Blade Archer ~ Forty-Seven

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‘You seem a little jittery today.’

Kael turned back from looking over his shoulder at the palace front gates, eyebrows raised in question. He had been trying—and apparently failing—to remain casual through the day, but he couldn’t help looking over towards the doors every now and then, just in case there had been any movement since he had last looked. Banok had said he would go to the Talons with his information after training that morning. That had been hours ago. ‘Ye reckons?’

Meneli, the stocky woman who had first welcomed him, frowned and cocked her head to one side. ‘You’re normally pretty on-edge, but even more today than normal. Anything on your mind?’

Kael was saved from answering by the heavy creak of the palace front gates swinging open. He turned to watch as a stream of dark-uniformed Talons flowed into the courtyard.

‘That,’ he answered, folding his arms over his chest. He couldn’t keep the grin from his face as he watched the procession. He spotted five people within the sea of dark uniforms. One was shouting loudly enough to be heard across in the archery range.

‘I don’t deserve this treatment! You have nothing on me!’

Kael snorted. ‘That’s what ye thinks,’ he muttered as Minister Dukiya ranted on.

‘What’s going on?’ Meneli asked, though Kael guessed she was asking purely so she could know the gossip before anyone else.

‘Ye’s heard of that hooded mob going around?’ he asked, knowing she had. ‘He’s their leader.’

Mineli moved to stand beside him. ‘How do you know that? Did you have something to do with it?’

‘Mighta done.’

She slapped him playfully on the back of the head. ‘Sure, you did. Come on, let’s get back to training.’



‘How long is this going to take?’ Kael whined, folding his arms on the table. It had been two months since the dramatic capture of the minister for foreign affairs, and still he hadn’t been taken down to the dungeons. He was getting impatient. He had moved back to his own house while the man giving the orders was held in custody, though he still didn’t feel safe allowing Ronanen to move in with him, not until everything was finally put to rest.

‘They’re still questioning him,’ Banok replied defensively, sitting down after dinner with a bottle of beer.

‘Why?’ Kael pressed. ‘They got him, what more do they need?’

‘He’s got an answer to everything,’ Banok answered. ‘There’s nothing at his home linking him to anything, no hoods or papers or orders, he has an innocent reason for being everywhere you and Aen say he’s been seen, and of course nobody already arrested and in the dungeons recognises him as anyone other than Minister Dukiya. They have nothing on him.’

Kael swore and curled his fingers into a fist. The fibres of the tablecloth blurred under his gaze. He blinked angrily and shoved himself back from the table to pace the room.

‘We’re not letting him get away,’ Banok promised. ‘All right? We’ll get him.’

Kael braced his hands on the table and glowered down at his weapon master. ‘Ye’d better,’ he snarled. ‘Or I will.’

Banok rested back in his chair and folded his arms. ‘Are you just?’ he teased. ‘They’re still holding him. They’ve had him locked up for two months now, and they don’t do that unless they’re certain. They just need something to link him to the organisation.’ He raised his eyebrows, as though he expected Kael had something more to add.

Kael spread his hands helplessly. ‘Like what?’ he shouted. ‘I given ‘im to ye! Aen followed ‘im fer months. He was ready to kill ‘im, and get ‘imself killed in the process. They done nothing since he was caught. It’s him!’

Banok was shaking his head. ‘I believe you, Kael, but in this case, belief isn’t enough. Her Majesty can’t order a man to be executed just on another man’s word. She needs proof.’

Kael folded his arms and shifted his glare to the table, trying to think of anything he could possibly use to bring the man down. ‘What about the blacksmiths?’ he asked. ‘He was in one of ‘em fer an hour with a dozen people. That weren’t no ordinary blacksmith.’

‘Abandoned,’ Banok said with another shake of his head. ‘Just a dusty old blacksmith. But they’ll get him. He’ll crack, don’t worry. They’ll get him.’

Kael slumped back into his chair. ‘Ye been saying that fer two months now. Years, even.’

‘It will end,’ Banok promised again.

Kael shook his head and folded his arms back on the table. ‘When?’ he murmured.



Kael left the palace straight after his theory class the next day, and found Aen at his local pub. Every day Aen would be there at the same time, giving Kael this chance to meet with him on his own terms.

‘They won’t get ‘im,’ he said as he took a chair opposite Aen. ‘They still got nothing on ‘im.’ He retold all that Banok had informed him.

‘D’ye reckon they’ll let ‘im out?’ Aen asked.

Kael shrugged. ‘Eventually. I want to be ready when they do. I’m this close to giving up on the Talons.’

‘So what d’ye want to do?’ Aen prompted. ‘Kill ‘im?’

Kael shook his head. He knew he wasn’t strong enough to take that route. He was almost a warrior, almost held a position in the army, but he wasn’t ready to kill. He hoped he would never be ready to kill outside of battle.

Aen shrugged. ‘I’ll do it, then,’ he said easily. ‘Ye makes the plans, I’ll get me team and we take ‘im together.’

‘Already got one.’ He told Aen the plan that had been mulling itself over in his mind for the past few months, growing and developing the longer Minister Dukiya’s interrogation dragged on. Aen frowned only when he brought Ynuk’s name into the plan.

‘Yer brother?’ he repeated. ‘Thought ye didn’t trust ‘im no more.’

‘We made up,’ Kael said with a shrug. ‘I trust ‘im more now than I ever have done.’

Aen nodded but didn’t comment any further. ‘Right, then. I like it. Listen out fer the day. We’ll get ‘im, even if the useless Talons don’t.’

Ynuk grinned maliciously when Kael relayed his plan to his brother. ‘Ye sees now why I wanted ye on board before. Could’ve had this whole mob cleared out years ago.’

Kael shook his head. ‘I didn’t know then what I know now.’

Ynuk patted him vigorously on the back. ‘If that’s yer reckoning. Ye’re a brave one to come up with it, Kael. Whatever yer reasons fer switching sides, I’m glad ye has done.’

‘I was never on anyone’s side but me own,’ Kael replied with a shrug. ‘I want me life and I’m sick of other people dictating it to me. I’m ending this on me own terms now. When the Talons let ‘im loose, we’ll get ‘im.’

‘That we will, little brother, that we will.’

Every day, Kael listened with distant calm for news of the minister’s case. What had been top gossip for the first month was now fading into the background, so that most people just assumed he had been thrown to the dungeons months ago. It was only through Banok and his sister-in-law that he knew the full story of what was going on.

It was on one evening, four full months after Minister Dukiya had been taken in by the Talons, that Banok gave the news he had both been dreading and waiting for.

‘They’re releasing him tomorrow,’ the old blade archery master told him, his voice grave and apologetic. ‘I’m sorry, Kael. I’ve failed you.’

Kael sat motionless as the grim calm settled over him. He knew now what he had to do, had been preparing for it for months, but even now he felt distant, disconnected from the reality that was playing out around him. Nothing was to be left to chance. He had planned every stage methodically, revising details as he learned new pieces of theory from his army training.

‘Please don’t do anything stupid,’ Banok said quietly.

Kael shook his head, his eyes on the fading but still prominent scars on the back of his wrist. ‘I won’t,’ he promised.

And he wouldn’t. Tomorrow was the day he took back control of his life.