A Dance of Cloaks

chapter 17

Thren hadn’t felt this good in ages. So far two riots had broken out in southern Veldaren. It wouldn’t be long before the poor and hungry made their way north into the rest of the city. If his spies outside the walls were correct, Laurie Keenan and his family would be making their grand return to the city sometime that afternoon. Hunger riots, jobless sellswords, and overeager castle soldiers demanding taxes was one fantastic greeting.

Laurie would get the message immediately; Thren controlled the city, not him. If everything went according to plan, their Kensgold would send an even stronger message.

“Sir,” shouted Kayla hurrying after him. He was on his way to his son’s room, wanting the boy to accompany him on a routine collection of protection money from the merchants still active amid the riots. Given the circumstances, he was certain they’d be eager for all the protection they could get.

“I am no sir,” Thren said as he turned. “I am no knight, and no noble.”

“Sorry,” Kayla said as she slowed to a quick walk. “I’m not sure what to say that would be seen as respectful.”

Thren gave her a look of honest confusion.

“What could be more respectful than my own name?” he asked.

“Right,” Kayla said. “Anyway, we still have no word from Will.”

“He’s been gone far too long,” Thren said as he resumed his walk down the hall. “Taking Gerand’s wife shouldn’t have been difficult. I doubt any mercenaries could capture him, not alive anyway. If he’s in hiding, he has a reason, and I’m sure he’ll…”

He opened the door to his son’s room and took a step inside. Aaron was on his knees, his hands clasped together underneath his chin. His elbows rested on the side of his bed. His eyes were closed, though they snapped open at Thren’s sudden entrance.

Thren’s jaw dropped. Hanging from a silver chain looped around Aaron’s fingers was a golden pendant of Ashhur.

Before anyone could react, Thren slammed the door shut, spun, and knocked Kayla out with his fist. As she slumped to the ground, he shouted for his men. The mansion was large, but even so, gray cloaks rushed toward him in seconds.

“Where’s Senke?” he shouted as the men stared with a mixture of confusion and curiosity at Kayla slumped on the floor.

“Here,” Senke said, pushing his way to the front of the men.

“Find Cregon,” Thren said. “I’ll need his spells. And you two,” he said, pointing, “find Robert Haern and bring him to my room. Kayla too. I want them bound tight.”

Thren reopened the door to Aaron’s room. Aaron sat on the bed. The amulet lay beside him, as if he knew hiding it was a pointless gesture. Thren stepped inside, grabbed the amulet, and then beckoned his son to follow.

Aaron walked down the halls a step behind his father, feeling his heart race. His stomach roiled as he tried to think of what punishment awaited him. Robert had given him the pendant. Kayla had encouraged him to rebel. There was also the matter of Delysia and Dustin. While he had run off to protect Delysia, Thren had sent for him. So far, he had not demanded an explanation for his absence. Now, it looked like the matter would soon explode in his face.

“Keep your mouth shut until I ask you a question,” Thren said as they walked.

If there was anything Aaron was good at, it was keeping silent. He nodded.

They took a long, looping path toward Thren’s room. Aaron realized his father was buying time, most likely wanting whatever he had prepared ready by the time they entered. The thought was hardly comforting. He felt like throwing up. He’d made a mistake, a stupid one at that. Only twice before had he prayed to Ashhur, and both times he’d felt a combination of silliness and embarrassment. Afterward, he remembered the way Delysia had prayed when he stood unseen before her. Whatever he was doing was not the same, he felt it in his gut.

So he’d tried again, this time because he’d heard no word either way on whether or not she’d lived. And now he might have endangered her life. If Thren tortured him, he’d talk. He held no delusions about that. Once Thren knew where she was, she would die. Gods damn it all, how could he have messed up so badly?

“Remember, I do this for your own good,” Thren said when they finally arrived at his room. Two men stood guard before it, bowing respectfully as they passed through.

Inside the room, Senke had cleared away the chairs of the table. Robert Haern knelt at one end. Kayla knelt on the other, a large bruise spreading across her cheek. Senke stood between them, his hands on the hilts of his swords. Cregon leaned against the bedpost of the extravagant bed, his arms crossed.

“Stand here,” Thren ordered, pointing beside Senke. When the guildmaster walked over to Cregon and began talking, Senke whispered down to Aaron.

“What the f*ck did you do?” he asked.

“I prayed,” Aaron whispered back.

“Shit,” Senke said, then clammed up. Thren was returning with the mage.

“Stay still,” Cregon said. “All of you. If my concentration breaks, I won’t be able to try again until tomorrow.”

Aaron entertained shouting out a bizarre stream of cusswords to disrupt the mage, but decided otherwise. Instead, he watched Cregon cast his spell. The man was a poor mage, in both money and abilities, hence his easy recruitment into the Spider Guild. He spent most his days sequestered apart from the rest of the men, reading books and pretending to advance his skills while in reality doing his best to drink the days away.

Arcane words of power passed through Cregon’s lips, sounding clunky and odd. Aaron had little experience with spellcasters, but he thought their casting should sound more fluent and natural than what he heard.

Cregon abruptly stopped and wiped his sweating brow. Aaron felt a slight tingle shoot up his back, as if someone were rubbing him with flower petals.

“There. The spell is in place,” said Cregon.

“Excellent,” Thren said. “Leave us to our business.”

The mage looked happy to oblige. Once he left, it was just the five of them. Thren paced before them all, his face gradually growing with icy fury.

“Kayla, Robert, I have brought you both here because of certain actions by my son. I know the rest of my men well, but you two are new to my home. Too long I have turned a blind eye. No longer. Senke, draw your sword.”

Senke did as he was told.

“There is a spell over all of you,” Thren continued. “When you talk, the spell will silence any lies. I will hear only truth on these matters.”

“Even me?” asked Senke, a wry grin on his face.

“Test for yourself,” said Thren. Senke shrugged. He said something. Aaron read a few of the words on his lips, virgin being one of them, but heard not a sound.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Senke said.

Thren paced before his two prisoners as everyone watched him.

“Who gave Aaron the amulet?” he asked. For a moment, no one spoke. Then Robert glanced upward.

“I did,” he said.

“I thought as much. You are a teacher, and as with many teachers, you took your desire to impart knowledge too far.” Thren tossed the amulet he held aside. “If it had been just this, I would have only given you a warning. But instead, there is this matter of Delius and his daughter.”

At this, Aaron’s heart sank. So the truth would come out. None of them could tell a lie. He’d risked everything, and for nothing. His own life might be forfeit for killing a fellow guild member.

“You should have killed Delysia when Kayla killed her father, but instead, she somehow escaped. I now see hesitance where I once saw inexperience. I see mercy where I once saw misjudgment. One of you planted such horrible ideas in my son’s head. I want to know who.”

Neither Kayla nor Robert said a word.

“Keep silent, then,” Thren said as he paced. “It is better than lies. I sent Dustin after Delysia, yet he and the girl vanish like ghosts in the barrows. Few knew where Dustin was going. You were one of them, Kayla. So what happened? Did my son come sniveling, crying to you for help?”

All three of the accused remained silent.

“Answer me!” shouted Thren. “Whoever killed Dustin dies tonight. Now I will hear a name from one of your lips!”

Aaron’s eyes flicked between the two of them. He could spare them. If he admitted to requesting information about Ashhur, almost demanding it, perhaps he’d spare Robert Haern’s life. Kayla had done no wrong, not to him. Maybe his death would at least spare her. He opened his mouth to speak, but Kayla spoke first.

“I know who must have killed him,” she said. The fact that Aaron heard her meant she spoke the truth. He felt his heart leap into his throat. Kayla glanced over to Robert, and Aaron swore he saw a tiny nod of approval.

“Who?” asked Thren.

“It was Haern.”

Silence filled the room. Aaron looked to his teacher, a cry of denial on his lips, but Robert’s stern glare kept him quiet. He realized then what was going on. The old man would die to protect the young. Hot rage pulsed through his veins.

Thren turned to Robert, his eyes cold steel.

“Did you somehow arrange for Dustin’s death?” he asked.

Robert remained silent.

“Did you teach my son about Ashhur?” he asked.

Robert remained silent.

“Did you make his heart weak with words of compassion and mercy?” he asked.

Silence.

“Aaron,” Thren said, pushing Senke aside and taking his shortsword. He held the hilt toward his son. With a shaking hand, Aaron accepted. He felt strong hands take his shoulders and guide him before his teacher. Robert knelt, his arms tied behind his back. Tears were in his eyes.

“I don’t want to,” Aaron said. All there heard.

“I will suffer none to betray me,” Thren said. “Kill him. Let his blood cover your hands so you know the price of weakness. Dabble in lies, dabble in death. Now do as you’re told.”

He looked once more to his teacher. Impossible as it seemed, the old man was smiling.

“I forgive you,” Robert said. “Now do it.”

No lie. Aaron couldn’t believe it. Forgiven before the sin was even committed, unasked, undeserved. As he held the shortsword, he felt Aaron dying. To kill his teacher for a truthful lie spoken by Kayla, all to save his own life…

He swung the blade. Warm blood splashed across his arms. Robert gagged twice, his windpipe cut, then slumped over and died.

“Well done, Aaron,” Thren said.

“Haern,” the boy whispered back. Thren did not understand the importance of hearing that single word spoken aloud, but Kayla did.

“I’ll clean up the body,” Senke offered.

“No,” said Thren as he took the sword from Aaron’s hand. “He made the mess. Let him clean it up.”

Senke untied Kayla’s hands and helped her to her feet. She rubbed her raw wrists while watching the guildmaster from the corner of her eye. Thren reached out and touched her face with his fingers.

“Forgive me for the blow,” he said to her. “I struck in anger and false assumption. Robert’s time alone with him was clearly ill-spent.”

Kayla was not foolish enough to say she understood, or that she forgave him. The words would die silent in her throat. Absently she wondered how long the spell would last. She glanced at Robert’s body. Too long, and she might end up like him.

“Come,” Thren said, walking beside Kayla as if nothing were the matter. “I want to make sure Laurie’s entrance to Veldaren is memorable as possible.”

They left Senke alone with Aaron, who still stood before the body. He appeared dumbstruck and on the verge of tears.

“I have nothing to clean up the blood with,” he said, his voice oddly distant. Senke tried to laugh, but it came out more as a choked cough.

“There’s a closet in the corner with a bunch of spare sheets. You can use one of them.”

Aaron obeyed, moving in a stiff, methodical manner. Senke watched him, all the while rubbing his fingers across the front of his chest.

“I’ve had sex with a horse,” he said as Aaron walked back. The boy paused, but Senke laughed again, his face flushing a pale shade of red.

“Just testing the spell,” Senke said. “Clearly it’s worn off.”

“Clearly.”

Senke sighed. Aaron bent down on his knees and began mopping up the blood. He kept his eyes straight down, as if afraid of seeing the body. The sight of it seemed so…wrong.

“Listen,” Senke said as he knelt down. “That was a special man, and an old one, too. He was ready to go, and I don’t think he was too upset with you about it, alright? I know how much pressure Thren’s putting on you. He wants you to replace him one day, and to be a name the whole world fears.”

“I don’t want the world to fear me,” Aaron whispered. “I want them to fear Haern.”

“Haern?” asked Senke. “I’m not sure I…”

Aaron glanced up at him, his stare hard and full of killing. Senke’s mouth dropped open. Kayla knew Dustin had been sent after Delius’s daughter. Senke had seen Aaron come speak with Kayla in the mess hall. It made no sense for an old man to try and kill Dustin. But a young one, one who had vanished and was left behind instead of being at his father’s side when infiltrating the castle…

“I could get killed for this,” Senke said as he stood. He glanced around, as if looking for spies listening in on their conversation. “F*ck me like a Kerran whore. You’re Haern. You took a new name.”

At Aaron’s icy look, Senke broke out into nervous laughter.

“Up, down, and sideways, as our dear Kayla likes to say. I know grown men who would have crumbled and confessed sooner than you did, boy. How old are you again?”

Aaron ignored the question, focusing instead on mopping up the rest of the blood. Senke saw the current blanket he held was completely soaked so he retrieved another. He tossed it over Robert’s body, shaking his head as his grin faded.

“We’ve all got secrets, Aaron,” Senke said as he rubbed his chest again. “Some we tell, and some we keep hidden. Yours must stay hidden. Do you understand that? If anyone finds out what you did, they’ll go to Thren in a heartbeat. I don’t want to imagine your father’s fury. He’ll kill everyone who knew about it, including me and Kayla. I don’t know about you, but I’m quite happy with living, and would like to continue doing so for the next couple of decades.”

“I don’t see a way out,” Aaron said as Senke tucked the sheets around the body. “And what was the point? I prayed, and people died. Hardly mercy. Ashhur’s not even real. He’s…he’s just a shitty dream.”

Senke tsk’ed at him.

“Such language,” he said as he knelt down. He looked to the door, as if expecting it to bang open at any moment. Just in case, he put his back to it and acted as if he were busy wrapping the body. While Aaron watched, he pulled out a small medallion of the golden mountain from underneath his leather armor.

“I’m not the most faithful,” Senke said as Aaron’s eyes widened in shock. “I treat it more like a good luck charm than anything else. Doing what we do makes prayer hard sometimes, you know? But whatever you want to say, or want to learn, I’ll do my best. I might be signing my death warrant, but if you need help with girls, love, or faith, rely on me. You’re a good kid, Aaron. I’m not proud of all I do, but it’s better than what I did before joining the Spider Guild. One day, maybe I’ll get out.”

Aaron stopped scrubbing, seeing that whatever blood was in the carpet wasn’t going anywhere through his meager efforts. He tossed the wet, crimson blanket on top of Robert’s body, glad that his head was covered. He didn’t want to see those sad eyes staring up at him.

“Everyone needs friends,” Senke said. “Even people like you and me. Thren seems determined as the abyss to keep you from having any. But we’ll be training together, hopefully for the next several years. When we do, we can talk more, alright?”

Aaron nodded.

“What do we do about the body?” he asked.

“Leave it here,” Senke said. “We’ve done enough. I’ll get a few of our lower ranks to smuggle it out one of the tunnels. I think it’s time you and me got something stiff to drink.”

Aaron smiled.

“Senke…thank you. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

Senke winked.

“Keep it to yourself, Haern.”