Binary

Chapter Fifteen: The Highwayman and the Assassin

Xora could feel her hands shaking as the carriage rolled through the city, past the Skystorm compound. She glanced around nervously. Neri hadn't stopped talking since they got to the city. No one was listening to him though, so he had given up trying to make small talk and was now just commenting on things as they rolled past his window.

"How do you intend to report our findings to the King?" Rain said suddenly, though he had been quiet most of the trip, "I thought you would have told your cousins in any of those towns we went through, but you haven't said a word about it..."

"It's a delicate subject," Xora muttered, "those servants could have arrived in the Keep a while ago for all we know. I don't feel comfortable just pawning this off on the first person we meet..."

"You don't trust them to do it, do you?" asked Rain, "you don't think they'll bring it to the King's attention, even with all this proof?"

Xora didn't reply.

"Is that because you think they won't believe you?" Rain persisted.

Neri blinked and cocked his head to the side.

"Why wouldn't they?" Neri asked, "we have more than enough proof..."

"It's not that!" barked Xora, "of course they'd bring it to the attention of the King, that's their job. But we don't need them, I can handle this myself. I'm a Skystorm too. Besides, we don't need the whole Clan deliberating on what this report would do for their political standing for the next three weeks. Especially since during that time they might conveniently forget that it was their least favorite daughter that brought them the message in the first place."

Rain nodded.

"How exactly are we supposed to get an audience with the King?" asked Neri, "do we have to make an appointment or something?"

"No," said Xora, "we can use... well, we can use something called a passcode."

Neri and Rain exchanged glances.

"A what...?"

Xora glanced out the window at the shops that were rolling by and sighed. She looked at them.

"What I'm about to tell you doesn't leave this carriage," she said, "seriously, do not tell anyone about it, okay?"

Neri nodded and Rain frowned.

"A few generations ago, the Spitfire and Skystorm Gunclans' rivalry was a little more... tense."

"More tense?" snorted Rain, "they've almost cut all ties with me just because I hang out with you."

"It used to be a full-blown blood feud," Xora said, "they'd gun each other down when they ran into one another out on the plains. When the Kingdom was brand new and Stratus the First united all the wandering Human tribes, the Gunclans tried multiple times to overthrow him and wipe each other out."

"I don't see what this has to do with our current situation," Neri said, "Everyone knows the Spitfires and Skystorms don't get along, and never have..."

"Well, back when things were finally starting to cool down between the two," continued Xora, "there was still some concern that one Clan would try to rise up and seize the throne, so they were both tasked with watching one another. The Skystorms watch the Spitfires, and the Spitfires watch the Skystorms. If either side thought the other was plotting another coup, they were given a passcode that they could tell any of the officers in the King's royal guard and they'd take them straight to the King, no questions asked, for a full report."

Xora laughed nervously.

"The blood feuds ended generations ago. But uh... the Skystorms still teach their kids the passcodes. And according to rumor, the Spitfires do too."