by Sam Ferguson
“You can’t be thinking of stopping them ourselves,” Braun commented. “That would be suicide. Besides, the whole point to going with Lester was to avoid being discovered by the people who want to cash in on our heads.”
“Return to your homes!” the guard commanded again.
A man jumped up onto a nearby wagon and pointed to the guards. “They would rather force us into a curfew than bring the murderer to justice! The king is no longer in charge of the throne, he is Lepkin’s puppet, afraid of the Keeper and his sword!”
“I can’t let them fight each other over me,” Erik said.
“It isn’t about you,” Braun said. You know this as much as I do.”
Erik scanned the crowd with his power, searching the men and looking into their hearts. “There are only a few that would fight me,” Erik said. “The rest, though they are angry with the king, will not fight me if I reveal myself.”
“And then what?” Braun asked. “We still have to make it to the gate.”
Erik nodded. “If I can disperse the crowd, perhaps the guards can dissuade the rest and escort us to the gate.”
“What if the guard would rather cash in on your head?” Braun pointed out. “These are men in the regular guard, not the king’s personal guard. Their loyalty may not be as pure as you would hope.”
Erik nodded and looked to the guards, quickly scanning them as well. “You are right,” Erik said. There are two who would take the chance to attack.”
“Let’s just slip into the alley and be gone.”
A large, middle-aged man emerged from the crowd holding a rolling pin in one hand and a fire poker in the other. “You go back to your homes!” he shouted at the guards. “You can’t protect us, so we will protect ourselves.”
The guards drew their swords and the captain leveled his blade at the man. “I will not ask again,” the captain promised.
“No,” Erik said. “I can’t let this happen without trying to stop it.” He stepped forward and drew back the hood of his cloak and pulled his sword from the scabbard. He let his power surge through him and the blade reacted instantly with hot flames that roared into life. “I am here,” Erik shouted as loud as he could. “I am no murderer. The senate broke the law and would have put an innocent man to death in order to sate their own lust for power.” Erik pointed his flaming sword at the man with the rolling pin. “The king is in control of this kingdom, and you would do well to mind your tongue.”
The man glanced nervously from the mounted guards to Erik. “Then he stabbed his fire poker into the ground in front of him. “You would draw sword against common citizens?” the man asked. The previous confidence with which he had berated the guards was now shaky, and unsure.
Erik stepped forward, glancing around him and watching the men back away from him. “Return to your homes, and trouble the streets no more with your anger.” He scanned the crowd with his power, identifying a few men that intended to attack him. “I hold my sword out only in the hopes of saving you from disaster. I will strike none who do not attack me first.”
“Why should we listen to him?” the man atop the wagon shouted. “He is the one who killed the senators!”
Erik flourished his sword before him, letting the flames crackle and roar before he extinguished the flames and returned the sword to the scabbard. “I attacked only those who sought to take an innocent man’s life.” He stepped forward, hands out in front of him. “Please, if you want peace, then return to your homes.” He looked to the man with the rolling pin and stared into the man’s eyes before continuing. “The guards are only trying to maintain the peace.”
“Because you threw the city into chaos!” the man on the wagon shouted.
“Let’s go,” the man with the rolling pin said finally. “Let the nobles figure it out.” He then turned and pushed his way through the crowd, leaving his fire poker in the dirt. Several others turned and followed him.
“Cowards!” the man on the wagon shouted. “You have the chance to bring the murderer to justice!”
Erik folded his arms and shouted over the man. “Is it justice you seek, or is it blood money offered by those who truly seek to undermine the law?”
The man bristled and his hand slid down to an axe hanging from his belt.
“If you want to cash in on my head, then come and try to take it from my shoulders,” Erik challenged. “But I promise you will not succeed.”
The captain of the guard pranced his horse toward the man on the wagon. “Choose now!” he commanded. “You may rest in your bed tonight, or in the dirt.”
The man blanched and jumped down from the wagon to disappear into the receding crowd. A few of the others that Erik had identified as potential enemies lingered while the crowd quickly dispersed, but as the numbers around them dwindled, so did their courage and they all eventually left.
When only the guards remained Erik walked up to the two guards that wished him ill and looked them both in the eye. The captain of the guard trotted his horse up next to Erik to greet him, but Erik held a hand up and addressed the two.
“What say you?” Erik asked. “Is a bit of coin worth the blood of your own countrymen?” The captain glanced from Erik to the two guards and they nervously looked to each other before finally shaking their heads.
“We live only to serve our king,” one of them said. The other nodded, albeit unconvincingly as he watched Erik with green, hungry eyes.
“Is something wrong, Master Lepkin?” the captain asked.
“I would not trust these two, if I were you,” Erik replied bluntly.
“What have we done?” the guard with the hungry eyes asked.
“I will tell you exactly what you have done,” Braun interrupted as he stepped up next to Erik. He pointed at the guard with the hungry eyes. “When I first came into town, you tried to buy my loyalty. You said you were forming a brotherhood that would ensure the proper heir would take control of the throne upon the king’s demise.”
“Preposterous!” the man shouted. “I have never seen you before in my life!”
“Desmon, we both know that isn’t true,” Braun said.
“Captain, he is making this up!” Desmon said.
“Then how does he know your name?” the captain asked sternly.
Braun then pointed to the other guard. “And what was your name?” he asked. “You were there too, playing cards.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” the man said.
“Then you wouldn’t remember me slapping the back of your head, would you?” Braun said coldly. The man clenched his jaw and his hand almost went toward a dagger at his belt. Braun smiled wryly. “Thought so,” he said.
“Is this true?” the captain demanded.
“I have never known Braun to lie,” Erik said.
Braun snapped his fingers and pointed to the other guard. “Miles,” he said emphatically. “Desmon said your name was Miles!”
The captain gestured to his men and they instantly fanned out around the pair of guards. “Let’s go,” the captain said.
“They have no proof!” Desmon protested.
“Master Lepkin’s word is good enough for me,” the captain said grimly. “Even if it wasn’t, the fact that this man knows both of you is also quite intriguing.”
“There were others present,” Braun said. “One they called Sweets, and another named Craver. Desmon here was sent to bribe me by another guard at the south gate named Jep.”
The captain nodded and smiled to Erik. “Master Lepkin, you have done us a great service. You have prevented bloodshed, and helped us sniff out the rotten apples. You have my thanks.”
“You can’t do this!” Miles shouted. He pulled his dagger and lashed out at the captain, but the captain was quick to dodge. Then he followed in with a deft slice to Miles’ shoulder, forcing the man’s hand to jerk open and drop the dagger.
“Take them in!” the captain bellowed.
The other guards swarmed over Desmon and Miles f
aster than the other two could blink and stripped them of their swords before binding their hands behind their backs. Then the group of guards rode off. The captain remained behind just long enough to thank Erik again.
“The west gate has good men,” the captain said. “If anyone gives you trouble, ask for Berven, he is my cousin, and as honest as they come.”
Erik nodded. “Thank you,” he said.
“Thank you,” the captain said with a quick salute. Then he spurred his horse into a trot and followed after his men.
“That went a lot better than I thought it would,” Braun commented.
“When did you recognize the two guards?” Erik asked.
“About the time you went to speak with them, but I wasn’t going to say anything until I knew what you were going to do.”
Erik nodded and looked past Braun to the horsemen, watching them speed down the road. “I would not want to be those two,” Erik commented.
“We should move,” Braun said.
The two of them passed though the last couple of city blocks before they arrived at the gate. By that time they had both drawn their hoods back over their faces, though it probably didn’t do any good by that point. A throng of people pressed the guards at the gate, forced into a bottleneck as a pair of city guards consulted with large books and lists before letting anyone pass through the gate and leave the city.
Luckily, Berven was one of the men with the lists and he let Erik and Braun through without much more than a cursory glance at Erik’s face and a hasty note scribbled into the book. Then the two went to the stables and asked the stable boy where Lester’s horse was. The boy took some convincing, but after a few minutes of negotiating they were able to procure both Lester’s horse, and an additional mount so they could be on their way.
*****
Erik dropped his saddle bag onto the ground and slid his back down the chunky bark of the large pine tree behind him as he descended to sit next to his bag. He looked up to see Braun toss some deadwood into the center of the dirt clearing between the trees. The limbs and sticks bounced and kicked up a bit of dust.
“I’ll get some rocks,” Braun said.
Erik nodded and watched him disappear through the brush. He thought about getting up to help, but his legs wouldn’t move. His right hand reflexively coursed over the stitched wounds in his shoulder and thigh before he finally crossed his arms and tilted his head back against the tree. Al had done a good job of dressing Erik’s wounds after they fought with the Blacktongues in Buktah, but they still ached and cramped from time to time. The dimming sunlight fought through the trees of the forest with its last rays of the day as a cool breeze whispered through the bushes to his right. His eyes were almost closed when a snapping twig brought him back to his senses. He saw Braun cradling a few hefty rocks in his arms. He unceremoniously dropped them onto the dirt a few feet from Erik.
“Think you can put these into a circle while I gather some more wood?” Braun asked.
Erik noted the tone was not the usual commanding voice that Braun had used with him before, but more of a pleading, entreating tone. “I can do that,” Erik replied with a nod. He struggled against the burning in his thigh to get to his feet and walk over to the rocks. Each of them was easily the size of his head. He clicked and clacked the uneven surfaces together as he tried to fit them in like a large puzzle. He had barely slid that last rock into place when Braun returned with an armload of dead branches.
“I’ll make a fire,” Braun said.
“Do you think anyone will notice?” Erik asked.
Braun shrugged. “We are deep in the forest, so the light won’t carry as far as if we were camping out on the plain. Either way, I expect it will get cold tonight and we didn’t leave ourselves enough time to build a proper shelter.”
Erik nodded. “I suppose some hot food would be good as well.”
“It won’t be anything fancy,” Braun apologized as he went back to his saddle for the large pot and a waterskin. “I can put some beans in the pot to boil, and we have some dried meat and bread.”
“That is enough,” Erik said. “I am not overly hungry anyway.”
Braun prepared the beans and then went to work building the fire. When he had set the pot in the flames he went over and knelt beside Erik. “I owe you an apology, but I have been unable to find the words.”
Erik frowned and then looked over to see Braun staring into the flames, refusing to return Erik’s gaze. He wanted to comfort Braun, but he didn’t know what to say. So he turned and looked into the fire also, watching the wood crack and pop as the heat consumed it.
“I left him in the alley,” Braun said after a few moments. “I thought he was safe. I had checked the alley before I left, and no one was there. I went ahead to scout the way. When I returned…” Braun couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence.
Erik turned and saw a tear sliding down Braun’s dirt-streaked face. He put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“I should have been with him,” Braun countered.
“So should I,” Erik whispered. Erik closed his eyes momentarily and his head drooped down. “I should never have let you split from us. We should have stayed together.”
Braun pulled the leather thong with his father’s ring up over his head. “I know he would want you to have this,” he said.
As Erik looked at the emerald ring, his eyes welled with tears. “Our family ring,” he said. He reached out gingerly and took the necklace, twirling it in front of him. “When he came to adopt me I thought I was having a dream.”
Braun smiled and nodded. “I was there,” Braun said.
“He never treated me as anything other than blood kin,” Erik said. He slipped the ring over his index finger for a moment before pulling it back off. “I will make you proud, father,” Erik promised.
Braun laid a hand on Erik’s back. “He was always proud of you,” he said.
Erik shook his head. “But I failed him,” he said. “Tukai was right. Maybe if I had died the night the warlock came, my father would still be alive.”
Braun removed his hand from Erik’s back and shook his head. “The warlock was wrong,” he said firmly. “You didn’t cause your father’s death.”
“I don’t know,” Erik said. “Maybe if I had done more, or if I had been faster…” he let his words trail off and the two stared at the fire a long while. Erik fumbled with the ring, turning it over between his fingers as he lost himself in his thoughts. After a few minutes he sniffed and choked back tears as he slipped the leather thong over his own head and let the ring hang around his neck. “I suppose I should keep it hidden for now,” he said.
“At least until you figure out how to get your body back,” Braun agreed.
Erik forced a slight grin. “It’s too bad Lepkin isn’t here with us.” Erik sighed and let himself lay back in the dirt. He looked up to the trees above and watched as the last rays of sunlight winked out and gave way to the night. “Braun, could you wake me when the food is ready?”
“Of course,” Braun promised.
Erik threw an arm over his eyes and let sleep take him.
*****
“I heard that Lepkin was making sounds,” Dimwater said as she approached Marlin in the hall.
Marlin looked up at her and smiled. “He is improving, but it is slow,” he responded. He raised a hand to stop her and then walked to her as he closed the door to Lepkin’s room. “I am sorry, but I still can’t allow you in with him. The situation is still delicate.” Marlin noted the blue and red hues swirling through Dimwater’s aura. “I know it is disheartening, but I have more reason to hope now than before.”
A smile dashed across her face for a moment. “He will recover?”
Marlin nodded once. “I think he will. It will take some time yet, but I think he may well wake soon.”
“Thank the heavens,” Dimwater sighed. “I can’t wait for this nightmare to end.”
Marlin nodded and
used his arm to turn her around and pull her along with him down the hall. “Will you follow me upstairs?” he asked.
“Of course,” she responded. She threw him a sidelong glance. His smile had faded, replaced with a furrowed brow. “What is wrong?” she asked.
“I am not certain,” Marlin responded with a shrug. “But something weighs upon my heart.” He stopped abruptly and offered an unconvincing half-grin. “Perhaps I just need some rest.”
The two of them then made their way up the several flights of stairs to the top-most level of the temple. They crossed a red carpet to a grouping of cherry wood chairs and a long, rectangular table covered with a mosaic of colored tiles. The image on the table was that of the ancient elvish rune for wisdom. The arcs and lines spanned the entire table. Unlike elsewhere in Valtuu Temple, there were no bookshelves here. Other than the table and chairs, there was little of anything in the room at all, save for a large brass gong at the far end of the room near a large sliding panel of lattice woodwork that could be opened to allow access to an overlook that stretched out from the north side of the temple.
“We were once on the balcony one level below this,” Marlin said.
Dimwater nodded. “I remember,” she said. “It is the spot from which we launched into battle against the wizard Erthor.
“This level serves as a type of meditation room,” Marlin explained. “It is where the senior members of our order can come together and discuss issues, and where initiates may undertake the Test of Arophim.” Marlin turned and faced the table with a heavy sigh. “It has not been used for many years.”
“Why not?” Lady Dimwater asked.
“The previous prelate ended the traditional councils some time ago, and we have not had any initiates take the test for quite some time now.” Marlin sighed and ran a finger along the top of the table. “I have come up here on occasion, when I need to get away and find a quiet spot to think.”
“Why have you brought me here?” Dimwater asked.
Marlin raised a brow and then turned to walk toward the overlook. “There is a sort of balcony here,” he said. “From here you can see the entire span of the valley to the north. You can also see out to the mountains to the east, and to the forest out west.”