Soulblade: An Epic Fantasy Adventure Romance (A Dance of Fire and Shadow Book 4)
Soulblade: Chapter 13

I STARE AT FARHAZ, trying to make sense of this sudden change of circumstances.

“How did you know I would be here? I thought you could not communicate with Zandar?”

“Not as much as we would like, it is true. But when Shan’domir was arrested and condemned to death, I rode to Rahimar to beg the Guardian for his help. The image he put into my mind was of you disembarking in Al’harin.” He raises a dark eyebrow in my direction. “Although he omitted to show me that great sword-battle on the deck of the pirate ship. That performance will have announced your arrival to the entire city by now.”

Never mind the manner of our arrival, my concern is for the trader-spy who granted me my Nishan training.

“Is Shan’domir still alive?”

“I hope so. But if he lives, it will only be because the Khalim’s jailers have not finished torturing him for the whereabouts of the rest of his Nishan followers.”

I remember the caution shown by both Farhaz and Shan’domir when speaking of their autocratic ruler. No doubt inspired by the horrible fate of others who had previously incurred the wrath of the great Khalim.

The questions pile in faster than I can wait for answers.

“So… that is why you were waiting for me disguised as a beggar? Why we had to leave the city in such a hurry? The Nishan have suddenly gone from being respected crime-fighters to being top of the Khalim’s most wanted list? What went wrong so suddenly?”

Farhaz peels off his beggar’s disguise, revealing his black Nishan silks and deadly weapons concealed beneath the grimy rags.

“Ariel, if I tell you it was because of you, that does not mean you could have done anything differently. And all Annubia is grateful for your victory with Zandar against the enemy on our western border. If we had lost the field that day the Rapathian army would have swept through the pass in the mountains and taken possession of the fertile lands of western Annubia. But that victory came with a few… complications.”

My successes have had a nasty habit of causing unexpected problems all too often in the past. The news brings a fresh wave of anxiety.

“Tell me the worst. What did I do this time?”

“The message you gave to the military commander on the battlefield. He delivered it to the Khalim as promised. He said that as a result of the alliance between our two countries, a great Samarian warrior had brought the Guardian of Rahimar to the battle and secured our victory.”

“Yes… that is more or less what I asked him to say. I hoped it would demonstrate Samaran’s effort to uphold the alliance and would impress him enough to offer substantial help in return.”

“A reasonable expectation. Except that the Khalim is a man of unusual pride. He did not take kindly to the fact that after so many centuries, it was a foreigner who brought the dragon to fight alongside Annubia’s greatest warriors. He was furious with Shan’domir for allowing you into Rahimar in the first place and immediately summoned him to explain himself.”

“Surely once he understood the desperate need to keep the Rapathians from wiping out his army, he would have…”

I run out of words as the futility of the situation sinks in. It seems that logic is not a significant part of how things work in the royal palaces here.

“Ariel, some of the Nishan have already been captured, but most of us were warned by our spy within the palace and went into hiding. Our network of safe houses in every town and city has been our lifeline. As loyal Nishan sworn to the League of Assassins, we have a solemn duty to rescue our Master––but I know that you are still the only one who holds the dragon’s initiation.”

“I still can’t see what you want me to do.”

“You are the only one who can work closely with Zandar to actually reach Shan’domir. It is also a bigger issue than simply rescuing one man. Without our leader’s political skills and his high level connections, the Nishan will no longer be as effective as we have been against the rising power of the crime lords.”

I turn to Marin. “We all owe Shan’domir for so many things, not least for brokering the alliance between Samaran and Annubia, as well as for the Nishan training that drew me to Zandar. It saved Samaran. I can’t abandon the Master of the Nishan and his whole team of assassins to such a terrible fate. But is this diversion possible without compromising the mission that Jantian ordered us to complete?”

Marin looks directly at Farhaz. “First, we replace out what it might involve.”

The assassin dips his head in acknowledgement.

“Thank you. I will try to be brief. Shan’domir is held prisoner in the south tower of the Khalim’s palace in Khotann. The whole compound is heavily guarded and in any case the walls are too smooth to climb. My hope is that Ariel could persuade Zandar to carry her to the top level, so that she can get inside and free our leader.”

I instantly think of a long list of potential problems with this plan, so I try to arrange them in order of seriousness.

“Zandar is pledged never to harm Annubians. And in my experience, he has always held to his word. We could not involve him in an internal dispute.”

Seems like Farhaz has already considered this.

“That is why we would only ask him to deliver you into the tower and then leave. When everyone sees the Guardian of Rahimar rescuing Shan’domir, none will speak against it.”

“Point. I can see how you are thinking on this. But you already know that Zandar cannot carry Shan’domir without burning him. We would have to fight our way out of the palace jail and its compound on foot.”

“The Nishan can set up a distraction, a decoy.”

I glance back to Marin, wondering if his thoughts on this wild plan are as doubtful as my own, but he gives nothing away.

There is one more thing that does not fit with what we have been told.

“Farhaz, if the Khalim is really so angry about a Samarian warrior going into battle with Annubia’s Guardian, why is he being so generous with the shiploads of grain for us that I saw being loaded in Al’harin?”

“Apart from wanting to get his hands on the many bushels of Northland gold that your King Tandarion pledged as payment? This so-called generous gift was in fact a business opportunity to extract an inflated price from a war-damaged ally. Sadly, such opportunism is not uncommon in the pages of history.” Farhaz shakes his head wearily. “The Khalim’s pride is the other reason. He is sending far more grain than Annubia can spare. He is proclaiming in every city how weak and defeated Samaran has become, reliant on his generous gifts to even survive. But by the end of the year, it is our people who will be starving.”

Marin looks concerned by the news. “That situation will ruin the future of this alliance if it causes suffering and resentment with the ordinary people. Farhaz, this is valuable information. I will make sure Tandarion is informed in time to make enough reciprocal gifts to avert the crisis.”

“Thank you. We have a few months before it will be needed. My immediate concern is Shan’domir.”

I feel we have no choice. “Marin, I have no idea whether this insane plan has any chance of working, but it only involves me. It means the four of you can continue the mission to Rapathia with Dragar and I can catch up with you later if Zandar will carry me across the mountains as he did before.”

I watch Marin frown as he tries to work out whether the arrival of a large and unpredictable fire-drake in the middle of Rapathia will be an asset or a disaster for the mission we have been quested to fulfil. At least the country is mainly swampland and cloud-forest. Less likely to burn up in a wildfire than the tree-covered and windblown hillsides of Samaran.

His only question is for me. “How will you replace us again? Rapathia is a huge country and we have no idea where the clues will lead us.”

I had already been considering this myself. There is only one way it may be possible.

“Farhaz, was I the only one you saw in Zandar’s vision?”

He closes his eyes and concentrates for a few moments.

“There were a few scattered images that made no sense at the time. I understand now that one of the people I saw briefly was Marin, your captain, also disembarking in Al’harin. But I had never met him and did not know what the vision meant.”

I decide not to mention that Marin is the second foreigner to have survived Zandar’s fiery initiation. Farhaz is dealing with more than enough royal controversy on that topic at the moment.

“How did Marin appear when you saw the vision?”

The Nishan stares at Marin for a moment, as if to be sure.

“He appeared as he is now.”

“In that case, Zandar will be able to replace Marin, wherever he is in Rapathia.”

“How do you know?”

“Because if that was a vision from Zandar’s memory plus some guesswork, from when he was with us in Samaran, then you would have seen Marin with dark hair. It seems that some Elementals have the ability of far-seeing, both in the present time and, I think, in some aspects of the future.”

That revelation takes me suddenly back to Jaren’s prophesy. Suppose some of those powerful Elementals in that ancient time also had the gift of far-seeing into the future? That possibility gives the crumbling text far more significance than I had previously thought. But who is it the words speak of? Could it be either me or Marin, and could it be the key to winning our reprieve?

.

The one who will come to set them all free.