Rebel Elements (Seals of the Duelists) Read Online Free Page A

you’re leaving. I hope you never come back. And even if you do, be sure that I’ll have found someone else by then!” She whirled and left the house.
    Again, the voices came through from outside. Surprise, outrage, and confusion hammered at his ears.
    What have I done? Bayan’s mind fluttered like a bird trapped in a deep cave, frantically circling among the same dead ends. Immense blackness pressed in on him, and nothing felt real. His father returned with something small and green in his hands. Grateful for the distraction from Imee, Bayan focused on what his father held, a cutting from a tiny pitcher plant: a stem embedded in a small stoneware pot filled with earth. A single, immature green pitcher, the size of Bayan’s fingertip grew from the soil.
    He accepted the small pot from his father. “Why are you giving this to me?”
    “You’re going to a new place, to live with new people. You should take them a gift.”
    “It might not grow up north—”
    “You know how to harvest the sap of the pitcher and ferment it. You can teach them how to care for the plant, and how to make their own seerwine. If they like, they can sell it and keep the profits. What you bring them is a valuable plant and the knowledge to make a much-desired product from it. Do not let it die.”
    Bayan looked down at the little pitcher. “Yes, Father.”
    “You remember the rule of ten?”
    Bayan swallowed. He’d have to feed the plant himself for the whole journey north. “Yes. I remember.”
    “Good. Take this.” Datu held out a small knife with a sharp point, then slid it into a narrow sheath. Bayan added them to his cloth bag. “Turn around,” Datu demanded.
    Bayan obediently turned his back to his father. The older man’s fingers drew lines through Bayan’s shoulder-length hair, gathering the hair from his crown into a tail at the back of his head. His father paused, holding the tail in one hand, then tied the hair into place. Bayan turned and saw that his father had pulled his own tail-thong loose to put it in his son’s hair. Datu’s dark hair hung disheveled and loose around his ears.
    “The empire does not ask for the help of boys, Bayan. Today, you are a man.”

    ~~~

    The two men strolled together along a broad, covered walk. Columns of jade marble periodically marked their progress. To their right, broad swaths of green, interspersed with carefully arranged gardens sporting a color scheme of blue and white leaves, separated each multi-story stone building from its neighbors, giving the royal campus an open feel. The bright leafy swaths did nothing to cut the chill winter wind, however, and the men drew their fine wool cloaks close.
    “It will be nice to feel warm again,” the dark, slender man commented, tucking a thick envelope into an inner pocket between brisk strides. “Too long since I’ve been home.”
    His taller companion did not respond.
    “And you? Do you miss your homeland?” the first continued.
    “More than you know.” The words came reluctantly.
    “Oh, I doubt that. Of the two of us, which is further from the familiar? Which has the more desperate task that draws him into danger?”
    The taller man stopped, hazel eyes cold. “You dare ask that of me? After everything else you’ve demanded, you expect me to also allow you the courtesy of a comparison with myself? No! We are nothing alike!”
    “Tut, my lord, let us not attract undue attention. Neither of us desire the consequences of that.” The short man continued walking, and after a moment, the other followed as well. They ambled beneath the winter-wilted leaves of a vapor tree. “Besides, we really are not that different, deep down. We both do what we must to get what we want. Is that not what drives all men?”
    “No, it is not.” The tall man raised his pointed chin, clipping his words in anger. “If you had not come to me with your smiling threats, I would not have to do anything for you.”
    A chuckle. “So short-sighted, for