Quest for the Scorpion's Jewel Page 14

  The sun, just dipping down in the sky, was not as hot as it had been while they slept in the afternoon. It was a good time to leave, Jesse knew. A good time to go home.

  Chapter 18

  Demetri stumbled toward the gates of Nalatid. He had traveled for days through the desert, stopping only for a few hours of sleep before continuing on. The Guard Rider medallion around his neck seemed to burn against him, as if it knew he had failed.

  It was not my fault, he wanted to shout. I did not mean for them to escape. After all his careful planning, to be outwitted by mere children—it was humiliating. But who could have predicted their disappearance from the smuggler’s caravan? Or the swarm of kaltharas at the execution? Or a girl dropping down from a clothesline?

  Demetri could not understand it. The way everything had worked out so perfectly for them was impossible. Not miraculous, of course, just odd-defying luck. He had supervised the search of the city. They had issued a large reward, ransacked every house in every district, and tightly sealed all of the gates...but still no sign of the Youth Guard members or their smuggler friends. It was as if they had simply disappeared.

  More importantly, the crippled one, the one who was not of the Guard at all, knew the truth. He knew—Demetri had told him—that the king wanted to kill all Youth Guard members. That knowledge would make them much harder to find and trap the next time.

  If there was a next time. Aleric did not seem to be the forgiving type. Demetri knew Aleric would follow through with his threat to kill his brother. As for how he would know about Demetri’s failure….

  He is watching. Somehow, he will find out. Demetri had never been one for idle superstitions, but he was sure of this. Perhaps Aleric had sent a spy to follow him, or had heard of his failure by some other means, but there was no doubt in Demetri’s mind that he knew. It was not a suspicion or a prediction, but a fact, as neat and simple as the ones he recorded in his books.

  It was nearly dusk when Demetri stumbled through the streets of Nalatid. Several of his Patrol members saluted as he passed, but he did not acknowledge any of them. He shut himself into his quarters and locked the door, collapsing on his bed without even taking off his uniform.

  He did not want to go to sleep. Ever since Aleric had given him the medallion, the nightmares had gotten worse. The deeper the sleep, the more vivid the memories. They were always the painful memories, the ones he had tried the hardest to forget. And they always ended with the night of the betrayal.

  Demetri’s body was exhausted from traveling long nights with no rest. His eyes closed, shutting out the world.

  He was in the desert at night—the nightmares were always in the desert. But this time, instead of his Youth Guard squad, Aleric stepped out of the darkness.

  Although Demetri knew he should be surprised to see him, he was not. It was almost as if he had been waiting for him.

  “You let them go,” Aleric said simply. His pale eyes seemed to glow like twin moons.

  Demetri nodded, taking the full blame without making excuses, as a soldier should. “Then you know what happened.”

  Aleric nodded. “I saw it all.”

  “How can that be?” But even as he asked, Demetri felt his hand go to the Youth Guard medallion around his neck. He pulled it from beneath his clothes. In the darkness, the symbol of the king seemed to glow with a faint red light. He held it out, staring at it, until Aleric’s voice jerked his gaze away.

  “You know what you must do,” Aleric said.

  It surprised Demetri that he did. It was as clear as if the plan had been written in the sand in front of him. “I will go to Mir and kill the squad member they left behind.”

  “Yes,” Aleric said. “The squad captain, fallen to poison.”

  “Most likely the work of the Rebellion,” Demetri decided.

  “Yes, we often find them our most helpful allies. They think, as everyone else does that the king depends on the Youth Guard. Of course, members of the Rebellion seek to stop them whenever possible. Sometimes they even save us the job of killing them.” Aleric chuckled. “I love irony.”

  “I will kill the others when they return to their captain,” Demetri continued. “I simply have to get to Mir before they do. I am sure they will come. They refuse to leave each other behind, even at the risk of their own lives.”

  Aleric nodded, a glint of cruelty flashing in his eyes. “A kind of loyalty you know nothing about, if I remember correctly, Captain.”

  With a cry that came from deep inside him, Demetri lunged forward and put his hands around Aleric’s throat. “Do not say that” he said, in a low, deadly tone. “I did not mean to betray them.”

  “Let me go,” Aleric gasped, fighting for breath. “Would you betray your brother too?”

  Demetri dropped him in disgust. He hated the power Aleric had over him. Maybe it would have been better if I had died with my squad in the desert five years ago. It was not the first time he'd had that thought.

  “Put the medallion back on,” Aleric commanded.

  Somehow, the medallion had fallen on the ground. Demetri had not even remembered taking it off. He replaced it, and immediately felt calmer, more focused. “Why me?” Demetri said flatly. “Why would you even want me?”

  “Because you have something that none of our other Riders have,” Aleric said simply, never looking away. “Most are thoroughly consumed with gaining power, but you are different. You have love. Love for your friends, who you unknowingly betrayed to their deaths, and now love for your brother.”

  My brother. Demetri straightened out of his slump, pulling his shoulders and head up. He could feel the anger in his eyes, flashing like the emerald eyes of a hungry dragon. “I will join you,” he said, bowing to Aleric. “I will find the three, and they will get what they deserve.”

  “A powerful statement indeed,” Aleric said. “And I believe you.”

  Once more, Demetri felt the old man’s eyes boring into him, and once more Demetri was the first to look away. “Do not fail us again.”

  With that he disappeared, blending into the growing night, like he was a part of the darkness. And maybe he is.

  A thunderclap seemed to tear the desert in two with a streak of lightning so bright Demetri fell facedown in the sand, cowering to get away from the brightness. For a moment, over the thunder, he thought he heard someone screaming.

  With a start, Demetri awoke. The sun was pouring through the window. He would have to hurry to get to Mir before the Youth Guard members. It would be a long journey.

  He felt under his uniform. The medallion was still there. It seemed to give Demetri strength, a power he had never known before, and he knew that this time, he would not fail.

  J’abbet ses mitren, oldrivar lakita ses omidreden. The whirlwind had been unleashed. It had taken hundreds of the Youth Guard over the decades. It had taken Demetri’s friends five years before. It would soon take the three Guard members. It had even, in some way, taken the person Demetri had once been.

  But it would not take the new Captain Demetri. It would not take Aleric. They and those like them would be standing when the wind died down and the dust cleared.

  And the rest? They, like the Youth Guard members, would die.