The False Martyr

by H. Nathan Wilcox

  “What?” she asked from the window. She looked out and chewed the nail of her thumb.

  “Do you want to play cards?” Dasen repeated, holding up the cards that Mrs. Tappers had delivered with their breakfast. “We’re trapped in here. We might as well do something to pass the time.” Dasen pulled at the collar of his dress and fought the urge to claw off the cosmetics. It was a stifling hot day, sunny, humid, with barely a hint of breeze. He almost felt sorry for the soldiers marching through the city outside.

  The entire town had been taken over the previous two days. The sum total of every soldier south of Aylesford had marched – or was still marching – through just as Lareno had predicted. Most of those had not even bothered to stop. But several thousand had taken up residence last night and the one before. They had filled every house and inn, displacing nearly every family to their floors, eaten what little food the people still had, harassed their daughters, bedded a few, and marched on in the morning. And the final set were expected tonight. Even the River Maiden’s wealthy residents had lost their rooms to officers, had been forced to the courtyard or hallways to avoid the soldiers as they drained the Tapper’s famous stock of whiskey, ale, and wine. As far as Dasen knew, Lady Esther was the only resident in the entire city who had kept her bed for the night without sharing it with an officer. Part of that was her purported nobility, but even more, the governor needed her contained, needed to know where she was, needed to know she would suffer no indignity to further the ire of the mobs.

  “I wish I could get out of here and do something,” Teth said as she walked toward the writing table where Dasen sat. “I hate being stuck here.” She turned and walked back toward the window chewing on her fingers. She was as agitated as a cat in a box, distracted and overwrought as Dasen could ever remember seeing. He could certainly understand her nerves – his heart leapt into his throat at the slightest hint of what would happen tomorrow – but this seemed like something more.

  “You might as well sit down,” Dasen tried again. “We’re not getting out of here as long as the army is out there. Watching you pace is making me crazy.”

  “I know,” Teth moaned. “I just need to move. I wish I could at least work with Garth or run messages again or something.”

  “Kian said you’re supposed to rest.”

  “Yeah, I know, but saying it doesn’t make it happen.” She sighed. “I talked with some of the soldiers yesterday, you know.”

  “While you were running messages?”

  “Yeah, and I read some of the messages.” By some twist, the governor had put Kian in charge of communicating with the various units as they came through the city, passing on orders, and ensuring they knew where to go. He, in turn, had drafted Teth as one of his boys carrying messages back and forth across the city. “They’re headed to Lianne on Alta. They said the invaders have already crossed into Liandria. There’s going to be a big battle there, and they’re going to have to fight with the invaders. Can you believe that?”

  “I’d guess as much. I mean it’s not like the invaders are going to stop with the Kingdoms, and their army is already made up of all kinds of different people. We’re probably just another vassal to them. Do you remember all the different peoples we saw when we were watching the road? What was the song those one men were singing?” Dasen tried to recall the tune that had been stuck in their heads a seeming lifetime gone, humming a few bars poorly.

  Teth smiled and joined him. “They were funny. And the . . . what did you call them? The ghost battalion? By the Order that seems like a hundred years ago.”

  “Phantom legion,” Dasen supplied, “and it was you that came up with that.” Suddenly, he was remembering that time, how they’d watch the army march then slept in the grass holding each other. How they had kissed and held hands. “It does seem like a long time. I miss it.”

  Teth looked at him with a mix of sadness and affection. “Who’d have thought we’d be thinking back on that as something to miss?”

  Dasen did not know what to say, could almost feel the connection he’d just forged crumbling. How could he say that he’d rather be hungry, tired, and scared with her than warm and safe without? How could he say that he’d go back to those terrible days in a second if only it brought her back to him? In the end, the silence just grew between them until Teth’s thumb returned to her mouth, her head fell, and she turned to back toward the window.

  “Will you, please, stop pacing and play cards with me?” Dasen begged before he had lost her completely.

  Teth looked back at him as if it was the first time he had spoken. “Cards,” he reminded, shaking the deck at her. “You’re making me want to jump out that window. Please, sit down.”

  Teth looked nervously toward the window but eventually sat. “Okay, what do you want to play?” She reached to tuck her hair behind her ear, but it wasn’t there. What hair she had was slicked back with grease in a style common among the wealthy. It wouldn’t have reached her ears even if it weren’t. She looked at him for a moment then dropped her eyes to the table.

  “Do you play King’s Crossing?” Dasen asked, trying to lighten the conversation

  “No.” Teth chewed her lips and fidgeted with her fingers. She looked like she was going to jump back out of the chair.

  “Liandrin Flush?”

  “No.”

  “Brak Wall?”

  “Huh?”

  “Through the Ice.”

  “I’ve never heard of that.”

  “You don’t play cards much, do you?”

  “Never really. We didn’t own cards. Some of the men played in the shop, but I never took much interest.”

  “Well, you’re going to have to learn,” Dasen teased. “What do you think the ladies do at all those teas you’re going to be hosting when we get to Liandria?”

  Teth laughed at that, but her eyes grew distant. She smiled and put her hand on his. “I almost wish that I had that to dread. I really do.” The moment stretched between them, intimate but somehow sad. “I play Slaps,” she broke in with a grin. “You beat me at that, and I’ll do anything you want.”

  “Anything?” Dasen asked, mischief entering his voice.

  “Anything,” Teth announce with a giggle.

  Dasen thought about the reward he really wanted, wondered if he’d have the courage to ask for it if he won.

  Teth grew silent as she seemed to follow the glint in his eyes. “Oh,” she said then seemed to catch herself.

  “I’m sorry,” Dasen stammered. “I was just. I wouldn’t. I mean I won’t. You don’t have to.”

  Teth smiled again. “I wasn’t sure you even wanted that anymore. After . . . after the past few weeks, I . . . I thought you had given up on me.”

  Dasen looked at her for a long time, just holding the cards. “Never,” he whispered. “I will always want you in any way I can have you.”

  Teth dropped her eyes, clasped his hand, and held it tightly in her own. Dasen felt his anticipation rise. After all this, were they finally going to find their way back to each other?

  “Well, deal the cards and we’ll see.” She pulled her hand from his and held it before her slightly above the table. Her face held an impish grin. “Do you have any idea how good I am at this game?”

  “I thought you didn’t have cards?” Dasen’s voice was husky, thoughts muddled. And if I win, he told himself, I will tell her what I want.

  He did not win. Slaps was a game of reflexes and quick decision, and Teth was its very god. Dasen sat back and looked at the cards before him. He had one incomplete series. Teth had three nearly complete. She had a run of ten. His longest was three. It was a massacre.

  “Try again?” Teth asked with a smirk. “I’ll even close my eyes while you deal.”

  “Same terms?”

  Teth cocked her head and grinned. “Sure.”

  It was closer this time, but not by much. Teth identified and claimed cards with such speed and precision that it was like she had an extra set of han
ds. As soon as Dasen found a card he needed, Teth was claiming it for her own. He had never seen anything like it, and if he needed any more proof of how the Order had constructed her perfectly to be what she was, it was encapsulated here.

  “It is hunting,” Teth explained. “You find your prey and claim it before it can escape. No hesitation, no thinking, just action. I trained my whole life for this.” She smiled. “And I have really fast hands.” She held them up and laughed.

  Dasen could not help but smile. This was as close, as comfortable as they had been in weeks. “Let me try again,” he said. “You can’t always win.”

  Teth laughed and gathered the cards. She began to mix them, looking up at him as she did. “The only way you’ll win is if I let you.” She closed her eyes and began to throw the cards face-up around the table. Dasen tried to follow them, to find the cards he’d need to make sets.

  A knock at the door nearly sent him from his skin. Teth jumped as well, dropping the cards. “It’s just me,” Mrs. Tappers familiar voice said from the hall. “May I come in?”

  Holding his heart, Dasen rose and opened the door. “Mrs. Tappers,” he cooed. “What a delight to see you? Is there some way that we may be of assistance?”

  “You’re safe,” Mrs. Tappers said as she walked through the door. She patted Dasen on the arm with her fan and closed the door behind her. “This whole wing is empty. Last night’s visitors are gone and Kian and his boys are too busy to worry about what we’re saying.” She smiled, but her eyes were sad, face, even covered with cosmetics, old and tired. “May I sit?”

  “Of course,” Dasen moved over a seat, leaving the chair by the door for Mrs. Tappers. She eased herself into it.

  “My old legs are not used to all this bustle,” she said. She reached across the table, placing a big hand tipped with thick, red nails on Teth’s then Dasen’s. “My dears,” she continued with a sigh, “I think you know that tomorrow is the day. Kian has everything planned. He’s holding the details close to his vest, but Mark and I have figured out the basics.” Again she sighed, seeming older by the minute. “Tomorrow, Lady Esther will venture out, will be met by the governor, and will be killed. Just the lady, my dear,” she added at Dasen’s obvious concern. “He’s figured some way to make it look like she’s been killed without hurting you. In any case, he’ll use her death to start a riot. I don’t know what happens after that, but it’s safe to say that the city will look like the Maelstrom itself. He will have to remove you from that.” She squeezed Dasen’s hand. “My guess is that Garth will be in charge of getting you back here.”

  “That’s basically what he told me a few days ago,” Teth confirmed. “He wants Garth to protect Dasen while the city is in turmoil.”

  “Perfect!” Mrs. Tappers focused her attention on Teth. “Then we were right to seek his help. I don’t know what he has planned for you, my dear. Our hope is that he’ll keep you with Dasen and Garth. If that’s the case, the rest should be easy.” She looked around the room as if for spies then raised her eyes to the ceiling as if in prayer. “Mr. Tappers found a boat. Not here, as every boat has been seized by the army and the docks will be the last place you want to go. There is a small village about six miles south of here. We buy fish from a man there. He is a long-time friend, and we trust him. He’s wary but has agreed – for a sizeable sum – to leave out a boat for you to ‘steal’. Mark has already loaded it with food and supplies, so all you need to do is find it and take it down the river. Unfortunately, you will have to run to the village – there isn’t a horse to be found in the entire city – but at least, you’ll have Garth to protect you. What do you think? Do you have any questions?”

  Dasen looked at Teth, who turned to the table before her. “And if I’m not with Dasen when the riots start? If Kian has me somewhere else?”

  Mrs. Tappers looked at both of them then let out a deep breath. “You’ll have to find your own way to the boat.” She found Teth’s hand and stared again at the ceiling. “My dears, I pray to the Order that is not how it goes, but you’ll have to do whatever Kian asks tomorrow. We can’t have him suspicious or none of this will work. You just have to disappear. If Garth goes with you, we can blame the whole thing on him and no one is the wiser.”

  “So where is this village?” Dasen asked, looking at Teth, surprised she wouldn’t have asked that herself.

  “Of course,” Mrs. Tappers gasped. “You’ll need to know that, won’t you? You just go south. Every road in town will eventually dump you onto the main road along the river. It isn’t much of a road, and you probably won’t see anyone on it, but if you do see soldiers coming north, just step to the side. We’ll make sure you’re dressed so you won’t draw any attention – Garth will probably have to hide, but that’s his concern. The road will lead you right to the village. It’s small, only a couple dozen houses with a single dock. To find your boat, keep going past the village until you find a grove of low trees just outside. The boat is tied up there, hidden in the brush.”

  “Okay,” Dasen said, looking at Teth. “Sounds easy enough. And if we have trouble? If Teth isn’t with us or something happens?”

  Teth sighed long and deep at that, drawing Dasen’s attention. The look in her eyes was making his heart hammer, but his questions went unanswered.

  The door slammed open, sending all three of them jumping nearly to the ceiling. “What’s going on here?” Kian asked from the doorway. He panted, looking nervous and overwrought.

  “We’re praying,” Mrs. Tappers answered smoothly. She squeezed Dasen and Teth’s hands. “May the Order guide and protect you through these next few days. And may It show us all Its will so that we may align ourselves to Its magnificent plan.” She nodded and stood.

  “A prayer from you,” Kian scoffed. “The Order shudders.”

  “We are all as the Order has made us.” Mrs. Tappers stared Kian directly in the eye until he ceded.

  “Teth, I need you,” he said, stepping around the inn’s matron. Teth jumped at the mention of her name, her breath quickened so that even Dasen could feel it. “I thought I had enough boys for today, but we’re overwhelmed. And I need to know how many more men are coming through here. You can be both messenger and spy, so come along.”

  “How long?” Teth asked.

  “As long as I say,” Kian snapped. “Now come along. I was supposed to be back by now.”

  “Alright,” Teth sighed then turned to Dasen. “Save the game for me? Maybe you’ll win one yet.”

  “Of course,” Dasen sputtered through the sudden lump in his throat. He was not sure why after weeks of nearly dreading her presence, but he could hardly bare to see her leave.

  “Isn’t that sweet,” Kian mocked. “Don’t worry, I won’t keep her long. We all need to be ready for tomorrow.”

  “Be careful,” Dasen said as Kian ushered Teth from the room.

  Teth did not answer. Mrs. Tappers watched them go then turned to Dasen. “She loves you. No matter what happens tomorrow, remember that.” Then she left, closing the door behind her, leaving Dasen alone just when he wanted nothing less.

  #

  Dasen was still playing cards when Teth eased the door open and walked back into the room. She was wearing only her long cotton nightshirt, hair still damp from washing the grease from it. Dasen, likewise, had removed his disguise and was in his nightshirt, sitting at the table snatching cards as quickly as he could manage. He had clearly been practicing all day and still looked slow. Teth smiled sadly at that.

  “That was quick,” Dasen said as he plucked cards from the table and put them in ordered stacks before him. “Usually, you take a lot longer to get cleaned up.”

  Because I can’t bear to be around you, she thought. “Usually, I’m so sore I can barely move,” she said instead. “Running around the city delivering messages is nothing compared to what Garth usually has me doing.” She walked around the table sat in the chair across from him. “I see you’ve been practicing.”

  Dasen looked
up and smiled. “I’m getting pretty good. Want to test your luck?”

  “Sure.” Teth watched him as he gathered the cards. She was glad that he was out of his costume. It was good to see him as he should be, to have this image to remember.

  “Same terms?” Dasen asked as he shuffled the cards.

  “Sure.” Teth smiled but felt her insides tremble. She reached across the table and took his hand. “I’m sorry, Dasen. You deserve better. The Order has played us poorly.”

  “There is nothing, no one better.” He paused then cleared his throat. “Now, are we going to play this game?”

  Teth could only nod. She fought to keep from crying, wiped a lone tear from her eye, and watched through a haze as Dasen scattered the cards on the table.

  “Go!” he called.

  It took Teth several seconds to gather herself enough to play. Dasen had already claimed a half-dozen cards. It didn’t matter. Her hands moved like pouncing cats, in constant motion, card, card, card. When the last one was claimed, they didn’t even need to count to know the winner.

  Dasen sighed and looked at her with a half-smile. “I thought you were going to let me win.”

  “And give you anything you want?” Teth tried to tease, to find their old humor. “How do I know you won’t ask me to wear dresses and host teas?”

  Dasen smiled. Teth could not believe how old and petty those fights seemed now, how she longed to be worried about having to leave the forest and live as his wealthy wife. She waited for Dasen to reply.

  It came in a far different way than she expected. He stood, rounded the table, and kissed her.

  To say it was awkward would be kind. In his haste, he tripped over the table. He caught himself but nearly landed on top of her. Recovering quickly, he bent in half to reach her, but his lips found her cheek as she turned away. Undeterred, he went to his knees, caught her head in his hands, and held her so that their noses were touching. He stared at her for a long time, eyes locked. Her heart hammered, quick breaths matched to his. His lips moved to hers.