ZEPHYR: Reborn With A God System

CHAPTER 13 - THE WITNESS LIST

The man outside the gate did not repeat himself.

Sable kept close to the storage room's broken panel, one hand pressed against her injured side. I could hear the strain in her breathing whenever she shifted.

“Your father wants you back inside,” she whispered. “That doesn't mean we should walk out.”

“I know.”

“Do you?”

My first instinct had been to move, to find another way through the courtyard before the men outside decided to come in. But the passage behind us was narrow, and the person who had arranged this little test knew we might use it. Rushing into the open would only make their work easier.

I lowered my hand from the wall. The faint pressure I had felt through the stone had not become clearer. Whatever stirred beneath my skin answered in fragments, never enough to tell me what waited beyond the gate.

“We go back the way we came,” I said.

Sable's expression changed slightly as she turned to me. “Straight into the fort?”

“Not through the main corridor. We'll find another route before they notice we're gone.”

“And if they've already noticed?”

“Then we don't give them a reason to close every door.”

She stared at me for a while before nodding once. I helped her through the panel and waited while she eased herself into the narrow passage. Her injury slowed her down a bit and I resisted the urge to hurry her. We stopped whenever voices sounded from the courtyard.

We reached the servants' quarters without being seen. Sable sat on the edge of the narrow bed, careful of her injury.

“We need to know who was outside,” I said.

“Then ask your father.”

“You make that sound simple.”

“I didn't say it would be safe.”

A knock came from the other side of the door…Sable rose too quickly and winced at the pain. I caught her arm before she could put weight on the injured side then the knock came again, followed by a familiar voice. “Zephyr. It's Renn.”

I opened the door only far enough to see him. He slipped inside and shut it behind him, his gaze moving from me to Sable before settling on the corridor.

“You shouldn't be here,” I said.

“Neither should you.” He whispered. “The elders have started questioning witnesses.”

“Which witnesses?”

“Everyone who was near the Severance Chamber when the marks appeared. Servants, guards, anyone who claims to have seen the light.”

“Have they made a list?”

“They're making one now. Names are being checked against the duty records.”

“Then they're not looking for witnesses. They're looking for anyone they can use.”

Renn's expression said he had reached the same conclusion then he said. “There is something else. One of the servants has already given a name.”

“Whose?”

“Mine.”

I stepped closer to him. “What did you do?”

“Nothing they can prove. I greeted you when you returned. I told you to keep quiet, and I helped arrange a room for the girl. Someone remembered.”

“You should have stayed away from me.”

“That's easy to say now.”

“Renn—”

“I came because I thought you should know before they called me in again.” He looked towards the door before turning to me “They asked whether I had seen the marks clearly. I told them the light was too bright.”

“Was that true?”

“It was true enough.”

“Who else did they question?”

“Two guards, a healer, and a kitchen servant who carried water past the hall. They're checking everyone assigned to the upper corridors.”

“Did any of them describe the fifth mark?”

Renn's eyes shifted to my right hand and I curled my fingers over the hidden mark.

“I saw something,” he said. “I couldn't tell what it was.”

“Then don't tell them anything more.”

“There's a copy of the preliminary witness list in the records room,” Renn said. “The clerk left it on the table. I could get it.”

“No. If they catch you taking it, your name becomes more than a passing mention.”

“It's already on the list.”

“Then don't give them another reason to keep you there.”

I wanted that list as badly as he did, but sending Renn into the records room would put him directly in the elders' reach. The plan was to keep him clear of the investigation, not make him part of it.

A faint scrape sounded outside. Something slid beneath the door. I waited until the corridor fell quiet before picking up the folded strip of paper.

“Ask who carried the basin.”

“Who left it?” Sable asked.

“I don't know.” I read the message again. The note could be a warning or a trap. I couldn't trust it simply because it offered a lead.

“Don't go to the records room,” I told Renn. “Find out who carried the basin, but don't approach the clerk. Listen and bring me a name.”

“And what will you do?”

“Stay here. You need to avoid being seen with me.”

He glanced at Sable before asking. “And her?”

“She stays until we know whether the questions have reached this room.”

“I don't need to be guarded,” Sable said.

“You're injured. If they find you in the corridor, they'll take you to the elders.”

She looked away and a bell rang beyond the servants' wing, followed by hurried footsteps then Renn looked back at me. “That means they're moving the witnesses.”

“Where?”

“Most likely the council antechamber. They won't question everyone in the same room.”

A second sound followed, sharp cry from farther down the corridor. It was cut off almost immediately then Renn reached for the latch but I caught his wrist before he could turn the handle “Wait.”

“That sounded like someone hurt.”

“Or someone wants us to think that.”

The familiar pressure stirred beneath my skin. I placed my palm against the wall and waited, but the weak pulse gave me no clear picture, only a sense of movement nearby.

Renn's face had changed as he stared back at me. “Someone's in trouble.”

I could follow the plan and keep him away from the witnesses. If we stayed, he could leave by the passage and find the name without being seen with me. But the cry had come from the direction of the lower stair, where the servants passed between the upper wing and the records room. If someone had been caught, leaving them there might expose the person who had sent the message…or give the elders another name to add to their list.

I moved towards the door carefully “Zephyr,” Sable warned.

“I'll look. Renn stays here.”

“No,” Renn said. “You don't know what you're walking into.”

“Neither do you.”

I opened the door a little and looked into the corridor. It appeared empty. The cry had stopped, but a small copper basin lay on its side near the stairwell. Water had spread across the stones. Beside it, a narrow smear of blood marked the floor, the witness who carried the basin.

I stepped into the corridor, keeping my hand away from the wall. The pressure beneath my skin stirred when I came near the spill, but I did not reach for it again. I couldn't risk a flare of light or another response that would draw attention. I followed the blood only as far as the turn in the passage.

A young servant was crouched beside the wall, holding one wrist. I recognised her from the upper corridor, though I did not know her name. A guard stood a few paces away, speaking sharply. “Get up. Elder Rovan asked for you.”

“She didn't do anything,” another servant said from the doorway.

The guard turned to face me “Go back inside.”

I could have kept walking; stepping in would reveal that I was moving around the fort against orders. But the guard had one hand on the servant's shoulder, and the blood on the floor was fresh.

“Let her stand on her own,” I said.

The guard spun around. Recognition crossed his face, followed by alarm. “My lord. You were told to return to your quarters.”

“Then you should be able to tell me why you're dragging a servant through the corridor.”

“She refused to answer a question.”

“Which question?”

The guard hesitated, while the servant tried to rise, but her injured wrist gave way. I reached down and helped her up. She flinched when I touched her, then steadied herself against the wall.

“Take her to the healer,” I said.

“The elders ordered her brought to the antechamber.”

“She's bleeding.”

“I have my orders.”

“And I have asked you to take her to the healer.”

Neither of us moved then warrmth sharpened beneath my sleeve, but I kept my hand closed. I would not let the mark answer for me.

At last, the guard released the servant's arm and glared at me. “I'll report this.”

“Do that.”

He walked away, but not before giving me a look that promised the encounter would be remembered. The servant stared at me, frightened and confused.

“Who are you?” I asked quietly.

She swallowed before answering “Mira.”

“Were you carrying the basin?”

Her eyes widened. She looked towards the corridor where the guard had disappeared, then back at me.

“I was taking it to the chamber,” she whispered. “I saw the light. I saw the marks.”

“Tell me what you saw.”

Before she could answer, footsteps sounded behind me. Renn had left the room…I turned towards the sound, he stood at the far end of the corridor, his expression tense. He had come after me despite what I had told him, and now the guard could report that we had been together.

“Zephyr,” he said, “they've called my name again.”

Mira lowered her eyes. The choice I had made had kept her from being dragged before the elders with an injured wrist, but it had cost Renn the chance to stay out of their hands. He had been trying to protect me; I had asked him to keep his distance since my return, yet he had stayed close to help. The elders had now turned that loyalty into evidence, and I could not undo it by ordering him away.

I looked at him, then at the servant whose testimony might explain what the elders were searching for. “Don't say anything about the marks,” I told Mira.

Renn's name was already being called from the stairwell, and this time, I had no way to keep him from answering.