Chapter 899: Last Order

Kesh Varlan read Ithanne's sealing order twice before lowering the page.

For the first time since the breach, the report in front of him did not contain a problem he could answer with procedure.

The Deep Chambers were under Myrrhvale authority. Household officers stood at the entrance, archive clerks were cataloguing everything inside, and a magistrate's recorder had witnessed the first files being removed. By the time Kesh received the notice, copies were already being prepared for the succession council.

He remained behind his desk for several seconds, then pushed his chair back harder than necessary. Meer's departure, Varn's records, Rhavel's authority and the old closure documents had all survived in the same place.

He had spent years keeping those records away from ordinary administrative offices. Now Ithanne had all of them, and there was very little he could still remove without making his involvement even more obvious.

Very little, but not nothing.

One record had never been kept in the Deep Chambers. It was older, more complete and considerably more dangerous than the separate documents Ithanne had recovered.

That one could not reach the council.

Kesh opened a locked drawer and removed a narrow command slate. His thumb remained over one line for a moment before he pressed it and began issuing orders.

"Third detachment to the south pressure annex. Move the harbour reserve to junction twelve. Two squads to the old command facility."

The officer beside the door frowned. "Admiral, those units are already assigned to Corvyn's security deployment."

"I'm changing their assignment."

"Does Lord Corvyn know?"

Kesh looked at him. "Move them."

The officer left immediately. Kesh remained at the desk long enough to read one final entry on the slate, then took his coat and followed him out.

…

Trafalgar heard about the Deep Chambers being sealed while he was with Rhosyn and Zafira. Ithanne's people had moved quickly, and the first rumours were already spreading through the castle before any official announcement reached the observers.

Zafira leaned back in her chair. "So that's it. The council gets the records, Kesh explains himself, and we see what survives."

Trafalgar shook his head. "You really think he'll sit somewhere and wait for that?"

"He doesn't have many options left."

"He flooded an entire section of Meraval when I got too close to the warehouse." Trafalgar looked toward Rhosyn. "Now Ithanne has the archive he kept hidden for years. A man like that doesn't suddenly decide to do nothing."

Rhosyn nodded slowly. "People become dangerous when they know they're losing control."

"That's why we need to find him before he decides what his last move is."

They left the room together. The first sign appeared before they reached the lower administrative crossing, where Tide soldiers were moving in the opposite direction from the posts Corvyn had assigned them earlier.

More appeared near the eastern route. One group headed toward the pressure network, another toward an old freight junction, and a third disappeared down a stair Trafalgar had never seen guarded before.

Zafira watched them pass. "That's a lot of men for routine security."

"And they're not reinforcing the same area," Trafalgar said. "They're being spread."

Rhosyn looked down the stair after the third group. "I can follow them."

Before she moved, a sharp voice came from the next crossing. Corvyn was standing beside a Tide captain with an order sheet in his hand, and neither man looked pleased.

"I authorised reinforcement of the locks and ring crossings," Corvyn said. "Why are men being pulled from them?"

"Admiral Varlan issued a redistribution."

"For what?"

"Additional protection of critical Tide facilities."

Corvyn looked at the paper again. "Which facilities?"

The captain hesitated. "The order doesn't specify beyond the assigned destinations."

"Then tell Kesh I want the full list before another unit moves."

The captain saluted and left. Corvyn noticed Trafalgar across the crossing, but he made no attempt to stop him; his attention returned immediately to the order sheet in his hand.

Trafalgar waited until they were past him before speaking. "He didn't know about this, he is doing things behind his back.."

Zafira glanced back. "That seems to be happening often."

Rhosyn had already focused on the soldiers ahead. "The group that went downstairs is moving fast. If we're following anyone, I'd choose them."

They followed at a distance through two lower corridors. The soldiers separated at another junction, but one officer continued alone with a sealed case under his arm and entered an older section built closer to the outer pressure wall.

Rhosyn disappeared through a side passage and returned several minutes later. "He's not the only one going there. Two squads are around the next level, and someone cleared the normal maintenance crews out."

"Kesh?"

"I didn't see him."

Trafalgar continued forward. "Then we keep going."

The old command facility stood below a disused naval control room. It had no public archive markings and no administrative staff, only reinforced Tide doors and a narrow corridor leading farther into the structure.

They reached the upper landing just as Kesh appeared below them. He had come alone, and when he saw Trafalgar descending with Rhosyn and Zafira behind him, he immediately stopped.

His expression remained controlled, but the calm Trafalgar had seen at the pumping works was gone. There was tension in his face now, and for once Kesh looked like a man who knew events were moving faster than he could contain them.

"Haven't you involved yourself enough already, Morgain?"

"Apparently not."

"This is a Tide command facility. Turn around."

Trafalgar descended the remaining steps. "Corvyn didn't authorise the soldiers you moved here. What are you planning?"

Something changed in Kesh's expression, small enough that Trafalgar might have missed it several days earlier. Kesh looked toward the corridor behind him and then back at the three of them.

"What I do with Tide personnel is not your concern."

"It became my concern when your commander tried to kill me."

Kesh reached the inner door and pressed his palm against the control plate. Heavy locks disengaged inside the wall while the reinforced door began withdrawing.

Zafira moved immediately. "He's going in."

Trafalgar followed before the door could close, with Rhosyn and Zafira directly behind him. Kesh heard their steps and looked back for a brief moment before reaching toward another control beside the wall.

He struck it with his palm. Steel doors dropped across both ends of the corridor a second later, shaking dust from the ceiling as red emergency lamps activated overhead.

Every lock on the level engaged in rapid succession. Trafalgar turned toward the sealed entrance while Rhosyn placed one hand against the wall and concentrated for several seconds.

"There's a barrier running through the structure. I can't pass through it."

Zafira looked toward the other exit. "Same thing?"

Rhosyn nodded. "We're staying inside unless someone opens it."

Kesh had already continued toward the deeper section of the facility. He no longer bothered ordering them to leave, and the sound of another lock opening reached them from farther ahead.

Trafalgar looked past him at the reinforced doors and the old Tide markings covering the walls. He still had no idea what Kesh had come here to reach, but moving soldiers behind Corvyn's back and sealing the entire installation told him enough.

Whatever Kesh wanted was important enough to risk everything he still had.

And now they were trapped inside with him.