I know,” Tayne replied.
“Tell me now. Did she do it?” asked Wrain.
Tayne shook his head. “No. But we’re going to have to improvise to save her without alerting the Advisor. We can’t trust him. He can’t come with us, despite how hard I suspect he’s going to try.”
Wrain frowned but accepted Tayne’s words. “I’ll trust you. Take control before this goes any further,” he said, gesturing at the silver sea of bodies.
Tayne pulled himself into Wing’s saddle and stood up in the stirrups.
“Silence! I will not have you acting like a bunch of common soldiers, Silverborn!”
When silence settled over them and heads swivelled to face him, Tayne nudged Wing into the centre of the group and lowered his voice.
“I’ll admit, I’m not entirely sure what transpired here tonight, but I will tell you: Skye is innocent. She’s being framed, to what purpose other than leaving Alguarde’s safety I am not sure. You will all receive instructions in the next ten minutes and be properly informed of the situation as soon as I can manage. I ask for your patience. Andro, Rayume, Wrain, with me. Jess, you too.”
The Silverborn settled into whispers after that. Tayne hoped they’d trust him on the issue, that none would take it into their own hands to persecute Skye. He decided that he’d have to trust them the same way he asked for theirs: with no proof attached.
Luke appeared from around the corner and moved to join Tayne, Wrain, Jesse and Andro.
“The Advisor’s been here I take it?” he asked, gesturing to the agitated Silverborn.
“Indeed,” said Wrain. “He stirred the hive as only he can.”
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is what we do next,” said Tayne. “I’ve thought this out and the only way it’s going to work is if we don’t let the Advisor know what we’re doing. Something isn’t right about this, and I’ll be damned if he’s getting in the way again.”
Luke nodded vigorously at this. Tayne had already explained the basic outline of his plan to Luke before they’d split off, and knew his friend was looking forward to the opportunity.
“I’m fairly certain I know where Skye’s heading. I’m certain the Advisor realises this too, or at least hopes for it. He’ll have us followed with the hopes of finding Skye before us, or at least stealing her away once we do.”
“I’m guessing you have a plan to circumvent this?” asked Wrain. Tayne glanced at him, unable to determine what the elder Silverborn was thinking. He shrugged it off, decided it didn’t matter. Wrain was loyal to the Sentinels and the people as a whole, not a particular faction that happened to own a crown.
Tayne nodded to himself and lowered his voice.
“We’ll be splitting into three groups. I’ll take the main group and head to Naisha, while Luke and Wrain will take what we’ll call distraction groups. You’ll lead the royal guard off the trail. Once you’ve lost them, Andro will assume control of Luke’s group, Rayume will assume control of Wrain’s, and you’ll both split off with four other Silverborn I’ve chosen to rendezvous at Darni with me.”
“What of the Advisor? You know he’ll insist on joining the search, probably with an entire guard,” said Andro.
“And Nissa,” added Rayume. “Why me and not her? She outranks me.”
“Nissa will be staying at Alguarde to keep an eye on the royals and the Queen, since she’s the one who cured her. We also need to keep up Silverborn patrols - the demons won’t disappear because we’re in the middle of a crisis. She’s qualified to handle that.
“As for the Advisor, he’ll no doubt want to ride out with our first group, the one that’s going to seem in a hurry to be gone before he can catch them. We’re not going to tell him that we’re sending three. If he asks why I’m not leading it, we’ll say I’m needed in Alguarde to follow various leads we have on her disappearance. When I suddenly depart an hour later, it’ll be because we’ve discovered new evidence. Meanwhile, Wrain’s group will make their preparations extremely obvious and hopefully divert attention from my own.”
The small group nodded their heads, except Jesse.
“What if the Advisor doesn’t go with the first group? What if he hangs around?” he asked.
“I’m confident we can slip by him and leave before he realises we’re gone,” said Tayne.
“And if he does go with the first group? How are they supposed to shake him long enough to get five people out unnoticed?” asked Andro. He tapped his fingers on his leg. “The man’s a stickler for detail. He’ll notice as soon as they’re gone.”
Tayne allowed a smile to creep on to his face. Luke’s face had suddenly transformed into the most innocent, trusting features he’d ever seen.
“If that happens, Luke has my permission to work his magic and do what he does best. Annoy people.”
*+*+*+*