Attention ppl! =D Chapter 17 has been reposted, thanks to the lovely Jamie, and can now be read and located under this chapter.l Have a happy day!! =D

CHAPTER 18 ~ BACKGROUND

KRISTALYN

Aiden walked past the _____ house and this time kept on walking. It had taken longer then he expected to find Cormac’s house. I wished he had never found it. It had been two days since Aiden had discovered Tray’s alternate identity and now he knew where Tray lived too. Aiden was getting to close to the Hunter for comfort.

It was becoming obvious that he was going to use this time to observe the Hunter and his activities. He still didn’t have conclusive proof that Cormac was the Hunter, but that was of little consequence now. It would only take one slip and he would be caught. My time to save him was running out. I could warn Tancred that Aiden was closing in, however I didn’t know when. And there was that little fact that I wasn’t supposed to be anywhere close to Ruma, let alone staying in the capital. Tancred hadn’t given me very many direct non- negotiable commands over the years, but this had always been one of them, since the very day our father had been murdered. I had never disobeyed my brother in such a way. If I did get a chance to warn him, it would have to be anonymously. It was hard being so close to Tray and not being able to talk to him. It had been so long since we had actually seen each other.

I had been on a mission when he had last been home and I when I returned it was only to find out that he had been called out on this mission. We had been close before our father, the true Hunter, had been murdered. After his death and Tray’s decision to take up the mantel, we had been inseparable. I had accompanied him on so many missions, not as a tag along, but as an equal. The men in the camp respected me almost as much as they did him and my mother was greatly respected and loved by everyone. I was so proud of all my family, which included the men in the camp. We had done so much for Aerilya together. She was the reason we fought, for her, justice, and freedom. That was always why we had fought. If only Aiden could understand that.

Why didn’t he? Aiden wasn’t from either of our countries. I knew that much about his past. Somehow he had fallen under Ricald’s influence. His last job now was to kill the Hunter. All he wanted was to be free. But I had seen other signs in him too. Signs that said he wasn’t just the hardened killer he wanted me and everyone else to think he was. I had seen the pain in his eyes and his heart when that armor had slipped. I had also felt his touch when he had pulled me from the execution square. And while he tended to complain violently about Maglynar, he took good care of him was well. There had to be more there, a way to reach him.

Up ahead, he turned another corner, so that he was now heading back in the direction of Cormac’s house. Perhaps that was my answer. I kept trying to think of a way to thwart his plans physically, but maybe that was the wrong direction. I knew Deus wanted me to tell him the truth about God, maybe helping him to identify with the Hunter and his beliefs would help do that. Relating to a person was one of the best ways to disarm them mentally. It was time I started to do that.

Finally having a plan of action, I quickened my steps to catch up with my prey. He glanced at me when I reached his shoulder, but other than that didn’t respond. A few houses later, he took a quick step in front of me and ducked between two houses. I followed wondering what he had planned. He passed the second house and just when I could see the main street again he stopped and crouched down. Looking in front, I could see Cormac’s house. In two passes of the house, he had found the perfect place to observe the house. Tray wouldn’t see us coming or going and he wouldn’t be able to see us watching him either. Plus, until I warned him, he had no idea that an assassin was so close.

“So, you’re just going to spy on him?” I questioned.

“Shhh.” He held a finger to his lips, then answered quietly, “For now. Don’t you normally watch the prey before you catch it?”

Prey? Wasn’t that what I had just referred to him as? “Yes,” I answered. “Are you killing or catching?”

He laughed softly. “Oh, definitely killing, though it would be fun to just catch him. That’s more challenging. To bad my object is to kill him.” He paused for a moment. “Maybe I should catch first. Torturing would bring pleasure.”

“What?” I asked loudly.

He blinked and looked at me. “What?”

“What did you just say?”

“What are you talking about?” He asked, looking back at the house.

“You said something about torturing and pleasure,” I responded crossly.

“I did?” He glanced at me with a strange look on his face. Finally he responded, “Nothing. Forget you heard it.”

His voice sounded so different. It was almost like he was thinking about something or someone else. Did it have something to do with his past? Who would he want to torture?

The door to the house opened and two men walked out. The second one paused to say something into the house and close the door. I couldn’t stop the catch in my breath. The second was Jaedon, but the first was my brother.

***

AIDEN

I heard the catch in her breath. It was so slight, but to me so obvious as well. When had I become so tuned to her? Quickly, I focused back on the house. It had to be them. One of these men was the Hunter. I watched them walk down the street together. The younger was walking in front and the older walking slightly behind and too his left. Either it was part of the disguise, or the older was referring to the young, which meant the younger was the Hunter. I studied him was he passed by.

He was tall and had too tanned of skin to be a true merchant, though his clothing would state otherwise. His black hair was longer too. I took a moment to imprint his face on my memory, so I would always know it. The older man was _______description needed from Em_____________ and carrying a package.

From all the stories, I would think that the Hunter had to be the older of the two, but something about that simply didn’t feel right. I glanced behind to Kristalyn, her eyes tracked the two’s movements. It took my a moment to distinguish that she followed the younger more closely.

“Are you willing to tell me his real name yet?” I asked.

“Tancred,” she responded in a hushed voice.

Shock filled me. She had answered? She had said the truth too. Why would she do that now?

“Kristalyn?” I called her name.

Her eyes moved and locked on mine. I watched as hundreds of emotions filtered through her green eyes. For once, she didn’t attempt to hide any of them. Something had changed, something drastic, but I had no clue what.

“Why?” I finally questioned, not sure what I was supposed to ask.

“Why what, Aiden?” Her gaze never left mine.

“You’ve been hiding all the information you possible can from me and suddenly you want to give me his real name?”

A slow sad smile appeared. “How do you it’s his real name?”

“Your voice.”

“You really think you know me that well.” It wasn’t a question, and I wasn’t going to answer. Frankly, I didn’t know how.

“You’re avoiding the question.”

“I have my reasons. One day, you might even understand them,” she responded in more of her normal voice.

“What else are you willing to tell me?” I asked just to keep her talking.

“I guess you’ll find out. What is your next move?” She changed the subject.

I kept my gaze on hers for a moment longer, only when she become uncomfortable did I release her. “For now, I’m just going to watch him. I need to know his patterns and how best to get at him. Of course, you could always just tell me that and save the trouble.”

“I’ve never been with him here. I don’t know his methods in the capital.”

“Are you planning on warning him?” I asked, although I already knew the answer.

She was silent for a minute. “For now, I’ll observe.”

“So, you’ll warn him later.”

She smiled. “Maybe I won’t need too.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Maybe by then you’ll have changed your mind.”

I laughed at that. “Oh, so that’s why the sudden change. You’re going to try to convince me to change sides.”

She shrugged. “Why not? You don’t have any real loyalty to Elangsia or Ricald.”

“No, I don’t, but you’re mistaken if you think I’ll just switch sides.”

She smiled again. “We’ll see.”

I didn’t reply, but stood and stepped out to the main street. Tancred and the older man, I was assuming Trancred was the younger, were much farther down the street now. I could follow them without their notice now. I started after them and waited for Kristalyn to catch up, which she did. I had a feeling the days of her walking behind me were over.

“What is the older man’s name?” I asked.

“That’s Jaedon. He is the Hunter’s right hand man. You won’t get anywhere close to Tancred with him around. He’s an excellent warrior,” she replied steadily.

This really was easier when she was freely giving me information.

“So I’ll have to separate them.”

She laughed. “That’s not possible. You might catch Jaedon without Tancred, but you won’t catch Tancred without him.”

“So, I’ll kill the older man first,” I thought out loud.

I could feel her gaze on me, but for a change she said nothing. What in the world had changed so drastically? And how had I missed it?

“Deus will protect them both,” she finally responded.

Maybe I had spoken too soon. Things hadn’t changed that much. Her faith in the false god was more than a little annoying.

“He doesn’t exist.”

She gave a small grunt. “You keep insisting that. I wonder how you’ll respond when you discover I’m right.”

“I won’t,” I quickly maintained, feeling the fury hit my chest.

She shook her head at me and spoke in a quiet tone, almost as if she pitied me. “I know you believe that, Aiden. But the truth is always true, whether you believe it or not.”

“Kristalyn, drop it,” I commanded.

“Alright, Adien, but even if I stop talking about it, Deus isn’t going to let it go.” She paused for a brief second. “But then, I think you already know that.” With that, she fell silent and took a step back to walk just slightly behind me.

If she wanted me to go deeper into my thoughts, the tactic worked. It did seem that no matter where I turned, or how hard I fought, Deus was constantly being shoved in front of me again. I didn’t understand why. Why did he want my attention? He had been perfectly content to let my life fall apart for so long. He had forced us under Duard’s heavy hand, destroyed my family, and generally made every aspect of my life miserable. Of course, that was if he even existed, but over the last two years I seemed to meet more and more people who really believed that he did. What had that old man said to me in the village? His words and voice floated back to me as if I had just heard it.

“Dues has a special solution in mind for you.”

I didn’t understand the statement now anymore than I had then. He had also said something about my meeting the Almighty God and walking away changed. But there was no Almighty God, at least not one that cared. If he did, I wouldn’t be chasing the Hunter for someone else’s revenge. I would be sitting at home watching Zoe with Bren and Wren with her falcons, listening to Daelia cooking, hearing Aquila singing, and seeing Ilara whittling and Taerith reading. Arnan would be attempting to teach Sam how to defend himself yet again. And beyond me our parents would be alive, well, and looking on proudly.

But it was all a dream. One that had turned into a nightmare the day Deus had deserted us, taken our parents away, and saddled us with Duard instead. These people just didn’t understand. How could anyone believe in a loving god when he had been so cruel to us? And it wasn’t just me, had had made my entire family suffer. He had betrayed and left us. Still, even some of my siblings believed in him. But that was partly my fault. I thought the crutch of a Deus who actually cared would help them to live. And it had, for some of them. Wren had always been strong in that department. According to the letter I had received from Daelia, she too was staying strong. But if none of my siblings could convince me, what made these strangers think I would allow them too?

Deus had ceased to exist in my life very long ago and what little of him was left I hated. And I had no wish for that to change.

My black thoughts had taken so much precedence in my mind I barely managed to slip into an alley when Tancred and Jaedon started to make their way back to the house. What had they done? Slowly, I realized I had followed them to a house where they had dropped off the package, judging by Jaedon’s now empty hands. Kristalyn cast me an odd look, but I ignored her and started back for the Red Thornbush.

I hated thinking about Deus and yet somehow I had managed to stay on the subject for a long time. I didn’t know what the implications for that were, but I was pretty sure I didn’t like them. I needed to be focused, not distracted. I was so close to getting out from Ricald’s thumb. All I had to do was finish the job and I would be gone. The thought was almost freeing.

I entered the tavern and quickly made my way upstairs. I’d have to go visit Maglynar soon. He’d be getting antsy, but for tonight I just wanted my bed and no thoughts at all.

“Aiden?” Kistalyn’s voice came from behind me.

“Yeah?” I have turned to face her.

“Good night,” she said simply.

She was acting very odd. “Yeah.”

I opened my door and entered, before closing it quickly. Suddenly it seemed like things were happening too fast. And I hated the fact that I didn’t know what that was or why.

***

Three days later it was quite obvious that Kristalyn had changed tactics drastically. Suddenly, she was a fountain of information, all of it designed to see how wonderful the Hunter and Aerilya were and how awful and cruel Elangsia was. Her voice, once again was a constant humming in my ear. Only for some reason, instead of it getting easier to tune out, she was getting harder.

“…so, after two years of bad crops, Aerilya was the only one of the two countries to store up food. The grain houses were all over Aerliya and one day, instead of asking, Elangsia simply attacked. The village was small, but they put up a good resistance and were holding their own until Elangsia sent in reinforcements. They claimed they were quelling and uprising. Instead, they massacred everyone. It didn’t matter to them who it was, if the person wasn’t Elangsia, they were prey to be slaughtered. Women, children, babies, animals, men… everyone without mercy.”

I didn’t need her to describe the scene. I had seen it happen. Ricald had gone into far too many places and taken them all out for no reason, except perhaps that he was itching for a good massacre. Travon’s town had been the worst example. It was easy to believe the tactic had started long ago.

“If they had asked first, Aerilya would have shared our supply. Instead, King Trystellan sent in reinforcements to retaliate,” Kristalyn continued.

So, this was the truth about the start of the war. It had been Elangsia’s fault.

The door across the street opened and Jaedon appeared. He glanced around and then quickly set off down the street. The first day I had followed him, but he had only gone to the market, on a few other errands, and returned. The second day I followed Tancred. He had met with a few men and done some selling of artifacts. He had also picked up two new ones. In each conversation, at least those I could get close enough to hear, he got the newest gossip in the city. He was still gathering information, but I had the feeling he already knew what he really wanted too. He seemed to be bidding his time at this point and behaving. There was a third person in the house too, but so far I had not seen him or her. Today I was staying put at the house to watch all comings and goings. I’d do it for anther day or two before I made any moves.

“It was early in the war that Elangsia first began taking slaves,” Kristalyn kept talking. “They would go into any village they could or waylay travelers. It didn’t matter who the person was, no one was safe. Even young children started to bring in a good price and it became a good business for far too many people. Families have been splintered off, lovers stolen away, friends never see each other again, Aiden. That’s why the Hunter is so important. He’s a symbol of hope to so many people. As long as he is out there, Aerilyans have hope. Not only that their loved ones will be free from their forced slavery, but that their country will one day be free from war as well. That’s why I fight.”

I knew all about slavery. It was what I had lived in my whole life. That was what I had urged my siblings to look for as I had said goodbye to them. The memories I had not thought of in over two years came rushing back to me in a flood. Each one’s face as I encouraged them to be brave, confident, trust Deus, and fight for their freedom. I could only hope they’d all been able to stay free. Zoe had come up in this direction, if they were waylaying travelers, it was possible she too had been caught. I shook the thought of immediately. Zoe was smart and brave. She wouldn’t let that happen. Besides, I couldn’t handle thinking of her as a slave. She had to be free. They all had to be.

“I had a close friend that was taken as a slave. Her name was Mertala. The Hunter rescued her, but by the time he was able too, she was all bones and her soul had been stolen away. She had been so abused that her eyes were vacant. She never truly recovered. I don’t want that to happen to anyone else. And neither does the Hunter you are trying to kill.”

I desperately needed to remember how to shut out her voice. But even if I wonted, I couldn’t tune her out totally. She was giving me valuable information, whether on purpose or not didn’t really matter. I turned most of my thoughts from what she was saying to focus on how to kill the Hunter. It would be ideal if I could get inside and just kill him in the house. That would probably be the simplest too, except for the fact that Jaedon was always there and there was that third unknown person too. I didn’t know how well the third could fight, but I was willing to bet Jaedon was just as good as Kristalyn bragged. True, I needed a challenge, but I wanted to come out of it alive too. Facing both the Hunter and Jaedon would be foolish. That meant I needed a different solution.

“Did you know his camp is like one big family? Warrick and Lance are some of his most trusted men and leaders in the camp. Warrick has an amazing amount of battle knowledge and Lance can lead and keep everyone’s moral high at the same time. And of course there’s Niles, the cobbler, and Bryan, Jerome, and York, all are amazing warriors. Hartley can often be found guarding the camp, just because he likes too. He has a great sense of humor. There are younger teens there too. Geoffrey is fifteen. He tries so hard and loves to learn. He’s in the awkward teen stage, but you can’t help but love him. Richard is a little older, but he’s Geoffrey’s good friend. Together, those two make quite a team in more ways than one. Each person is important and no one is overlooked. Everyone carries their own weight, but it’s because they want too. We live together, play together, and fight together,” Kristalyn’s voice had changed as she talked with affection about those she had left behind in the Hunter’s camp.

Sometime during her litany, Jaedon had returned with a package and disappeared into the house. He was one of those people that the Hunter trusted so much and Kristalyn obviously loved everyone she had left behind when she had ventured out on her mission to stop me. Grudgingly, I had to admit that took a certain amount of strength. I would never have willing left my family, but I hadn’t been given a choice. She felt her mission was important enough to leave them, knowing she might not return. Instead, it seemed she carried them with her. When was the last time I had allowed myself to feel anything beyond distance for my own family?

Sure, I had thought about them, wondered if they were in pain, or if they hated me for my lack of action, but I never thought of them with love or affection, at least, not anymore. Those emotions seemed so foreign to me. Yet, Kristalyn still embraced them, despite her situation. Why?

The door across the street opened again and this time, both Tancred and Jaedon excited. Jaedon was carrying the usual package. This one looked like it was some time of water container.

Even when Little Firebrand was bugging me, I couldn’t remember feeling affection to her. Yet, I did remember acting as if I cared. I had given money to a little girl because of Zoe. I couldn’t remember the kid’s name, but I had killed her only means of support. There was that time I had pulled the blanket over the old man’s body as well. I still couldn’t explain that one and Firebrand had questioned me too. She hadn’t done that in a while though. When had she stopped bugging me?

“… hearts and hopes rest on him and on what we do. Even his mother and sister are closely involved,” Kristalyn was still talking.

Her voice was so familiar. At this point, it was almost more familiar than my own. I heard it in my sleep now, instead of Zoe’s….. That was it! Zoe had laughed at me about meeting my match or something, and that was the last time I had seen her apparition. I studied Kristalyn more closely. When she had come, Zoe had left. Why? That seemed to be the popular question tonight. I hadn’t seen my sister since Kristalyn had barged into my life. It was a disturbing thought.

Suddenly, the door to Cormac’s house opened again and I straightened. This had to be the third person. The figure was small and clocked in a light gray cloak. It was really to warm for it, but it effectively hid the face of the third member of the house. I watch the person move down the steps and by the time the street was reached I had determined the third member was a female. Not too old from the way she carried herself. She seemed to be on her own cloak and dagger mission. She walked in the opposite direction of the Hunter and turned upwards toward the palace. I didn’t much care what she did. A female wouldn’t cause too much trouble for me to silence, unless of course it was another Kristalyn, but surely there was only one of those. The world couldn’t handle two.

“Do you know who that it?” I asked.

“No. I’ve never seen her. Tancred doesn’t usually let females travel with him, unless it’s his mother or me. And even then, he’d never bring one to Ruma,” her voice held confusion. “I have no idea what’s going on.”

But she wanted to know.

“You could follow her,” I suggested.

She looked at me suspiciously. “What are you planning?”

“Nothing. You want to know about her, so follow her,” I stated simply.

“No, I think I’ll stick with you.”

I wanted to get a look inside the house, but it would be useless to try that with Kristalyn. She’d find a way to contact the Hunter and let him know I had been there. I’d have to figure out the layout later. It was looking more and more likely like I was going to have to do a long range attack against the Hunter while he was out on one of his many trips. It shouldn’t’ be too hard to arrange, if I knew his destination and the route he was taking.

“Suite yourself. I’m headed back,” I said, standing and stretching out.

“They are all out of the house and you’re going back?” Kristalyn clarified.

“Yep.” I shrugged. “If you don’t believe me, than come with, but I missed supper and I’m going to change that right now.” With that, I walked back through the alley to get to the other street and started back. I knew her well enough to know she would follow.

***