Before the Battle

Enemies and Friends 2/8

~~~MAYA~~~

I was so angry.

I drove around the city for over three hours looking for Taira. His mobile had no signal, Shira's too. I couldn't reach him at home, and worse, he didn't even show up where he was supposed to. And that meant at the palace for a Council meeting.

It wasn't the first time he'd skipped out. It wasn't even the second, the third... the tenth time.

As a result, the nice Captain Marat lectured me like a little girl in front of everyone there.

Was it my fault that General Imara acted like an irresponsible idiot?

Then Chairwoman Hannara stepped in and subtly suggested that I should talk to Taira and get him to come to the meeting today.

Before Shira returned, I tried to make excuses for him. I could see that he was depressed. But now his lover had been back for over a month, and his working habits hadn't improved.

Taira was simply bored to death with political meetings, and more importantly, he lacked the right skills for them. Making him a general wasn't a bad idea, but making him a councilor was madness.

Which led me to where I was standing now.

The fact that I was finally able to track them down was a combination of luck and my considerable detective skills. Only once had Taira mentioned some barracks outside of the city, and that information, combined with the fact that they were both out of signal, allowed me to pinpoint their location.

A car parked in the driveway only confirmed that I was in the right place.

Ahead of me was a sprawling complex of now abandoned barracks, strategically placed in the wooded hills just outside the capital.

You could see the mix of historic architecture with hard-edged utilitarian and modern features on the building.

The elegant corrugated iron roofs were retained, as were some of the old columns and wooden trusses. The walls, however, had to be repaired over time and were replaced by concrete and steel instead of natural materials in a totally unaesthetic way.

I walked through the original carved gate into a large courtyard covered with fine sand mixed with gravel. The atmosphere of the place invited one to imagine a crowd of Imperial soldiers lined up in precise rows and their ruler commanding them.

But the Emperor had been dead for months, and the rest of his army was either scattered or in our captivity.

I pulled the jacket closer to my body and picked up my pace.

The weather turned cold and an unpleasant, creeping wind began to blow. I shivered with cold. If I'd known I'd be chasing Taira all over the place I would have worn something more appropriate than a dress and high heels.

I entered the main building where it was warmer. My first steps were towards the gym. But nothing was there except two wooden swords lying on the floor.

I walked down the adjacent corridor, past the dingy washrooms, the communal dining hall and into the soldiers' quarters.

And there, in one of the rooms, I heard voices.

Not just voices.

From the unmistakable sounds, it was certain what was going on in that room, but my anger at Taira overcame my hesitation and instead I cherished the thought of me spoiling his fun for a change.

Ready to drag him out of bed, no matter what they were doing in there, I peeked in through the open door.

The room might have belonged to one of the officers in the past, but it had seen many changes since the last time any imperial soldier had occupied it.