by T.M. Nielsen
***
“Sir,” Trox said from the doorway to Alric’s office. “We found the missing knives.”
“Nicker?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I thought we locked him in the Lady’s chamber.”
“We did.”
Alric sighed. “I’m debating putting him in a cage until Kyrin gets back. He’s been stealing everything he can get his hands on.”
“Borrowing,” Trox corrected, grinning.
Alric wasn’t in the mood to joke. “Get a cage.”
Trox bowed and left the room. Alric was contemplating contacting Sithias for updates but figured if Sithias knew anything, he would have said something.
Knowing he had to go face the parents again, as he’d done every day for the two months that their son was missing, he stood up and headed down to the chapel.
As usual, the mom and dad were seated in the front row, praying to Sithias for their son’s safe return.
When Alric came in, the dad stood up. “Did he return?”
“Not yet. We haven’t heard anything,” Alric said, walking up to them.
“He’s dead,” the mother said through sobs.
“We don’t know that. The last time Kyrin shifted out of here, it took her a while to get back.”
“Two years?!”
“No, not two entire years. She didn’t even decide to come back until just before she did.” He knew that was stretching it but didn’t know how to tell the distraught parents that their son could be gone for a couple of years. He also knew that Kyrin was probably desperate to get him back to Paragoy.
“He’s dead,” she said again, and then began to pray.
Alric forced a soft smile. “I trust her, okay? She’ll bring him back.”
“Has Sithias forsaken us?” the dad asked, turning to the statue of the god.
“No, he wouldn’t do that,” Alric assured him.
“Then why hasn’t he done something?”
“He’s trying. He is as worried as you are about your son.”
“Has he gone to the demon to see if Kyrin turned him over?”
Alric frowned. “No, he hasn’t. Kyrin wouldn’t turn your son over to her god.”
“You have a lot of faith in that evil.”
“I have a lot of faith in my wife.”
“Sir, Qualsax has sent messengers,” Finn said from behind him.
“He has? For what?” Alric asked.
“I don’t know, sir. We’ve shown them into the throne room so you can ask.”
“I’ll be back, okay?” Alric said to the family. When they didn’t answer, he followed Finn to the throne room and used the back entrance to take a seat.
The Qualsax snarled at him when he sat down.
“Why are you here?” he asked, leaning forward slightly. He hated how Kyrin’s throne sat empty beside him.
“Lord Qualsax knows your wife left you, and he knows that she’s now attacking Qualsax out of spite,” the highest ranking Qualsax said.
Alric sat back. “My wife hasn’t left me, and she’s not attacking Qualsax.”
“She is! We had one entire village wiped out last night and there was no trace of Valharans. It had to be her.”
“She has no reason to wipe out your village.”
“She does! We know you and she got into a fight over the last skirmish. She’s doing it to bring trouble between our people.”
“Let’s just clear this up. Kyrin and I didn’t get into a fight. She and I are not separated. I can assure you that she is far from Qualsax right now and has no reason to attack your villages.”
“She’s an evil! You can’t trust anything she says or does,” he said angrily.
“I trust her implicitly.”
“Then you are a fool.”
“I’m done with them,” Alric told Finn.
“We’re not done here!” the Qualsax roared.
Finn called knights forward and they roughly pulled the Qualsax from the throne room.
“Are you okay?” Finn asked, watching him.
“I’m fine.”
Though Alric kept telling everyone he was fine, the worry showed on his face. He was having a hard time keeping the toddler’s parents calm, and now Qualsax was there to accuse Kyrin of something.
He wondered if it was worth keeping her around if no one trusted her and everything was blamed on her. She stayed for him, and no other reason, but he was married to the kingdom also and he wasn’t sure she understood that.
“We put the nicker in a cage,” Finn said after a few minutes of silence.
Alric nodded. “Thank you.”
“She’ll be back.”
“I know.”
“With the kid.”
“I’d like to know that too.”
Finn smiled. “I trust her.”
“Believe it or not, so do I. There’s a part of her we haven’t seen yet, a human side.”
“I know.”
“She’s been gone for two months. Daemionis won’t give Sithias any information, and Sithias gets the impression that Daemionis may be mad at Kyrin.”
“For what?”
“He doesn’t know. If that demon is mad at her, she could be getting punished by him right now.”
“Well that changes everything. I trust Kyrin, but I don’t trust her god,” Finn said, frowning.
Alric looked over. “You doubled the guards at Boriana, right?”
“Yes”
“I’m afraid she may bring the Shadowmere here accidentally.”
“The knights that fought them said they were quite a skilled adversary.”
“That’s why I want double up there.”