He’s dead.
What else could Clergy think about? What else could he see? Thoughts of Nathan’s body lying still, his face twisted and blue, replayed again and again in Clergy’s mind as he tread up the dirt path.
He’s dead.
How could this happen?
He’s dead.
He just killed him.
He’s dead.
And I’m next.
Clergy shook his head as he held back a gag. Fear had him stumbling between numbness and nausea. His insides felt like they were sweating, and he had no idea what to do. He’s dea—
Nitara stopped, grabbed Clergy, and dragged him beside her to a nearby lodge. She pressed them both against the wall.
“That’s the archives,” she said, as she peeked around the corner. “But we’re waiting here.”
Doesn’t matter, Clergy thought, I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m—
Nitara smacked him across the face. “Hey!” she said, as Clergy stumbled back and gawked. “If you’re gonna be here you need to focus. Do not go and get killed.”
Clergy kept staring at her for a moment until— she’s right, he thought. I’m not dead yet. Let’s keep it that way. He shook his head and nodded, then peered around the corner to look for himself.
The path ahead continued straight, with a couple more lodges lined up on his left. Some smaller stone brick buildings sat to his right, fitted with flat roofs and two large glass windows on the wall. Clergy peered inside the first of those buildings and saw rows of bookshelves adorned with texts.
That one must be the archives, Clergy thought to himself. Then he paused as he processed what Nitara had said.
“Why are we waiting?” He asked.
Nitara glared back down the path. “I’m not going any further with him at our backs.”
Clergy turned to follow her gaze. Al— Clergy shuddered. Come… come on, he thought to himself. I can’t be scared of his name. He took a breath. Alvon was just now making his way toward them with a casual grace, like he hadn’t just murdered someone. Clergy started to scowl. How could he keep that same look after what he’d done? Didn’t he even care about — you know what? Clergy thought. Forget it. I just need to stay out of his way.
Alvon finally made their way to them. Nitara scowled at him as he tried to get close. He kept his distance.
“They’re still not here?” he asked. “They should’ve been waiting on us.” He sucked his teeth. “They must’ve got caught at Reythea,” he said. “We should go ahead—“
“We’re not going anywhere,” Nitara said.
Alvon met her gaze. “If they’re caught, they’re not coming. We’re already running behind. We can’t wait here forever.”
“We don’t know what happened,” Nitara said. “And I’m not looking for your advice. You’ve done enough.”
“I stopped an obvious spy from reporting on us. I know I’ve done enough.”
Nitara grit her teeth. “You just don’t know when to stop do you?”
Voices nearby put their fight on hold, as they quickly crouched low and out of sight.
“How could you not grab the inventory from her? You spoke to her before we left!”
That’s Abel, Clergy thought. So they’re alright after all.
“I’m sorry dad,” Micah’s voice chimed in. “It totally slipped my mind I—”
“Oh, it’s alright,” Abel said. “She’s around here somewhere we’ll get it soon—”
“Enough!” Scar shouted. “Let me make myself perfectly clear. I don’t like this. I don’t like you, and I don’t like where this is going. Once we round up this little ‘bathroom break’ you’re either showing me that inventory or we’re going to the main building. I’ll let them deal with you.”
“It’s no problem,” Abel said. “She’ll have it and we’ll straighten this out.”
Clergy peeked up at the scene just as the three of them came into view from behind the second lodge on the left. They were walking, with Scar trailing behind Abel and Micah, keeping a hand close to his sword.
Nitara pulled Clergy back down. “We’re moving,” she said, as she started trailing behind Alvon.
They went around the corner of the lodge beside them. On this wall there were no windows, but there was a wooden door leading inside. This is it, Clergy thought, we’re going in. Except they passed it, and continued on, until they were nearly at the other side of the building.
They watched from behind the wall as Abel, Micah, and Scar meandered down the path.
“Nitara!” Abel shouted. “Nitara, are you here?”
“Nitara!” Micah said.
They echoed those chants a few more times before turning to walk towards the lodges.
Nitara grabbed Clergy’s shoulder. “It’s time to go,” she said.
Ahead of them was the second stone building, which Clergy could now see had bookshelves inside as well. So which one has the ledger? Clergy thought to himself. He didn’t let his musings distract him though. He’d find out soon enough.
The space in between the two buildings was a patch of browns and greens. Wilting grass grew trampled and low, a small tree stood in the middle, while bushes dotted the rest of the space.
Alvon started to move low toward the open space until—
“And where are you going?” Nitara asked.
Alvon stopped. “To get inside the archives,” he said. We need to move while that guard is distracted.”
“We need to get Abel and Micah,” she said. “We should stick to the plan.”
Alvon turned toward her. “They’re getting away.”
“They’ll loop back around. Give us time to—”
“There is no time,” Alvon said. “We need to move or we’ll miss our opening.”
Nitara sucked her teeth. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll get them back over here.”
“Make it good,” Alvon said. “This guy’s already on our ass.”
Nitara gave him a look. “I know what I’m doing,” she said. “Now go do what you need to do.”
With that Alvon darted behind a bush, then another, making his way toward the other building—
Nitara grabbed Clergy’s shoulder. “Wait here,” she said, before glaring Alvon’s way. She tightened her grip. “He’ll be busy.”
Clergy nodded and Nitara dipped back around the corner they’d come from, leaving Clergy alone. He looked around. Wherever Alvon had gone he was out of sight now. Well, this is fun, he thought to himself. Waiting…
“Abel, is that you?” Nitara called out.
Clergy went around the corner to watch the scene for himself. She was standing across the path behind the lodge Micah and Abel had passed.
“Nitara?” Abel called back. “Where are—“
Suddenly Nitara screamed but… she was fine, still just standing behind the lodge.
Well that’ll get their attention, Clergy thought to himself, and sure enough—
“Hey!” Scar yelled as Micah and Abel race toward the noise. He quickly followed after them.
Nitara rounded the corner away from the three of them just as they came around the bend.
Now what? Clergy thought but he quickly had his answer.
“Nitara!” Abel called out, looking around the space, but Nitara had moved around the third corner, keeping the building between them.
Soon Micah tapped Abel’s shoulder as he noticed what Clergy saw too.
Alvon was standing up the path just before the second stone building. He had his mask and hood on, while he stared absently at the ground.
“Now you’re running off?” Scar said as he finally caught up to Abel and Micah. “Forget it. We’re going to the main—“
“Dad…” Micah cut in, still not looking Scar’s way. “Dad, what is that?”
Abel turned toward Alvon and froze. “I…” he began, but then Scar noticed him too.
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“We’re not done.” Scar said to the two of them. Then he turned toward Alvon. “Hey!” Scar called, as he started to approach. “Who the fuck are you? What’re you doing here?”
Alvon didn’t move.
“Hey! I’m talking to you!”
Alvon still didn’t move.
Scar drew his sword. “You’re gonna answer me or we’re gonna have a problem.”
Alvon turned his head toward Scar who got a good look at his mask.
Scar stepped back and gawked. “The fuck—”
Alvon burst into a sprint.
Scar stumbled but found his stance. “Come on then!” He roared.
“Wait!” Abel cried. “There’s another!”
Clergy snapped his head and saw them too. Another hooded figure came from around the corner of the lodge, armed with a stone. He hurled it at Scar, who only managed to spin his head around fast enough to catch the stone with it. He dropped just as Alvon reached him.
The other man… or woman or whoever, had a mask that almost looked like a dog, though the ears were just carved ridges on the sides. It had taken Clergy a while to realize this, but Micah was gone too. That must be him, Clergy thought to himself. He hadn’t even noticed him leave.
Micah took the mask off and grinned back at Abel. “Told you I could get the mask without him seeing.”
Abel smiled. “Good for you.” Then the moment quickly wiped it from his face. “Let’s move.”
Alvon and Micah grabbed Scar and started to drag him toward the bushes just as Nitara joined the group. Clergy came out from hiding as well.
“Where’s Cler— oh good,” Abel said, as he noticed Clergy heading over. He turned toward Nitara. “How did things go on your end? We came around earlier but you weren’t here.”
Nitara groaned. “We had our own… delay, but… it’s over now.”
Bells tolled off in the distance. Two light chimes then a pause. The three of them looked over toward the noise, as the bells echoed again.
“That’s the second quarter call,” Abel said. “Let’s not waste anymore time.”
They moved to the back of the second building, where there was a matching door leading inside. Micah and Alvon met them there.
“Show us what you got,” Nitara said, as she motioned to the door.
Micah quickly strode over, but not before patting Clergy on the back. “Way to not die.”
Clergy gave him a weak smile. It wasn’t easy.
Micah smiled back, then pulled two small pins out of his cloak. He stuck them in the door’s lock then went to work trying to pick it. Wonder how long this’ll take—
The lock clicked. “Done,” Micah said.
Damn.
Micah pushed open the door, as Abel walked up beside him.
“Alvon watch the door,” Abel said. “The rest of us know what to do. Time to do it.”
Thank God, Clergy thought. Hopefully this was the last he would see of Alvon, for a while at least.
Everyone else quickly made their way inside. They entered into a corridor that led to several other rooms. The small space was made even smaller by the bookshelves lining the walls. Daylight from the four large windows flowed into the space, as they made their way deeper inside.
Micah huddled closer to Abel. “We’re getting lucky with the guards,” he said, or really whispered. He probably didn’t want anyone else to hear, but it had been a long couple days and Clergy was getting used to listening in.
“Even after Daniel’s stunt,” he said, “there should be more than four guards around.”
Abel groaned. “Honestly, I don’t understand it either,” he said, “but let’s take our good fortune as it is for now. We’ll just use Ezra’s shot as an exit strategy.”
Micah nodded just as they approached the first pair of opposing doorways. The rooms on either side adjoined each other and were pretty much identical. Each held two of the large windows, and were just as cluttered with shelves as he’d seen from outside. A line of desks with chairs sat in the middle of each room, where the old wood soaked in the fonts of sunlight.
Abel started rummaging in his cloak, until he pulled out a small piece of paper. He peered down at it then stopped, turned around, and started walking again through the group.
Micah groaned. “Abel—”
“You’re looking for Nachman Security Subsidies, Year 267. Check the shelves over there,” he said, pointing to some shelves on the right. Then he pointed further ahead to his left. “Or check in that room. Top right corner. I think there’s more Nachman stuff there, but remember to watch the windows.
Micah nodded then headed over to the first shelves he pointed to.
“Nitara,” Abel said, returning his gaze to the page. “You have Knowles Crop Yields and Expansion Projections, years 287-88. ” He turned and pointed behind him to the left. “Try in the back right of that other room. but a lot of Johansen’s outreach stuff is in there too so keep an eye out.” He turned back toward her. “Anything from 255, 263, or 277 might be what we need, but let Micah focus on that after he’s done.”
Nitara nodded and left for her room as well.
Clergy watched as the two of them went to work scouring the shelves, but— “I don’t understand,” he said, turning toward Abel. “I thought you weren’t even sure the ledger was here. How do you know where to look?”
Abel looked over at him then sighed. “Well... and this feels like a long time ago but... about two years ago I was a guard,” he said. “One of my recurring duties was night watch at this place actually. That’s part of the reason Daniel was so convinced we could do this.”
“Ok,” Clergy said. “You still didn’t know where the ledger was though, right? But now you do.”
“It’s more like we’ve had an idea of where to look,” Abel said, then he looked back down at his paper, and started walking over to another shelf. Clergy trailed behind.
“When I was a guard here,” Abel said, “during the night shift you’d have to take an inventory while you did rounds to check for unattended candles, intruders, things like that. Then at the end of the shift you’d just turn in the inventory before you left.” He paused at one of the shelves and started pulling down books one at a time, checking their covers before returning them.
“Except there’s dozens of books in here, and nobody wanted to do all that work, especially since a lot of the older collections never change. So, we broke it up into sections and came up with a rhyme— well it doesn’t really rhyme, but it helped us remember what to put for our part of the inventory.”
“So—”
“So, I know that pre-290 ‘Nachman’s got 53 records and Knowles has got more, 58. Johansen is fine 114 is sublime,’ and it goes on like that for a while, but very recently those numbers changed. Nachman’s estate went up to 54, Knowles’s to 60, and the Johansen estate went to 117.”
“That means... there were extra books?”
Abel nodded. “Extra books in years old records that have no reason to be updated. Daniel only found out about it after asking around for days trying to get a copy of the inventory. He also found out that Gad’s office was the one that approved all the changes to these records, and that they were made right when Gad started using forced auctions more often.”
“So you think Gad’s disguising the ledger as one of these books.”
“That’s the gist of it, yes.” He furrowed his brow as he put a book back and grabbed another. “It shouldn’t be more than one book so—”
“Wait,” Clergy said, as he thought about it some more. “Those numbers, didn’t they go up by… one, two, three? That seems a little conspicuous doesn’t it? Especially when there’s a song that lays out how many there are.”
Abel groaned. “You see why I… had my concerns about coming here,” he said. He put another book back, searched the shelf for a moment then picked another. “But to be honest, there’s no reason Gad should suspect anyone’s going after his ledger, or that the song even exists. If he did he’d probably have done a lot more to plan around it at least—”
“Abel!” Micah called in a low voice. “Do you hear that?”
The three of them grew quiet and still as Clergy quickly heard it too. Voices outside, and they were coming closer. Micah ran to the front and peeked out a window by the door. His face turned grim. “There’s no way...”
“What is it?” Abel asked, striding over.
“The sergeant is back,” Micah said, ”and he brought a warrior. They’re walking down the path now.”
Abel’s face grew dark at those words. “One of the warriors from the Gate?” he asked.
“No, this one’s new.”
Abel paused. ”Describe him.”
Micah turned back and gawked. “Describe him? What—”
“Describe him or move—”
“Medium build, ashen hair, goatee. Why do you need to know—”
Abel stepped up beside him and placed his hand on his back. “I’ll deal with them.”
Micah scoffed. “What? Abel that’s crazy, we’re not at the Gate anymore. No one’s supposed to be here.”
Nitara peeked out of the room she was in. “What’s the problem?”
“Guards coming,” Abel said, “but I’ll handle it.”
He handed Micah the piece of paper he was holding before. “The last books are in the Johansen Community Subsidies, Years 255, 277, and 263. Those first two years were a mess with the fires and the First Native War, so they actually get a lot of attention. I doubt he’d disguise the ledger as them, but 263 might be solid. That’s Johansen Community Subsidies, Year 263. Say it back.”
“Johansen Community Subsidies 263, but Abel—”
“They have their records on most of the right wall in the same room as Nachman’s.” He pressed the paper to Micah’s chest. “Find the ledger and get out safe. Nothing else matters.”
Micah groaned. “Fine,” he said after a moment, “but you be safe too.”
Abel smiled. “I’m always careful.” Then he strode back across the room.
Nitara raised a brow as he approached her.
“I’ll handle it,” Abel said as he met her gaze.
She motioned toward the door and a moment later Abel was out the back way.
Micah was still hovering by the front door, staring down at the piece of paper.
Clergy could feel himself start to squirm. What... what should I do? he thought to himself, but judging by Micah’s face he was thinking it too. That can’t be a good si—
Micah smacked his face with both hands. After a moment he took a breath and turned toward Clergy. “Go help Nitara,” he said, then he clutched the paper tight. “I got this.” He strode away and dipped into the room on his left.
I guess... I’m helping Nitara, Clergy thought. He set his face and quickly headed for the room she was in.
She’d clearly been busy. Stacks of books littered the top of the desk closest to her, while she stood in front of a shelf flipping through another. Her brown eyes were locked onto the page but Clergy could see the worry in them too. That can’t be good.
She looked up, noticed him, and spared merely three words. “Go help Micah.”
And with that Clergy was back in the hall headed for Micah’s room, except he was in the hall too. He was standing in front of the shelf Abel was at before, flipping through a book with a sense of urgency that gave Clergy pause.
“It’s not here,” he said suddenly, then he scowled at the book and thrust it back onto the shelf.
“Wait—” Clergy said, but he quickly cut himself off as Micah stormed away and went through the same doorway as before.
Perfect, Clergy thought to himself. He went to follow, but his gaze was suddenly drawn to the doorway to his right. He stopped as he felt the air crackling with heat again. I should go this way. Why did he suddenly think that? I… I need to know. He strode into the room.
Micah was by the top left corner of the room, leaning over one of the desks. Worry marred his face as he poured over his work. He was reviewing the sheet of paper from before, while he drew his finger across another book’s page. His attention was clearly no where else in the room.
Clergy could still feel that heat in the air, but he was starting to realize it was different now. It was more than just a spark of connection this time, this was… like a river. A river of pleasant warmth lingering in the air, shifting around the room, flowing toward one of the shelves. Over there, he thought to himself.
He started walking toward the shelf. He held his hand out in front of him, letting the unseen tide flow softly along his skin, as his fingers danced in its waters. He’d reached the shelf. Over here. He brushed his fingers along each book’s spine, until he felt the heat pulse beneath his fingers. This one. He pulled out the book, flipped it open, and— what is this?
He leafed through some more of the pages. These were records about some sort of appointments or meetings or… something. At a place— he squinted to read the small font— at a... clinic. A clinic in the city. He stared down at the page. Why did I—
“What’re you doing?” It was Nitara. Clergy snapped out of his thoughts, closed the book, and turned toward her. She was standing in the doorway, leaning on the frame while she kept her arms folded.
Micah finally looked up from his work. “What?” he asked, then he looked over at Clergy. “What’re you doing? I told you to help—”
Bells suddenly started ringing, and close, closer than before. Everyone’s heads snapped up toward the sound with a look of collective horror that twisted Clergy’s insides. Oh no.
Micah bolted toward one of the windows. Nitara raced into the hall.
“There’s just no way,” Micah said, as he pressed his back against the wall then peeked to look outside.
“What’s happening?” Clergy asked, keeping the closed book in one hand. Please don’t be what I think it is.
Micah snapped his head over to Clergy like he’d forgotten he was even there. He waved Clergy back. “Get away from the window!”
Oh… oh shit! Clergy thought, as he gawked at the glass. A moment later he found himself and scurried to stand by a shelf out of view. “What’s happening?” He asked again.
“That’s the alarm,” Micah said, as he peeked to look outside. “It’s supposed to go off on the other side, but—”
“— it’s too early,” Nitara cut in, as she strode back to the doorway. “And it’s on our side.”