“When do we move out?” asked SkyDancer.
“Soon,” answered Ukaro. “We have to allow the Monitors time to react first. Relax for a little while. I will go out and see what is happening.”
“Relax?” chuckled SkyDancer as Ukaro disappeared. “I think that is asking a bit too much.”
“Quiet,” admonished Temiker as he peered through the spy hole in the doors to the corridor outside the room.
Nodding his head as he cracked the door open, Temiker watched as the cat darted through the opening. Temiker immediately closed the door.
“How does he do that?” asked SunChaser. “He disappears completely when he does it. I wonder what would happen to him if the spell went wrong during the short period of time when he didn’t exist.”
“I assume that he would cease to exist,” StarWind answered softly. “Is everyone clear on their objectives? We will not get a second chance to do this right.”
The Sakovan spymaster looked each person in the eye and waited for their assurance. Everyone nodded affirmatively. She walked to the large desk in front of the fireplace and sat in the leather chair. She idly opened the drawers and inspected the contents as she waited for Ukaro to return. The wait seemed interminable, but she sat erect when Temiker finally opened the door to admit the cat. Everyone watched as the cat disappeared and the Chula shaman took its place.
“It is as we expected,” reported Ukaro. “Monitors are massed at every exit. They are fully alert and expecting someone to try to gain entry to the Imperial Palace. The Katana’s Council is still in session. There are two Monitors outside the door as sentries.”
“We can handle that,” HawkShadow said assertively.
“Good,” Ukaro continued. “The Katana is currently in his chambers. That has to change for us to succeed. He has a dozen Monitors protecting him.”
“If the Monitors remain true to their practices,” interjected SunChaser, “they will move him if they suspect that any intruders are in the palace. The chambers have too many entrances to be totally secure.”
“Are you positive of this?” asked StarWind. “This all falls apart unless they react as you have described.”
“I am positive,” nodded SunChaser. “Every time the Katana has been threatened, they have reacted the same way. It is not the Katana who chooses what happens in such a situation. The Monitors will insist on following their own procedures.”
“Colonel Zanta might be a problem,” Ukaro continued when he was sure that the previous question was settled. “He has been moving around the palace checking on the deployment of his men. I crossed his path several times. You may have a problem with that one, StarWind.”
“SunChaser and I will improvise,” promised StarWind. “Colonel Zanta has never met a lure like Cherri.”
SunChaser giggled and grinned. “Actually,” she said, “Colonel Zanta is a nice man. I think that I can get him alone.”
“Alright,” StarWind said with an air of authority, “let’s make this happen. Goral, Temiker, and Ukaro are the first to go.”
Temiker peered through the spy hole as Goral and Ukaro gathered near the door. He inhaled deeply and opened the door. The two mages and the giant slipped out the door and closed it behind them. HawkShadow started counting numbers in his head as everyone else waited for their turn to leave. StarWind and SunChaser huddled by the door. StarWind peered through the hole until HawkShadow announced that is was time for them to leave. StarWind opened the door and left the room. SunChaser followed and closed the door behind her.
HawkShadow continued counting as he moved to the door and peered through the spy hole. He saw no movement in the corridor outside, and when the numbers reached the time for him to leave, he opened the door for SkyDancer. He followed her through the door, closing it behind him.
The distance from the First Minister’s office to the meeting room of the Katana’s Council was not great, but the path passed by the main entrance to the palace. HawkShadow turned away from the front of the building and followed a much longer path. The corridors of the Imperial Palace were deserted. Several times during the walk, HawkShadow saw servants moving about in the distance, but no one ever came close until SkyDancer turned the final corner in their circuitous route.
The path HawkShadow had chosen ended with a long corridor heading directly towards the door of the Council Chamber. The two Monitors standing sentry outside the door saw the two figures approaching. They immediately became alert as they watched an Imperial Guard escort an unfamiliar woman towards them. As it became clear that the visitors’ destination was the Council Chamber, the Monitors subconsciously closed ranks to block the door.
“What are you doing here?” challenged one of the Monitors. “The palace is supposed to be closed.”
“It is closed,” HawkShadow replied as SkyDancer stopped directly in front of the Monitors. “I was ordered to bring this woman to the Council Chamber. I am just doing what I was told to.”
HawkShadow stopped just behind SkyDancer so that only the left half of his body was visible. While he looked one of the Monitors in the eye, a knife slid into his right hand.
“This is not right,” argued the Monitor. “You should not even be in the building. A Monitor should be escorting this woman.”
HawkShadow shrugged and sighed, “I am just doing my job. If you want me to go back and tell Colonel Zanta that you refused me entry, it is no problem to me. Come on, woman. Back the way we came.”
SkyDancer turned slightly as if she was turning around. A knife slid into her hand as she did so, but her own body blocked the movement. When it appeared that the couple was leaving, the Monitors glanced at one another as if silently asking each other if the decision to refuse entry had been wise. In that split second, the Sakovans struck.
SkyDancer stepped to the right and plunged her knife into the chest of one Monitor while HawkShadow skewered the other. Both men died instantly. Each Sakovan grabbed a body and supported it. HawkShadow used his free hand to open the door and then kicked it hard. The door flew open, and SkyDancer swept into the room, tossing the body to the floor. HawkShadow immediately followed, dropping the body he was carrying and closed the door.
The assembled Councilors gasped as the Sakovans entered the room. An overweight man at the far end of the table leaped to his feet and started shouting for help. SkyDancer whirled and threw her knife. The knife hit the man in the face and the shouting stopped as the Councilor’s body fell to the floor, knocking his chair over.
“Any more noise, and I will eliminate the one who makes it,” SkyDancer said sternly. “You are to sit quietly until I decide otherwise.”
“While I do not speak to draw attention to this crime,” another Councilor said softly, “I would like to know what is happening. I will remain quiet.”
SkyDancer glared at the man for a moment before nodding.
“Fair enough,” SkyDancer said. “We are here to seek an end to this madness that you call war. This Council has backed the Katana’s call for war. As such, you are all guilty of murder. Sometime in the past, you backed another Katana’s call for war only to later find out that he was a false Katana. You do not learn very well. Once again you have followed another false Katana, but you have allowed this one to go too far.”
“So you are Sakovan?” sighed the Councilor. “I should have suspected as much, but why do you say that our Katana is false?”
“Because he is,” answered SkyDancer. “Larst died the night before you selected him to be Katana. The mage that now inhabits his body was known to you as a historian. It will be revealed to you shortly.”
“So you are not here to kill us all?” the Councilor asked with a twitch in his eye. “Will this be like the last time when your Star killed the Katana and left the city?”
“Hardly,” SkyDancer shook her head. “This time you have gone too far. You have sent your armies into the Sakova to annihilate us. While I will not kill any of you without reason, your tenure on this council is over. We are here to demand the surrender of Omunga.”