“When were you expecting to begin?” Master Perez asked.
“There’s a ship heading south to Lajere tomorrow,” she said. “In the meantime, I was going to try to find one of the people mentioned in Jason Bosimar's journals. Are any of you familiar with a gnoll named Tormaar that may still live here in the city?”
“Tor?” Master Bennet repeated, and a warm smile crossed his face. “Of course. He is a staff sergeant with the ducal army. You can likely find him at the garrison any time.”
“Then with your leave, Masters, I'll see to that and then head to Barcon first thing in the morning,” Kari said, and the councilors all nodded their assent.
“Good luck in your mission,” Master Bennet said. “Love justice, but do mercy.”
Kari repeated the tenet in kind with a salute. After bidding the council and Lord Allerius farewell, she and Aeligos left the temple.
Aeligos looked at Kari every so often as they ascended the hill to the citadel. Kari could tell he understood her reasoning and agreed with it, but he was nervous about letting her go into danger without him or his siblings. She had to smile: Though he lacked the physiques of Erik, Serenjols, or Typhonix, Aeligos was still half-guardian and still had that protective nature. More to the point, though, Kari understood that Aeligos did not like being duped or outfoxed, and his competitive nature was clearly piqued by the challenge the assassin and Lord Black’s involvement presented.
As usual, Aeligos had clued in quickly that she intended to ask Sherman and Katarina for their help in Barcon. The young human paladins had moved south to Lajere a couple of months after the Silver Blades returned from Tsalbrin. The lord of the city and county was a paladin, and they went to learn from him. Though the Silver Blades had been sad to see them go, at the same time they’d been glad to see the youngsters take the next step answering the call of the paladin. Kari looked forward to seeing them again and reminded herself that they’d be close to twenty years old now: hardly youngsters anymore.
The citadel stood on top of a hill in northern DarkWind. It had several levels, which allowed the duke and his staff to live and work on the upper floors while the duke’s honor guard, the local garrison, and the officers of the city watch lived and worked on the ground floor. Constructed in the mid-twenty-fifth century, the citadel was a replacement for the grand Fortress of DarkWind that stood outside the city’s walls. The citadel was nowhere near as large as the fortress, but between its stalwart appearance and the fact that it had housed many of the city’s non-combatants during the Apocalypse, it was a symbol of strength to the people. The rumors that there were dungeons below the citadel, carved into the very bluff upon which it sat, did little to dispel or dilute that public image.
They reached the top of the hill and approached the gates. They received only a cursory glance from the guards, who noted Kari’s dog tags and let them pass. Several militiamen getting ready to go on patrol gave them directions to the officers’ mess, where they said the two could find Sergeant Tormaar. The citadel was deep and shadowy, and as Kari looked around at its mighty walls, she couldn’t help but try to imagine the bulk of the city’s population trapped within while the defenders made one last desperate attempt to hold off the siege. Fortunately, such a scenario had never unfolded. Thanks to the heroics of the Eleventh Light Division—which was completely lost in the battle—the city was spared. Kari looked at the statue in the center of the citadel’s main hall, which depicted a guardian demon wearing the coat of arms of the DarkWind nobility, and she did a double take when she saw the demon was named Aeligos.
“My namesake,” the rogue said as they continued deeper into the citadel. “Kaelariel put him in charge of the Eleventh Light Division, and he died with his men while breaking the siege. I’d guess they probably wouldn’t have succeeded if they’d been led by anyone other than a guardian demon. The guardians really had a knack for spurring our soldiers to victory.”
Kari’s mate and his brothers were named after guardian demons, and she appreciated the gesture a little more as she heard one of their stories. “So, I take it he wasn’t an infiltrator?” she asked.
Aeligos chuckled. “None of the guardians were. Father named me so because Aeligos was the fourth guardian demon created, and I was his fourth-born son.”
Kari nodded, and soon the two came to the officers’ mess. The men inside seemed surprised when Kari and Aeligos entered, but when they saw Kari’s dog tags, they waved the guests in. Two humans that looked like they had just finished their shift sat at a long table across from a gnoll. Tor was easily as tall as Erik, about six-foot-ten, and the gnoll had a powerful build that was obvious even with his furry coat. What surprised Kari most about him were his legs: Most gnolls were digitigrade and had bent legs typical to canines. It appeared that, like the czarikk, there were some gnolls that had plantigrade feet and legs, and Tor was one of them.
Tor turned and looked at them, and Kari could see the intensity in the gnoll’s yellow-eyed gaze that was clearly one of his strengths as a staff sergeant. The reddish-brown fur of his right shoulder was burned away by a brand that marked him as a member of the ducal militia, and there was a special tattoo that colored the fur below the brand to show a staff sergeant’s stripes. He only had the leggings of his armor on, which appeared to be a mixture of scale and plate armor, and a pair of wicked axes hung from his belt. Tor regarded the two humans at the table with him for a moment and they rose to their feet. Tor stood up and saluted them crisply, and once they saluted him in return, they took their leave.
The gnoll waved his guests over and remained standing until Kari and Aeligos reached the table. He gave the demonhunter a crisp military salute, which Kari answered by touching her fist over her heart. “Sergeant Tormaar, at your service, my lady,” the gnoll said. He turned his head to acknowledge Aeligos with a nod. “I already know why you have come, Lady Vanador, but I am only going to tell you the same thing I told the other woman.”
“What other woman?” Kari inquired, caught off-guard.
Tor waited for his guests to take seats before he sat down again. “A young shakna-rir demonhunter named Irressa came by here late last night asking questions,” he said. His voice was gruff and deep, but his diction was fantastic, as though he had received a thorough education. It left Kari to wonder about his background, since simply being a gnoll who was allowed in the city was unusual enough; to be an officer of the ducal army and formally—and thoroughly—educated was bewildering. Kari assumed his tale must be quite fascinating. “She was asking questions about a demoness named Emma and my service to Lord Jason Bosimar when he was Avatar of your Order. I will tell you the same thing I told her: I am bound to speak nothing of either subject to anyone.”
“You know, on the one hand I’m proud she took the… initiative, but I’m left to wonder what she was doing investigating Bosimar’s contacts,” Kari commented to Aeligos, and he seemed just as curious. It was possible someone on the council or even Lord Allerius might have assigned Irressa to do so, but Kari found it strange that no one told her about it. Kari turned back to face Tor, who sat straight-backed on his bench with his hands folded before him. It was an odd sight, and certainly far from how Kari imagined her first encounter with a gnoll at arm’s length would unfold. “Why are you bound not to speak about these things?”