Benjamin Ashwood (42 page)

“Your
sister?”

Might
as well go for broke.  “Meghan Pinewood.  She’s stopped answering my letters
and I’ve heard stories about this place.  I did a lot of asking around after
she left.  I came to see if she was Ok.”

“Meghan
Pinewood is your sister?”  The scowl remained on her face but her tone
lightened.  “Then know that she is Ok and that you shouldn’t be here.  The
Mages do not look kindly at trespassers.  I suggest you go out the way you came
in and thank the stars it was me instead of a guard you drew the attention of. 
You can visit her in the gardens on the next Newday.”

“I
need to see her now, tonight,” implored Ben.  “Do you know her?  Could you send
her out to talk to me?”

“You
should go, you should go now before someone else does find you.”

“Please. 
I came all of the way here to make sure she is safe.  I promise, I will leave
as soon as I know she’s safe.”  He was skirting the truth as closely as he
could.

“This
is a bad idea.”  The girl was wavering.

“If
you know her, she must have told you some about her family or her past.  Ask me
anything and I can prove I’m her brother.”

“Where
is Meghan from?  Wait, wait.  That is too easy.”  The girl flipped a twist of
wet hair back over her shoulder then asked, “what caused her to come to the
Sanctuary?”

“I
was injured in a demon attack.  A Mage, Lady Towaal, came to our town of
Farview to kill the demon and she healed me as well.  She was with Lady Amelie,
Lady Amelie’s handmaiden, a Blademaster named Saala and a Hunter named Rhys. 
Meghan and my adopted brother left with Lady Towaal as payment for my healing. 
Please, she is here because of me, I must talk to her to know she is safe.”

The
girl sighed.  “Very well.  There is a hedge-walled garden on the other side of
this building.  It’s locked at night so you will need to climb in or wiggle
through the brush.  If you got this far without being detected that should be
easy.  Our curfew is in half a bell and Meghan will sneak down after that to
meet you in the garden.  I will tell her you came to see her, Brandon.”

The
girl turned and disappeared back into the Initiates Quarters.  Ben almost
collapsed in relief.

The
hedge wall turned out to be thick bushes surrounding an iron fence which Ben
scrambled over then dropped behind a tangle of shrubs.  He’d been lucky so far
and he wasn’t going to risk a stray guard or Initiate peering into the garden
and spying him.

The
bells rang dutifully on time and he squirmed in the damp, slightly chill earth
while he waited.  He peered through the leaves and strained his ears to hear
anything.  There was nothing to see and no sounds.

Finally,
he heard the scrape of a door and whispered voices.  He remained still and
silent, waiting for the footfalls to draw closer.

“Ben!”
hissed Meghan’s voice.

He
poked his head up from the brush and saw both Meghan and Amelie staring at him
from near the building.

“Damn
it Ben!  I knew it would be you.  What are you doing out here?  You’re going to
get us in a lot of trouble and yourself thrown in prison!” exclaimed Meghan in
a low voice.

The
girls were still standing near the door to the garden so Ben risked further
wrath from Meghan and waved them deeper into the plants and flowers.  They
followed reluctantly.

“You’ve
got us out here and violating our curfew.  What are you doing here?” demanded
Meghan.

“Really
Ben, this was a very bad idea,” added Amelie glancing over her back towards the
building.

Ben
grimaced.  It wasn’t a good way to start.  “I know this is risky, believe me, I
know.  I came because I had to warn you, Amelie.  You’re in serious danger.”

“This
better not be more cow shit about some bumpkin you met who’s worried about his
sister,” muttered Meghan.

“No,”
growled Ben, “it’s about how two days ago an army of men from the Coalition
slaughtered Lord Reinhold and one hundred of his guards outside the town of
Arrath.  They are coming here next and they plan to take Amelie.”

“What! 
That is ridiculous,” replied Meghan incredulously.

“Hold
on, what are you talking about Ben?” Amelie asked and shot a concerned look at
Meghan.  “How do you know this?”

“I
was there!”  Ben was exasperated.  For the last two days his head was spinning
with plans to sneak into the center of power for all of the Mages in Alcott and
spirit away two of their precious Initiates.  In his plans though, Meghan and
Amelie had believed him.

“We
thought Gulli, the man who arranged the attack on us, was in Arrath.  So
Reinhold assembled his men and we marched up there.  But it was an ambush.  A
Coalition army was waiting for us in the woods and they killed them all.  They
are on the way here.  I can’t be more than half a day ahead of them.  They’re
going to take you Amelie.”

Amelie
sat down on the ground stunned.  “The Coalition?” she asked in a small voice.

“Ben,”
chided Meghan, “if there was this big battle and everyone was killed, how are
you here?”

“I
was behind them,” replied Ben.  “Reinhold wanted me away from the action.  I
got to the top of a hill and saw them attacked.  I watched it until the end.”

“So
then what,” pressed Meghan.  “These men, Coalition you said?  I guess they just
let you go after that.  How do you know they are coming here?”

“I
overheard them while I was hiding.  Meghan, I am not lying.  Amelie is in grave
danger.”  Ben ran his hands through his hair in frustration.  He was exhausted
from the frantic march back to The City and couldn’t find the words to explain
himself.

“You
lied to get us to come out here didn’t you, um, what did you say your name was,
Brandon?  Be serious Ben.  This story makes no sense.  And even if it was true
and these men want to harm Amelie, what do you expect us to do?  There is no
safer place for her in Alcott than behind these walls.”

“No,
the men, the Coalition men, are working with the Sanctuary.  The Sanctuary is
part of this.  I heard them dispatch a man to come here and give news of what
happened.”

Meghan
dramatically rolled her eyes and threw up her hands.  “Oh, now the Sanctuary is
in on it?  Really, you’re saying the Sanctuary is involved in some crazy plot
to assassinate a Lord and then kidnap someone who is already here?”

Appealing
to Meghan was going nowhere.  Whatever trust they shared as adopted siblings
was vanishing quickly.  Ben sat down next to Amelie and ignored the glowering
Meghan.  He placed a hand on Amelie’s shoulder.

“Amelie,
Lord Jason led this Coalition army.  He ambushed and killed Lord Reinhold so
that Lord Gulli could buy up all of the arms from Venmoor and cut off your
father and the rest of the Alliance.  He plans to come here next and kidnap you
to put more pressure on your father and have him surrender from the Alliance. 
I do not know what they plan next, but I can imagine the offensive planned
against Issen will turn into an offensive with Issen.  This Lord Jason, he
believes you are the key, he thinks your father will bow to the Coalition
demands if they have you.”

“Oh
please,” grunted Meghan.

“Lord
Jason,” squeaked Amelie.  “You saw him?”

“Yes,
I did,” answered Ben.

“What
did he look like?”

“I
only saw him from a distance.  He is around my height and had long blonde hair
pulled into a pony tail.  He was wearing the dark grey of the Coalition and he
moved like I have never seen.  He made Saala look like the city watch.  I heard
him, his voice was smooth and strong.  Like a razor-fish in the water.”

Amelie
looked to Meghan and whispered, tears filling her eyes, “I know Lord Jason and
that describes him.  If he is coming, I need to go.  Ben is right, my father
would do anything for me.  I came here because he knew I would be a target and
he thought I would be safe in this place.  If I’m not, then I could be a pawn
in the Coalition and King Argren’s games.”

“Amelie.” 
Meghan squatted down next to her and put a hand on her other shoulder.  “You
are safe here.  The Mages would never allow anything to happen to you.  Surely
you know that by now.”

Amelie
looked between the two, torn.  They all sat there in silence and Ben looked to
Meghan.  She stayed focused on Amelie and didn’t return his look.

“I
have to go,” sighed Amelie.

“Amelie…”
Meghan started.

Amelie
placed a hand on Meghan’s and said, “no, the risk is too great.  Not for me,
for my father and for Issen.  I cannot allow even the smallest chance of the
Coalition capturing me.  My family, my father, my people, my home would all be
at risk.”

“Amelie,”
Meghan started again, “this is your home.  You may not feel like it yet but you
are already part of the Sanctuary.  Our old ties have been severed and we
belong here now.  We have no fathers anymore.  But the Veil is our mother and
she will protect you.”

“I
have to go.”  The whisper was barely audible.  Amelie resolutely rose to her
feet before looking back down at Ben and in a stronger voice declaring, “I will
follow you out.”

She
turned to Meghan, “please understand.  There is more at stake here than just me
or even my family.  My father’s weakness is me.  I have no doubt he would cave
if I was captured.  My people would suffer.  Hundreds of thousands Meghan. 
They would suffer under the Coalition if Argren didn’t make an example of us
first.  Issen as I know it would be no more.  The Sanctuary has existed for
millennia and it will continue to do so just fine without me.”

“You
are making the wrong choice,” snarled a steely voiced Meghan.  “But it is
your’s to make.  I wish you the best of luck because I believe you will need
it.”

Amelie
looked back down at Ben, “we should go.”

“Do
you, uh, do you need to get anything?” he asked.

“If
we go, we go now,” she answered with determination.

Ben
scrambled to his feet and motioned for Amelie to follow him to the hedge-wall. 
He kneeled down to make a stirrup for her feet and boosted her over the fence.

He
looked back and Meghan and held her gaze for three long breaths.  A year ago,
they were siblings.  Adopted, but still close.  He felt like this night, their
relationship had been sundered and he would never call her sister again.  As
she said, her family was the Sanctuary now.

Taking
quick strides along the pebble path, Amelie looked to Ben.  “You have a way
out, right?”

“I
do.  Amelie, I want to you to know, this is real.  The things I saw…”

“I
know Ben.  I wouldn’t have left otherwise.  We will talk, but later.  This is
not the place.”

With
that, a clanging erupted through the still night.  It sounded like a giant
banging a steel spoon over and over against a cook pot.

“Damnit!”
screamed Amelie.  She grabbed Ben’s hand and they started to run. “That bitch
didn’t even give us a head start.”

“What?”

“Meghan,
Ben.  Meghan just found a guard.  Or a Mage.”

Ben
steered them down a fork in the road and between breaths said, “we have to get
to the water.  There’s a lot of brush ahead that I don’t think the guards would
ever spot us in.  Should we run or hide until the alarm dies down?”

Amelie,
already panting, replied, “we’re trying to escape the bloody Sanctuary.  The
guards aren’t what we need to worry about.  We fucking run!”

And
they did.

The
buildings Ben had passed between earlier were lit up like fall festival
jack’o’lanterns and they’d be spotted within heartbeats of passing between
them.  He pulled Amelie towards the exterior wall and through the waist high
grass they started a wide circle around the populated areas of the grounds.

He
glanced back and saw the trampled path they were leaving.  Someone tracking
them wasn’t the problem right now though.  Movement was their only option. 
Running into a guard or worse is what would ruin their escape attempt.

They
made it to the outside wall and paused.  Amelie was breathing heavily and
leaned against the cool stone that encircled the city side of the grounds.

“So,
how are we getting out of here?” she asked between deep rasping breaths.

He
grinned.  The stress of the last few days had weighed heavily on him but the
confusion from earlier was done and they just had to execute the escape. 
Whatever had happened between him and Meghan could be dealt with later.  Amelie
was the one in danger and she was the one who had trusted him.

“Boat,”
he said.  “If he can wait long enough.  I know you’re tired, but we’ve got to
move.”

Amelie
pushed off the wall with a groan and a broad gesture, “after you.”

Ben
started again, tracking the outside wall to get to the riverbank which he hoped
they could move along until they met Mathias.  He kept a quick pace but not the
run they started at.  Amelie clearly was no longer used to physical activity
and the last thing he needed was to wear her completely out.