From her chair, Jade heard a latch snap into place as the door closed behind Mikiva. They were locked in, it seemed.

“Well, she seems fun,” Av’ry chuckled.

“She’s not so bad. I think that trying to kill each other might have started you two off on the wrong foot.”

“Whatever would give you that idea?” Av’ry scratched at the drying blood on his neck, tone dripping sarcasm.

“Call it a hunch,” she muttered.

“You might be right. But I’ve had worse introductions. Some of my best friends have wanted me dead. I’m sure we’ll be getting along swimmingly in no time.”

“You are a very strange man. I do have to admire your confidence, though.”

“It is one of my more endearing qualities,” he grinned impishly.

Jade rolled her eyes,

“Endearing is one word for it, though not the one I’d choose.”

“Well, you’ve only known me for a few minutes.”

“Surprisingly, that’s enough,” Jade replied.

“OK, I’ll admit, I may have made a bad first impression. Since it looks like we might be here awhile, let me try one more time with you, at least,” Av’ry walked over to her and extended a hand. “Av’ry March, nice to meet you.”

“Jade, it’s a pleasure,” she shook his outstretched hand.

He sat in the chair next to her,

“Sorry about that whole thing, by the way. I guess I did overreact a bit.”

“Don’t worry about it. Given the circumstances, I suppose I can’t really blame you. I’m sorry we interrupted your nap so rudely.”

“That’s very kind of you. Perhaps you can put in a good word for me with your friend, then. It might help smooth things over.”

Jade chuckled,

“I can try, but honestly, I doubt my opinion would hold much sway. I really don’t know her that well myself.”

Av’ry gave her an odd look,

“OK, I have to ask. If you don’t know her and you don’t know K’ivin, why exactly are you here?”

That was the real question, wasn’t it? Jade reflected. Why had she come? Part of it was simply inertia. She was with Mikiva, and she had nowhere else to be. But it was more than that. Ever since Mikiva had mentioned him, she had wanted to meet this K’ivin, though she couldn’t really articulate why, exactly. Either way, she wasn’t about to try to explain any of that to a stranger. She decided to keep it simple.

“I helped her out with something recently, so she did me a favour and brought me here. That’s all,” Jade shrugged.

“Maybe this is some spy thing that you can’t tell me, but why here? Are you a hound looking for work or something?”

“Hound?” Jade laughed. “I’m no detective. What would make you think that?”

“Well, I’ve never met anyone else who could compare shoe soles to a print with just a glance,” he replied. “Makes more sense if it is something you do often.”

“I just… notice things,” Jade shrugged. “But I am no hound. In fact, I’m not really anything right now. You could say I’m between jobs.”

“What was your previous job?”

He was a little too curious for Jade’s liking, but he was likely just trying to be friendly, she reminded herself. Still…

“You are probably the last person I should be telling that story,” Jade muttered.

“Me, why?” he tilted his head slightly, puzzled.

“You’re Esrasean, aren’t you?” Jade asked.

Av’ry furrowed his brow,

“Yes, I am, but what does that have to do with anything? Come on, you can tell me.”

Jade sighed. She supposed it couldn’t do any harm. What was he going to do, drag her back in chains? She hadn’t come all this way just so she could spend her life in hiding.

“Until a few days ago, I was a slave,” she admitted at last. “Mikiva helped me escape.”

Av’ry burst out laughing,

“That’s why you didn’t want to tell me? Are you kidding? Do I look like a die-hard patriot to you?”

He had a point, Jade reflected. Considering this empire was about to go to war with Esrasea, this was probably the last place she would find a loyal servant of Istaria. Still…

“Forgive me if I have a rather dim view of Esraseans,” Jade sniffed.

“Hey, it’s understandable. But just so you know, I certainly don’t support slavery. In fact, I have never met anyone outside the elite, ruling class who is in favour of it. We often treat our own citizens worse than even an enemy would. Personally, I think that it’s monstrous, should have been abolished long ago. All that is to say that I’m certainly not going to try and turn you in. And even if I did, you could probably get me back with the whole high treason thing,” he gestured to their surroundings. “So, I think you’re safe.”

Jade smiled,

“Well, it’s nice to know the whole country isn’t rotten.”

“Oh, make no mistake, the country’s rotten to the core. And getting worse by the day. But not all the people in it are bad,” Av’ry replied. “Istaria’s really accelerated the decay, however. Since she took power, things have gone downhill faster than I thought possible. It wasn’t always like this. Though it was still far from perfect, of course.”

“I have heard less than flattering things about the Queen.”

“Not much flattering to say. The woman is a demon,” talking about her, Av’ry’s smile faded, and his eyes turned cold and hard.

Jade could tell that his distaste ran deeper than a difference in political philosophy. She wondered what Istaria had done to earn his personal hatred.

“I suppose that’s partly why I am here,” he continued. “To stop her from spreading her poison anywhere else.”

“A worthy objective,” Jade agreed. “But do you think it’s possible?”

“Honestly?” Av’ry sighed. “I have no idea. It doesn’t look good, but I still need to try.”

Jade watched him as he spoke. She had already written him off as a bit of a flake, but in that moment, she saw something else. There was determination in his eyes and a passion in his voice. Perhaps her initial assessment had been premature, perhaps there was more to the man than was on the surface.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Can I ask you something?” he said after a moment.

“Go ahead, it’s not like I have anywhere to be,” Jade replied, settling into her chair and propping her feet up on the edge of the coffee table.

“Well, that is sort of my question,” he said pensively. “What are you planning to do now? Where will you go?”

“Kinda nosey, aren’t you?”

“I guess I am,” Av’ry laughed quietly. “But I’m a hound, comes with the territory.”

“Of course you are,” Jade muttered. “But I suppose that there is no harm in telling you, because I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do now. The only experience I have is in serving, and frankly I wasn’t even particularly good at that.”

“Well, I haven’t known you for very long, but I can already tell that you have other skills.”

“You think?”

“Obviously,” he replied. “I said it before, didn’t I? You’re very observant and you think quickly on your feet. You’d make a good hound.”

“I don’t know… I’ve never done anything like that before.”

“I never had either, when I started out,” Av’ry shrugged. “You just need someone to show you the ropes. I bet you’d pick it up in no time. Considering what you must have done to get Mikiva to help you out, well it proves how resourceful you are.”

“What makes you say that?” Jade raised an eyebrow.

“Look, K’ivin told me about her, about what she was doing in Esrasea. She would not have risked her mission for you, not without some serious incentive. It couldn’t have been as simple as threatening to expose her, or she wouldn’t have brought you here. Whatever you did, if you managed to twist her arm and earn some measure of trust at the same time, you likely don’t need to worry too much about not having any skills.”

“I’m not so sure, but it is kind of you to say.”

He shrugged,

“I can relate to feeling a little uncertain about the future. Everybody needs a bit of guidance, time to time.”

“What guidance did you need?” she asked.

“I’d kind of prefer not to talk about that right now,” Av’ry squirmed a little.

“Hey, I told you about my problem,” Jade protested.

“True, but I am not too proud of who I used to be. And for good reason, I might add,” he dropped his eyes to the ground. “Can we just, leave it here, for now?”

His tone was such that Jade felt guilty for even asking. It was clearly something he did not want to dwell on. She didn’t press the matter. A long, awkward silence followed before he cleared his throat,

“What could possibly be taking those two so long, anyways?”

K’ivin, at least, had let her finish her explanation before he had launched into his tirade, Mikiva reflected. Often, when he thought she had erred, he didn’t give her that courtesy.

“How could you involve a civilian in this?!” he shouted. “An Esrasean civilian at that! The whole mission could be compromised, it could all have been for nothing!”

Mikiva leaned back in her chair and watched the little vein pulsing in K’ivin’s forehead. She knew from experience that there was no reasoning with him when he got like this, all she could do was wait until he calmed down. The spymaster was usually a reasonable person, but he was under a lot of pressure lately and Mikiva knew that he felt personally responsible for the fate of the entire empire. It made him a bit harder to deal with than he usually was. She would let him vent, then they could get on with it.

“I mean, honestly, Mikiva, how could you even tell a servant in that house anything about this? Let alone allow them to handle important documents? And then, just to top it all off, you go so far as to bring her all the way here? Right into the royal palace! She could easily have been feeding you misinformation this entire time! She could be a spy! When did you get so sloppy?”

Mikiva sighed,

“K’ivin…”

“And don’t even try to remind me that she protected you. Who’s to say that that wasn’t just some act to gain your trust? You’ve done similar things yourself.”

“I remember, I was there,” Mikiva replied, wiltingly.

She’d heard enough, it was time to move this along.

“You really need to calm down, K’iv. This cannot be good for your blood pressure.”

“My blood pressure is the least of my concerns,” K’ivin huffed.

“Well, I can assure you that I only did what was necessary at the time,” Mikiva replied with deliberate calm. “It isn’t my fault that I needed her help. I had bad information going in. If it hadn’t been for Jade, we wouldn’t have anything at all. I would have wasted my time focusing on T’emlin Carayn and you would have nothing. I’ll stipulate that it was not a perfect situation, and there was some risk involved, but it couldn’t be helped. I wouldn’t have been able to pull this off without her. And I brought her here because it seemed to be the safest course of action. It keeps her away from Avrinly, who seems to want her back desperately for some reason, and it lets you keep an eye on her, if you so desire. Make your own decisions about her trustworthiness. If she is a spy, figure out her game. I, personally, don’t think she is here to hurt us.”

K’ivin sighed, relenting. His moods never lasted long. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sank into a chair.

“You’re right, I know that. Life doesn’t always give you much choice in these matters. I sent you in on a faulty assumption and you did the best you could. I do appreciate what you have brought me, I really do. I just can’t afford to have anything else go wrong right now.”

“I know,” Mikiva commiserated. “You are just going to need to trust my instincts on this one. She’s on our side. The info’s good.”

K’ivin hesitated a moment.

“I do trust you,” he replied at last. “And I think you were right to bring the girl here. We should keep an eye on her, for the time being, if only to ensure that she is not recaptured. And if she is valuable to them, perhaps she can be valuable to us.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

“In the meantime, I will confirm as much of this information as I can, then begin to put plans into motion. While I am working on that, I will have you watch the girl. Make sure she doesn’t slip away on us or get captured. And while you are at it, there is one more person I need supervised, if you are willing.”

“Who’s that?”

“The man you just met back there, Av’ry?”

“Him!?” Mikiva couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I’d rather eat glass! I mean, did you see what happened in there just now? Have you lost your mind?”

She knew K’ivin had changed his tune too quickly. He was still irritated, and this was his way of punishing her. K’ivin sighed deeply,

“Ok, I know that you two didn’t have a good first meeting. That’s partly my fault. But this is important, Mikiva. Don’t make it personal.”

“He’s just so…” Mikiva gritted her teeth. “Don’t you have anyone else who can have babysit for you?”

“No one that I can trust, not with something like this. You are the one I go to for the long shots, Miki.”

“Long shot?”

“Probably the longest I’ve ever let anyone talk me into,” K’ivin chuckled.

“Who exactly is this guy anyway?”

“You remember Taevyn Fox?” K’ivin asked.

Mikiva sucked her breath through her teeth. She knew who he was talking about, though only by reputation. She hadn’t been a household name by any stretch, but Fox had been well enough known in intelligence circles.

“Isn’t she dead?” she asked incredulously.

K’ivin nodded,

“That is the interesting part. He was her partner, says that she had information that could help us change the tide of the war.”

“He claims a long dead hound can help us now?”

“I’ve seen his information, Mikiva,” K’ivin interrupted. “I think there may be something to it. He claims that the reason Queen Istaria is planning to invade is because she is searching for something. She plans to take the empire and then have her army tear the place apart until she gets it.”

“And what would this ‘something’ be?”

“I don’t know,” K’ivin admitted. “But if we can figure it out, maybe we can use it as a bargaining chip, put an end to all of this before it starts.”

“I’ve got to tell you, that is pretty weak, K’ivin,” Mikiva muttered.

“I know,” K’ivin sighed deeply. “I told you, I’m grasping at straws.”

“Grasping at straws and hoping to pull out a needle,” she observed.

The older man nodded wearily.

“I know. But this was what Fox was working on immediately before she died. Considering that it is widely believed it was Istaria who had her killed, it certainly lends it some credibility.”

“So, let me make sure I’ve got this straight,” Mikiva said slowly. “You want me to work with a man who just tried to kill me, to track down an unknown object, which may or may not exist, based on a 2-year-old lead, brought to us from beyond the grave. Oh, and that information is probably what put the person in their grave in the first place. Am I missing anything?”

Sarcasm seemed appropriate, given the situation.

“I think that about sums it up,” K’ivin agreed. “Though, in all fairness, I did say it was a long shot.”

“Long shot? We are clearly not working off the same definition of that phrase. I can’t even see the target, K’iv. I would peg this as a waste of time, maybe a suicide mission, depending on the details.”

“So, you’re on board then?”

Mikiva shook her head,

“You know I could never refuse a request like that.”

“I was sort of counting on it,” K’ivin admitted.

“You always do.”

“Just help him put the pieces together, if you can, and keep an eye on him while you are at it. Make sure I can trust him. And do try to be civil, alright?”

“I make no promises, there,” Mikiva smirked. “What about Jade, what do you want me to do with her while I am working on this?”

“Hmm, that is a good question,” he mused.

“I am sure that she could help, if you let me read her in.”

“That might not be such a good idea. After all, she is just a servant girl. Even if she helped you out once, what could she really add, Miki?”

Mikiva chuckled,

“You haven’t really met her yet. Besides, if she is going to be tagging along with me anyway, why waste a warm body and a pair of eyes?”

K’ivin seemed to consider this for a moment,

“Alright, if you feel that strongly about it, send her in and I’ll talk with her. If she can impress me, I’ll consider it. After all, I can use all the help I can get these days.”

“Exactly what I was thinking.”

“And while you are waiting, mend fences with March, you two need to be able to work together, after all.”

“I can’t wait,” Mikiva rolled her eyes and slammed the door on the way out. K’ivin had a knack for piquing her interest. But she already knew that she was going to regret agreeing to this.