Tell Me No Lies
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The year is 699 the Year of the Black Earth War. It had been three days since we landed, and the food situation had become critical. The smell of cooked fish in the galley made my stomach growl. “That smells wonderful,” I told Yosipov, who had come by with a tray of dishes.
The boy grinned at me; he was still pleased to have won the wager with the cook about whose cooking was best. He could afford to be generous now that we were finally on our way to our goal, where it would be much easier to win bets.
In any case, the food in the galley was not half bad, especially given how hungry everyone must have been. It helped that some of the other recruits had brought their own rations with them.
We were all thankful for what we’d been served; it was almost like the good old days when we’d sat down together around the fire on nights after hard-fought hunts, eating whatever the cooks had managed to prepare.
“Thank you, Yosipov.” I took off my cloak and laid it across my lap as I settled down on the bench beside him. “Have you spoken to Tisam yet? I saw her working out in the yard earlier.”
“She’s not back from patrol yet, sir. She might be on the way.” Yosipov went back to the kitchen door, then looked over his shoulder at me and gave a brief nod.
“I’ll keep an eye out for her.” I could only hope that she hadn’t been sent on duty without anyone else being there to protect us. With these recruits, one couldn’t assume anything. The thought of it made me tense up a bit. I found myself thinking about what she would say if she ever found out I’d killed Vali, which did nothing for my nerves. “So how are we doing so far?”
Yosipov shrugged. “About half of them seem to have gone into shock, and they’ve all started praying to someone named ‘The Voice.’ The rest aren’t as affected, but some of them just don’t care. I haven’t seen anyone openly defy the order not to talk.”
I nodded. “That’s something.” It wasn’t much, but it was a good sign; that meant there had not been many deaths so far. When you’re in charge of training, you can never assume anything, however, or your own life will be in jeopardy sooner than you expect.
There’s always someone who thinks he knows more about how things should be done than you do, and a bad apple is often a terrible thing for morale. But we were not in a position to turn back now. So far we’d had only two recruits die.
Both of them had been elderly men, so we were lucky there. Some of the younger men had died, though; we could still feel their spirits lingering nearby on our way down here. They had been young, and they must have loved this world and these people enough to make the sacrifice.
“Good.” I glanced around. “I saw Aida talking with Kratos. Do you think she has a chance? He’s obviously taken a liking to her. Maybe we can pull her aside and tell her to use whatever magic she has left.”
Yosipov gave a short laugh. “You’re right. I’d forgotten all about him.”
We both looked over at the dining hall. Yosipov frowned, as if he wished he’d been able to change places with me, then he nodded and said, “He’ll have her.”
Aida was sitting beside Kratos, sharing a plate of food. The boy looked up when I entered, and his eyes went straight to Aida’s, who was staring back at him. She kept her head lowered as they talked. As much as I wished it were otherwise, I could see that he was in love with her.
“He really likes her,” Yosipov remarked. “Maybe he won’t do anything rash.”
“It doesn’t look like we should count on it.”
The other recruits were coming in as well, some of them yawning. We could hear the faint sounds of shouting from outside as they marched back from patrol. The day’s work must have finished without incident, which made my mood lighten a bit.
But as the recruits came in one by one, I could tell that it had not been so easy for some of the others. Not all of them were as lucky as Aida. There would be many more who’d never come back.
“Here she comes now.” Yosipov pointed out Aida. I didn’t need the reminder.
She sat down beside us, taking off her cloak and handing it to Yosipov, who gave a small bow. Aida’s head went down, but Yosipov put the cloak into her lap. The young recruit stood there holding her arm, looking over her shoulder at us. I felt a chill run through me as I realized what was happening. It was something I’d seen happen before.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your conversation,” Aida said. “But I’ve been sent to you with bad news.” Her voice was low, and I saw that her eyes were glistening. “There are two of my friends who are injured badly. I know it will be a while before they wake up, but…” She shook her head as if trying to deny her own words. “They’re dead, sir.”
Yosipov and I looked at each other. In a way, we knew it had to happen sooner or later. There hadn’t been many of these recruits left. But we’d hoped it would never be so soon.
“So what do you want of us?” Yosipov asked. I thought I knew what was coming. It was one thing for us to learn how to fight, but it was another to put that knowledge into practice. Not all soldiers die in the first skirmish; they’re sometimes captured, too. If Aida and Kratos wanted to get them back, we needed to help.
“They’re on a train,” Aida said. “They were found by the guards, and the train has now gone out of the station. But it can be stopped easily enough. Only you can stop it, sir. If only… I could help.”
Aida’s hands were shaking. “Please, sir. We need you to come with us. It will only take a short time, and then you’ll have them back safe and sound.” She had the same pleading expression as when she’d talked about the missing child. She must not think I noticed, though, for she continued without pause. “We have to go now. They’ll be leaving in less than a day.”
“You’re right,” I said, surprised at myself. “She’s right. We should hurry, but before we go, you must tell us how we can do this. Is there some way you can take the train out of service?”
Aida’s eyes went wide as if she were seeing us for the first time as if we were not our usual selves. I suppose that made sense. This was all very strange. In fact, I wondered where Kratos had been. I hadn’t seen him anywhere.
Then I realized he had probably stayed behind with Aida; he would have wanted her to know everything before we went. I could see how desperate she was for someone to help her.
Yosipov stood up. He looked around, his lips pursed in thought. I stood up, too, and walked over to the table. Aida took her cloak from Yosipov and handed it to me. As I put my hand inside, the hood came away from the collar, and I saw that Yosipov had knotted the hood into a bow. The leather was still warm, and I could feel the hair beneath it. I had to look away for a moment.
“Let us get them back,” I said. I felt a pang at the thought. It was good that I was doing this, that I would save lives rather than take them. But I knew that they were no longer ours. They had gone to their deaths willingly. But I was glad to know that we would be there with them when the time came, just as we were when the children died.
“I’m sure the others will understand.” I was surprised at how steady I sounded, but then I realized I was feeling more relief than sadness. At least these were not children, or I’d have been weeping freely.
Aida nodded. “Yes. And you must come quickly. If we wait long enough, the train will be long gone.” She glanced around at the mess of benches and tables. I tried to picture this place as it had been only a short time ago, with us drinking tea, and laughing about something I’d seen. I looked again at Aida’s face, her eyes shining bright with tears.
“Well, let us go then,” I said, putting my arm through hers.
***
The first thing I noticed was how much more comfortable the ride was. It was late evening now, and the wind had changed. The air was clear and cool. We sat on the train, Kratos in front of me and Yosipov behind. We had covered our faces, which I was sure would cause suspicion, but if anyone had been looking for us, I think we would have been stopped anyway.
“We’ll have to get out on the bridge,” Aida said. “Then we can stop the engine.”
I nodded. It was a good plan. In fact, we should probably have been doing this all along. As she spoke, though, I wondered what had happened to the soldiers. Had they been killed? Or had they just run away? If the latter, it wouldn’t be too hard to stay ahead of them.
I wasn’t sure we could manage the same trick twice. But there were still five soldiers to deal with. I was worried for Aida. She was so young and inexperienced, and she had never used a weapon before. Perhaps it was unfair to put this burden on her. I should be able to fight without help. It was Kratos’s strength that had gotten us here, his training, his fighting instinct.
It occurred to me that we could use our invisibility on Yosipov, too, that we might be able to deceive the rest of the guards by making him look like Kratos. I couldn’t imagine that many would notice, even if we did nothing else right.
“You will need to do something to keep yourself safe,” Aida said. “If you die, there is no one to help us.”
Kratos grunted. He had a point. This wasn’t going to be easy, not after all the time we’d spent fighting together.
“Can you hold your breath?” Yosipov asked me suddenly. “It may make the swim easier.”
I nodded, but I couldn’t tell whether he was being serious or just trying to distract me from my thoughts. I glanced back at him. His face was calm, expressionless; his eyes were thoughtful, almost sad. I wondered where he was heading, whether he had found the home that was waiting for him.
Yosipov stood up. He grabbed the handrail and then reached down, his hand reaching to mine. We clasped hands, and as he did so, the cloak slipped away from my hand. The hood fell free, and for a moment we looked at each other. He held out his other hand to me, but I didn’t take it. I just smiled, and we both leaned over and pushed ourselves overboard, into the dark water.
The wind pulled the cloak away again. “Hold still!” I called out. But I was already moving through the water, buoyant enough that I barely had to move my legs. I saw the edge of the bridge, which looked even farther away than I’d expected.
Yosipov’s head bobbed above the surface of the water, then sank. I swam quickly toward it, feeling the pull of the bridge pulling me back. My lungs hurt, and I thought I’d never make it, but then Kratos reached me. He grabbed my wrist, and I leaned over to give him a kiss.
It was like breathing air again as if the world had just become a better place. We pulled ourselves onto the rail, then ducked underwater to get out of view. As soon as our heads broke the surface again, there was a great splash of water as Yosipov splashed into the sea and a shout from the guards who were just starting to realize what had happened.
We pulled ourselves along the edge of the bridge. We couldn’t go too close to the train tracks, for fear they would see us, but we could at least stay on the top of the rail, hidden by the shadow of the bridge itself. It was a narrow bridge, and with the train roaring in front of it, it must have been hard for the guard to be sure that nothing was happening.
“I think we’re going to have to risk the tunnel,” I said. “It’s the only way I’m going to make it across.”
“You mean you can’t do it without me?”
“No.”
Kratos nodded, and when we were almost back to where I’d dropped Yosipov, he grabbed one of the men’s weapons, a big knife. I used the other as well. There was no need to explain that if they found Yosipov, I’d rather they killed us than him.
We left the shadows and swam up along the edge of the bridge, staying far enough away from the tracks so as not to get run over. The noise of the trains was deafening, and Kratos cursed every time a wind gust or a gust of air blew against him.
Finally, we reached the tunnel. It had been dug under the same cliffside as the bridge, though it wasn’t quite so high. A great stone archway led into the dark, and the rails ran along the bottom, running below street level. I waved at the guards, who were still huddled around the hole in the cliff. “Are you coming, or are we waiting here all night?”
The three men who’d been sent down the cliff face were already climbing back up to join us. They were young, too young to have ever fought any real battle. I hoped I could use that to our advantage. We waited until they were halfway out, then I stepped forward to meet them.
They weren’t wearing armor, just the kind of clothes you’d expect on a train guard, with belts full of pepper and a knife for each, a long bow and arrows in the others. “Who goes there?” one asked me. He was about my height, his skin as dark as mine, and he carried a spear that looked as if it’d never been used. His hair was thick and unkempt; I had the impression of a wild, untamed boy.
“Who’s going to pay for this tunnel, you or I?” I asked.
He shrugged, confused. “Who—”
Kratos hit him.
The blow knocked the man out, but it also sent the spear spinning away. Kratos grabbed the young man’s wrist and wrenched the knife out. He held the blade against his throat, while I kept the other hand pressed against his mouth and nose, so he couldn’t breathe. “Tell your men to come quietly.”
He nodded, then spoke. “Come along now, gentlemen,” he said to the men waiting on the tunnel wall. “You’re not in much trouble. We don’t want no bloodshed. But I’m warning you now, the next man who shoots at us is going to get killed by two men with big swords, and he’s probably going to deserve it, so—”
Yosipov suddenly kicked my leg. I reached down and pulled him onto his feet. “I can’t believe you!”
“That was brilliant, Papa! What did he do?”
“You know how the story goes: I could have gotten away, but I was too stupid to get out of my own way.”
“Now you are being mean again.” Yosipov grinned at me, and I could see him becoming more alive. It had been hard when we lost him, but there were some good things about being here in this time. “You should be nice to me. We’re going to have a lot of adventures together.”
“All right, all right, don’t get carried away now!” I slapped his shoulder. He was trying to punch me, and I dodged the blow by diving into the tunnel and holding up my arms. The men outside began shouting, but I didn’t let go. “What are you doing? Where’s that knife you just had?”
“I’m not sure.” He looked back at the men on the wall, then to the tunnel, which was open to the street. “Maybe they took it.”
“They’re going to come down here now,” I said. “Are you still in contact with the other guards?”
“No.” He frowned as if he couldn’t understand. “If we could find another way—”
A dark figure was coming down the steps to join us, and I guessed that Kratos would have the man dead before he got a word out. The guard saw who was coming and screamed. But it was already too late for him; there was no stopping him, and the first blow was just the beginning of the end.
***
There was a second, smaller tunnel off the main one, and we slipped inside. I sent Yosipov ahead with a torch, to try and lead them away from our hiding place. There was only room for three of us in this tunnel, but Yosipov didn’t object when Kratos pushed him in with me.
It wasn’t long until I felt someone grab my hand and pull me around to look into a narrow tunnel, and then Kratos was beside me. He’d killed another guard, I thought—he seemed so calm. And then he hit me.
“Who’s there?” asked the guard. He was older and wore armor that I guessed had once been mine. “Come along now. You’re going to get hurt!”
Kratos was still facing him, but he pulled me back and turned his face to mine. He pointed to the man, then at himself. “I’m telling you, I’ve done nothing—”
“I’ll kill him.” Kratos stepped forward and swung his sword through the man’s neck. “You want to die like him?”
The body fell against me, and I realized that it wasn’t my father or Kratos who’d killed him.
We took turns killing them as if we were taking part in some ritual dance. There was no need to stop, but suddenly the air was full of the sound of the soldiers pounding down the stairs outside. We killed five more men before I forced myself to look away from the blood and the dead.
The men who died were so different than the men they replaced; it wasn’t just their age, or how hard they fought. It was what they were fighting for, and why. And it was all right to kill them because I’d be one of them soon enough.
Kratos killed two more men, then he looked at me and nodded, so I turned away again. He’d finished off most of our foes when a voice called out behind us.
“Where are you? Come here now!”
It was the old soldier who had taken my armor. I wondered if he was going to try to arrest me again, but Yosipov was already pulling on my hand and trying to drag me along. We went past the man, who shouted something in return. I couldn’t understand.
We came out into an empty square of what I guessed was a city street. There were other buildings close by, but these were all low-ceilinged. Here and there were doors, leading in different directions. I glanced at my son, who was carrying the torch. “Did you find another way out?”
“Yes, Papa.” His answer was quick, and he didn’t turn to look back at me.
I nodded to myself. He must have used some kind of spell. That would explain why the others were gone, and why they hadn’t stopped us. But where did he think we were going? And could the Empire really be behind this?
Yosipov found an open doorway, and we went inside. The walls were painted dark red. Someone had painted a white circle in the middle, and above that a blue shape—the same symbol I’d seen at the top of the mountain.
I tried not to let it mean anything as Yosipov began peering at the room around us, then at the walls. I tried not to think about what would happen if the Empire discovered him—that was the least of his worries, after all.
A door opened behind me. I spun, ready to attack, but Kratos held up his hand for silence. He turned back toward the open doorway and listened. I saw him frown; he seemed to be thinking that they were far away. Then he nodded, and we went into a narrow corridor.
It ran in one direction for about fifty paces before opening on a wider passage. From there Yosipov led us up stairs. A man with a spear blocked our way, and I remembered again what he’d done to the guards on the wall.
“I’m here!” said Yosipov. “It’s me. I’ve brought them—”
The spearman glanced back at his men. “And who are these?”
Yosipov looked at him for a moment, then raised his arm, holding the torch. I saw him hesitate, and then raise it, so that its light fell on the man. It wasn’t my Yosipov anymore. The man backed off a step or two, and Kratos grabbed him, throwing him aside as easily as if he were a child.
“Get down! Get out of here!” yelled Yosipov, his voice suddenly strong. “You don’t want to get in trouble for this.” He ran toward the men blocking our way, then pulled them aside. We dashed past the soldiers, Kratos pulling Yosipov by the arm until he stumbled.
There was another soldier, standing just inside a door. He raised an alarm when he saw us, but Kratos knocked him out with a single punch, sending him reeling. He dragged Yosipov through the doorway, and I followed them. I wondered what kind of punishment Yosipov would face for that, but the thought was too remote. For once I had no intention of looking back.
The End