Chapter 18

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“Thank you, Thurmond,” Dynan said as the attendant poured him a cup of tea. It didn’t feel like he’d gotten nearly enough sleep, but he couldn’t justify going back to bed when Dain had been awake all night. Dynan couldn’t tell by looking at him though, amazed again at his brother’s endurance. “Would you ask Gable to bring over a new uniform?”

“He’s already done so, Your Highness. Will you take your meal here?”

“No, thank you. I’m not hungry.”

Thurmond nodded. “My wife will be returning shortly.”

Dynan looked at him. “So I better get that way before she does, is that it?” Thurmond only tilted his head and shrugged. “All right, but small.”

While he ate, he looked over the comboard Dain had left for him, questioning the wisdom of allowing his brother to deal with the Finance Ministry. He rarely displayed that kind of responsibility, at least without someone goading him on, but it seemed that now was one of those times. Marc stirred then and Dynan quickly checked to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, but found him waking instead. He wished Dain were here to manage this, but quickly pushed that thought from mind.

“Good morning.”

Marc turned away from him, curling up again. He never looked more miserable. Dynan felt sorry for him and equally responsible for allowing this to happen.

“I’m sorry, Marc,” he said after a silence. “I’m sorry I ever got you into this. I’m starting to be sorry I ever went to Cadal. Your brother was right. I never should have gone there at all.” Dynan didn’t expect an answer and didn’t get one. He stood, setting the comboard down on the bedside stand, wishing he could do something to change the haunted look in Marc’s eyes. “I have to go get changed.”

Marc didn’t move, or otherwise acknowledge that he’d heard him. Dynan began to see what Geneal meant, and questioned whether or not Dr. Reich’s help might not be necessary after all. Her instructions were to get him up and get him moving. She wanted him to eat and to drink as much water as they could get in him. Dynan didn’t see much hope of any of those things happening.

While he changed, he kept glancing back into the room. Marc didn’t seem to notice. At one of those periodic checks though, he had taken the comboard and was looking at it. Dynan wasn’t sure if that was necessarily a good thing, since all the scheduling changes they’d made were right there for him to see. Geneal’s instructions as well. It was too late to get it away from him though. Dynan wasn’t sure what his reaction would be. When he heard the comboard clattering down on the bed stand, he guessed it wasn’t a good one. He heard Marc getting up, surprised because Geneal hadn’t expected that to happen without at least a little encouragement. He walked through on the way to the washroom, pulling on his robe.

Dynan glanced up at Gable. “I need to talk to him. Go tell Thurmond to stay put,” he whispered, and then finished dressing on his own.

This wasn’t nearly as difficult a process because his shoulder didn’t hurt so terribly. He turned the brace off and tested how far he could move his arm before pain stopped him. He still couldn’t raise his hand up over his head, but the radius of pain-free movement had increased substantially. He still had trouble getting his jacket on.

Marc watched him while he chased a sleeve. Finally, he took pity and reached to help. “Thanks. Did you see this?” Dynan asked, raising his arm twice as far as he’d been able to. “Seems that when you saved me from drowning last night, there was this unexpected residual benefit.”

Marc seemed to shrink back inside himself, but Dynan had expected that.

“We’re all trying to figure out how to get through this, Marc. Dain keeps telling me that it isn’t an instantaneous process. If you’re willing to endure it, then so am I. You get closer to understanding it every time something happens. We all do. I just have to try and remember that while it’s happening. I don’t hate you for what you did. It scares me. I can’t really help that, any more than you can control what you’re doing. So I’m going to be terrified, and you’re going to be out of control, and hopefully, we’ll both survive it.”

He retrieved the uniform that Thurmond had already set out for Marc, handing it over to him.

“Do you remember what you did? It seemed similar to what happened when I was dying before. You don’t remember? You remember hauling me out of the river though, right? I wanted to try and show you what happened. Dain is sure it’s important, so I’m going to sit here and think about it. I want you to listen in.”

It took Marc a while to agree, but finally, he nodded. He started pulling on his clothes, and Dynan could feel him watching as he went through the experience of drowning in his mind. There wasn’t any way to leave out the real dread he’d felt at the prospect of Marc dying, and saw that it surprised him to learn that Dynan was the first to jump in after him.

It was more difficult to maintain a safe distance than he realized though, and the next instant, Dynan felt water bubbling up over his head. The air left his lungs, replaced by water. It happened so fast that he couldn’t get out of it.

Marc was right there with him, just as surprised that they were back in the water. He grabbed hold of him and pulled. “And you think I don’t have any control,” he said, shaking his head at him.

Dynan slumped back against the wall, rolling his eyes as he pulled in a breath. He laughed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean for that to happen. I always have had a problem with water. Are you all right?”

“What are you doing?” Dain asked suddenly.

“We’re all right,” Marc answered. “He was just trying to show me what I did.”

“And he thinks he can do this? Did it work?”

“Sort of.”

“Sort of? Meaning no. Dynan, don’t try to do me any more favors, all right?”

His voiced faded, but the point was taken. Dynan found Marc almost smiling about it, making it worth the chastisement from Dain. “It didn’t work?”

“No.” He laughed a little. “I think the only way it would work is if you were really dying, and I don’t think we want to go quite that far.” He glanced at him. “You want to tell me what Dain is doing in the dungeons?”

“Oh damn! I forgot. I’ve got to get down there, or he’ll never make it through this.”

“Get through what?”

“Arlon’s execution.” He froze for a moment, not sure how Marc would react. “I guess you didn’t read that far down the list.”

Marc only glanced at him, rolling his eyes while he continued to get dressed. Dynan realized he meant to come with him. “He wouldn’t have told me anything anyway,” Marc said, pulling on his jacket and then turned to go.

Dynan stopped him because he’d forgotten to pick up the Lord Chancellor’s seal, and held it out to him. When Marc hesitated, Dynan went ahead and attached it to his jacket. “You’re doing a good job, Marc. I’m sorry I haven’t said so. The only reason we changed your schedule is because it was too much for anyone to manage.”

“Did you have to give Finance to Dain?”

Dynan laughed. “He did that on his own, probably with ulterior motives. I’ll keep an eye on him.”

Marc nodded, but didn’t look as though he believed it. They moved through his study while Dynan tried to keep the growing terror coming from his brother from becoming his own. The thought struck him then that having Marc with them would not be a good idea, and he stopped. Marc stopped too, and almost took a step away.

“Maybe I should stay here,” Marc said, moving to his desk. When Dynan hesitated, he looked up. “Go. He’s scared to death. I don’t want to go down there anyway.” Dynan nodded, and turned to leave, but Marc stopped him. “The comboard? I want to see what you two have done to me.”

Dynan smiled a little at that and left him. His guards followed, forming up quickly when he didn’t wait for them. He hit the stairs at a trot, but swore suddenly when he saw Alexia coming down the opposite stair. The Queen smiled pleasantly as she approached.

“Your com officer has been telling me all morning that you couldn’t be disturbed, as recently as a few moments ago. But I see that this is not true.”

“They haven’t been told differently, Your Majesty, because I’m busy. What can I do for you?”

“As I’ve said before, there are other details that we haven’t yet addressed. I wish to have them resolved now.”

“I’ll meet with you as soon as possible, but I can’t do it right now.”

“When can I expect to examine the gems?”

“Tomorrow, before your daughter arrives.”

“While you thrive on last minute arrangements, Dynan, I do not. This evening would certainly be better.”

“The gems are being cleaned and remounted. They won’t be ready until tomorrow. They’ve been locked up in the vault since my mother wore them, and weren’t in what you would consider presentable condition. They’ll be ready before Danetha arrives. I really do have to go.”

He smiled as nicely as he could manage, nodded and left her. “You know Marc, I’m beginning to wish that you hadn’t been able to stop yourself that night when Alexia first got here.”

“Wouldn’t have looked very good with Creal and Drake standing right there,” he said.

“We could have blamed it on Maralt, which would have been true.”

“Dain told you to say that, didn’t he?”

“Yes. Smart man, my brother.” He waved to the door guard. “Open.”

“You’ll have to use your access code, Your Highness.”

Dynan frowned. “Why?”

“Prince Dain has the keys.”

“Oh.” He pressed the proper key sequence. “Isn’t that against the rules?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“An understandable exception then.” Dynan looked at him, agreeing completely. An involuntary shiver ran up his spine as the guard held the door for him. The stairs down appeared before him, but he was stopped by fear. His own this time, but accentuated by Dain’s.

He found his brother outside the isolation cells, waiting with his guard. Roland was talking to him, trying to assure him that it wasn’t going to take much longer. Dain didn’t believe him. It was the only time Dynan could ever remember seeing him so terrified he couldn’t speak. In his fist, he held the dungeon keys tightly. Dynan moved to him quickly.

“We don’t have to do this. We’ll read the report when it’s done.”

“I’m all right.”

The isolation block door chirped, giving Dain enough time to straighten before the door opened and Arlon Drayer was brought out. The shackles at his wrists and ankles made it difficult for him to walk, and forced his hands down in front of him. He stopped when he saw them.

“Well, I’m touched, and quite frankly, amazed that you’re here, Dain. Down in the dungeons again. More fun for us all. I can see you shaking.”

“That’s enough out of you.” The guards who escorted him, shook him into silence, and not too gently. Dain didn’t move.

The door behind them opened. Ralion, Allie, and Trevan came in. To Dynan’s surprise, Gaden was with them. Geneal followed with Drake Mardon.

“We’ll take him,” Ralion said and with Allie, moved to Arlon’s side. They pushed him to get him moving, forcing him back through cellblock doors, one after the other.

Dynan didn’t know how Dain was able to move. The more doors they went through, each of them opened and then locked behind them, the greater his fear grew. The only sound was the echoing march of footfalls as they took Arlon to his death.

Memories of a different dungeon flooded through him, tortures endured that left Dynan numb. When Maralt wasn’t there, but certainly under his direction, they beat him, using the whips that had left the scars across his back. All Dain remembered was finally begging Arlon to stop, not the countless times he’d suffered through his sadistic pleasures without saying a word. Dynan saw how so much of his brother’s actions now weren’t dictated by the fearlessness he’d always exhibited. He felt this was his only chance to redeem what he saw as an unforgivable failure.

Ahead of them, the corridor ended in a set of double doors. Dynan had been to the execution chamber only once. His father thought seeing the room where the King’s justice was carried out important to the future King’s education. Along the length of stone walls, cells stood empty and open. Dynan knew they’d been used during Kamien’s reign. The dank, rotting smell had only abated slightly, leaving them all short of breath. Row on row of black pits reeked of death.

Dain stopped abruptly, and Dynan heard the distinct squeal of a rat. In the sudden silence that followed, Arlon laughed.