The Rebel's Vision Read online

  “We’ll get to the bottom of this soon enough,” someone said with a yawn. “Honestly, I’m tired of dragging his mute ass around. He hasn’t spoken in weeks.”

  “Maybe we knocked the words out of him.”

  “Or he’s smart enough not to try his lies with us,” the angry one snarled. “Be grateful for the silence. He’ll be screaming soon.”

  Bryn tried to remain calm. Were they really thinking about torturing him?

  Who in the Skies were they? Why did they capture him instead of talking to him? Where were they going?

  It was later in the day when Bryn found some answers. Outside the carriage, he began to hear the chatter of females and the high pitched, excited yells of children. Males greeted their families with laughs.

  A community. They had taken him back to a community of some sort. A good piece of information to have when he was finally able to escape and steal his things back. He wondered how the Company was taking his extended absence. His chest began to hurt, a feeling he was long accustomed to on this mission.

  Mave. Ah, Skies, she’s probably upset. I wish I could tell her I’m alive. And Mat? I wonder if he’s holding it all together. I hope he’s helping her. I hope they’re okay.

  The carriage didn’t stop moving, and buildings began to block the sunlight peeking in through the small windows. Bryn never looked out those windows because he didn’t want to draw more attention to himself. There were always Andinna watching the carriage in case he tried anything, so he had to remain as inactive as he could.

  When the carriage finally pulled to a stop, he stiffened. This was it.

  “How much meat did you bring home?” someone asked. There was no country accent to this one as there was with every other Andinna he had heard so far.

  “Not much. You’re going to need to send another party out. We’ve got a prisoner.”

  “Elvasi?”

  “No. Andinna. Get this. Says his name is Brynec Lorren.”

  The chatter stopped around the carriage.

  “Get him out and let me have a look at him,” the accentless Andinna ordered.

  The back doors of the carriage were unlocked and pulled open. Bryn stood up on weak legs, fighting to keep his chained ankles untangled. The one who hated him reached in and grabbed the chain and yanked. Bryn fell back and was dragged out on his back and wings. He landed on his tail wrong, cursing as pain coursed through him.

  “Explain who you are,” someone snapped.

  “There’s one Lorren left,” he said, trying to control his breathing so he could control his reaction to the pain. “Her name is Maevana Lorren. Freed last year from the Empire and mah wife. Took her name.”

  The silence around him was uncomfortable.

  “She’s alive?” someone asked softly. “She was a child…”

  “How do you know she’s who she claims to be?” The obvious leader sounded dangerously close to killing him. “How do you know she’s not an imposter?”

  “Her name was used against her for a thousand years of slavery. Kind of hard to live down her reputation. A lot of slave Andinna blame her for the way the War ended,” he explained. He didn’t try to find the one who was questioning him. He just answered. If he answered, he wasn’t going to be tortured.

  And his picture of what was going on was becoming clearer.

  “That’s all?” Someone snorted in derision.

  “Alchan and Luykas Andini confirmed her identity. She has her father’s eyes. They say she’s the only one who ever inherited them.”

  “Alchan and Luykas Andini? You know them?” Someone reached down and grabbed Bryn by the hair, yanking up. He was met by a surprised yet pissed face. Black tatua framed blood ruby red eyes.

  “I’m a member of the Ivory Shadows Mercenary Company, which they are the commanders of. I think the real question is why free Andinna would ever treat another Andinna this way,” Bryn said, pushing his luck now that he had finally seen the leader’s face.

  He was released, landing on his back again with a groan, He was stiff and sore, and the treatment wasn’t pleasant. He hadn’t been tossed around like this since he was a slave.

  “Damn it,” the leader whispered. “Someone clean him up. It looks like he and I need to have a long discussion.”

  “He could be lying!” the hateful shit said. “He could be a slave-spy from the Empire. They’ve been trying to find out how to stop us for a thousand years!”

  “No, they’ve been trying to stop the Ivory Shadow Mercenary Company for a thousand years,” the leader said in an annoyed whisper. “Clean him up. For fuck’s sake, feed him, clothe him in something better, and get him his things back.”

  “He has a book! He was making reports to someone with blood magic!”

  “Give it to me, then. I’m well versed in how to use and read them.” A snap of his fingers and everyone started moving around Bryn. He was pulled off the ground and led into a building.

  He had a picture now.

  The Company never worked in Anden, but the Elvasi had a hard time settling the land. A group of free Andinna were still hiding in their homeland and defending their livelihood. They never left for Olost and never let the Empire catch them.

  Alchan and Luykas had no idea they were even there. None of the Company had any idea they were there. No free Andinna in Olost and no slave Andinna in the Empire knew about this secret society of Andinna.

  Survivors. Bryn was in a group of Andinna where the war for their home had never really ended. They were survivors of a thousand-year war.

  Alchan is never goin’ to believe me.

  He was pushed into a small room with a tub. He rinsed off weeks of dirt and sweat and dodged a pile of clothes that was thrown in later. He dressed fast. He didn’t run or try to escape…not yet. He needed to know more, and the leader had invited him to a conversation.

  When he was done, he tentatively knocked on the door. It swung open and revealed the hateful piece of shit.

  “Follow me. And just remember, I’m fucking watching you.”

  Bryn nodded and gestured for the male to lead the way. He was in a wooden Andinna home, which meant he wasn’t close to the mountains anymore. They went to a flight of stairs, and the male pushed him into a room.

  The leader was at a desk with a chair for visitors. Bryn went to the seat and grabbed the back of it. He wanted to sit and relax for a moment but knew a more dominant male when he saw one. He wasn’t willing to tangle with the leader of an Andinna community in his own home.

  “You may sit.”

  Bryn fell into the seat, still watching the ruby-eyed male.

  “Why are you here, Brynec Lorren?”

  “I was sent on a scouting mission by King Alchan Andini to survey Anden after his long absence. We thought the Elvasi had colonized it well enough that we would need to decide on the best strategic places to attack.”

  “Why does he want that information?”

  “We’re currently living in the Dragon Spine and laying the groundwork for a major rebellion against the Empire to release the Andinna from Elvasi control.”

  The leader’s eyes narrowed. “Forgive me, but I don’t have spies or sources outside of my community, and what we learn on our patrols, most of our information comes from Elvasi soldiers who probably don’t know what they're talking about. Are you saying Alchan is attempting to start a rebellion?”

  “Not attempting. It’s already started, at least on our end.”

  “Why?”

  “We picked a fight with Empress Shadra that can only be won or lost. There won’t be any surviving Andinna by the time she gets what she wants. At least no free surviving Andinna.”

  “And that fight was?”

  “Freeing Maevana Lorren from her grasp,” Bryn answered, his heart pounding. “Empress Shadra kept her as a personal slave for a thousand years as a trophy of her victory over the Andinna. When she captured two of the Ivory Shadow mercenaries, we took the chance to free all three of them. Our members
and the Champion of the Colosseum.”

  “The…Champion?” The leader was breathing harder now, shocked. Bryn knew the look of a man who just had his world turned upside down. “She was a gladiator?”

  “For over nine hundred years of her captivity. She wasn’t just a gladiator. She was the best. Now, she’s the King’s Champion and afforded the respect of the position.”

  “And you’re her husband.”

  “One of them.”

  “Do you know who I am?”

  “No. I was barely an adult when the war ended, and in all of my youthful nature, I never paid attention to things of importance, like who was who.”

  The leader nodded slowly, considering something. He was deep in thought to the point Bryn knew he could kill the male if he had a dagger on him. A sneak attack while the male’s guard was completely down. After his treatment so far, he wondered if such an action would be necessary.

  “I need better spies,” the leader mumbled. “This book. Alchan has a Blackblood powerful enough to manage these?”

  “An old expert on blood magic. Used to be a soldier, but as he aged, he practiced the old spy techniques and took over as spymaster when the War was lost.” He didn’t out Leshaun’s name because of that. The spy master’s name was something Bryn was willing to die with.

  “How is Alchan handling leadership?”

  “Why the twenty questions? You know my mission, and I would like to report to them and head home. As it stands, our target will be Kerit and far away from you.” Bryn was once again pushing his luck to try to get more information. The more he had to answer, the more he realized this male, and this community, knew very little about what was going on in the outside world. It was probably how they stayed alive for so long, staying uninvolved and only protecting themselves.

  Bryn resisted the urge to call them cowards. Andinna were dying, and they were living a normal life, hiding from the Empire.

  “I’m curious. It’s been a long time since I heard those names from an Andinna who knew or knows them,” he answered softly. “A very long time.”

  “You know about the Ivory Shadows,” Bryn reminded him.

  “Yes. We heard the name used a lot and decided to co-opt it. If we could blame our activities on them, the Elvasi wouldn’t look much deeper at what was really cutting off their chances to further colonize Anden. We needed to defend our homes, and it seemed you mercenaries were more than willing to pick fights with the Empire in the open.” The Andinna flipped through the book, nodding as he saw Bryn’s reports. Luckily, it was a fresh book, made just for this mission, and there was nothing sensitive in it from other spies. Bryn was willing to give up his mission, but no one else’s.

  They sat in silence while the leader read, slowly turning the pages as he continued.

  “Idiot. He was always brash and bold,” the leader mumbled. “He probably doesn’t have the numbers for what he’s planning, and his fucking brother is going to back him up right to their destruction.”

  Bryn stiffened. He was talking about Alchan and Luykas.

  “You know ‘em?” Bryn couldn’t stop the question from rolling off his tongue.

  “I knew them once. A long time ago,” the male answered. “You haven’t asked for my name, Brynec Lorren.”

  “I figured you would introduce yourself when it suited you.” He hadn’t wanted to try for any of their identities because that was information some were willing to kill for…or die for. He didn’t know if this community would consider it a risk if the name of their leader got out, or what their reaction would be if he was found trying to learn it.

  “Considerate of you. Interesting…” He smirked. “My father never liked your type. Spies. You have spy and assassin written all over you, which is probably why you were given the mission you have. He didn’t hate your type, but he left them for others to deal with. He would have hated your accent, though. You speak with an accent not typical of our people. I hear sailors with better speech than you.”

  “I was a gladiator in Myrsten while a slave of the Empire. Spent six hundred years there, and the accents of the sailors and dock workers rubbed off on me.” He had no reason to talk about the other part. He was those things. He was the rogue, the dangerous one of the Company, who was completely okay with stabbing someone in the back before they even knew he was there.

  “You have no shame,” the leader whispered.

  “I am who I am because survival demanded it,” Bryn said with a soft growl.

  “I mention my father because he would have never wanted his daughter to end up with a male like you.”

  Bryn sucked in a harsh breath as that statement worked its way through his mind.

  “Do you know who I am?” the leader asked again.

  “You’re either Seanev or Hertesh Lorren. Which makes you my brother-in-law.”

  “Seanev,” he confirmed, smiling. “Seanev Tynias, actually. I married eight hundred years ago and dropped the Lorren last name.”

  “There’re no Lorrens left,” Bryn whispered. Now he knew why the reaction to the last name was so violent.

  The free Andinna were hiding one of them, and he was their leader. Like his father before him, he rose to a position of power.

  “Well, I guess there’s at least one now,” Seanev said. “Get up. We’ll eat in the dining room, and you can tell me more about what I’ve missed going on outside my little domain. I have a feeling it’s only going to get more interesting, brother.”

  14

  Luykas

  Luykas was the first to arrive that night for Company training, finding Alchan and Rainev sitting on a wooden bench they pulled out for just the occasion.

  “Good evening!” he called as he landed. “How was your day?”

  “Good,” Alchan answered. “Still don’t know what we’re going to do, but today I didn’t feel like I was going to kill someone.”

  “He just had me yell at people while he stayed home,” Rain explained. “He needed the day away from everyone.”

  “That’s good. So, you didn’t hear anything?”

  “Hear anything about what?” Alchan asked, growling.

  “Mave was a hair’s width away from killing one of the females. That little fucking potential mativa.”

  “Skies damn it,” Alchan mumbled, covering his face. “What am I going to do with her?”

  “Mave or Fyren?” Luykas innocently asked, sitting next to his brother.

  “Both of them,” he muttered. “Mave is good, but I don’t think she’s thriving as the lead combat trainer for the females. Fyren needs training as a mativa, but I don’t think she’s earned it yet. What caused it?”

  “Mave had to remind her that she was in charge of training. Fyren made some choice, maybe treasonous, comments about you, her, and me.” Luykas shrugged. “The same things some of the males say.”

  “I really need to get them to cut the shit, but I’m not sure how. I figured freeing them would make them loyal to me. It never failed before. I didn’t consider the amount of attitude we’ve been getting from the younger ones.”

  “You can let me at them as I’ve said before,” Rain suggested. “I’m younger and better than most of them.”

  “I’m still considering that option,” Alchan deflected, making Luykas raise an eyebrow.

  He stopped caring about Alchan once he felt Mave draw closer. He looked up to the sky, his heart deciding to go a little faster. Their conversation on the path had taken an uncomfortable turn for him. He was always so careful not to tell her much about his feelings or address his maleness with her, but she had finally let go of the anger for a minute, and her smile was something to behold. She had teased him, damn it. Teased him. It was unfair to feel the way he did and have no options to correct it or address it. He would scare her off with just the admission, then there was the secret of his parentage.

  Fall in love, his mother had asked of him. That was her only wish for him before she eventually killed him.

  Women. I
fucking hate them. Why can’t I be more like Alchan or Rainev? Alchan will fuck anyone who lets him in their bed and is willing to ignore his title. Rain likes males. Both of those seem easier.

  When she came into sight, the idea of hating her fled his mind. She landed in front of them, Mat close behind her. Both seemed a little uncomfortable, as if they weren’t sure they were welcome anymore among the Company.

  “I was wondering if you two would ever catch wind that we were having training for the Company,” Alchan commented. “Who told you?”

  “Luykas,” Mave answered. “Why didn’t you get onto us sooner?”

  “I feel bad about Bryn and didn’t want to bother you more. I’ve already upset your lives more than enough for a lifetime,” Alchan admitted. “So, I decided to let you avoid us for as long as you needed to.”

  “We weren’t avoiding anyone,” Mat grumbled. “You could have just told us.”

  Luykas chuckled, looking at his brother, who seemed defeated by the words. His poor brother, who tried so hard to care, yet be separate. He was running out of the ability to have both.

  “Fine. You’re here. You can help Luykas set up the table.” Alchan leaned back, and Luykas could see the idiot was trying not to smile.

  “Asshole,” he told his brother. “I hate setting up the damn table.”

  “Go. Rain, you can stay seated. You deserve the evening off.”

  Mave and Mat were both confused, so Luykas grabbed Mave, knowing Mat would follow her, and took them to the small shed they had set up on the side of the clearing.

  “Nevyn and Varon threw this up over a week ago in their free time. We’ve got both steel and wood, but we start the evenings out with wood to work the edge off. We’ve been practicing a variety of different weapons, our weakest generally. I’ve been using an axe this last week. Rain was trying a spear the other night.”

  “Did we steal all of this from the Elvasi?” Mave asked as they walked into the shed.

  “Yeah, and Zayden carved the wooden weapons.”

  “He has too much time on his hands,” Mat mumbled.

  “No, he’s just not overworking himself the way you two are.”