21. Tobias
Chapter twenty-one
Tobias
A s the eldest of five, Tobias had plenty of experience telling people what to do.
He also had plenty of experience being ignored, especially when his sisters joined forces and staged full-scale rebellions.
Which was exactly how tonight felt: him, trying to lead a handful of Crimson soldiers who clearly believed he was the most useless officer in the entire military.
Young officers like Tobias already faced some amount of quiet skepticism from older, yet lower-ranking enlisted soldiers but this was far more extreme than anything he’d faced before.
The Crimsons snickered at his questions, mimicked his accent with barely concealed smirks, and so far, had responded to his orders with a mix of casual indifference and theatrical boredom.
They were older, sharper, and undeniably more experienced, but technically , as an officer, Tobias outranked them.
Not that anyone seemed inclined to notice.
Javen had made that point after Tobias balked at the concept of leading the squad. “You wish to be a leader,” Javen had said, still studying a map of the nearby woods. “So seize this opportunity to prove you can be one. Find Miss Ankmetta and return her to this building.”
So far, Tobias was pretty sure he’d only seized the opportunity to look like a fool.
The three Crimsons, Drace, Erik, and Jones, were currently smoking and discussing the failed search.
Meanwhile, Tobias tried not to dwell on the question gnawing at him.
Why would Zari betray her own nation? He couldn’t reconcile it.
No matter what the others claimed, he couldn’t picture her with a sword in her hand, let alone turning it on a soldier.
The image simply wouldn’t take shape in his mind; it slid away, replaced by the memory of her calm voice as she’d taken care of him and the other wounded men.
Still, he couldn’t shake a strange feeling he was missing something, some clue, or perhaps some memory, or a memory of a dream.
It nagged at the edge of his mind, a faint whisper that he was forgetting something.
He clenched his fists, trying hard to tease out whatever had slipped away, and all that came to him was the flash of a pretty face and a beautiful smile, both belonging to a woman who was an utter stranger to him.
As soon as the image appeared, it vanished again in a flurry of pink dancing lights.
Tobias sighed and returned to the map. Currently, they were in the center of the town, close to Zari’s last-observed location.
Zari was practical and intelligent, a woman like her wouldn’t bolt into the woods without a plan. Scanning the map, Tobias noticed the largest parcel of land, labeled The Lockwood Hunting Lodge.
An idea formed, based on what he knew about Zari’s father, General Ankmetta.
He’d read a biography on the general while he’d been at the academy, which had detailed Ankmetta’s lifelong friendship with Commander Lockwood.
The two men had gone to school together, lived near each other, and had been the two key leaders in the last years of the war.
Would Zari have ever visited the lodge here in Wesburg?
It was worth investigating. Tobias signaled for the others to follow as he headed for the lodge. The dark building looked abandoned, except, in the faint moonlight, he thought he could see a faint trail through fallen leaves. “We should search here.”
Drace shook his head. “I doubt she’d climb that fence.”
Tobias wasn’t so sure. “If I can climb it, so can she.”
“But she’s a girl,” Erik, a gray-haired, wiry man, scoffed. “A useless thing in skirts, run off with a fae blade. ”
Already halfway up the gate, Tobias laughed. “You don’t have sisters, do you?”
Tobias dropped to the other side, his boots hitting hard on spongy soil. He grinned when he spotted a set of footprints, indentions clear in the long grass. The feet in question were small and delicate. Zari’s, for sure.
He saw no other signs of life, nor footprints beside her own.
The other Crimsons clambered over the fence and began theatrically inspecting the tracks.
Tobias bit his tongue, trying not to grin, and savored the quiet satisfaction of being right.
Jones pulled out his radio to relay the find back to headquarters.
Tobias held his breath, hoping Javen would be the one to respond, that his captain would finally see he’d done something worthwhile.
The radio crackled with nothing but silence.
Javen was nowhere to be found.
“I’ll head back,” Jones said, not asking Tobias’s permission.
“Sounds good.” Tobias gave it, anyway.
At the entrance, Erik didn’t bother with delicacy.
He shoved the heavy oak door open with his shoulder.
It swung inward with a groan of protesting hinges, the momentum carrying it until the iron-banded edge slammed against the wall with a solid thwack .
Plaster dust puffed out from the point of impact, leaving a fresh gouge in the wall.
“Commander Lockwood’s gonna kill you for the dent,” Drace told Erik.
“Nah, he’d let us burn it to the ground, if we asked.” Erik drew his pistol as he walked into the manor. “But Javen said not to make a mess.”
“Surprising, coming from him.”
The two Crimsons shared a laugh as Erik added, “How many times did we show up to a location to find the whole damn site already burned down?”
Something about the familiar way the men talked about the captain made Tobias bristle. He was rather used to being the only one who knew the captain.
“Drace,” Tobias said, “you patrol the outside, and Erik, you take the upstairs. I’ll sweep this floor.” The two exchanged a look, clearly unimpressed with Tobias’s commands. He tried his best to summon that steely-eyed gaze Javen used so well. “Now.”
Drace made a mocking salute and headed back outside.
Erik took the stairs two at a time, leaving Tobias alone.
He swapped his pistol for the miniature incandescent electric lamp clipped to his belt and swept its beam across the hunting trophies.
Finding nothing, he kept moving, across the grand hall.
To think that Lockwood referred to such a place as a lodge when Tobias’s entire family home could fit in its entrance way.
Even a single work of art from one of the walls would bring his ma more money than she’d make in a year.
Opening a heavy hardwood door, Tobias walked into a vast kitchen. Immediately, he spotted a single olive on the floor. Someone had been here.
Zari.
Any minute now, one of the Crimsons would find her.
He would be right, and Zari would be branded a traitor. Even if she was able to prove her innocence, the rumors would spread about the general’s daughter. How she’d turned her back on everything her father had died for, how she’d sided with the fae over her own countrymen.
He scanned the kitchen slowly. The dust here had been disturbed, hinting at recent occupation by beings far larger than mice. In the corner a closed wooden door must lead to the pantry. And there, Tobias noticed the smallest bit of fabric peeking out. Zari’s dress.
A few steps, and he’d have her. He’d have proof, too, to show the Crimsons he wasn’t a fool, even if he was from Karsic.
But Zari had saved his life. Could she really be guilty?
He turned, still unsure of what to do, just as a bright sword blade swung an inch from his neck. Biting back a curse, Tobias froze.
“What are you doing here?” the unseen attacker asked, with a Karsici accent that matched Tobias’s own. Was Zari’s traveling companion not a fae?
It startled Tobias almost as much as the attack had. “I don’t mean any harm.”
“An interesting statement for a military officer.” The shadow-wrapped figure replied. “Are you here for Zari?”
A lead weight settled in Tobias’s gut .
“Do you have any idea what will happen to her, if you turn her in?” the speaker asked. “The military has no mercy for sympathizers of the fae. Are you willing to send her to a firing squad?”
“No, I just… I was doing as I was ordered.”
The speaker snarled, a low, furious noise. “My advice, soldier, is to question orders rather than follow them blindly. Now, tell me who sent you. Lockwood, or another Crimson?”
Generic, vague answers flickered in Tobias’s mind. The Rhydonian government. His commanding officer. The law. “If I tell you, will you let me live?”
“There’s a reason you’re not dead yet, yes.”
“It was Captain Javen, of the Cobalts.”
Mercifully, the sword swung away from Tobias.
Before he could take a breath, the speaker shoved him hard, between his shoulders.
Tobias careened forward, hitting the ground hard.
As fast as he tried to push himself upright, his attacker had moved faster, so fast that Tobias only saw a hint of motion and heard a muffled curse. “Drowned and done, isn’t it!”
The figure vanished, into the shadows, as a creaking door opened and shut. Tobias blinked. That phrase… he hadn’t heard it since leaving home. What was someone from Karsic doing mixed up in all this?
Tobias’s knees wobbled. Placing one hand on his neck, he breathed a sigh of relief. The stranger had held the blade with deadly precision. Whoever they were, Tobias would leave Zari with them, and return to the capital, a failure, but one who hadn’t gotten the nurse who had saved his life killed.
With a shrill whistle, he made the all-clear call.