The Tower Of The Watchful Eye: The Legend Of Kairu Book 1 (19 page)

I noticed
Aaron and Natalie coming from around the corner and I turned away
from them until the scales had completely vanished.

“
Oh my god,” Aaron said softly.

“
Did you find out the location?” Natalie asked.

I looked at my
hands to make sure the scales were gone before turning around.
“Carendath Mine,” I answered.

“
That sneaky...” Natalie cursed before looking down at the
thug. “Whatever you did, you’ll have to teach me to do
it.”

“
What did you do?” Aaron asked worried as he crouched over the
thug.

The thug broke
from his prayer and looked up at me.

“
Demon!” he shouted pointing up at me. “Don’t let the Demon
steal my soul.”

HA!
Cathy laughed
. What would you want with it anyhow?

You’re not
helping.

“
Don’t let him get me,” the thug whimpered to
Aaron.

“
Wow, you really messed him up,” Natalie said
excitedly.

Was I supposed
to be pleased with myself about that? I had successfully got the
information but the look of terror in the eyes of the thug was
forever burned into my brain.

Yeah, it will be a good memory for me too
, Cathy said.

That’s not
what I meant.

“
Well, we don’t need you anymore,” Natalie said as she
extended her blade. She drove it into the chest of the thug. Aaron
fell back as he quickly moved away. Natalie pulled her blade out
and retracted it. “We have the name and ‘Demon’ here has the map.
Let’s pick up your gear and head out.”

She casually
walked away as Aaron got to his feet and nodded at me. My eyes
still looked down at the heap that was once a person. It was no
argument that he was a bad person that deserved to die but while
terrified, he was a human as anyone else.

You’ve put too much empathy into this,
Cathy said
. You’re freaking out over
nothing. He would have done the same to you had he been given the
chance.

So that makes
it okay to do it to him? We should lower ourselves because everyone
else is?

No,
Cathy started
. We don’t pick on the innocent. That makes us...you...
better then the average criminal. The pain they inflict should be
returned to them tenfold. It is a justice that can be found
everywhere, Physical Plain or Spiritual. Would you rather spare him
so he can continue to cause pain to others or end one life and save
many others?

There will
always be another to take his place.

So justice will always been needed
,
Cathy said softly.

I never
thought I would be having a talk about justice with you.

I never thought I would be having these feelings but here we
are,
Cathy said.

I turned to
look at Aaron and Natalie walking away and I left the bodies behind
to follow them.

A couple of
days away from the Tower and I’ve learnt more about life and the
world then I did in my whole life in class.

A couple of days stuck in your mind and I’ve learnt things I
never knew were possible,
Cathy
said.
Thank you for letting me piggy back
in your mind.

Thank you for
helping me. You’re the best mistake I’ve ever made.

Cathy laughed.
You make it sound so
wonderful,
she said
sarcastically.

I’m kind of
pumped up now to dish out some justice. Let’s go save the kidnapped
princess from the bandit king.

And that’s doesn’t sound cliché at all,
Cathy said.

Chapter 16

We picked up
our bags from the inn and immediately headed out of town. Natalie’s
goal was to get past as many of the guard patrols as possible
before sunrise but Aaron and I were already tired after the day’s
events. The adrenaline from the fight outside the pub was only
going to last for so long.

We found an
abandoned cave off the main road that the map had marked as safe
and made camp inside. It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep.
Shortly after I closed my eyes, Natalie’s boot was waking me up
again.

“
Wake up already,” Natalie said with another kick.

Set her on fire so I can sleep!
Cathy groaned.

“
What’s your hurry?” I hissed sitting up. “As far as we know,
Mongoose isn’t expecting us.”

“
He knows all the tricks of the trade,” she said. “Don’t
worry; he’ll be expecting us before we get there.”

“
Well, we’d move faster if we weren’t dodging every outpost,”
Aaron said as he gathered his belongings. “What’s so bad about
bumping into one of them?”

“
I’m a wanted woman,” Natalie said. “It’s no biggie for you
but I’d rather not go to jail…again. If you’re assaulting Chester’s
place I want in on that action.”

“
Fair enough,” I said as I shouldered my pack and put on my
hat. “Let’s start walking again.”

“
What did I tell you about that hat?” Natalie said crossing
her arms.

“
You wouldn’t be caught dead with someone wearing a hat like
this,” I recited.

“
Exactly,” she nodded.

“
Then don’t die and whatever you do, don’t get caught,” I
countered as I left the cave.

“
That Mage friend of yours is going to get a boot to the mouth
one day,” I heard Natalie say to Aaron as I distanced myself from
the cave.

I stretched
out my joints and pulled out my two maps, the one The Keeper gave
me and the one from the hunter. Natalie had been excited when she
saw the maps and immediately plotted our route. Having her as our
guide took a lot of trust but seeing as Aaron hadn’t traveled this
far south and this was my first time leaving The Tower, we were
stuck with her. For all we knew she could be walking us around in
circles.

I constantly
checked The Keeper’s map hoping to spot one of his landmarks but
there wasn’t much detail for where we were. The Carendath Mine was
outside the village of Malkia but to avoid the patrols we needed to
head through an abandoned stone quarry that had become a home for
outcasts and bandits. Knowing our new ‘attack first ask questions
later’ friend, it wasn’t going to be a simple walk.

If it was meant to be simple The Keeper would have done it
himself,
Cathy pointed
out
.

Hmm, good
point.

Besides,
she
started
, where is that fire for justice
from earlier? You’re not wussing out on me already?

No...Just...cold feet...

“
Ready to go?” Aaron asked as he joined beside me.

“
Is the ‘Princess’ ready to walk us in another circle?” I
asked.

“
You better be happy I don’t walk you off a cliff, ‘Demon’,”
Natalie said still mocking me with that name. She passed us and
headed through the forest.

“
Take it easy on her,” Aaron said softly. “She IS trying to
help you.”

I sighed. “I
know. I just can’t shake the feeling that we’re being played. I
can’t let my guard down and neither should you.”

We started
after her as we noticed that she was starting to get too far
ahead.

“
Trust her a little bit,” Aaron said.

“
How can anyone just trust someone instantly?” I
asked.

“
Easy,” Aaron shrugged. “I trusted you. And look where that
got us.”

That was trust?
Cathy
said.

Aaron walked
quicker ahead to catch up with Natalie and I stayed back to watch
behind us. This had been our standard formation throughout our
hike. I would scan the area for life forms and we would do our best
to avoid them. Every once in a while Natalie would stop and check
the map before continuing on without a word.

As the trees
began to thin, we stepped out of the forest and stared out at The
Fingerlin Mountains. As the name suggested, the mountains were thin
formations of rock that shot out of the ground like fingers
desperately trying to reach for the heavens. According to the map,
the Fingerlin Mountains dominated the south with the town of Malkia
at the end protected by a horseshoe of mountains.

“
Come on,” Natalie said. “The quarry is on the other side of
the mountain. We should make it there before sunset.”

“
What’s our plan of attack Nat?” Aaron asked.

“
Blend in, move through the camp, take the mountain pass to
come at Malkia from behind, kill Chester,” Natalie listed off on
her fingers. “Easy stuff.”

“
How are we going to blend in?” Aaron asked.

“
They’ll have patrols defending the area,” Natalie explained.
“We’ll take one and you two wear the armour.”

“
They’re not going to realize we don’t belong there?” I
asked.

“
As long as you don’t do anything stupid and draw attention to
yourself, you’ll be fine,” she answered. “Besides, all outlaws
carry something to shield their faces during heists or
assassinations. Just take them.”

“
Assassinations?” Aaron asked.

“
We’re losing daylight,” Natalie said quickly as she started
off again.

Aaron shrugged
off the question and followed and I shook my head as I looked over
the landscape. With the cover of the forest soon to be behind us,
the openness of the field to the mountains would render us visible
to anyone. It seemed wrong to travel so boldly in the open.

She seems to know what she’s doing,
Cathy said
. Put a little faith in
her direction. You could easily take her if she tries to screw with
us.

I chuckled.
It’s odd to hear you confident in my abilities.

It’s rare for you to BE confident in your abilities,
Cathy said.
I’m running
out of ways I can help you. Oh, and they’re getting
away.

Damn.

I hurried
after them and caught up in no time. I scanned the area for any
intelligent minds, keeping in my own mind that we were advancing on
a bandit camp, and prepared myself for an ambush.

You know,
Cathy
started
. Getting ambushed WOULD be a good
idea. Save you from trying to find a patrol. Search for a group;
wander towards them, ‘unknowingly’, and then take them
down.

Hmm. You have
a good idea there.

As usual
, Cathy pointed
out.

“
Guys, hold up for one second,” I called to them as they
stopped to look at me.

“
Did you find something?” Aaron asked.

“
Just an idea,” I answered. I explained Cathy’s plan to them
and they nodded slowly.

“
It would save us some time,” Aaron said nodding.

“
As much fun as stalking the patrols would be, we are better
off moving quickly,” Natalie agreed. “Lead the way, ‘Demon’. Find
us an ambush.”

“
Which direction is the quarry in?” I asked her.

She pointed in
the direction we were heading into and I took the lead with Aaron
and Natalie following close behind me. Walking blindly ahead,
searching with my mind, we marched across the open field towards
the mountains.

Where would a
good bandit ambush be?

Hmm,
Cathy
muttered
. Close to the main road, I would
think, trying to catch a merchant caravan.

Even with all
the military outposts along the road?

Why not?
Cathy asked.

It would be
too close. The guards would be checking it out.

Check your map,
Cathy
pitched
. Maybe there’s a long stretch of
road between outposts. If I were to ambush someone, it would be in
the middle between two outposts, the furthest spot for either
outpost to investigate.

I stopped and
pulled out the map the hunter gave me. Natalie and Aaron stopped
and gave me a puzzled look.

“
What’s wrong?” Aaron asked.

“
Nothing,” I answered. “I figure the best place to look for an
ambush would be along the road between outposts.”

“
In the middle, the furthest distance from each one,” Natalie
said thoughtfully. “Good thinking.”

“
Thanks,” I said. “Sometimes the voice in my head gets
something right.”

HEY!
Cathy exclaimed.

“
The voice in your head?” Natalie asked worried.

“
It’s a magic thing,” Aaron explained.

“
Ah,” Natalie chuckled relieved.

Checking the
map revealed no difference in the distances between outposts. Each
one was evenly spaced along the road to maximize the protection.
Our best bet was just to go to the closest outpost and start
walking. I looked over the landscape for the direction of the road
and started walking.

In the
distance I could make out what looked like a watchtower. To get
onto the road I was going to have to stay hidden as best as I
could.

Or you could cast an Illusion spell on him to make us
invisible,
Cathy
pitched
. Just like in your
dream.