Chapter 32 Ravel
RAVEL
"Emotion clouds a commander's judgment. Step outside, observe with detachment, and gain clarity to guide your path."
—General Tharion, Leadership in Times of Crisis
As the medic left with her charges, their friends followed, and I was left alone in the wreckage of what had been Kailin and Alar's room.
Glass crunched beneath my boots as I surveyed the destruction. Freezing night air rushed through the broken window, stirring the scattered papers. Furniture lay in broken pieces. Blood stained the floor in several places, some from the dead attacker, and some from Alar's shoulder wound.
Fury burned in my chest, hot and corrosive.
They had rappelled down from the landing platform above and crashed through this window with the specific intent of murdering the Hero of Elucia in her bed. While she slept. While she was drugged and vulnerable.
If Alar hadn't sensed them coming, Kailin would be dead. They both would be.
I forced myself to breathe slowly, to bank the fire rather than let it consume me. Rage was a luxury I couldn't afford. Right now, I needed to be a commander and an investigator, not an avenging fury.
"Sir." Lieutenant Varek stood in the broken doorway. "The prisoners have been secured in the detention cells. The dead one is being transported to the morgue."
"Good. No one speaks to them until I authorize it."
"Understood."
"What about the cleanup crew?"
"On their way, sir."
I nodded and turned back to the room, cataloging more details. The cable system dangling from the shattered window was military grade, the kind used by our maintenance crews to access exterior walls.
The attackers had known which room was Kailin's, which window was hers. Inside knowledge. This had been planned by someone within the Citadel, and the attackers must be residents. No outsiders could get into a fortress that was only accessible by a dragon.
I hadn't recognized either of them as they had been taken away, but that wasn't surprising. Thousands of people resided in the Citadel, and the support staff far outnumbered the riders. Besides, they had been covered in blood, and I had been blinded by rage.
I followed the trail of blood on the floor to Kailin's easel that had been knocked over during the fight. The canvas lay face-down on the floor, and her art supplies were scattered among the wreckage. I crossed to the canvas and lifted it upright.
The painting was damaged but not destroyed.
A mountain landscape, the peaks rendered in shades of purple and gray with auroras dancing above them.
Even unfinished, it showed her skill. The way she'd captured the light, the depth of the valleys, the sense of vast, ancient silence that characterized these mountains.
She had so many gifts.
Prophetic visions that could save thousands of lives. The unprecedented ability to communicate with all dragons. An artistic eye for nature's beauty, a compassionate heart, and a humility that ensured she wouldn't let power and prestige go to her head.
Only evil could want to snuff out this beautiful, bright light, this gift from Elu.
I set the easel against the wall, away from the debris, and gathered her scattered art supplies. Charcoals, pencils, and a small box of paints. Her sketchbook had been trampled, boot prints marring the cover, but the pages inside seemed intact. I added them to the pile.
"Commander Ravel." Another officer appeared in the doorway. "The fourth assailant has been captured."
The one who'd fled out the window.
The knot in my gut loosened a notch. "Where?"
"He tried to reach the lower levels through the maintenance corridors. Sergeant Brynn's patrol intercepted him near the stairwell. He's being taken to join the others in the detention cells."
"Good work. I'll go over the details of the arrest with Sergeant Brynn first thing in the morning."
The officer saluted and left.
Three captured, one dead. All four accounted for. That was something, at least. But the real question was how many more were there? How deep did this rot extend?
I searched the room methodically, looking for anything that the security team might have missed. Under the bed, I found a knife that must have been knocked aside during the struggle. It was plain steel, no identifying marks, the kind that could be purchased in any market. Deliberately anonymous.
In the corner near the doorway, I noticed a small piece of paper, crumpled and partially hidden beneath an overturned chair. I picked it up and smoothed it out.
It was blank. Just a scrap, probably knocked from one of the desks during the struggle.
The more I thought about it, the more convinced I was that the four had been members of the support staff. Former cadets who hadn't qualified for bonding with dragons but stayed on to serve in other capacities.
I couldn't conceive of riders turning traitor, or of dragons being complicit in an assassination attempt.
Sitorians, and especially the Shedun, wanted all dragons dead.
It made no sense for dragons to assist riders who had turned to the dark god.
Then again, I'd learned a long time ago that logic didn't always prevail and that people were incredibly susceptible to brainwashing.
The bond could have transferred that brain rot from the human riders to their dragons.
I found that hard to believe and preferred the much more likely scenario of support staff getting infected. Some of them must have felt resentful. Failing to qualify for the bonding after being found gifted would do that to people, and that left them vulnerable to Shedun brainwashing.
Onyx's presence pulsed at the edge of my consciousness, disturbed by my thoughts.
"They were not of us," he sent, his mental voice dark with anger. "But they lived among you. Ate your food. Walked your halls."
"I know."
"How did you not see them?"
"Arrogance," I said aloud. "We pay no attention to the support staff."
Besides, Elusitor converts were patient.
They hid behind familiar faces and ordinary routines until the moment came to strike.
We'd known they existed, had suspected they'd infiltrated various levels of Elucian society, but we'd assumed they lived on the fringes.
Until the attempts to sabotage the pilgrimage and then on Kailin's life, we had naively thought that there was no way they could have infiltrated the Citadel.
I walked out of the destroyed room to look for Varek. I found him in the lounge, using the phone, which was the closest one on this level.
"I want the records of the attackers on my desk by tomorrow morning," I told him. "Service history, evaluations, and known associates. Everything."
"Yes, sir."
"And find out who supervised them. I want to know how four converts ended up working in proximity to the Hero of Elucia without anyone noticing warning signs."
Varek hesitated. "Sir, it's the middle of the night. Some of those records might require—"
"I don't care what time it is. Wake whoever needs to be woken. This takes priority over everything else."
"Yes, sir."
As I returned to the room, the cleanup crew arrived, a team of four with brooms, buckets, and boxes to store Kailin and Alar's personal belongings.
I directed them to start with the glass and blood while preserving anything that might be evidence.
"I'm moving these cadets to new quarters in the officers' wing. After you pack their things, take them up there."
The crew leader raised an eyebrow, but it wasn't his place to question my decisions.
While they worked, I returned to the lounge, where Varek was still on the phone, probably waking up half of the Citadel.
I waited until he was done with his call.
"I need quarters prepared in the officers' wing.
A suite large enough for five, with a common room and individual sleeping areas. Secure location, restricted access."
His eyebrows rose. "For the quintet?"
I nodded. "They stay together from now on. I want them in a location where I can control who comes and goes."
"The corner suite on the third floor is available. It's usually reserved for visiting dignitaries, but we haven't had any in years. In fact, I don't know if it has ever been used for that purpose."
"It hasn't. We don't allow any outsiders in the Citadel. This will be perfect. Once the clean-up crew is done here, direct them to the suite and ask them to prepare it for the quintet."
"Consider it done, sir."
Fury still simmered beneath my professional calm as I made my way to the infirmary, but I wasn't letting it control me. There would be time for anger later, when the immediate crisis was handled.
The corridors were quieter now, though clusters of cadets still lingered in doorways, speaking in hushed, anxious tones.
They fell silent as I passed, watching me with a mixture of fear and hope.
They wanted reassurance that their commanders had the situation under control, that the Citadel was still safe.
I couldn't give them that. Not honestly. So, I kept my face neutral and my pace steady, projecting a calm I didn't feel.
The infirmary on this level was just a couple of rooms equipped to handle everything from small training injuries to various maladies.
I found the quintet gathered in the main room.
Kailin sat on a bed with Alar beside her, both of them bandaged.
Morek stood guard by the door, while Codric and Shovia occupied chairs nearby.
They all looked up when I entered.
"Commander." Alar rose, wincing as the movement pulled at his wounded shoulder. "Any news?"
"The fourth assailant has been captured. All four are accounted for."
Relief flickered across their faces, but it didn't last long. They were smart enough to know that capturing four attackers didn't mean the danger was over.
I told Kailin that she and the rest of the quintet were moving to a secure location.
"The prophecy," Kailin said softly, and I saw understanding there. Fear, too, but also a kind of weary acceptance. "That's why they want us dead. Someone knows about the prophecy."
I considered the possibility and dismissed it. No one knew about the prophecy, but many knew about the Hero of Elucia and what she'd done to save Podana.
"I doubt it," I said. "They came after you, not the others.
They wanted to eliminate the Hero of Elucia.
The prophecy is known to a very few people.
Saphir, myself, the five of you, Nyxath, and Onyx.
This attack was about what you represent publicly, Kailin.
Your ability to predict Shedun attacks makes you invaluable to Elucia's defense.
Removing you would be a major blow to our defensive capabilities. "
Shovia leaned forward. "So, what's the plan?"
"New quarters in the officers' wing. More secure, restricted access. Guards that I trust personally will be posted around the clock." I looked at each of them in turn. "You stay together as much as possible and watch each other's backs."
"For how long?" Codric asked.
"Until we identify and eliminate the threat." I didn't sugarcoat it. "That could take days or weeks. Tonight's attack will make the others more cautious and harder to flush out."
"Or more desperate," Morek said.
"That too. Which is why vigilance is essential."
Kailin looked more than exhausted. She looked crushed, but there was steel beneath the fragility. This was the same woman who had saved Podana, the same girl who had defended her village against invading monsters with a shotgun in hand and the grim determination of a seasoned warrior.
As long as I made sure no one else tried to assassinate her, she would be fine.