Alone in the sitting room, Av’ry leaned back and closed his eyes. Jade’s plan was good, but he had to admit to some… professional jealousy. He had been a hound for many years, and while he was admittedly not at the top of his game right now, he occasionally flattered himself with thinking that he was pretty good at it. But she was better. Much better. That look she got in her eyes when she was onto something, he knew it all too well. She was meant to do this. Still, it stung a little that a woman with amnesia could outdo him so easily. If she hadn’t been here, he would likely still be chasing his tail. That was, if he hadn’t quit entirely. Of course, that was a feeling that he was used to. In some ways it was even a bit nostalgic. More importantly, it pushed him to be better. It was how he had become as good as he was, and how he would keep improving. He hadn’t felt that drive in a long time. It felt good. Av’ry smiled to himself.

  “What do you have to be pleased about?” Mikiva slammed the door behind her as she entered.

  “Who kicked your puppy?” Av’ry raised an eyebrow.

  Mikiva opened K’ivin’s liquor cabinet and tossed back a shot before collapsing into an armchair.

  “Forgive me for not being in a fantastic mood,” she grumbled. “K’ivin just spent a solid hour chewing me out for ‘making no progress’. He did everything short of blaming me for starting the damn war in first place. If I’d been in Esrasea when the King died, he probably would have blamed me for that too. He actually said that by wasting his time I was pushing us ever closer to the brink of tragedy.”

  “Seriously?” Av’ry replied incredulously. “I mean, he knew that this was a long shot from the beginning.”

  “Yeah, he knew. But things are getting worse, Av’ry. Military recruitment is not going as well as C’ekat had anticipated. Some still refuse to believe this is really going to happen. People don’t want to join up. And even those that do are simply failing to show at the training camps. We barely have enough soldiers to enforce the summons,” Mikiva shook her head. “And worse, recent recon has shown that the Esrasean armies are larger and closer to our borders than we’d anticipated.”

  “That bad, huh?” Av’ry grimaced.

  “We won’t be ready. And K’ivin needed me to give him some good news, any good news. But I can’t. Really, the only thing I can do is be someone to take his frustrations out on,” she sighed.

  Av’ry moved to stand next to her, resting his hands on her shoulders.

  “That isn’t fair. You don’t blame yourself, do you?”

  “No,” she hesitated. “But it doesn’t really matter who is to blame, does it? War is coming, and we are going to lose. And besides that, I have plenty to feel guilty about.”

  “Oh?”

  “I lied to him.”

  “What about?”

  “Jade,” Mikiva sighed. It was clear that she was torn about it. “I didn’t tell him about her, about what you found. He asked, obviously. He had heard about the incident with the Scorpions, he wanted an explanation. And despite everything else he has to deal with, despite all that he has done for me, I still lied to him. I told him I didn’t know.”

  “Why?”

  “Perhaps it’s because I’m a fool. I like her, Av’ry. If K’ivin knew, he would feel the same way I do. Suspicious. And the mood he is in right now…” she shook her head. “Normally he is a fair-minded person, but he is under a lot of pressure, and he isn’t himself. His little tirade today proved as much.

  I barely convinced him to let her assist us when he thought she was just a servant. If he knew the truth… He wouldn’t risk her hurting the cause. He’d lock her up, for the sake of national security, until the war is over at least. And I am not sure it is ever going to be over. She doesn’t deserve that. And frankly, I also think we need her help. So, I didn’t tell him. And I don’t know if that was the right choice.”

  “Well, you know how I feel already, Miki,” Av’ry said softly. “I’d say you did the right thing.”

  “Maybe…” she sighed. “It’s just, what if we are wrong? What if she does betray us?”

  “Then we take care of it,” Av’ry replied confidently. “This is just between the two of us, so whatever happens, we deal with it together. Right?”

  “Right,” Mikiva actually smiled at that. “Thanks, Av’ry. That is a weight off my shoulders.”

  “You could have fooled me,” Av’ry chuckled. “If your shoulders were any tighter, I think they’d be dislocated.”

  He reached down to rub her shoulders gently.

  Mikiva flinched, pulling away. Av’ry dropped his hands and gave her a questioning look.

  “Sorry, occupational hazard,” Mikiva apologized. “I just don’t like people’s hands on my neck. Where I come from, that kind of thing rarely ends well.”

  “I understand,” Av’ry moved closer. “How about this then?”

  Leaning down, he kissed the nape of her neck, moving his lips gently down her spine and across her shoulder around to the delicate hollow of her throat. This time, Mikiva didn’t pull away.

  “Now that, that is actually very relaxing,” she murmured, melting into him.

  “I’m so glad you approve.”

  Grabbing his collar, Mikiva pulled him down onto the chair next to her, twisting around to kiss him on the mouth.

  “I hope you don’t mind my using you for purely recreational purposes,” she whispered.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Well, if it helps, I think I can take one for the team,” he nodded gravely.

  Av’ry pulled her into his lap and ran his fingers through her long black hair. Suddenly, the soft click of the door closing stopped them both short. Mikiva leapt to her feet.

  “Oh yeah, you two were definitely going to be able to keep this a secret,” Jade rolled her eyes and slumped into an easy chair by the fire. “Sandwich?”

  She offered the plate to each of them.

  “Thanks,” Av’ry accepted the proffered morsel gratefully, but he was disappointed to find that it was just a slab of dried meat between two crusts of bread.

  “Wow, the chef’s really slacking today,” he eyed the sandwich critically.

  “I am afraid you can’t blame the chef for this,” Jade admitted sheepishly. “He was in the garden collecting herbs. So, I just grabbed a few things for myself. Unfortunately, I have never been much of a gourmet. Sorry.”

  “Wasn’t cooking part of your job, back in Esrasea?”

  “Nope. I was barred from the kitchen, for some reason.”

  “Well, don’t worry about it,” Av’ry took a bite. “I don’t need anything fancy. I guess I’m just getting a little spoiled by all this palace food.”

  “You get it while you can, right?” Jade observed. “I imagine when you are on the road, the food is even worse than this.”

  “Ever eaten smoked, dried horse meat and crackers for a month?” he mumbled rhetorically. “I really don’t advise it.”

  All three ate in a silence for a moment, when suddenly Jade exclaimed,

  “Oh! Have you told her yet?”

  “Told me what?” Mikiva raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

  “Not yet,” Av’ry replied.

  “More important things on your… mind?” Jade smirked.

  “Maybe I was just waiting for you,” he retorted. “It was your idea, after all.”

  “Do you two want to fill me in? Or am I supposed to guess?” Mikiva interjected.

  “We have a plan,” Jade leaned forward eagerly. “The only problem is, I don’t think your boss is going to like it very much.”

  “Am I going to like it?” Mikiva asked.

  “Well…” Jade began.

  “No,” Av’ry finished. “Definitely not.”

  “But you are still going to help us convince K’ivin,” Jade smiled.

  “Why would I do that?”

  “Just because you won’t like it, doesn’t mean it won’t work,” her eyes sparkled mischievously. “Sometimes taking a bit of a risk is exactly what’s called for.”

  Mikiva shot Av’ry a questioning look,

  “A risk?”

  He nodded,

  “You could say that.”

  “This just isn’t my day, is it?”

  “Afraid not,” Av’ry sympathized.

  “Well, let’s get it over with then,” she sighed. “What’s the plan?”

  **

  K’ivin slammed his desk drawer, hard. He heard the satisfying crack of splintering wood as it hit home and watched as the burning candles on his desk shook and sprayed melted wax onto the polished cherry surface. More than anything else, it was his own impotence that ate away at him, day after day. He was a smart man, some would even call him a genius; few were better at seeing all the angles, making subtle, causal linkages than K’ivin. That was why he had been offered this job in the first place, so many years ago. And normally, he was proud of his abilities, but lately it felt more like a curse than an asset. All it meant was that he could see the axe falling sooner, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to stop its descent. Their defeat seemed inevitable, and none of his strategies, tricks or desperate ploys had slowed the progress of Istaria’s war machine. They were running out of time, and he was running out of ideas. He was even starting to consider the unthinkable: capitulation.

  The word from his operatives in Esrasea was that they would accept a complete and unconditional surrender, if Maaskal allowed the military occupation of the country and turned over complete control of the existing Maaskalan army to Istaria and her men. He wondered if it would be better than the wholesale slaughter that seemed to be his only alternative. Countries were annexed all the time, and most people would hardly notice that anything had changed. Why fight it?

  K’ivin sunk into a chair, covering his face with his hands. It was a nice fiction, the only problem was, that he knew it wasn’t true. There was only one reason he could think of for a complete military takeover of the empire: they wanted the land, and they wanted the bodies to stage an assault on the countries beyond. Even if Av’ry was right about their search for the artifact, that didn’t really require full military capitulation, so, there was more to it than just that. The Esraseans had bigger plans. No, whatever he did, the war and devastation would still come. The only difference was whose flag they would be flying when it did. He remembered what the veterans of the old wars used to say when he was young: your throat doesn’t care whose steel runs it through. K’ivin knew that there would be no surrender; they would go down fighting, right until the end. And that wouldn’t be very long, if he couldn’t think of something. Soon. He looked up at the sound of a soft knock from the door.

  “Come in,” he grumbled.

  When the door opened and Mikiva entered, he was a little bit surprised. He hadn’t expected to see her again so soon, after their argument earlier. Of course, it had been a day or two since then, hadn’t it? He wasn’t certain. Time seemed to pass very quickly, lately.

  “Mikiva, what brings you here at this hour?”

  “I was under the impression that we had no time to waste,” she replied coolly. “So as soon as I knew our destination, I came straight here.”

  “Destination?”

  “We’re leaving. We’ll need money and forged documents, as fast as you can get them.”

  “Hold on, Mikiva,” K’ivin held up a hand. “I am going to need much more explanation than that, and you know it.”

  “I’ll explain but send someone for the documents and let me give some money to Av’ry and Jade so that they can buy supplies, while I do.”

  “And if I don’t agree with your plan, what then?”

  “You will,” she shrugged.

  K’ivin sighed and reached for the bell to summon an aide, but he hesitated.

  “At least tell me where you are going.”

  “Up north, to the mountain village of Gullmar.”

  “That is pretty close to the Esrasean border, Mikiva,” K’ivin furrowed his brows. “And you want to take Jade? Is that wise?”

  “Well, we don’t exactly plan on telling anyone where we are going. It might actually be the easiest way to shake the people coming after her.”

  “I don’t like it, Mikiva.”

  “You aren’t going to like it any more when I explain,” she replied drily. “But you need to trust me, this is our best bet.”

  “I do trust you,” K’ivin sighed and pulled the bell. “Alright, I’ll get what you need. But you need to promise me something, Mikiva.”

  “What?”

  “Get me results. And whatever you do, do not let Jade out of your sight up there.”

  “Of course.”

  “Good,” K’ivin nodded curtly and then dug through his desk for some papers, which he handed to the aide now standing at his door. “Take these to G’illim and get the documents made. Tell him I need them this morning; there will be a bonus in it for him if they are ready in 3 hours or less.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  K’ivin then retrieved two sacks of coins from his desk,

  “Give this one to G’illim, tell him the rest comes on delivery. Take the other sack to Av’ry March, you know him, correct?” the aide nodded. “He will know what it’s for. As quickly as you can now.”

  “Of course, sir,” the man saluted sharply and left the room.

  “Now,” K’ivin turned back to Mikiva. “Don’t think that this gives you a free pass. You will explain to me exactly what you three have planned, and if I don’t like it, I can still pull my support, understood?”

  “Understood,” Mikiva nodded and settled into a chair.

  K’ivin sat across from her,

  “So, why are you going to Gullmar?”

  “Well,” Mikiva hesitated only briefly, “we have an audience with a Dragon Sage.”