Lorn Kael's Arc

Chapter 5 of 6

The auditor's question hung over the fort for three days. Silvain paced the hall, pale, certain the Empire would come. Lorn told him to wait. Then Cassandra vanished from morning drill. Lorn found her gone, her cloak gone, her blades gone. He knew where she meant to go, and why. So he went down to the hidden safehouse beneath the fort, the one place they could speak without ears. He found her there already, lit by a single lamp. Cassandra Vex was the noblewoman who had joined him for one reason: to turn Imperial torture back on the men who killed her brother. She was strapping a knife to her thigh. She did not look up. "The auditor is our first target," she said. "Take him quiet. Make him name who sent him. Then we move before they move on us." "You strike him tonight and you tell the Empire exactly where we are," Lorn said. "One missing auditor. Eleven men. A fort. They'll read it in an hour." "Then we hit first." Her voice stayed flat. "I'm done waiting while old men count receipts." "You're not ready. We're not ready." He stepped between her and the door. "Strike alone and you bury all of it. Every man upstairs." She met his eyes. For a long moment he thought she'd cut past him. Then her hand left the knife. Lorn pulled a stack of papers from his coat and set them on the table. Formal certificates, embossed seals, careful lettering. Certificates of ordination. "What is this," Cassandra said. "A monastery," Lorn said. "Not a school of war. Holy brothers who buy iron helms for a ceremony. Silvain funds a chapel. The auditor gets his answer and goes home." He tapped the top seal. "We don't kill him. We bore him." Cassandra picked up a certificate. She read it. Something in her jaw eased, not much. "He'll check the ledger," she said. "That's the last piece." Lorn folded the papers. "Come with me to the gate." They found Lena Everly there, closing her small black book for the day. She shook a traveler's hand, smiled, wrote one word. Then she saw Lorn and the smile went still. "An auditor will ask about a chapel," Lorn said. "Ordination. Helms bought for rites." Lena looked at the certificates. She looked at Cassandra, then back. "Chapels file records," Lena said. "Now they'll match." Lorn set a certificate on the ledger. "You split my purchases already. Log the rest as offerings. A monastery." Lena studied him. "This buys you one visit," she said. "Not two." She opened the book and wrote. The auditor came the next morning. Silvain met him with a certificate and a tour of an empty chapel. By noon the man rode out, satisfied. The academy stood. But Cassandra found Lorn after. "He saw the fort walls," she said. "He'll remember. And I still want the name that sent him."