Dinavhek- The Fall

by Tal'urra Steelfang

  Sir Konrad was not the man he appeared to be.

  Then again, neither was his son.

  The difference, and Adsuni hoped dearly that he was correct in this matter, was that Glanen was a far better man than he appeared to be.

  “I see that our young prince has taken it upon himself to show you around our grandest holy site in the country,” Sir Konrad observed. His smile did not quite reach his eyes.

  Adsuni stared at him wordlessly in response.

  The knight's smile fell a bit, and he cast a disapproving glance at the prince before turning his attention back upon their guest.

  “My prince, if you wish to offer prayers to the Goddess, I would be honored to show the Lady around in your stead.”

  His tone was polite, giving the prince no reason to suspect any sort of sinister motive. However, Adsuni no longer trusted Sir Konrad, and did not relish the idea of leaving him alone with such a dangerous and fickle person. On the other hand, he did wish to offer an apology to Anikasi for the Takirari woman's earlier behavior. Personal beliefs aside, Adsuni knew his father would want the Goddess appeased, as he was a strongly religious man.

  “Thank you, Sir Knight,” Adsuni said reluctantly before stalking off toward the fire.

  He hadn't brought much with him to the temple, but he was able to stash a few small treats in his pouches. The prince lightly tossed a handful of dried berries into the fire and watched as the flames consumed them. He tuned out the dull chatter of the commonfolk as they milled about, allowing himself to become lost in thought as he concentrated on a prayer to their beloved Anikasi.

  O Goddess, he began silently, if you are here with us today, please watch over us. The people of Dinavhek need you, and I fear that that need will only grow over time.

  He glanced over to Lady Kharqa and Sir Konrad, both of whom were chatting with one of the high priestesses. It seemed that Kharqa had no trouble feigning interest in her surroundings while in the company of the great knight.

  Please watch over us, the prince begged. He almost thought to mention the distrust he felt toward his companions, but decided against it, as it would be highly inappropriate for the prince to 'speak' negatively about others while praying. He would have to trust that the Goddess, in her infinite wisdom, would understand what he meant, and that the peace that his father fought so desperately for might now be at risk.

  The prince tossed in an extra offering – one of the strange coins he had managed to collect in the marketplace. This one came from the land of the small-people, Karilar. He hadn't planned on it, but he found the sudden compulsion to do so impossible to resist. He lingered for a moment to watch the coin disappear into the flames before turning back around with a resigned sigh, not looking forward to reuniting with the knight and the Takirari.

  He started, not expecting to see Hymuse there, speaking gently to a group of young lads that had most likely gotten a bit too rowdy. There were four of them, with the oldest appearing to be in his early teens. The prince waited patiently for their conversation to end before approaching the familiar man. They watched the children depart, subdued, but seemingly still in fine spirits. Once again, Adsuni found himself envying the older man for his skills in communication. If only he could get others to listen to him!

  “My prince,” Hymuse said with a polite half-bow. “You've come to pay your respects to our beloved Anikasi, I see!”

  “Of course, I wouldn't miss this for anything. I'm afraid I'll have to be paying respects in my father's stead, however. He isn't feeling too well today,” he added. This was true; his father drank far too much the night before, and the prince found himself making excuses for his absence all morning.

  Perhaps that explains his lapses in judgment, he thought.

  This revelation took Hymuse by surprise. He straightened, his expression more serious. “The king has taken ill?” he whispered, low enough that no one else could hear.

  “It's nothing,” Adsuni assured him, taken aback by Hymuse's abrupt change.

  “Nothing?”

  “Nothing,” he repeated firmly. “It's... all right, I'll tell you, but it's really inappropriate for me to be divulging this. He, erm... he 'overindulged' last night, if you take my meaning. He needed today to recover.”

  Hymuse brought a hand up to his face to hide his smile. He breathed a small sigh of relief and relaxed once more.

  “I see,” he laughed, though the prince could sense that there was still a bit of tension present in his voice. He felt awful for scaring Hymuse so; after all, he and his father were close friends.

  Unnerved, the prince tried to change the subject.

  “So, what brings you here today?” he asked, feeling stupid almost immediately after.

  “I am here for the same reason you are,” Hymuse confirmed, “to pay my respects to She Who Watches All. And I see that you have brought our guest here as well.”

  The prince followed Hymuse's gaze over to where Sir Konrad and Lady Kharqa were. The knight had brought her over to the fire, and was in the process of showing her how to send offerings to the gods. Adsuni grimaced, thinking he might have to make many more offerings to appease Anikasi after they were done.

  “You don't seem very comfortable with her around,” Hymuse noted.

  “That's because I'm not.”

  Hymuse's eyebrows raised at that unusually blunt remark from the young prince.

  Adsuni gasped and bowed his head, understanding his terrible mistake. It was beyond inappropriate for him to speak so negatively about a guest, and so indelicately to someone of Hymuse's station. Or, really, to anyone at all. He had a feeling, too, that Aasimah might have been a bad influence over him, for that was surely something she would say!

  “My, I don't think I've ever heard you speak so plainly before.”

  “Forgive me, sir. I meant no disrespect. It has been... it's been a challenging week for us. I'm just looking for things to go back to normal.”

  “My dear prince, I don't think normal exists in our land!”

  The prince grimaced at that.

  “I suppose 'normal' isn't the right word, then. What I mean is, I would like for things to go back to how they were not too long ago. If I may speak plainly to you,” he added, and Hymuse understood it to be more of an invitation than a statement.

  The older man nodded, moving a bit further away from the crowd so that he and Adsuni could speak a little more privately.

  “I don't trust her,” Adsuni whispered once they reached a safe distance.

  “Really? You hardly know her.”

  “I know her as much as I care to. Maybe too much.”

  “And what of Sir Konrad? He is the King's Shadow, his closest ally, and he seems to be doing rather well with her.”

  Adsuni bit his lip nervously. He didn't know whether Hymuse had learned of the child in the alley. He wondered how much the man did know altogether. Certainly, he had his secrets – secrets he kept even from his prince. That ought to be something of a 'red flag' for the younger man, but against everything, he trusted Hymuse. Could he trust him with his next confession?

  “I no longer trust Sir Konrad, either,” he said at last, each word flowing from his lips as though it were pried out through pure force.

  For the second time that day, Hymuse seemed at a loss. To his credit, he kept his eyes on the prince, and did not give them away by looking back at their companions.

  “I see.”

  Adsuni hung his head in shame. What he just said was unforgivable. To speak in such a way about the greatest knight in all the land... it was unthinkable!

  “A prince should have confidence in those who serve and protect him,” Hymuse said calmly.

  “I should, and I do, just not with him.”

  “And what has led you to feel this way?”

  “I – I'm not sure I can tell you,” Adsuni confessed.

  “You can tell me anything that you feel comfortable telling me,” Hymuse assured him. “I am, after all, your servant. It
is my duty to offer you my unwavering loyalty. Why, I would give my very life for you and your father, if it came down to it.”

  The prince shifted about uneasily. He regretted having this conversation and almost wished to be back in Kharqa's company; at least she was predictable.

  “Thank you,” he said awkwardly. “Really. If you'll excuse me, I think I need to go back to my guest now. It appears she and Sir Konrad are done with their activities.”

  Hymuse bowed in deference to the prince.

  “Of course, my young prince. I apologize for troubling you. Please give the Lady my regards, and enjoy the rest of your holiday. I suspect we will be seeing each other again soon, for the next council meeting. I hope by then that things have improved for you. Do take care,” he added.

  “I wish the same for you,” Adsuni said, forcing himself to smile.

  He returned to Kharqa just in time to overhear her confessing her confusion and disapproval of Dinavhene religious customs to Sir Konrad. It appeared that he hadn't quite gotten through to her, and the prince couldn't help feeling a bit smug about that. The knight bowed stiffly to the prince before taking his leave of them.

  Good riddance.

  Hymuse was rather disturbed by his prince's revelations. Whatever it was that he expected to hear from his young prince, his distrust for his father's dearest friend was certainly among the very last. He'd have been more ready to believe the prince if he'd simply told him he was really a frog all this time.

  He thought back to his meeting with Gotaaga earlier in the week. Such a grand deception he and his fellow councilmen were engaging in... Whether they succeeded or failed, life in Dinavhek would forever be changed. There would be no 'going back to normal' for anyone. It was likely, too, that there would be casualties. Hymuse hoped to minimize them as much as possible, and he hoped too that the prince and his father might be spared.

  Suddenly, Hymuse found himself feeling profoundly guilty.

  He considered just calling off the whole thing. After all, Gotaaga and Brethiamo were only in it for their own gain, and so too was that awful woman from Takirar. The irony of it all was that Hymuse was playing them, just as he was playing the royal family! Once they'd served their purpose, he would dispose of them without so much as a second thought. Of this, he felt no guilt at all, for they would be no good for Dinavhek in the long-term.

  As for Sir Konrad...

  He was an interesting man. Loyal beyond measure, and so very conflicted. He would do anything at all for his son, but would he truly betray the crown if Hymuse ordered him to? Hymuse had to admire his wit, if nothing else. So far, he'd towed the line, and rather well.

  Just not well enough to convince the prince.

  Hymuse sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day. He would have to have a very long conversation with Sir Konrad about his role in the uprising. He had no desire to depose the knight, but he couldn't risk having his plans unravel because the man couldn't keep up his end of it.

  Chapter 18

  The Knight in Battered Armor

  ∞∞∞

  Aasimah was surprised indeed to find Glanen at her door that day. With the prince and Lady Kharqa gone, she and Itholera had finally found an opportunity to – what did the prince call it? “Unwind?” Like the toys in his mother's workshop, Aasimah had thought when she heard the strange term.

  The prince found it necessary to explain the term to her in the context of the unique toys made by the dwarves of Karilar. Theirs were said to move autonomously, powered by magically enhanced gears – or so it was said. Aasimah wasn't particularly interested in this little anthropology lesson, but she humored the prince nonetheless.

  She and Itholera had been enjoying that time, too, until the knight showed up rather unexpectedly in the afternoon. He wore his old training armor; that wasn't too great of a surprise to Aasimah, since he was supposed to be at the Academy to assist his instructor with the latest recruits.

  Supposed to be.

  Just as they weren't supposed to be relaxing and socializing with each other.

  But he was a prince, not a mere servant. What was he doing here? And now? Aasimah couldn't imagine that his father would let him neglect his responsibilities at the Academy.

  “Greetings!” Glanen boomed.

  “Why are you here?” Aasimah asked.

  Itholera opened her mouth, as if to admonish her for her informality, but she did not seem able to find the words. She simply let it go with a shake of her head. It seemed she was finally starting to get somewhat used to Aasimah's blunt mannerisms.

  “Straight to the point as ever, I see! Why, we could use some help at the Academy, and as I've heard it, you have some experience with healing. Would you mind lending us a hand?”

  Aasimah eyed Itholera. She'd stitched her share of small wounds in her time, but she'd seen Glanen training before, and what qualified as “minor” to him was really “life-threatening” to any other person. Or, at least, any person that actually valued their life.

  “Don't you have healers over at the Academy?”

  “Aasimah – a word, please?” Itholera interrupted. She did not wait for an answer before pulling her off to the side, a good distance away from the knight. “I know you still don't fully understand the world of the nobility, but you have the son of the highest ranking knight in Dinavhek asking for assistance! You cannot refuse him!”

  “I can if I want to,” Aasimah corrected her.

  Itholera sighed. “Honestly, you—”

  “Or,” Aasimah added slyly, “are we not friends, after all?”

  She took advantage of Itholera's stunned silence to think the situation over. She didn't really have any reason to not help Glanen. She didn't much like being cooped up in the old palace, and although she was loathe to admit it, Aasimah found the knight's presence a bit more than just “tolerable.”

  She glanced at him, then back at Itholera. “But I don't want to.”

  Aasimah left Itholera's side, facing Glanen fully.

  “I will go with you.”

  “Splendid! Please do forgive my interruption,” he bade Itholera with a guilty look on his face. He turned back to Aasimah, who was eyeing him with no small amount of suspicion. “Shall we be off, or do you need some time?”

  “No, I'm as ready as I'll ever be.”

  “Good, then, well, let's be off!”

  He led the way out of the palace. Aasimah followed along behind him, almost having to run in order to keep up with his hastened strides. It seemed as if he was trying to distance them as much as possible from Itholera, and perhaps even to avoid detection altogether. He said not a word to her as they fled the palace – that is, until Aasimah reached out and grabbed him by the arm. Her grip wasn't quite as strong as his, but it was surprisingly effective. He turned around, looking at her curiously.

  But not too innocently, she noted. There was an edge to that stare.

  “Where are we really going?” Aasimah asked.

  Glanen glanced from side to side, making sure they weren't being watched – or listened to. He took her wrist in his hand, leading her away as gently as he could. They found a bench not too far away and sat down.

  “We're not going to the Academy,” he admitted, leaning closer to her so as to keep his voice low. He never looked at her, however; his eyes scanned their immediate area, looking for any possible threat. He was tense, more so than Aasimah had ever seen him before. She didn't like this side of him, not one bit.

  “What?”

  “I came to get you for a different purpose.”

  Aasimah frowned at him, hardly believing what she was hearing.

  “You mean you lied to us?” she asked, feeling oddly impressed.

  Glanen's face reddened with shame.

  “I didn't want to, but you must understand, this is a rather delicate subject. If someone were to overhear... Never mind. The point is, I don't know nearly enough about this country as I should. I know I'm being lied to, and you... Well, you
have a particular talent for uncovering that which you are not supposed to, and I find myself in urgent need of your services.”

  Aasimah truly couldn't believe what she was hearing! It was one thing for the prince to approach her in such a manner, but now Glanen? Adsuni had always been a bit shifty of course, but that was just the nature of dealing with royalty – at least, that's what she figured. Glanen, on the other hand, was the proud, noble knight. Always forthright, always dependable, always loyal.

  Only now did Aasimah truly notice the cracks beginning to form.

  Just like his armor.

  Could this be a turning point for her companion? She found the notion interesting.

  “What do you need?”

  “I need you to help me find the boy my father imprisoned. For my own peace of mind, if nothing else.”

  “Are you sure that's a good idea?” she asked, now finding herself reluctant to potentially corrupt Dinavhek's symbol of honor and hope.

  “What do you mean?”

  Aasimah gave him a level stare. “If you go down this road, you're not going to like what you find, I can almost promise you that. You might end up losing faith in your Order, in your superiors, maybe even in your father,” she added.

  “I've already begun to lose faith in all of them, otherwise I would not have reached out to you.”

  Glanen met her stare astonishingly well. Aasimah found it difficult to disagree with him, and in truth, she had no desire to. She wasn't entirely comfortable with her companion's request, or his present demeanor, but she wasn't about to refuse him. She would take any chance she could get to leave the palace and explore more of Dinavhek, if only for a few hours.

  And, she thought, if Glanen was to be the only other person accompanying her, she might even have a chance to escape and find her way back to her people.

  “I'll do it. I'll help you.”