Keeper of Wisdom: Fatal Empire Book Two

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

I awoke sometime later into darkness. I sat up and rubbed the grit from my eyes. My lashes felt as if they had been glued shut. How long had I been asleep? I had no idea.

A rough straw pallet prickled my fingers. The air was musty and damp. I pushed aside a coarse blanket and sat up with a faint rustle, waiting for my eyes to adjust.

Where was I? The room was windowless and I sensed it was not large. The floor beneath the soles of my boots was formed of uneven stone blocks. I suppressed a shiver. Between the cool temperature and musty scent, I determined I must be somewhere underground.

As dim shapes started to take form, I spied the glass dome outline of a lantern. I fumbled for the striking kit on my belt and lit the fuse. I winced against the sudden flare of light. My head felt like it had been filled with sand and my mouth tasted awful. My hair hung in dark brown tangles around my shoulders, which were bare. I looked down and realized my tunic was missing.

I ran my weapon-callused hands over my torso in bemusement. I could find no sign of any wounds… Where was my tunic?

I looked up and saw the familiar gray fabric of my servant disguise hanging over the back of a battered wooden chair a few feet away.

It was covered in dried blood.

Admon.

My memories came flooding back. Finding Tahlia’s symbol in the alley. Learning she had been taken by Zamir under the guise of preparing for their upcoming wedding. Going to Admon for help to stop it…

Finding Admon in his study.

My throat tightened and my eyes stung, but I felt as if I had no more tears to give. My eyes and nose were swollen and my throat was raw. Even though I had no memory of arriving at this place, or how long I had been there, I had clearly done a great deal of grieving for Admon already.

A soft creak from across the room sent me into an immediate crouch. My hand drifted to my belt in search of my mother’s dagger, only to find it missing. I snatched up the wooden chair instead, my tunic falling to the floor. I held the chair by the back with the legs pointed toward the door. It was an ungainly weapon, but it was the only thing at hand, unless I wanted to risk hurling the lantern.

Tashidi’s familiar elven features came into view as the door swung wide. He raised an eyebrow at me. “I am glad to see you remember your lessons. May I come in?”

I felt myself flush and lowered the chair to the floor. It was Tashidi who had taught me that anything could be used as a weapon if needed.

The elf entered the room with his usual catlike grace. He balanced a wooden tray in one hand. “Are you hungry?”

The scent of warm flatbread and grilled meat made my mouth water and my stomach rumble. I gave him an eager nod. Tashidi handed the tray over. I sank onto the straw pallet and practically inhaled the wrap he had brought me, washing it down with a mug of melon juice from the tray. I hadn’t known how hungry I was until that moment. The food helped to get rid of the sour taste in my mouth.

Tashidi had settled on the chair to watch me eat. He gave me an appraising look with his pale eyes. “You look better today.” He gave a nod of satisfaction. “I will not have to drug you this time, I think.”

I immediately stopped chewing. “Drug me?” I asked around a mouthful of food, my eyes widening in alarm.

Tashidi sighed. “You were practically catatonic when I first brought you here. And then you seemed to go mad with grief. I was afraid you might do yourself harm, so I took your dagger and slipped something into your water to keep you calm.”

I forced myself to swallow. “You drugged me?”

I don’t know what bothered me more. That I had failed to notice, even after all my training, or that Tashidi had drugged me in the first place.

The elf gave me a pointed look. “Admon would not thank me for allowing you to kill yourself. And you were in no condition to stop me.”

I suppose I should have thanked him, but I could not quite bring myself to do it.

“Where is my mother’s dagger?” I asked instead.

Tashidi reached down and pulled it from his belt. He gave it a negligent flip and handed it to me hilt-first. I took it from him, running my fingers over its familiar surface in reassurance. The sapphire in the pommel glittered in the light of the lantern. I slid the blade back into its sheath on my belt, feeling a bit more like myself.

“Thank you,” I said, actually meaning it. The dagger was all I had left of my mother.

Tashidi lifted his shoulders in a careless shrug. “You would have done the same for me. I am glad you are yourself again. It has been difficult for me to gather any kind of information about what happened. I haven’t dared to leave you for more than a few hours at a time.”

A sudden thought struck me. “Tashidi, how long have I been here?” A cold fear blossomed in the pit of my stomach.

“Two days. This is the third. The sun has just risen. I got to the market early, before the rush.”

Despite Tashidi’s negligent tone, his words struck me like a blow. Two whole days! And today was the third…

Tahlia is marrying Zamir today.

I felt as if I had been doused in ice water. I had counted on Admon helping me to stop the wedding, or helping to slip Tahlia away. He had known nothing about Tahlia, but I had trusted he would know what to do when I told him what had happened.

Now, I was on my own.

I had kept my friendship with Tahlia completely secret. I had only been willing to tell my foster-father about her when my back was against the wall. If Admon were still alive, I would have never considered telling Tashidi about Tahlia. But now he was gone.

I knew I probably should tell Tashidi. He was the only other ally I had. But I stubbornly held back. The elf was my mentor and friend, but what existed between Tahlia and me felt too private to share. Admon had loved me like a son, and had been fighting to disrupt the corrupt status quo of the nobles as part of the greater good. I know he would not have hesitated to help me get Tahlia away from Zamir if I had asked it.

Tashidi was Admon’s friend, but he had always served him out of personal loyalty. As far as I could tell, the elf seemed to have few scruples otherwise. His drugging me was case in point. I could not imagine Admon drugging me and going out to gather information while I was unconscious. But for Tashidi, the end justified the means. I could not risk his unpredictability where Tahlia was concerned.

Tashidi continued speaking while all these thoughts raced through my mind, unaware of my distraction. I listened with half an ear.

“This is a good hiding place,” he was saying. “The city guard will not think to look in the basement of an abandoned wine shop. They are still combing the city for you, of course. The servants gave them a fair description. But this shop was only recently vacated. The new owner is not due to arrive for a few more days. We will have to find another place by then, but I have a few I have been scouting—”

I blinked as his words sank in. “The city guard are still looking for me?”

Tashidi rolled his pale eyes. “Of course. Someone has to be held accountable for the murder of a noble. Otherwise, it makes the city guard, and thus the emperor, look weak. It might also give other people ideas about bumping off nobles without being punished, if no public example is made.”

I should have known. In the empire, justice was a hollow thing. Still, I looked down at the tray in my lap, the food forming a lump in my stomach.

“I can’t believe the servants think I did it.”

Tashidi gave me a wry smile. “One of them saw you with Admon’s blood on your hands and his body in your lap. What was he supposed to think?”

I drew a swift breath of hurt. “But I would never—”

Tashidi raised a hand to forestall me. “I know. But that is how things stand. There is no other potential suspect for them to consider, unless the guard is willing to admit that the nobles’ spell-bound assassins exist. You must not take it personally. I was forced to enter the manse in secret, just in case anyone decided that an elf lurking around might be suspicious. Even though I am known to Admon’s staff, my kind are still newcomers in the empire.”

“You went to the manse?” I blurted.

“Right after I got you back here and made sure you were unable to do anything foolish.” He wrinkled his slender nose. “I wanted to have a look at the scene of the crime before the guards had a chance to contaminate it. They were still too busy running through the streets, looking for you.”

I leaned forward on the pallet, making it rustle. “Did you find anything?”

Admon’s study had been in shambles when I had arrived. Once I had discovered his body, I had been too overcome by shock and grief to investigate. My only contribution had been to secure his precious copy of The Book of Time in its locked drawer inside his desk. I had done it more out of habit than anything else.

I slipped my hand into my pocket to reassure myself my key was still there. Admon had his own copy. I suddenly wished I had thought to find it, but there had been no chance once the servant had raised the alarm.

“I found his desk key,” Tashidi said, as if reading my thoughts. He fished it out of his belt pouch to show me. “I left The Book of Time in its drawer. It was too large for me to bother smuggling out, and there are other copies available. But I did take this.”

He revealed a small leather-bound book with dog-eared pages.