5.5 - Under the Ice Blades (3 page)

“Another ten minutes,” he said.

Sarkon’s gray brows rose, the faded scar that notched the corner of his left eye twitching slightly. He was almost twenty years Angulus’s senior, and had been the weapons instructor in the castle since Angulus had been old enough to pick up his first wooden sword, yet he was lean and wiry without any fat on his frame. He danced circles around most people in the boxing square, even the elite soldiers stationed on the grounds. But even he appeared ready for a break. He held up a hand and grabbed one of the towels draped over the ropes.

“Is there a reason for this new dedication to fitness and boxing, Sire?” Sarkon asked.

“I’ve realized how much I enjoy spending time with you.”

“Given how often you cursed my name in the last hour, I suspect that’s a lie.”

“I’m fairly certain there’s a law against accusing your monarch of mendacity.” Angulus grabbed the other towel and wiped his face. Yes, there was a reason he had increased his weekly hours in the gymnasium, but he didn’t want to talk about it.

“If this has something to do with the kidnapping, nobody thinks poorly of you for that.”

So much for not talking about it.

“Even if that’s true, and I doubt it is,
I
think poorly of myself. What kind of ruler lets his
wife
drug him and hand him off to sycophants who drag him to an island where he’s held prisoner for weeks?” Angulus would not confide in—or whine to—most people in the castle, but he had known Sarkon for most of his life. If his security chief ever broke confidences, Angulus hadn’t caught him at it.

“A man who had no reason to believe his wife was conspiring against him.”

“So a blind man. Is it better to be blind than inept?”

Sarkon grimaced. “Sire, you’re not blind. And you are not the only one who was left feeling inadequate last month. I knew of her dealings with that organization, but I didn’t believe she would ever be a threat to
you
. It was my fault you were captured. You should have had my head when you returned.”

“Who else would box with me without pulling punches and praising my nonexistent skill?”

“Even with the limited time you have for training, you’re a capable fighter.”

“If that were true, I would have been able to escape that lighthouse without needing to be rescued. By the already-overly-heroic General Zirkander, no less.” Angulus knew the grousing was unseemly, especially if Sarkon was feeling miserable for his own failings, but Angulus hadn’t spoken to anyone of this since his return to the castle, and the words were tumbling out, needing to be spoken. Besides, Sarkon
had
asked. That would teach him.

“I thought you liked Zirkander.”

“I do. Mostly.” Angulus could get over the fact that the newspaper reporters treated him with much more respect than their king—after all, journalists loved stories of common men who rose to great heights—but talking to the man always left Angulus feeling wistful. What would it be like to fly off on adventures, knowing one could rely completely and utterly on one’s own skills to survive? Angulus had spent his life being protected by bodyguards. He’d thought he had long since come to accept his role in the world, but these last couple of weeks, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about how he’d never had a chance to prove himself worthy of the crown that fate had handed him.

Zirkander got to prove himself—usually to public acclaim—every week. As if that weren’t enough, he could chat easily and confidently with women, even a woman like Captain Kaika, someone Angulus had always felt stiff and stilted around. Of course, Zirkander wasn’t the one who had been thinking fondly of Kaika ever since she had stormed into the castle, blowing up a priceless urn to show she deserved a place on a demolitions team. Fondly. He snorted at himself. That wasn’t exactly the word that described his numerous dreams over the years—dreams that were bound to repeat tonight, after watching her skim through that obstacle course while humiliating young soldiers left and right. He barely remembered what he had been talking about with Zirkander, since he’d been watching her out of the corner of his eye most of the time.

Realizing Sarkon was gazing blandly at him, perhaps waiting for an addendum to that “mostly,” Angulus added, “I’d just like to punch him in the face sometimes. Is that petty?”

“Extremely so, Sire.”

“I thought so. That’s why I haven’t done it.”

“Your wisdom is without bounds.”

Angulus shot his old comrade a dirty look, then waved in the direction of the baths. “I have an appointment soon. Better wash up.”

Beyond the gymnasium’s tall windows, the cloudy afternoon sky was deepening toward twilight. As much as he wouldn’t mind wandering shirtless into his meeting with Captain Kaika—preferably while flexing his muscles and looking appealingly masculine—his mother had long ago instilled rules about proper decorum into his brain. Besides, Kaika spent her days with some of the most elite soldiers in the country, soldiers who probably didn’t have the layer of fat over their muscles that he had. He slowed his gait enough to eye himself in a mirror on the way to the washroom. There wasn’t a
lot
of fat—in his determination not to turn into his rotund father, he’d never allowed himself to go too long without training—but he’d lost the definition he’d had when he had served as an officer in his youth. Would Kaika even find him attractive?

Seven gods, why was he thinking about this? He hurried to catch up with Sarkon.

His wife had been dead for less than a month. Even if they’d had a loveless marriage, one that hadn’t involved sex in nearly ten years, the newspapers and the lords in the council would wag their eyebrows—and their lips—if he started courting a new woman. When he
did
court someone new, they would expect him to find an appropriate lady of the appropriate bloodlines, one who might give him the children that Nia never had. They certainly wouldn’t approve of him courting a soldier who specialized in blowing up buildings, especially considering she had blown up part of
his
building.

Angulus couldn’t help but grin at that thought. The reports had been severely garbled, and he suspected Captain Kaika herself had given him a better accounting at Zirkander’s mother’s house than any of his intelligence people had, but it sounded like they had arrested her and thrown her in the dungeon, only to have her blow her way out without help. Such a woman. Maybe he’d have to ignore the council and invite her to dinner. Or would dinner be too sedate for her tastes? What did a woman who handled explosives for a living do for recreation? Angulus had followed her career assiduously, but he knew little about her life or dreams outside of the reports filtered up through the chain of command.

“Sire?” came a voice from the other side of the gymnasium.

Angulus had just stepped into the hallway heading toward the baths, but he paused. That was one voice he never ignored.

“What is it, General Braksonoth?” he asked as the bespectacled, gray-haired officer jogged across the gym.

“News, Sire. Not good news. It’s about—” General Braksonoth glanced at Sarkon, snapped his mouth shut, and raised his eyebrows toward Angulus.

Angulus almost waved for Braksonoth to report, since he had few secrets from his head of security, but in addition to being the battalion commander for the elite forces unit, Braksonoth monitored security for the entire nation. He received reports from intelligence officers all over the country, and his dominion went far beyond matters of the castle.

“I’ll catch up with you, Sarkon,” Angulus said.

“Of course, Sire.”

Braksonoth waited patiently with his hands clasped behind his back until Sarkon disappeared, but his eyes burned with rare intensity.

“There’s a problem at the Dandelion facility, Sire,” he reported in a low voice.

“What kind of problem?” Dandelion was the code name for the biggest weapons research facility in Iskandia, an underground laboratory inside a mountain at the southern end of the Ice Blades. Few knew of its existence, except for the scientists and a handful of trusted military veterans that worked there. Angulus had almost sent Deathmaker out to join the team, and still might one day, but he would wait until the ex-pirate had proven he could be trusted to stay loyal to his new homeland.

“There was a break-in, a new tunnel bored in from the back of the facility.” He frowned and shook his head slightly. “From deeper within the mountain. Two scientists were murdered in the generator room, and the radio reporting station on the side of the mountain was blown up. Our people didn’t hear the noise, so we’re not sure if some new kind of explosives might have been used. With the radio so close to the entrance, the soldiers that guard the ledge
should
have heard it.”

Angulus gritted his teeth, more concerned about the dead men than the dead radio. He had handpicked the men for the project. He knew them all—and their families.

“Were Cofah agents responsible?” he asked.

“Colonel Troskar, the pilot who reported to me, hadn’t seen sign of the enemy yet when he left. The murderers disappeared back into their tunnel and never showed themselves. Since the radio was out, Troskar left to report in right away, as he’s supposed to do.”

“I suspect someone blew a new entrance, elsewhere on the side of the mountain, then carved a way in. It would have been a laborious process, and it’s hard to believe that our people wouldn’t have heard some noise.”

“Were any of the prototypes stolen?” Angulus thought of the massive rocket being built—and the incredibly powerful explosives the scientists had been testing. The three-story rocket would be difficult to walk away with, but there were other advanced weapons in there.

“According to Troskar, the enemy hadn’t infiltrated the lab yet and nothing had been stolen. It might still be possible to minimize the damage. With your permission, I’d like to take a team back out there with Colonel Troskar, investigate that tunnel, and find those responsible for the murders.”

“You don’t have a
team
that has the clearance.” Angulus could count the people who knew about the facility on his fingers and toes, and most of them were already out there. If the Cofah—or someone else—now knew about the Dandelion Project, then he had a leak somewhere. The last thing he needed was for
more
people to know about it.

“I have Colonel Troskar,” Braksonoth said. “We have demolitions experts with security clearances that could be added to your list of cleared personnel. In case we
are
dealing with some new kind of explosive, it would be good to take such a soldier out there.”

Demolitions expert? Angulus promptly thought of Kaika. There were others of higher rank who had her same background, but she was on the way to the castle.... He’d never brought anyone below the rank of colonel in on the Dandelion Project, but nobody could question Kaika’s loyalty. And she had a high level of clearance already, thanks to her covert work in Cofahre.

Still, he couldn’t deny that he was thinking of her for this because of reasons other than national security. Might this not be an excuse to get to know her without anyone nagging him about courting inappropriate people? Also, discussions held during an investigation about bombings might be less awkward and stilted than discussions held over a dinner table. Maybe he could even go along to the research facility. Then they would have
more
time to talk.

“Sire?” Braksonoth prompted.

Angulus gave himself a mental kick. Men were dead, the Cofah might have access to his prototype weapons, and all the other research in that facility could be at risk. This was
not
the time to be contemplating a woman.

“Colonel Troskar and I will both go with you,” Angulus said. “I’ve been meaning to check up on the facility and see how the scientists are progressing.” That was actually true. He had put together an
extensive
to-do list while he’d been locked in that cursed lighthouse. “We need those weapons now more than ever.”

Braksonoth was staring at him. Gaping at him, actually. With his mouth hanging down to his collarbone. “Sire, this is
not
the time for you to visit. It’s very likely that there are Cofah agents running around the facility, spies and saboteurs who would
love
a chance to kill the Iskandian king.”

“If recent events are anything to go by, that could happen right here in this castle.” Angulus frowned at the bitterness in his tone, glad Sarkon wasn’t there to hear the condemnation. Why couldn’t he quit obsessing about how easily his wife had arranged to imprison him?

“But, Sire, to deliberately court danger—”

“I’m not courting it. I’m going to see that this problem is resolved and that the scientists I promised would be working in a secure facility will not be in further danger. If the installation needs to be moved, I’ll make that assessment when I’m there.”

“I suppose we could spare a few hours to have a dirigible prepared so your security could come along, but I’d thought to fly back with Troskar right away. He came in the two-seater from the facility.”

“We can still do that. General Ort is cleared to go out there. I’ll get him to pilot my flier, and we’ll take off as soon as Troskar and our demolitions expert are ready.”

“Sire, it’s foolish to go into a dangerous situation without proper security to protect you. I urge you to talk to your chief of security and have a complement of bodyguards arranged.”

Seven gods, Angulus was so tired of being protected. And coddled.

“Troskar and Ort are soldiers, and we have soldiers already stationed out there. You’ll be along as well, correct? I’ll be surrounded by armed men. I’ll take a firearm of my own, if it will make you feel better.”

“It will not. Ort and Troskar are pilots; they’re not trained as bodyguards.”

“You’re certainly capable of keeping people alive, General.”

“I can’t be effective at ferreting out and capturing the enemy if I’m responsible for your safety, Sire.”

“Our demolitions expert will come out of the elite forces too. And your people are trained to do everything. Leave that person behind with me.” That said, Angulus had no intention of telling Kaika that she would be acting as his bodyguard. She would think him helpless and inept.