The Hunter

Chapter 5 - The Gods' Will

“And we can’t pull our men from Peacekeeper duty.”

“Yes you can,” John replied patiently.

“She is running out now," Jack whispered to him over the mindlink.

“The other Houses won’t allow it!”

The Captain and John had been arguing for the past hour on the changes he wanted. Most of the things Turner had contested John over were small enough to be called ‘ego problems’ but, unfortunately, not every problem could be linked to his ego. Some were legitimate.

At the same time, John had also been overhearing Jack’s tale of Lola’s day. He had long since gotten use to having two conversations at once.

They were out by the Yard watching the chosen few who had made it through Tina’s tryouts. The twenty or so dogs present were sitting down in a circle, listening to the lectures from a man Tina had appointed to as their Squad Leader. Trent, the new SL, had shown great promise during the testing and had gained both Tina and John’s attention.

At the sound of running, they looked down one of the hallways to see Lola sprinting away with Jack and Chad hurrying to catch up. After overhearing her argument with her father, John, in a way, felt for her.

Bringing his thoughts back to the argument, John turned to the Captain, “Lord Victor can have the King allocate his own men in substitution to ours.”

“Sir?”

They both turned back around to see an enormous Ghourdian shifting his weight nervously. He was dressed in plain brown woolens and wore boots that had seen their fair share of leagues.

What is a Ghourdian doing here?

The Captain looked the man up and down, obviously thinking the same thing. “Yes?”

The Ghourdian averted his eyes and fiddled with his hands.

John’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. Something about him…

“I – I was hoping for a job. Sir.”

A few men in the Yard close enough to hear chuckled.

Captain Turner sighed. “You realize this is a Kalian High House? We do not employee Ghourdians.”

“I was just thinking that--that--"

When the man trailed off, crestfallen, John asked, “What’s your name?”

“John, sir.”

The way the man averted his eyes to the left when he said the name told John otherwise. He didn’t even have to listen for the slightly elevated heartbeat. “Soldier. If you want to be hired in any House around here, you won’t lie now.”

The Captain looked at John expectantly before turning to ‘John’. The Ghourdian looked from the Captain to John and then back down at the floor again.

“Jonas, sir.”

Jonas’s collar opened further when he hunched his shoulders and John caught a glimpse of a necklace. The familiarity of the piece of jewelry raised the back of his hairs.

“I’ll take this one Captain.”

To his amusement, both the Captain and Jonas looked at him in surprise.

“Follow me.”

He turned on his heels and made for the main entrance. “Do you have any military training?”

Jonas’s footsteps hesitated before they hurriedly thumped after him. “My father, sir.”

Mikes voice boomed loudly in his head, “Top, we have a problem.”

“What is it Fletch?”

“Just saw one of Willie’s men outside of the gates. And you know coincidences.”

Great, John thought with a mental sigh.

“What Guard was your father in?”

“He is casing the mansion. Tina, did you get that?”

“Aye. Shoot first. Ask later.”

“He was in the Shield for one of the High Lords.”

That made John pause in mid step. What are the odds? he thought. Turning, he studied the man’s features.

It couldn’t be…. No. The Gods couldn’t possibly be that cruel.

Ben’s voice whispered into his conscious, “I’ve got a promising group ready.”

“Already?” John replied in the same fashion. The difference in speaking to the whole team or to an individual could be found in how loud the voice was.

There was a touch of mirth to his thought when Ben replied. “When T told the finalist at the tryouts that they were trying out for Lola’s detail, the majority of them got the sudden flu.”

Jonas averted his eyes under John’s scrutiny and started shifting his weight uncomfortably.

“If you are going to work for me, you will not avert your eyes to anyone. It is a sign of weakness.”

He stiffened at John’s words and the giant slowly raised his eyes. Nodding, John said, “Good. Now I have one last question.” He pointed to the necklace. “Why are you running from Tekal?”

John would have bet his life savings that the reason why he didn’t see a green glow around the Ghourdian was because he wore a dampener--which meant he was hiding himself from everyone.

The man’s eyes widened and he looked around the hallway frantically.

“No one is within hearing distance of us,” John assured him.

Jonas’s eyes returned to John’s before nodding in understanding. “My-My father. Before he died, he sent my mother three necklaces. One for each of my brothers. He-He told her to not trust Tekal. I was the only one of us that didn’t age. And after mother died…”

Three brothers… ‘Before he died’… It couldn’t be.

His kids were adopted, not his own. You couldn’t tell from his features alone, the cold calculating part of him answered.

After Maxine had taken John in, he had forgiven himself for Cedrick’s death. But while he had forgiven himself, it still pained him. Knowing the odds that one of Cedrick’s adopted kids was a Slayer too--and to appear before John now--it was almost immeasurable.

“Lola is barred up in her room.” Jack’s voice echoed into his conscious. Annoyed by the intrusion, John sighed.

Maxine had always said there was no such thing as coincidences--that there was a master plan to the Gods’ will. But… No. Surely the Gods have guided this boy to me. And Cedrick would want me to care for his only surviving son. Besides, it isn’t a coincidence that the boy would use my name as his alias. Cedrick must have written dozens of letters to his family back in Tekal.

John shook his head solemnly, Oh, Cedrick.

“Its okay son, no more explanation is needed.” he whispered. “Your secret is safe with me.”

John looked around the hallway like Jonas had done. “But if I were you, I wouldn’t tell anyone else that story. Tekal is everywhere.”

Technically, by appearance, the man couldn’t possibly be his son but John probably had a good thirty years on him. After watching men his age die old and wrinkled, John found himself calling anyone who wasn’t halfway to the Soul Taker ‘boy’ or ‘son’.

And to think I have a whole thousand years ahead of me.

Slowly Jonas nodded. He was obviously still confused on John’s position of the matter. “Yes, sir.”

There was an untainted innocence to the boy that made John hate himself for having to lie to him.

“Friends call me Top. Did your father ever teach you about securing building structures?”

“Yes sir! I mean Top.”

“Come along then.”

John lead them down two hallways before they found Ben’s cousin shouting at one of the four men who where atop of a large scaffold. The scaffold itself took up the majority of the entrance’s round chamber. Below the constructed platform, five white robed men and women were frantically picking up the falling debris from the workmen’s hammering.

“Careful! I told you Floyd, don’t take too much! I don’t want this bloody top to fall on us!” Ben’s cousin, Jacob, yelled.

“Jacob.”

“Oh, hey Top. Things are going smoothly like-- Damnit Craig! I said the fourth tile from the third quadrant. Not the third tile from the fourth quadrant!--Ah…Yes. Everything is going smoothly.”

Suppressing a grin, John asked, “Time?”

“For you? We can burn the midnight oil and get her done in two days. The stable’s hallway might be a bit more challenging.”

“How is this going to work?”

When Jacob turned to scream at Floyd again, Jonas pointed to one of the keystones at the top of the ceiling. “I see what he is doing. A good bowman shoots there. It will crumble to pieces after they are done with it and, like a line of dominos, the whole ceiling will collapse. It looks like the hardest part is removing some of the key stones that act as fail-safes to such an event and rigging the support beams to fall as well.”

John looked where he pointed and saw Jonas’s logic. “Quick and dirty. I like it.”

Jacob turned back from his reprimanding and nodded at Jonas. “Aye. Exactly what I’m doing. Ben told me that’s the way you wanted it. You’ll just have to run like a bloody banshee when you fire that arrow. I’ll keep you updated.”

John nodded at the unsaid dismissal. The man needed to work and he respected him for it. Motioning for Jonas to follow, they headed toward Lola’s room.

Sikes voice suddenly evaded his mind. “Sorry, John. I got called into a White Council meeting. Anna told me about the job. You needed me?”

“Aye. I think we have a Slayer gone rogue and or a rogue Mage.”

“One of these days your going to have to tell me how you do that.”

John grinned when he recognized the long lived jest. “That’s what the meeting was about then?”

“Yeah. There is a rouge mage that’s calling himself the Archmage. And then there are rumors of a ‘God’ who is claiming to be sent to kill all Imperialists.”

“The rouge Slayer that is helping the High Lord Dresden?”

“Aye but there is more to it. The Council doesn’t think this Slayer was born as one.”

“Come again?”

“They think this Archmage guy created the Slayer. The entire White Council is here in Kalian. It’s getting serious.”

“Damn.”

John and Jonas were just passing the barrack’s hallway when Tina intercepted them.

“Top, we got problems.”

Stopping, John turned to his second. “What now?”

“Sikes, I’m going to need another mindlink dampener.”

“Willie. He wants to talk.”

“Willie? Talk?”

“Did yours break?”

“Walks like a trap, smells like a trap…” Tina nodded.

“Yeah. What is his reasoning?”

“New recruit. I’m fairly sure he is a Slayer--will need you to verify.”

“Claims his employer wants to double our rate if we turn coat.”

John laughed. “Before or after he kills us? Send him a dead rat as our response. And make sure everyone knows my policy on Willie’s mercs, especially Fletch.”

“Recruit?” Sikes was surprised and it was rare for him to show emotion through the mindlink.

Tina gave him a wicked grin. “Mike already left one of his goons a souvenir.”

“Lola on the move,” Jack reported.

His mood darkened. “Tell him to take a kill shot next time. He picked a side. No more professional courtesies.”

“I’ll send him with Tina to you along with Lola.” John sent the thought to Sikes.

“Yes, sir,” She said, just before raising a questioning eyebrow to Jonas.

“Jonas will be joining us.”

“At Sev3n?” Sikes asked, again in surprise.

“Us?” Tina asked warily.

“Aye. Gear him up with our stuff and get him on the bandwagon.”

“The mansion isn’t safe yet. Confirmed report that Willie is on the other side and is planning something.”

Tina blinked. “Gear him up?”

“With everything,” John nodded, emphasizing on ‘everything’.

“Damn.”

“Damn is right.”

Fletch’s voice rang loudly in John’s ears. “Code red. Footprint found along the south wall. Wasn’t there a minute ago. By the look of the print… male, approximately 170 pounds. Advise lockdown.”

“Jack, location?” John demanded.

“Atrium.”