Part 2 (2/2)

Signe smiled. ”Rise, child. I declare you a s.h.i.+mat.” She indicated to the sword and stack of papers. ”Go and prepare for your mission. You leave tomorrow night.”

Adesina hurried back to her room, where she found a pleasant surprise. Folded carefully on her cot was a s.h.i.+mat uniform exactly like the one she had worn for her final test the year before. Next to it sat a set of nondescript travel clothes that she was to wear the following night. She was tempted to try on the uniform immediately, but she resisted the urge. Instead, Adesina made a detailed list in her mind of everything she would need for the journey. As she was a.s.sembling a kit for her medicine she heard a tentative knock at her door.

It was Zadok. ”The Sharifal said I am to give you whatever weapons you want.”

She jotted down a list and handed it to the bulky man, who left as quickly as he came. Adesina was uncertain what kind of preparations would be needed because she still didn't know the specifics of her mission. She tried to account for every situation when putting her things together.

When she had done all that she could, she settled on her cot to read the stack of papers Signe had given her. She read each sentence repeatedly until all of the information was ingrained into her memory. Once she had done this, she tried to get some rest.

Zadok returned at first light with the items she had requested, which Adesina hid carefully in her bags. She checked and rechecked her mental list of preparations, anxious to take care of everything.

A sudden thought occurred to her, and she hurried to the courtyard where she usually met Kendan to begin her lessons. He was standing with his arms folded expectantly.

Adesina bowed respectfully. ”Forgive me, Shar Kendan, I did not know if I had a lesson in light of my new a.s.signment.”

Kendan raised an eyebrow. ”Why would you not? All who are resident to the fortress are students. All students have lessons.”

Adesina nodded. ”Of course, Shar Kendan.”

He beckoned to her and walked down the corridor that eventually opened up to a large training area. As she followed him, she had an unpleasant feeling that he was going to make her pay for keeping him waiting. Her fears proved to be well founded.

Kendan took her to an obstacle course he had set up on the range. It was arranged in such a way that Adesina could only see the obstacle immediately in front of her, and the rest was hidden from view. The wooden walls formed a kind of maze around each of the puzzles she was to solve.

He turned to face her with the familiar challenging gleam in his eyes. ”There are guards patrolling the area. You are to neutralize them without harming them. Each obstacle in the course is to be dealt with in a manner of your choosing, but you are not to influence the servants a.s.sisting on the course. At the end of the range is a box you are to return to me. Do you understand?”

Adesina nodded, her mind already working on the task.

Kendan pointed to a raised tower that overlooked the entire obstacle course. ”I will be watching you from there.”

He walked away, leaving Adesina to her exercise. She entered the maze on velvet feet, making no noise even though the ground was covered in gravel. The first obstacle was a wall of wooden boards. There was enough room at the bottom for her to squeeze under it, but it also was a height that Adesina could climb over. She crouched by the wall, closing her eyes and focusing on what was on the other side.

Adesina could hear two guards breathing. They were standing stationary, and there was a third guard patrolling.

She pursed her lips thoughtfully. It would be tricky getting all three at once. She reached into her belt and detached three darts, which were coated with a special compound that Adesina had invented during her sixth year of training. The result of the mixture was almost immediate unconsciousness.

She jumped lightly and grabbed hold of the top of the wall, raising herself up slowly and silently. Peering over the edge, she verified the positions of all three guards. Then, gathering her energy, she vaulted over the wall. While in midair she threw a dart at the patrolling guard with pinpoint accuracy, then she landed between the stationary guards, jabbing both of them in the shoulder with the remaining darts.

Not one of the three guards had time to react before the drug on the darts took effect. Adesina gathered the darts and immediately turned her mind to the next obstacle.

Just beyond the fallen third guard were a series of moving targets and a small servant girl standing on the path that led out of the enclosure. The girl looked to be about seven or eight, and was holding a bundle of various weapons. Adesina walked over and took the bundle from the girl. As she did so, the girl looked up at her with undisguised admiration glowing in her young eyes.

Children who were brought to the fortress between the ages of five and nine were put to work as servants. If they were younger, they were taken to the nursery. The fortress rarely accepted children over the age of nine because at least one year of service was required before training began. Being that Adesina had begun her training so early, she never went through that particular process. This was yet another part of what engendered the feelings of hostility between Adesina and the other s.h.i.+. All of them had paid their dues, except for her.

Adesina rummaged through the bundle of weapons and picked out a bow. The girl smiled and handed Adesina five arrowsa”one for each target.

Adesina stood and faced the targets. They were small, round wooden s.h.i.+elds painted with a red circle and an X through the middle. Their movements were reasonably paced, but it was also clear that their course was random. Adesina knew that this would take a bit more time and skill than if they had had a clear pattern.

She drew the bow and took careful aim. The arrow was released with a soft tw.a.n.g. Adesina didn't need to look to know that she had hit her mark, but she checked just in case. The arrow stood quivering in the center of the red painted X.

Adesina drew her bow again, and dealt with the other four targets in a similar manner. A brief smirk crossed her face, but she quickly banished it. The course was far from done.

The young girl took the bow from Adesina and stepped aside to let her pa.s.s to the next section of the challenge.

The path led to an open area that looked a lot like part of the final test of her fifth year of training. The ground was spread with a yellow substance that showed clearly on any clothing. The objective was to cross the area without touching the ground. Adesina studied the course, mapping out a path in her mind. When she decided on the best strategy, she began.

The entrance where Adesina stood was in the corner of the open area. High up on the outer wall that ran away from the entrance hung a st.u.r.dy draping fabric. Adesina braced herself in the doorframe and climbed up slowly in order to reach it.

There was still quite a bit of distance between Adesina and the fabric when she reached the top of the doorframe. Focusing all of her energy in her legs and feet, Adesina jumped toward the fabric with all the force she could muster.

She hit the wall much harder than she antic.i.p.ated. Her slender fingers automatically clutched at the fabric, even though her breath had been knocked from her body. It took several moments for Adesina to steady herself. Her hands were beginning to ache by the time she was able to breathe normally again.

There was a trick that Adesina had learned when she was very young. If she focused hard enough, she found she could trick her mind into thinking her body was incredibly light. Adesina closed her eyes and did so now. Years of practice made it fairly easy. She immediately felt the pressure on her hands ease.

She began climbing along the wall, careful to control her momentum so as not to lose her grip. The fabric ended after about fifteen feet, leaving her no direction to go but out into the open area.

Ten feet away from the wall stood a series of tall wooden poles. Adesina pushed off the wall with her feet, leaping to grab the closest rod. From there she jumped to another, and then to another. The fourth pillar had a tiny platform nailed to the top. Adesina climbed onto this platform and paused to reorient herself. There was a rope strung tautly from the small platform to another on a pillar twenty feet away. Adesina balanced herself expertly and slowly crossed the rope.

From there, there was a section of many thick wooden rods that varied in height and size and were placed fairly close together. Adesina found herself jumping and climbing from pole to pole with relative ease.

At the end of this section was a platform and a rope hung from a rod high above. There were about half a dozen ropes hanging at intervals that led across to another platform, but the first one was the only one that touched the ground. She would have to climb straight up the first one, and then swing to reach the next rope. As soon as Adesina began to do this, three young s.h.i.+ appeared on the far wall with bows in their hands. They immediately drew their bows and began shooting at Adesina as she climbed.

The tips of the arrows were dull, but they were coated with the same yellow substance that covered the ground. Although a hit would not be physically harmful, it would be clear that she had been careless.

Adesina quickly began to swing the rope as she climbed, making sure she never was stationary. Luckily, the archers were still fairly inexperienced and also a good distance away, giving her a split second longer to move out of the way.

Arrows whizzed past her ominously. As soon as she was high enough, she leaped to the second rope. Adesina had just enough momentum to get her hands around the rope. She knew she would have to swing harder to reach the next one safely.

Adesina soon discovered that each rope was further away than the last. Each one took a little more time and strength to reach, all the while dodging the arrows that flew past. In spite of this, she landed on the platform as gracefully as if she had been doing nothing more than a dance. One last arrow shot in her direction, which she dodged with an expression of contempt.

The platform led out of the open area and into a small room. As soon as she entered, the door slammed shut behind her. It was completely dark, and Adesina was not equipped with anything to produce light. The soft sound of falling sand led her to the right side of the room. She searched the wall with her sensitive fingertips, finally coming across the shape of an hourgla.s.s.

She was being timed.

Adesina's mind kicked into high gear. Based on the size of the hourgla.s.s, she only had about ten minutes to solve this problem.

Before the door had closed behind her she had seen that there was a door on the opposite side. She made her way over there and began examining the door by touch. There were a number of k.n.o.bs on the door of various shapes and sizes. Some had carvings in them, others had b.u.mps in different patterns, and some were smooth. Some of the k.n.o.bs turned with a soft clicking noise, others had notches that allowed them to be pulled out to different lengths, and some were set in a slot and could be moved to different positions.

As Adesina began experimenting with the different k.n.o.bs, she discovered that certain k.n.o.bs would lock into place according to how she positioned other k.n.o.bs. She also found that some k.n.o.bs would lock some in place while releasing others that had previously been locked. Adesina turned the puzzle over in her mind, looking for patterns and trying out various sequences. She also listened carefully for the sand in the hourgla.s.s, using the tone of the falling sand to judge how much time she had left.

Six minutes.

There were so many k.n.o.bs, and several that refused to lock into place no matter what Adesina did. She knew what she had to do to solve the puzzle, and her mind raced over the fastest way to find the correct series of motions.

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