FARHAYVEN: VENGEANCE (86 page)

     Ray nodded his head in approval. He was impressed at Serene’s efficiency. Apparently she had not wasted any time in setting up the surveillance on Secretary Romar.

     The light splatters of rain provided little comfort to either Ray or Serene as their minds worried about the health and well-being of their comrade, Rod, and of the mysterious motive and plans of Royal Secretary Verbena Romar.

     Thorn breathed in the fresh morning air as he stretched his back and arms. He had felt well enough to leave the infirmary at Garrison Crystalflow and took a short stroll around the inside of the garrison. As he walked past the small courtyard he saw the faces of the young soldiers of the garrison, some eager and high-spirited as he was when he was at their age while others had a vacant, innocent-like expression. He looked for scars and injuries amongst them. There were none. These young men and women had not seen battle
!
Crystalflow Town was not attacked by the Serpentians
!

     Just at that moment Minvian Prodence appeared with four soldiers in tow.

     “Minvian Sayvion, I have orders to take you into custody. These orders came directly from ocean headquarters. Please come with us,” he said.

     “On what charges
?
” asked Thorn.

     “Desertion,” answered Minvian Prodence.

     “That is…,” said Thorn as he stopped mid-sentence. He had just remembered the inconvenient fact that he
did
desert his post at Fort Eastguard.

     Thorn smiled briefly, looked down at the ground and then nodded at Minvian Prodence, signalling his willingness to co-operate. He was then escorted away by Minvian Prodence and his subordinates. He knew that there were going to be consequences for his decisions. And he accepted them. The only consolation for him was that being in a Fallsian prison would be far better than being in a Serpentian labour camp.

     Minvian Clover Genox sat opposite a very weak Dawn Breven in the infirmary at Castle Greenbloom on the quiet evening of the
6
th
Day of Fourth Month of Dry Season
. Ray was eavesdropping just outside the closed infirmary door. Clover stared coldly at Dawn. The female assassin returned the stare with a blank one of her own.

     “Killed _ you have done of this to many of my comrades,” said Clover coldly.

     “You’ve killed a fair number of mine as well,” retorted Dawn.

     “Kill _ why do you do of this, I mean, why become an assassin
?
Know _ we do of this about your villages and how the government deserted you in the time of need and I, too, felt it unfair that such a betrayal had befallen you and your people; but is not rebellion, and more so, rebellion funded by illegal and immoral endeavours, an extreme and unjustified reaction
?
” asked Clover.

     “You don’t understand. We were starving. We had nothing
!
Nothing left
!
We’ve tried all legal recourses. We desperately needed food, medicine and other necessities, but we just couldn’t get them. Our people were dying. You don’t understand the pain of this treachery. It has cut us deep. Too deep for patience or forgiveness,” answered Dawn.

     Although Clover had read the related reports, she had a hard time believing the picture of desperation that Dawn was painting for her.

     “Assassin _ how does becoming of her help your people
?
” asked Clover pointedly.

     “Simple answer, soldier
!
It’s money
!
Money is power
!
Money is life itself
!
Money is everything
!
One of our leaders discovered the trade of assassination by accident. He was made an offer to kill someone for 400 gold coins. And with that 400 gold coins, we bought food, medicine, clothing and all manner of necessities, even the freedom of my uncle from jail.  We would’ve all died if not for that 400 gold coins. Then it became clear to us, this path to our salvation. So what if one man loses his life if in him doing so hundreds will live
?
Clearly, soldier, even
you
can’t argue with this logic, can you
?
So we, the survivors of the Ten Betrayed Villages, swore an oath of kinship to each other, became a clan and trained ourselves in the many ways of killing,” explained Dawn.

     Clover’s facial expression was neutral. In truth, she felt nothing but disgust
!

     “Killer _ highly skilled of her are you indeed that you can sneak into this heavily guarded castle on your own, without any help,” she conceded.

     “Heavily guarded
?
You government lackeys are stupid and pathetic
!
The secret passageway wasn’t guarded at all and the two guards whom you posted in the hallway were practically dozing off,” commented Dawn.

     “Know _ how did you do of this with regards to the existence of the passageway
?
” asked Clover casually.

     Dawn began to speak, but hesitated. She realised her mistake a little too late. She had spoken too much.

     “Help _ who gave you of this for you to enter the castle
?
” asked Clover rather firmly.

     Dawn was silent.

     “Discover _ we shall of this of your accomplice, you know this, right
?
Time _ it is only a matter of this,” said Clover.

     “It matters not. Her information was faulty and unreliable anyway,” muttered Dawn absent-mindedly, but Clover had heard her clearly enough, and afforded Dawn a hollow smile and left the infirmary.

     Ray met Clover in the hallway and together, they walked out of the keep and into the barracks where Ray had set up a temporary office and command centre. Ray sat down on his seat and Clover sat herself down across the desk facing him. A servian-ranked Sollenthar came in with a tray laden with a pot of tea and some snacks. He placed it on Ray’s desk, then bowed politely to both Ray and Clover and left the office.

     “Think _ what do you do of this, Clover
?
” asked Ray, clearly in reference to the interrogation that Clover had conducted.

     “Think _ of this, I am sure that she had an accomplice, master. Taught _ someone must have done of this to her about the layout of this castle and how to get in,” answered Clover while she poured some milk into her tea.

     Ray took a sip of tea from his cup and so did Clover. Both of them were in deep thought. Interrogating criminal suspects was never part of their training as Elementhars, so they were both still new to this. But Clover had the advantage of being a graduate of Fallsene Brightshield Educational, where she was taught some basic techniques of interrogation. Since she became an Elementhar, she never thought that she would ever put these techniques to use.

     “Think _ do you of this that if we continued with the interrogations that she will finally break and give-in
?
” asked Ray as he poured some tea into his mug.

     “No. Strong-willed _ she is too of this,” answered Clover.

     There was a knock on the office door and Minvian Serene Genox came in.

     “Nature’s wisdom _ may the both of you have of this, Minvian Iddell, Clover
!
” greeted Serene as she walked into the office and bowed.

     “Nature’s wisdom _ may you have of this, Serene
!
Sit _ please do of this and have some tea,” replied Ray as he got up and reciprocated Serene’s bow.

     “Nature’s wisdom _ may you have of this, cousin
!
” replied Clover as she too got up and reciprocated her cousin’s bow.

     Serene took a seat next to her cousin. She poured herself a cup of tea.

     “Report _ do you have one of this, Serene
?
” asked Ray.

     “Report _ mine of this, Minvian Iddell, is that Secretary Romar had a meeting with a man in a restaurant in Bamboowall Town two nights ago; whom, upon cross-referencing with the local soldiers, we have confirmed to be a well-known and highly skilled criminal, specialising in smugglings, robberies and kidnappings. Conversation _ theirs of this was not clearly heard as the suvian who was tailing her could not get too close without raising suspicion, however, he managed to hear enough to conclude that she was hiring him for a dangerous job,” reported Serene.

     “Job _ of this, what is its nature
?
” asked Clover.

     “Job _ of this, cousin, is as yet unknown, however, she arrived at Castle Greenbloom this afternoon with that criminal disguised as her carriage driver,” answered Serene.

     Serene’s answer surprised both Ray and Clover.

     “Location _ of this, they are here
!?
” reacted Ray.

     “Location _ of this, they are here
!
Arrest _ should we do of this of the both of them now
?
” said Serene.

     “Arrest _ no, we should not do of this of them now, for it is too premature. Proof _ we require absolute and undeniable of this of her guilt and we do not
yet
have that,” said Ray.

      “Intention _ what do you think hers of this is, Serene
?
” asked Clover.

     “Intention _ I think hers of this is to assassinate the assassin Dawn Breven before Dawn incriminates her,” answered Serene.

     “Intention _ what do you think hers of this is, Clover
?
” asked Ray as he sipped his tea.

     “Intention _ I think hers of this is
not
to assassinate Dawn but to facilitate her escape somehow,” answered Clover.

     “Unlikely _ it is highly of this, cousin, for Dawn is too well guarded,” said Serene in disagreement.

     “Unlikely _ although it is highly of this, but it
is
still possible. Forget _ let us not of this that Dawn is a master assassin, and that she is still valuable to the Shadow Deathmerchant Clan for she could not be easily replaced, judging by what we have seen of her skills and determination. Assassin _ besides, the criminal whom Secretary Romar has hired is not one of him, so it is most unlikely that killing Dawn was ever the intention,” reasoned Clover.

     Serene was silent for a while. She nodded her head slightly, acknowledging that Clover’s argument could have a valid point. Ray, on the other hand, felt that both theories were equally sound. But he concluded that killing Dawn was the simpler of the two plans.

     “Method _ what do you think hers of this will be
?
” asked Serene curiously as she sipped some tea.

     “Method _ hers of this could be to smuggle some sort of small, concealable tool or weapon to Dawn so that Dawn could escape and fight her way free, most likely to be used during her transportation to Fallsene City tomorrow,” answered Clover.

     “Stop _ how do we do of this to her, Clover
?
” asked Serene.

     “Stop _ we
do not
do of this to her
!
” said Ray, before Clover could answer Serene’s question.

     “Intention _ will it be yours of this to let Dawn escape, then
?
” asked Serene as she sipped more tea.

     “Intention _ it is not mine of this to let her escape, but Secretary Romar must be allowed to carry out her plan to completion in order for us to get sufficient evidence against her,” answered Ray.

     Both Clover and Serene nodded their heads. They understood just as well as Ray that Secretary Romar was the bigger threat, ‘
for a traitor that stabs from the back is more damaging than an enemy that stabs from the front
’. Therefore it was strategically sound for them to sacrifice having Dawn so that they could eliminate Secretary Romar.

     Ray sipped his tea absent-mindedly. He was deeply troubled by the situation that had been forced upon him.

     “Precautions _of these, what shall we take
?
” asked Clover.

     “Precautions _ of these, we need to have all of the castle’s entrances secretly watched from concealed positions and we need to set up concealed observation posts on all roads, bridges, villages and towns in North-western Falls and Southern Falls,” explained Ray.    

     “Concur _ I do of this, master,” expressed Clover.

     “Concur _ I do of this too, Minvian Iddell, and I suggest that we keep some part of Dawn’s clothing so that Spirit could have a reference when he sniffs her out later,” suggested Serene.