by Heath Pfaff
Snow did not meet my eyes. "I'd heard them talk. Rampage came to me, and asked me if I would back you if such a situation arose, and I told him that I would. He spoke no more of it around me, but I think I knew what he was going to do, and I knew that Pride and Watcher would help him."
It felt as though someone was clenching a fist around my heart. Snow had known, and she had not told me. Other than Malice, I had trusted no one more than her.
"You knew, and yet you did not tell me? How long have you known?" I asked, my words coming out far quieter than I would have liked.
"A little over a month, now, I have suspected. When it was announced that we would be leaving Kreo, that was the last time I spoke to Rampage on it, and that is when I told him I would support you. I knew it was only a matter of time before he made his attempt." Her voice was barely a wisp of its normal exuberance.
I turned my eyes from her. "Snow, take your things and return to Kreo. A skilled sword master such as yourself will have no trouble finding a place there."
I heard a sharp intake of breath from Laouna, and felt her hand upon my arm again.
"Lowin, no." I heard her say softly. "You can't send Snow away. She's my friend, and she's teaching. . ."
I pushed her hand away. "She's not your friend. She's not my friend."
"Noble, please. . ." It was Snow this time. She'd fallen to one knee. "I know I should have told you, but Rampage was . . . he was my lover for many years. I didn't want to see him die. I refused to let myself believe he would ever act upon his words . . . he was always so boastful. I just didn't want to interfere. . ."
"Do you know what would have happened to Laouna if I had died?!" I demanded, and the words surprised me. For the first time, without thinking about it, I came to the center of my anger, the reason for all the rage I was feeling. "Do you know what Watcher would have done? Do you know what will happen to my daughter if I die? Do you understand any of that?" I drew my sword in one fell motion and smashed it into the ground with such force that it sunk several inches into the earth. I roared into the sky with the rage that filled me, trying to vent some of it before it exploded in a murderous lust that I could not control.
I felt as though I was standing in the midst of a great fire, the flames licking at the edges of my being, attempting devour all that was left of Lowin Fenly.
"I have fought so long to get here. So little remains, and even now you betray me. What have I done to you, Snow, that warrants such a betrayal of trust?" I wanted her to meet my eyes, to tell me why she would turn her back on me. She finally did, and her face was streaked with tears. I had never seen Snow cry before.
"Please don't make her cry anymore, Lowin." I heard a soft voice from beside me. It was Malice, and she was crying as well, her eyes moist, and tears streaking her face.
"Noble, I will never betray your trust again. If you give me another chance, I will prove my worth to you." Snow pleaded. "If you allow me to follow you, I will make you proud to have me as a companion once more." She bowed further, until her forehead was touching the ground, her noble shoulders hunched over in supplication.
"Get up." I ordered, embarrassed by her gesture. I took no joy in seeing her bent over like that. Snow, even if she'd betrayed my trust, was too honorable a warrior to ever bow in such a fashion to anyone. "You can stay if that's what you want, but don't you ever bow to anyone like that again. Do you hear me?"
Snow got to her feet, and bowed her head lightly, before meeting my eyes again. Her face was composed, though tears still ran streaks down her face. The journey had only begun, and already it was wrought with betrayal and violence. That boded ill for the future. I found myself cast adrift from the Knights of Ethan once more, as though I was joining with the Broken Swords, Lucidil's band of rebels, all over again.
"Prepare for the road." I called. "We need to get moving if we're to stay on schedule." The camp resumed its course, the black cloaks staying stoic and disinterested in the events about them, and the few remaining Knights of Ethan going about their business, all looking a little uncomfortable after the confrontation. I felt a pressure on my arm again.
"Thank you." I turned and saw that it was Laouna, still at my side. "She is like my sister. Sometimes I get angry at her, and sometimes she's mean, but I love her."
I sighed heavily, and tore my sword from the ground. "I know, but she has a lot to prove before I can trust her fully again."
"She'll do it. Someday you'll tell everyone about how great she is because Snow is a good person." The green-eyed girl said with vigor. I could tell from the gleam in her eyes that she believed what she was saying.
I wasn't as certain. I only hoped I had not made a terrible mistake by allowing her to stay. If she had once been Rampage's lover, perhaps she still harbored a soft spot for his ideals. It was a troubling thought, and one that I would have preferred not to have. She had, I reminded myself, told Rampage she would back me. I should be able to take solace in that knowledge, but it was overshadowed by the fact that she had never warned me.
Trust, once lost, was difficult to rebuild.
We were four days outside of the port city of Risthis when Ethaniel finally found us again. I had begun to worry about him, or more pointedly, I'd begun to worry about his absence. The betrayal of the other Knights still lay heavily upon me, and it was not a distant stretch of the imagination to place Ethaniel at the root of their betrayal. His tardiness did little to alleviate any such concerns.
"I expected you sooner." I told him when he finally returned. For a moment a hunted look passed over his face, and then it fled, to be replaced by the calm indifference his features normally wore.
"Things did not go as anticipated in Kreo. Lord Lheec's forward scout arrived while I was still there. Apparently he'd had men camped inside the borders. He was already attempting to take over the city when I left." The corners of Ethaniel's mouth went up almost imperceptibly. "He was having a good deal of trouble when last I saw him. The people have rallied around their king, it seems."
Even I couldn't help but smile at that. Things had worked out much as I'd hoped they would. The longer the people of Kreo tied up Lheec, the better it would be for my men and me. If Ethaniel had reached us again safely, it stood to reason we'd have enough time to get to Risthis, board our ships, and leave before news of the change of power ever reached them. If it was discovered that I was no longer the active king, it could make our business in Risthis far more difficult.
"I passed Cleave on the road here." Ethaniel said, breaking my train of thought.
I locked eyes with the older Knight. I'd known he would need to know of the events that transpired, as there was no way to keep it from him. I wasn't certain how he would take the news of the betrayal. Part of my uncertainty was due to the deaths of his men, and part of it was due to the nagging question of his loyalty, or lack thereof.
"I did what was necessary." I answered whatever accusation might lay behind his words as cryptically as possible. I wasn't sure how much he knew, and I didn't want to get into any details until I was certain that all information had been presented accurately.
To my surprise, Ethaniel nodded. "I agree. You handled the situation well. Even Cleave agreed to that before I sent him on his way."
I nodded, still feeling some guilt about discarding the Knight. I'd let Snow stay, perhaps I should have offered the same to Cleave? By casting him aside, I'd done no favor to his honor.
"I believe he was relieved to be going back to Kreo. He was in high spirits when I met him on the road." Ethaniel added, after a moment of silence passed between us.
"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow. I wondered whether Ethaniel was telling me that merely to ease my worries, or because it was true. It was probably true. Ethaniel seldom said things out of any sense of sympathy.
"Yes, we enjoyed a meal together, and split on good terms. Cleave was always, for lack of a better way to put it, a coward." Ethaniel said with a sigh. "He's strong, and dangerous, but he never liked a situ
ation that entailed risk. He always put others between himself and danger, and though he fought hard when backed into a corner, he's only alive today because he let many others die in his place."
I was shocked to hear Ethaniel speak of one of his men in such a light. I'd never heard him say anything unflattering about the Knights of Ethan, or their service to the king.
"Why didn't you do something about him sooner?" I asked, still incredulous that we were having such a conversation.
"He was a Knight, and even as a coward he was still worth several normal men on the battlefield. He followed his orders well enough, and since I knew his weaknesses, I could make sure not to place in him in positions where they would dramatically affect his performance. A man who fears only for himself does not fight at his best. I knew that about him." Ethaniel said with a shrug.
"The death of the others doesn't bother you?" I asked hesitantly.
The old Knight shifted his stance, and looked away from me. His black eyes became distant, as though watching something far removed. I knew that look. I'd seen it many times before on those who'd survived hard lives. It was the look of someone gazing back over the years, a mix of sweet memory, and bitter shadows.
"They were good men, but they lost sight of why we fight. I will miss their companionship, and their skills on the battlefield, but they chose their fate. They made a challenge they were not ready to answer. As a soldier, that's a mistake you should never make." There was no bitterness or anger in Ethaniel's voice. For the first time in as long as I could remember, I felt as though I was talking to the old Ethaniel, the one I'd first met so many years before.
It was time to ask the question I didn't want to ask, but it was only fair, since I'd asked the others. I took a few breaths to calm myself. I couldn't be certain how Ethaniel would respond. He was calm at that moment, but I knew that terrible rage and darkness was still there inside of him. I needed only to look at the gray eyes on his forehead to confirm that.
"Ethaniel, did you know that the others were conspiring against me?" I finally got the words out, and to my surprise, my voice was even and firm. I wondered where that strength in my voice came from. Certainly I did not feel it inside.
Ethaniel looked at me, his two sets of eyes each conveying a separate set of emotions, but both had the old Knight's incredible intellect buried beneath them. For all that he was a warrior at heart, Ethaniel had lived a long life, and he'd put his mind to good use over the years. His reasoning and his intelligence were almost as dangerous as his sword and claw. I felt that intellect levied at me in that moment.
"The other Knight's would not talk to me about such things. They know where my support lies, and they know what sort of reaction such talk would get from me. So, to answer your question- no, they did not tell me of their plans, or even of their dissatisfaction with you as a king. Even when I told them we would be leaving Kreo, not one of them opened their mouth in protest." A look of anger passed over his features, but it fled in a moment, replaced by the sadness that had filled Ethaniel's black eyes for as long as I could remember.
"I was their leader, Noble, far longer than you were. I know you feel guilty for killing them, and that the burden of your decisions weighs heavy upon your shoulders, but I feel that weight as well. I should have seen all of this coming. My men should have been able to come to me with their problems, so that they could be discussed honorably, and handled without the need to shed the blood of our fellows.
"You think you have failed, King Noble, but it is I, First Knight of Ethan, that has failed this time. If I was more myself, more the man I started out to be, these events may not have transpired."
To hear Ethaniel speak in such a manner terrified me. I was seeing a side of the old warrior I had never seen before. Looking at him, his shoulders hunched, as though the wings upon them were too heavy to bear, his eyes downcast, it was like looking at a defeated foe about to collapse upon the battlefield. In that moment, I saw all the weight of the years upon the back of the old Knight, and I was starkly terrified that I might need to bear such a burden myself. How heavy would that burden be in a life time? In two life times? A hundred?
"Those men are dead because they didn't have enough faith in their leaders, and it was my job to place that faith there." Ethaniel said at last.
"No, those men died because they made bad choices, Ethaniel." I told him, suddenly feeling the need to bolster the seemingly fallen Knight, maybe for my own sake as much as his. "You told me that yourself. They carved their own paths."
He looked at me then, as if just noticing that I was there, as though he'd forgotten I still remained at his side. "Yes, choices . . . we've all had to make some hard choices recently . . . bad choices." His voice trailed off, and his black eyes went distant. His gray, smoke-filled eyes, however, seemed to bore into me. They burned with malignant purpose.
"Ethaniel?" I asked, his eyes snapped back into focus. He straightened his shoulders.
"What's done is done. We need to get to Risthis and get on the ocean. The road, whether it be water or land, is just the change we need. It will make us all feel more like our old selves again." Ethaniel said. He seemed to be trying to convince himself as much as me.
"I hope so." I replied. I had carried the same hope about the entire trip. So far, it hadn't held true.
All told, it took is slightly more than two weeks to reach the port city of Risthis after leaving Kreo. Telistera, the silver-eyed woman from across the sea, had made Risthis her home following my coronation. She had taken it as her personal task to craft ships stout enough to survive the seas, and the dangers that existed beneath and above them. No other had been so qualified for the job, so I had eagerly allowed her the resources she requested, though I held many concerns for Telistera's health. She was strong, and an able fighter, magically enhanced by a technique peculiar to her people. She had been instrumental in the fight against the Hungering, offering an insight that only someone who had lived through an invasion of their kind may have offered, however she was also nearing the end of her life span.
The magic that had given her amazing strength and stamina, and made her one of the most honored warriors of her people, had also taken most of her natural life span. I knew when I gave her the task of building my ships that it might be the last task she completed. She refused to say how much longer she had, but I knew enough of her kind, from her own stories, to know that her years were dwindling. In those years that I'd known her, she had proven herself a good associate, and if I'd had the time to spend with her, I probably would have counted her among my very few friends.
I had only been able to visit Risthis once during the course of my time as king, and she had few opportunities to visit the castle. Her work on the ships occupied most of her time. My visit, two years before, had proven a strong reaffirmation that I had picked the right individual for the task at hand. The ships were coming along well, untraditional, but obviously designed with many considerations that a shipwright who had never tried to sail the Great Salt Seep would have overlooked. I only hoped that the ships would be finished, and that Telistera would be ready to sail when we arrived.
My hunting party arrived at the gates of Risthis slightly after midday to find them closed and armed men nested along the walls. There had been no such security on my last visit, and immediately my suspicions were peeked.
"Risthis," I called up the wall to the men above the gate. "Open your gates and allow your king entry."
"Stand down," One of the men atop the wall yelled. "We have received word from the capital that you have been disposed, and that the king is none other than King Lheec. We are ordered to keep these gates sealed come fire or death, and we have the men to see that it happens."
Ethaniel grunted at my side, and I looked to him and saw a dangerous glint in his eye. It seemed he was as unhappy with the situation as was I. How had Lheec managed to get a message to Risthis so quickly? No human runner could have made the trip. That left only one possibility.
/> Lheec must have sent the message by bird, but they were expensive creatures and had to be prepared ahead of time. Carrier crull, as they were called, were used for fast messages. They came in pairs, a bird and its mate. When separated, the two birds would always fly back together as quickly as possible. This trait had been exploited to make them excellent speed couriers. The two birds were taken to different locations, with one person being a receiver, and the other a sender.
The message sender had only to attach his message to the sender bird, and let it go, and that bird would find the other caged bird, no matter how far apart, or how well hidden. Assuming the sender bird was not killed, it would always find its mate, and it would do so without ever stopping.
The primary drawback to this form of communication was that the birds were rare, and very expensive. Also, birds kept apart longer than two months tended to die. Some died faster, and others took a little longer, but two months was a good average. The other problem came in the fact that the birds could only be used once in such a manner, and then they would have to be manually returned to separate locations before being useful again.