by Jon Kiln
“I serve at the pleasure of the King, your majesty.”
“Which king is that?”
“I serve you as I always have. I served you when all others abandoned you and I serve you still. You have to know that or I doubt you would have sent me on this quest.”
King Ramael turned around and leaned back against the table. The wine jostled and the dark liquid sloshed, but stayed within the crystal. The King’s shirt was untied in the front and hung open low on his bony chest.
“I sent you,” the King said, “because you were the only path to retrieving the piece from the temple. I imagine it is the same reason Caffrey allowed you to live.”
Berengar was surprised but did not show it. “He tried in the chambers below Faithcore Castle. He kept me alive when it suited him, but he was fine with me dying. He just had a specific vision for when it was acceptable. If you knew the Corner of the Eye under Faithcore was gone and the next piece was in the temple, why didn’t you tell me, sire?”
“I did not know where the temple was and I was blind to the piece being in Faithcore Castle or not. If I knew, I would have sent you months ago. But why don’t you ask me what you really wish to ask?”
Berengar took a deep breath to calm himself. “Why didn’t you tell me you already had one of the pieces, your majesty? If you had entrusted me with it, my actions could have been hidden from Lord Caffrey and we might have more of the Artifact.”
“Or he would have still captured you, and then we would have nothing. I note you did not bring me the piece you did find. Are you here to fulfill one of the other paths, loyal Captain?”
“You can ask me what you really want to ask as well, my King, for I am indeed loyal.”
Ramael came off the table hard enough to rock it on its spindly legs. The glass tipped and rolled on its decorative crystal knobs. The wine spilled out and ran across the table until it poured loudly over onto the stone of the chamber floor.
King Ramael closed half the distance between the table and Captain Berengar. “Did you see yourself holding a bloody crown and did you see yourself standing over my body?”
“I saw many things that I do not want and would not desire.”
Ramael raised both clenched fists. “If it was not possible, it would not be seen. You could want those things, Captain. You might desire them under the right circumstances—circumstances that might yet come about. I have seen you standing over my body along many paths, and I have seen you take my crown for yourself with a smile.”
“I saw my own Lieutenant draw his sword against me,” Berengar said softly. “If I had ceased to trust him on the basis of what some ancient magic claimed might be possible, I would not be standing here alive now. We are all potentially capable of evil, but choosing not to take those paths is what ultimately makes us good, sire. We need to turn our focus on defeating Caffrey, for he comes here soon with two pieces of the Eye. He will use that power to take your one. We need to match him power to power while we still can and draw him away from the capital, if possible. I believe he wants the Artifact more than he wants you. Taking the piece away from here to face Caffrey makes you and the city safer.”
King Ramael looked away angrily. Berengar saw the muscles working along the King’s jawline. “So, why not bring me the second piece that I might have two fragments with which to face Caffrey?”
“All battles which reach as far as the palace do so with much blood spilled. We barely survived, you and I, the last time. You need me to defeat Caffrey and you need me to do so away from here. If you give me the piece you obtained from Marlex, I will use it to vanquish Caffrey, and then I will not keep the Artifact for myself.”
“Says the man I have seen a hundred times take my throne from under me to put his own broken family line upon it,” Ramael fumed. “You are lucky I did not cut down your grandson and daughter to deny you an heir. I kept them close should it have become necessary.”
Berengar gritted his teeth. He looked at the wine falling from the table drop by drop. The puddle spread out underneath, showing the King’s back at a severe angle in the wavering reflection.
Berengar looked away from the spill. “I’m glad you did not, my King.”
“So where does that leave us?” the King asked.
“You need to trust me with your piece of the Artifact to take on Caffrey. He is formidable without its power. He may be unstoppable with twice the power I have seen so far.”
“I give you the half after telling you what I have seen and what I considered with your only surviving family,” the King said, “and you promise to bring me back the whole after that?”
“I will leave my family in the city under your protection and mercy. I love them more than anything in this world. If you doubt my loyalty after all I have done for you and all we have been through together, and you feel then that you still need some manner of leverage over me, you have all that you need there, sire.”
King Ramael turned aside. He walked toward the end of his bed and wrapped one arm around the silver coated post as he leaned. “I’m sorry I was so harsh, Captain. I had to be sure. There is great danger and potential for betrayal in being a King. Seeing through the Artifact brings those dangers to bare in a substantial way.”
Berengar chewed at one of his lips and said, “Yes, your majesty.”
“You would not want to be a king, I assure you. You do not have the temperament for the politics and dark games of ruling a kingdom. You are blessed to be a common fighter away from such things no matter what your family background might be.”
“Yes, your majesty. If I may, I would like to take the piece and be on my way. Time is running short and I wish to have as much of it over Caffrey as possible. He may already be on his way here.”
“Yes. Where is it that you hid the piece you possess?”
“A house outside the city, sire.”
“Which house?”
“I need you to trust me.”
King Ramael brought his eyes up to Berengar’s. “Then, you can trust me with the knowledge you have, if I am to trust you with possession of the Artifact.”
“With respect, my King. If I tell you, you will be tempted to go secure it for yourself, which is your right as King. Even if you resist that temptation, the possibility of it creates a path. Caffrey would be able to see the path and we will be exposed. If you do not know, no possible path exists and Caffrey remains in the dark.”
“What stops him from following your path, Captain?”
“I will have the fragment and he will be blind to my actions once more.”
“Though I trust you so,” the King said, “it is possible that I could send men to follow you. He could follow that path.”
Berengar nodded. “I am excellent at evading men that that do not have the King’s best interests at heart. They would not find the fragment.”
The King walked past Berengar to the door. He pulled it open. “Bring him.”
As the King stepped back inside, he sat down on a plush chair next to one of the corners. Berengar turned to face the King again. “You will not regret this, your majesty. I will serve you as I always have.”
The door opened and one of the Guardsmen leaned in. “Do you want us to come in or apply the chains?”
“No, Captain Berengar will protect me, if it comes to that.”
Berengar narrowed his eyes and rubbed at the bandages on his wrists. The Guardsman opened the door wider and a thin man in baggy clothes entered. They were not dirty, but he was thin. As the man limped in and closed the door, it took Berengar a moment to recognize him. The man wore one leather patch over an eye, but the other was whole.
Berengar’s eyes went wide.
King Ramael waved his hand between the two men from the chair. “Marlex, do you know Captain Berengar?”
“Not formally,” Marlex said, looking Berengar over with his one eye. “I saw him along many paths though when I had the piece of the Eye—including the path upon which he defeated me. He is one
that walks very thin paths without breaking them.”
“That is what I fear,” the King said.
Marlex looked away. “You mind if I pour myself some wine?”
“Of course. We are family after all.”
Marlex hobbled across in front of Berengar and righted the crystal glass. He poured more wine into it without acknowledging the spill.
Berengar turned his attention back on the King. “What is this, sire?”
King Ramael tilted his head. “Another promise paid in halves.”
Chapter 14: Fighting Sideways
“Why is he here, your majesty?” Berengar looked from Marlex to the King.
Marlex raised a crystal glass to Berengar and then took a long swallow. “I’m family. Weren’t you listening, Captain?”
King Ramael said, “He is an awful human being, sure. But he has a way of sniffing out other awful human beings, you see. I can’t always tell if he is lying, of course, but he is still not the worst company I have kept and he certainly is not the biggest liar, so there is that.”
“I thought you blinded him?” Berengar asked.
“That? Yes. It is useful that others think so. I keep him in darkness so that Caffrey sees blindness should he ever look toward Marlex’s fate with the Eye. If you take everything from a man, there is no leverage. I took one eye and Marlex cooperates to keep the other. If I took both, the man kept stabbing me in the future. This compromise avoids that and now I can have him look over deals for me with his one good eye.”
Berengar stared.
Marlex shrugged. “I’ve had worse bargains. What is Berengar’s deal then?”
“He proposes to leave his family in the city under my mercy,” King Ramael explained. “In exchange, he seeks to take my Corner of the Eye along with another he has hidden from me to face off against Caffrey, with his half of the Great Artifact. Upon slaying Caffrey, Captain Berengar pledges to return the whole Artifact unto me.”
Marlex nodded and hummed. “That is a tricky set of terms. He loves his family and does not want them dead. He asks you to trust him while withholding a piece from you. That is not unwise on his part, but bears mention nonetheless. Once he has the whole Artifact, he might be able to save his family from death himself and take one of the paths that puts the crown upon his own head. That’s what I would do.”
“I am not you,” Berengar growled.
Marlex laughed and took another swallow of wine. “That is very true. Still, the temptation of power is great. There is no match or point of comparison for the power that the Great Artifact holds. We only have legends of Faithcore on that account and it may have been his undoing. That has to concern you with your connection there.”
“What connection?” Berengar asked.
“He does not know,” King Ramael said.
Berengar looked back and forth between them. Marlex laughed and said, “Oh, that is rich. Well, he will know soon enough when all power and knowledge are his. Now, what would a man like Captain Berengar do with such power once it is thrust upon him?”
Berengar opened his mouth to speak, but a knock on the chamber door interrupted him.
King Ramael sighed and called out, “What?”
The door opened and Belsh entered. He bowed low. “My sincerest apologies for the intrusion, your majesty. I am sent by the commanders on the city walls due to urgent news.”
“Out with it then.”
Belsh rose and said, “We are driven back by two forces on the front.”
Ramael stood and clenched his fists in the air in Berengar’s direction. “You pulled our forces from the south and now we are undone.”
“With respect,” Belsh said. “Not from the south.”
Ramael turned his attention back on Belsh. “Where then?”
“The forces from the king of the east advance into our territory. And Caffrey comes with a small force on our flank from the southeast. They appear unconnected in the attacks.”
“Why are we being pushed back?” Ramael asked.
Marlex sighed. “I think I know.”
He took another drink of wine.
“That is the message,” Belsh said. “The report is that the enemy can’t be pinned down or faced properly. They disappear and reappear at other points on the battlefield. Warriors from our armies are vanishing from existence if they get trapped behind enemy lines. Our forces are doing their best to hold the fight, but they have to keep falling back to keep from being caught up in whatever dark magic is afoot.”
King Ramael stared, with eyes bulging, at Belsh a moment. He then looked at Captain Berengar and Marlex.
Marlex nodded as though this news was no surprise to him. “Caffrey has twice the power. Two Corners, I think.”
“What would you do?” Ramael demanded.
Marlex opened his mouth, but Berengar spoke over him. “With respect, your majesty, he would put you in chains and try to have you murdered by your own men—a plot from which we barely escaped.”
Marlex shrugged and poured more wine into his glass. “He’s not wrong, of course. But what I was going to say is that all choices come down to the same basic options. You can run, fight, or wait. There are negotiations and manipulations, but I think you are well past those options with Caffrey. Surrendering to him or suing for terms of peace hardly seem viable. So, you can flee with the Artifact or send someone away with it to try to bargain for your life. Waiting keeps you behind the walls, but if he reaches the walls, he will have essentially beaten you. That leaves fighting. You can face him with half the Artifact against his half. I know as well as anyone that an even fight with Caffrey is hardly even at all. So, you can face him yourself or send Captain Berengar as your champion. If you face him yourself on the field of battle, you have one shot. If Berengar falls, you have one desperate chance to escape, as slim as it might be.”
“You would give the Corner to Berengar and send him to fight for you, were you king?”
Marlex swallowed the rest of the wine in his refilled glass and set it aside on the table behind him. “I would never face Caffrey again, if I had the option. I tried to overtake a kingdom with Caffrey’s dark hand pulling my strings. This man, your champion, came from nowhere to snatch you right out of the palace. He and his Lieutenant survived our every scheme and took you from the palace and this city, alone. They formed an army out of thin air and recaptured the capital. They walked into Caffrey’s library and put the man bloodied on the floor at their mercy.
“I still don’t know how it is possible and I have lots of time in my dark quarters to think over these events again and again. I don’t see how he can defeat Caffrey with the power of the Artifact in play, but I had a Corner of it myself and he defeated me. There is no one else in this world I would dream of putting up against Caffrey besides Berengar. If for no other reason, I think Berengar may be Caffrey’s weak spot. Caffrey’s own pride and evil don’t allow him to face Berengar with his full faculties in place. If I were betting, I’d still say Berengar dies this day and Caffrey ends up with the whole Artifact as he has always planned. I would place no other bet on any other champion, however.”
Ramael turned his attention back on Berengar. “Would you trust this man?”
“I would have not allowed him to live, but I know the ways of fighting and not the ways of being a King, your majesty.”
“That answer alone makes me trust his judgment and chances more,” Marlex said. “My motivations are selfish as always and that’s why you can trust them this time.”
“Explain,” King Ramael said.
Marlex spread his hands and then pointed at his own face. “If Caffrey reaches the palace with or without the Great Artifact, he will not allow me to keep my other eye much less anything else. When I suggest you send Berengar with the Corner to face him, it is because I believe it is my best chance for survival.”
Ramael had heard enough. “Guards. Remove my cousin. See him back to bed.”
Marlex slowly crossed the room. Berengar limpe
d back a few steps to give him space. The guards entered and took Marlex by the arms as he stepped out.
“You are dismissed, boy,” Ramael said to Belsh. “Repeat none of what you have seen here.”
Belsh bowed and stepped out, closing the door to the chamber behind him.
“You will be tempted once you have the power of the Great Artifact in your grasp,” King Ramael said. “Whether I have your family in my grasp or you have your unflinching loyalty in the depths of your soul, you will be tempted, Captain.”
“All men are,” Berengar replied. “I can only offer my past behavior as evidence of my future choices, sire.”
“You have never been tempted like this. Few men ever have. None that are alive today. When the Artifact offers you possibilities you never thought possible before, you will be folded to your breaking point. You must defeat Caffrey and you must bring the Artifact back to me. That is the only outcome that serves the kingdom. The Artifact will come back together. Even Faithcore saw that when he split it. It either comes together under Caffrey, under you, under another man, or under your King. Which outcome do you serve then, Captain?”
“I serve at the pleasure of my King, as always.”
King Ramael nodded and turned away. “As Marlex said, I have no other champion I can trust. If I must be at the mercy of any man, I would choose no other, Captain. Do not disappoint me.”
“I will serve you even unto the forfeit of my life,” Berengar pledged.
“And the lives of your family,” Ramael reminded him.
Ramael lifted the pillow from his bed and shook it until a Corner of the Eye tumbled out onto the middle of the bed. It was a sickly yellow, with the jeweled swirls of an eye seen close below its surface.
The King reached out and paused with his fingers above it. His hand trembled. His lips quivered. He drew his hands back and turned away from the bed still clutching the pillow. “Take it now, if you are going to do so. If I touch it and see the paths ahead, I will lose my resolve and trust in you.”
Berengar limped forward beside the King and bed. “May I borrow the covering for your pillow, sire?”