To help with the large cast of characters,
I have put together a spoiler-free Dramatis Personae
Min La commanded So Ga to wait in his room. But he hesitated before obeying.
“I will return before dawn,” Min La said. “Lock the door.”
At the last minute Min La also gave him the knife, as both Nŏl and Hino Son had their swords.
Though dawn was approaching, the clouded sky was still dark and they had to use Rin Holok’s lantern to find their way to the outer door of the stone structure. There, he paused as he shone the lantern on the many walkways that crisscrossed before them until he found the one with a red roof.
At a half-run, they followed him to the stables on the edge of the estate. Min La was surprised that they encountered no one along the way. A murder in the estate should have sent the swords into full response. The grounds should have been alive with action, torches, lanterns.
Unless, of course…
Glancing at Nŏl, Min La could see that he was thinking the same thing. The young Ŏklo lord gripped his sword tightly and glanced around the quiet estate as they moved through it. From time to time he put his hand upon the chest of his golt, where Min La had seen him slip the folded, sealed paper yesterday evening.
They found Élo, the stablemaster, sprawled in the straw near the horses. The animals were agitated and restless and Hino Son tried to calm them while the others hurried to Élo. Lantern light poured over him, illuminating a face covered in blood and bits of straw.
He had been struck on the head and was bleeding profusely. Nŏl pressed his silk handkerchief against the wound as they helped him to sit up. His eyes were open and he seemed to understand where he was.
“Who has done this?” Nŏl asked him.
He shook his head, wincing. “I did not recognize them. But…” he paused and looked at Nŏl before quickly lowering his eyes. “My lord Sivo Hin was with them.”
Min La watched as anger flashed in Nŏl’s eyes.
“We should take him to Ona Lín,” Rin Holok suggested.
“No!” Élo cried, and then, “I am sorry, my lord. No. The lady should not be troubled with this.” He looked again at Nŏl. “I am sorry, my lord. I tried to stop them. But I—”
“Never mind that.” Nŏl turned to Hino Son and told him to stay with Élo. Hino Son gripped his sword tightly and nodded.
Rin Holok led them from the stable to a narrow stone path lined with red bricks. This wove around to a small yard surrounded by a low wooden fence. Swaying birch trees whispered in the early morning wind. Shadows thickened inside the fence and Nŏl moved with his sword ready. But Min La heard no sound besides the creaking of a wooden door on old hinges.
Nestled within the clutch of trees was a little stone house with a bright red roof. Min La imagined that in happier times it had been a very welcoming place, with its little surrounding fence and its army of trees throwing their branches over the narrow path that led to the front door.
The door, as they had seen from outside the fence, was still open wide. Inside, a single flickering flame sent a dim orange glow out into the darkness. Rin Holok murmured to Nŏl that a servant from Élo’s stables had come to him in the middle of the night to tell him what had happened.
“Why to you?” Nŏl asked. But Rin Holok did not know. Min La could guess, however. The people of this estate, who had endured the rapacious leadership of Von Ol for too long, looked upon the arrival of Rin Holok as a ray of hope. Of course they had gone to him instead of to Von Ol. He suspected that that habit would only grow after the wedding.
The little stone house was built, like most houses, around a large tiled stove in the center of a main room. Although, the stove was not lit and the house was cold.
When Min La touched the round, tiled surface of it, Rin Holok said, “I thought it best not to light a fire.” When he paused, they looked at him. “I thought the smoke might…” but he trailed off.
Min La could see no furniture of any kind, not even a stool or a bed. Still, the house was clean and the floor was free of dust. A simple mattress had been placed near the stove along with several thick blankets and quilts. There was a tray nearby with an empty bowl and a battered carafe that smelled of spices.
Íso Lin was sprawled on the bed, his body still covered in blankets, though they were wrapped around his legs as if he had been kicking in his sleep. His hands were clutching limply at his neck where a wide slice had been cut across his throat. The blood that soaked his clothes and the mattress under him was only partly dry and still shone in the light of the lantern. As they gathered around him, his wide eyes stared fixedly at some spot behind them in a way that chilled Min La.
Nŏl set his lantern next to the one already in the room. He bent over Íso Lin, examining the wound, and said, “It was a single cut. A sword, certainly. He must have died very quickly.”
Then he took up one of the blankets and used it to cover the dead man’s face. Min La watched, surprised, as Nŏl bent his head and murmured the words to summon Ávoth.
Then he stopped suddenly and said, “But we still don’t know his true name.”
Min La was struck by that thought. The wretched little bandit had died beyond the sight of his own people, without a name and without a House. The only ones who even knew he was dead were the men who killed him and the three of them in this room. He had no name by which Ávoth could find him.
“Take care,” Min La murmured. “Ávoth might call you as a witness.”
“What?” Nŏl asked.
But Min La shook his head. “Something my father used to say. He believed it was dangerous to witness a stranger’s death.”
Nŏl took a shaking breath and answered, “I wish we had witnessed it. Now I will be unable to learn how my uncle is connected to him.”
“I think you are seeing here how your uncle is connected to him,” Min La replied.
But Nŏl shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Sivo Hin is my father’s brother-in-law and a royal officer. Without proof neither my father nor I can do anything to punish him. Or to stop him.”
“I can think of a way to stop him,” Min La murmured.
Nŏl shook his head again. “No, Min San. One may not kill a member of his own House.”
“But you have proof that he killed someone inside the estate grounds. Is that not enough?”
“This man was a Houseless bandit. Sivo Hin could argue that he was merely executing a criminal. At worst, he would be reprimanded for acting without Von Ol’s approval.”
Rin Holok, who had been watching from the doorway, said then, “I think I hear something.”
Nŏl blew out the candle in his lantern while Min La did the same to the other. Doing so, they found the little house to be less dark than they had expected. Outside, the sky was beginning to brighten. In the silence they heard footsteps passing nearby, the sounds of men’s voices, and the laughter of women.
“I think it is the servants,” Rin Holok whispered.
“We should go,” Nŏl said.
Min La looked at him. “Go? What will you do about—”
But Nŏl patted his shoulder with a reassuring smile. “Return to So Nan and put this whole matter out of your mind.”
“And you?”
“I must speak to my uncle.”
Rin Holok remained in the stables with Élo, who assured them that he would see to Íso Lin’s body. As the thief had nothing further to offer them, Nŏl had decided that it would be best to bury him, lest the presence of a murdered man in the estate create a new set of problems he would not be able to control.
Before they left, Rin Holok said, pointing up, “Remember, it’s the red path.”
As they made their way along the red-roofed path of walkways, Hino Son asked in a whisper, “Why did Sivo Hin just leave him there? Why did he not hide the body?”
Nŏl shook his head. “Sivo Hin has been emboldened by his borrowed power. He knows I cannot touch him without proof. He knows Íso Lin was my only connection, besides…” he touched his pocket where, Min La suspected, he still carried Ăna San Sengí’s necklace.
“He was gloating,” Min La offered distractedly, his eyes on the ground as they walked. The situation concerned him now even more than last night. And the strange, coincidental connection to Osa Gate had become a needle in the back of his mind that he couldn’t remove. Sivo Hin worried him beyond just the concerns of Nŏl and his House. But he didn’t have enough information to know if his concern was warranted. He was beginning to feel both blind and exposed inside the walls of this estate.
“What do you mean?” Nŏl asked.
Min La looked up surprised. He’d forgotten he’d even spoken. “What?”
“You said he was gloating.”
“I just mean that he knew you would see the body. He knew you would know who had killed him. He knew you would be able to do nothing about it. He is trying to show you that he has more power than you do, that you cannot touch him. Even if he also cannot touch you.”
Nŏl clenched his jaw. Then his eyes flickered and he stopped dead in his tracks. “And he cannot touch me,” he said.
They both stopped and looked at him.
“What is it?” Hino Son asked.
“He knew about Íso Lin, which means he’s aware that we’re here. All of us, not just Hino Son and me. Of course he would kill Íso Lin. But he cannot touch me because I am Ŏklo. He cannot touch you, Hino Son, because you are So Hoth and soon to be related to him by marriage.” He looked at Min La. “But you and So Nan.”
Min La stared. “What about So Nan?”
“To my uncle, you might be witnesses as dangerous as Íso Lin. He must know you are here, and if he does—”
Min La turned and began to run to the door of the stone building, but Nŏl caught him by the arm.
“You go quickly and get So Nan. Hino Son and I will go find out where Sivo Hin is. We will meet you back at the stables and take you both out of the estate.”
Min La nodded and turned, but Nŏl pulled him back again.
“Min San,” he said, his eyes dark and shining in the building dawn light. “I am sorry I brought you here.”
Min La’s haste and the pounding in his chest pushed a hot panic into his mind that drowned his ability to think. He paused halfway up a set of wooden stairs he did not recognize and tried to get his bearings. The stone building was not large, but had been built in a way that provided layers of barriers against intruders. Corridors gave way to stairwells, which opened onto corridors, which wove through networks of chambers into new corridors.
He passed only one maid on his panicked journey and she paused and pushed herself against a wall in a slight bow, as if frightened of him.
Standing on the stairs, he tried to catch his breath. His brother’s voice in his head reminded him that actions taken in panic would always fail.
“Think, little shadow. Think or die.”
Even if Sivo Hin was aware of his and So Ga’s presence in the estate, he was unlikely to send whatever men he had working for him into the walls of the estate’s structures, especially if they were not members of the Ŏklo House. He was more likely to wait for some other opportunity to kill them, if indeed he had decided to do so.
Why wouldn’t he kill them? He had killed Íso Lin.
But he couldn’t possibly know that Min La and So Ga knew Íso Lin. And anyway, if Sivo Hin wanted to kill everyone who had a suspicion that he worked with Houseless bandits on Ŏklo lands, he would have to kill half the estate.
No, he had slain Íso Lin because the little thief had probably seen him kill the Sengís with his own hands. He had no reason to kill Min La and So Ga. Unless, of course, he had reason to think that Min La and So Ga had also seen him kill the Sengís with his own hands.
Min La was being paranoid. But he also knew that it didn’t matter. Staying here another minute was too great a risk.
Min La stopped again when he heard a distant voice. Looking around, he saw that the corridor in which he stood was somewhere near the front of the building, which should also be the front of the entire estate. In all likelihood, this corridor would lead to the front door of the stone structure, which was probably connected by another walkway to the front gate of the estate.
If he was right, he knew where he was and how to get back to So Ga. He needed to turn back.
The voices grew louder as two figures approached. Min La tucked himself into a recessed doorway as an aged servant wearing brown wool and a tall black hat with a black tassel appeared on the other side of the corridor. The servant was escorting two other men. Straining a little to get a better view, Min La’s breath caught in his throat when he realized it was Sivo Hin and his attendant.
“My lord,” the servant said, his voice hoarse and breathless. “He appeared at the gate without a horse, without a carriage, and only one man with him. He refuses to leave without seeing you and simply will not give a name or even a Housename.”
“You cannot make a simple visitor give his name? Are you as useless as your master?”
The servant bowed while he walked. “I am sorry, my lord. I asked several times. I told him to leave if he would not give a name. But he insists.”
“I don’t have time for your foolishness,” Sivo Hin snapped. “You’ve been in this estate for how long and you cannot do the simplest thing? If this place was mine, you would be digging stones from the fields with your bare hands until your fingers were naught but bones. Get out of my sight.”
The servant stopped walking but remained in his bow until Sivo Hin and his attendant had passed. Then he stood and watched their backs. With a little scoff, he turned and made his way back down the corridor.
When he was gone, Min La came out of his hiding place and listened to the receding sound of Sivo Hin’s footsteps. The air in the stone corridor had stilled so completely that the pounding of his heart was like a rushing wind. He reached for his brother’s seal.
Later, when he thought back on this moment, he would still be unable to say why he did not turn away and go straight to So Ga. He did not know why he followed Sivo Hin. Something pulled his feet and he had developed the worrying habit of allowing this strange force to guide him, even at the most inopportune moments.
The front door was open wide and Sivo Hin and his attendant were walking in step under a wide, ornate walkway leading to the front gate, where a little door next to the large, main wooden gates was ajar and a guard was standing nearby.
Min La kept to the shadows and the corners, moving soundlessly behind them. He watched as the guard bowed and opened the little door wider. But Sivo Hin did not move and did not say anything. The attendant made some biting remark to the confused guard that Min La could not quite hear. The guard bowed deeply and closed the little door and then moved to open one side of the large wooden gates.
When he did, Min La saw a clearing just outside the estate walls. The sun had just begun to rise over the mountains in the eastern sky and though the estate inside the walls was still in shadow, the wide clearing beyond was drenched in sunlight. Min La could clearly see two figures standing there, waiting.
When he saw them, Min La felt a surge of fear course through him like flood water. He felt the breath turn to ice in his lungs. Clutching his chest, he struggled to calm himself.
Standing outside Von Ol Ŏklo’s walls were two men. One wore a long cloak of dark blue, and the other wore the black suede golt and dark gray cloak of Táno Gín’s Houseless mercenaries.
Somehow Min La collected himself enough to creep back down the walkway and back inside the stone building. Once inside, he ran as quickly as he could through the corridors and up the stairs. He could not calm his raging heartbeat. He could not steady himself long enough to think. He knew only that he had to get back to So Ga.
Halfway up the last set of stairs to the corridor that led to the room where So Ga was waiting for him, he realized he was clutching his brother’s martial seal. He tucked it quickly back under his clothes.
Just as he reached the top of the stairs, he found himself greeted by a familiar face.
“Rin Holok,” he breathed.
“I was looking for you and Nŏl. I’ve just brought Élo to the kitchens. They—” He stopped when he saw how pale and distressed Min La was. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“I must get So Nan,” he answered. “He and I must leave at once. We cannot wait for Nŏl.”
Rin Holok listened in silence, his eyes wide. Then he thought for a moment. At last, he grasped Min La’s arm and pulled him to a narrow window near the top of the stairs.
Standing there he pointed down. “Do you see?” he asked.
Min La looked down and saw that all the many intersecting walkways of the estate with their many colored roofs were visible from above like a carefully planned map.
“Take the blue path,” Rin Holok said. “It will lead to a small doorway in the northern wall meant for the huntsmen. It isn’t guarded anymore.”
The path with the blue roof did indeed lead to the northeast, disappearing behind a small cluster of wooden structures near Ona Lín’s residence.
Looking back at him, Min La said, “Thank you.”
Rin Holok smiled and Min La was again struck by how much he looked like Hino Son.
“And tell Nŏl and Hino Son…”
Rin Holok patted his arm. “They will understand.”
As Min La ran to the corridor, Rin Holok began down the stairs. But he paused and turned back, saying, “Farewell, Min San. I hope we meet again.”
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That bit of misdirection had me going for a bit! Fun chapter with some good intrigue.
I had guessed as much— but I love that it wasn’t at all obvious … and I’m sure the dreth are also connected to this and the attack 9 years back …