The Third Eye Initiative (20 page)

The two men followed what was left of Aedrus’ footprints. Despite the light snow, the footprints were beginning to disappear. Tsaeris knew that they had better find the boy soon, or they would not find him at all.

Luck found them then, as the snow suddenly stopped and the clouds broke apart to reveal a full moon. Despite the night, the moonlight and the snow made everything appear almost as clear as day.

The footprints lead into another alley. Tsaeris
cursed. The alleys were where the worst of the city lived. Why did everyone run into them? The footprints were clearer in the alley, as they were mostly protected from the falling snow. A few feet in, Tsaeris and Tyrier found a second set of prints that seemed to be following Aedrus. The two men quickened their pace. Then all of a sudden one set of footprints disappeared. They were the smaller of the two. The larger ones continued on.

Tsaeris and Tyrier looked around confused. How could they have just disappeared? Tsaeris didn’t know if this was a good thing or a bad thing. He looked at Tyrier, wondering what they should do.

“What do you think happened?” Tyrier asked Tsaeris, as confused as he was.

“
No idea. Maybe the person following Aedrus caught him and carried him off.” Tsaeris hoped that wasn’t the case, but he could think of nothing else.

Suddenly a small amount of snow fell onto Tyrier from above. He and Tsaeris looked up, and caught a glimpse of a small head disappearing beyond the edge of the roof. Tyrier and Tsaeris glanced at each other.

“Aedrus?” Tyrier called out. There was no response. “Aedrus, it’s me. Doctor Sydarin.”

“
Doctor Giant?” a small voice called out from above. The voice sounded tired and miserable.

Tyrier breathed a large sigh of relief.
“Thank the light you’re safe. Can you get down?”

“
I…yeah, I can get down.”

The boy slowly and carefully descended into the alley, using window sills as handholds. The boy seemed really good at climbing, and Tsaeris found himself impressed. Before long, the little red haired boy stood before them. He had a cut on his eyebrow, and his clothes were torn. The boy was lucky it was not a colder night, as he wasn’t dressed for the weather. Aedrus ran into Tyrier’s arms and started to cry.

Tyrier let him weep. Tsaeris stood awkwardly, waiting for the boy to cry himself out. It didn’t take very long, and then Tyrier held him out at arm’s length.

“
What were you doing up on the roof, son?” Tyrier asked.

“
Somebody started following me. So I climbed up to get away. He didn’t seem to want to bother climbing up to get me. What are you doing out here?”

“Me and Tsaeris just came from your house,” Tyrier replied.

“
So you found Dad?” Aedrus asked, and his lip began to quiver.

Tyrier nodded sadly.
“What happened back there, Aedrus?”

“
A man came into our house. He was big, Doctor. Bigger than you, even. He was trying to get me, but father saved me. He told me to run, and then the big man cut him apart with a knife. I jumped out the window. Cut my forehead, too.”

Tsaeris felt his insides go cold. He walked over to the boy, and put a hand on his shoulder. Aedrus looked up to him, his eyes showing recognition.

“Can you describe him for us, Aedrus?” Tsaeris asked softly.

“
He was big, and dressed in black. He didn’t say a single word, even when father asked him what he wanted.”

Tsaeris swallowed hard. He recognized the description. In that moment, Tsaeris knew that everything that happened to the boy and his father had been because of him. Tsaeris felt something that he had not felt in a long time. Tsaeris felt guilty.

Beneath
The City streets there were sewers. Deep below the Sewers there were catacombs. Deep within those catacombs was a sprawling complex full of men and women. And deep within that complex there was a door.

The door was much like other doors. It was wooden and thick, it opened with a push and
its hinges were well oiled. It stood at the end of a long, dark hallway, deep within the Third Eye Initiative safe house. A few torches lit the way, but did little to chase away the shadows and less to chase away the sense of foreboding.

There were no other doors in that hallway. It stood alone, a silent portal to a place seen by few. No agents guarded the door. No sentries stood watch over the hallway. Agents knew instinctively that this area of the
safe house was forbidden. Few dared to challenge the door.

It had happened, of course. From time to time an agent would ignore the advice of their peers, and would dare the ominous march to the solitary door. It was a mistake that a person made only once. The door was never locked, and those who entered that place uninvited disappeared forever.

The only one who entered the hallway and the door regularly was the Dark Man. The agents knew his name, of course, but secretly referred to him by the nick name. His neatly trimmed black beard and hair were not the reason for the name. It was his demeanor. Quiet, cold. Always dangerous.

The Dark Man seemed to be the only one with a standing invitation to enter the door. The few agents who had been invited to brave the march to the unknown have only done so once. They would never speak of what had occurred, and never returned to the door again. Sometimes a traitor or an agent with a loose tongue would also enter the room, escorted at the end of the Dark Man’s blade. They, like the uninvited, also disappeared.

So what is behind that door? The few who know say nothing. But men and women are people, and people talk and speculate. It’s what they do. Is it a gateway to darkness where demons and wraiths wait to prey on those foolish enough to enter their realm?  Is it the lair of Gravelock himself, where he drags unsuspecting children from the city streets to quietly feast on their young flesh? Or is it nothing more than a dark hallway, a door and a few scary stories?

Regardless of the answer, the door remains an ominous and foreboding
specter in the hearts of the Third Eye Initiative agents. Another dark mystery that keeps many agents in check. And maybe, just maybe, that is the whole purpose of the door.

“
It’s just a bloody door, Jarod. Stop being so dramatic.” Tsaeris sat in the Third Eye Initiative safe house tavern, deep below the earth. He coughed a few times, then lifted his tankard and took a long pull of his ale. It was bitter, but it helped. He found the air down here to be stuffy, and it bothered his throat.

“
Maybe. It’s interesting, though. Don’t you think?” Jarod had really grown since his recruitment three years earlier. His arms were massive and heavily muscled, and he was much taller than Tsaeris. He also sported a thick black beard. When Tsaeris discovered that Jarod was Tyrier’s son, he was not even a little bit surprised. Tsaeris learned from Jarod that Tyrier in fact had two sons.

Jarod had an older brother named Wil
hem, who was only loosely affiliated with The Third Eye Initiative. Wilhem spent most of his time managing Sydarin Shipyards, and sat as head chair of the Ship Builder’s Guild. Tsaeris had heard of Wilhem Sydarin during his own work at the shipyard, but had yet to meet the man. That Wilhem was Tyrier’s son had never occurred to Tsaeris before.

Tsaeris had been lost in thought for a few moments, and realized suddenly that Jarod was staring at him, waiting for a response.

“It’s a door,” Tsaeris replied dryly.

“
Don’t you have any imagination?” Jarod asked,

“
See, this is why I never come down here. Everyone who hangs out down here becomes stupid and superstitious.”

“
I may be superstitious, Tsaeris. But I’m not stupid,” Jarod argued.

“
You might as well have said ‘I may be stupid, but I’m not stupid’. It would have made the exact same amount of sense.”

“
Fine. You think it’s so stupid, why don’t you go see what’s behind the door?” Jarod challenged.

“
Not going to happen.” Tsaeris leaned his arms on the table, and stared into his mug of ale. It was almost empty.

“
See? You’re not going to go because you’re scared.”

“
No. I’m not going to because you’re an idiot asking me to do idiot things to prove that you’re not an idiot. You want to prove me wrong, you go. We grownups have more important things to worry about.”

“
What’s your problem? You’re being more of an ass than usual today.” Jarod scratched at his beard, while staring at Tsaeris.

“
I just don’t want to play your stupid childish games,” Tsaeris retorted harshly. The big man looked genuinely hurt at the biting response, and Tsaeris sighed.

“
Look...I got a kid’s father killed, and almost got him killed too. And now I’m just taking it out on you. I’ll stop.”

The hurt in Jarod’s eyes was replaced by a warm understanding. For reasons Tsaeris couldn’t name, he found that irritating.

“It’s not your fault, Tsaeris. And Aedrus is going to be fine.” Jarod patted Tsaeris on a hand in a gesture of comfort.

“
So your father told you about it.” It wasn’t a question.

“
Yeah. You didn’t bring that on the boy, Tsaeris. You don’t even know it was the same guy.”

“
Yes I do. I know,” Tsaeris said softly. He stuck a finger in his ale and began spinning circles in the amber liquid.

“
How can you be so sure?” Jarod asked.

“
The description...look, I’ve seen a lot of people in my life. I lived in the streets. I’ve only ever seen one person who fit that description. And he almost killed me outside Aedrus’ house. How could it possibly be any other guy?”

“
Even so, it’s not your fault. Even if that man attacked Aedrus because he helped you, that don’t make it your fault.”

Tsaeris was not so sure. He felt terrible about this, and that bothered him. He prided himself on his ability to shrug off almost anything and take the worst of life in stride. Yet what happe
ned to Aedrus and his father had struck a chord inside him. One thing Tsaeris was sure of. He would find this man and he would kill him. He knew he had to make this right, and it was the only thing he could think to do.

“
I wonder what will happen to the kid now. Probably end up in an orphanage.” Tsaeris sighed. He hated the thought.

“
Not so,” Jarod replied.

“
What do you mean?” Tsaeris looked up sharply.

“
My father was good friends with the boy’s father, and has known Aedrus since he was born. He wasn’t going to let the kid waste away in an orphanage.”

“
So, what? Is he taking Aedrus to live with him?” Tsaeris asked.

“
No. Father doesn’t have time to raise any more children. My brother and I were enough to sour him on that forever, I think. No, he had Aedrus recruited. He’ll be an agent someday.”

“
An agent? That’s...I didn’t know...” Tsaeris wasn’t sure how he felt about this. On one hand, it was better than an orphanage. But Aedrus had a much different life than Tsaeris had before coming to the Initiative. How would a boy with such a normal life cope with the responsibilities and dark work of a Third Eye Initiative agent? He would find out in three years when Aedrus began his novice stage, he supposed. Maybe he could help the boy when it came to that point.

“
He’ll be alright, Tsaeris. You’ll see,” Jarod said, trying to reassure Tsaeris.

“
Well, surprise, surprise. Look who finally decided to come back to the safe house.” The voice belonged to a female, and was coming from behind Tsaeris.

Before he could turn around the owner of the voice walked past him and sat opposite him at the table, beside Jarod. She had three tankards of ale with her and gave one to Tsaeris and Jarod respectively.

“Hello Raina.” Tsaeris smiled at the sight of the woman. She had light brown hair and was only a few years older than Tsaeris. She was trim and fit, and pretty.

Raina had been a recruit with Jarod and Tsaeris. The two had hit it off instantly, and he had always looked forward to spending time with her. Though he enjoyed being around her, his feeling towards her were in no way sexual. It’s not that she wasn’t attractive. She was. Tsaeris just found that his friendship with her was such that it repelled those kinds of feeling
s, and he liked it that way.

“
Been too long, Tsaeris. I never see you down here,” Raina said.

“
I’m a city man, Raina. I prefer to have no more than a door between myself and the outside.”

“
You could still come and visit once in a while,” Raina chided.

“
Why not come to The Tarnished Tankard up? I’m there most of the time when I’m not working.”

“
Maybe I will. I haven’t seen you since you became a novice. You could at least come and say hi when you’re at the safe house. How was I supposed to know where you hang out up top?”

“
Two things. This is my first time back to the safe house since I became a novice. And where the hell else would I hang out up top?”

“
Fair enough,” Raina said.

“
So what do you think about this Purity Union stuff, Raina?” Jarod asked.

“
It’s bad news,” Raina said, turning to Jarod. “Every night there are attacks on non-humans. Last night a dwarf was found dead in an alley. They even shaved his beard off as a sign of disrespect.”

“
That seems dangerous,” Tsaeris said. “Attacking elves is one thing. There aren’t many here in The City yet. But pissing off the dwarves...that could bite them in the ass.”

“
No kidding. A lot of these attacks are Union sympathizers. Racists who get so worked up by Union propaganda that they go out and do these terrible things. The Purity Union gets away clean because the people doing the actual killings aren’t officially affiliated with them.”

“
This doesn’t make any sense,” Tsaeris said thoughtfully.

“
What do you mean?” Jarod asked.

“
The Purity Union has been around for a while, yet they never facilitated violence like this. Why now?”

“
The alliance with the elves,” Jarod replied.

“
It’s not enough. That doesn’t explain this. Sure, they hate this alliance. But they’re not really gaining anything by these random bouts of violence. The Elves had to have known that something like this would happen. That there would be some adjustment time.” Tsaeris knew he was onto something, but he wasn’t sure what it was.

“
Then why the assassination attempt on Ambassador Bel?” Raina asked.

“
I don’t know. Maybe that was a real attempt. That would have stopped the alliance cold.” Tsaeris stopped for a moment to think, and then continued. “If stopping the alliance had been that important to them, why only send one assassin? It makes no sense.”

“
What are you trying to say, Tsaeris?” Raina asked.

“
I don’t know. They failed to stop the alliance. They have gained nothing at all. Dormic wants power. He wants to be on the Council. He can get that without doing any of this. We know the Council is for sale, a bit of gold and he gets in. This seems so risky.”

Tsaeris didn’t know what any of it meant, though he felt like he was on the cusp of understanding. He sighed and shook his head. Maybe he was just over analyzing.

“Well, whatever it is I’m sure Elias will figure it out at some point,” Raina offered.

“
Yeah, he probably already knows what it’s all about. Speaking of which, I better go back street side and check in with him. If he’s looking for me, I doubt he’ll check down here. Thanks for the drink, Raina. You two take it easy.”

Tsaeris walked away
from the table, deep in thought as he made his way through the safe house proper and up to the streets to find Elias.

***

Elias had had enough of this. First the attack on Tsaeris, then all the dead non-humans. They had even gone as far as attacking the boy and father who had saved Tsaeris’ life. It was time to end this.

Elias had killed some of the high ranking members, hoping that these attacks would generate fear among the Union. It had not. In the end, Elias realized that there was only one course of action that could effectively end this threat. Dormic had to die. With him gone, there would be no risk of the Purity Union having a seat on the council. He doubted that the Union would push things any further if they found out their leader was dead.

Elias stood on a rooftop overlooking the Purity Union compound grounds. Four other agents were with him. He wore a long sword at his hip, and a hard leather chest piece. He left his cloak behind. It would only get in the way, and the night was not too cold.

Elias made a series of hand gestures to the agents, and silent as wraiths
, Elias led them from the roof into the streets. The moon was obscured by clouds this night, and the shadows were long and dark. It was late enough that the streets were empty. Moving from shadow to shadow, Elias and his agents approached the compound.

Elias signaled for one agent to follow him, and for the rest to wait. Their bodies pressed tightly to the wall, they slowly made their way toward the front gate. Elias was able to make out the forms of two guards, who talking quietly amongst themselves.

Moments later, Elias and the agent dragged the two dead bodies of the guards into the shadows. Their throats had been cut. They regrouped with the others. The wall was ten feet high and made of stone. To most people it would seem a sheer impossible climb, but these were Third Eye Initiative agents. To them the wall might as well have been a staircase.

Once inside the grounds, Elias and his agents split up to silence any guards patrolling the yard. Elias saw the torch light of one, and skillfully made his way behind the walking guard. In two quick motions, Elias grabbed his head from behind and cut his throat with a dagger. The guard walked no more.

It didn’t take long for Elias and his agents to clean the yard and front door of guards. They rendezvoused at the rear of the mansion below the window to Dormic’s bed room. There was no light coming from inside the window. Dormic was either asleep, or not yet in his chambers. Either way, they would kill him in his sleep, or wait from him to return.

Carefully and silently
, Elias and his agents began to climb the rear of the mansion, using the window sills as hand and footholds. Elias was the first to Dormic’s window. The window was tall and wide, almost like two glass doors stretching upwards from floor to ceiling. He pushed lightly. It was locked.

Elias removed a small, thin hook from his belt pouch, and slid it through the small gap where the two tall glass windows met. Within a few short seconds, Elias had the hook around the latch and with one quick tug the lock came undone. Elias slowly pushed the large windows open,
and then entered the room.