Second Guard (11 page)

Tali let out a breath. “I appreciate your concern, Chey. But if there is some connection between Jaden and my family, I need to find out what it is.”

“Understood, but promise me you will not allow yourself to be alone with him. Not even for a minute. Swear it.”

Tali smiled. “You worry too much. But just to please you, I will swear it,” she said, holding up her fist, then tugging on his tunic. “Now come, future protector of the realm,
we have a ferry to catch.”

The next morning, Tali rose with a pit in her stomach. After their return from Porto Sol the evening before, she and her friends had tried to carry out the evening in their
usual fashion. They had dined in the Great Hall and spent time with Boulder afterward, letting the huge dog temper their worries with his playful affection. Boulder seemed to sense their ill ease
and played the court jester in dogskin, scratching his back on the rough sands of the shore, his feet dancing above his wiggling form.

Still, those worries had come back in full force upon awakening, especially at the thought of seeing Jaden. Though Tali rarely saw the centurio outside of their morning endurance training, her
eyes kept darting around the Great Hall at breakfast as if he might appear at any moment. And what would you do if he did? she asked herself. Confront him?
Not likely. Not unless you want to
find yourself dismissed from the Guard.
No one spoke to a centurio without permission, and certainly no one
questioned
a centurio’s honor.

It was somewhat of a relief, then, when she and her friends walked down to the lake after breakfast to discover his absence. Instead, one of the Alcazar guards had taken his place for the
morning, her long blond hair blowing in the breeze off the lake. “Centurio Jaden was needed elsewhere this morning,” she announced in a no-nonsense, yet highly refined voice. Moon
Guilder, Tali decided. They can’t help but be elegant, even in uniform. “However, he has left me your exercise program for the day, and I mean to see it done to satisfaction.” As
the guard rattled off the list of orders, Tali knew the pledges around her were all grumbling inwardly, as she was. Even in his absence, Jaden was the toughest taskmaster at the Alcazar. No wonder
the group of pledges who trained with him dwindled with each passing week.

By the time endurance training was over, Tali’s muscles twitched from the longest rowing expedition yet, followed by a run. Jaden’s guard had kept her promise and pushed them on
until several pledges had collapsed from exhaustion. “You’re not really trying unless you heave up your own stomach,” Chey joked weakly as they staggered off to weapons training.
Zarif laughed, though his face was flushed from the exertion. Tali rolled her eyes. Her two friends never failed to find humor in their circumstances. Sometimes it was exasperating. Every now and
then, one just wants to feel irritated, Tali thought. Dumb boys. Her own thoughts made her smile, the irony not lost upon her.

As Tali climbed into the training ring, Centurio Jessa yelled at her to grab a sword and clear her mind for the upcoming bout. Tali grimaced and began to pull on the various pieces of protective
gear stacked in piles along the fence. The wooden sword and padding felt heavier than usual, and Tali’s mind refused to cooperate. She hated the weaponry arena, compared to the other training
venues. As hard as Jaden’s endurance training was, at least the landscape changed with each step. Sometimes you could distract yourself from the pain by looking out at the lake or watching
the Sun God rise from the mountains. Likewise, Centurio Saraky often chose different parts of the island for hand combat practice, to ensure that his students learned to adapt to their
surroundings. And even if Tali’s skills in horsemanship remained average at best, Centurio Abelino’s training sessions always proved a pleasure at the end of the day.

But here in the dirt-packed weapons arena, Tali felt like a penned animal waiting for slaughter. Even worse, she realized too late that Drayvon stood directly in front of her in the sparring
line. After that first night at dinner they had managed to avoid each other, with the occasional flicker of distaste showing on their faces when their paths happened to cross. Tali considered
moving on to another training ring, but her stubborn streak reared and made her stay. After the brutal hour she’d just spent under the sharp gaze of the blond Moon Guild guard, there was no
way she’d let Drayvon intimidate her now.

Instead, she tried to concentrate on each sparring match as it unfolded before her, to dissect the moves and see where each loser had gone wrong, though the battles often moved so fast it was
hard to discern. The dust billowed up into her nose and made her sneeze, as it did each evening when she brushed it from her hair. The morning sun beat down particularly hot, making Tali squint as
sweat drizzled between her shoulder blades. She ached for a drink but did not want to lose her turn in line. Better to get it over with.

Finally it was Drayvon’s turn to fight. Just then, Commander Telendor approached and joined Centurio Jessa at the side of the ring. They stood companionably close, Tali noticed, easy in
each other’s company. Jessa was second in command, after all, and the two of them had undoubtedly spent a great deal of time together. Tali had even heard that Jessa had trained Jorge
Telendor when he was a young pledge long ago.

Drayvon’s opponent stepped up, a Moon Guilder named Paricio, whose family had served the realm as royal astronomers for generations. Zarif had invited Paricio to sit at their breakfast
table on several occasions, and he had proved to be both friendly and knowledgeable. Tali hoped he would beat Drayvon handily, but as much as she hated to admit it, Drayvon had already developed a
reputation as a talented and ruthless fighter. She had heard from other pledges that both his father and grandfather were retired centurios, and they had prepared him well. The Sun Guilder’s
moves were known to be both brash and erratic, keeping his opponents constantly off guard, making it difficult for them to guess whether he would slice, jab, or evade next. As soon as Jessa sounded
the horn, Drayvon moved in, dancing around Paricio in a circle, taunting him with both words and parries, his sword in constant motion.

Paricio kept calm, his face carved in stone, and his moves, while more predictable, were elegant and decisive. He fights like Zarif, thought Tali, pondering the inherent skill sets the Moon
Guilders had revealed during the past few months. Not only did the sons and daughters of Elia tend to be logical and disciplined in their approach to training, they were masters at reading people
and patterns. In contrast, the Earth Guilders had shown strength and stamina to be their best qualities, as well as a “rootedness” that made them difficult to knock over. The only guild
she hadn’t been able to figure out was her own. What advantage did the Sun Guilders bring to the Alcazar? Tali could think of none offhand, but she decided to study Drayvon for clues.

Slowly, methodically, Paricio tried to defend himself from Drayvon’s aggressive chops and drives, but he was no match for the Sun Guilder. Drayvon brought the same unbridled intensity to
each motion, moving Paricio like a game piece wherever he wanted. His sword flashed furiously.
Clink. Clank. Clunk.
His eyes blazed fire. There was no doubt who controlled this spar.

Sweat poured off Drayvon’s brow, and he paused to wipe it from his face. Paricio took the advantage and charged in, pinning him to the fence. But just as the Moon Guilder raised his wooden
sword to slam it into Drayvon’s chest protector and end the match, Paricio hesitated for a fleeting second. It was all his opponent needed. Drayvon exploded from the fence. Using the wooden
slats for leverage, he somersaulted over the stunned face of Paricio, then stabbed the Moon Guilder in the back before he could turn.

The crowd went wild. Drayvon raised a fist in the air, relishing his victory.

Tali raised her eyebrows in reluctant admiration. Guts, she decided. That’s what we Sun Guilders have. For better or worse, we burn hot and bright, just like Intiq.

“Take note, pledges,” Centurio Jessa shouted into the crowd, raising her hand to quiet them. “There’s no place for hesitation in battle. Strike first and strike
fast.”

Commander Telendor nodded at his centurio in approval, then took his leave, much to Tali’s relief. Though she longed to impress him—and she
would
impress him one day, she
swore it—not here, not today. She needed more time.

As Tali entered the ring, Drayvon passed her, a sneer on his lips. Tali ignored him, turning her attention instead to her sparring opponent, Rona, a large Earth Guild girl from a logging family,
who was twice the size of Tali.

Things went well at first. Despite her earlier exhaustion, Tali felt the usual rush once her fight began. Rona was stronger, but Tali was faster. After several parries, Tali was able to jab the
Earth Guilder under her left arm, a certain kill strike with a true sword. Tali relaxed a bit during the second round, letting her instincts command her movements. When Rona pushed her back into a
corner, Tali nimbly rolled off the fence line, maneuvering past the girl’s range.

Their wooden swords met again and again in an easy parley, and soon the rhythm lulled Tali’s mind away to other matters. Nel’s face slipped in front of her, full of worry as she
signed word after mysterious word. With every clash of the swords, Tali remembered one of her sister’s clues. Second Guard,
click
. Tradeboat,
clack
. Salt mines,
click
. Queen…but instead of the
clack
she was expecting, Rona surprised her with a light pivot and sweep, a move Tali would never have anticipated from the heavyset girl.
As Tali attempted to avoid the sword, she swung into it instead. A resounding
thump
on the back of her head was the last thing she remembered.

T
ali awoke lying on a bench outside the ring, her head cradled in Chey’s lap. Zarif hovered over her, blocking out the sun and gingerly
feeling the knot on the back of her head. Tali might have enjoyed their ministrations if her head didn’t feel as if it had cracked open like an egg on a stone.

“How do you feel?” Zarif asked.

“Like a fool,” Tali answered, wincing as she tried to lift her head.

“It’s a good-size lump you took,” Zarif said. “We’d better get you a poultice from the infirmary.”

“If you insist,” Tali said, letting Chey help her to her feet.

“It was unkind of Rona to hit you so hard,” Chey said.

Tali shrugged. “It was my own fault. I let myself get distracted and she took advantage. I would have done the same to her.”

“You served her a heap of humility in the first round,” Chey said, offering Tali his elbow for support as they set off over the uneven landscape.

“If I could concentrate on something besides my sister, I would have bested Rona twice.”

“I wondered if that was the trouble,” Zarif said. “Perhaps it would ease your mind to send Nel a bluejacket?”

Tali frowned. “We traders don’t often use the bluejackets. We send our letters with fellow traders we pass on our routes. Besides, how would a bluejacket find Nel on the
river?”

“It wouldn’t,” Zarif said, surprised by the question. “Bluejackets are homing birds. They only fly to and from their aviaries.”

Tali tilted her head in confusion, then gasped as the movement shot a fresh pain through her brow.