Seven crossbow bolts were stopped by kinediscs. He dodged the eighth. The ninth graced his shoulder. The tenth passed straight through his spleen. The years of training with the Keeper kicked in. He entered dragaha, and everything slowed. His senses extended outwards at the same time he instaweaved astralmend on himself and then umbraskimmed into the safety of a shadow.
He extended his senses. ‘Their Mu shell is masked,’ he thought, astonished. But he had trained against golems with these capabilities for many years. Mu shell masking wasn’t enough against his senses. He picked up the air displacement from five bodies arrayed on either side of the road, hidden behind cover. ‘Idiot!’ He admonished himself. He instaweaved five etherbolts, but to his surprise, they were stopped. ‘They’re also shielded. Let’s see how good their shield are,’ he smirked.
There was one that, although masked, had a stronger presence. He was probably a stage-three. The talisman they’re using isn’t of the highest quality. Seven bolts were instaweaved in rapid succession at his forehead. The shield cracked. Then seven more again, and it exploded. A kinedisc to his face and the man was knocked out.
‘These guys are good,’ only a second had passed, and they were already responding. More bolts were fired at the shadow. But it was no use. His senses could detect them easily, ‘Distraction will kill you!’ The Keeper’s voice said.
Fortunately, dragaha slowed down time and sped up his reaction time to microseconds. He umbraskimmed before any of the bolts had crossed half the distance. Then, a rapid succession of etherbolts broke each shield, and the four stage-two dropped dead. Eight seconds had passed.
The stage-three was still out, so he swiftly moved and stored the four bodies. He was starting quite a collection of Ebon. ‘I should get rid of them,’ but then he thought of a better use. Happily, the Sect Master’s storage ring had plenty of space.
A low-power etherbolt destroyed the stage three’s adhikendra. Then, as he healed the hole in his chest, he poured a flask of water on his face.
This Ebon didn’t panic. He simply sat up, touching his chest while looking at him.
“Yes. Your adhikendra has been destroyed. What’s your name?”
The Ebon simply looked. ‘This guy is going to be a problem,’ he thought.
“Your name, how many more of you are in Hisn-Mansur, and where is Viper? Three seconds.” A kinedisc smashed his kneecap.
“I don’t have a lot of patience or time to waste. Next one kills you.”
“I’m Rasim. We are all that’s in Hisn-Mansur. I don’t know Viper’s location.”
His other kneecap was smashed.
“There are five just outside the city on the northern road. Viper is in Ancyra.”
An etherbolt ended his life, and Renier stored his body. A thought came to him, ‘Was I soft because she was a pretty girl?’ Thinking of Yasmina and how he had let her go. ‘Experience colors perception and drives action,’ the Keeper had drilled into him. He’d have to think about what baggage he was carrying.
But, first, Nadia and then the Ebon outside the city.
It was mid-morning when he returned to the house; slipstreaming and flying were out of the question with so many people around.
“Stop!” One of the five guards stationed outside the house yelled as he approached.
“I was the one that captured the thieves. Where’s the Imam and Kasim Bey?”
“Take him!” The guard ordered. They drew their weapons and flanked him. “Come with us.” He could easily escape or kill all of them, but he wanted to find out where this was going.
The group walked to a grand building next to the central square. In the building, they turned right at the courtyard, continued on the arched walkway, and entered the third room—the two thieves laid on beds, a guard on each side.
“Is this the man?”
“Yes, captain,” one of the thieves answered, “he attacked us last night and stole our manuscript.”
Renier looked dumbfounded. These guys were good actors. “Captain, these men are thieves from the Karga. They kidnapped Kasim Bey’s youngest daughter to get him to steal Imam Akkaya’s manuscript. I waited for them last night to rescue Nadia but was unsuccessful. The Imam can verify all this.”
“The Imam was attacked last night and was found unconscious this morning by a servant. No one else was in the house. He’s recuperating in a private room.”
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Renier extended his senses and found the Imam in a room across the courtyard. He turned, deftly dodged the guards, and walked toward the room.
“Stop!” The guard captain screamed, but by then, Renier had already crossed the courtyard and entered the Imam’s room.
The Imam had a laceration on the back of his head that was causing a concussion. Before any guards could get to him, Renier instaweaved astralmend, and the Imam started to regain consciousness.
“You…” but the captain stopped as he saw the Imam sat up in his bed. “Hoca Efendi Akkaya,” the guard said while bowing, “We captured this man this morning.”
The Imam, still dazed, looked at Renier and said, “Ohran, what happened last night?”
“Hoca, I captured the two men and went to rescue Nadia but could not find her…”
“İMDAT! Aaahhh!” A piercing shrill stopped the conversation. The group of guards left to investigate, but Renier could sense that the two men and their guards were dead.
“Hoca, is there an underground brothel, or do you know of rumors of anyone that likes young girls?” Asked Renier hurriedly, trying to take advantage of the captain's absence.
“Two bathhouses in the less well-off part of town offer girls for a price. Mostly at night.” The Imam told Renier the locations.
“There are rumors of Mesut Vizier, but absolutely no proof.”
“Hoca, the men last night said they were Karga and had been hired to steal the manuscript. Do you know why?”
The imam thought for a few seconds, then answered, “The manuscript is part of an ancient set of seven. Each is with a different imam for safekeeping,” he wasn’t sure why he trusted Ohran. Maybe it was because he looked like Gazi.
“I would like to commission you to take mine to Ancyra. Deliver it to Imam Yusuf al-Ankari. He’ll be able to keep it safe.”
“Hoca, I would like to find the girl first. Do you know where Kasim is?”
“They left shortly after we reached my house. They said they wanted to go to Kasim’s sister's house and wait there. It’s a large white house on Hikment Street near the north gate.”
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Renier wasn’t meant to be a voyeur. He had been on the roof of the bathhouse since late evening with his senses extended and endured watching the variety of human intercourse, but no young girls had ever come out, and as far as his senses could check, there were none in the building.
He was being extra careful. His complete trust in his senses had been shaken, first by the Ebon and then by the assassin that had come to the bimaristan and executed the thieves practically in front of his nose.
He needed to change his attitude. He had thought that after returning from Ombre Island, he was unbeatable, and was quickly finding out it was far from the truth. People had masked themselves from his senses and blocked his attacks. His embedded reserves gave him extraordinary energy, but it wasn’t just about quantity. He was starting to understand why the Keeper had wanted him to stay and train in the Zenith Tower until he reached stage five.
'The tower is inverted, Child,' explained Ayg, 'There are nine levels below us. Each is more difficult than the next. When you are able to withstand the third level, your body will be ready to start your Symbiosis. From today onward, you will do your exercises here.'
She started down a flight of stairs, and Renier followed. As they reached the first level, Renier felt heavier. 'Gravity here is twenty percent more than normal, and more importantly, the Mu energy exerts about ten percent more pressure. This increased pressure fortifies your Mu shell. There is also a higher concentration of Mu energy at a higher pressure. This level is to get you started. Once you can exercise without feeling tired, you can move to the next level,' Ayg explained. The level was an ample circular space. One giant mandala surrounded by seven smaller ones was carved on the floor. Stone benches decorated with mandalas lined the wall.
'You need to get stronger for the process. The better quality body you have, the better the results. Now go to the center of the level and start your exercises,' said Ayg.
Renier brought his mind back to the present as a couple finished their business. It was obvious she wasn’t there. He turned and skimmed to a shadow on the roof of a nearby building—time to visit the Vizier.
The palace was on the western side of the city. A grand construction for such a small city. Guards patrolled the perimeter, but the inside at this time of the night was mostly deserted.
Renier flew over the perimeter wall and landed roughly in a garden south of the main building. ‘I really need to work on these landings.’ An open window provided entry into what felt like a library. Shelves full of bound manuscripts and scrolls lined the wall.
Now that he was inside, he expanded his senses throughout the building. The central courtyard, divan hall, and council chambers were empty. Two servants worked in the kitchen. A couple was entwined in the baths. Concubines slept in what could only be a harem, and a man in his forties slept in what he believed would be the Vizier’s chambers.
None of the concubines were remotely close to a ten-year-old girl.
But there was a passage that seemed to lead down behind one of the shelves. ‘How do I open this?’ Wondered Renier as he tried to perceive a mechanism.
Behind one of the manuscripts, there was a small latch. Pulling it allowed the shelf to swing forward, revealing a set of stairs going downwards. Leaving the shelf slightly ajar, he moved down, reminiscent of another set of stairs that had started his adventures many years ago.
He walked through a stone-lined tunnel, eventually leading to a large chamber with nine iron cages. Three of them had decomposing bodies of women inside. One might have been a young girl. Nonetheless, Renier checked the hands of all of them, but there was no birthmark.
Frustrated, he exited the palace the way he came.
He sat on the roof of a building, pondering what to do next. All dead ends. It was almost morning, so he decided to talk to Kasim. Leisurely, he went from rooftop to rooftop toward the north gate. He kept his senses extended in case of another ambush.
A young woman was hurriedly moved through the street. Renier only noticed her because he was looking for displacement after the incident with the Ebon. ’Amira? How was her Mu shell masked? Was she an Ebon, also?’
The young woman entered a house, and Renier moved to its roof. “No, master, we have not found the man or the manuscript. The imam said he had gone looking for Nadia in the bathhouse and the palace, but our spies have not reported sighting him,” Amira was reporting to an armored well-built and in his fifties.
“We need that manuscript, Amira. Hire more karga and find it,” exasperated the man ordered. “Someone’s here!” The man pulled a dagger and threw it. The throw carried so much force the blade broke through the roof and passed by where he had been seconds before. If Renier hadn’t moved, it would have pierced him.
Renier retaliated with etherbolts, but they were blocked. ‘Does everyone have shields, now?’ More daggers were thrown at him, but the kinedisc shield easily blocked them. Like before, Renier concentrated his etherbolts on a single spot until the shield broke. However, he didn’t kill the man. Again a kinedisc to the face knocked him out.
Amira was gone. He could not find her, even extending his senses to their furthest range.
Renier scanned the man and was puzzled. This guy had a masking talisman and a shield but no taint or adhikendra. He wasn’t a Gamana. ‘What gave him such strength that he could throw a dagger through a roof?’
He poured the content of a flask on him. The water mixed with the blood oozing from his shattered face. The man woke and immediately rushed Renier. A shattered tibia ended the attempted assault.
“Who are you? And how do you have shields and masking talismans?”
The man took out an envelope and poured the contents into his mouth. Renier was astonished they even had healing powder. But seconds later, foam started to come out of his mouth, and he died.
The body only had more daggers and two pendants. “They’re Lucine Spirite!’ Someone outside the sects knew how to Ether Shape.
He stored the body as he had done with the Ebon and went to Hikment Street. But there was no white house. He walked the complete length of the street, checking every house, but there was no sign of Kasim or Amira.