A/N: I'm thinking of being a full time writer and it will be impossible without your support. I start Patreon as a 1st step to see your responses.
A/N: I am opening up 500 gift memberships to the Patreon. checkout the link below or in my bio.
https://www.patreon.com/minstrel_theauthor/redeem/F7A8B
Vol 02: The Hunt │ Part 03: The deeper call.
1
The prisoners woke one by one through the afternoon.
Kaelen sat in the shadows of the side chamber, Fenris at his feet, the twin blades across his knees. The Insight Kite fed him their emotions as consciousness returned. Confusion. Pain. Fear. The slow dawning realization that they were bound, disarmed, and utterly helpless.
Harken stood by the door, her arms crossed. Marta and Tamsin flanked the prisoners, their new weapons gleaming. Zora perched on a high ledge, her cat eyes watching everything.
Lyra sat in the corner, her journal open, her pen ready. She had insisted on documenting the interrogation.
"Start with that one," Harken said, pointing to the agent with the hot, hungry emotions. He was the largest, the most dangerous. His shoulder was bandaged where Kaelen had struck him, but his eyes still burned with defiance.
Marta dragged him to the center of the room and forced him to his knees.
"Name," Harken said.
The agent spat on the floor.
Harken's expression did not change. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. The easy way, you talk, and we let you live. The hard way, you talk anyway, but with more pain."
The agent laughed. It was a harsh, ugly sound. "You think I am afraid of you? You are hiding in a hole, surrounded by children and old women. Solon will burn this place to the ground. He will—"
Kaelen stood.
The agent's eyes flicked to him. For a moment, the defiance wavered. Kaelen could feel it through the Insight Kite. Fear. Real fear. The man had heard stories about the boy. He had not believed them until now.
"Solon sent six of you to capture me," Kaelen said quietly. "You failed. He knows you failed. What do you think he will do to you if you go back empty handed?"
The agent's jaw tightened.
"Talk," Kaelen said. "And we will protect you. Stay silent, and we will send you back to Solon with a message carved into your skin. Your choice."
The Insight Kite showed him the man's resolve crumbling. He was not brave. He was cruel, hungry for violence, but not brave.
"What do you want to know?" the agent said.
2
Harken took over the questioning.
"Where is Solon now?"
"The eastern foothills. He has a mobile command post, three miles from here. He is waiting for our report."
"How many agents does he have with him?"
"Twelve. Plus support staff. Medics, communications, supply."
"Reinforcements?"
The agent hesitated. Kaelen felt the fear spike.
"Speak," Harken said.
"Two squads are on standby at the border. Twenty four more agents. They can be here within two days if Solon calls them."
Kaelen exchanged a glance with Harken. Thirty six Grey Cabinet agents in total. Plus Solon. That was more than they could fight.
"What about the Vanguard?" Harken asked. "Is the Inferno Battalion coming back?"
The agent shook his head. "The Conclave restricted their deployment after the Haven. Solon is operating with deniable assets only. Grey Cabinet agents, not soldiers."
That was something. Not much, but something.
3
Lyra stepped forward, her stiletto in her hand. The agent's eyes widened.
"You were at the Haven," she said. Her voice was cold. "I can feel it. You were there when Calder died."
The agent said nothing.
Lyra pressed the point of the stiletto against his throat. Just enough to draw a bead of blood.
"Talk."
"I was there," the agent said, his voice tight. "But I did not kill the old man. That was Solon. He shot him personally."
Lyra's hand trembled. Kaelen could feel her grief, her rage, her desire to push the blade deeper.
"Lyra," he said quietly. "Not yet."
She pulled the stiletto back. Her face was pale, but her eyes were hard.
"Where are the prisoners from the Haven? The ones your people took?"
The agent swallowed. "Transferred. Most of them. To the Stillness."
"The Stillness," Kaelen repeated. "Where is it?"
"North of the Obsidian Teeth. Near the border of the Conclave's central sector. It is built on a dead rift. The walls are white and the light never changes."
Lyra nodded. That matched what she had read in the journals.
"Are there two prisoners there named Rook and Torrin? A young woman and a man, both smiths?"
The agent's eyes flickered. Recognition. "The smiths. Yes. They arrived three weeks ago. Solon interrogated them personally."
Kaelen's blood went cold. "Are they alive?"
"For now. Solon wants to use them as bait. He knows you will come for them."
4
Harken stepped in. "When is Solon expecting your report?"
"We were supposed to check in every six hours. The next window is at sunset."
Harken looked at Kaelen. "That gives us three hours."
"What do you want to do?" Lyra asked.
Kaelen thought. The communication crystals were in his pouch. They could listen to Solon's messages. They could maybe send false information, if they could figure out how to activate the crystals.
But there was another option. A riskier one.
"We send a message," he said. "Not from the prisoners. From us. We tell Solon that the Forge is empty. That the boy was never here. That the agents are still searching."
The agent laughed. "You cannot. The crystals are keyed to our resonance. Only we can activate them."
Kaelen looked at the man. The Insight Kite showed him the truth. The agent was not lying.
But there might be another way.
"Lyra," he said. "The Sanctum. You studied there. Do you know how these crystals work?"
Lyra knelt beside one of the captured crystals, examining it with her scholar's eyes. "They are tuned to the user's mana signature. Without that signature, they cannot send. But receiving is different. Anyone can receive a broadcast."
"So we can listen. We cannot speak."
"Correct."
Kaelen turned to the agent. "Then you will speak for us. You will tell Solon that the Forge is empty. That the boy is gone. That there is nothing here."
The agent's eyes widened. "He will know. He will hear the fear in my voice. He will—"
"Then you will learn to control your fear." Kaelen drew one of the twin blades. The violet veins pulsed. "Or I will give you something to be truly afraid of."
5
They prepared the agent for the call.
Lyra explained the process. The crystal had to be held in the palm, focused on with intent. The message would be transmitted as a combination of thought and spoken word, carried on the user's mana resonance.
"You think of Solon," she said. "You picture his face. You speak clearly. The crystal will do the rest."
The agent's hands shook. Kaelen could feel his terror. Not of Solon. Of the boy standing behind him with a blade at his back.
"What do I say?"
Kaelen had already decided. "Say: 'The Forge is empty. No sign of the boy. Continuing search to the east. Next report at midnight.'"
The agent nodded. He took the crystal in his bound hands. He closed his eyes.
Kaelen reached out with the Insight Kite. He could feel the agent's thoughts, his fear, his desperate hope that Solon would not see through the lie.
The crystal pulsed. Once. Twice. Then it went dark.
The agent opened his eyes. "It is done."
Kaelen looked at Lyra. "Did it work?"
She was watching the other crystals. They were still dark, still quiet.
"We will know at sunset," she said. "If Solon believes the message, he will not respond. If he suspects..." She did not finish.
6
Sunset came with no response.
Kaelen stood at the Forge's entrance, the twin suns dipping below the horizon, painting the sky in shades of copper and violet. The communication crystals were silent. Solon had accepted the message.
Or he was planning something else.
Harken joined him. "We bought time. Not much. But some."
"What do we do with it?"
Harken was quiet for a moment. "The prisoners cannot stay here. They are too many, too dangerous. We need to move them."
"Where?"
"There is a cave system two miles east. Tamsin knows it. We can leave them there with supplies and a guard. They will not escape."
Kaelen nodded. "And us?"
Harken looked at him. Her old eyes were knowing. "You feel it, do not you? The call. The stone."
Kaelen touched his chest. The three Kites pulsed. The fourth corner waited, dark and hungry.
"Yes."
"The Warrens are the key. Your fourth Kite will not form anywhere else. You need to go back."
"I know."
"But not alone. Take Lyra. Take Fenris. Take Zora if she is willing. The rest of us will hold the Forge. We will watch the prisoners. We will listen to the crystals."
Kaelen looked back at the Forge, at the people who had risked everything for him.
"I will come back," he said.
"See that you do."
7
That night, Kaelen told Lyra his decision.
"The Warrens," she said. "You want to go back to the red stone."
"It is the only way. The fourth Kite will not form anywhere else. I can feel it."
Lyra closed her journal. Her hands were steady, but Kaelen could feel her fear through the Insight Kite. Not of the Warrens. Of losing him.
"I am coming with you."
"I know."
"Zora too. She knows the tunnels better than anyone."
Kaelen nodded. "We leave at dawn. Three days there and back, if we push hard."
Lyra opened her journal again. She began to write.
"What are you doing?"
"Documenting. In case..." She did not finish.
Kaelen put a hand on her shoulder. "I will come back."
Lyra looked up at him. Her amber eyes were bright.
"You promised."
8
Dawn came grey and cold.
Kaelen stood at the Forge's entrance, Fenris beside him, the twin blades at his hips. Lyra had her journal and her stiletto. Zora had her claw covers and her cat eyes.
Harken embraced each of them. "Be careful. The Warrens are not kind to the living."
Marta clasped Kaelen's arm. "Bring back that fourth Kite. We will need it."
Tamsin signed: "The path is marked. Follow the violet veins."
Kaelen looked back at the Forge one last time. The other Archivists stood in the doorway, watching. Some had tears in their eyes. Others had hands on their weapons, ready to defend.
"We will return," Kaelen said.
Then he turned and walked toward the mountains.
The red stone was calling.
And he was done waiting.