“He’s still capable of poor decisions.”
“Aren’t we all?”
Jewd fixed Kilt with a firm stare, before he spoke very quietly. “But I suspect his next will be his least wise.”
Kilt swallowed. “You’re thinking what I’m thinking. Then I’ve got to go, get as far away from the Valisars as possible.”
“Then we go together.”
“Jewd—”
“We go together, Kilt. Look at the state of you. If Leo comes after you—and he will, we both agree on that—who is going to protect you?”
“Maybe it’s best if I just submit and—”
Jewd had grabbed Kilt by his shirtfront before Kilt could even finish the thought. “No one is eating you, is that clear? No one is going to have you under his control! Leo has de Vis back. De Vis has always seen Leo as king and treated him as such.We can leave the two of them together and go north into Barronel via the mountains. We’ll cross into Cremond perhaps; no one’s going to be looking for you there. Leo will assume you’ll head south in search of Lily. And we’ll get to her, Kilt, but we have to ensure they lose your scent first and you have to heal too. For now we both agree Lily is safe. For now we both agree your safety is paramount.”
Kilt nodded. “Take the money we’ve hidden and give it to the men. Tell them they should scatter. And grab the medicine. We need little else.”
Chapter Three
The man struggled but, fueled by anger, got his words out. “I’m going to kill you for this, de Vis.”
“Yes, well, I’ll look forward to your trying. Gives me the perfect excuse of self-defense to finish you off once and for all,” Gavriel replied disdainfully.
“Be quiet, Loethar!” Elka ordered. “Conserve your strength.”
“Sage advice. I’ll need it to kill your lover and his friend.”
“He’s not my lover and I suspect his friend is no friend of mine after I got in his way,” she said, hefting him into a better position on her back.
“Let me down, for Gar’s sake!” Loethar complained. “I’m not an invalid, simply injured.”
“Do it, Elka,” Gavriel said.
Elka had just about had it with both of them. She lowered Loethar, who held his groans but grimaced in pain.
“Ribs are the worst, aren’t they?” he said, almost amused.
“How’s your neck?” Elka asked.
“I’ll survive. And the burn will be a timely reminder for when I slit my half-brother’s throat.”
“If I give you the chance,” Gavriel said.
Loethar laughed. “Where is your great king, de Vis? Is he too frightened to face me?”
“As a matter of fact you’ll likely see him sooner than you think. Elka, can I leave you with him? I have to meet with Leo.” At her nod he disappeared into the woods without so much as a backward glance.
Elka turned to regard Loethar. “He’s perfectly capable of killing you, you know. I would counsel you to stop the taunting.”
“And spoil my sport?”
“Well, you’ve been warned.” He gave her look like a child, mischief in his eyes, and she couldn’t help asking, “You’re really Valisar?”
He nodded. “Though what good it does me I don’t know.”
“That sounds like regret,” she commented, settling nearby.
“In a way,” he admitted. “But I don’t really know in what respect. I don’t regret the empire. I think unifying the realms has been positive for all in the Set; I think the mix of cultures, though difficult at first, has resulted in prosperity. In the wider population people seem relatively content. So I suppose it boils down to personal regret.”
“All the death perhaps?”
“Probably. Many died who didn’t have to.”
“None of them Valisar, of course.”
“Other than the queen. I would have preferred that she had lived. I would have given her a good life wherever she chose to live out her days. But the heirs had to die. I failed there,” he admitted with a humorless grin. “Leo has been the most slippery of enemies.”
“He’s had a lot of support from the right people, it appears.”
Loethar nodded. “How true. The would-be-king in exile is surrounded by loyalty, while I, as ruler, am surrounded by treachery. Freath, my close aide, someone I considered a friend even though he was my servant, betrayed me all along.” He gave a low, savage laugh. “His loyalties were always with the Valisars. I admire his extraordinary courage to live in the lion’s den on their behalf. Leonel is fortunate.”
“I doubt he sees it that way. His family is dead, his friends are missing, his throne has been usurped.”
“You should have let him kill me.”
“I believe in justice, not revenge.”
“Then you are in the minority, Elka, though I respect that more than you can imagine.”
“Fairness and justice are what make a people into a society. They’re the cornerstone of a strong civilization.”
“Indeed. But fairness and justice rarely go hand in hand. For instance, Leo feels it is fair that he should be king and yet it is not just, for I am the true heir. Kilt Faris considers it fair to do everything he can to elude me and yet his very birthright is to be my aegis. And isn’t it just that I exercise that right? You see? Fairness and justice are rarely comfortable bed companions.”
She smiled. “I think you are the slippery Valisar, Loethar.”
Gavriel didn’t have to wait too long; Leo came striding through the forest soon enough, walking like a man comfortable in his surrounds. Gavriel marveled at the figure approaching. He’d left Leo as little more than a youth, but now he walked tall and strong, with a proud chin. His hair had darkened but he still resembled his beautiful mother, while having the more powerful build of his father. Gavriel felt a spike of pride accompany the rush of relief that Leo had survived.
He stepped out from his hiding place suddenly, deliberately, but Leo didn’t break stride, not at all unnerved, and Gavriel was reminded that his old friend had been living as an outlaw for more than a decade. Leo would know forest life better than most.
Leo grabbed Gavriel into a bear-hug, slapping him on the back. “I can’t tell you how good it feels to see you alive,” he remarked, “although my fist twitches to punch you for leaving as you did.”
Gavriel grinned. “I should punch myself.”
“Where is he?”
“Safe with Elka.”
“Tied up?”
“No need. He’s going nowhere with her around.”
“I don’t feel I need to apologize regarding Elka, Gav; she should never have challenged me. But at the same time any friend of yours is certainly someone I feel obliged to respect.”
“I’m sure she hasn’t given it another thought.” Leo looked as though he wanted to say more but Gavriel was glad when the young king chose to hold his tongue. That was a relief; he didn’t want to have to defend Elka against the king . . . although he would, of course. “As much as I want to sit down and learn about your life, time is our enemy. How’s Faris?”
“Brighter. The sickening has passed but, like Loethar, he’s quite beaten up.”
“Leo, we both have good reason to hate Loethar. That grudge has to be kept separate from how we feel about his stealing the Valisar throne.” Leo stared at him, but said nothing, so Gavriel pressed on. “My point is I hate him too. It wouldn’t take much for my heart to get in the way of my head and order my hand to take up my sword and run him through.”
“So what’s stopping you?”
“My instinct is stopping me.”
“Instinct, or Elka?”
Gavriel didn’t rise to the bait. He fixed Leo with a hard stare, glad that he was still taller. “Elka has no loyalty to either you or Loethar.”
“Is that so?”
“Why would it be otherwise? She owes neither of you anything. Her loyalty is to me. I’m sure I don’t deserve it most of the time but that’s how it is and her commitment to me means
that she understands the need to protect you at all costs.”
“Protect me? Why didn’t she let me kill my enemy, then?”
“Because murdering him in that manner wouldn’t have solved anything. Her actions have given you the opportunity to consider your position and make an informed decision. If killing him is your decision, you’ll make it in a mood of calm, not in a blood rage. Frankly, I think you would have regretted it if you had struck him dead then. This way you get a chance to question him.”
“That’s what Kilt thinks.”
“Then listen to him. We’re all on your side, Leo. Come, we can speak alone later but first talk to him, ask him your questions.”
Reluctantly, Leo followed. They found Loethar talking quietly with Elka as though they were old friends. Gavriel bristled at their familiarity but disguised it with his introduction.
“Here we are, Leo, the great and now very humbled and hurt man who calls himself emperor simply by sitting a false throne.”
Loethar looked up and laughed. “You amuse me, de Vis. Greetings, nephew; I was just telling Elka here how fortunate you are to have such loyalty still burning so fiercely for you.”
“From what I hear you can’t claim the same,” Leo said, regarding him as though tasting something bad.
“You are right. I am surrounded by treachery at every turn. Even my newborn daughter turned away from her father and died on me.”
“A girl?” Leo exclaimed.
Loethar gave him a humorless grin. “Yes, and like all Valisar daughters she barely survived her birth.”
“Not all,” Leo said. He grinned humorlessly at Loethar’s puzzled expression and squatted next to the barbarian. “You clearly haven’t spent much time around the family or you’d know we’re famed for our secrets.”
“What are you talking about?” Loethar asked.
“What do you know about the Valisar Legacy?” Leo responded.
Loethar tried to shrug and grimaced in pain. “I’ve learned plenty over the anni with the family library finally at my disposal,” he said. Gavriel noticed how he couldn’t hide his feelings; his expression clearly betrayed the anger he was feeling. “I know that there is the legacy of the aegis magic and the near enough immortal protection it offers. I know about the so-called Enchantment that says that the females born of the line possess the greatest of all powers . . . to coerce at will.”
“Why is that so different from what some Vested can do?” Gavriel asked.
Leo turned to him. “The magic of the Vested can be impressive, but even so, any sort of coercement of theirs is of a low form and can probably only be sustained for short periods. The magic of the Valisars is said to be much more powerful, or so my father and grandfather told me.”
“And I’m sure you are looking to gain some of that power for yourself,” Loethar said and Gavriel noticed a look pass between uncle and nephew that spoke of a respect for each other’s cunning. “Anyway,” Loethar continued, “my heir is dead, my mother has been murdered, my wife has been banished, my brother turned traitor, my closest friend has been killed. All in all, life is hardly an orchard.”
“Aludane save us! And I thought your life was complicated,” Elka remarked, glancing at Gavriel.
He smirked at her as she turned back to Loethar. “I’m sorry to hear of your losses. No one should lose a mother and a daughter in such a short time.”
“I’m not sorry,” Leo said coldly. “The more of his kin that is gone, the better. Besides, I’m sure he and his ill-bred horde killed whole families when they came rampaging into the Set.”
“You are my kin, Leo,” Loethar said, with an equally wintry tone. “And you’re right. I deserve no pity from anyone here.”
“Nor will you get it,” Gavriel remarked.
Loethar shrugged, clearly ignoring the pain it prompted this time.
Elka looked from Loethar to Gavriel. “Why don’t you just kill him and be done?” she said, so sarcastically that Gavriel flinched inside. “I hardly recognize you when you act this way.”
“We’re here to talk,” Gavriel said to Loethar, covering his dismay at Elka’s attack. “Why did you come north?”
Loethar sighed. “It’s complicated. In short, the death of my child and my belief that my wife murdered my mother conspired to make me want to get away from the castle. In order to do so I brought our mother’s ashes to my half-brother, whom I suspected was considering rising up against me. Now I know that those suspicions were right.”
“So your trip to the north was all about delivering your mother’s ashes to Stracker?” Gavriel asked.
“No, that was my excuse I gave myself. My real reason for heading north was to find out who killed Freath and why,” Loethar explained.
“I can put you out of your misery on that question,” Leo said.
Gavriel looked at him with surprise. “You know?”
“Yes, I know. I killed him.”
“You?” Loethar hissed. “But he was working for you!”
“He killed my mother,” Leo said. “I swore a blood oath that I would kill him, so I did, once he had told us everything he knew.”
Loethar let out a growl of frustration. “Freath was a traitor in my life for ten anni. All of those clever conversations, steering me onto a particular path while he went down the other.” He shook his head. Then he smiled. “And still I admire him. And still I like him.” He smirked. “I had convinced myself he was the most honest person in my life even when he was lying every minute. Incredible.”
“I can’t believe it,” Gavriel said. “He protected us?”
Leo nodded. “My father asked him to pretend to be a turncoat should the time arrive. My mother asked him to help her to commit suicide, make it look as though he’d thrown her from the window in order to protect his cover while releasing her from her imprisonment and grief. Her death at his hands meant the Valisars could still have a loyalist in the enemy midst.” Again he threw a bitter glance Loethar’s way. “But being involved in my mother’s death couldn’t be forgiven. I would have killed him anyway for that alone.”
“Demonstrating your immaturity and lack of capacity to rule wisely,” Loethar accused, bitterness combining with a cold, controlled fury in his soft voice. “I can’t begin to tell you what a tightrope Freath must have walked each day of his life on your behalf. He ingratiated himself so deeply into my life that I actually mourned him more than my own mother, my own child! And look how you rewarded him.” He choked back what sounded like a sigh of deep regret.
“I wish that were the truth,” Leo replied, equally cold. “It’s my impression that Freath admired you more than you can know. He was torn, I think. His loyalties were to my father and myself, also to Piven. But he had an abiding respect for you . . . more’s the pity.”
“I thank you for sharing that,” Loethar said quietly.
Gavriel’s head was in turmoil. Freath, never a traitor! “Well, now you have the answer you came looking for. I think we should just throw you back at your dog of a brother. You can kill each other.”
Loethar smirked. “If you really thought that, you wouldn’t have interfered in the forest.”
“It wasn’t my idea, believe me,” Gavriel growled.
Gone was the sorrow in Loethar’s eyes. Suddenly he was all hardness and ruthless control again. “Then let’s get this done, shall we? My sympathies are with Elka. Like her, I tire of your empty threats. If you mean to kill me, do it now and be done with it. Leo, here’s your chance to be the brave Valisar. Run through the pretender—if you truly believe I am just that.”
Gavriel saw Leo stiffen and knew he had to keep his own anger in check as an example to the young king. “Leo, a word,” he said, gritting his teeth. Mercifully, Leo stood, turning his back on Loethar. Gavriel glanced at Elka. “Shut him up,” he said, loading his voice with disdain. Then he followed Leo to a quiet spot far from where they could be seen, let alone heard.
“Don’t say it,” Leo warned.
; “As your friend, as your Legate, my king, I must say it.”
Leo scowled but remained quiet.
“It would be a mistake to kill him. This wedge now driven between him and Stracker is playing precisely into your favor.”
“How so?”
“My father taught us that there is always more than one way to regard a situation, more than one way to treat an enemy. Loethar is our prisoner. We might be able to make use of him. Let’s at least consider it. Think on it. Killing him solves nothing. Using him might give us options.”
Leo nodded, considering the advice. He paced around, looking up into an overcast sky, and Gavriel was again struck that such a young man had such a weight of responsibility on his shoulders.
“Gavriel, I know you haven’t been around the region for a decade. Me too, I’ve lived on the fringe of life. But I don’t think either of us will ever forget his cunning or just how wily he is.”
“I accept that,” Gavriel replied, frowning. “What’s your point?”
“My point is that he will find a way to turn on me. If I give him so much as a finger width of movement, he’ll make it work for him. He is far cleverer than most give him credit for.”
“It seems Freath had his measure,” Gavriel murmured. “Damn it, Leo, was it necessary to kill him?”
“Freath. I will not be allowed to forget that decision by anyone, will I?” Gavriel shrugged and Leo shook his head. “You are not the first to criticize. Kilt has never forgiven me my rash fury of that day. But I defy you to have faced Freath in the same ignorant situation.”
Gavriel glared angrily at the king. “Leo, I’ve had to save the life of the man who brutally slaughtered my defenseless father before me. Do you forget how my father died? His head hacked from top to shoulder, his horse dragging him behind it while Loethar howled his glee? I’ve had to keep that monster company, keep him protected. I did it for you alone. Don’t talk to me about losing control.”
Leo had the grace to look admonished. “Forgive me. I haven’t forgotten what you’ve been through on my behalf. But I am perhaps at the mercy of the brutal images of my boyhood. I still have nightmares of my baby brother dragging around the gore from our freshly decapitated father as my mother watched on in shocked horror.”
King’s Wrath Page 3