Siege of Pailtar (20 page)

“Why did he do it?” asked Nathan. “Didn’t he love your sister? He is Quinton’s dad, how could he betray him?”

“Brisson was an ambitious man. His dream in life was to expand our royal fleet. He envisioned Balta as a vast military empire powered by its fleet, with him at the controls. King Ganus likely promised him his fleet. All Brisson had to do was betray everyone he loved to get it. He probably thought Anya and Quinton would forgive him once he was in a position of power under King Ganus. He never truly understood Anya, and we all know how Quinton will react to this.”

“Poor Quinton,” said Nathan. How would it feel to find out your father is an spy? To know that he is responsible for the death of your uncle, and your friend, and is the reason you almost died getting the tomes?

“Yes, Poor Quinton,” said Avera. “What is next, Brother? Balta has no king….”

“And it won’t have one for a long, long time,” replied Verin.

“I don’t understand,” said Nathan. “Don’t you have to take over as king?”

“Someone has to but it won’t be me. I would make a lousy king. No, what Balta needs right now is a queen. Your Aunt Avera is the best one to rule Balta. I am a mere ranger.”

Nathan looked at Avera. She would make a great leader. She was smart, she knew most of the business owners and merchants in Balta and they all respected her.

“You sure, Brother? It is your right to take Verbon’s place,” said Avera.

“You know that you are better suited to be queen than I am. I have no taste for the politics and the people of Balta don’t know me the way they know you. I spend too much time in the forest. No, Sister, you are the one who must rule. I don’t envy you the position. We are facing a dangerous enemy and must be careful or Balta will fall to King Ganus.”

“I will rely heavily on the both of you,” said Avera. She looked at Verin who nodded and then she looked at Nathan.

“Why would you rely on me?” asked Nathan.

“I know it is not fair, you are so young and shouldn’t have this burden, but you are your father’s son. You are already one of Balta’s finest warriors and you have your magical gifts. Besides that, Verin and I trust you with our lives. Your loyalty is beyond question. As we now know, loyalty can be bought. And I can’t just declare myself queen. There will be a family meeting, along with representatives of Balta’s people. Because of your mother’s blood, you will have a vote, Nathan. Or you could declare yourself a candidate for king.”

“No way, would I be king,” said Nathan.

“She’s right, Nathan. You have a vote and the right to the throne. Your support, during the voting and afterwards, will be important. Beyond that, you have a knack for ending up in the middle of things and I have fear we will have need of your bow and sword before this is over. Also, you are the only one with a contact from Morthon.”

“Duke Evollan,” said Nathan.

“Yes,” said Avera. “For whatever reason, Duke Evollan has become our ally. His help so far has been critical to finding out who our spy was and keeping the tomes from falling into King Ganus’s hands. You may need to work with the duke. We need to be prepared for Ganus’s next attack.

23

Pailtar

“I HAVE A TASK FOR YOU TWO.”

Kiana glanced over at Ethan. The last task they had been given was supposed to be a simple stakeout, watching cows. It had turned into quite the adventure. What did Keyon have for them this time?

“What is it?” asked Ethan.

“You are doing more surveillance,” said Keyon.

Ethan groaned, “More cows? I swear I still smell cow poop.”

“Perhaps you won’t spend your time playing with cow shit this time,” said Keyon.

Kiana knew that Keyon found Ethan’s flaming cow poop illusion amusing and was just teasing Ethan. “I agree, it was a shitty idea.”

Ethan shook his head, “Ha, ha, Kiana, you’re so funny.”

“It’s a little funny,” said Keyon before his voice turned serious. “This time you are watching a person. This is actually a task for full-fledged Guild members and not students, but because of the rumors of Morthon troops gathering, and strange occurrences in the desert between here and Morthon we are short on manpower.”

“Who is the target?” asked Kiana.

“Marco Miles,” replied Keyon.

Ethan frowned, “Isn’t Marco Miles a Guild member?”

“Yes, he is,” said Keyon. “However, we have reason to believe he has been stealing from the Guild. You are to observe him from a distance. Keep tabs on where he goes, who he talks to, anything he does, we need to know.”

“Who is Marco Miles?” asked Kiana.

“He’s a fence. Some of my friends use him for selling the goods they steal,” said Ethan.

“Does he know you?” asked Kiana. It would be harder to spy on the man if he knew Ethan.

“No, I only saw him once, and I didn’t go into his shop. My friend just pointed him out.”

“Good,” said Keyon. “You can start right now. Follow him all day, and don’t be seen. This is important and Marco is dangerous. When he goes home at the end of the day, I’ll meet you outside his house. This might take a few days. If it does, I’ll find a member or two to alternate days with you. The longer we can watch him without him knowing the better chance of finding out what he is up to.”

“How are we going to know if he is doing something wrong? Shouldn’t we be getting up close to him?”

Keyon shook his head, “No, that’s too dangerous. For now we are just keeping an eye on him. Observe him from a distance, don’t take any unnecessary risks. I don’t want another situation like your last mission.”

“We did as we were told,” said Kiana, defending their decision to steal back the cows from mage.

“You know that’s only partially true, Kiana. I am telling you now, be cautious. If anything strange goes on, report back to me, but I don’t want you two pulling any more flaming poop stunts. You could get hurt.”

“We got it. No risks, report to you,” said Ethan.

Keyon looked Kiana, “I’d like to hear you say it too.”

“No risks, report to you.” Kiana was starting to think Keyon knew her mother too well. Making her repeat instructions so there could be no bending of the rules.

“Okay, he should be at his shop now, head there. He doesn’t stay past noon, so don’t expect him to sit in his shop all day.”

“We’re on it,” said Ethan.

…

Across the street from Marco Miles’s small shop there were a large number of small vendors and stores. The busy street was perfect for surveillance. The sheer number of people that moved through the street during the course of the day would make remembering their faces difficult for anyone. But even better than the street being busy was the two-story bank kitty corner to Marco’s shop. From the roof of the bank they could watch the front and back door of Marco’s shop without being seen.

“Kind of ironic, having a stakeout from a bank to watch a fence,” said Kiana.

“Yep, normally we’d be staking out the bank with the help of the fence,” agreed Ethan. “I’m glad you thought to bring water sacks up here. The view is great, but the lack of shade is making me sweat like a whore in church.”

Kiana laughed, “Know a lot of whores do you? Have you even been in a church? Which god would you pray too?”

Ethan glanced over to look at Kiana, “This is Pailtar, everyone knows a whore. And I’ve been in a church. I’ve been in several.”

“I mean have you been in a church when you weren’t there to steal something?”

Ethan grinned. “No, but that is beside the point. Just because I lifted a few items while I was there didn’t mean I didn’t think about the gods. I always give thanks to the gods.”

“Which ones?”

“Whichever ones keep an eye out on thieves,” replied Ethan. “Gods of war, love, heavens or Hell, envy or animals, I try not to discriminate. I steal from all of them so that gods know I don’t play favorites.”

“You ever get caught stealing from a high priest you will become a sacrifice to the gods.”

“I’m not crazy enough to steal from them. I only steal from fat merchants, it’s way safer.”

“True,” agreed Kiana. “You think Marco is stealing from the Guild?”

“You don’t think this is an actual mission do you? This is just another practice session Keyon has us on. The teachers are all busy worrying about rumors of Morthon wanting war that they don’t have time for our lessons. Instead we get to practice surveillance on a hot rooftop.”

“I don’t know,” said Kiana. Keyon had been pretty explicit in his instructions to not do anything foolish and to make sure they did not get spotted. It sounded like Keyon was somewhat desperate to have someone following Marco without tying up more experienced guild members. “I think this is real. And even if it is just a practice mission, you remember how cow watching went. Who knows what we will see today.”

Ethan groaned, “Can we please just forget about the cows. The shit jokes are getting old.”

Kiana had a small smirk on her face as she kept her eyes on the door of Marco’s shop. “Sure we can forget the fact you stunk like cow shit for a week … Maybe.”

“It’s almost lunch time. Keyon said Marco would be closing the shop for the day soon. Should we head down to the street now?” asked Ethan.

“You head down. Go stand under that palm tree down the street.”

“Why there? I’ll barely be able to see one door, let alone both of them.”

“No, but you can see the front door and keep an eye on the roof. If he leaves by the back door I’ll signal you. If he leaves by the front door and goes up the street I’ll stay on the roof long enough to make sure you catch up. If he heads down the street, I’ll come down right away.”

Ethan nodded, “Okay, that does make sense.” Ethan crawled back away from the edge of the roof and stood up. “See you in a few,” he said as he crawled over the edge of the roof and down into the alley between the bank and the merchant’s shop beside it.

Sitting alone on the roof, Kiana took a sip of her water and focused on the doors. She was determined to not screw up this job.

When the man that fit the description of Marco came out the front door, Kiana was ready.
Which way are you going?
Kiana thought to herself as she avoided staring directly at him. When Marco headed down the street towards Ethan, Kiana crawled back and then down into the alley where she waited a couple seconds before walking out onto the street.

Glancing ahead, Kiana spotted both Ethan and Marco. Ethan was doing a good job of following Marco at a respectable distance, far enough back that Marco wouldn’t see him through the crowds. Later, if Marco went somewhere less crowded they would take turns following so that Marco wouldn’t get used to having one person behind him.

Luckily, Marco stopped at an outdoor eating area. The small park-like area was popular among the street vendors. Marco purchased his lunch and sat down at a bench. Instead of catching up with Ethan, Kiana went to a spicy meat vendor and bought a couple strips. The meal would give her an excuse to sit down in the park area behind Marco.

Taking a bite of the hot, sweet and spicy meat, Kiana glanced over at Ethan. The look in his eyes made his jealousy over the fact Kiana had been able to eat lunch obvious.
I stayed up on the hot roof, getting lunch for a cover is fair,
Kiana thought.

Kiana watched as a man walked past the food vendors and sat down beside Marco. Kiana almost spit her lunch out when she saw who it was. The man was the cow-stealing wizard! Marco was in cahoots with a dangerous man. The question was what to do now. Marco and the wizard were having a long conversation, but about what?

Standing up, Kiana started walking away from the park area.

Ethan, seeing the direction Kiana was taking moved to meet her. Once they were a safe distance from the park, one where they could still see Marco and the wizard but not be heard, Kiana and Ethan stopped.

“Did you see who that was?” asked Ethan.

“Yes, the wizard we stole the cows back from. The one you used the flaming poop illusion on.”

“Ya the one who blew up that farmhouse because of it. I went back, you know. The house was completely burnt down. There were pieces of the house hundreds of yards away! That is a powerful mage.”

“And he’s a thief. Not one of ours either,” said Kiana.

“Do you think he works for King Ganus?” asked Ethan worriedly. Following Marco was one thing, following a powerful mage who would roast you alive if he knew who you were - was quite another.

“I don’t know, but we have to find out,” said Kiana.

“Kiana, we have specific instructions….”

“If this mage is working for King Ganus, Keyon will want to know. We need to finish our assignment and not lose the mage.”

“How are we going to do that?” asked Ethan.

“We follow both of them. You follow Marco, and as soon as he goes somewhere not important like his office or house, you get to Keyon and tell him what’s going on.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Ethan, despite the fact he already had a sneaking suspicion he knew the answer.

“I’m going to follow the mage. I will be careful, but this is too important. We need to know why are they meeting, and who else they meet.”

“Keyon is going to kill us,” groaned Ethan.

“Whatever. Look, they’re getting up. Follow Marco and be careful, then get to Keyon.”

“Be careful? I’m not the one following a fire mage who can blow up an entire farmhouse into little pieces.”

“Get going, Ethan. I’ll be fine.” Kiana tried to sound confident despite the fact she knew this was very dangerous. However, her instincts told her that something foul was afoot and the right thing to do was follow this mage until she could learn more about him.

As Marco and the mage walked away from each other, Ethan and Kiana split apart. Ethan started following Marco and Kiana the mage.

Kiana was curious about the way the mage was dressed. Normally, mages tended to wear robes to signify their statue, and the last time she had seen the mage he had been wearing robes, but today he was dressed like a normal person, tan pants, leather tunic, and a rope belt. If Kiana hadn’t seen him in the forest she would not have suspected him to be a mage. Mages were not uncommon in Pailtar and magic did not bother most people of Pailtar so why hide his identity?