Book I of III: The Swords of the Sultan (13 page)

Humonus gave Baltor about twenty seconds to
contemplate before he added, “On the bright side of things, we are
not only expert thieves, but we are also expert investigators, and
the Guild has already done the investigating. That is a part of
what makes a good thief, really. Anyway, to keep to the point, here
is what some of us speculate.”

He then explained the events of that night in
relatively precise detail.

“That is exactly what happened,” Baltor
confirmed, nodding.

After another pause, a severe look of
irritation crossed Humonus’s face as he added, “There is one thing
that I am severely peed off at you about.”

Baltor asked, “What?”

“You specifically disobeyed a command that I
made by continuing your own investigations into Vakshia’s
disappearance. Just so you know…you made me look like I have
absolutely no control over my student!” Humonus said with ruffled
feathers.

“Sir, please accept my apologies and my
fullest assurances that I will never disobey you again,” Baltor
said sincerely.

After a few more moments to consider the
apology, Humonus sighed, “Apologies and assurances accepted, I
guess.”

“Thank you, sir,” Baltor said in relief.
“Sir?”

“Yes?”

“Once I’ve graduated all my training, which I
will, I have decided that I am going to find the culprits that
murdered my parents and exact justice. I also wish to state for the
record that though I have learned many valuable lessons from you,
there is one that I am most appreciative of, sir!”

“What’s that?”

“I have learned how to care for others, and
for that, I wish to thank you, sir.”

Humonus nodded and said, “I’m glad to know
that I’ve been of service.” He got out of his seat and revealed,
“Just so that you can mentally prepare, your nurse has informed me
that you will be ready for the inquiry tomorrow. I’m going to let
you get your rest now—besides, I’ve some errands that I must
finish.”

He walked toward the door, opened it, stepped
through, and was just about shut it closed behind him, but he
stopped. Instead, he turned around, reopened the door a quarter of
the way, poked his head around the door, and then added, “Oh, just
so you know, Thesmul was not only a favorite amongst many of the
students and instructors, but some believed him to have the
potentials and qualities as a future Chief…

“Also, several of the High Council members
suspect, based from your many nightly disappearances, that maybe it
was you who raped and murdered Vakshia. And that later, you
returned to finish the job, yet Thesmul caught you in the act.
After all, no one is for certain who first held the weapon.”

As Humonus said all this, he observed the
ever-increasing look of shock and horror upon the boy’s face. Just
before closing the door behind him, he promised, “Make sure you
have your facts all put together…

“If you don’t and the High Council
disbelieves your story in any way, shape or form—expulsion from the
Guild may be the least of your worries. As for me, I believe your
story and your innocence.”

“Thank you, sir.”

The door closed and Baltor remained alone to
heal, and to contemplate.

The following morning, Humonus opened the
door while carrying a duffel bag. “Good morning, Baltor.”

“Good morning, sir.”

Humonus first set the bag down onto the bed,
and then he informed, “The time has finally come for us to leave.
Inside the bag are some hand-me-downs. Please get dressed quickly,
so that we can get some hot chow from the mess hall before we go
before the High Council. Do you feel yourself ready and
competent?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Excellent, Baltor. I’ll be waiting for you
outside,” Humonus replied with a nod. He then exited the room,
closing the door behind him.

Baltor opened the bag, and in less than forty
seconds, he was dressed in clean underwear and socks, a gray tunic,
brown pants and an old pair of tan boots, which all fit
perfectly.

After he had opened the door and exited the
room, he observed that Humonus was leaning against the wall,
waiting in a very long hallway that had fourteen stylish doors in
total—six on the far side, six on his side, and two at each of the
far ends.

With another nod, Humonus gave a gesture to
follow with one hand, leaned off the wall, and then ordered,
“Follow me.” He then turned to his right, walked down to the door
at the far end of the hallway, opened it, and entered another
magnificent hallway. Meanwhile, Baltor followed behind.

Three doors down on the right-hand side,
Humonus opened the door and gestured for Baltor to enter.

This was not just any mess hall, but more
like a fancy restaurant—indeed, this place was both beautiful and
elegant. The dining room contained twenty large round tables with
eight plush seats around each table—very classy people filled a
little more than half of those seats, and even the waiters wore
formal attire.

Even though Baltor was at first very
self-conscious about the way he was dressed, his hunger took over
once the delicious food had come, which Humonus had earlier
ordered, and they feasted.

Once breakfast was over, Humonus led the way
back into the hallway, and down two more. As Baltor followed, he
presumed that the door at the end of this third hallway would lead
to still another, but he was wrong.

After Humonus opened this door and gestured
for the boy to enter first, Baltor discovered—with surprise—this to
be a spectacular, throne room. The only sources of light came from
four crystal chandeliers filled with lots of burning candles.

Within this two-hundred-foot-squared room, in
which the walls were draped with red velvet, as were paintings of
all types, there rested two rows of twelve golden thrones placed in
a semi-circle. Every seat was occupied, but no one wore a
crown—eighteen males and six females. In the middle of the room was
a plain wood chair.

Humonus led Baltor to the empty seat. After a
physical gesture of beckoning with his hand for Baltor to sit in
the chair, he stood behind his student and waited in silence.

Baltor took his seat and glanced through the
crowd of onlookers. The only three people he recognized were Bayema
at the far-left end of the first row, Lydia next to her, and Lupan
behind Lydia. Today, he wore black robes and skullcap, and his
colorful jewelry.

Baltor was very pleased to see them all here,
especially Lydia.

Humonus began, “Masters and Mistresses of the
High Council, as you know, my name is Humonus, and I have been a
drill instructor here at the Guild for six years—a member for
fifteen. In particular, I am the defendant’s instructor.

“Wasting no more of your valuable time, I
shall now introduce the defendant in question, who will present his
side of the story, Baltor.”

Baltor felt all eyes on him—his cheeks
immediately flushed and his throat became very constricted.

After clearing his throat several times, he
finally began, “Masters and…” He found that he had to clear his
throat still again, before he could continue with his defense,
“Mistresses of the High Council, my name’s Baltor. I have been a
student, well I don’t really know for how long, but for quite some
time…”

He paused for a few moments, so that he could
recall the story from the beginning, and then he said, “Okay, it
all started several months ago, actually ever since I started here,
because I wasn’t very much liked by the other students, and so I
became a bit lonely. One day in the training hall, I happened to
observe this new student and overheard her name as Vakshia.
Coincidentally, later that same day, my instructor released me for
lunch at the same time as her lunch break…

“Vakshia introduced herself to me, but she
sounded real scared and unsure of herself. In turn, I gave her the
encouraging words of the one who inspired me, when I was real
scared and unsure of myself. At the end, I told her that ‘success
is a road that must be paved.’ And just like with me, these words
seemed to hold merit and she seemed encouraged when her instructor
called her to him…

“I wouldn’t say that this was the last time I
saw her, but it was the last time I ever got a chance to talk to
her, for almost every night afterward, I did extra training to
sharpen my own fighting skills…

“Well anyway, several weeks later, I observed
that she was no longer around, but at first, I thought she was just
doing her own extra training. Until finally the day came, I asked
my drill instructor where she had gone. He told me that she had
disappeared. I then asked him if he thought she had escaped. He
told me that no one has ever escaped the Guild since its
establishment…

“But that night, I asked another student,
Thesmul, if he had seen her. He laughed in my face, but didn’t
answer.”

After sucking in a deep breath through just
his mouth, Baltor said, “I didn’t tell anyone about my encounter
with Thesmul, including my instructor, but I did begin to
investigate into her disappearance secretly at night on my own. I
borrowed a hundred-foot rope, and after securing it to a rock or
something, I checked all of the crevices and holes near the
obstacle courses and dropped a lit torch, just to make sure…

“For a month, I didn’t find anything, until
the very night before I fought with Thesmul. That was the night I
had dropped a torch down the valley on the sixth course, discovered
a body, and though I didn’t know whose body it was, I had to find
out.

“So the next night, I borrowed an additional
fifty-foot rope, secured it to the hundred-foot rope, and then
headed back to the valley. After I got to the bottom of the valley
and sadly discovered that it was indeed Vakshia, my initial plan
was to bring the body back for the Guild to investigate…

“However, after I had secured her body to the
rope, climbed my way back up, and then began pulling her body
up—that was when Thesmul arrived with a stiletto in hand. Sensing
that my life was in danger, I had no choice but to drop the rope,
and as my instructor had taught, I rolled backward in order to
avoid his slash. I then rolled forward, collided with him, and the
stiletto flew out of his hand…

“For the next several minutes we wrestled,
but he got the better hand and began to beat the hell out of me!
Once he thought I was beaten senseless, he picked up the stiletto
and confessed to me that he had raped and killed Vakshia for
refusing him!”

Immediately Baltor began to listen to the
feverish whispers of the council members as he finished that last
statement. Through the whispers, he continued even louder, “I got
so angry upon hearing those words—I stood back up! That was when
Thesmul threatened to cut me into little pieces like a little worm,
and then he leapt at me with full intentions to do so…

“But just as my instructor had taught me, I
turned my defense into an offense, and that was when I kicked him
over the cliff face and into the valley. From the roll, I went over
myself, but thankfully, I soon managed to get myself back onto
solid ground. Sometime after, though I don’t know how long, I
pulled Vakshia’s body back up and got her back to the training
area. And that’s what happened from beginning to end, I swear to
it!”

Several of the High Council members began to
mutter in angry tones yet again. Inevitably, one man’s voice
erupted from amongst the council members, “How can you prove that
Thesmul, who has a good reputation here in the Guild, was initially
in possession of the weapon and not you?”

“I can’t prove anything as I was completely
alone. But let me tell you that he’s guilty as sin,” Baltor
immediately shot back.

The man, after a short pause, asked, “Do you
have any proof as to your innocence regarding the rape and murder
of Vakshia?”

Lupan stood up, looked over at the man on the
other side, and hollered over, “Do you have any proof that he’s
guilty?”

“No, I don’t, Master Lupan, but I am trying
to figure out all the facts. I have known Thesmul for quite some
time, and I don’t think it is possible for him to have done
anything to Vakshia!”

Baltor could no longer hold back his own
anger, and so he asked, “What I’d like to know is why you people
didn’t bother to check into her disappearance in the first place?
And I mean check!”

The man stood up, outraged, and then
challenged, “How dare you! It is us who ask the questions here—it
shall be you who answers! Other than that, keep your mouth shut,
boy.”

At that, Lydia stood up and defended, “Master
Salmot, Baltor has a point. Why didn’t the High Council do a
thorough investigation into her disappearance as soon as it was
known?” Without waiting for his answer, she immediately said,
“Baltor should be declared a hero for the risks he took and
overcame.”

“The High Council has many affairs to attend
to, besides checking into the disappearance of any beginning
students—you know this to be quite true, Mistress Lydia,” Salmot
answered. “But in my opinion, Baltor deliberately tampered with the
scene to make it appear as if Thesmul was the aggressor, rapist and
murderer.”

Most of the High Council stood up and began
arguing amongst each other, especially Lydia and Salmot. One voice,
a feminine one, spoke out above the din.

The second she spoke, the din immediately
quieted, “We should re-examine the area carefully and deliberate
all the evidence in private, without having this student present.
The Guild, our Shangri-La, has been in existence for nearly five
hundred years! However, if you take a close look at us now, you
will agree that we all need to stop acting like schoolchildren. I
say we deliberate in private, without the defendant present.
Agreed?”

“Agreed,” said many voices in unison.

“Humonus, before you escort Baltor out of
here, I have one more question for you,” she said.