McEver

Page 24

Ewenn and Antonin have both been shot. Crap.

And somewhere on the far side of Antonin, the guard who captured Kaina is still alive.

Let's fix this.

In one movement, I club the man in black with the butt of the pistol, roll away from his body, rise on one knee, and put two shots into the one who shot Antonin.

Huh. The dead man's gun had been pointing straight at my previous position. If Antonin hadn't jumped in the way, I'd be dead right now. He saved my life.

Why would he do that?

Kaina has taken the bag off her head. She's running to the older man. Kilyan is already there, cradling Antonin's head in his lap. The man is breathing, but just barely.

"No, no . . ." he whispers, the hair over his face failing to hide the twin streams of tears that are running down his face.

Kaina reaches her brother, falls to her knees, tries to open Antonin's shirt to get a look at the wound, but he rests a hand on hers to stop her.

"It's too late, child," he says quietly. "I'm so very glad that you're safe."

I sink to the floor beside the trio. Antonin turns his head to me. "Jean. Thank you. Of course it was you who found her. Kilyan and I searched everywhere, but leave it - -" he coughs. His skin is getting more pale by the second. "Leave it to the lost boy to find the blind girl in the maze," he finishes.

His eyes slowly close; he exhales one final time.

"No, Antonin, no," Kilyan cries, gently shaking him. Kaina wraps her arms around her brother, buries her face in his chest, sobbing.

"Leave it to the lost boy to find the blind girl in the maze," Antonin had said. The blind girl. Could it be? Is Kaina blind? Or is this just one of his metaphors? There's no way. No. But it would explain her ability to move in the dark. And she was raised here. Is it true?

A hand on my shoulder. I turn my head, see a blurry image of Ewenn's face. I blink; the image clears a little. Something wet rolls down my cheek. Yes, it's Ewenn.

Wait. I thought he'd been shot, too?

He sees my confusion, drops to his seat on the ground beside me. He's in pain. His shirt has a bullet-hole directly over his heart. He tears the shirt open, revealing a shimmering, metallic vest. It's a set of intricate, overlapping metal plates. Hidden body armor. Lightweight but effective.

There's a dent about an inch wide over the heart.

Too bad Antonin couldn't have had one of those.

"We only have one," Ewenn says. "Took it from the last Imperial Intelligence Officer Antonin and I encountered a couple years ago. He always insisted that I be the one to wear it."

"Is that who all these people were? Intelligence?"

Ewenn nods. "Well, not all. Only your friend in black there. They're pretty easy to spot - - each officer has that same tattoo on the back of their hand."

Ah. "What is the tattoo, exactly?"

"Sorry, I always seem to forget about your memory loss. That 'S' is the symbol of the Empire."