by C S Vass
With a small clink, the chain snapped in half.
“Yes!” Faela whispered. “Now for my legs.”
Kylie continued to watch wide-eyed as Faela’s magic continued.
“You see,” Faela said in her most soothing voice. “We have nothing to worry about. These drunks are all asleep. We’ll slip off in a moment and everything will be okay.”
Kylie really must have been scared, terribly scared, because she was shaking again. Silent tears streamed down the girl’s face.
“Hey, none of that,” Faela said as she pressed the flame to the chain connecting her legs. “Everything is going to be just fine, you’ll see.”
“Faela…I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Faela cooed. “Don’t you worry.”
Ice cold dripped through her body as she felt a pressure on her back. The flame in her hands died.
“Wha—”
“I guess it was true. I see we have a Dragon among the sheep,” a deep voice hissed behind her.
Faela whipped around like a snake and prepared to roast the bandit where he stood. Everything seemed to happen at once. He touched a second piece of paper with a rune on it to her chest. She felt as though someone had plunged her into a lake of ice.
Turning her head, she heard Yaura scream. The Shigata, still bound, was running towards them holding the hilt of a bloody knife in her teeth. Bandits leapt on her from all sides. Yaura tumbled in the brush like an acrobat, but against ten foes while she was hopelessly bound, the fight bordered on ridiculous. She slashed with her head at the encroaching bandits while they laughed and taunted her.
Desperate to help Faela leapt up, but the bandit still remained in her way. She drew her fist back to strike him when a blunt force took her in the back of the head. She saw stars as she stumbled, and several more bandits came to subdue her.
She fought like mad, but it was no good at this point. The bandits moved in like a snake coiling its tail around its prey. She heard Yaura screaming, but could no longer see her. While they wrestled Faela to the ground, laughing, all she could hear was Kylie’s soft sobs as she repeated the same words over and over again.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
Chapter 4
“I’m the eldest, and my word is final.”
“It is not! I haven’t seen you in years and years. You do not get to come back into my life and tell me what to do.”
“I can, and will little brother. By force if I have to.”
Captain Brett Ashford rolled his eyes. His knee had pained him for days, and now his head hurt as well. The arguments had been like that for the entire journey. Seven days of sailing up Ice Bay with the two brothers, Paetrick of the Temple of Ice and Shadow and Logun of the Shigata. They hadn’t seen each other in years, and their reunion was less than happy.
“Enough!” Brett said as he placed his hands over the fire. “We are but a day’s march from Iryllium. If you have not figured out a solution to this problem by now, then I don’t expect you will by tomorrow.”
Logun crossed his arms. The Shigata was bald as an egg and muscled like a bull. His younger brother was like looking in an inverse mirror—a small and skinny version of the elder.
“This is a family matter,” Logun pouted.
“Well we’re entering the city soon and it’s becoming a state matter,” Brett said. “Which is precisely where your jurisdiction ends and mine begins. Now both of you shut up.” He bit angrily into a piece of stale bread.
“But—”
“I said quiet!” Brett snapped at Paetrick. In truth he was inclined to side against the younger brother, if only because Paetrick had deceived them. The boy had gone over the story of how he had found that mysterious Shigata thrygta many times with Brett and Faela and never had he mentioned the thrygta belonged to his brother.
Then again, Logun didn’t make it easy. Paetrick was an adult. He chose the life of a monk. If he wanted to return to the Temple of Ice and Shadow right away, then who was his brother to stop him?
It was a shame that everything had to get ruined at the last moment. They were set to sail with a Meno crew right up Ice Bay into a port at Iryllium. At the last moment storms rolled in, and the ship took some damage. Not enough to cause immediate harm, but enough that they had to dock for repairs. Thus Brett was sentenced to a two day march alone with the brothers to the capital city.
“All right, listen,” Logun said much more calmly. Snow was settling onto his massive shoulders making him look like a white-capped mountain. “We obviously are going to need to resolve this issue sooner rather than later. Why don’t we come to a compromise? Avoid the temple for a mere week. Let us figure out the extent of your injuries before turning you over to those monks.”
Paetrick grimaced. “My injuries are fine. My arm doesn’t hurt at all. Besides if anything is wrong with me, then the monks will be the ones best able to help.”
“You’re naïve, little brother,” Logun said. “You don’t know how those monks might react to finding out that you were bitten by those monsters, or even how they’ll react to the information you have.”
“Gods above give me patience,” Brett mumbled to himself.
“What was that?” Logun asked in a challenging voice.
Brett cleared his throat. “Listen, it’s our last night together. We’ll be in Iryllium tomorrow. We should take the opportunity to discuss what happened on Black Wolf. I don’t know that either of you are treating it with the urgency that it requires.”
Logun’s eyes lit up like lanterns. “My home was destroyed, Captain. I know exactly how seriously to treat it. Why do you think I came all the way up here when I have comrades in Meno who need my help?”
“Then help me while you’re here, at least,” Brett said. He took a deep breath. These brothers were as touchy as nuns in a whorehouse. He would have to choose his words carefully to avoid setting them off.
“Listen,” he continued. “The business with the Prophecy. That animated corpse. The man who betrayed you. What does it all mean? Is this all just smoke and mirrors internal to the Shigata? Was it a coincidence the Tarsurians landed on the island while all of this was happening? I’m going to have to report everything to King Boldfrost, so please help me understand.”
Logun sighed. Some of the fire in his eyes seemed to die down. A red sun set behind the snowy landscape to the west of them splintering golden light across the horizon.
“I don’t know what it means,” the Shigata said. “I know it’s bad news. Torin, the one who betrayed us…well, he’s not a pushover. If he’s working with the Empire, then you can bet he sees a real way forward for them to conquer the West. There’s no way he would risk pissing us all off otherwise. As for this Prophecy business…” Logun shook his head. “I wish I knew.”
“But we already know so much, don’t we?” Paetrick asked. “We know about the turbulence in the Jagjaw Mountains and the Blood Wood. We know from that Meno crew that the Frost Elves are secluding themselves from the rest of the people in Coldclaw. And we know that the Cult of Ashanimara is running across the landscape causing all sorts of chaos.”
Brett nodded, happy that he was successful in changing the subject from their disagreement. “All of that is true,” the Captain said. “But we don’t know how the threads will link together. Or what the next steps are.”
“No, we don’t,” Logun agreed. “That’s why it’s imperative I get to Iryllium as soon as possible. Brett, I could use your help in making sure the King understands the urgency of my mission. He needs to issue an official proclamation ordering the Shigata to return to Black Wolf immediately. While our strength is scattered, the entire West is at risk.”
There was sense in that, Brett agreed. The thought of Western Gaellos without its strongest and most competent defensive unit was deeply unsettling to him as the Captain of Iryllium’s Guard. But still…it was just one piece of the puzzle.
“There’s something el
se that you’ve been avoiding, Captain Brett,” Paetrick said suddenly.
Brett looked at the boy. He still looked half a child with his hairless baby-face and wide green eyes. But his expression was deadly serious all the same.
“What would that be?”
“How much of this are you going to report to the King?”
“What? All of it, of course.”
Paetrick’s eyes didn’t flinch. “Are you? I heard you and Faela talking while I was in and out of consciousness on that boat. I also know what the elder monks whisper about King Boldfrost. About the state of the castle.”
Brett almost warned the boy against such treasonous statements, but decided against it. There was no sense in pretending. What Paetrick said was true, and they both knew it.
“It’s unclear,” Brett said at last. “But there are many people who move the levers of power in Iryllium, not just King Boldfrost. We’ll make sure he knows everything he needs to in order to keep the realm safe.”
“And just who might ‘we’ be?” Logun asked in his breathy, baritone voice.
Brett cursed himself. The time to shut his mouth had long since passed. “You let the court worry about that,” he said.
Logun laughed darkly. “That right there…that’s why I never wanted to spend a day in the army after Bloodwater. You leaders have no problem ordering men off to die, but the moment we want to know who’s actually pulling the strings, it’s nothing but cloak and dagger.”
“Keeping information classified keeps the realm safe, Shigata,” Brett said. “Or do you intend to tell me that your Sages reveal every plan that runs through their heads?”
Logun frowned. Brett had forgotten that the Sages had been kidnapped, and that Logun was still downright furious about it. “Maybe, Captain.” His voice was barely a whisper. “But at least I know who the Sages are.”
Angry dark clouds swept over the moon as the night wore on. None of them made a move to sleep, but the conversation had died down. Returning to Iryllium should have been the end of my worries, Brett thought. Instead it’s just the beginning.
It would do no good to have the two brothers against him, he decided. The Temple of Ice and Shadow kept its secrets at all costs, and there were no Shigata at court. He had an opportunity here to increase Iryllium’s information networks and ensure the safety of the people. He could not piss it away.
“I’d like both of you to come and stay at the castle,” he said after a moment. As he expected, both of the brothers’ eyes narrowed.
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” Logun smirked. “My boots are muddy. Might get those nice velvet carpets dirty.”
“That’s why we have servants,” Brett said sternly. He exhaled. “Whatever the three of us are wrapped up in, I think it can only benefit us to stay together. At least for a short while. Logun, do so and I promise to make sure the King takes serious your request to order all Shigata back to Black Wolf even at the expense of any criminal contracts they might be pursuing. Paetrick…”
Brett wrinkled his brow. He didn’t know what he could offer the boy. He would probably get better medical care at the Temple of Ice and Shadow. What else—aha!
“Paetrick, if you come with me I’ll do my best to uncover the true reason King Boldfrost has summoned the Dragons to the city. That way we can make sure that Faela is well taken care of when she returns.”
Paetrick’s eyes went wide, but he quickly looked away. “I’m returning to my order. That’s all I have to say.”
“What is it with you and that woman?” Logun asked. “You haven’t bedded her, have you brother?”
Paetrick’s face turned scarlet faster than if he had been slapped. “N—of—unn…of course not!”
Brett was relieved to see the Shigata laughing. “I’m only messing with you, little brother,” Logun said. “Don’t have a seizure. But there is something I want to know that you could tell me.”
“Just as long as it’s not more disgusting conjecture,” Paetrick said as he folded his arms.
Logun smirked, then held up the silver thrygta that Paetrick had given him. The one that matched the thrygta he already had on the tip of his war hammer. “About this thrygta. I had to travel all the way to Black Wolf to get a new one when I lost mine defending you in Tallium from those werewolves. Did you know that?”
Paetrick held his silence. A whiteness had crept into the young monk’s face.
“When you told the Prince the story of how you came across a Shigata thrygta, why did you leave out that it belonged to me? Are you so ashamed that I saved you from those werewolves back home?”
Paetrick’s face blushed again, but much differently than the first time. There was an awkward sort of anger about his embarrassment now. He looked into the snow for a long while.
“Well?” Logun pressed. “I’m waiting.”
“The monks say not to lie,” Paetrick said, more to himself than to anyone else. “Very well, I won’t lie.” He met his brother’s eyes. Brett felt a deep discomfort in the pit of his stomach.
“I left out that the thrygta belonged to you,” Paetrick said. “Because I’m ashamed of you. I’m ashamed to have a Shigata for a brother. Ashamed of what the world knows you for, and what you have done to earn that cursed dragon-in-chains.”
To his credit Logun never looked away. Not even to blink. After a while he smirked. “That’s what I get for asking. I’m going to get some sleep now. Something tells me that we’re going to have a hell of a day tomorrow.”
Inside the castle Brett felt as if he had stepped inside of a massive, empty hive. He was alone, limping along on a knee that pained him terribly. It got like that in the cold sometimes.
Brett had thought it best to slip in with some secrecy. He sent for one of his personal servants and arranged rooms for Paetrick and Logun before doing anything else. When they departed, he assured them that he would send for them soon. He wanted to be alone when he took stock of the castle. Things changed quickly in Iryllium.
“Valiant Captain Brett,” a mesmerizing voice said. “Back from his heroic expedition. You’ll have to regale me with all the incredible details. I trust you have a moment, Captain?”
Brett turned and bowed to Nicolai, King Boldfrost’s most trust advisor. “Of course, Lord Nicolai.” The advisor’s receding hair line and pale skin oddly contradicted the enormity of the power Nicolai was able to wield at court.
“Very good. We’ll meet in my chamber.”
Brett followed the advisor down hallways guarded by rows of gargoyles with oil fires burning between their beastly fangs. He was glad to have met Nicolai so quickly upon his return to the castle. There were immediate concerns that needed addressing, and Brett trusted no one else. When the thick oak door to his chamber shut, Nicolai prodded the kindling in a massive fireplace with cherubs sculpted into its marble frame and poured them both glasses of wine.
“I’m glad you remember how to greet me in public,” Nicolai said with a smile. “Ever since the incident two years ago, I confess you’ve made me wary.”
Brett smiled and sipped the wine. It was hot and tasted of fruit and cinnamon. Two years ago, shortly after Brett had been appointed as Captain of the Guard, he realized Nicolai was perhaps the only one at court he could trust. He made the mistake of showing their closeness through a casual greeting in the hallway, and the court advisor almost had him flayed just to prove it were otherwise.
Nicolai kept those closest to him farthest away, an arrangement Brett quickly adjusted to.
“I trust you have news for me?” Brett asked as drained half of his cup in a single gulp. The hot wine warmed his insides and relaxed his muscles.
“You first,” Nicolai said. He placed long, spider-like fingers on the table and tapped them impatiently. “You just wouldn’t believe the stories I’ve heard from my little friends coming from Black Wolf. Or would you?”
“I trust you know the Shigata’s castle has been destroyed by sun warriors,” Brett said.
“The surviving Shigata are going to try to rebuild,” Brett went on. “They’ve urged me to make the King understand the necessity of cancelling all current contracts and ordering any Shigata throughout the land home to Black Wolf.”
“I see,” Nicolai said. “And what would you recommend?”
Brett scratched at his stubble. “I don’t see why we would deny their request.”
“I believe the West’s Dragons are also concentrated right now. Would moving the Shigata to Black Wolf not consolidate our two most formidable strengths too much?”
“No, I should think not,” Brett said. “To ignore their plea would be to instill oversight of Ice Bay largely to Lord Wolfbane. Would you really trust that man with Iryllium’s peripheral security?”
Nicolai frowned but declined to speak.
“What’s more,” Brett went on, “There is always the possibility that the Shigata would simply do so anyway. They care about their own more than king or country, I think. To deny this request would be to risk having them directly disobey the crown.”
“If they care for their own more than king or country, are they not traitors?”
Brett chuckled. “I know you better than to think you’re seriously suggesting making an enemy out of the Shigata over something so trivial as their primary loyalty.”
“Of course,” Nicolai agreed. “It’s a simple enough request. Just so long as they understand it’s with the King’s blessing that this may be allowed to happen.”
“There’s more,” Brett said, as he finished his wine.
“The news must be terrible for you to drink like that,” Nicolai said. “Or are good malbec’s simply in short supply in the Chillway?”
“You’ll need another glass yourself when you hear this,” Brett said. “The Sages have been captured. Likely taken by sun warriors.”
“We’re already working on that.”
Brett’s eyes widened. Instantly he realized that Nicolai likely knew more than he did at that point. “May I ask—”