by Megan Derr
"You might try asking them in the morning," Dieter said and shoved him back toward the bed. This time he followed, sliding into the side nearest the window. Already he could see the faint, hazy gray that meant day was rapidly approaching.
He stifled a sigh. If it became necessary, he was more than capable of going without sleep, but he didn't think babysitting an idiot counted as necessary. Dieter tugged the quilt up and closed his eyes; on top of the blankets, his fingers curled around the hilt of his. A few hours sleep was better than none, and in the morning, he fully intended to find a place he could practice. He could only accomplish so much by practicing in his room. Surely there was a spare room of significant size around this place somewhere.
Dieter felt himself sliding into sleep when a sound woke him. He sat up and realized Beraht was talking in his sleep again. Why now? Why had this problem never cropped up before? Neither Matthias nor the others had mentioned that something like this might occur, so what was causing it? All he knew from Beraht's strange mutterings was that Benji apparently wanted him to make things stronger which, to Dieter's mind, meant worse.
He caught Beraht as he tried to leave the bed, dragging him down and pinning him there when Beraht began to struggle. He cracked Beraht once, hard, on the face with his open palm.
Beraht's eyes changed from a distant, from a hazy gleaming to a full on bright yellow glow. "I'm not sure what I hate more," he said. "That this keeps happening, or that you're somehow involved."
"If you want to ruin everything," Dieter said, letting him go and returning to his side of the bed, "Next time do not wake me up while you're doing it."
Beraht muttered something under his breath then spoke more clearly. "Since when do you care, anyway? Shouldn't it be right up there with revenge for you? Letting me ruin everything?"
"Why should I make an entire country suffer for my revenge? I know I'm a bastard, but even I have my limits." Dieter shot him a scathing look.
"Meaning, you have nowhere else to go, and the Illussor really will kill you."
Dieter looked at him. "So the Kaiser was just pretending to kill me?"
"I think he sort of wanted you to win, actually. Probably just to torture you more." Beraht made a face. "I would too, if I were him. What else do you do after you've killed the man you've hated his entire life?"
Dieter laughed. "I'm sure he'll find someone else to hate."
"What about you?" Beraht asked suddenly, as if something had just struck him. "What do you do now?"
Dieter rolled over and lay down. "Fight, teach men how to fight. Only the country has changed."
*~*~*
Beraht climbed out of bed. "I'm not going back to sleep. So far you've slammed my head into a wall, damn near shaken me to death, and pinned me down and attempted to break the bones in my face. I really don't want to know what's next." He frowned at the table near the fireplace which held only a book and a pitcher and cup of water. "Don't you ever have anything like wine handy?"
"I don't drink," von Adolwulf said irritably from the bed. He sat up slowly. "You will most certainly sleep because I do not feel like going an entire night without rest."
Beraht glared back. "Then sleep. No one is stopping you; only your stubborn determination to be as obnoxious and irritating as humanly possible. Stars curse you! I'm going to find some wine. It's about the only thing that will knock me out and keep me from killing you."
"Stay here," von Adolwulf said, climbing from the bed and stalking toward Beraht. He grabbed Beraht close and hauled him back to the bed. "You're not going anywhere except to sleep."
"So you can wake me up again when I try for a fourth time to do whatever it is Benji is trying to get me to do?" Beraht struggled away. "No, thank you. I'll just stay awake."
Von Adolwulf held tighter, voice taunting. "You'll just doze off."
"Stars refuse you!" Beraht said and started to fight and swing and kick. "Let me go! Stars above! You drive me insane!" He continued to struggle even when von Adolwulf held him pinned to the ground. His eyes blazed sunshine-yellow. "I wish I'd just had the nerve to go to your tent that night. If I'd killed you in your sleep, we'd all be better off!"
Von Adolwulf roughly let him go, standing and striding over to the bed. "Then you should have let me die in the Coliseum. Live with your mistake, Beraht." With that, he climbed into bed, and Beraht could tell a few minutes later that he was fast asleep. It was the only time von Adolwulf didn't seem as much like the beast he was called after.
Muttering a handful of curses—barely noticing as he switched fluidly between three languages—Beraht turned to the fire and muttered a quick, angry word. The dying flames sprung back to life and began to ward off the chill creeping into the room. Yanking off his jacket and shirt, so that he was only in breeches, Beraht climbed into bed.
Just to stay warm—and, he conceded sourly, because there really wasn't anywhere else to go.
He'd find a way to get revenge in the morning. But what was wrong with him? Beraht shook his head. In the morning. He was too tired to deal with it now. Though he was also scared to fall asleep again. Morning couldn't come soon enough.
How ironic that before when he'd wanted to fall asleep, he'd only been able to stay awake, but now that he wanted to stay awake, all he could do was yawn and feel his eyelids grow heavier and heavier. The heat pouring off the bastard beside him didn't help things either. Eventually, Beraht stopped fighting sleep. If he started walking, fine. Von Adolwulf showed no qualms about waking him up as painfully or jarringly as possible.
Pain woke him. Jarring, hot, and burning. It woke him screaming, and from the corner of his eye he caught the flash of von Adolwulf's sword in the early morning light streaming through the windows. He twisted and turned and clawed around on the bed, the pain too great for him to pinpoint the source. "Stop! Stop! Stop!" His words descended into screaming, and then he was being held face down on the bed, and fingers traced over his lower back.
Realization struck. "They know," he managed before he had to bite back another scream. The doors banged open, admitting Iah and Sol. Sol, he could see, was also in a great deal of pain. They shared a look.
"What's going on?" he heard von Adolwulf demand.
"The Brothers," Sol managed before he crumbled to his knees, hugging himself against the pain and barely seeming to notice when Iah held him in an attempt to comfort. "It's just a warning. Probably—" he gasped in pain. "Tawn. It's his sort of trick."
The pain didn't ease for several more minutes; by the time it stopped, a serving girl had arrived with von Adolwulf's breakfast tray. Beraht sat up slowly, barely hearing when von Adolwulf ordered the girl to set it down and go, watching as she all but ran out.
Great. Miserable night, miserable morning. Time was ticking away now that the Seven Star knew two of its members were traitors. "How would Tawn know?" he wondered aloud.
"I'm sure his methods of acquiring the information weren't pleasant," Sol said, slowly standing up. He slid an arm around Iah's waist. "But I know he's the one who did it. We need to talk to Matthias and the others today—if you don't take care of matters soon, Tawn will be along to deal with us. I don't know how, but if there's a way, Tawn will find it." Beraht nodded and slid out of the bed. "What were you doing in here, anyway?" Sol gave them both a look.
"Another story that can wait until we're at breakfast," von Adolwulf said with a grimace. "It appears I shall have to endure the downstairs this morning."
Beraht rolled his eyes. "Is the brave Wolf scared of a few people?"
"It's more that I'm not looking forward to the one that finally snaps and tries to attack me—because I will win, and it will not end well." von Adolwulf grabbed his sword from beside the bed and set it on the table. "Now everyone get out."
Biting back a dozen or so comments, Beraht grabbed his things and returned to his own room. On top of everything else, he got to be seen sneaking out of von Adolwulf's room like a guilty secret.
The man was going to die.<
br />
Chapter Nineteen
"You three look a somber bunch this morning," Esta said with a frown, setting down the pastry she'd begun to eat. "Did something go wrong last night?" She blinked when she realized von Adolwulf was with them. "Pardon me—you four. General, to what do we owe the honor?"
"Honor?" Beraht grumbled. "More like insult." He sat down and stared unseeing at the plate of food that was set in front of him. He ignored it in favor of the tea. It was good, but he had reluctantly conceded the other day that the tea he'd had in Kria was more appealing. Both were preferable to the weak, bitter tea they drank in Salhara, which he'd never liked except with excessive amounts of cream and sugar—things he rarely got. The Illussor version wasn't bad, though, and it woke a man up, which was all he could ask for. "Or punishment."
Everyone ignored him. "What's wrong?" Esta asked then shook her head. "We should wait for Matthias, though."
"No need," Matthias said, walking into the room. "I got held up by a minister, but he quickly grew offended by my presence and scampered off to plot my assassination."
Esta frowned at him. "I've told you before not to make those sorts of jokes, Matti."
"Esta, no one would ever assassinate me because they know it means you would take over. I assure you, that is enough to scare nearly every man into ensuring I live a very long life." He grinned when Esta's frown turned into a glower, and she resumed eating, pointedly ignoring him when he sat down beside her. "Did you mention something about a problem, Essie?" He looked at von Adolwulf, at the same time motioning the servants to depart. "Something must be amiss if you are joining us."
Von Adolwulf sat back in his chair. "Your Breaker has taken to walking to the Crystal Chamber in his sleep. He nearly touched that crystal orb. Every time he fell asleep, he began to do it all over again."
"What?" Esta and Matthias said together. Matthias shook his head and looked at Beraht. "But why?"
"I don't know," Beraht said. He picked at his food, then shoved the plate aside and stuck with just the tea. "I barely remember it, really. Just a soft voice that I wanted to listen to."
Von Adolwulf drank his own tea as if it were little more than warm milk. "You talked, as well. An entire conversation, though with whom I don't know." Beraht could see in von Adolwulf's face the bastard had been holding that bit of information back on purpose, and he held his tea cup tight to avoid throwing it. "You kept muttering about power and making it stronger." Matthias and Esta paled.
"What does that mean?" Sol asked
The breakfast room, as cheerful and bright as it was with the morning sunshine setting the blues and greens of its décor ablaze, seemed to darken with the mood of the diners. Rather than cheerful, it suddenly struck Beraht as strained, as if they were all trying too hard to appear happy. He poured himself more tea, not bothering to sweeten it, and wished it were late enough to add something stronger to it.
"It means," Matthias said, "that the magic is more out of hand than I thought. The Crystal Chamber isn't… dead exactly. It's not living, either, but it's a… well—it's powerful. I have never heard of it trying to increase its own power, but it doesn't really surprise me, either. What bothers me is that it nearly succeeded." He looked at Beraht. "Of course, it should have occurred to me that if your power can be used to stop it, it can also be used to amplify it, and the Crystal Chamber would sense that. I'm sure some of Benji's loneliness is a factor in drawing you in."
Beside him, Esta nodded. "So you go into this trance every time you fall asleep? Then how did you manage to avoid getting pulled in?"
"He woke me up with it the first time," von Adolwulf said, "and I kept—"
"Trying to kill me every time after that," Beraht broke in. He glared across the table. "I'm still not sure which was worse: the sleep walking or the waking." Von Adolwulf said nothing.
"You watched his room all night?" Esta asked, looking at von Adolwulf. "That was kind of you." Beraht snorted into his teacup. "Shall I have a guard set?" Esta asked, and they could see she was already making plans and selecting suitable guards.
"No," von Adolwulf said. "For one, it should be someone capable of going down below in case he gets that far again. Word would spread about his strange sleeping habits, which we want to avoid."
"You make good points," Esta conceded.
"This entire situation could be avoided," Beraht groused, "if we could simply get on with it. Why can't I just Break or whatever it is?"
Matthias let out an aggravated huff. "Because my father is being stubborn—second thoughts and all that. I never thought he would do it, but lately he has not been himself. Esta and I are speaking with him; Kalan is searching high and low for wherever he might have hidden the counter stone."
"Counter stone?" Beraht asked.
"Just like the orb that Benji holds, except that it's black and will help you Break. It's the exact opposite type of energy."
Beraht shook his head. "Am I going to wind up like Benji?"
"No!" Esta exclaimed, obviously upset. "Nothing of the sort. What you're going to do is basically cancel everything out. The two powers will clash and equalize, and then they'll Break the Crystal Chamber—and the magic. We just need the counter stone, which was made as a failsafe."
Matthias propped his chin in one hand, staring glumly at his tea. "But my father hid it for 'safekeeping' and now he won't give it up. I never expected it of him."
"He's just old and scared, Matti," Esta said gently. She reached out and covered his hand with her own. "Don't worry about it. We'll work things out." Then she withdrew her hand and returned to her breakfast. "So until then, I guess we shall just trust the Lord General to look after Beraht. Do you mind?"
Von Adolwulf laughed and grinned mockingly at Beraht. "Not at all."
"Stars refuse you!" Beraht said then ignored them all to focus on his food. Esta frowned, but said nothing. Sol shot Beraht a reproving look and kicked him under the table when Beraht continued to ignore him. Beraht shot him a dirty look then went back to his food.
"So why do you look so tense, Sol?" Matthias asked.
"Because something else happened this morning," Sol said quietly. "It is not something I'm terribly happy to discuss, as I had hoped by coming here I'd finally left it behind, but it would appear Beraht and I have been found out. An old enemy of mine is most likely heading this way to kill us."
Esta dropped her fork. "What?"
Matthias didn't look surprised in the least. "You should probably explain. You are traitors; I'm surprised it's only now becoming a problem."
Sol nodded. "Have you ever heard of the Brotherhood of the Seven Star?"
"Secret society in Salhara. Nothing is really known about them except that they apparently have only twenty-one members. The significance of the number always escaped me."
Beraht explained, "The stronger a man's soul, the more stars he becomes in the sky. The mightiest king that ever lived spanned seven stars in the sky—he is the Grand Seven Star in the sky. Seven is also the number of colors through which arcen progresses."
"Twenty-one for three sets of seven," Sol continued. "Seven to watch the home. Seven to watch the yard. Seven to watch the neighbors. The Brotherhood of the Seven Star is a network of spies and officials who manipulate the country from behind the scenes. Even the king, it's said, bows to the dictates of the Seven Star."
He fell silent as Beraht continued, "In all of Salhara, only the Seven Star and those with their sanction are allowed to use orange and red arcen. They hold the only full license for arcen—a star with seven points on the small of their backs."
Sol nodded. "The easiest way to mark a Brother is by his eyes—most are dark yellow at least, more often orange. The oldest have red eyes. Jaspar, the leader of the Brothers, has eyes that are nearly black."
"I knew it," Iah said. "I could tell, just listening to him. He won't live much longer, will he?"
"Don't underestimate him," Sol warned. "He's addicted to arcen, but that makes him as deadly a
s it does weak. I have yet to meet anyone else who can drink black arcen once a day and live to do it the next day—and he's been in that condition for the past five years."
Beraht hissed. "I knew he was bad, but—" He shook his head. "I'm not sorry I'm gone."
"That's the first sensible thing you've said since you fell into my keeping," von Adolwulf said. "Perhaps the arcen hasn't rotted your brains entirely."
"Don't get too lofty, Wolf." Beraht set his tea cup down with a sharp clack. "It was arcen that saved both of us, and it's arcen which helped make your sword. Don't lecture me."
"Arcen doesn't give me my skill," von Adolwulf snarled. "If I could strip my sword of it, I would."
Beraht sneered. "You keep telling yourself that. Don't like being as dependant as the rest of us on outside forces?"
"I'm not," von Adolwulf said. "If you don't shut up, I will be more than happy to prove it."
"I always forget the thrill you get out of beating me."
Von Adolwulf let out a short bark of laughter, and his grin was a challenge. "It's the only thing that shuts you up."
"Enough!" Matthias snapped. "If you two want to kill each other, take it elsewhere. Not here and especially not when we've got more important things to deal with." He nodded when they both subsided, though their resentment still hung heavy in the air. "So I am going to assume the obvious and say you are both members of this Seven Star Brotherhood?"
"Yes," Sol said. "It is how I was able to gather so much information and move freely between countries." He slid a look at Beraht. "Beraht is newer. He was a Brother for only a few months and was ordered to slaughter as many Scarlet as possible if he wanted to keep both his life and be given a name."
"Be given a name?" Esta repeated.
"I will explain that custom later, if you like, Lady Esta." Sol smiled. Beraht began to pick at his food again. "Iah's unit was killed by the Scream their captain used in hopes of preventing the Breaker from being taken further away. I believe he was in your charge at that time, Dieter?"