Once Upon a Time

第44章 Chapter (1)

“I was starting to et your face,” Sirri said the moment he joined them at the appointed place half a tarsec away from the Blind.

Ignoring her, Rohan looked at Warrehn and the kid held in his grasp.

He did a double take, frowning. He had been led to believe the apprentice was older, but surely this kid couldn’t be older than seventeen. Despite the fierce scowl on his face, the boy’s features were soft and refined in a way that was usually lost as boys grew into men.

“How old even is he?” Rohan said, looking at Warrehn.

Warrehn shrugged. “He refuses to say.”

“Old enough to be a pain in our asses,” Sirri said with a scowl. She and the kid glared balefully at each other.

Rohan’s eyebrows crept up. “Are we sure he’s the Grandmaster’s apprentice? I didn’t think they encouraged emotion.”

He received a withering look from the kid.

Sirri snorted. “He’s touchy about it.” She glanced at her multi-device. “We should get moving.”

“Everything clear?” Rohan asked.

Sirri nodded. “Their people really left. Everyone but the Grandmaster.”

Warrehn’s blue eyes kept glancing around warily. “Doesn’t mean we aren’t tracked somehow. Let’s get moving.” He shoved the kid forward, though it was surprisingly gentle for him.

At Rohan’s surprised glance, Sirri leaned to him and murmured, “That little snake is smart as hell and manipulative like you wouldn’t believe. He quickly figured out that Warrehn used to have a little brother and learned how to play on his pity. He almost managed to escape after he convinced Warrehn that the rope was hurting his wrists and must be loosened.”

Rohan grimaced but didn’t say anything as he followed Warrehn and the kid. Sirri fell into step with him. Knowing what wasing, Rohan spoke before she could. “What do your senses say about this meeting? Does it feel like a trap?”

Sirri shot him a look that made it clear that she knew exactly what he was doing. “I’m not sure. It doesn’t feel like a trap, but I sense…” She pursed her lips. “I sense danger. As if we’re going to meet someone the likes of which we’ve never dealt with.” She smiled uneasily. “It’s probably just my nerves playing tricks with me. You know my gift isn’t precise.”

Rohan nodded.

“So…” Sirri said. “Where were you all this time?”

“Noment,” Rohan said.

He received a telepathic smack for that. “I’m not a fucking reporter. It isn’t going to work on me, you ass!”

“It’s none of your business where I was, and it’s neither the time nor the place to talk about it. Keep quiet.”

Sirri glared at him, but she did be quiet.

They walked for a short while before they finally reached the Blind. They could no longer trace the High Adept’s identification chip’s signal. Only powerful electronic devices like the TNIT could work within the Blind; weaker electronics and the GlobalNet didn’t.

“Can you feel him, Warrehn?” Rohan said, stretching his senses as far as possible. He couldn’t sense anyone.

Pulling out a blaster, Warrehn grunted in the affirmative and changed their direction. The kid in his grip seemed to perk up, too. Rohan wondered about it. They didn’t know anything about the modern High Hronthar. Did masters and apprentices have a telepathic bond? Could that kid actuallymunicate with his master from a distance?

The thought made him uneasy.

His wariness only increased once he was able to sense the Grandmaster, too. He was powerful, as expected, possibly as powerful as Warrehn, but it wasn’t what made Rohan tense. Every grown telepath had a distinct, recognizable telepathic presence, individual for everyone once the telepath fully grew into their powers. But Grandmaster Idhron didn’t have one. His telepathic presence remained elusive, hard to pin down. It was disconcerting. It was as disconcerting as a person without a face.

A sideways glance at Sirri confirmed that she was just as thrown off. “Creepy,” she muttered, pulling out her own blaster.

Rohan shrugged, pushing away his unease. They didn’t know what they taught at the High Hronthar these days. Maybe it was the norm for all masters.

The man waiting for them in the small clearing looked… jarringly normal. He was tall, about Rohan’s height, his long, pale hair tied back. He wasn’t wearing the traditional white, richly adorned robes of the High Adept. Instead, he was wearing simple dark brown robes that did a piss-poor job of hiding the fact that the monk was a man in very good physical shape.

“Master!” the kid said, smiling.

The Grandmaster’s expressionless face didn’t change. His cold eyes gave his apprentice a quick examination from head to toe before looking at his captors. Something shifted about him when his gaze fell on Warrehn, but the emotion was gone so quickly Rohan wasn’t sure what it was. The Grandmaster looked from Warrehn to Sirri before his gaze finally settled on Rohan.

“Well?” he said, looking at Rohan and ignoring the other two. “What do you want?”

Rohan narrowed his eyes, wondering about it. “You know who I am. I’m sure you can put two and two together.”

His guess was proven correct when the monk didn’t bother denying it.

“Indeed,” Idhron conceded, his face still blank. Rohan couldn’t read him at all. “But I am not here to talk about my suspicions. I am here to get back what you took. Eridan,e here.”

Warrehn barked out a harsh laugh, tightening his grip on his captive. “You seriously think I’m letting the kid go, just like that?”

Idhron didn’t look away from Rohan. “Tell him to release my apprentice.” The unsaid threat was more effective than it had any right to be, considering that Idhron was outnumbered three to one.

“Look,” Rohan said with a sigh. “We didn’t want to get the kid involved at all, but it was the only way to get you to talk to us on our terms.”

“And what makes you think kidnapping a simple apprentice would make me more cooperative?” Idhron said. “He’s just a boy, one of hundreds of initiates eager to learn from me. I could have him replaced at a moment’s notice.”

Rohan glanced at the boy in question. Eridan dropped his gaze, but Rohan didn’t miss the hurt look that flashed in those violet eyes. Even Rohan felt a little bad for the boy and he didn’t know him at all. Warrehn was frowning deeply.

“Then what are you doing here?” Rohan said, looking back at the Grandmaster. “If he’s so worthless to you?”

Idhron didn’t say anything for a moment. “I didn’t say that he was worthless. It would be a pity to have wasted years of my time on him if I were to take another apprentice. He is of some worth to me, but you are delusional if you think I will not sacrifice him if you try to use him against me.”

Rohan couldn’t sense any hint of deception, and even rationally, he knew Idhron must be telling the truth. Why would the Grandmaster of the High Hronthar care about one boy when he had hundreds of initiates eager to take his place?

It was all for nothing. They’d risked everything for nothing.

Before Rohan could say anything, Sirri chuckled.

“He’s lying,” she said. When Idhron looked at her, she smirked. “Oh, you’re good. I would have totally believed you. Except I have a feeling that what you just said is a load of bullshit and if we believe you, we’ll make a huge mistake.”

On the inside, Rohan breathed out.

“She has a gift for premonition,” Rohan clarified for Idhron. “So shall we try again?”

Idhron’s lips thinned. He was silent for a while, looking between Rohan and Sirri before saying, “What do you want?”

“Stop twisting public opinion against us. That’s our first demand.”

“First? I presume there is a second?”

“You’ll clear our name from the murder of Prince-Consort Mehmer,” Rohan said. “As long as we’re blamed for the murder of a royal, the Council won’t even listen to us. We’ll be arrested on the spot.”

Idhron stared at Rohan for a long moment.

Unease twisted Rohan’s gut, his instincts screaming that something was wrong. He got the strangest feeling that Idhron was in his mind, even though his shields were fully up and undamaged. Frowning, Rohan focused on his shields and the strange feeling disappeared. He must have imagined it.

Idhron smiled. It was a strange, jarring expression that seemedpletely out of place on his blank face.

“Very well,” he said, something like cold amusement glinting in his eyes. “Now let my apprentice go.”

“Not so fast,” Warrehn said when the kid tried to free himself. “You aren’t getting him back until you keep your end of the deal.”

Idhron’s expression became stony. “I am not leaving without my apprentice.”

Rohan thought it was sickening how adoringly the boy gazed at his master, as if Idhron’s words meant something besides his unwillingness to keep his end of the deal. Rohan almost felt sorry for the poor kid before remembering Sirri’s words. Eridan was no innocent boy. He was entirely capable of manipulating and tricking people to achieve his means, too.

That didn’t mean the kid couldn’t still be saved if they got him away from Idhron’s influence.

“Sorry, dear, but you understand that we can’t just trust your word,” Sirri said sweetly.

“I can hardly trust you, either,” Idhron said. “How do I know that you will let my apprentice go even if I do as you say?”

“You don’t,” Rohan agreed. “But the difference is, you can’t do anything to us. It’s not in your interests to tell the Council where the rebels’ base is. You don’t want us to be found. That would destroy the social order the High Hronthar spent millennia establishing. If other Calluvians see how much stronger we are, they will be scared. There will likely be war, and Calluvians won’t want to be shackled by their childhood bonds anymore while the hated ‘rebels’ are so much stronger. You will lose the unlimited power you now enjoy.”

Idhron’s eyes grew colder as he spoke. “Then why should I do anything for you if it all ends the same way, either way?”

Rohan hesitated. He glanced at Warrehn and Sirri, knowing that they would be pissed off. But he’d been thinking about it for a long time. Idhron was right: he had no incentive to help them. But he could be given one.

“We coul