Chapter Two
She entered the captain’s meeting hall to find it already full. A dozen of the twenty-one captains were already present, some in similar states of casual dress. A number of them must have been pulled out of bed. She saw Traedon’s captain standing off to the side and gave him a nod. As she approached him he returned her greeting.
“Captain Borreal,” she said, “I see you received a request as well.”
The shorter man nodded, “It seems we all did and are merely waiting for the captains who took longer to rouse themselves.”
“Any idea what this is about?”
“None.”
One by one the rest of the captains trickled in. The late comers looking like they’d taken the time to put themselves together. She couldn’t fault them for it. After all, she’d taken time to finish her affair and walk her barrack member back to his post.
Once they were all present an older-looking man with short, steel grey hair stepped to a raised platform at the back of the room: Captain Mazaran. The captains fell silent as he began to speak.
“We have an urgent and potentially dangerous matter on our hands. I sent a summons as quietly as possible and downplayed the urgency because I did not want to arouse undue interest. We have found two guards slain at their post by the research library. They were not guarding the development center and the guards in that area report hearing nothing. While there is nothing but research information the intruder could have stolen the implication is not good.”
“The area is so low risk the fact that we placed two guards there was not well known, even internally. This was a coincidence, one of the guards was being trained. Since no other guards encountered an intruder nor any sign of one we have to fear the worst: that the killer came from within our own ranks, mapped out a path to avoid the areas well-known to be guarded, and was surprised to find these two.”
“Select members of research have been alerted and are conducting an inventory to see what has been disturbed or taken. This event is to remain quiet. We do not need a panic looking for infiltrators. Please inform your lieutenants and no one else. Does anyone have information that may relate to this?”
The captains looked grim. An infiltration could mean traitors in the midst of their barracks. An unpleasant prospect all around.
A woman with short hair and a scarred face stepped forward, “Captain Mazaran, may I ask how these men were killed? And did no one hear them raise an alarm?”
“Both good questions, Captain Lenoi. One had his throat slashed from behind, the other was run through from the side. Given that he did not have time to turn and face his attacker we can assume the attacker was exceptionally fast. I do not think this rules anyone out however, a member of our barracks could be concealing their abilities.”
Lenoi stepped back and another captain stepped forward, a dark young man with vibrant blue eyes. “Captain Mazaran, may I ask when the bodies were found and if we know when they were killed?”
Captain Mazaran nodded and addressed the young captain, “Captain Jenue. They were found roughly forty minutes ago at twelve fifteen this morning. Dr. Allan is examining them now. I will inform you all as soon as we know the results of his investigation.”
Captain Horan stepped forward. Dahlia masked her impulse to twist her face in disgust. “Captain Mazaran,” he asked, “may I ask what our next actions will be?”
“Captain Horan, I will inform you all when the investigation of the bodies and the investigation of the research library are complete and what we’ve found. I will call on you as needed to assist the efforts to find the infiltrator. Captain Borreal will command the investigation.” Beside her, Borreal shifted slightly. Likely a surprise to him then, though not unexpected. Borreal was well respected among the force and recognized as being extremely intelligent and thorough with anything he did. She’d actually been assigned to his barrack as a new soldier, in part because she had been such a wild card.
Captain Mazaran continued, “All of you should remain alert and report anything worth a second look to him. I ask that you not draw attention to it by investigating anything yourselves.” Captain Horan nodded and withdrew.
An enormous man, heavily muscled and scarred, wearing linen sleep pants and an open shirt stepped forward. All eyes were drawn to him. Captain Ravin of Barrack Nine, the combat specialists. He would have been handsome save for a long scar that marred his face. It ran from his forehead through his left eye and down to his jaw, giving him a savage look that matched his reputation.
His abilities had gone undetected as a young man until he wound up in a fight with one of the lieutenants outside the confines of the barracks. From what Dahlia had heard of the story, the lieutenant was lucky to have lived. Ravin had been offered a place in the force immediately, skipping the traditional training, and had accepted.
She’d heard that after that he’d gained his rank simply by winning every fight he’d ever been in until it became clear that no man on the force was his equal and no captain was willing to try and manage him. An absolutely brutal fighter, he’d proven to be as effective directing others in a fight as being in them himself. So despite his lack of respect or decorum he’d been given command of a barrack.
He was one of the few people that could make Dahlia feel unsettled and he didn’t seem to think much of her. So despite the fact that his barrack bordered hers, they’d kept their distance.
His voice was a deep, raspy growl, as though his vocal chords were as scarred as his chest and arms. “Captain Mazaran, why are we making an effort to keep all of this quiet when the killer must know his actions have alerted us to his presence? Wouldn’t it be better to put our men on alert and have the full force watching for the traitor?”
Captain Mazaran nodded again though Dahlia caught the slightest flicker of wariness in his eyes. She doubted anyone else would have seen it.
“Captain Ravin, I agree that a thousand eyes are better than sixty-three, but I am hopeful that we can resolve this quickly without sewing seeds of distrust. We may get lucky and the killer may think we concluded that this was done by an outside force.”
Captain Ravin nodded slowly but a vicious grin spread over his face, “I understand your strategy and I will follow it but I know my soldiers would consider it quite the morale boost to catch a traitor and a backstabber in our midst.”
Dahlia saw a number of the other captains nod as well. Ravin might be accepted into their ranks for his sheer strength and skill alone but Dahlia had noticed he could be surprisingly astute when he chose. It made him all the more disconcerting.
Captain Mazaran nodded, acknowledging both the agreement to follow the path he had laid out and the sentiment behind Ravin’s words but said no more. Ravin stepped back and leaned against the wall behind him, clearly having said all he’d planned to.
No other captains stepped forward so Mazaran dismissed them, “Go back to bed, say only that we may have an outside enemy that broke in but that they encountered our guards and fled. Captain Borreal, Captain DeMorra, please remain.”
The captains drifted out, moving off in different directions. Dahlia and Borreal remained.
Mazaran nodded to his lieutenant, the only officer who had attended besides the captains, and the man checked that the doors were closed.
“Captain DeMorra, Puppet Master,” Mazaran inclined his head towards Dahlia. She acknowledged the formal title with a nod.
He went on, “Have you heard any murmurs of this? Treachery? The research library?”
Dahlia shook her head, “No, Captain. I have not had anything like that brush my mind but I will create a trap tonight to watch for such thoughts. If his mind is unguarded for even a moment he will be exposed.”
“Very well, report anything you find to Captain Borreal.” He waved his hand to show she was dismissed.
Dahlia bowed and walked out, back into the night.
Tracing her way back her steps were smooth and unhurried but she covered ground quickly. She planned the trap she would set as she passed by the trees and buildings in the night.
Distracted, she wandered through her own barrack, past the main area to the section that held her room and those of her first and second lieutenants. Entering her own room she began immediately, first locating her tools. A mirror, a knife made from jet, honey, and a stick of coal were all she needed. At this point she didn’t even really need props to focus her energy. It just made it easier and, since she had them available, why not?
She lit the beeswax candles that formed a perimeter around her room. She had set a shield in them years ago that allowed her to lower the guard on her own mind and see outside into others’ while still maintaining a barrier for anyone looking for her mind. It was a shield only she could reach out through, the energy set to resonate only with her.
Once she felt that shield manifest she then lowered the shield she kept tight around her mind. She reached out and allowed the sensations to rush by her. The minds and thoughts blurred together until she focused on one. She could pick out Genji and Nel, still with the other guard at their post. She could pick out Lieutenant Traedon, asleep. She let them go and returned to the quiet of her room as she pulled the hand mirror to her.
She began drawing a maze on the mirror. It was part of a labyrinth as familiar to her as her own hand. “A place to keep them,” she murmured.
Finishing the maze, she dripped honey into the middle. “A lure to bring them.”
Then she took the knife and cut across her forearm. “Will to ensnare them.”
As her blood dripped onto the mirror Dahlia pushed energy into its reflective surface. She felt energy flowing into the trap and the mirror’s surface pulsed with light. The reflection distorted as ghostly thoughts sped by, flowing into the trap and back out as the mirror searched for the trail of a traitor.