Free Clearwater Dawn by Scott Fitzgerald Gray Page B

look away from. We end up afraid of only the things we see. From all the rest, we hide.”
    Barien’s voice in his head this night had filled him with fear he hadn’t felt since that first day in the city. No way of knowing now what it meant, Chriani thought dully.
    “You hide from something, you can’t fight it, lad,” Barien had said in response to the fear he felt then.
    “Do you hide from anything?” Chriani had asked, but Barien only smiled.
    Chriani felt the rough edge now that Barien’s last words had torn in his memory, no way of ever asking what secret lay shrouded in that fear.
    One more thing he’d never have the chance to say.
    Where the prince was waiting for him, Chriani nodded even as he felt his voice choked off by the old anger, blood pounding in his head suddenly as he tried to find the strength to focus but couldn’t. He heard the Princess Lauresa’s directive in his memory. He felt his bile rise at the thought of it, even as the recollection of the events she’d forbidden him to speak of twisted through him.
    Barien had tried to teach him to follow orders, though never as successfully as he would have wished, Chriani knew. Barien had given and taken orders his whole life.
    “My lord prince, I was ordered by Sergeant Barien to stand guard at the doorway to the Princess Lauresa’s chamber,” Chriani said. “I did not know his reasons.”
    The warrior’s last orders to him. Keep her safe.
    “When the alarm was sounded, the princess came to the door, and in her uncertainty requested that I position myself within the antechamber. I remained there until Lieutenant Ashlund and his party appeared to relieve me.”
    It was Barien’s orders he was following, he told himself. Not hers. Chanist only nodded.
    “I was instructed by Lieutenant Ashlund to quit the princess’s chambers but he had no orders for me. I approached the staging ground but saw the gate down and no officers. I proceeded toward the great hall and discovered…”
    And even as something rose in his throat, Chriani felt a faint heat on his skin. A stinging sensation, the hair on the back of his neck standing up like it might in the shifting air of a summer storm.
    Truth magic. At the prince’s neck, Chriani caught sight of the pendant and realized that it was the same as the one Lauresa had worn. He tried to push the thought away, mentally willed the moonsign as he wondered without wanting to whether Chanist had already had the lies sensed in the words he’d spoken.
    “I found Sergeant Barien dying, my lord prince.” Chriani tried to swallow but couldn’t. “He died before I could leave him to seek aid. I followed the track of his bleeding to where I believe he was assaulted, in the hall of records. I returned to his body to find members of the watch there. I challenged them in my anger and fear but meant them no harm, forgive me, my lord prince.”
    He bowed his head, didn’t want Konaugo to see the wetness in his eyes, but the captain’s gloved hand clipped Chriani’s chin, lifting it roughly.
    “Did he speak before he died?” Konaugo said darkly. “Any words, any information?”
    And in the dead grey gaze of Konaugo’s eyes, Chriani felt the coldness of the stone floor where he’d wept at Barien’s side. He heard the warrior’s voice —  Trust him not. No idea who he’d meant, but Barien had never made much effort to hide his contempt for the captain’s angry approach to leadership.
    Chriani shook his head.
    “He asked after the safety of the Princess Lauresa and yourself, my lord prince. Then nothing.”
    “And when and from where did Barien summon you?” Konaugo asked. His voice was softer this time, Chriani suddenly on edge. He’d never heard Konaugo speak softly before.
    He faltered. He didn’t know where Barien had been. Had no idea how the mysterious summons had even come to him.
    Chriani felt a sudden chill. Konaugo watched him darkly, expectant. Out of uniform.
    In the hall of records, the floor