Once Upon a Time (Calluvia's Royalty 3)

Rohan nodded.

“So…” Sirri said. “Where were you all this time?”

“No comment,” Rohan said.

He received a telepathic smack for that. “I’m not a fucking reporter. It isn’t going to work on me, you ass!”

“It’s none of your business where I was, and it’s neither the time nor the place to talk about it. Keep quiet.”

Sirri glared at him, but she did become quiet.

They walked for a short while before they finally reached the Blind. They could no longer trace the High Adept’s identification chip’s signal. Only powerful electronic devices like the TNIT could work within the Blind; weaker electronics and the GlobalNet didn’t.

“Can you feel him, Warrehn?” Rohan said, stretching his senses as far as possible. He couldn’t sense anyone.

Pulling out a blaster, Warrehn grunted in the affirmative and changed their direction. The kid in his grip seemed to perk up, too. Rohan wondered about it. They didn’t know anything about the modern High Hronthar. Did masters and apprentices have a telepathic bond? Could that kid actually communicate with his master from a distance?

The thought made him uneasy.

His wariness only increased once he was able to sense the Grandmaster, too. He was powerful, as expected, possibly as powerful as Warrehn, but it wasn’t what made Rohan tense. Every grown telepath had a distinct, recognizable telepathic presence, individual for everyone once the telepath fully grew into their powers. But Grandmaster Idhron didn’t have one. His telepathic presence remained elusive, hard to pin down. It was disconcerting. It was as disconcerting as a person without a face.

A sideways glance at Sirri confirmed that she was just as thrown off. “Creepy,” she muttered, pulling out her own blaster.

Rohan shrugged, pushing away his unease. They didn’t know what they taught at the High Hronthar these days. Maybe it was the norm for all masters.

The man waiting for them in the small clearing looked… jarringly normal. He was tall, about Rohan’s height, his long, pale hair tied back. He wasn’t wearing the traditional white, richly adorned robes of the High Adept. Instead, he was wearing simple dark brown robes that did a piss-poor job of hiding the fact that the monk was a man in very good physical shape.

“Master!” the kid said, smiling.

The Grandmaster’s expressionless face didn’t change. His cold eyes gave his apprentice a quick examination from head to toe before looking at his captors. Something shifted about him when his gaze fell on Warrehn, but the emotion was gone so quickly Rohan wasn’t sure what it was. The Grandmaster looked from Warrehn to Sirri before his gaze finally settled on Rohan.

“Well?” he said, looking at Rohan and ignoring the other two. “What do you want?”

Rohan narrowed his eyes, wondering about it. “You know who I am. I’m sure you can put two and two together.”

His guess was proven correct when the monk didn’t bother denying it.

“Indeed,” Idhron conceded, his face still blank. Rohan couldn’t read him at all. “But I am not here to talk about my suspicions. I am here to get back what you took. Eridan, come here.”

Warrehn barked out a harsh laugh, tightening his grip on his captive. “You seriously think I’m letting the kid go, just like that?”

Idhron didn’t look away from Rohan. “Tell him to release my apprentice.” The unsaid threat was more effective than it had any right to be, considering that Idhron was outnumbered three to one.

“Look,” Rohan said with a sigh. “We didn’t want to get the kid involved at all, but it was the only way to get you to talk to us on our terms.”

“And what makes you think kidnapping a simple apprentice would make me more cooperative?” Idhron said. “He’s just a boy, one of hundreds of initiates eager to learn from me. I could have him replaced at a moment’s notice.”

Rohan glanced at the boy in question. Eridan dropped his gaze, but Rohan didn’t miss the hurt look that flashed in those violet eyes. Even Rohan felt a little bad for the boy and he didn’t know him at all. Warrehn was frowning deeply.

“Then what are you doing here?” Rohan said, looking back at the Grandmaster. “If he’s so worthless to you?”

Idhron didn’t say anything for a moment. “I didn’t say that he was worthless. It would be a pity to have wasted years of my time on him if I were to take another apprentice. He is of some worth to me, but you are delusional if you think I will not sacrifice him if you try to use him against me.”

Rohan couldn’t sense any hint of deception, and even rationally, he knew Idhron must be telling the truth. Why would the Grandmaster of the High Hronthar care about one boy when he had hundreds of initiates eager to take his place?

It was all for nothing. They’d risked everything for nothing.

Before Rohan could say anything, Sirri chuckled.