Collin sipped at the small amount of mead left in his mug, eyes staring blankly forward at the table.
“All I need from you in return is the same obedience any father would expect from a son. It should be no great chore for you to be obliged by these requests, knowing full and well that all to be performed is for the betterment of our household. The same household you will one day inherit and have to yourself, should you prove to be a son not just by blood, but by way of action.” Cassen was every bit the father now, not his usual motherly self. He wondered how it would affect a person to see him transformed in such a way, but what harm would one more layer of manipulation cause?
The entire evening had been a charade, after all. It was no difficult task to find a bastard in the kitchens with a dead or distant mother. The first, unfortunately, had not gone quite to plan and had needed to be disposed of. But it was essential that the man Cassen selected be moved to the point of trusting that his and Cassen’s fates were intertwined so thoroughly that it would spur him to commit previously unthinkable crimes. High treason was much to ask from a man with whom you just shared your first supper, but Cassen believed his powers of persuasion to be unmatched, and succeeding tonight would be confirmation enough of that.
The look of worry slid from Collin’s face. Cassen knew this expression well. It was that of a man calculating his own fortunes in the event that the heavenly bodies aligned, lifting him from the depths of abjection with their combined pull and placing him atop his rightful throne. “What would you have me do, Father?”
TALLOS
Tallos heard a voice as he drifted between sleep and consciousness.
It was not uncommon for him to be awoken in such a way—his wife talked to him often as he slept. But her pleading words always turned to shrieks of horror as she burned alive in a fire of his own creation. He too felt the burn of those flames, rushing inside in an attempt to save her, his efforts rewarded only with more pain and torment. As he rose from sleep to find himself covered in sweat, what little heat he had from the struggle in his dream would dissipate, leaving him chilled and shivering, no longer aided in warmth by the burn of infection.
He did his best to ignore the phantom voice and rolled to his side to curl into a ball. The skin that covered him from the top of his head to the backs of his heels pulled taut as he did so. It was raised and bumpy, forming peaks and valleys similar to the terrain he knew surrounded him. Now healed, he found he’d lost most sensation, his numb skin serving as a shield against the claw of cold. He imagined he must look much like a monster. His affected skin felt to him how the skin of a dragon was often described, with its scale-like ridges. But he knew he was likely doing himself a false kindness with that comparison.
“Helloooooo?” It was the same voice as before, seeming quite distant, but definitely not imagined.
Tallos lay motionless. He had not considered the fact that he may be found in his hole. Rather, he had envisioned himself emerging with the thaw, reborn into evil and ready to commit atrocities. He also did not know how long he had remained below ground, isolated from all contact, eyes unopened, never speaking, though it seemed it had been long enough that he may have forgotten how to do those things that overworlders would expect of him.
“Anyone out there?” it called again. It was a man’s voice and closer than before.
The thought of being discovered was not inviting. No man, nor group of men, would be here looking for survivors out of good will. If scavengers found him underground, naked except for his demon skin, how would they react? If they found the corpses he had preserved in his barrels, mostly stripped of flesh, there would be no way he could explain them. The mystic powers that, for some reason, he believed he would emerge with were not yet realized, his metamorphosis far from complete.
Someone stepped on the door to his cellar. It was a solid door, certainly strong enough to walk upon, but it groaned under the weight of what must be a large man. Such a man would have no trouble killing the weak thing that Tallos had become, and he would have no trouble justifying it either. Panic gripped him. He must not die, murdered by scroungers—it would not serve his purpose. It would please the gods far too much if he were to be destroyed so easily.
Tallos decided to open his eyes, even if perpetual darkness was his only reward. The weak muscles of his eyelids fluttered with the strain, but his lids refused to part, sealed by their own dried excretions. He crawled to the seep and wet his hands to wash them clean.
Whoever was above him scraped at his door. It would not be long before the latch was found and angry men poured inside, looking for anything of value. Tallos searched his mind for any objects that were in the cellar he could use as a weapon but could think of none. He rubbed at his eyes frantically with no effect. They would not open without the threat of torn flesh.
The familiar creak of his cellar door opening froze him in place, just as a devastating pain shot through his head. His eyes felt as if they were exploding, forcing him to bury his head in his arm. He had always been careful just to crack the door before venturing out, and he knew from experience that the pain of catching just a single ray could be excruciating. The agony Tallos now felt was so crippling he feared he would never again be able to see even when his eyes did open.
“Gods be damned!” The shouter sounded shocked, angry, and disgusted.
Tallos had been seen—he must have. He imagined what it must look like, the hunched-over creature hiding guiltily in a corner, three barrels of human remains and a fourth full of vinegar and his own pus. He cowered by the seep, trying to make himself as small as possible so whatever was thrown at him would be less likely to strike. He waited for a spear to hit the wall near his head or pierce through his side, unable to determine which would be worse. Odd noises came from above. They did not sound promising.
One man laughed cruelly, interrupted only by his own fitful coughing. Another man gagged and sounded to also be pouring something on the ground. It was oil, Tallos feared—buckets of it. They intended to burn him to death. Fire was said to kill demons, or was it warlocks? It made no real difference. He knew he would die just the same. But the thought of burning again was far worse than being speared. Tallos decided to call out to them and at least let them know he was human.
“Please, do not harm me,” he tried to say, but his open mouth refused to make the sounds it was once capable of. All that came was dry wheezing.
They stomped around above him, two men at least. Messing about with a flint most likely, a whoosh of flame sure to follow. He had to cry out before they set him alight.
“Help me,” he attempted. This time all that came was a few squeaks.
“Anybody down there?” called a voice. Why they asked that, he could not tell. Perhaps they wanted to make sure he did not have any living prisoners before they torched him. Someone put a foot on the first step and the wood protested. If they had not seen him yet, they soon would. The second step creaked from the weight of the descending giant.
He tried again to speak, but was overwhelmed instead with the need to cough. From a recent passing sickness, he knew his cough sounded more like the screech of the hellborn. It would do him no good in terms of appearing human. Covering his mouth and fighting to suppress the action, his ability to speak was again prevented.
The man was on the third step, a piece of wood wet with rot that threatened to break even under Tallos’s lightened frame. They might believe he rigged it as a trap. His fate would be sealed when the wood split in two.
“Noaaaaa,” Tallos finally managed to say, sounding oddly childlike.
“What? Who is down there?”
His mind raced for what he could do or say to delay them killing him. He considered just charging blindly—as he had no other method of charging—toward the man on the stairs in hopes that he’d be killed quickly. But if Tallos wanted to die he could have done that long ago. He would not give up now. The gods would be amused by his pathetic failure.
“Clothing,
” he said, still unable to recognize the sound of his own voice.
“What’s that? Clothing?”
“Please,” Tallos said. “Give me clothing.”
For several minutes Tallos waited while the man whispered with the others above him, things that Tallos could not make out.
“I am throwing down a shirt and trousers,” the man called down.
“No,” Tallos said, now having had more time to think. “A robe.” His voice was so weak and desperate. “Please.”
“Hang on now, little one.”
The man must think Tallos a child, and now he worried they might be angry when they saw he was not. They would be even more suspicious if they felt deceived.
It was a good five minutes later before the man called down again. “It is going to be too big for you, but it’s all we have.”
Tallos heard the sound of some heavy fabric landing at the foot of the stairs, and he wasted no time crawling over, grabbing it with an outstretched arm and dragging it back to his corner where he put it on with nervous energy. He feared at any moment they would come down to peek, seeing him in the process. Relief coursed through him when he felt the hood of the robe and pulled it over his head. Thank the gods, he thought, almost bursting to laughter, but he was able to contain himself.
“I am coming up,” Tallos said. “Please do not come down here.”
Tallos ascended the steps with some difficulty. Walking on just his feet as opposed to crawling felt dangerous; each step played with his equilibrium. He was hunched, feeling the wall with one hand, waving the other in front of himself to avoid collision. The heavy hood kept his eyes sheltered from the worst of the light—he just hoped it was adequate to hide his burnt skin as well. With his hands withdrawn into the sleeves and his hood up, he was as well covered as he could have hoped.
“It is a man,” one of them said, alarmed.
“Yes, I am sorry,” said Tallos, motioning to his throat. “My voice…”
They seemed to accept his apology, or at least did not perceive him to be of any danger. Not as yet, he thought.
“How did you survive down there?” It was the first man, the one who had descended a few of the steps, and his tone was trusting.
“Please, do not go down there. It is piles of shit and piss.” In spite of his blindness, weakness, and utter vulnerability, Tallos felt growing power as he believed his deception to be succeeding. “I am ashamed,” Tallos said, closing the door behind him, not needing any sight to accomplish the task he had done so many times alone at night.
“Smells like worse than that!” This man’s roar was followed by the same cruel laughter from before. His voice gave Tallos no comfort.
With the door closed, the gentle breeze brought the scent of vomit to Tallos. They had apparently been pouring out the contents of their stomachs, not oil.
“What is your name?”
I am Nekasr, he thought to say, half believing it to be true, and where I go, the world burns.
“Tallos,” he responded. “This was my village.”
DERUDIN
“I would advise against a trip to Westport, my king.”
Derudin stood obediently beside the seated king. Lyell’s grand desk was made evermore monstrous by the scrolls and papers piled upon it. With the tumult following the imprisonment of Crella and Stephon, Lyell had fallen behind in his many self-appointed tasks, namely those of overseeing the kingdom’s military and finances, and he angrily studied one such piece of correspondence as Derudin spoke. It is too much for one man, and he is losing focus.
The fact that Alther had not gone to Westport as ordered further complicated matters. The city was falling to chaos and members of The Guard had to be stationed in markets to help lower the incidence of theft and murder. Had he the time, Derudin would have sought out Alther in an attempt to advise the man, but between his duties to the king and his classes, he had none to spare.
“But you have not even heard the reasons and necessities for such a trip,” said Cassen. He stood before the king wearing his usual simper. “I beg pardon for borrowing from your own title, but would it not be wise, my dear Derudin, to first examine all the factors?” As always, it seemed it was Cassen’s intent to provoke Derudin to anger.
It will not happen again. Derudin would never forgive himself for once allowing Cassen to agitate him to the point of lashing out. His subsequent absence from the many High Council meetings that Cassen had attended had caused irreparable damage. “What factors are there that will prevent the angry mob from storming the king’s litter?” Derudin kept his voice calm.
“I am so glad you have asked. Allow me to explain.” Cassen produced a wax-sealed piece of paper. “As you will see, I have been sent by the prince himself to request the king’s presence in Westport. It seems Alther has negotiated some more lucrative trade agreements with the Spiceland merchants and wishes to have a banquet feast to celebrate what he is calling the Rebirth of Westport. Quite cleverly done, if I do say so myself.”
“You think it clever because it is your own doing. Since when are you Alther’s envoy? What do you have to gain from this?” Derudin asked, the king thus far remaining silent.
“I am both offended and flattered that you would think the Rebirth was of my own invention. But I assure you, they are Alther’s words. I admit I may have used some of my influence with the merchants to help him secure his better contracts, but Alther is not the fool you make him out to be, Derudin. He is an intelligent man—of noble blood, no less.”
“Do not twist my words. I implied no such thing. And you are yet to answer my second question.” This silk-covered serpent will be the death of the kingdom if he continues unchecked.
“The second question?”
“What do you have to gain from this?” Although he felt the anger beginning to boil inside, Derudin’s words remained coolly delivered. Seek the void. Do not let this fool challenge your restraint.
“Are we not all denizens of the same kingdom? We all have much to gain by not seeing Westport fall to ruin, lest Eastport and the Throne follow.”
“Remind me again what good your piece of paper and fraudulent magnanimity will do in the face of a starving, angry horde?”
“Enough bickering,” said Lyell, finally looking up from his papers. “I will not pass up the opportunity to reconcile with my son and see him succeed. Partnering with Cassen was perhaps the first intelligent thing he has done since I took Adeltia. We will attend this banquet, but it will be held in the Throne. I would trust my fate to the mob no sooner than I would parley in a blood feud. We will make all the necessary arrangements to ensure all the men of note from Westport are accommodated for the short trip that will be required of them.”
“A very fair compromise, my king,” said Cassen. “I am sure Alther will be content to hear of it.”
Derudin saw no use for further discussion. Once forged, the king’s decisions may as well be set in stone.
“I will see to it that Master Warin makes the preparations necessary for security. Thank you for assisting my son, Cassen. It will not be forgotten. If that is all, you may leave.”
The king’s attention once more on his papers, Cassen shot Derudin a satisfied smile before curtseying and making his exit.
THE WHORE’S BASTARD
Many Years Ago
Head down and shoulders slumped, he struggled to pull his wooden cart, the wheels seeming to catch between every gap of the cobblestones. He felt like an insignificant speck, caught in the shadow of the wall that loomed overhead—a shadow that kept his dirty corner of the city known as the Armpit in darkness well into the afternoon.
When he was younger his mother had told him the story of the wall, blaming it for all the surrounding squalor. “Had Adella finished the wall, we would not live like this,” she said, breath reeking of ale. “But she builds her great throne instead, the Castle to End All Coin.” He wondered which of her patrons she’d heard that from. His mother was no wordsmith.
Queen Adella received little love from her people. When her brother Adellos II died the kingdom mourned, and soon after she had replaced him, the kingdom wept. But the boy was not fool enough to believe their lot in life would have been any better had the wall spanned across the continent, shielding Adeltia from the threat of northern invasion. Perhaps if his father had been one of the many architects put to death for failing to meet the queen’s standards, he would have cause for complaint, but he never knew his father nor did he think he would want to. The Adeltian Throne—that towering object far in the distance and namesake of the kingdom’s new capital—did not condemn him… It called to him.
He’d not seen his mother since having left her years ago, but in the Armpit he remained. Better to be an orphan than a whore’s bastard, was what he told himself when his childish longing to see her threatened to take hold.
Passing by the bakers and smiths, fruit vendors and butchers, he hardened his resolve to leave this place entirely, to not be another lifelong victim of the Pit. They all looked so different, these peasant laborers, yet depravity saw them unified. He had no sympathy for this lot, however. Sympathy and compassion were weaknesses he conditioned himself to no longer to feel. These were not people oppressed by an unfinished wall, these were slaves of their own self-pity—his eventual rise above them to be validation of his assertion.
Eating nothing but gruel he was able to save fifty-three coppers—just over half a mark—in the past two months. His belly ached for mutton, but he had not given in, not once since he started saving. With five marks he could buy a cotton shirt and trousers, and with one more he could afford a bath. Another two would see him into his first pair of shoes, used of course, and a final eighty coppers would get him a ride out of town shared on a wagon. He would take the first job he could get, no matter what it was—even if it means I must be an architect.
The Axe and the Throne (Bounds of Redemption Book 1) Page 32