Kings and Pawns

Chapter 3

We ended up going to Caliet's apartment to share what each of us had learned. It was decorated in almost a Persian style, forgoing the wooden chairs that furnished the other apartments for large piles of cushions and a low table on the sitting room floor.

I dropped into one of the piles, but before Caliet had a chance to take a seat at the opposite end of the table, a knock sounded on her door. She crossed the room and opened the door. A page boy about thirteen years old stood there.

"What is it?" she asked him impatiently.

The boy spoke, stammering fearfully, "I have your's and S ir William's orders, m, m, My Lady."

I could understand the boy's feelings, the sight of Caliet, clad in her grey and green training gear, eyes sparking with annoyance at being disrupted, had the power to leave even full grown men quaking in their boots.

She held out her hand to accept the papers. The boy handed her both the sets of orders and then a single sheet of paper with the Emperor's crest at the top.

"What is this for?" Caliet demanded, indicating the crested paper.

I could actually see the youth's knees begin to shake.

"I'm supposed to bring this back with the names of those that you choose to accompany you," he stuttered.

"Come back in an hour for it," Caliet ordered. She paused before adding menacingly, "If you dare."

She closed the door on the boy who looked like he had swallowed his tongue. I chuckled at her. "You know," I admonished, "you really shouldn't terrify the page boys like that."

She scoffed, tossing my papers to me before flopping onto the pillows across the table from me.

"I only scare the ones who act like simpering weasels. The ones who stand straight and look like theyv'e got a bit of pluck to them, to those ones I behave like a sainted aunt. I can't stand nervous whelps, child or man."

I laughed at her again as I turned my eyes to the sealed packet of papers in  my hands.

"So, that information you had," I prmpted as I broke the seal, hoping her irritation would work in my favour, "were you planning on sharing it with me?"

I scanned my orders. It was the same thing the Emperor had told us, with some added specifics, it had just been put into official documentation.

I looked up and a flying pillow hit me in the face.

"You're telling me what you learned first, Jer. I won the contest."

She put the papers on the table between us and gave me her attention. "Now, spill it."

I tossed the pillow back to her. "Fine."

I told her what I'd found out, throwing in my opinions on top of the information that I had gathered. We discussed the matter for a few minutes. She agreed with me that the third scenario about the merchant was the most plausible one.

"I haven't decided what I think about the Andrayans though. The information doesn't seem credible to me. But the only way to know for sure is to find the one who sent the reports so we can..."

The look on her face made ,e pause. She was grinning so widely that I could see her teeth.

"What aren't you telling me?" I asked.

She kept smiling even as she spoke. "What would you say if I told you that I know who the Emperor sent into Andraya as a spy?"

"How the devil do you know that?" I asked incredulously. Somehow she always did this, she always found a way to surpass what I'd done.