“What do you mean by that?” Ugoth said.
“That’s what ….” Herfod’s head turned toward highly-interested Marten. Ugoth and Vik focused on him as well.
“I’m going!” Marten huffed crossly. He stomped out of the pavilion. “But I would have kept my mouth shut about it,” he said as he pulled the flap down.
“Seal it,” Ugoth ordered. “But not from light. Let them see we’re eating.”
“All or nothing, Ugoth,” Herfod reminded. “The spying ward stops sight and sound.”
“Fine!” Ugoth hissed. “Let them think I’m buggering both of you in turns!” Smirking, Herfod chanted up the ward, and Ugoth stared expectantly at Vik after. “Well? What’s with the pretending thing?”
“Marun needed me to punish him,” Vik said coldly. “Not at first, but as I grew taller. Then it was nothing but punishment.”
“Punishment?” Ugoth repeated.
“Don’t be stupid! Some like to be hurt!”
“Oh.” Ugoth drained his goblet, suddenly hot beneath his heavy armour and padding. “You were the angel punishing him. I hadn’t expected that.” He looked at Herfod, eyes narrowing. “And you?”
Herfod scowled and said nothing.
“Kehfrey was his lover, Ugoth. Plain and simple,” Vik answered. “Marun wanted him since first seeing him, but Kehfrey was too young. Marun loved him so much he waited. He wanted his respect. He waited until he couldn’t bear it any longer.”
“You know that just makes me want to kill him more,” Ugoth said.
Vik looked down at his plate without responding.
“Are you still in love with him?”
Pale blue eyes shot upward, rimmed with tears of fury and despair. “Yes! I am! Does it matter? He still needs to die!”
“You weep, but you seem to find that easy to say,” Ugoth remarked.
“He has to stay away from Kehfrey. Do you understand? He pollutes all that he touches. He’ll pollute Kehfrey too. That’s why I took him away.”
“You see?” Herfod said. “My guardian angel.”
Vik reached over and thumped him on the front of the head.
“Ow! Great toad popped out of a god’s genital wart!”
Vik, despite his irritation, smiled. “Don’t call me an angel again, you roach elf.”
“Don’t call me an elf, you perverted wingless fairy,” Herfod retorted and answered his brother’s grin with one of his own. In unison, they both turned to their plates and began eating as if they’d not had an altercation at all. Ugoth stared from one to the other. Shrugging, he picked up his fork and tried to fill his stomach a second time. It didn’t work out so well. His mind spun with questions.
“Vik?”
“Yes, Majesty?”
“Do you ever pray for guidance from the gods?”
“No. Generally, no.”
“Have you ever?”
“A few times. Why?”
“Just wondered if you got any answers.”
“No. No answers. That’s pretty much why I stopped. I suppose it’s because I never took monk’s vows.”
“That could be it,” Herfod agreed. “I never heard them clearly before my vows either.”
“And now you don’t want to,” Vik said.
Ugoth gaped at him. “You know about this problem of his?”
Vik and Herfod looked at him in surprise. “Of course, I know. He’s my brother,” Vik replied. “He tells me everything.”
Ugoth flushed. “Does he? Did he tell you he loved me before now?”
Vik rewarded him a reproachful look. “I will not betray his confidences, Majesty. Not even for a jealous lover.”
Ugoth’s blush reddened further. “You should have taken the vows! You’re his confessor!”
Vik smiled. “Not really. I never give penances.”
Grinning, Herfod forked another bite of bear into his mouth. “Good bear, Ugoth!” he said around it. “Eat!”
Ugoth shoved a slice into his mouth and chewed angrily. He felt as if he’d been kept in the dark for years, while everyone around him had been sneaking about, whispering and laughing.
“We couldn’t tell you, Ugoth,” Vik said, guessing why he was cross. “Don’t be angry. You weren’t ready to know.”
“He’s such a liar!” Ugoth cried. “All those times I asked him if he was like you!”
“But he’s not like me, is he? He’s like you.”
Ugoth blinked. “What?”
“He’s like you, Ugoth. He doesn’t get interested unless he’s really in love with someone. You’re that way. You’re that way about Nicky. And him.”
“I had other women before. I had my wife,” Ugoth protested.
Vik shook his head, refusing the rationalization. “You only did your duty with Eshaia. That’s my guess. I’ve watched you with her in the throne room. You’re too impersonal.”
Ugoth gave up and admitted the truth, not that it would be any surprise to his listeners. “I didn’t love her,” he said.
“And the whores?” Herfod asked. “Did you want any of them? Really want them?”
“Enough to do it!”
The brothers stared at him flatly.
Ugoth set his fork down, very irritated. “I had friends with me. They all expected me to take a whore. There! Are you satisfied? I love Herfod! I love Nicky!”
Vik smiled and began to eat again. Herfod mimicked him.
“You’re both annoying!” Ugoth added. He poured a second glass of wine. “I’m not inviting you to a private supper again, Vik.”
Vik smiled and nodded. “That’s understandable. You’ll be too busy buggering Kehfrey or humping Nicky.”
Ugoth slammed his goblet down. Red liquid flew up everywhere.
“He embarrasses so easily,” Vik remarked to his brother.
Herfod nodded, grinning like a fire devil. He picked up the bottle and poured. “Have some more wine, Ugoth. That glass spilled everywhere. Wonder why that was? The glass goes down; the wine goes up. Must be some sort of physical logic to it.”
“Go and get Nicky!” Ugoth said.
Herfod focused on him. “I’ll be seen. It’s too early.”
“Go anyway!” Ugoth commanded.
Herfod inhaled deeply and rose. “Try to eat something before I get back,” he pleaded. “The bear is quite tasty with the truffles.” He pulled down the ward, which flashed as it failed. He slipped out of the tent. His shadow on the canvas faded away in seconds.
Vik looked at Ugoth intently. Ugoth looked back. “Do you want me to leave now?” Vik asked.
“Tell me why Marun needed to be punished.”
Vik set his fork down. He was no longer hungry. “Marun suffers from immense guilt. He is enslaved to the Ancient Power. Though he denies it, he is being used. She exploits him to make her enemies suffer, and while he is being used, he enjoys intense pleasure, even while performing the most horrible deeds. He needed me to lash him for it. Do you understand?”
“Yes. You said he was a noble man once.”
Vik considered Ugoth, expression grim. “He was,” he said, but a telling pause occurred before he continued speaking. “He was stern, but he honoured agreements. He’d have been the type of man you would have liked as a friend.”
“You hesitated just now, Vik. What aren’t you telling me?” Ugoth asked.
Vik’s mouth turned down in a cynical grimace. “He was in the habit of using people before Kehfrey and I came to live with him. If he thought a person had no power or influence, he used them without compunction. That behaviour stopped after ….” Ugoth waited while Vik chose words for a time in his life that was obviously painful to him. “It stopped after Kehfrey confronted him over his abusive behaviour,” he finally said.
“Herfod? When he was what? Still seven?”
“Yes, within the first few hours of meeting him actually, and every time his behaviour crossed a line after that. The person Marun became after Kehfrey met him, that was a decent person, inasmuch as a
ny tyrant can be decent. But this war …. He chased after this war no matter what Kehfrey said or did. The goddess of our world has his soul in chains, Ugoth.” Vik’s hands fisted on the table. “If I thought it was possible for Marun to become a decent man and remain one, I would have stayed with him. But I don’t think it’s possible. If you truly love my brother, kill the Shadow Master, Ugoth. Find that accursed stone and free Kehfrey.” He rose to a stand. “With your leave, Majesty?”
Ugoth inclined his head. Vik bowed and exited the pavilion. Marten entered and began to clear away the empty places. Ugoth stared at his full plate, then abruptly rose and departed as well. His personal guard attempted to surround him. He ordered them away.
“Do not follow me!” he barked and disappeared between the amassed tents of the army. He knew they would disobey. He moved quickly to keep well ahead of them.
***
“Brother Herfod,” Uma cried. She rose from the box she’d been seated on. She and a large group of witches ate their evening meal around a campfire. “What brings you back here so soon?”
“Where’s Pell?” he demanded.
“Pell? Is she the first in line now?” someone called, and the gathering laughed.
“No, but she has the first in line with her,” he said flatly. “Where is she?”
“Over in her supply wagon,” Zini said. She stood, frowning. “What is this?”
“Just show me which wagon it is, Zini. Pell will tell you herself soon enough.”
“I’ll take you.” Zini stepped out of the circle and led him through the line of canvas-roofed vehicles. The other witches stared after him with frank curiosity. He ignored the interest. He and Zini moved quietly. She stopped at the back of a wagon and jerked her head at it. Herfod nodded, stepped up and lifted the concealing flap. Two female gasps issued from the gloomy interior.
“Light!” Herfod said. The glow burst just above his head. It revealed Pell kneeling on the narrow floor space. Her head had been in Nicky’s lap. Moisture glistened on her cheeks, chin and nose. Herfod grinned. “Now there’s a place I’d like to be.”
“Kehfrey! You bastard! How did you find me?” Nicky squealed.
“Ugoth found you, woman. You stink!”
“Oh! The perfume! I’m an idiot!”
“Pell!” Zini snarled from behind the monk. “You lying slut!”
Mortified, Pell wiped her mouth and pulled her bodice shut. “I can explain everything.”
Nicky laughed and curled up on the cot. “Why explain? You saw something you wanted and took it. It’s simple. Isn’t that right, Kehfrey?”
“Out, woman,” Herfod ordered Pell. “I have to speak to her.”
“You won’t hurt her?” Pell said anxiously.
“Pell! It’s Herfod, not Ugoth,” Nicky reproved.
“Oh! Yes. I’d forgotten which was the scary one.” For a short while, Herfod had been the scary one. With that blue light hanging over his head and the wild glow in his eyes when he’d first caught sight of them, she’d thought he was a demon come to eat her. He grinned as she edged off the wagon. He still looked like a demon, but an amused one.
“You share?” Pell asked. “Don’t you? Please?”
Herfod laughed and shoved her toward angry Zini. “Go share with Zini. You left her out.” He climbed in the wagon and pulled the canvas down. He heard Zini slap the younger woman.
“Liar! Just tell me next time! I know how to share, fool!”
A small whimper from Pell sounded, and then their footsteps receded toward the campfire.
Herfod shook his head. “You got her in trouble, Nicky. That wasn’t fair. She’s just a baby.”
“I know, but what choice did I have? I need to hide from Ugoth.” She gasped. “Oh! I have to leave now! He told you! He knows!”
Herfod caught her naked body before she was able to so much as move a few inches. He thumped her back down and crouched on his knees in the small space. “Ugoth has forgiven us both. You don’t need to run. He’s agreed to let you divorce.”
“Oh! Kehfrey! I can’t stay! Not now!” She burst into tears and threw herself onto him. “He’s going to die! I know it!”
Herfod’s arms stiffened around her. “What?” he said. “Nicky! No! You didn’t see this.”
She pulled away from him. “I didn’t see him, Kehfrey. He’s not there at the funeral of his five children. There’s only one reason for that. He’s going to die. This war will kill him.”
“Nicky! It’s not true! He can’t die! You didn’t see it!”
She sobbed. “I have to leave. I wanted to warn you, but not so soon. I wanted you to be happy for once.” She sniffed and wiped her nose with a hand, and Herfod stared at her, completely numb. “I didn’t see him die, Kehfrey,” she admitted. “It’s just the children. No matter how hard I try, they are always dead. The Saint Turamen monks are never there in the church, only the new faction priests. You are never there. Ugoth is never there. Only Ufrid and Queen Eshaia.”
“So you think that means he’ll die?” Herfod said, wishing she were lying.
“What else would stop him from being at his children’s funeral?” she said brokenly.
“You could conclude the same for me, then. If I’m not there in this awful vision, then I must die too.”
“No! Kehfrey! I see you later! I see you old, so very old, wearing monk’s robes and standing in a small church with ancient stained-glass windows. It’s very solid, this image.”
Herfod shifted minutely, a hand flicking on the bunk as if he would lift it to touch her, but he settled back into stillness again. “You looked and you promised not to. Did you injure yourself?”
Tenderness momentarily eclipsed the grief. “No. I think you healed all the hurt Marun caused by forcing my foresight all those years. I felt as if you sank your life into me, Kehfrey. I knew then that I’d be all right, that the baby would be fine, that I must stay with my husband.”
She leant forward and clutched him close. “I have to hide, Kehfrey. I have to hide from the world. If what I see comes to pass, then there will be nothing of Ugoth left but this child. I can’t bear to endanger it. That’s why I hid. I only wanted to warn you, but later, after you had some happiness. I can’t bear to see Ugoth again. It would hurt so much. I love him so much. I have to leave!”
“I know,” he said.
She felt the tenseness of him. He didn’t want to believe what she was saying, but his gift wouldn’t permit him to hide from truth. “I’m sorry, Kehfrey. I looked hard to see if there was a way to change it. I swear.”
“I know,” he repeated. He pushed her away. “Get dressed. I want you out of this camp now.”
She nodded, and then the canvas curtain flew upward. She gasped a second time. “Ugoth!” she cried. “Oh! Oh, no!”
The wagon dipped as he climbed in. Ugoth looked at Herfod’s tear-filled face. His friend wasn’t surprised to see him. Herfod had known he would follow and had tried to hurry Nicky away all the same, to hide a truth that hurt worse than slashed flesh. Ugoth set his anger aside. It wasn’t important anymore. “Was it true?” he demanded of Herfod. “All she said?”
“What she knows of it; it is to her.”
Ugoth focused on her, his gaze unemotional. “You foresaw all my children dead?”
She sobbed and nodded. She huddled on the small cot, a blanket pulled over her nakedness, and refused to face him. She hadn’t expected this. Her heart was ripping inside her chest.
“Tell me everything you saw,” Ugoth commanded.
She told him, her voice but a whisper. Despite the softness, she knew her words scraped his soul like the harshest claws. He was silent when she finished. She couldn’t take the quiet. She looked and saw what she’d expected, a terrible foreknowledge that would scar every waking minute of his consciousness for the remaining few weeks of his life.
“I’m sorry!” she said. “I’m so sorry!”
Ugoth turned his injured soul away. He looked toward Herfod. The sligh
ter man had shifted onto his seat and hidden his face against his knees. “Herfod,” Ugoth called to him. “She didn’t get it all right.”
“What did she get wrong?” Herfod whispered.
“If Ufrid is king and priests are in Durgven, then Marun doesn’t win this war.”
Herfod lifted his tear-tracked face upward.
Ugoth bent forward and kissed him softly. “I’m going to win!” he hissed against his lips. “Even if I die doing it!” His face retreated. His cold eyes fixed on Nicky. “Did you see nothing of use to me in all these visions?”
“Everything shifts so much. Plans are changing as we speak,” she said, her voice dull as if from exhaustion. “I saw only one thing, and it frightened me. Wings in the sky. I saw them, and I saw you looking upward in horror. I’m sorry. That’s all.”
“Wings? What sort of wings?”
“Grey ones. I hear voices screaming, but no words.”
“That’s not very useful either!” Ugoth snarled. She pulled the blanket up over her face and sobbed. “Nicky! Why didn’t you say you loved me before?”
“Oh, Ugoth!” she wept into the blanket. “How could I say it to you? You wanted fidelity. If I’d said it, you would have taken it for a promise of such.”
“Well, now it doesn’t matter.” He pulled the blanket off and dragged her into his arms that his lips might punish her. After a moment, he lifted his head. “And what are you doing naked in Pell’s wagon?” he inquired with dangerous softness.
“Forgetting what I knew,” she said, some of her old spirit returning. “Pell’s a nice distraction.”
He smiled. The gesture was feral. “She’s lucky she’s not a man, Nicky, or I’d have killed her.”
“I know that,” she said. “It’s why I didn’t tell my husband I was here.”
“Is it really my child?”
She wasn’t insulted. He had the right to ask. It was that simple. “Yes.”
“Not Herfod’s?”
“I still see the same child. He has your hair and he’s very tall, but he has my eyes and face. He’s beautiful, Ugoth. He’s beautiful.”
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