Erosan's Tears

by Jason Scott Gleason

  He waited about another quarter of an hour—which felt like an eternity—and finally the door to the Gatehouse opened. About a dozen guards marched out, half with swords drawn and the other half carrying crossbows. In the middle of the group were Corlwyn and Genevar.

  Raelyn’s heart leapt. He took a few steps back from the guards standing close to him and slid his sword slowly out of its sheath. The guards started, pulling their swords out, and Raelyn was careful not to make any aggressive movements towards them. His eyes were fixed on Genevar.

  The contingent of guards stopped about three yards short of Raelyn, and Corlwyn stepped from their protective ring, his hand clamped tight on Genevar’s arm. She was dressed in the same clothes she had been wearing days ago, her face was dirty and streaked, and her eyes were red. But there was hope in her expression, and gratitude, and her face didn’t betray the look of shame that Raelyn had been afraid to see when he finally saw her. A wave of relief washed over him.

  She held out, he thought. If she had given up Gray, she wouldn’t be able to look me in the eyes. But she held out. He felt a sense of wonder at her strength, a strength he was sure she hadn’t possessed.

  Raelyn looked over at Corlwyn, who was still gripping her arm tightly. “We had a deal,” he said. “Release her and I’ll turn my weapons over, come with you peacefully.” He tried not to look at the men of the Watch behind Corlwyn. Not that I have much choice, he thought. I can’t dodge half a dozen crossbow bolts. He has me now, whether I like it or not. His eyes reflexively darted to the edge of the bridge. He wondered if he could dive into the water before the crossbowmen turned him into a human pincushion.

  But Corlwyn didn’t order his men to fire. He released his grip on Genevar’s arm, and she sagged for a moment, then stumbled forward, then ran to Raelyn, throwing her arms around his neck. She was trembling.

  “Oh, gods, Raelyn. Thank you.” She was shaking, still holding on to him. She whispered, “They didn’t break me.”

  Corlwyn called out, “I’ve done my part, Raelyn. Let her go and throw down your weapons.”

  Raelyn whispered back, “Tell Astal to find out about Rennard’s seneschal.” Then he pulled away. She had a quizzical look in her eye, but he couldn’t tell if it was because she didn’t understand why he was saying that or because she didn’t hear him. He didn’t have the chance to find out.

  “Go, Genevar. Go someplace safe. They’ll be after you at dawn.” He could tell that she wanted to say something, but they didn’t have the time to talk.

  “Your sword, Raelyn,” Corlwyn snapped. He started to walk forward.

  Raelyn laid Tempest down, and pulled the daggers from his hip and boot as well. Then he stepped away from them. He looked over at Genevar and made a motion with his head. “Get out of here, and quickly. They might try to follow you or stall you. You’re still not safe.”

  Genevar nodded and turned, running across the plaza into the Market District.

  Raelyn turned to Corlwyn, who had picked up Tempest. He had a triumphant smile on his face. “You’re mine now, Raelyn.” He turned to the other men of the Watch. “Take Raelyn into custody. Bind him in irons.” Two members of the Watch stepped forward with wrist irons in their hands. Raelyn looked at them both, saw the looks of displeasure on their faces. Why are they so upset at this duty? he wondered as they placed them around his wrists. One took the chain in his hand and the other led him by the shoulder from behind, heading towards the Gatehouse.

  He was about half way across the bridge when he heard Genevar’s shrill scream in the distance. As soon as he heard her voice, the men holding him bore down, preventing him from wrenching free and pushing him to one knee. Two more men moved in at his sides, each with a blade, and Raelyn realized that he couldn’t struggle for the daggers at his sides. “Corlwyn! What the hell’s going on! You gave me your word!”

  Corlwyn turned to Raelyn and leaned down to get close. “I haven’t done anything to her, Raelyn. I have kept my word. Lord Perinor, however, thought she might still have something valuable to tell us. He has decided to take her into custody. But don’t worry—he promised me that he wouldn’t hold her any more than a few hours. Until about dawn, if I’m not mistaken.”

  Raelyn lunged forward, breaking free of the man behind him for a moment and stomping on the shin of the man in front of him. The man holding his chains cried out in pain and relaxed his grip, just long enough for Raelyn to tug free. He reached out for Corlwyn, but was immediately brought down by the group of guards and dragged down to the ground. Someone put their knee in the side of his face.

  “Fucking son of a whore!” he shouted, even though he knew it wouldn’t do any good. “If I get free I’ll carve you to ribbons, feed you to the fucking crows!” Rage consumed him, and he tried to wrench free even though he knew it was impossible.

  “Get him up!” Corlwyn shouted, and he felt himself being hauled up to his feet. Then someone hit him in the back of the head with something heavy and hard. His head exploded in pain, and blackness closed in on him.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The world was pitching violently, and Raelyn tried to lift his head. Hands were carrying him, he realized, and his feet were dragging on the floor. He tried to step, to keep up with his captors, but he had trouble working his legs.

  Corlwyn’s voice floated into his mind. “Get the door.” They stopped for a moment while a door was opened, and he tried to stand, but his legs were like wet rags. After a moment they were dragging his feet again.

  “Get him up on the table,” he heard Corlwyn say. He was hauled up, and he felt himself laid down on rough wooden planking. His wits were returning, although he had a terrible headache. He looked around and saw two guards on either side, buckling his wrists into thick leather straps. He put up a token of resistance, but couldn’t do much more than that. He knew it was futile, anyway.

  Once his wrists were bound, they buckled restraints around his upper arms, just above the elbow. They moved on to his ankles next. After a few moments, Raelyn was completely secured. Fear started to surge within him, and he clamped down on it. Relax, Rae, he thought. Gray will be here soon. He knows this place inside and out. He’ll be able to get you out, no problem.

  The guards left, and Raelyn was alone with Corlwyn. The High Inquisitor looked down at him, a nasty sneer on his face. “I believe what you said on the bridge, that you would feed me to the crows if you escaped,” Corlwyn told him. “But you never will. You will be tried and hanged in Travelers’ Square for your treason, but not before you tell us the true identity of the rogue known as Gray.” Corlwyn’s smile was as triumphant as it was cruel.

  “Go fuck Litha,” Raelyn replied, and spat in Corlwyn’s face. Corlwyn raised a hand and wiped away the spit.

  “There is no need for vulgarity,” he told Raelyn. “It won’t save you. In fact, nothing will save you. You’ll be hanging on a gibbet within a fortnight, and then you will be food for crows.” Corlwyn turned and walked to the door. “Lord Perinor was wrong to put his faith in you. I should have seen it all along, never should have given you the chance to obstruct this investigation. But no matter; soon your friend’s killing spree will be at an end, and you will both spend eternity in the torment of your demons.” He closed the door, and Raelyn was alone.

  His headache was fading to a dull thrum, beating time with his heart. He really believes I’m responsible, he thought. He looked around the room, but he didn’t see anything he could use to help himself. What was I expecting to see? Some magical way to escape? To summon help? He felt fear starting to mount, imagined being tortured at Corlwyn’s hands. He’s not going to show me any mercy. He’ll do worse to me than he’s ever done to anyone. He started to sweat, panic setting in. You’ve got to stop, he told himself, reigning in his fear. The panic’ll kill you. Finally he closed his eyes, tried not to think.

  Minutes passed, and he breathed slowly and steadily, focusing on his breath. He felt himself calm, relax. Breathe. Just breathe.

>   Finally he heard a door open. He raised his head to see who it was. It was Perinor

  Guilt hit him like a stone. Raelyn felt himself start to get sick. His stomach was in knots. Perinor was looking at him, his face impassive, stern. The lord walked to the side of the table. Raelyn couldn’t meet his gaze.

  “Hello Raelyn,” Perinor said. His voice gave no hint of his feelings.

  “My lord,” Raelyn said quietly. He felt ashamed and terrified at the same time, like a child who had failed his father. That’s what you’ve been to me, he thought. A father. A captain, a lord, a mentor, a friend. And a father.

  “My son, Trevan, came to me a few days ago,” Perinor began. The mention of Trevan’s name made Raelyn want to weep. “He told me that you had betrayed the city, betrayed your lord. He told me that you were in league with Gray, the assassin who has been terrorizing Galavan’s Port.”

  Raelyn’s voice stuck in his throat. “My lord, he was misled,” he said, his voice hoarse. “I had never met with any of Gray’s men until that unfortunate night. I would never betray this city, nor would I betray you.”

  “That is what I believed,” Lord Perinor said. “I sent him away. Trevan has always acted rashly, has never taken time to think things through. He has always been jealous of you.” Perinor paused. “I did not think that he would take matters into his own hands.”

  “My lord,” Raelyn began, then paused. Perinor waited patiently. “My lord, the evening that the lords gathered at your estate to discuss your response, your son left early. I noticed that he was gone when I saw that Fethan and Lord Rennard were missing. I would not presume to accuse one of the High Lords of the city without proof, but I believe that Lord Rennard and Restol Fethan met with Trevan and told him that I was working with Gray. I believe that they used him to try to kill me.”

  Raelyn finally looked over at Lord Perinor. His gaze was inscrutable. Please believe me, Perinor, he thought. Please, by Moradarn, see that I am telling the truth, judge me kindly. Please forgive me for killing your son.

  “Why would Lord Rennard and Fethan do such a thing, do you suppose?” Lord Perinor’s voice was still carefully controlled.

  “I do not know,” Raelyn said, his voice catching, “but I have a suspicion. My lord, the rogue known as Gray and the Coscan crime lord Karduk are at war. Lord Rennard has long been linked to Karduk’s operations, and it is said that he has made his fortune by allying himself with Karduk. With the murder of the moderate Coscan voices in the city, Karduk has gained considerable power, even though the Coscan District has been closed off. He has become a folk hero among his people, and all the people who used to oppose him in his community are either dead or too afraid to speak out against him.

  “I have no proof, nor any real evidence, but I believe that Karduk and Rennard are behind the killings. And I do not know why, but I believe that Fethan is working with them, even though Rennard and Lord Elotarn have a deep rivalry. By making everyone look to Gray as the killer, they hope to eliminate Karduk’s greatest rival, as well as escape justice for the murders. I have been trying to unravel this mystery, to find the proof I need, and Rennard and Fethan know this. I believe they are trying to associate me with Gray because if I get the proof I seek, it will condemn them both.”

  His voice caught for a moment. He swallowed.

  “That, my lord, is why I believe they went to Trevan. I believe that they knew the ill will Trevan bore me, as well as the patronage that you have always shown me. I believe that they sent Trevan to kill me because they knew it would destroy me. If Trevan was successful, I would be dead. If anything ill befell him in the fight, it would drive a wedge between the two of us. Either way, I would no longer pose a threat to their plot.”

  Raelyn fell silent. Perinor was looking at him, still giving no hint of what he was thinking. After a moment, Perinor spoke.

  “I believe you, Raelyn. Your skills as an investigator are peerless in the city, and your instincts have always served you well. And what you say makes sense. We have all known of the link between Lord Rennard and Karduk. It is also known that whenever Lord Elotarn has sold land in the Arena and Wharf Districts, he has refused to sell that land to Lord Rennard, and yet Lord Rennard now owns much of it. Perhaps he has been working with Restol Fethan, and has been doing so for quite some time. I do not know.”

  “My lord,” Raelyn began, and again his voice failed him. He looked away again, unable to look him in the eye. “I—I am sorry.” Then it started to come like a downpour. “I’m so sorry, Perinor. I didn’t mean to kill him. I tried to hit him in the shoulder, make him drop his sword, but he stumbled into my thrust. I didn’t mean to kill him, please believe that, please know that, I didn’t mean to kill him.” Tears were in his eyes and he choked back a sob. He felt Perinor’s hand on his head, a soothing, tender gesture. He silently prayed for mercy and understanding, for healing in his heart and in Perinor’s.

  “Raelyn,” Perinor said, his voice soft and gentle. “I know you didn’t mean to kill him. I have heard what the men of the Watch had to say, the ones that were there. None of them blame you, none of them think you could have done anything else. They told me you tried to make sure he got to the House of Healing as soon as he could, so that they could save him. The wound was just too grave. Nothing could be done.”

  Raelyn felt a burden begin to lift, an easing in his heart. Perinor spoke again.

  “I was not sure what to believe, after hearing that you had stabbed Trevan and were declared an enemy of the city.” Perinor’s voice turned to stone, and Raelyn felt ice seeping into his veins. “It was only when I stood in the Temple of Erosan, holding my son’s hand as his life ebbed from him, listening to him tell me that he only wanted to make me proud, that I knew it was true. He tried to stop you because he believed that you were the most dangerous man in the city, and that you had taught him what he needed to know in order to subdue you. He cried as he was dying. He told me that his greatest fear was that he had failed me as a son.

  “I believe you, Raelyn,” he continued. “It just does not matter to me. It does not matter to me that you are innocent, or that you were not working with Gray. It does not matter to me that Lord Rennard and Restol Fethan used my son to try to have you killed, although they will pay for that transgression, and pay dearly. What matters to me is that it was your sword, your hand, that killed my only living son. The same man who took my eldest son from me six years ago. If it was not for you, both of my sons would be alive today.

  “You have taken from me that which was most precious, Raelyn. The gods took my wife, the good and kind Lady Selice, and the only consolation that I had was that I had part of her in those two boys. I have loved them with a ferocity that you will never know, and in a few days I will bury the second of them. You have taken my children from me. Now I will take everything that is precious to you.”

  Raelyn thought of Genevar, held captive by Lord Perinor, and imagined him killing her to punish Raelyn. He felt sick to his stomach. “Please,” he begged, beyond any hope that Perinor would listen. “Please don’t punish Genevar for what I did.”

  Perinor laughed then, an unexpected, cruel laugh. “Genevar? My dear friend Raelyn, I know you don’t love Genevar. However much responsibility you may feel towards her, killing her would not take from you what you hold most precious. You will not truly be punished until you have the person who you love taken irrevocably from you.”

  Raelyn’s belly twisted with panic. He bucked against the restraints, but they didn’t budge. “No, not Callais! Please, no, you can’t kill her! She hasn’t done anything wrong!”

  “Kill her?” Perinor asked, his mouth twisted in a cruel sneer. “Raelyn, I would not imagine killing her. I don’t have to kill her to take her from you. But all this time, you have never figured it out. She was never yours, Raelyn. I saw the lust that you had for her years ago, and I paid her to seduce you. I never imagined that it would work so well. Years later, it was she who made sure you betrayed the city to pro
tect her. She was happy to do it, and was handsomely rewarded for it. For all of these years she has felt nothing for you but contempt and disgust, but you have brought her a great deal more money than you realize. If it was not for her, I would never have been able to ensure that you lost your position as an investigator.”

  Raelyn was numb. He couldn’t comprehend what he had just heard. “All these years… you were just using me? You destroyed my life so that you could control me?”

  “I told you, Raelyn. Men like me do not have friends. There are only people we use. After you lost your position, I was able to save you. After that, you would have died for me, and I needed someone who loved me so fiercely.”

  “You didn’t need to do any of that,” Raelyn said, stunned. “You’ve given me everything, since I was a child. Everything that I am today I owe to you. You’ve been like a father to me.”

  Perinor sneered. “I was not a father to you, and you were no son of mine. Both of my sons lie dead by your hand—how dare you presume to say something like that to me!” Perinor looked at him, rage and contempt in his eyes. “Women like Callais are no different than men like me. They don’t feel anything for the men they lie with. They use them, use their love for their own purposes. She is a whore, like your mother was. Women like that don’t know what love truly is. But they know wealth, and comfort, and they know you can provide neither.” Perinor leaned over Raelyn. “And they know fear.”

  Perinor walked to the door, then stopped for a moment. “I am going to let you meet a man to whom I have never introduced you. He is an artist, of sorts. Even Corlwyn, with his fearsome reputation, cannot accomplish what this man can.”

  “I can’t tell you anything,” Raelyn said. He knew it wasn’t true, but he wanted to forestall the inevitable, if only to give Gray a chance to rescue him.

  “Don’t you understand?” Perinor said, and Raelyn was surprised to hear a tremor in Perinor’s voice. “I don’t want you to tell me anything. I no longer care what you do or do not know. The only thing I want you to know is pain.”