Temple Palace

Chapter 2: Tek

Tek observed the boy sitting across the table from her. He was much different from what she had expected.

There were the things she knew about him. He was eighteen now. He had brown hair. He was always so much taller that her.

There were the things she thought she knew. The things she remembered of him, when they were growing up together.

He was the nicest one, the kindest one. He was one of the older kids, yet he always let her join their games. When her older sister was bratty to her, he was always there to distract her. She couldn't imagine life without him.

And then one day he was gone, and so was his family.

The King and Queen were devastated. He was betrothed to marry The Princess, his disappearance was a tragedy.

Tek's parents were in charge of searching for them. They traced the disappearance to the other side of River Sea. Too far to follow. 

He was gone for good. She had always thought that he would be her best friend forever. It was always the two of them on the outside, the others on the inside. Living in the Temple Palace with all the royal children, they had been the two who stood out as different. His parents were respected Night Wardens, trusted confidants of the Queen. And she was, well, the other kids didn't know what to make of her.

She took a deep breath in and tried to shake all the unwanted memories out of her head.

"Do you know where you grew up?" She asked him.

"Here, I guess."

"Wrong." She reached across the table and put her hand on his cheek, checking his eyes for the tell-tale. His irises had strange fuzzy bursts of colour in them. "They fed you Memory. Lots of it." She leaned back quickly, but her movement had pushed back her hood, revealing her white-blonde hair to the drinkers in the house. A few men looked over at their table with leers on their faces. She replaced her hood and secured it soundly.

"Memory, what do you mean they fed it to me?"

"It's a drink, it makes you forget things. Like who you are."

"I know who I am," he insisted.

"No, you don't. But when you want know, come find me." She got up from the table and slid by him, dodging his hand when he tried to stop her. She turned back.

"Don't tell anyone you met me."

The evening air was cool and pleasant but Tek kept her cape around her. She had already messed up when it had slipped. And when he had caught her.

She needed to be more careful. Being seen like that had been a rookie mistake.

She made her way toward the base, keeping her eyesight both ahead and behind her. Getting caught by Tracer twice in one night would just make her seem incompetent.

At least she hadn't been taken in easily. That trick he did, pretending to be tipsy, was very we played. He had training, perhaps more than she had. But that wasn't an excuse. She was a Night Warden, an elite, highly trained guard to the Temple Palace, and a spy for the Queen. And there was something special for her to find.

Getting into the military base wasn't hard. It was actually quite easy. The base was protected and trained to fight off large hostile takeovers. They were no match for one petite girl. She scaled the back wall where some of the mortar between the bricks had begun to crumble. At the top she waited for the patrolling guard to pass and them slipped past him. I am a shadow.

She made her way towards the main building with a slow easy gait. A few soldiers nodded to her as she passed. One tried to kiss her, but she dodged him, giggling. That's right. I'm just another maid, doing some late night errands.

She didn't even need a key for the office, once she was inside. Careless. They warned me of you people. Told me you were bloodthirsty. That you were like wolves. Hunting animals, calculating, that you never yielded.

The cabinets were another matter. She could see the keyholes, far too may of them. They had warned her of this too, of the Others advanced machinery. She was lost trying to pick the first lock, let alone the next four.

But she needed those papers. She needed to find some proof for Tracer. She needed to save him.

Raised voices forced her to hide under a desk. Two men entered the room, arguing.

"You told me that you had made progress! That we would be crossing by the cold season!" The yelling man was tall, with a bushy mustache. Tek recognised him, The Chief Commander of the Others army. The other man was shorter, cowed over, like he was scared of the big man. He was probably right to be.

"I'm sorry, Sir. We thought we had solved it, but we just got more setbacks. What's more, some of my patrols have picked up signs. One group found a broken up raft, and another spotted a black shape, moving past the check points."

"What?!" The Chief threw a cloud of papers off of a desk in outrage. Tek squirmed farther back in her hiding place. I am a shadow.

It was her that were talking about. It must be. They had spotted her when she had left the river, that cold night a week ago. But who was this small man that knew what to look out for?

He had brown hair falling to his shoulders, lighter at the tips. He had wrinkles, but not too many.

"I've been trusting you Horsten, but no more. You hide things from me every turn. Get out, before I make my guards remove you." The small man cowed.

"I said get out!" The Chiefs face seemed to be taking on a red tinge, but it was hard for Tek to tell in the dim lighting.

"I will leave, but if I do, I'm taking the boy with me."

The Cheif stopped to consider this, a cruel smile on his face. "Is that so? No, that's not going to happen. I think I have a better idea that will end our little disagreement." The Chief grinned wickedly.

"Sir?"

In two swift steps he moved forward and sunk his blade into Horsten's stomach. There was no time to scream before it was over. Tek covered her mouth with her hand and squeezed her eyes shut. So much blood.

There was a loud whistle, and the sound of running footsteps.

"Sir?" Asked a panting voice. "What's going on here?"

"An intruder killed Mr. Horsten. Have your men be on the lookout."

"Yes, sir."

Tek waited until the last person had left the room. Someone had already come to collect the body, but there was a brown stain on the wooden floor. She knew, she knew what had happened here. And it made her sick.

They had searched, but half-heartedly. Any intruder would have left right after they killed someone, fleeing the scene of the crime. Tek stayed where she was hiding, in the eye of the storm. They never even came close to finding her. Hidden under a desk five steps away from the body, they never even thought to look. I am a shadow, I am a shadow.

She made her way through the hallways, toward the one room where she could be semi-safe. At least until the extra watch on the perimeter was relaxed.

Tracer's room was messy—large and messy. The unmade bed centered the room. A desk was off to the side, covered with odds and ends, doo-dads that ticked, and whirled, and made all manner of upsetting, unnatural noises.

But the bed looked inviting. The blankets were soft, and warm, and she was so very very tired. She snuggled up in them and curled into a tight ball.

The last image she saw in her mind before she fell asleep was Horsten's face, as the dagger pierced his stomach.