The Defender Read online

  Renato moved toward the writing desk. As he lit the lamp next to it, Zez turned to me.

  “What is it?”

  “It is the document that gives the sept son the authority to act completely independent of the high king and his council of kings.”

  “But I thought that you already had that authority.”

  I shook my head. “The current constitution, revised over the years since the Great Destruction by the Elitists, constrains the sept son to a set of rules that only shadow the original commission of the office. The changes were made by men afraid of all Talents. If I were to abide by that document, your father would be correct in saying that I could be stripped of my title and power tomorrow. Thankfully, I did not swear to uphold that commission but another. The one penned by Nemesio Colm the Just, the founder of our government and hero of the Great Destruction.”

  “But what if they chose to ignore what Nemesio Colm wrote?”

  “Then they would be saying that they are above the very government they have sworn their allegiance to when they took their thrones. Of course, some of the men on the council would do that without blinking an eye.”

  “But what if there are more who would ignore the instructions than those who would not?”

  I shrugged. “It won’t matter. I will not be here to be restrained.”

  Her eyes widened.

  “We are leaving tonight. This new development only supports my decision to leave. We will travel north and work out the future from there. Which reminds me,” I said, turning to Renato. “Have you notified Plantonio of our plans?”

  “Yes, but he doesn’t know that Zez has shown up. I should do that right now.” Setting aside his writing, he pushed back his chair. Giving Zez a meaningful glance that must have been accompanied by a sending, he crossed to the door. Zez followed him after saluting me. “I will make sure that Zez is settled in to sleep until we leave. You should catch some rest as well. It is promising to be a late night.”

  As the two of them departed, I wanted to smile. That was the most thinly veiled ploy to send me to bed that Renato had tried yet. However, I wasn’t about to fight him. My body did need the rest, and now that Zez was safe, my mind might let it. I crossed to the bed and collapsed. Sleep came instantly and lasted all too briefly.

  Renato shook me awake as Giles was securing the last of the luggage.

  “It is midnight, and we are ready to leave,” Renato said as he handed me my darkest cloak. “Everyone is waiting outside the gates. Giles is going to accompany the luggage south as a ploy to set them off your scent. You are the last to leave.”

  I nodded as I rose. My head still ached, but my back pain had receded. Silently thanking the Almighty for the small blessing and asking him for mercy and protection, I donned my cloak and boots before following Renato out into the night.

  * * *

  Chapter VI

  Zezilia

  We rode out of the Western Gate in silence. The night greeted us with cool arms and a slight breeze. I was thankful for the light cloak about my shoulders as we headed west toward the edge of the plateau. No one spoke any orders, but I could feel a flurry of sendings around me. Hadrian remained speechless. As he rode next to me, I could sense that he was deep in thought about something. Content in the silence, I stole a glance at the sky.

  During the summers at the willow farm, I had loved to sit at my bedroom window and stare at the night sky, counting stars and watching them wink against the velvet blackness. Tonight, the sky was different. The sister moons floated luminous and full, illuminating wisps of clouds like trailing gauze about them. Darkness, misty with moving clouds, flowed about the two orbs and veiled their less bright companions. I missed the stars.

  “Mysterious, aren’t they?” Hadrian’s sending slipped into my thoughts as naturally as though it belonged there.

  “More than I like.” I didn’t turn my eyes from the sky. “Are you feeling better?”

  A flicker of pain passed by my senses. “Better than before. And you?”

  I smiled. “I shall survive.” The stars winked at me. “The Almighty’s handiwork is breathtaking.”

  “It is,” he replied before another sending demanded his attention. I tried to ignore his half of the conversation.

  We reached the edge of the plateau and began our descent before he sent to me again. The horses formed up single file. Hadrian’s horse was three ahead of mine, and he kept me abreast of each turn in the trail. With that and Renato’s guidance before me, I had no trouble reaching the bottom safely. However, I was surprised to find the entourage camp and a gathering of the aegypti, the wandering people known for their brightly colored wagons, waiting for us. We had left the entourage on the eastern side of the plateau before entering the city.

  As we approached the camp, a tall thin man with long, dark hair pulled back from his face, and a thick mustache stepped forward and bowed to Hadrian. “It is good to see you, Valens. All has been made ready for you.”

  Hadrian dismounted as the rest of our company flowed around us to rejoin the entourage. He then turned to embrace the man, thumping him on the shoulder before stepping back. “Thank you, Nkosi. I appreciate your help at such short notice.”

  Nkosi smiled, a bright flash of white in his tanned face. “Anything for our liber adopto. Now hurry; the others are already settled. We must leave immediately, or someone will notice our presence.”

  “Where is your trunk?” Renato sent as he approached my horse on foot. “We need to load it.” I dismounted and showed him where it had been stowed on the back of one of our wagons. He grabbed the handle and hefted it onto his back. After carrying it over to a growing pile of luggage near the back of another wagon, he grabbed my arm. “We travel with the aegypti tonight. I will show you where you will ride.”

  He led me through the darkness of the camp. Very few torches burned, despite the constant movement of hushed feet. The few glimpses I caught of the faces that passed me revealed dark and foreign features. Whether it was the darkness or the unknown, I found fear filling me. I reached for the calm presence of the Almighty and the haven of His sovereignty.

  Finally, Renato stopped at the steps into what I guessed was a wagon. It loomed over us in the night, solid and heavy. “This is it. Climb up and go through the door. I will be right behind you.”

  Obediently, I pulled myself up the narrow, steep steps and fumbled for the latch on the door. Before I could open it, Renato was reaching past me and lifting it as though he had been here several times. Pushing the small wooden portal open on silent hinges, he guided me inside with a hand on my head to be sure I didn’t strike it on the low sill.

  Inside it was pitch black. Only after I reached for my energy-sight could I see two figures huddled on the far end of the interior. I didn’t recognize them until I received the sending.

  “Who are you?” Recognizing Blan’s taste as it slipped over my tongue, I looked at the second figure again. Donata lifted a fearful face over the head of my sleeping niece.

  “Why are they here?” I asked Renato.

  Holding up a finger to me, he answered Blan’s query with a sending. I couldn’t hear the content, but Blan’s stance relaxed, and he settled back down to sit at his wife’s side. Only when he was sure Blan was comfortable, Renato turned to me. “I don’t have time to explain. I have many more things to do before we leave. So, you’re going to have to trust me, Zez. We have this all planned out, and this is for their safety and yours. Trust me and stay here. I will return before we leave, and if you still have questions, I will answer them then.”

  “And Hadrian?”

  “He is safe. Now settle in and get comfortable. You are going to be riding in here for a long time.” With a reassuring smile, he ducked back out into the night and left us in complete darkness.

  Thankful for my energy-sight, I picked my way across the uneven floor to the wall at Donata’s side. I still stayed a short distance from them to give them privacy. Sitting on a mound of cloth ne
xt to a crate, I pulled my cloak around me and leaned back against the outside wall.

  The moment I was still, a wave of weariness washed over me. It had been such a long day, and I hadn’t managed to sleep after leaving Hadrian to rest. Adjusting into a more comfortable position, I closed my eyes. Sleep slipped in, bringing strange dreams in its wake.

  * * *

  Hadrian

  By the time we finally left the entourage and began our journey east toward the river, my headache had reached the point where I wished I could remove my head. I stumbled after Renato as we hurried through the slow moving caravan to catch my usual wagon. We found it just in time to grab the back railing and pull ourselves up the steps to the door.

  Renato made the leap from ground to step without a hitch, but I had to try to catch the railing twice, missing it the first time. He helped me make the jump with a gentle boost of energy. “Are you alright?” he asked as he caught my elbow and steered me inside.

  I collapsed onto the heap of blankets to the right of the door and tried to catch my breath and calm my rapidly beating heart. “Let me sleep for a few hours, and I will be better.”

  “Do you want to move to the bed?” He indicated the mattress which lay on the far side of the space. Blan and his small family were huddled together on one end of it.

  “No, let them sleep. I can rest here just as well as there.” To demonstrate my point, I lay down and wadded my cloak up into a pillow. “Go find a place to sleep,” I ordered and closed my eyes.

  He didn’t immediately obey. Moving about, he shuffled a few things and opened and closed a few of the trunks along the wall to my left. Finally, he settled in the corner to the left of the door. Time passed slowly to the creaks and groans of the wheels beneath us, and a horse snorted somewhere behind the wagon. I tried to ease the tension in my shoulders. As I relaxed, I became increasingly aware of Zezilia’s calm presence at the other end of the space. The simple fact that she was there brought my thoughts to the enormity of what I was planning to do. I was crossing the line from legitimate authority to rebellion in the eyes of the government and bringing her with me.

  Great God Almighty, you trace our paths on the map of life. Please grant us grace. Please let this plan work. I thought of the precious cargo that surrounded me: my closest confidants and the man who had given everything that was dearest to him for the cause. Give me the foresight to keep them safe, Almighty. They are depending on me to guide and protect them, and I know the best way that I can do that is by depending on You, keeping my eyes on You and the next step that You want us to take. Father, give me wisdom, I begged.

  As I turned my thoughts to the events of the past day, fatigue slipped around the edges of my consciousness. I didn’t fight the void of oblivion as it crept over me.

  I awoke later to a cry from Ardyne followed by Donata’s hushed reply as she rocked her daughter back to sleep. Opening my eyes, I looked to the window far above me near the roof of the cart. Not even a hint of the rose hues of dawn lightened the blackness beyond. I couldn’t discern the time from the small sliver of sky. The wheels beneath us continued to turn, carrying us further east. All was quiet as it should be. Yet, when I closed my eyes, sleep did not return. Instead, my right shoulder, the one I was laying on, began to ache.

  I rolled onto my back and readjusted my makeshift pillow. Ardyne was asleep, and her mother lay her down on the mattress before returning to her husband’s embrace. Renato had not stirred. He slept so soundly that I couldn’t help the jealousy welling up in my chest. Just a few hours rest. I pleaded with the Almighty, but He didn’t respond.

  The uneven wood pressed painfully against my shoulders. I was not going to sleep well like this. Giving up, I sat up and settled with my back against the wall. Unfolding the cloak, I spread it over my bent legs and rested my head against the wall behind me, crossing my arms over my chest. As I began to close my eyes again, they fell upon something protruding from behind the crate at the far end of the wagon bed. I knew immediately whose foot it was.

  Like me, she was awake. When I brushed her consciousness, she pushed me away gently. The brief touch, however, was enough for me to catch a wave of emotional pain. Something wasn’t right. It was more than a simple case of insomnia.

  “Are you alright?”

  Despite the impression of rejection, she replied promptly. “I will be eventually.”

  “Thinking over yesterday?”

  “Yes.” Her sending tasted of a dull ache, but she didn’t continue.

  “Sometimes it helps to speak about it. Dulls the pain.” I had no clue about what made her hurt so. She had exceeded all my expectations for her behavior through the trials of yesterday. In fact, I couldn’t help admiring her calm spirit in light of the Elitist’s invasion into her mind and her following abduction. Both events would’ve shaken the most hardened veteran.

  “It is hard to explain.” Her taste whispered past my tongue fleetingly, but not before I caught the impression of grief. I wouldn’t have been surprised if there were tears in her eyes as well. I was irritated that I couldn’t see her.

  “Come and try me.”

  She hesitated, and for a few minutes, I wondered if she would decline. But then, she rose from her place and crossed to sit beside me on the blanket heap. In the darkness, I could not make out her features, but she ran her fingers across her cheek when she thought I wasn’t looking.

  “Do you hurt anywhere?” I asked, beginning with the obvious.

  “Not physically.”

  We sat in silence for a few moments. I traced the events of the past twenty-four hours from Zez’s perspective. Her surprise at her father’s obvious hostility toward me had been mild, but evident. I had tried to buffer the revelation for her, but she probably encountered the full force of it when she was waylaid by her brother. It was possible that a fear of losing my trust was nagging her, but that didn’t fit. I had demonstrated my trust in her and Renato repeatedly since then, and she wasn’t emoting fear but deep pain.

  Opening my senses in her direction more fully, I tried to remove the filters that I usually put up against catching stray emotions from those around me. A wave of heart-wrenching grief flooded through me.

  “Is it your father?” I asked.

  She tensed. “I was never what Father wanted. No matter how I tried, I was never what he wanted. He kept his love from me, holding a shadow of it out before me as something to be gained through obedience.” Her breath caught in her throat as she subdued a sob. “I always knew that he wished I was a son. I always knew that he was disappointed in me, but still, I hoped. I believed that he could still love me. Maybe not as much as my brothers, who brought him honor and respect, but maybe, if I was bright, obedient, and compliant, he would notice me and give me a small measure of his affection.

  “I used to cherish his every nod, glance, or smile and hoard them in my memory. Yet, no matter how I nurtured them and told myself they were signs of his love, it was not true. I saw the truth yesterday. I had seen that look on his face before, but yesterday I could put a name to it. It was scorn. In his eyes, I am nothing more than a small pawn in his elaborate plan: an insignificant speck that can be used and cast aside without thought. I saw what he really thought of me, Hadrian.”

  She turned to face me in the darkness. The sheen of tears on her cheeks caught the faint light from outside. “And it hurts more than I can bear.”

  I finally understood. Closing my eyes, I prayed for guidance. How could I offer consolation? My father loved all his sons equally. I could not empathize with the deep pain that emanated from the young woman next to me.

  Something about her did bring back memories from my training days in Errol’s household. Raised among brothers, I had no experience with sisters, but when I entered into Errol’s family life as a trainee, I had suddenly found myself with three younger sisters. Frequently when their life’s trials, small though they were, overwhelmed them, I was called upon to offer brotherly affection. Though their petty
squabbles were insignificant compared to the agony in Zez’s heart, I instinctively knew that the remedy would help nonetheless.

  Reaching out across the short distance between us, I slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against my side. The position was awkward at best, but she seemed to understand what I was trying to communicate. Pressing her cheek damp cheek against the inside of my shoulder, she accepted my brotherly gesture as gracefully as though I had offered much more.

  I couldn’t help wishing that I could offer something more to ease her ache, but my move seemed to be enough for the time being. After a few minutes of silent tears, her emotions steadied. Then, as though she finally realized our position, she withdrew, but not as far as she had been before.

  “Thank you,” she sent, almost shyly, as she wiped away the dampness on her cheeks. “I am sorry to get you all wet.”

  I smiled at her in the darkness. “It is a small price to pay if I helped.”

  I caught a soft laugh. “You did.”

  “You should sleep. We have a full day of travel ahead of us once morning comes. The aegypti only ride in the wagons if they are moving at night. During the day, they walk next to the wagons to save the horses.”

  “Won’t we be conspicuous walking amongst them?”

  I shook my head. “You will see tomorrow. Once you are dressed like one of the women with your hair in a simple braid and a scarf about your head, you will fit right in with the horde.”

  “And you?”

  I smiled. “Don’t worry about me. I have ways of staying out of sight. Now go to sleep.”

  Obediently, she moved back to her corner at the other end of the wagon. Keeping my filters lowered, I monitored her with a feather-light sensing. I didn’t care if she knew I was watching her or not. She slipped into sleep after a few moments, and I was again alone with my thoughts and the Almighty.