Divided (2 page)

The teasing had worked because Aitken was frowning at once. 
Taeru swept the creature out the door while Aitken was preoccupied with the
veiled joke.  “I have good reflexes,” he countered.  “You said so during sword
practice three suns ago.”

The pouting expression on the boy’s face was enough to make
Taeru laugh.  “Relax, Aitken, I was only teasing you.”  Aitken seemed relieved,
and then he stuck his tongue out and made a bit of a face when he realized
Taeru had disposed of his prize. 

“Oh, you’re back.”  An older woman stepped out of the
hallway.  She wore an apron and a friendly smile on her face.  “Wash up.  I’ve
had dinner ready for a bit.”

“Yes,” Aitken agreed, “and she hasn’t let me eat a bite of
it until you two got back from shopping.”

As Alyx headed to wash up, Taeru realized that she had left
him with the task of putting all of the groceries up.  He decided not to
mention it, while he would have normally.  Somehow, the idea that another
Tsrali would be within the walls soon had him in a rather sullen mood. 

He went about the task as quickly as he could, with a little
help from Aitken.  Once he was finished, he retreated to the wash bin and did a
relatively quick run over of his face and hands.  He thought sardonically how
horrified his father would have been to witness him going to eat after such a
haphazard wash. 

Dinner was filled mostly with Alyx’s prattling on about her
desires to attend the upcoming ball.  Taeru wished she wouldn’t speak about it,
as it kept reminding him that he would soon have another nuisance with which to
contend.  However, Alyx’s mother seemed to agree on the point that the older
brother was much more agreeable. 

Taeru ate without bothering to contribute much to the
conversation.  He had rarely been able to eat in silence back in Cathalar. 
That was taken as a sign of unhappiness, and that was not tolerated in the
Lassau home.  It had been a rather unfortunate affair, as Taeru didn’t often
have much to say. 

Alyx and her family seemed content to fill his silence with
their own troubles.  In fact, they had called him a good listener on more than
one occasion.  “Though, with Calis’s return, Kilik may need to ease up on
making so much trouble for the nobles,” Alyx acknowledged.

Taeru frowned.  He did not intend to ease up on anything to
do with the nobles.  Another Tsrali just meant that he might need to do more. 
Alyx had expressed her disapproval of his interference with the guards, as the
tomfoolery had gotten him more than a little roughed up.  He enjoyed it,
though.  Therefore, instead of agreeing with her, he just offered a wry grin. 
“I haven’t the foggiest idea of what you speak, Alyx.”

Alyx and her mother exchanged a long glance.  Then, the
older woman spoke a little more sternly.  “Kilik, you must learn to be a little
more cautious.  Choose your battles a little more wisely.”

His battles.  He liked the sound of that.  Back in Cathalar,
he had been confined to his room.  He had been forced to study subjects that
did not interest him, learn languages that didn’t cooperate with his tongue. 
He had never been allowed to roam or to do what he pleased.  Here, he was able
to do precisely that.  “I do choose my battles wisely,” he said.  “I’ll be
careful.”

However, their words confirmed his suspicions.  If they were
afraid that this older Tsrali would make Taeru’s life more difficult, then he
was certainly no better than his younger brother was.  He decided to resign
himself to the fact that he would have to contend with two Neanderthals now—rather
than just one.  “I wonder if Calis found a wife over there in Dokak,” Alyx
mused.

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” her mother answered.  “Calis was
always very charming.  He was just reaching the age where he could begin
looking when he left.  I’m sure that left quite a few young Telandan noblewomen
with long faces.”

“They had Tareth,” Taeru offered cruelly.  Tareth was
certainly nothing at which to gawk.  He was stocky, with long brown hair, and a
square jaw that didn’t seem to fit his face. 

Alyx let out a quick laugh and then stifled it.  “Yes, well,
I’m sure that wasn’t much consolation.  Just wait until you see Calis, Kilik. 
You will understand.”

“I am waiting with baited breath.”

“It mattered naught whether his deeds
were for the good of the land or the good of a single man, it mattered that he
had believed it was enough.”

–A Hero’s Peace, v.i

 “The fact that these are still here is a testament to just
how lazy my family is.  Surely, we can afford to trim the outside walls.  Cathalar
probably thinks we all live in trees with this to greet them when they pass.”

“Perhaps that is the idea.”

Five years.  He had been gone five years, and his entry
point to the city remained unscathed.  In fact, the vines were sturdier than
ever.  Calis Tsrali wasn’t due to arrive back in Telandus until next sun up,
but as he had arrived early—he decided to check in on things before everyone
was fussing over his arrival.

His gloved hands found the vines easily, and his feet seemed
to remember the steps.  He was glad the five years away hadn’t made him soft. 
“Almost there,” he called down to his friend, well, more formally—his advisor.

“I still don’t see why we couldn’t have just
walked
through the front gates.  No one would have seen us.  Not anyone relevant
anyway,” Lee said.  Lee was Calis’s best friend—and really, if he was being
honest, his only friend.  The only one who kept Calis’s company for more than
advancement in status, anyway.

“Where is your sense of adventure, my friend?”  Calis
asked.  Lee just frowned and after a few more pulls, Calis was standing on the
top of Telandus’s wall.  A few moments later, Lee joined him and let out a huff
of a breath.

Lee wasn’t really the advisor sort, and that was precisely
why Calis had chosen him.  He had been born into a noble family, but he wasn’t
the haughty, plump folk that typically got advisor positions.  No, Lee was
relatively thin, and his face was far nearer to gaunt than it was to plump.  He
had forest green eyes and short, plain, brown hair that stopped at the base of
his neck.  “Have you missed it, Lee?”

“Have you?”  Lee asked.

Lee already knew that answer, though.  No, Calis had not
missed Telandus, or the responsibilities associated with it.  Nor had he missed
his obnoxious younger brother, or overly loud father and fussing mother.  Nevertheless,
he was back now—and he was going to make the best of it.

They used another set of vines to shimmy down, in what took
much less effort than their climb up the wall.  The sun was nearly to the top
of the sky, which meant that Dark District would be at its peak, and Calis
found that Dark District was filled with much more interesting folk than the
Shining District.  After all, with all that sparkling—he struggled to see the
people.

The makeshift entry left him just inside of the Shining
District, so he made his way to the wall that separated the Dark and Shining,
and with a quick thrust of his body found himself on the other side.  Normally,
he would have spent more time disguising himself, but he trusted the dirt that
had accumulated on his face from the journey to disguise him well enough.  His
clothes were a little brighter than most, but not terribly so.

Calis smirked when he thought of the stablemen’s confusion
when they saw his steed in its stall.  However, they would be too frightened to
mention it to his father.  No—that would mean they’d have to admit having let
him move through the stables without being seen.  Lavus was liable to execute
them for that treasonous act. 

Calis walked through the streets of Dark District.  They
were more familiar to him than they might have been to some nobles.  However,
this was certainly not his home.  The dust wisped off the ground and clung to
his clothes, making him wince so that his eyes didn’t burn too much.  “I don’t
get your fascination with this place,” Lee said.  “If you think these people
haven’t got any vices like the nobles—you would be mistaken.”

The young prince laughed briefly and shrugged his
shoulders.  “Yes, but the vices here are much more interesting, and less
discouraging.”  Lee didn’t argue as they continued through the crowded
streets. 

The stalls were familiar, all as worn and broken down as
usual.  A few of the sellers looked familiar, though others had been replaced
with fresher faces.  Or—as fresh as vendors could look.  Calis found that all
the ugliest people seemed to be tending to Dark District shops.  Moreover, it
wasn’t that all Dark District was ugly.  Just the vendors.

Calis was about to comment on the lack of crowds in the
streets when he glanced ahead to the cluster of people.  A few of them were
shouting, though he couldn’t make out what they were saying.  He gave Lee a
look, and with a quick sigh, his friend followed him up onto one of the
ledges.  There was never an easy way of maneuvering through crowds like that,
and Calis had found that the experience was never pleasant. 

So instead, he shimmied along the edges of Dark District,
moving along the low roofs so that he could see what was causing such brouhaha. 
The center of the chaos appeared to be in front of the gallows.  He probably
shouldn’t have been surprised to see his brother in the middle of it, but he
was.  Tareth, looking as stocky and entitled as ever, was standing over a small
brunette girl, who he had apparently found the time to bound.  The whole affair
was embarrassing, really—as the girl clearly lacked the means to defend
herself.  Tears stained her face as she stared up at Tareth.  “Pl-please, your
highness,” she whimpered.  “I did not realize that apple belonged to you.  I
simply saw it on the ground.”

“And you didn’t think to return it to a vendor nearby?  No,
you simply stuffed it in your pocket like the thief you are, heinous wench,”
Tareth said.  As always, he spoke too loudly and the noise made Calis cringe. 

Lee let out a sigh.  “It appears your brother has not done
any maturing in our absence.”

“It would appear not,” Calis said.

“I…I…”  The girl was so frightened that she seemed unable to
speak.  Tears continued to pour down her face, and her lips quivered with
desperation.  “I didn’t…”  She didn’t know how to continue.  It didn’t
matter—Tareth wasn’t listening.  He was too busy trying to make a show for all
these commoners.

Pathetic.

“Do you know what we do to thieves in the Shining District?” 
Tareth asked.  He brandished his sword with a flourish and moved it under her
chin so that she had to look at him through her tear-filled eyes.

“From what I’ve heard, you give them fancy horses and let
them prance around calling themselves nobles.”  The voice startled Calis out of
his consideration over how to handle this situation. 

His eyes searched a few moments for the confident, easy
voice and found the speaker across the way on one of the higher buildings.  The
sight itself was shocking.  The figure was wearing a black cloak that covered
the top half of his body.  The lower half of him was covered in black leggings
and boots.  The strangest part about him, though, was the black mask that he
wore over his eyes and short bandana that covered his hair. 

With a flick of his wrist, in a much less dramatic fashion
than Tareth had, the cloaked figure tossed a shining knife from somewhere
underneath his cloak and caught Tareth’s hand so that his sword went flying
across the gallows.  The younger Tsrali was indignant.  “Well, if it isn’t the
Phantom Blade…” 

The boy seemed unimpressed.  “I wasn’t aware you’d taken to
that name too, Tareth,” he said woefully.  “It’s very unoriginal.  But if you’d
like, I can start calling you The Bumbling Imbecile.”

Tareth had turned a fantastic shade of tomato red.  “Come
down here and face me, you wretch!” he said.

The boy seemed incredibly amused at this, and with a quick
movement, he moved his cape so that it exposed the full suit he wore.  He had a
brown and black tunic, leather, with a brown color moving up around his neck. 
His gloves were brown, and with them, he pulled two short swords from his black
belt. 

A few moments later, he was standing only a little distance
away from Tareth.  He used one of his swords to free the crying girl.  “Thank
you!” she said, before she scurried back to what appeared to be a worried
mother. 

The boy’s features were obscured by the mask, but his skin
was darker than most, olive, not that uncommon in Dark District.  The form was
small, though, and very lithe.  It fit the outfit he wore. 

“…you are staring rather intensely at this Phantom Blade,”
Lee said.

Calis jerked backwards.  “Well, obviously.  This isn’t
exactly something common.  I’m curious as to who this boy is.”

“Yes, this is an interesting turn of events, but you are
staring rather penetratingly,” Lee agreed, partially.

Tareth, fool that he was, charged the boy with an untendered
motion.  The boy easily sidestepped and caught Tareth by the arm, bringing the
larger man around and flinging him to the dirt.  After another few angry
lunges, and another disarming, Tareth found himself back on the ground. 

This time, he was finished being made a fool.  “Guards! 
Catch this varlot so I can make an example of him!” he cried.

The boy wasn’t as stupid as Tareth, and he appeared to know
that he was going to be outmatched by a dozen or so armed guards.  His eyebrows
rose and, using a nearby stall, he hoisted himself up onto another rooftop.

In a matter of moments, he, the rest of the guards, and even
Tareth were out of sight.  Calis dropped to the ground, as the crowd seemed too
shocked to start moving just yet, and began racing through the gathering. 
“Hurry, Lee!”

“What do you intend to do?”  Lee asked, though his feet
moved in step with Calis’s.  Calis loved that, though Lee continuously
questioned Calis, he never really refused to do anything.  Well, unless the
idea was just
entirely
foolish.  And sometimes it was.

Calis tried to use the roofs as much as he could, but he
never got back within range until what appeared to be the end of the chase. 
The boy had obviously gotten down from his perch to get an older woman out of
the way of the guards’ horses.  He succeeded, but the horse subsequently slammed
into him with brutal force.  His back slammed hard against the stone wall, and
he let out a weak groan. 

Tareth was at the front of the guards on his black horse in
an instant.  “I should have you hanged!” he said.  He hopped off his horse and
moved to stand over the still recovering boy on the ground.

Before the young man had managed to get his bearings, Tareth
had him by the collar.  “But first,” he snarled, “I’m going to find out who you
are!”

Curious as he was, Calis wasn’t going to let this happen. 
He pulled himself over the edge of the building as he watched his brother’s
hand move towards the young vigilante’s mask.  He landed and placed a hard hand
on his younger brother’s shoulder.  “Brother!  It has been too long!”

This whole ordeal frightened Tareth into dropping the boy he
held.  Calis knew the vigilante was moving, but he didn’t bother looking,
content to feign unawareness.  “C-Calis,” Tareth said.  “You-you weren’t
scheduled back until next sun, brother.”

“Well, I got back early!  What are you doing down here in Dark
District?  I was looking all over for you.”

When Tareth realized that he had been distracted from his
hunt, he jerked his head to where the boy had been, but the masked figure was
long since gone from the area.  “Tch!  Calis!  That was—I can’t believe this! 
I had him this time!”

“Ah, had who?”  Calis asked.  He looked around, which only
reaffirmed his thought that the black clad figure had fled the scene. 

Tareth frowned.  “The little wretch who has been terrorizing
every noble who graces Dark District with their presence.”

The thud beside Calis alerted him to the fact that Lee had
decided to grace
this
scene with his presence.  In fact, Calis’s advisor
spoke before Calis could.  “And you can’t handle a little peasant boy?”  Lee
asked, putting just the right amount of condescension into his voice.

Tareth was indignant, and his face was well on its way to
turning that same tomato red it had been before.  “I… well—I’ve better things
to do than worry myself too ferociously with the actions of one insignificant
child!” 

Calling the boy a child seemed out of place from Tareth, as
he had just been gotten the best of—mostly, anyway.  Lee smiled agreeably. 
“You seemed to be worrying yourself with him plenty just now.”

Calis blinked, determined to keep up his feigned innocence
in the matter.  “Oh?  I don’t recall any sort of terrorist before I left for
Dokak.  Is this boy a new resident?” he asked.  He figured he could get in a
few answers before he let the issue drop.

One of the guards took the liberty of speaking for Tareth. 
“We aren’t sure who he is, my lord.  Only that he is a young male.  The people
in the district have taken to calling him the Phantom Blade, but that is the
only identity we have for him.”

“The Phantom Blade?”  Calis said with just a hint of
amusement in his voice.  He had heard Tareth use the name a few moments ago,
but now it seemed particularly comical.  However, with the clothing the boy had
worn, the name wasn’t entirely unfitting.  “And how long has this
phantom
been wreaking havoc, brother?”

“Oh, he’s been around for about two years.  It’s really been
quite the ordeal,” his brother sulked.  “And you just kept me from hanging him
like I have so desperately desired to do.”

“Hanging him?”  Calis asked.  “Surely he has not caused so
much trouble as to merit that sort of punishment.”  He would have to make an
effort to discover this boy’s identity.  Surely, he must have been an
interesting fellow to go so far as to play hero for all of Dark District.

Tareth shook his head fiercely.  “You have no idea, my
brother.  He is a menace.  The sooner we can rid the streets of him—the
better,” he said this with such confidence that Calis may have believed it from
anyone but Tareth.

“And he simply attacks you without warning?”  Lee asked.