Risk

Chapter 4: Emilette

   I walked through the narrow tunnels that made up the headquarters of the Risk, following the two men who had come to collect me. The torches were set along the wall in large intervals, so there was always a moment of darkness before the light from the next torch radiated out. The new headquarters of the Risk always creeped me out, but we had had no choice but to find someplace else. After the castle guards invaded our last headquarters and rescued Julian, we couldn't stay there anymore. We had moved to this cave in the cliff face as soon as possible; this cave had been used to house refugees from when a war had broken out in the neighboring kingdom. The war was over now, but the caves were still here, perfect for our use.

The narrow corridor emptied out into a large, circular room, where all the Risk's primary meeting were held. Everyone was there tonight, everyone was always there to listen to my weekly updates, even though my updates weren't usually all that information filled. The room was lit with torches that cast long shadows across the walls and a fire was roaring in the fireplace. All the members of the Risk were seated at a large, round table, all of them in their infamous black gear and dark, R-embellished cloaks. There were probably around 50 of us in total, but I didn't pay attention to anybody but the person sitting in the very middle of the table.

He too, was dressed in his Risk uniform, his white shirt, dark trousers, black boots and gloves and heavy black cloak, but the only thing different about him was a seal on the inside collar of his cloak. It was a simple but elegant M incased in a circle. The Master. The leader of the Risk. The person that I was most afraid of in the world.

I bowed my head in a show of respect. "Master," I started. I looked back up, meeting the Master's eyes. My hands were shaking, so I tucked them into the pockets of my cloak.

"Soldier Corale," the Master said. "Have you any news this week?"

"Yes M-Master," I said, cursing my voice for trembling. I didn't want to act scared, or the Master would be suspicious. "The Holt children will be leaving for the neighboring kingdom of Arsticanne tomorrow morning, at dawn. The king and queen has deemed it no longer safe for them to remain here, so they are leaving."

"Interesting," the Master said. He thought for a moment, studying me, then said, "Anything else?" I shook my head no, but quickly added, "No, Master," for I knew the Master didn't like nonverbal communication; he found it disrespectful.

The Master studied me for a minute more, then turned to address the room as a whole. He started speaking about plans, positions, and ambush, but I only half listened. My stomach churned with guilt, but then anger at myself. The guilt was for what I had just done. Had I really just done that? Had I really just sold the plans of the royal family? But then, the anger flared up, anger at myself. This was my job, I was supposed to do this. Why couldn't I learn to hate the Holt family like the rest of the people in this room?

I'd been having this war with myself for years now, and it was always the same thing, No matter how far I got into this business, no matter how many secrets I sold, I still had a guilty conscious. I tried to train myself to forget about it all, but it was always somewhere in the back of my mind, the fact that these people had been nothing but nice to me, and here I was, betraying their trust.

But I had to let it go.

I pulled myself back to the room, and heard the bustle and rumble of everyone making plans and receiving orders. Through the thicket of noise, I heard my name called and I turned to where it had come from. It was the Master. I weaved through the groups of people to get closer, and when I did, I found it hard to meet the Master's eyes. But I forced myself to; the Master didn't like when people spoke to him without looking him in the eye; he found it disrespectful.

He found a lot of things disrespectful.

The Master looked at me, studying me. Again. Times like this were the times when I was scared that he'd found out that I was hiding things. That I was lying. But, I'm not hiding anything. I'm not lying. Not really. I'm not lying, just... leaving things out.

The Master spoke. "This is very important information that you have brought us," he said. "The Risk thank you for it."

I drew myself up, determined to push aside the thoughts I'd been having. "It was an honour," I said, trying to mean it, and trying not to feel sick. "It is all I have ever wanted to do."

"The Risk are very lucky to have a soldier as dedicated as you," the Master continued, and I felt my stomach twist in guilt again. "I'm impressed."

The guilt in my stomach turned to a proud feeling. It wasn't often that the Master praised his soldiers, and it wasn't often that I received that rare praise. Against everything my conscious was saying to me, I couldn't help but feeling proud. Once again, I pushed away my former thoughts and a small smile escaped my lips.

"Thank you," I said, drawing my cloak around me. "Thank you, Father."

***

I carefully replaced the stone slab on the floor of my room, trying not make any noise, then pushed the rug back into place. I took of my Risk attire and replaced them in the small, hidden box in my closet, then threw on some pajamas. My heart was still pounding from the weekly meet, and the proud feeling in my stomach was once again replaced by guilt and worry. I might have just done something very serious, something that might ruin all the plans the royal family was taking to keep the Holt kids safe. But it was said and done, and I couldn't do anything about it anymore. Besides, the Holt family were unfit to rule. The Risk would be much better in power. Everything we were doing was to make the lives of Traevan citizens better.

If that was the case though, why did I still feel like I had done something so utterly wrong?

Hello! So, I said I would update before the end of the week, and here it is! I know it's a short chapter, but I said I would put up a chapter, I didn't say I'd put up a long chapter...

I'm just kidding, I do feel bad about the short chapter, but I PROMISE that there are more, longer chapters to come. Hopefully. 

JK, I will try to my very best, and then some!

Vote and comment!

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