Siege (The Warrior Chronicles, 5) (13 page)

“He was really quiet,” Marc said, backing up so he was nearer Shanti. “He was as quiet as those Graygual. Almost. He panicked, though. He took off running. That’s what gave him away. Or he just never learned to run quietly.”

“So he has training of some kind.” Shanti motioned Rohnan forward. “Carry him into the city. We need a better look at him.”

“I
told
you,” Marc said sullenly.

“All I was saying was that we should wait for S’am!” Xavier moved around to the captive’s feet.

“It’s dangerous to keep him alive.” Cayan turned toward Sanders and gave a long, loud whistle.

“I said that about you,” Shanti said.

“I can handle this guy.” Xavier hoisted the body up and over his shoulder.

“It is better to fight with large men. It makes laziness easier.” Rohnan followed behind Xavier.

“He can cut off our power, making us susceptible to Inkna,” Cayan said. “We won’t be able to feel what’s coming or what’s ahead.”

“We can keep him unconscious.”

“You can also keep him at the back of the line with a guard,” Rohnan suggested. “Your range will be greater than his.”

“We can’t always keep him at a distance.” They got to the city. Men rushed forward to relieve Xavier of his burden. “Keep him secure. Work with Marc and Ruisa to come up with something that will keep him unconscious.”

“Who got him?” Sanders asked.

When Cayan was sure his orders would be followed, he directed Shanti and Sanders toward Daniels’ tent. The man didn’t want to take residence, even temporarily, in one of the hovels in the city. “Marc and Xavier.”

“Do we think there are any others?”

“Doubtful,” Shanti said as Cayan reached the flap of the tent and held it open. The soft glow of the lantern illuminated her beautiful face as she smiled at him before ducking into the tent ahead of him. He motioned Sanders through after her.

“Don’t expect a smile from me,” Sanders growled. “I’m not that kinda lady.”

Cayan smirked as he waited for Rohnan.

“I will wait out here.” Rohnan stepped to the side and gracefully fell into a cross-legged position.

Cayan knew better than to question him. Instead, he followed his grumpy Commander through. Daniels stood in front of a map, trailing a finger across and down. He glanced up as everyone came in.

“How did it go?” the older man asked. Creases lined his face and circled his eyes. He was under a lot of pressure to find a way that would minimize casualties while still ensuring victory. It wasn’t an easy task.

“We took down two Graygual and captured a third man who we think is
Gifted
,”
Cayan said as he came to a stop at the map.

“Why would it be doubtful that there are others?” Sanders asked Shanti. “There’s no telling what else that Being Supreme has under his hat.”

“There would have to be another
Gifted
who can block power for there to be others,” Shanti said. “And while that is probably true, he is only the second I have come across, which means they must be rare. Rarer than our
Gifts.
”

“I agree.” Cayan scanned the way before them on the map. “If Xandre has another, he wouldn’t assign them to the same task. What would be the point? The chances of that
Gifted
being captured were minute. I am still amazed that we were able to do it.”

Sanders pointed at Shanti. “Her harebrained ideas work more often than they don’t, but when they don’t, they
really
don’t.”

“Yes, thank you, Sanders,” Shanti said dryly. “Enlightening.”

“What do you think?” Cayan asked Daniels.

Daniels straightened up with a grimace. “We should get word to the Shadow Lord. She and Portolmous are waiting in the east. They don’t want to push through the Graygual until they know where they’re needed most.”

“And when, exactly, do we mean to go?” Shanti asked, peering between Sanders and Cayan at the map. Her eyes went wide. “
That
city?”

Cayan looked at the sprawling interior laid out before him. “Yes. That city. I mean to make a statement.”

“Do you mean for us to live through it?” Doubt colored her words.

Cayan leaned against the table as certainty and confidence filled his center. “I’m not just making a statement to Xandre—I’m making one to this whole land. People need to see that Xandre isn’t invincible. They need to see that he
can
be stood up to, and he
can
be beaten.”

“Well, it’ll be good practice.” Sanders crossed his arms over his chest. “I sure hope you can pull some magic out of your ass, Daniels, because we’re going to need it.”

Daniels’ eyebrows lowered. For a moment it seemed as though he would ignore Sanders. A moment later, his chin rose slightly. “I have gone over all the possible scenarios and chosen one I think will work with our limited forces. The Shadow will meet us there from the other side. The hardest part will be coordinating the two forces.”

“How many Inkna are in that city?” Sanders asked.

“From the reports we’ve received, there are a great many Inkna,” Cayan said, refusing to acknowledge the tiny kernel of doubt. “There are far more Graygual. They are complacent, though. They have run that city for years. They have their system down and have not received any pushback for a long time. They won’t expect to be attacked.”

Shanti wandered toward the door. “If they know we are coming, they’ll prepare. We should hurry.” She stopped by the tent flap and glanced at Cayan. The spicy feeling of their
Joining
rose up, overwhelming his senses. “I’ll see you later.”

With a tiny smile, she left, her confidence surging. Confidence in him and this plan. It could only mean this was the best, or maybe the only, way.

“She’s right,” Cayan said to Daniels. “We need to leave tomorrow and waste no time. We’ll take a direct route. Hopefully we’ll have the city taken before news of our whereabouts reaches Xandre.”

“With his spies disengaged, I’m sure of it.” Daniels wiped some dirt off the corner.

“We can’t be sure of anything.” Sanders took a step away and shook his head. “What are we going to do with the captive?”

“We need information,” Cayan said. “We’ll talk to him first and see how he came by his post. Hopefully he’ll cooperate.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

Cayan clenched his jaw. “We’ll see what happens. Hopefully it won’t have to get messy.”

“Don’t let the Shadow at him, then.” Sanders took a step toward the door. “Something tells me they don’t play nice.”

“And you assume the Shumas do?” Cayan nodded in farewell to Daniels and followed Sanders out of the tent.

“You should think about the kind of statement you want to make, sir,” Sanders said, his voice deep with warning. “This land won’t want to trade one tyrant for another. We need the Shadow brutality for battle, and something tells me the Shumas will make that brutality pale in comparison to the rage they have stored up, but people shouldn’t see that side of them. We should hide them.”

Cayan shook his head. “I’d do the opposite with the Shumas. I’d put them on display. I want people to see the desecration and sorrow in their eyes, and I want people to see that they are fighting back. That they have not been beaten. People need someone to rally around. That someone will be Shanti.”

Sanders sighed. “To speak plainly, sir, I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“So do I.” Cayan scanned the land with his mind again, making sure no one waited in the woods. What he had planned could go horribly wrong. In fact, there were very few ways it could succeed. But they had to try. There were no other options.

S
hanti rode in silence
, staring next to her at an ugly man with a few wicked scars on his face and arms. It looked like someone had taken to him with a sword and then left him for dead, not expecting him to get up and keep going. He reminded her of Tomous. And of Rohnan. And herself.

His shoulders were pushed back and the set of his jaw was defiant as he looked straight ahead, his icy blue eyes unfocused. His fists occasionally clenched behind his back, and Shanti suspected he was pulling at the rope binding his wrists. Her
Gift
was smothered.

“So you were hacked at by the Graygual, and you thought, ‘I know what I’ll do, I’ll join up with those bastards and help kill people just like me,’ huh?” Sanders, riding on the man’s other side, spat. “That makes a lot of sense. No explanation necessary.”

Ahead of them walked a line of horses and men, following Cayan and Lucius, who led to their next destination and hopefully not their death. They had been right about this man’s range. It was less than half of Cayan and Shanti’s. Cayan was beyond his influence and made sure Shanti rode as close to the middle of the line of fighters as possible. He was too overprotective for his own good.

They’d been at this for a couple hours now, Sanders doing most of the talking. So far, they’d gotten very little out of the man, but what they had gotten was informative.

“So what’s next, then?” Sanders asked. “You hang out with us, hoping for the best, until you can escape and go back to a tyrant who made you look like a cut-up slab of meat?”

The man gritted his teeth. “I have never killed anyone. I make it so no one else can kill with the mind power.”

Sanders braced a hand on his knee in indignation. “Do you actually believe this horse shit?” He shook his head and looked toward the front. “For the first time, I wish that twin of Shanti’s could use his mind magic.”

“You killed the men I was with. How are you any better than the so-called tyrant?” The man’s hand flexed and released.

“Or maybe you’re just dumb.” Sanders’ face went red, an early indication that he was close to losing his temper. “They were trying to kill us, you shit for brains. That’s what it means when scary people sneak up on sleeping people in the middle of the night with a big sword. What would you have done in our shoes? Oh, that’s right, you would’ve rolled over, played dead, and then sashayed right into the enemy’s hands so you could help rule the land.”

The man swung his eyes toward Sanders. His whole upper body flexed, showing an array of muscle along his back definitely denoting the ability to fight. His hands were tightly clenched, clearly fighting his own temper. Shanti couldn’t see either of their faces with this man in the way, but judging by the silence, and the duration of the stare, she bet they were trying to kill each other with their eyes.

“Marc, go get Tomous,” Shanti instructed.

Marc lethargically looked back at her and stared for a moment with dazed, tired eyes. He blinked a couple of times. “Sure. I mean, yes, S’am.” He took a deep breath and turned his horse out of the line before riding to the end.

“You don’t like the truth, huh?” Sanders prodded, anger in his voice.

The man had returned to staring straight ahead, apparently trying to ignore Sanders. Sanders was doing an excellent job of getting under his skin. He was a hard man to shrug off. Poor Junice.

“How long have you been in the army?” Sanders asked.

Silence answered Sanders’ question.

“How many kids did the Graygual kill? Or don’t you care about trivial things like that?”

Muscles flared and fired along the man’s shoulders. The veins in his neck stood out. He was struggling with something, and Shanti bet it was memories.

“Yes, S’am?” Tomous moved his horse in behind her. There wasn’t enough room for more than two horses and one Bloody Bastard to walk side by side on the road. The Bastard didn’t like other animals in his horse bubble.

“Our friend here was taken down by the Graygual, similar to you.” She jerked her head at the man. “Similar to me.”

The man jerked as if he had been poked in the backside. He didn’t turn her way.

“I wondered, if you were chopped down, what would make you join their army?” Shanti asked, always watching the man. Trying to learn from his body and reactions what he wouldn’t reveal with his voice.

Tomous took a moment before he answered. When he did, his voice was dripping with a hatred so intense that Shanti barely kept herself from looking back. “Never. There is nothing that would make me fight by their side. Nothing that would make me help them destroy someone else’s life as they destroyed mine. Anyone who does should die a slow and agonizing death. I’m on hand if you need that done, S’am. Let me know. I don’t mind getting my hands dirty to rid the land of filth like this.”

“You’ll have to get in line, Tomous, but thank you.” Shanti saw the man’s shoulders droop just a bit. A moment later, his muscles flared again. He’d had a moment of sadness, she’d bet on it. He was trying to stay hard and strong, but he had a war of emotion that he could barely contain or cover up. He wasn’t like a Graygual officer in character, and he certainly wasn’t trained like them.

“Deprive him of sleep,” she said to Sanders. “And by all means, continue to torture him with your personality. He’ll break sooner or later.”

“He’ll get brained with a rock sooner rather than later if he doesn’t start answering some of my questions,” Sanders growled.

Shanti made a clicking sound with her tongue. Her horse launched forward, throwing her back in the saddle. “Damn it!” She clutched at the saddle and pulled herself forward as the horse picked up speed. “Slow down, you filthy animal!” She pulled on the reins, tugging the horse’s head back. “Slow…
down
or I will put spikes in your mouth next time!”

The Bastard whinnied and half jumped, digging in his hooves on landing before hopping forward to slow. Shanti clutched with her legs and steadied her balance, breathing heavily.

“You’ll wind up as dinner if you keep this up,” she warned. She lightly tapped her heels to his sides. Thankfully, he started walking.

“Your horse is feeling better, huh?” Sonson asked with a grin. He was riding at the front of his Shadow, keeping everyone together. The Shumas were right behind them, all just out of the Graygual’s range and working on communicating through the
Gift.

“Unfortunately, yes.” Shanti scowled down at her animal. “I doubt he’ll be any less surly, though.”

“Just like his rider.” A peal of laughter rang up from both the Shadow and Shumas.

“I’m really getting tired of that joke.” Shanti prodded her horse to go a little faster, wanting to get up to Cayan without making her horse sprint to do it.

“It’s not a joke,” Sonson yelled after her.

As she neared the front of the line, Cayan glanced back. Those beautiful blue eyes were a pleasant change from the icy ones filled with pain at the back. “Lucius,” he said. “Fall back.”

Lucius glanced over his shoulder at the Bastard before pulling back gently on the reins. Very obediently, his horse slowed to allow Shanti access to the Captain.

“I miss the boring horse I rode out of your city,” Shanti muttered.

“What have you found out?” Cayan asked.

A male skittered by the edges of Shanti’s awareness. Judging by the road they were on, others she had felt, and the fact that it was a single person, it was probably a bandit. He wouldn’t get close enough to be trouble.

“He’s hiding something.” Shanti thought over the lengthy and stilted conversation. “He wouldn’t say much, but with Sanders constantly annoying him, he made some admissions early on, one of those being that his village was cut down by the Graygual. He’d been confused at first when people around him were falling from the Inkna’s abilities, but he hadn’t felt anything. As soon as he figured out Sanders’ methods for extracting information—probably much different from the Graygual method of using pain—he stopped saying much of anything. He’s smart. And determined.”

“So the enemy grabbed him?”

Shanti furrowed her brow, considering his tone and words carefully, trying to make sure she pieced together the correct story. “I don’t think so. He was cut down, thought he’d die, but didn’t. It was when he was recovering that the Inkna approached him. I’m not certain, but I think it was some time later. I don’t know. He’s healed now, and showed confusion when I asked various training methods. I don’t think he’s been with the Graygual that long. So what was he doing between nearly dying, and joining the Graygual, if not being trained?”

“I don’t like it. He doesn’t fit.”

“No, he doesn’t, but we have no idea how. Or why. He must’ve met Xandre.
Had
to have, right? How else could he have ended up with the inner circle?”

“There could’ve been a go-between, but he would certainly know something. He has information we need, whether he knows if it’s useful or not.”

Shanti sighed and looked out at the trees. The Bastard did that weird noise, halfway between a growl and a snarl, both not sounding like they should come from a horse. She yanked the reins left, trying to put more distance between him and Cayan’s horse. The Bastard would pick a fight, and Cayan’s horse would not back down.

“This accursed animal makes my life difficult,” she said with another yank out of temper.

“Now you know how Sanders feels.”

Shanti narrowed her eyes at the side of Cayan’s face where that dimple was showing. The indentation smoothed over quickly as seriousness returned to Cayan’s bearing. “You told Sanders to start sleep depravation after we stop?” Cayan asked.

“Yes. He’s tough, but he’s not cunning. I’m sure he’ll let more slip when his brain becomes foggy with fatigue.”

Shanti’s
Gift
rolled over a female far out to the left. A moment later she felt a few more people of both sexes idle. She glanced up at the sun, high at its zenith. “What should we expect from this land? It’s farther south than I have been.”

Cayan half shrugged, unconcerned. He glanced around him. “Not much. Smaller traders and travelers use this route. The weak get picked on and stolen from, sometimes worse. The strong are left alone. We won’t encounter any problems.”

“Do you know this from experience, or is that what Sanders told you?”

Cayan gave her a confused look. “What’s the difference?”

Shanti snorted. “Sanders is in a league of his own. Crazy. No one is messing with him. The people out there might very well attack someone like Leilius or Marc.”

“Let’s hope they attack Maggie. She’ll get to spread her wings.”

“We are going to have to stop eventually. If the”—she didn’t want to call him an Inkna—“
stranger
is awake, it means we’ll be blind. Any outliers could get attacked.”

Cayan chuckled, his big shoulders shaking. She had no idea why. “Even our weaker warriors would stick a knife in an attacker’s rib if surprised by a bandit. They might be shocked if they did so, but they’ll be fine. Marc can sense danger—he’s done it in the dark twice now—and he is
the
weakest fighter we have, if you don’t count some of the women. And I don’t, because they will be looked after.”

“You’ll look after the women but not poor Marc?”

“Marc is part of the Honor Guard and under your command. It is you that will not look after poor Marc.”

“Ah.” Shanti couldn’t help a smile. “As Rachie would say, you got me there.”

“That was a hint, you know. We need our doctor.”

“Don’t tell me how to do my job.” Shanti looked away to hide a smile from him.

“Later I’ll tell you some other things I’d like to have done. To me.”

“Sanders would make a comment about married people in the army.” Lucius’ voice drifted up. “He would wonder what this world had come to. I might think the same.”

“We aren’t married and Sanders needs to butt out,” Shanti said.

“Not technically married, you mean.” Cayan’s voice was light, but she could feel his gravity. He was trying to stay light during the peaceful times. They were few and far between.