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  RESPECTANT

  Book Four of the

  Chronicle of the Seer

  Series

  Florian Armas

  OUT NOW:

  Book 1 – Errant

  Book 2 – Ardent

  Book 3 – Ascendant

  Book 4 – Respectant

  ***

  Copyright © 2020 Florian Armas

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without written permission of the author.

  Cover design by Cherie Fox

  ***

  For my mother

  This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1 – Saliné

  Chapter 2 – Codrin

  Chapter 3 – Codrin

  Chapter 4 – Io Capitan

  Chapter 5 – Maud

  Chapter 6 – Saliné

  Chapter 7 – Saliné

  Chapter 8 – Saliné

  Chapter 9 – Dochia

  Chapter 10 – Kasia / Dochia

  Chapter 11 – Dochia / Kasia

  Chapter 12 – Cleyre

  Chapter 13 – Codrin

  Chapter 14 – Codrin

  Chapter 15 – Codrin / Cleyre

  Chapter 16 – Octavian

  Chapter 17 – Siena

  Chapter 18 – Codrin

  Chapter 19 – Codrin / Cleyre

  Chapter 20 – Codrin

  Chapter 21 – Codrin / Cleyre

  Chapter 22 – Codrin

  Chapter 23 – Codrin

  Chapter 24 – Dochia

  Chapter 25 – Saliné

  Chapter 26 – Saliné

  Chapter 27 – Codrin

  Chapter 28 – Codrin

  Chapter 29 – Saliné / Codrin

  Chapter 1 – Saliné

  It was dark, so dark that you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. The moon was hidden behind a thick blanket of clouds. The men waited, hidden among the trees. There were six of them, and they were patient; patience kept a man alive. Thin tendrils of mist snaked through the trees, barely visible. The night was old and cold and bitterly damp. The assassins didn’t care; gnarled hands gripped weapons, and they waited.

  “Once the moon comes out, we take down the sentries,” a tall man said, hearing the breathing of the shorter one, still invisible, in front of him. “Then you kill the girl. Is it really necessary to use the axe?”

  “Eric, there is nothing personal in it. A dead girl is just a corpse like any other. We’ve been at war through spring and summer. Death was everywhere. People get accustomed to it. A butchered girl is a message. We need him angry. Angry enough to kill all of them.” He gestured at a place a hundred paces away, as if the man in front of him could see his hand. “Anger dulls the mind, it’s a known thing, and he will become a toy in our hands. Our lady has great plans. Didn’t she say so? So, you see, it’s just a formality. We need to control him, and I am the one who will pull the strings. I am the Dog, and this will be a night to remember for all Frankis.”

  “So it’s got nothing to do with the fact that you like to use your axe.”

  “I did not say that. Gilia is my best friend.” Dog laughed quietly, caressing the cold steel of the axe like a lover. “She doesn’t say much, but she never lets me down, and there are many ways to use an axe, some of them bloodier than others. You know what I mean. The moon is coming out. It will guide me and my friend to our task.” Faint light strained from the fringes of the clouds, giant fingers pointing into the camp. “The sentries are waiting for your men.”

  “Dog is right, it’s time for action,” Eric said, looking up into the sky. “Be merciful, and kill them fast. I don’t want noise. Do you know where she is?”

  “I can’t see her yet, but,” the shorter man sniffed, “she is somewhere there. I will find her.” He was called Dog not because he was both obedient and an efficient killer, though he was both of those things, but because of his peculiar olfactory gift. He was able to identify people by their scent. When he was young, children had teased him that his father was a dog. That got him into many fights, but they only strengthened and darkened him. He usually won the fights, even against older boys.

  Silent shadows, two men split from the group. They hid behind a tree, then moved to hide behind the next one. Leaning on the shafts of the spears stuck into the ground, the sentries were looking the wrong way. Eyes almost closed, they were dreaming of hot meals, good wine and soft pillows. And maybe of a warm woman too. At the edge of the forest, the assassins signaled to each other in the silvery light of the full moon. They were twin brothers and well accustomed to working together, timing their moves like dancers. Moving as one, dark and swift hands closed over the sentries’ mouths. In a moment, the twin brothers slit their throats, and they laid the dead gently on the ground, like they were sleeping. The forest stayed silent. There was no need for them to signal to their companions; they just retreated into the darkness.

  “Dog, your time has arrived,” Eric said. “It’s just a girl, so I will not wish you good luck.”

  Barefoot, the girl walked through the grass in front of the building. It felt like silk, cold and refreshing, and she enjoyed each step . The full moon stared at her through sprinkled stardust and scattered clouds, casting everything in blue-black and silver. Her mouth curved into a wide smile, the girl waved her little hand at it. Chased by the wind coming from the ocean, a thin patch of clouds passed over the moon in a moment.

  The moon winked at me, the girl thought happily and waved again.

  On the wall of the house, the guttering flame of a single torch struggled to ward off the night, and a pair of eyes glittered at the edge of the forest, a hundred paces away from the girl.

  “Wolf. Go away,” she said and gestured with her small knife. “You are not allowed here.” The moon was her friend, and the dark forest did not scare her. Still and patient, the eyes followed her.

  “Wait for me,” a little voice cried behind the older girl, and she stopped, turning to wait for her eight-year-old sister. They ran together, back and forth, shimmering ribbons flowing over their bodies, like water droplets, as they moved in the moonlight. Joyfully, the girls clasped hands and danced a Hora dance, their giggles chasing away the silence of the night. On the ground, a thin curtain of white mist coiled around them, nebulous, cold fingers wrapping their toes and ankles. The girls did not care. When they stopped dancing, eyes closed, the older girl tilted her head back, feeling the night. Trembling light from the torch played on her fair face until a silent shadow came between her and the flame. She blinked at the man in front of her and, for a few long moments, she could not speak. Far away, lightning painted shining ribbons into the sky, and the thunder boomed, as if the sky was crushing down on earth. The wind sighed, swirling a few curled-up leaves around her.

  “Father! she finally cried, and tears of joy ran down her face.

  “Wake up,” the man said.

  “Father.” She stretched her arms up toward him.

  “Wake, up. Now!”

  Abruptly, Saliné opened her eyes to see a shadow moving toward her, and she tried to blink it away, hoping that it was just another dream. Silence swallowed the forest, broken only by the faint sound of the wind whistling through the trees. The shadow stopped just three feet from her, and she saw the head of the raised axe glinting in the feeble moonlight. Silent as the night, the huge axe arced down toward her. She rolled away, and the hard steel hit the root on which her head had rested only moments before. The thump dist
urbed the night, and she felt it like a rumble of thunder.

  He is here for me. “Robbers!” she cried in a thick, almost male voice, an inharmonious disguise.

  “Shit,” Dog whispered, struggling to pull the axe from the hard wood. “I thought it was her. The scent...”

  Instinctively, Saliné grabbed her quiver with her left hand. She rolled further, extracting an arrow, and came up into a crouch, adopting the low posture of the Assassin Dance that Codrin had taught her. The man finally freed his axe from the root and stepped back, unbalanced. She jumped forward and stabbed at his face with the point of the arrow. There was not enough light and time to find his eyes, but she managed to hurt him; the iron tip split his nose, and came half out, through his nostril. Surprised, Dog let out a muffled cry of pain. Swiftly, Saliné stabbed again as he raised the axe; then she stepped back.

  “Bloody girl; you tricked me with your voice.” Grunting like a mad beast, the man swung his axe in a horizontal arc, trying to cut her in two.

  Saliné rolled on her back in the grass, and now men were standing, swords raised. They surrounded the assassin, who defended himself with savage swings of his axe.

  “Don’t kill him!” Aron shouted, but his warning came too late.

  It was indeed a night to remember, Dog thought as darkness closed over him.

  Weapons tight in their hands, everybody in the small clearing listened to the night. It was silent again until a wolf howled in the distance.

  “Our sentries are dead.”

  “There are more robbers, and they are still there.” Aron spun around, peering into the night. “You men, on my left, take over the watch. The others will replace you when the moon starts to go down.”

  The moon hid behind the clouds again; Saliné could no longer see through the shadows, and nothing more than silence reached her ears – a silence that settled like the night’s mist, shapeless and unnatural. Why did he try to kill me? Who are they? The coppery scent of blood drying slowly, the scent of death, came to her, and she waited for the moon to appear again, moved to find another place to sleep, far from the blood and the old root. This time, she chose to lie behind a small bush in the middle of the scattered men. Nobody asked her why, but as before, a sentry stood close to her. Blindly, she stared at the empty night, and lay down, setting her backpack as a pillow. I can’t run away in this darkness. I was lucky that they attacked before I tried. They would have caught me. How far behind us is Codrin? He will come after me. He must come. The chill of the forest sent a shiver down her spine. Restless, she found it hard to sleep again.

  Saliné opened her eyes when the first rays of sunlight were peeking over the eastern horizon, illuminating the clearing. It was not a large one. The events of the night flashed before her eyes, and for a few long moments, she remained motionless, her mind blank, letting her senses swim in the new morning. Most of the men were up and, at the edge of the forest, Aron was looking down at the dead assassin. Her eyes half closed, she turned a little to face them, pretending to be still asleep.

  “This is Dog, Maud’s top assassin,” Bucur said, his voice sour.

  “Yes.” Aron frowned, and nudged the body with a booted foot. “He was sent to kill Saliné. Maud wants her dead; Maud wants us dead, but she wants Codrin to kill us for her. She knows that we have little chance of surviving without Saliné.”

  “Maybe we should just give Saliné to Codrin.”

  “Are you stupid? If we do that, Maud will certainly kill us. She wants to marry her bitch granddaughter to Codrin. If we keep Saliné, in a few months, he will take the bitch and become Duke of Tolosa. Nobody will give a damn about Baldovin anymore. Maud will give Leyona to Codrin too; Devan is already on his side.”

  “Devan?” Bucur asked hastily, a hint of tremor altering his voice, then curved his lips in distaste.

  “Octavian saw his eldest son, Philip, during the siege of Poenari. He was fighting for the other side. You should have noticed him, son; such things are important. If we lose Saliné, Codrin will chase us to the end of the world. If we are to survive, you have to marry her. We stay hidden for a few years while you get two children on her. He will have his family too by then. Then she will write to Codrin, asking forgiveness, and maybe ask mercy for us. She is a clever girl, and she will do what is best for her children and their father.”

  “Are you so sure that Codrin will marry the young Duchess?”

  “Yes, he will and, in a few years, the Circle will crown him King of Frankis. No one can stop it now. We lost, and that’s it. We go forward.”

  “We will pay him...”

  “You will pay nothing. Try to think. Everybody will hunt us, the Circle included. We have enough problems even without your childish desire for revenge.”

  “The Circle knows where we want to hide.”

  “Do you really think we go where they want us to be? I am not a sheep to be herded. Your mother inherited a fortified house in the Pirenes Mountains. I renovated it this spring, and it’s waiting for us. Dog was not alone,” Aron kicked the body again, “but I don’t know how many of them were there. They will not attack us during the day. I will stay behind with four guards and leave a message for Maud. That should keep us safe for a while. Go, now.”

  Bucur walked away briskly, stopped in front of Saliné and shook her by the arm. “Wake up. We must leave now.”

  She blinked and turned her head away, feigning sleepiness. “I want to see that man.” She yawned, stood up slowly, and stretched her limbs.

  “We must hurry.”

  “No one is ready to leave.” Lazily, she pointed at the men around them, and walked toward the old tree root, and the fresh corpse. Aron glanced at her but said nothing. She couldn’t resist testing his honesty, or lack of it. “Do you know him?”

  “They were just robbers.” Aron shrugged and left her alone.

  They were killers. Saliné crouched to see the man better. Maud’s Dog. I have heard about him. Then she saw the cleft left by the axe in the hard root – it was possible to fit her palm inside it. She recoiled and breathed heavily, fighting the sudden weakness in her legs. Slowly, as if in pain, she took her eyes away from the wound that could have been in her skull. Father warned me in my dream. Mother told me that he had warned her in the past too. Why did he not warn me that Aron would kidnap me in Severin? I could have hidden in the secret tunnel. Why, Father? She could not know that her abduction was meant to be, and her father was not allowed to warn her. It was part of the Prophecy in which the first chain was Tudor, the Assassin Grand Master, the uncle she had never known. It was a strange Prophecy, revealed to the Wanderers in steps, through their Visions, during the last twenty years. One outcome of it was Tudor’s defection from the Assassin Order and Codrin’s training as an Assassin. Only three people knew what had really happened: Ada, the most powerful Wanderer, Tudor and Primus, the Assassin King. A paper of understanding was signed by all three and left to Primus as keeper. At his death, he passed it to the next Primus, and Ada went to explain why the defection was needed, even when Tudor was supposed to be their next Primus. What no one could explain, not even the last survivor of the initial pact, was why Tudor had to die so early. Fate.

  Ignoring Bucur’s stare, Saliné stood up and went toward her mare. Out of sight, she leaned her head on the horse’s neck. Eyes closed, she recalled all that had happened in the last two days. The treaty between Codrin, the Circle and Aron, and her happiness thinking that Codrin would finally be able to save her, when he took Severin. Her bitterness after the Circle, and Aron, betrayed their signatures on the treaty and kidnapped her when they left Severin through the tunnel, early in the morning. And that Knight, Laurent, who had betrayed Codrin and let Aron escape. They ran like thieves. I need to think. She bent and picked a stick from the ground; it was about a palm in length. She cut the stick in two, along its axis, and used the tip of her knife to scratch a few marks into them.

  Fearing Codrin was close, Aron would have liked to leave without buryi
ng the dead sentries, but he felt that his men would not be pleased, and they lost another hour digging.

  When the brief ceremony ended, Saliné was the last to leave the graves, paying her own homage to the dead. Silent, she crouched beside the graves for more than a minute, her left hand playing absently in the dirt. Aron shouted the order to leave, and she mounted her horse, following Bucur, without looking back. At least they’ve lost two more men and almost two hours this morning. Maybe I can do something more about that. She remembered how she had killed Aron’s soldiers while they patrolled the walls of Severin. This time, it will be harder. I don’t have a secret tunnel to hide in...

  “Wait a moment with me, Petronius,” Aron said, without looking at him.

  The Itinerant Sage dismounted and gestured discreetly to his two guards to stay back. Aron knows Dog too. Maud did not warn me. What was in her mind?

  They avoided each other’s eyes, pretending to look at the soldiers forming up to ride away.

  “You know him.” Aron pointed at the body when they were alone. “Maud is playing with fire.”

  “There must be a misunderstanding,” Petronius said tentatively. “Let me clarify everything, when I return to Leyona, and get back to you.”

  “It was certainly a misunderstanding,” Aron agreed, and his right arm sprang forward. His dagger pierced Petronius’s chest. Behind him, four soldiers overpowered the two guards of the Itinerant Sage.

  “Why?” Petronius moaned, falling to the grass.

  “Nothing personal. It’s just that I don’t like misunderstandings. I am sure that you ... understand my position.” Aron looked coldly at the Sage’s body in the grass, cleaning his knife on the man’s pelerine. “I am not sure that you heard me, but Maud will get my message.”

  In the evening, they found a larger clearing. It was well hidden among the trees, away from the roads and Codrin’s scouts. Saliné found a place to sleep among the roots of an old tree again. This time it was an isolated oak, thirty paces from the edge of the forest. In the feeble moonlight, the place looked no different to the past night, and she shivered. Nervously, she pulled her mantle even closer around her body. It did not help much, but gradually, she calmed down and fell asleep. She woke up past midnight and, eyes half closed, she looked at the sentry, who was leaning on his spear, six paces from her. Patiently, she waited until the moon slipped behind a large patch of cloud. The moon will stay hidden for at least ten minutes, she thought, observing the speed of the clouds. They were thinner than the previous night and allowed some faint light to pass, but she felt safe enough. Slowly, she rolled away from her sleeping place and, moving like a snail, she put the tree between her and the sentry. She thought about escape, but the men who had tried to kill her the previous night were still out there, hidden somewhere in the forest; without a horse, she would be easy prey for anyone who wanted to catch her. Five men had followed them all day, at a safe distance, and they had not bothered to hide, something that Saliné could not understand. She had seen them, everybody had seen them, and Aron had ordered extra sentries for the night.