by Kirby Crow
Liall sniffed and nodded, wiping his nose on the sleeve of his virca. “Of course you do. Sleep, t’aishka. I’ll be right here.”
“Hungry,” Scarlet mumbled. He heard nothing more and faded out.
He dreamed finally, an endless episode where he relived being at home, back in Lysia. He drank che with Scaja on the porch of their cottage, and he heard Linhona call him in for dinner from the fields where he played with Annaya. It seemed that he saw the sunset over the Nerit a thousand times, and every one of his friends came by to drink bitterbeer or play darts. The memories played over and over again until finally the images lost their color and all the visiting shades departed, leaving him alone in the village. He wandered the empty cobblestone streets from Hillside to Silverlane, from Bell Street to Hammerill, and even into the Afarit where strangers were buried. He peered into dark, humble houses, looked at the empty cups on the tables, and sadly realized that he was dreaming and Lysia was long dead, his people gone, himself an orphan.
He decided to wake up.
Scarlet smelled the food before he opened his eyes. “Liall?” he called softly, rubbing his face. His arms were weak. It took effort to prop himself up.
“The king is occupied,” said a cold voice.
Alexyin stood near the iron door. It was the first time Scarlet had seen iron doors in Rshan. He wondered if they were still in Starhold, but no, he remembered being moved.
“Where am I?” And why was Alexyin attending him? Where were his guards?
“Starhold.”
“But I remember... I thought I was moved.”
“You were. These rooms haven't been used by men for many years. The curaes thought they would be warmer than a ger, and since your kind are unable to bear our weather, you were moved. We are deep inside Starhold, in the old castle. Not much of it remains beyond these few rooms, but the king wanted you here.”
“I remember the Ancient,” Scarlet ventured. “Liall told me there was one. Is... is he still here?”
Alexyin turned to go. “The king commanded that he be informed the moment you woke. I will do so now.”
If that's an answer, then a fish bone is a knitting needle. But it was no use asking further. Alexyin would never tell him. “The king is well?”
“Oh, well enough,” Alexyin answered. There was acid in his tone. He waved his arm toward the covered trays waiting on a table. “He instructs that you should eat and rest.”
“I've been resting. Tell me how Liall is. Tell me now,” he ordered. You fucking prig, he wanted to add, which would make him sound exactly like the kind of man Alexyin already thought he was, so he kept it to himself.
Alexyin’s brows drew together in a scowl at being commanded. “What do you think? He's been mad with worry, raging like a snow bear, when he isn't pacing or drinking himself blind or hitting things with his sword.”
The fur coverlet under his hands was white and fine, but subtly coarse. A wolf pelt, he thought. “I'm sorry.”
“You should be.”
Scarlet was suddenly weary again, his new strength fleeing as quick as it had come. “You're not sorry I got hurt, and you don't feel sorry for Liall. This is about Cestimir. If by hating me you could bring Cestimir back, I'd give you my blessing.” He could feel his hands shaking and a wave of weakness passed through him. “But... but it won't. So, if you can't hold your tongue, stay away from me.” He drew in a shuddering breath. “I really can't manage being angry with anyone just now. For your own sake, please go away.”
“I do not fear your magic,” Alexyin declared. “And I didn't come here to salt your wounds. I need your help.”
Scarlet laughed feebly. “You'd choke before you asked for it.” But only something dire would drive Alexyin to appeal to him at all. “Where are my guards?”
“The king’s vanguard is mustering for our departure. They were needed. My years are advanced for such labors, so I was asked to attend you until you woke.”
“Why you?”
Alexyin arched his brows. “I am a member of the king’s household and one of his most trusted advisors. Who else should he have asked?”
Someone who doesn’t hate me, for starters. “You spoke of needing my help. With what?”
“The king has neglected his duty to his people and held the army here, idle, because you were unable to travel. Apparently, the king is incapable of ruling the kingdom if his t'aishka is sick. A day ago, Jochi escaped from his confinement and took actions that were for the good of the realm. He will die for them and—”
“Die?” Scarlet broke in, his pulse jumping at the word. “What did he do?” He didn’t believe it, not a word. Not of Jochi, and certainly not of Liall!
“As I said,” Alexyin continued tightly, visibly angry at being interrupted. “We have held here for ten days. The king's quarry—the Ava Thule—having had warning of our advance, have deserted their encampments near the Hadras. They’ve gone east, past the Kingsdal. We've entirely lost whatever advantage we had in this war, all because of you.”
If Margun hadn't interfered to obey Liall's stupid orders, none of this might have happened. But be damned if he’d shift the blame to anyone to spare himself Alexyin’s bile. The man could just stew in it, and much welcome he was to the soup.
“Liall makes his own decisions. Whatever you think of me, the king is his own man, and a king can command his army in any way he pleases, or do I have the meaning of the title wrong?” He refused to be cowed by Alexyin.
“If only that were true.” Alexyin gave him an unsettling smile.
It nettled Scarlet. “Stop your smirking and speak plain. What did Jochi do?”
“Jochi knew that delaying here meant we risked losing the war. To avoid that end, he attempted to enlist the aid of loyal soldiers to aid him in a plan to save the realm and ensure that we would not be defeated even before the battle had begun. For that, King Nazheradei plans to put Jochi on trial for his life.”
“Jochi would never do anything bad enough for Liall to harm him. I know it.”
In a gesture very much like Liall, Alexyin crossed his arms and leaned his shoulder on the iron door. “Jochi has been accused of insurrection. He attempted to persuade Khatai Jarek to mobilize the army eastward against the king's orders. He will be sentenced to die for it.”
“Liall won’t kill him,” Scarlet insisted. “Jochi is his friend.”
“The king has forgotten his friends. He thinks only of you.”
Scarlet bit his lip and pushed the covers away. He swung his legs slowly over the side of the bed. They had dressed him in a long blue tunic and a pair of loose breeches. His feet were covered in a type of knitted sock, trimmed in fur and with soles of soft, thin leather. He could feel the ridges of the stone floor when he stood, holding the bedpost to steady himself.
“This is a mistake of some kind,” he said, noting Alexyin did not move. It was unnerving, the way Alexyin stood perfectly still with only his eyes following, as if Scarlet were some evil invading the room. “That, or Liall has been misled.”
“It's no mistake, and Jochi is not innocent. He did what he is accused of.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because,” Alexyin said simply, “I asked him to do it.”
Scarlet stared. Either he's mad to confess that or Liall already knows. And why come to me? He can't believe I can protect him from Liall, or that I'd want to. “Why would you be so damned stupid?”
“Because it’s my duty. If the king won't act to serve the realm, then it falls to his subjects to act for him. Jochi is an honest man, as you well know. He will not deny what he did.”
One hand against the wall for support, Scarlet walked gingerly to the table, where water and che had been set out for him. He opted for the water, not trusting his hands to be steady enough to handle the che pot. He drank and wiped his mouth. His senses tingled with danger. “What happened after he spoke to Jarek?”
“She refused him, of course, but then Jochi tried to persuade her t
o confine the king until his senses returned. And that—”
“Is treason,” Scarlet finished. Gods above, what was Jochi thinking? He narrowed his eyes accusingly at Alexyin. “What’s the name of this game you’re playing, Alexyin?”
Alexyin’s eyes turned hooded, and Scarlet knew he would get nothing of use from him. Still, he pushed on.
“You care for the king, but you don’t respect him, or his choices. You care for Jochi, but you set him up to oppose Liall and placed him in danger. Why? I can understand that Liall the Wolf is much different from the prince you once knew, and that will take some getting used to, but Jochi?” He shook his head. “Jochi respects you more than anyone. He trusts you. He came to me in my ger. He was trying to warn me about something, but....” He looked down at his hands and flexed his fingers. They were stiff. “But I never got to find out what.”
“Because your magic went wild, tried to kill.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I wouldn't do that. I wouldn’t kill. Not if there was any other way.”
Alexyin moved. He had been so still that Scarlet recoiled involuntarily. Alexyin strode to him and grabbed his wrist. His fingers bit into Scarlet's skin.
“Tell me the truth,” Alexyin growled. “If whores like you are capable of truth, then tell me: why do the Ancients covet your power? Why do they protect you and watch over you? What do you know of Ged Fanorl?”
“Nothing!” Scarlet shouted, frightened and unable to hide it. He had never forgotten how strong these Rshani were. It was terrifying to be seized by one of them. He had no chance in a fight unless he used his magic. “Let go of me!”
In answer, Alexyin grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him like a dog with a rat between his fangs. Scarlet heard his teeth click together.
“Tell me!” Alexyin shouted, his lips pulled back in a snarl.
Alexyin shook him again, and Scarlet found the strength to meet Alexyin’s eyes without fear. “I'm warning you. Let me go.”
“What will you do to me if I refuse? Will you turn your magic on me now?”
“Keep on and see.” Already Scarlet could feel the fire churning in his body, wanting to be let out. “Let me go!”
Alexyin released him with a muttered curse and shoved him back.
Scarlet braced his hands against the wall, feeling his legs shaking under him. Advanced years, my arse! He trembled with the attempt to keep his Gift at bay, though it seemed like a roaring fire was in the room. He could feel the heat on his face, on his chest, through his clothes.
“I know nothing about the Ancients,” he spat out. “Nothing about the king’s plans, about your sacred fucking mountain. Nothing.” But I must go because whatever power is changing the magic within me, it’s there.
“So you claim.” Alexyin scrutinized him up and down, as if measuring how best to murder him and make it look like an accident. “I've never told the king about what happened when he left Rshan that first time,” he said slowly. “After he killed his brother. I swore an oath to keep it secret. Now I think it needs to be said.”
“Say it, then, and be damned to you.”
“After Nazheradei was exiled, the court was in uproar. In a single hour, we had lost both heirs to Rshan. No one knew what would happen, who to look to. The queen was in shock, the old king was long dead. There was no one, and so I took power for a short time. Yes, me. The queen wished it so. I think she didn't truly care one way or another. She loved Nadei dearly, but she loved Nazheradei even more. To lose both was more than she could bear. That was when Shikhoza came to me.”
Scarlet heard her name in a fog. His Gift was receding, but it left him weak all over again. He groped for his bed and sat on the edge of the mattress heavily. “What does she have to do with it?”
Alexyin turned. “She said was pregnant with Nazheradei's child.” He shrugged. “Or Nadei's. It will never be known for certain whose child she delivered.”
“You mean there is a child?” Scarlet asked. He didn't know whether to be angry or relieved. That's one issue solved, at least. He won't have to marry Ressilka if he already has an heir.
“A boy,” Alexyin said. “Healthy as you could wish, and undeniably Camira-Druz. I saw him myself several times as he grew to manhood.”
“Liall has a son,” Scarlet murmured. “I'm happy for him.” He realized it was true, that he really was not only relieved, but pleased. Liall has a son!
“You may turn out to be happier about it than he is. The boy is a man now, but the king will not see him as a suitable heir. Nazheradei must be persuaded that the boy is our hope for the future.”
“It's Liall's kingdom and Liall's heir. He’ll be the one to decide that.”
Alexyin smirked. “Will he? What do you know of ruling a kingdom, little peasant? What do you know of the hard decisions that a ruler must make between his conscience and the good of his people? I had to make that decision when the royal bastard was growing up. Vladei was always close, you see. Always spying, always looking for a way to take the crown on the day the queen inevitably died. He got too close to the truth, and Shikhoza feared for the boy's life. I sent the child beyond Vladei's reach, to a place he would never think to look. I sent him to sea, to the mariners.”
Scarlet was horrified. “You sent a boy to those men, knowing what they are?” He remembered well his own treatment at the hands of mariners. He wondered if they dealt with their own any kinder than they had with him.
“It was the only way,” Alexyin said grimly. “It was too hard to hide what he was, especially among gentlefolk who are familiar with the court. Among the mariners, there are many mixed bloodlines, and they have very little contact with the Rshani court, especially the common mariners who work the sails and docks. He would survive there, if not comfortably.”
“Not comfortably?” Scarlet repeated. He didn't know where to begin. “As well say that death is just a nap, or a blizzard is a snowflake on your nose. Does Liall know a shred of this?”
“The king does not know where his son was reared or who he is, or even that he exists. The king will likely have my head off when he finds out, but he shall not find out. Not yet. It is not time.”
Scarlet snorted. “You can't think I'd keep this secret from him.”
“I think you will, once you know who the boy is. You sailed with him, once. It was I who sent the Ostre Sul to Volkovoi to retrieve our king, and it was I who put the king's son on the crew.”
Scarlet felt a rock settle in the pit of his stomach. “Oh Deva...”
“I'd hoped they would meet and become acquainted at least. But no, when the Ostre Sul docked, what tales were brought back from the voyage? That the king had attempted to have his only heir executed like a common criminal.”
“He is a gods-damned common criminal!”
Alexyin pointed a finger at Scarlet accusingly. “The king had the heir to his throne whipped at the mast. He’s destroyed any hope of friendship or amicability with his son. He nearly killed him at sword’s point, all because of you.”
Scarlet saw the loathing plain on Alexyin's face. He truly hates me, he realized. Not just for Cestimir, but for everything. He sees me as the cause of all his grief and disappointment, and nothing I say will ever change his mind.
But Scarlet was done with taking blame for the evils of men. Alexyin had been so awful to him for so long that it would have been easy for him to hate the man back.
Suddenly, he thought of Scaja, and what Scaja had said to him when he was robbed on the road for the first time: Know yourself, my lad. Know your strengths but know your weaknesses even more. Small men want misery for the whole world, to lessen their own. That’s why they take what’s not theirs and give harm in its place: to hammer you into what they are. Don’t let yourself be led by hate.
Alexyin was neither small nor evil, but hate ruled the secret heart of him that he dared not let others see. Scarlet wondered if Liall could see it. He must not, or else Alexyin would not be in this room with him.
; The world was bleak and cold and all men were liars.
Scarlet’s shoulders bowed as he sighed. He didn’t think he could rise. “Leave me. Don't come back. Don't ever touch me again. If you do, I swear you won't walk away whole.” Let Alexyin laugh and think him a weakling.
Alexyin stared for several moments, his jaw clenched, breathing though his nose like a mad dog on a short tether. He took a step forward with his fingers curled as if would seize Scarlet and tear him to shreds, then he turned abruptly and flung open the iron door with a crash.
When he was gone, Scarlet sank back on the pillows. Oleksei. I thought he looked like Liall the first time I saw him, but that's where it ends. They're no more alike than me and Cadan.
Scaja had always said that blood alone didn’t make a family, but Oleksei! Gods below, he could not be the one to tell Liall. He didn’t think he could bear that.
A low, wind-howl seemed to rush through the hall beyond the door. The sound was lonely and reminded Scarlet of the high pass on the Nerit where he had first met Liall. His heart ached now with longing for that simpler time as he felt his body slipping into exhaustion. The last thought he had before the dark swallowed him once more was wondering if forcing him to keep this secret from Liall was what Alexyin had planned all along.
Empires and Kings
“I CAN find no sign of permanent damage to his hands, sire,” the curae pronounced. “Although the strange manner of his healing is a mystery to us, he continues to improve with each session of his odd sleeping. He cannot be wakened when he falls into it, but he always rises stronger for having rested. I have consulted with my fellows and we agree: he will be well enough to travel by tomorrow.”
There were not words enough for Liall's relief. Not only cured but able, he thought. I was sure he would be crippled. What a terrible blow that would have been for him. He could never bear being idle. Thank all the gods that he's suffered no permanent harm.
Liall regarded the Setna’s curae brought with much hurry and expense from the Kalaxes. His name was Selie and he was older than Esiuk, his spine stooped with age. They were alone in a stone hall deep inside the ruins of the most ancient part of Starhold, with only Theor standing guard outside the door. Half of the hall’s roof was shattered, bathing the stone flags with murky light. A thick rime of frost glittered on the walls and floor.