Tanzik looked at his sister, now a stranger after almost a lifetime apart.
“Tahari, you’re not an assassin…” He said incredulously.
“And you’d know this how? You haven’t been here. You don’t know what it’s been like. The Empire stamped us into submission with trickery and deceit, and Alqan Khayin is the perpetrator responsible.”
“But killing him? Tahari, how does this end? You kill one puppet, they’ll send another and put your head on a pike!”
She shrugged. “Cost of doing business.”
“I can’t believe you’d do this, it’s not like you.”
“Then you clearly don’t know me. I’ve always done what it takes to protect my family. You remember the times I’ve stuck up for you, you’ve already told me that. I have to make sure that no one else loses their brother. Or parents. Or children.” She trailed off. “Tanzik, revolution against tyranny is grimy and ugly. I appreciate your idealism, but there’s no place for it in war.”
“So what, you’ll wage a one person war against all of Makan? All of Monscal?”
She scoffed. “There’s plenty of us, and I’m far from being in charge. I’m just following orders.”
Tanzik clenched his fist. Allena and Lura looked on uncomfortably, not really having much to add to the conversation. “There’s no honor and nothing to be gained by following reckless, short-sighted, self-destructive orders!”
“I’m glad to do this!”
“Hey, you’re still wanted here,” Lura said. Both Albards shot her a dirty look. “You’re loud and we’re in public. You want to slug it out, great, but maybe somewhere private?”
Tahari looked back to Tanzik and put her hands on his shoulders. “I’m so glad we’ve found each other after all this time. I’ve spent half my life assuming you were dead, and now you’re here. If you want to join me, I’d love that. If you want to walk away, I’d understand. But you will not lecture me on how to live my life when you haven’t been around to see how bad things are here.”
“Tell us,” Allena said.
“Public executions. Raids of suspected traitors. Ousting people from power for not being Imperial loyalists. Families that stood against the Khayin’s being blackballed and quietly pushed out of the city and country. I could go on.”
“Well, I for one have always wanted to fight in a revolution,” Lura said. “But I like Serevar so I’ve never had the chance.”
“It’s not our fight,” Allena said quietly. “We have other things to do, remember?”
“Yeah, end of the world. Trust me, it’s always at the front of my mind.”
“My world already ended,” Tahari said. “But I have a chance to bring it back.”
“You can’t bring back peace by killing someone,” Tanzik said.
“Probably not. But I’m going to try anyway. Could use your help. You don’t have to push the knife, but there’s other lives to save here.”
Tanzik sighed. This Could be the death of her, and he couldn’t bear to lose her right after finding her. He looked at Allena and Lura.
Allena smiled. “Do what you need to do.”
Lura walked over to Tanzik and looked at Allena, who rolled her eyes. “What?” Lura said defensively, eyebrows furrowed. “I’m not missing the chance to overthrow a city. Besides, this is definitely a job for the Unsworn.”
“So we’re officially calling ourselves that?” Tanzik asked.
“I guess we are,” Allena said. She looked back. She had a duty. Tanzik needed to help his sister, and would put family before duty if he had to. Lura wanted answers, but couldn’t resist the distraction of causing wanton, if justified, chaos. But Allena couldn’t justify staying herself. She had nothing keeping her here except her friends. But the Phoenix had returned, and the path pointed toward Katavysia. The iron token was destroyed, but she could still sniff out the dead drop area to find answers.
“I’m sorry,” Allena said.
Tanzik put a hand on her shoulder and smiled wearily. “Don’t be. What you’re doing is more important, but I can’t leave her. We’ll catch up when we can.”
Allena awkwardly put her hand on his and forced a smile in return. “I know. Both of you better survive this intact. I won’t be here to protect you.”
Lura laughed. “I think we’ll be just fine on our own.”
“Our record actually shows otherwise,” Tanzik said. “But we’ll make do. We won’t be alone.”
***
Tahari laid out a map over a table. She had led them to a small, unassuming abandoned building she and a few other revolutionaries were using as a hideout.
“Here’s the Khayin estate,” Tahari said, pointing at a spot on the map. It was half hidden by fields of planted junipers, but was farther from the rest of the city.
“Out of the way, private,” Lura mused. “Almost too good to be true, he’s got to have good security.”
“Exactly,” Tahari said. “Our spies say he spends most of his time in his own home rather than the castellum. Only way he’d trust his home more is if it’s much better defended.”
“Makan has city guards, they couldn’t relocate in force there,” Tanzik said with a frown. “So is this private security?”
Tahari nodded. “Mercenaries, most likely. Brutes who care more about killing their enemies than arresting them.”
“If only we had the floor plan of the place,” Lura said. Tahari pulled out a map of the home. The pages were littered with scribbles in the margin. “Oh. Convenient.”
“We’ve been planning this for a while. One of ours is a servant in his house and has been feeding us information. The idea was to flush him out of the home by a feigned assault, then kill him on the road. But since my escape, I don’t think he’d take that risk.”
“What’s this?” Lura asked, pointing to a place on the floor plan. The inside floor plan didn’t match the outside structure. It appeared that the inside had fewer square feet of space by one of the outer walls. “Notes in the margin here don’t say anything.”
Tahari frowned and looked at it. “I don’t think we noticed that. Wide enough for a person, you think it’s a hidden compartment?”
“Not unheard of for rich folks of leaders,” Lura said. She pulled up the region map. “See here, there’s a stream nearby that flows downhill to the river that leads away from Makan. Could be an escape tunnel. Haven’t seen this castellum but it’s possible it wasn’t built with a secret exit.”
“Which would explain why he stays at home,” Tanzik said. “Easier way out if something happens. Is this a new house or was he always this paranoid?”
“It was built around the time when Makan was sacked.” Anger crept through her voice. “He knew exactly what he was doing. I’ll need to verify, but…”
“Good for him, then. Makes our job a lot easier. Keep your same plan, feign the attack. He’ll run for cover and oh, who’s that waiting for him? It’s us—with knives!”
“We’d have to find the exit first,” Tahari said. “And all things considered I’d assume he has scouts by the stream to watch for it.”
“Then we wait downstream instead,” Tanzik said. “There still might be someone riding ahead to clear the way, but we can handle that.”
“I’ll give the order,” Tahari said. She walked away from the table. Tanzik followed her.
“Are you sure about this?” He asked.
“You don’t get to look out for me, little brother. It’s my job to do that for you.”
“Taking a life is no small thing.”
“I’ve taken plenty, this isn’t anything new. Once he’s dead, Makan can declare its own independence.”
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“And what then? Makan is too small to stand on its own. Someone else will take Alqan’s place.”
“Whatever happens is what happens. We’ll send a message. And I’ll get revenge.”
“Revenge is a one way road, you can’t come back from it.”
She shrugged. “Tanzik, I appreciate your concern. But I’ve made peace with my death long ago.”
***
The next morning, Tahari’s spy arrived. She had sent a message to him in the night, and he showed up to confirm that there was in fact a secret passage, though he wasn’t able to explore it without compromising himself. Tanzik and Lura geared up and followed Tahari toward the river.
A few revolutionaries were in disguise as a group of scholars and would attack the Khayin estate at noon. It would be quick, a few knives to the guards and a few bottles of oil with some flaming fabric in it. Just enough ruckus for Alqan to head down his escape tunnel.
As they approached the river, Tahari took a look around. “The reeds are thick enough for us to hide in. Tanzik, you’ll need your armor off, and put this on.” She handed him a blanket the cover of reeds with a few stalks embedded in them. She put one around herself as well. “Spent all night gathering the stuff to make these with. It’ll help hide us better. Lura, the oak on the hill over there is a good spot. Is it too far?”
Lura narrowed her eyes. “I’m insulted, of course I can make the shot.”
“This plan is risky, and there’s a lot of unknown’s,” Tanzik said.
“I know. But this is the best plan we have. Worst case scenario, he doesn’t show and all we lost was a morning.”
“A lot worse than that can happen.”
Tahari gave Tanzik a hug. “I’ve been fighting this fight for a while. Trust me, we can do this. Now get in position.”
He nodded, and spent the next few minutes doffing and hiding his armor. He put on the camouflage and hunkered down with a hand on his sword’s pommel, ready to attack when needed.
Lura eyed the tree. The foliage hadn’t started to fall yet, thankfully, and it looked like there was a branch she could sit on without being seen immediately. If she was, she could maneuver down the larger branch easily enough. With a vantage point on the high ground, she could shoot someone far easier than they could shoot her. She climbed up with ease, and perched in position while looking around.
She saw two soldiers moving up the river, searching the reeds. One occasionally dragged his spear through the water to look for possible traps. Since they were approaching from the opposite direction, Tanzik and Tahari weren’t looking for them.
Lura tried to get Tanzik’s attention, but he was too focused and too far away. She could shoot one easily, but wasn’t fast enough to get them both, especially with the wind rocking her on the bough.
She nocked an arrow and loosed it toward Tanzik, careful to shoot far enough over his head that he’d notice it without being in any danger. He looked up at her. She couldn’t see the expression on his face, but she gesticulated wildly toward the northeast where the soldiers were coming from. She saw him signal Tahari, and they turned toward the soldiers. She drew her bow again.
One of the soldiers stopped and pointed to the ground. He bent down and picked up what looked like a piece of Tanzik’s armor. They got into a defensive position and started talking, but she couldn’t hear them. She glanced over at Tahari who gave a hand signal that Lura understood to mean ‘shoot.’ One of the soldiers started to run in the opposite direction, presumably to report, and Lura fired her arrow.
It soared through the air and landed squarely between his shoulders. Tahari threw a knife at the second one and rushed in to finish the job while Tanzik killed the other soldier. There were now two dead bodies and blood on the ground. Alqan’s guards would definitely see it. Tahari motioned to Tanzik and the two covered by bodies with the camouflage blankets, covering the dead easily but exposing themselves.
Lura breathed harder, sweat creeping down her forehead and back. This put them in a worse position as the element of surprise was no longer as profound. She wondered how easily Allena could’ve cleaned it up if she were here.
***
Tanzik laid down in the reeds. Reduced visibility at the cost of agility was the best thing for them now. “So much for the plan,” he said.
“Plan is still good,” Tahari said. “Good call on covering the soldiers. We won’t let them get close enough to see them.”
“This feels wrong. What if someone comes looking for them?”
“I doubt it. They don’t suspect anything, this looked like more of a regular patrol. People on Khayim’s payroll guarding his escape route just in case. The attack begins soon, we’ll be fine.”
Tanzik wasn’t sure. He was glad Lura noticed them, though he wished they had an easier way of communicating. He felt Allena’s absence keenly, and would be glad to get back to her after this was over. But he wondered if it would be over, or if something worse would happen after Khayim’s death. Maybe after she got her revenge, his sister would consider joining them. But she was sworn to Makan and Monscal, and the Unsworn held no loyalty to any town, province, or ruler.
They saw the smoke rising above the estate and got ready. Several minutes later the heard the sound of wood cutting against the flow of water as oars pushed a small boat down the stream.
***
Lura noticed one man who appeared to be well dressed, presumably Alqan, with one guard at each oar and two other guards standing beside Alqan. It was more than they expected, but she knew they could take four guards easily. But she saw four more guards following on foot coming out of the tunnel. One of them looked like a ranked officer, probably a lieutenant.
“Lovely,” she muttered. With no way of communicating this to her friends, she knew they’d have to find out on their own. She readied her bow again. The plan was for her to take the shot on Alqan and have Tanzik and Tahari clear the guards. But if she were to focus her fire on the guards in the back, they might fall back and give some space for Tanzik and Tahari. If she shot Alqan, that might cause even more guards to converge. She could only take so many shots without giving away her position, and with there being eight guards, she knew a defeat was a strong possibility.
She pondered for a moment which was the best idea. She’d rather protect her own people than kill someone else’s, but she also knew Tanzik would probably hate her if the whole point of their staying was thrown away.
She didn’t have time to think. She aimed at Alqan, frustrated with herself. She took too long to decide and the guards were far enough away from the escape tunnel they would probably rush forward rather than back.
“To the bloody Void with it, then,” she muttered, then released the arrow at Alqan.
***
Tanzik tensed as the boat got closer. He heard the whistling of an arrow followed by a scream and shouting. He got up and saw a guard slumped over dead. Lura didn’t miss, the shot was solid, but it looked like the guard notice and took the hit for his liege. There were more guards than he expected, but he unsheathed his sword and swung in a wide arc, knocking the oar out of one guard’s hands. The boat turned and before he could grab the oar again, hit the shore.
“Kill them, you fools!” Alqan shouted. Tahari jumped up and yanked the oar out of the guard on her side’s hands, then stabbed up at him, catching him directly in the chest. The armor held, and the guards jumped out of the boat to protect Alqan.
Tanzik saw the blur of another arrow shaft, but this time it was headed farther south. He looked up and saw where it killed one of four guards that were rushing down the hill on foot. “Tahari, more company!”
“Move fast!” She shouted. One of the guards swung at her with a sword, but she blocked and redirected the blade. With the guard off balance she swung up, then down, slicing through a gap in his armor. The other guard threw his body into her, crushing her into the ground. He raised a knife to finish the job, but another arrow buried into his head straight through the visor on his helm.
Tanzik easily dispatched one guard, impressed by how well his new blade handled. He sidestepped a blow, then kicked the guard’s knee hard enough to bring him down, then cut his throat. The three approaching guards had crossbows and took aim at Lura.
Tahari jumped on the boat while Tanzik ran up to stop the guards from shooting. Alqan fell off in a panicked attempt to escape, which rocked the boat and knocked Tahari off as well. She scrambled to her feet, slipping on the sediment at the bottom of the stream.
Tanzik swung his blade down and snapped the string on one crossbow, then pushed forward to knock the second guard down. One of Lura’s arrow’s rained down but missed its target, who had stepped to the side to avoid Tanzik. The arrow sunk into the ground and before Tanzik could act, the lieutenant fired.
***
Lura made a split second decision to try to avoid the bolt. She dropped her bow and tried to move down to a lower branch. The bolt hit her directly in her right forefinger which caused her to lose her grip. She screamed in pain as she fell out of the tree. Time seemed to slow down. The sun shone through the treetop, the shafts of light piercing through the foliage and shimmering as the leaves swayed gently in the still air.
She hit the ground on her back and heard a loud crack of wood splitting as she fell on top of her bow. Her vision blurred from the impact of her head hitting the ground, and blood was flowing freely from her hand.
She made the mistake of holding her hand up to see the damage. The last thing she thought before she passed out from the sight of her own blood was that she only saw four fingers.
***
Tanzik swung the sword in an arc, but a guard blocked it with his crossbow, causing it to break under the weight of the blow. The lieutenant took several paces backward as she tried to load another bolt. Tanzik rushed her, but tripped and fell on his face as one of the others grabbed his ankles. He dropped his sword in surprise as the guard dragged him back away from it.
Tahari chased Alqan out of the stream while he screamed for help. He was headed toward the remaining guards. Two of them were trying to keep Tanzik prone on the ground while the lieutenant was finishing loading a new bolt. Tahari looked at her prey, then looked at her brother. If she kept chasing Alqan, her brother could die. But if she stopped to save Tanzik, Alqan could escape. And if he made it back up to his estate, he’d go to ground and she’d probably never find him again. This was her only chance. She had to do her duty.
Tanzik kicked one guard in the head and tried to roll over to shake the other loose. The crossbow had been loaded, and she aimed the weapon at Tanzik. But as she heard Alqan’s scream for help, she looked over and saw Tahari getting close to him. She turned to take aim at Tahari. Tanzik yelled in anger as he fought to get free. He reached for his sword and grabbed it.
The guard steadied her aim. Tanzik swung hard and killed the guard pinning him down. The other tried to get to him, but he got up and charged.
He thrust his sword out to stab the lieutenant, but she fired the weapon right before the blade stabbed through her stomach up to the hilt.
The bolt flew through the air and pierced through Tahari’s chest. She fell to the ground in a bleeding heap as Alqan ran away.
Tanzik screamed in rage. He pulled out the knife from the lieutenant’s belt and killed the last guard, then yanked it out of his neck to throw it at Alqan. It cut through his leg and he fell over. He got up and started limping away.
Tanzik grabbed the crossbow from the lieutenant and picked up a bolt. He ran toward Alqan while loading the weapon. He kicked the traitor lord in the stomach so hard the force of the attack broke his own toe in his boot. He ignored the pain.
Alqan fell to the ground and rolled over as Tanzik pointed the crossbow at him.
“Please… please, I—” With a snap and a twang, the crossbow shot its bolt firmly through Alqan’s eye, killing him instantly. Tanzik dropped it and ran toward his sister.
He grabbed her and cradled her head. “Tahari, no, no you can’t…”
She weakly reached up to touch him, but her strength was leaving her rapidly. He took her hand and held it close. “Tanz, I’m s… sor—”
“No, no,” he said desperately. “No, don’t. You can’t.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. Her hand fell limp from his. She closed her eyes. Her body slacked.
And her breathing stopped.