Dinavhek- The Fall

by Tal'urra Steelfang

  Chapter 21

  A Knight's Honor

  ∞∞∞

  Glanen watched his friend pace back and forth, thinking he might just wear down the stone path beneath his boots. They were in the garden now, having returned to the palace a mere hour ago with Aasimah and a handful of guards. Glanen wasn't surprised to find that they were followed and he was even less surprised when Aasimah was taken into custody.

  What did surprise them was that his father was among them. How had he known?

  Adsuni tripped over a rock in the path. He swore softly and kicked it away before shaking his foot and continuing on. Unsurprisingly, his friend was a nervous wreck after the day's events. Glanen couldn't rightly blame him, either – he finally had at least some answers to his more pressing questions, only to learn that a person he had come to trust just happened to be one of his sworn enemies! It was an utterly absurd situation.

  “We knew she was hiding something,” Glanen finally said, breaking his silence. “You and I... we both knew it, deep down. Someone of her background...”

  “Don't be daft!” Adsuni snapped, causing Glanen to jump a little in his spot on the stone bench. “Of course she was hiding something. We all have our secrets, Glanen. But this? This isn't the same! Think about it – all of the attacks, the raids... they all started around the same time – the same time that I brought her here!”

  “We don't know that she was connected to any of those,” Glanen put in. “My prince, you were not there with us when we went to Dre'shii. I knew that look in her eyes when she ended that brigand's life. That was her first kill. She is no hardened criminal, but a vulnerable woman brought to your palace as a helpless refugee. You should calm yourself, we don't know everything yet.”

  Adsuni's head jerked in Glanen's direction. “Calm? Calm? You expect me to be calm about this? How? After everything – you expect me to just act like nothing is wrong? You expect me to just forget what's happened?”

  Glanen instantly regretted speaking. His friend was in a terrible state of mind, and anything Glanen might say could push him over the edge. He could understand his friend's feelings of betrayal, and if he had never met Aasimah, he would be firmly on the prince's side.

  But something just wasn't right about her reaction – she chose to flee, after all. If she'd known what she was all along, if she had come to Dinavhek for the sake of revenge, why did the prince still live? Why did Glanen, the easiest obstacle for her to remove, still live?

  For reasons Glanen did not yet understand, he felt as though he could relate to Aasimah, and he was sure it wasn't their shared experience of taking a life. Perhaps it was because Glanen, too, knew what it was like to be an outsider in a strange land.

  He and his father originally were from Toluduna, and moved into Dinavhek when Glanen was a small boy. He hardly remembered a single minute of living in his hometown. As far as he was concerned, Dinavhek was his true home. The commonfolk might look at him a bit strangely, and he found himself always being treated a bit differently by the Knighthood, but Dinavhek was where he was raised, and King Zaeem accepted him, and his father, into his family.

  “Nothing has changed, my friend. Nothing that matters. She is still the same person you knew yesterday. All that has changed is your knowledge of her past. She is still the same woman that came, alone, to fight beside me in Dre'shii. The same woman that helped us rebuild their village after the raid.”

  Adsuni closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, as though Glanen had uttered the most idiotic words the prince ever heard.

  “You just don't understand, Glanen. Everything has changed. Her ancestors betrayed my family, and tried to destroy Dinavhek!”

  “And your ancestors drove her kind near to extinction,” Glanen retorted. “Ancestors, my prince! People that died long before any of us were born! How can you hold the actions of distant relatives against her? Do you feel any personal responsibility for every action your own might have taken part in?”

  The prince had no response to that. How could he? What could he say? Nothing. He continued pacing for a moment, before giving Glanen his next order: “Leave.”

  Glanen felt as though he'd been punched in his stomach. “My prince, Adsuni—”

  “—You don't get to call me that. Not anymore. I want to be alone right now.”

  Though he removed himself from his seat, Glanen hesitated. “What will happen to Aasimah?”

  “I don't know.”

  It seemed like it was mere seconds ago that Adsuni was swearing to Glanen that he trusted and valued Aasimah, but no, the memory playing out in the knight's mind came from that ride back from Dre'shii He thought of the laughs they shared, of the bond that they'd formed. The selflessness, the generosity of his friends' spirits... was that all a lie, too?

  He looked at his friend, a mere shadow of the man he used to be. Glanen realized he couldn't truly recognize this person anymore. He saw only a stranger, twisted by pain and confusion.

  “Are you at least going to see her, allow her to explain herself before you throw her life away?”

  Adsuni stared at him, his expression unreadable. “No. Are you planning to?”

  “I—I am thinking about it.”

  “And you want my blessing, is that it? My permission to stab me in the back? My forgiveness, perhaps?”

  The remainder of Glanen's patience snapped.

  “For someone who seems to think himself so much smarter than his friends, you have a very limited understanding of others.”

  Adsuni's eyes flared dangerously. “What do you mean by that?” he demanded hotly.

  “I mean exactly what I said! How can you be so selfish right now? So heartless? This isn't about you anymore, this is about Aasimah – our friend! She was just as shocked as you were, and now she is locked in a cell somewhere, alone, and afraid.”

  “My ancestors—”

  “—Damn your ancestors!”

  The prince's eyes widened, his jaw dropped. He was truly stunned into silence. Glanen, too, couldn't believe what he'd just said, but there was no taking it back now.

  “Damn hers, as well, if the story of their betrayal is to be believed! The past is the past. She has done nothing to deserve this.”

  “Nothing that we are aware of. Or is that the point?” Adsuni asked.

  “Unbelievable! With all these real enemies and threats, you choose to fabricate one. If you really think she is scheming against you, then you are a fool.”

  Glanen did not wait for Adsuni to respond. He left, then and there. If Adsuni wanted to be alone, then the knight was happy to oblige. Glanen knew that he went too far with the prince; were Adsuni not his friend, he would probably be swinging by the morning.

  But Glanen still had faith in Adsuni, he still believed better of the prince, and until the young man came to his senses, it was all Glanen could do to continue upholding his own values.

  Even if it meant committing treason.

  Glanen found himself being pleasantly surprised by how easily found the jail turned out to be. Most people in his life thought him to be rather slow, but the knight could be pretty sharp when he needed to be.

  He was just wasn't as interested in books as Adsuni was, and he usually needed a bit more time to solve a problem. But when he did, his solutions tended to work out remarkably well. He just hoped he could solve this one without any bloodshed.

  It was well after midnight now. Prying the whereabouts of the jail took some doing, but there were definitely some commonfolk around that had spent at least one night in there before.

  Glanen wasn't even aware how common it was for these poor people to be taken into custody for such petty offenses as begging or simply being “unclean.” He would have to have a very uncomfortable discussion with his superiors over the state of things. The guards clearly had their priorities mixed up, if they were imprisoning starving peasants simply for being a bit smelly or mildly annoying.

  He'd definitely catch some fire for visiting the
jail without permission, but in his own defense, he wasn't expressly forbidden from doing so. Besides, as a Knight of Dinavhek, Glanen felt some responsibility for the well-being of the commonfolk. He had to be sure that the conditions in the prison were held up to standard. He would neglect to mention, later on, that his main motive for visiting was to speak with a certain prisoner. What the Knighthood didn't know, in this case, wouldn't kill them.

  Hopefully.

  Deep down, Glanen knew that he could be wrong about Aasimah, but he wasn't willing to dismiss the possibility that he was also right. What kind of man would he be if he did not stand by his friends – or any potentially innocent person, for that matter?

  He had to take another of the back streets and circle around to avoid drawing unwanted attention to himself. Although he had dressed modestly, the knight, for perhaps the first time in his life, didn't want to take any chances with being recognized. Rats scurried all around him in the dark alleys, the stench of fresh urine assaulted his senses, causing him to gag.

  So these were the living conditions of Dinavhek's homeless? Glanen, having been sheltered for most of his life and raised in only the wealthiest parts of the city, felt a new-found sympathy for the common people. At least servants had roofs over their heads and food to eat. He thought back to his own family's servants, the conditions they lived in, and then to the work required of them to maintain those conditions.

  Obedience. Servility. Glanen was no stranger to such concepts. The Knighthood demanded absolute fealty, loyalty bordering on fanatical. Or maybe it was just Glanen. The knight served Dinavhek and fought to preserve everything the land held dear selflessly with little to no regard for his own safety or well-being. He really didn't mind it. He'd always felt better when he was helping someone else and was known for taking every task seriously.

  And so it was with this one.

  Glanen edged closer to the back of the jail, praying the door would be open. According to the peasants he spoke with earlier, the guards were well known for their laziness. He would have to bring that up to the Knighthood, too. What if they actually did have some hardened criminals in there?

  Thank the Goddess, the knight thought, breathing a sigh of relief as the door gave way at a simple push. Now, to find the cell.

  The jail was surprisingly empty, Glanen noted as he glanced around. There were a few faces he recognized out of the half-dozen inhabitants. Two of them were beggars he had seen weeks ago on the streets during one of Dinavhek's carnivals. Why were they here? They were filthy, reeking of waste, but to his knowledge, not dangerous. Annoying, sure. Another row passed, a small, dirty child missing an eye and a few teeth. What had he done wrong? Pick pocketing, probably. Two rows passed, an elderly couple. Why? And finally, three rows, a small man huddled in rags.

  Wait...those weren't rags. And that wasn't a small man.

  “Aasimah?” Glanen breathed, eyes widening. Judging by the smell, her cell hadn't been cleaned in a very long time. Maybe it had been a horse stall, once upon a time. Come to think of it, the structure did eerily resemble a stable. The knight stared, gaping, at the deplorable state his friend was living in. His blood boiled as he noted the bruises and scratches covering every visible part of her in sight, primarily her face and hands. Her hair was grimy and matted, her bottom lip split, eyes staring blankly at the sooty floor. How could the knights have let this happen?

  “Aasimah!” the knight said again, a bit louder this time, trying to catch her attention. No response. Panic seized him. He braced his hands on the bars, rattling them. He wasn't strong enough to break the door down, and certainly he wasn't about to try. But he had to do something.

  “Ey, keep it down over there!” one of the other prisoners called, the elderly man. The knight ignored him.

  Aasimah's eyes blinked. Glanen, hopeful, leaned as close as he could, face pressing uncomfortably against the cold, dusty bars. Shivering, she lifted her head slightly, her timid gaze finally settling on him. Her matted hair fell about her shoulders.

  It took her a few moments to truly recognize him and, when she did, he noticed with relief that her eyes warmed considerably. If Glanen had had any doubts at all about her status as a traitor to the kingdom, they had flown right out of his mind at that look. He was standing face to face with Aasimah, his friend. Not the monster she was accused of being.

  Glanen managed a feeble smile, wanting only to comfort her.

  “Glanen?”

  The knight's heart sank as he heard that broken, defeated voice. He reached his hand as far as he could out to her, taking a weak hold of her fingers as she stretched them out. She pressed her hand into his, staring into his eyes.

  “Is he here?”

  She was asking about the prince, he knew. He could almost feel his heart shatter into a thousand pieces when Aasimah pressed her face against the bars, looking around for Adsuni.

  Glanen shook his head.

  “He...he's trying to get this sorted out,” the knight lied, ashamed. Those small fingers clasped in his hand twitched slightly. He gave her fingers a small, gentle squeeze. “Aasimah...I'm...I'm sorry. I didn't know. I swear, I didn't...”

  How could he even begin to apologize? How could he find the words? When she didn't respond, Glanen grew bolder.

  “I'll get you out of here.”

  “How?”

  “You're innocent. I'll find a way to prove it. They have to give you a trial, the Code demands it.” Glanen wasn't entirely sure of that last part. Her ancestors hadn't had a trial before they were all exterminated, had they? He knew she was thinking the same thing. Maybe, after all these years... But upon seeing the conditions of the prisoners, he had his own doubts about the Code. Maybe the Knighthood doesn't know about this, he told himself. I must inform them of this as soon as I return.

  “Please forgive me, lady, but I must be on my way.” He hated to leave her there, but Glanen knew he had no choice. He released her fingers slowly and watched with a heavy heart as Aasimah returned to her spot at the back of the cell, curling up as she had before.

  The knight set off, determined to put an end to this. Before he left, he reached into one of his pockets, producing a small pouch of dried fruit and nuts he'd usually kept as a light snack to eat between training hours. As he strode by the cell holding the emaciated boy, he discreetly passed the object through the bars and watched out of the corner of his eye as the youngster snatched it up, his single big, brown eye watering with gratitude.

  *​*​*

  Aasimah did not feel any more hopeful as she watched Glanen leave. She appreciated his loyalty, his kindness, and his sense of honor, but she was not the most faithful of people. Good intentions were never enough, and in the face of such treachery, what could the knight even do? Everyone had lied to him. His father, his precious Knighthood... and with the prince standing firmly against him, Glanen was alone. Just as she was.

  Well, she didn't know for certain that the prince wasn't on their side, but she had her suspicions. Glanen was a poor liar, and she still remembered Adsuni's reaction when he learned the truth of her nature. She would never forget the sheer revulsion in his eyes.

  Supposedly, the beast-folk were gifted with immense strength. Perhaps that strength came only when they changed into their inhuman forms? But she resisted when she felt herself beginning to shift. She could not control it, and even if she could, doing so would practically guarantee her death. Her only hope of survival hinged on her ability to pass for a human. If the prince would only visit her, maybe he would have second thoughts... No, that was a fool's hope.

  “Hey, lady,” called a shy, almost squeaky little voice, “who was that?”

  It was the boy from the other cell, looking curiously at her through his one good eye as he nibbled on a piece of hard fruit. Her bloodied mouth twisted into a smile when she recognized the discarded pouch next to him. So Glanen managed to slip the little starving boy some food, eh? She wasn't surprised; the man had a big, soft heart.

  Th
e boy gave her a sheepish little grin in return. He was missing a tooth, and an eye, but there was a certain charm about him.

  “He's one of the knights,” she answered hoarsely.

  “Really? But he was dressed like one of us poor folk.”

  “He was wearing a disguise. Trying to avoid being noticed, I think.”

  The boy scratched behind one of his ears, his matted hair flicking back and forth messily. “Why would one of them come here, just to talk to you?”

  It was an honest, innocent question, even if it did sound a bit rude. Aasimah snorted, thinking over his choice of words. She instantly regretted it once the pain hit. She grunted a little and stayed silent for a moment, letting the small wave of pain wash over her. “I know him,” she finally said.

  The child's head cocked to the side, and he looked at her like a confused dog. He waited patiently for her to say more, but she did not elaborate.

  She backed away into the corner again, curling up as tight as she could for warmth. She could hear the boy crunching away again. The sound annoyed her, greatly, but she would put up with it. That child was so thin...

  Aasimah closed her eyes. It took a while, but eventually, the exhaustion overwhelmed her, and she dozed off.

  Now, Glanen found himself being faced with an even greater challenge; how was he going to save Aasimah? And that little boy, along with the other inhabitants? He realized, suddenly, that his father must have known about all of this. He was the one to personally give the order to take the boy into custody, if Adsuni was to be believed.

  No, Glanen corrected himself, the prince.

  The prince himself had retracted his request for Glanen to refer to him by name. The prince denied their friendship.

  How long had it been? How many years?

  They were around the same age. Glanen was only a year older than the prince. They were both so small when they met...

  Twenty years, then. Over twenty years of friendship, thrown away. The prince might not know it in the moment, but Glanen would remain loyal to Dinavhek for the rest of his life. Hurt as he was, Glanen was still a knight. Broken as it was, their family was still his family, and it would remain so even if they never spoke to each other again.