The Boy in the Field (11 page)

“Then we fight back.” You folded the paper. “You’re right.”

Ethan smiled. “I know exactly who to speak to. There’s a guy I
see in the market square. He’ll sign us up for the army. The Serlorans will
train us and then the Liberationists will get in touch.”

* * *

Training with the Serlorans was hard. A lot of the Kinn
soldiers struggled to keep up with them and you and Ethan were no exception,
despite having youth on your side. Nevertheless, you pushed on, determined to
do right by your country. Kinel needed heroes and you were ready.

Being separated from Ethan was the hardest part. Although you
trained together for the first two months, you were housed in separate parts of
the city and rarely found enough free time to meet. Instead, you spoke during
your lunch breaks, passing notes to one another on things you’d overheard.

By the end of the last month’s training, Ethan had managed to
meet with other members of the Kinel Resistance. They called themselves the
Liberationists and it wasn’t only Kinel they planned to free. It was the entire
Serloran Empire.

It didn’t take long for you to convince them that your interest
was genuine and they soon had you carrying out tasks for them. They were small
to begin with, their leaders testing your loyalty, but after a few sabotaged
supply caravans, numerous eavesdrops and a few courier runs, you had their
trust and the real work began.

You moved into a small, ground floor apartment together in a
building shared with the two other soldiers in your team, also members of the
resistance. The four of you worked together on every assignment. Luke was the
oldest and most experienced fighter and could always see the weaknesses in any
man’s defence. Romir was a convicted thief, now reformed and using his skills
to find entry points into ‘secure’ buildings. Ethan brought logistical thinking
and you were always the lookout, spotting people from the longest distance and
instinctively knowing when something wasn’t right. At first, the Luke and Romir
had dismissed your warnings as nerves, but after two successive near-misses,
they agreed your skills were valid.

For two years, your reputation with the Liberationists
increased and more dangerous and important jobs came your way. You lost count
of the amount of weaponry you had helped redirect and the battle plans you had
stolen. Four magisters, Serlora’s military elite, had been sent home because of
you, each one weakening the Empire’s grasp on your country.

“We have a new assignment in Itarsi,” Luke said one evening.
“Another magister, name of Vapasi. I have a sketch in my kit bag.”

Ethan sat up. “Why Itarsi? Why us?”

Luke shrugged. “Maybe he’s dangerous. Come up to ours and I’ll
show you the sketch. Romir’s preparing kit.” He pointed to you. “You start
food.”

You nodded. Food was the easiest to prepare and you never
argued when it was assigned to you. All you had to do was fill two water
pouches per person, pack three pounds of rice each and find some fruit that
wouldn’t perish in the bags. Everything else was sourced along the route. Ethan
came back into the room twenty minutes later.

“You’re not coming on this one,” he said.

You frowned at him. “Why?”

“I know that magister’s face and he’s not good news.” He forced
a smile. “We’re probably not coming back from—”

“Obviously if you don’t take me! I’m the one that keeps you out
of danger.”

He put his hands on your shoulders. “I’m not arguing with you.
You’re not coming.”

You shoved his food pack into his chest. “You’ll regret it.”

* * *

He had been gone for less than an hour when you heard the key
in the door. You glanced over your shoulder towards the door, ready to argue
with him when he asked for your help, but it wasn’t him that you saw. Instead,
it was a magister, the black armour unmistakeable. You put your back against
the wall beside the doorway, hoping that he hadn’t seen you.

Choice:
62. Escape
or
63. Tackle Him

“We have to help the Serlorans. If they get pushed out of the
country by these
Liberationists
, then everything that happened to Landia
will happen again to every other town in the country. The Kinel army
doesn’t
have the strength to defeat the Taatars alone. What’s right is saving our
people.” You sighed. “One of them will win the battle for Kinel and Kinel
doesn’t stand a chance on its own.”

“I don’t want to be a Serloran. I’m a Kinn. I’ve always been a
Kinn.”

You sniffed. “Would you rather be a Kinn living in Serlora or a
Kinn who’s a Taatar’s slave?”

He shook his head. “Under Serlora, we still have our freedom.”

* * *

Hunting wasn’t easy. There was no official training for
hunters and for six months, you and Ethan were never apart. You took every job
together, him teaching you to fight and hunt properly and you showing him how
to survive away from civilisation. Between you, you had all the skills of a
good bounty hunter and yet most of your jobs were more like pest control,
fetching lost cats from neighbours’ sheds and driving stay foxets out of
gardens. It would be a while before your reputations were good enough to earn
you decent money.

Eventually, you began to get better contracts, searching for
fugitives and suspected rebel fighters, even getting enough work that you and
Ethan would sometimes hunt alone, each searching for a different mark. Ethan
was away when you received an invitation from the military council, a rare
opportunity to show off your skills and earn yourself some serious cash.

You visited their offices where you were shown into a small
room with blacked out windows. A man in uniform sat on one side of a wooden
table with a chair on the other for you. As you sat down, he showed you a
drawing of a man in Serloran armour.

“His name is Anek Amitava,” the soldier said. “He is working
with the resistance movement calling themselves the Liberationists. He has
killed seven of our men already. The evidence he leaves points to our own men,
men we know could not have committed the crimes. That’s why we need you.” He
slid an envelope across the table. “Find him and stop him by any means.”

“What’s this?”You took the envelope and looked inside. It
contained enough cash to pay your rent for six months.

“For expenses,” he said. “You’ll get double when you bring him
in.”

Choice:
64. Accept the Job
or
65. Turn It
Down

You kept quiet as the man came closer, wrapping your fingers
around the handle of a knife on the table. He drew level, took one step further
and you lunged, driving the blade between the metal of the helmet and the
breastplate. He reacted before the edge touched his skin, lifting you over his
shoulder and slamming you into the ground.

You coughed, winded from the impact. He kicked your hand,
sending the knife clattering across the room. With his foot on your fingers, he
stopped.

“Are you okay?” He took off his helmet, staring at you in
stunned silence.

“I thought you were dead.”

“I’ve been gone an hour. Why would I be—?”

“Cut the crap, Noah. I know it’s you.”

He smiled and put his hand out to help you up. “Sorry. What
gave me away?”

“Everything.” You glanced over his armour, his face, the way he
stood. “You’re a magister?”

“Yes. And you’re a Liberationist. Can you predict how this
conversation is going to go?” He gestured to one of the chairs. “Shall we
talk?”

Choice:
77. Talk
or
78. Fight

You edged towards the window, sliding it open and slipping
away down the alley at the side of the house.

“Excuse me, Miss.”

A man stepped into your path. You turned. Another blocked your
exit that way too. You stopped.

“How can I help you, gentlemen?”

“Is this your house?”

Choice:
112. “Yes, I Live Here”
or
113. “No, It’s
Not”

You kept quiet as the man came closer, wrapping your fingers
around the handle of a knife on the table. He drew level, took one step further
and you lunged, trying to drive the blade between his helmet and breastplate.
Before the knife had made contact with the metal, the magister reacted,
twisting your arm over your head and kicking you hard across the backs of both
knees. You fell hard, the impact with the floor knocking the breath from your
chest.

“Are you okay?”

You coughed, taking a moment to catch your breath. When he took
his helmet off, you could do nothing but stare at him, bewildered. Ethan was
looking down at you, only something was different about him. It took you a
moment to work out what.

“What are you doing here?”

“I forgot—”

“Don’t try to fool me, Noah. I know it’s you.”

He smiled as he pulled you to your feet. “What gave me away?”

“Everything.” You glanced over his armour, his face, the way he
stood. “You’re a magister?”

“Of all the questions you could have asked, is that really the
one you want me to answer?”

Choice:
114. “Why Are You Here?”
or
115.
“What Happened To Landia?”

You slipped the envelope into your pocket. “Thank you,
gentlemen. I am sure we will meet again soon.”

You left a note for Ethan and set out the same day. It didn’t
take a lot of effort to track the man, but finding him alone was a different
matter. For almost a week, you followed him, learning his habits and
weaknesses. He had no family, spent a long time in taverns and was almost never
without his partner, another Serloran soldier who you suspected was just as
crooked.

You managed to corner him in the alley beside a tavern one
night as he stepped out to pee. You made sure he didn’t see your face as you
dropped down behind him, knife in hand. He fell as you struck him below the
ribs. Before he hit the ground, you were out of the alley, away to collect your
reward.

One of the skills required to be a good hunter was the ability
to make a kill without leaving any evidence. Another was knowing which targets
the military wouldn’t bother investigating. Anek Amitava was one of them. They
didn’t even question you.

When you went into the office to collect your payment, the
soldier took you back to the same, dark room. This time, two envelopes waited
for you on the table, one brown, the other white. He sat down and gestured for
you to do the same.

“The white one contains your payment. The brown one contains
double,” he said. “Pick one.”

Choice:
99. Brown
or
100. White

“Thank you, gentlemen, but no thank you.” You pushed the
envelope back. “I know the kind of people you hire for these jobs are
expendable and I’ve spent long enough standing in fire to know when I’m being
burned. Good day.” You stood and left the building.

Ethan was away longer than he ought to have been on his
contract. It was the first time since you had arrived in Kinta that you had
worried something had happened to him. You asked around the job boards, trying
to find out if anyone had seen him.

He arrived home two days later with a smile on his face and a
stack of cash in his pocket. You stared at him and shook your head.

“Anek Amitava,” you said.

He nodded. “It was too good a job to turn down.” He frowned.
“How did you know?”

“
I
turned it down.”

“Oh.” He sat down. “Why?”

“Complete that job and they’ll find you another. And another.
And it will get more dangerous each time until they’re asking you to
assassinate the King or the Emperor. Fail at any point, they’ll deny all
knowledge and you’ll be screwed.”

“So, you think I should turn them down the next time they ask?”
He took the money out of his bag and lined the bundles on the table. “I won’t
have to work for the rest of the year and I’ll have money left over. It wasn’t
dangerous. It wasn’t difficult. I didn’t get caught.”

You shook your head. “You might not be so lucky next time.”

He smiled. “Are you worried about me,
masuki
?”

“Of course I’m worried about you. You’re the only person in the
world I’ve got left to care about.”

He stood up and moved behind you, running his fingers over your
shoulders. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Promise me that.”

“Okay.” He leaned close to your ear. “I promise. Now how about
you make me a promise?”

“What?”

He moved to stand in front of you and then sunk to one knee.
“Promise you’ll never leave me. And marry me.”

You grinned.

The End
(Back to start)

“You’re right. We’ll go to Hijara.” You took his hand. “But if
you do something stupid, you will lose your job. And I might lose mine too.”

“So let me sign up alone. You do Kinta. I’ll tell you
everything I find out.”

“Are you kidding? I’m not letting you go alone.” You grinned.

* * *

You passed through Landia on the way to Hijara. It was like a
ghost town, the buildings all broken and empty. Five miles from the town, by
Lake Landia, you found the remnants of a Taatar camp. All that remained was
fragments of fabric, broken pottery and animal bones. Two sets of tracks led
away from the site, one going towards the desert and the other, larger group
towards Hijara.

The closer you got, the worse the fighting became. You survived
two ambushes, countless skirmishes and a dozen raids but never came any closer
to finding Ethan. For every Taatar you killed, Noah killed two more and yet
they never seemed to stop coming.

Every day was harder. There was never time to rest. Friends and
colleagues fell. You knew it was only a matter of time before you lost him too.

Choice:
81. Convince him to Desert
or
82.
Keep Fighting