Chapter Twenty-Eight

 

 

Katherine raced through the castle, ignoring the odd looks cast in her direction by servants about their tasks. When she arrived at Alesh’s quarters, two guards were stationed on either side of the door like two grim-faced statues. Darl sat in the center of the hall facing the door, his legs crossed, his wrists resting on his knees.

“Ah, Katherine,” the Ferinan said, smiling as she approached, somehow recognizing her despite the fact that his eyes were closed.

She reminded herself to ask him about it later, but just now she was so focused on speaking to Alesh that she didn’t dare waste any time. “Has he come out?” she asked, glancing at the thick door.

Darl gave a small shake of his head. “Not yet, I’m afraid.”

“Fine,” she said, “if he won’t come to us, then I’ll go to him.” She marched toward the two guards who moved to stand in front of the door at her approach.

Katherine frowned, stopping. “I need to speak to him.”

“Forgive me, Lady Katherine,” one of the guards said apologetically, “but we have strict orders. No one is allowed into the Chosen’s rooms.”

Katherine took a slow, deep breath, telling herself to be calm. After all, it wouldn’t do any good for her to shout at the guard who was only trying to do his job. “Well,” she said, after a moment, “can you at least tell him I’m here, and wish to speak to him?”

“Of course, my lady,” the guard said, bowing his head.

He knocked softly on the door before poking his head inside. Katherine heard him speak, and heard Alesh answer in response, though his words were muffled by the door and unintelligible. After a moment, the guard closed the door, turning back to Katherine once more. “I am sorry, Lady Katherine,” he said, his voice sounding sincere, “but Chosen Alesh still does not wish to be disturbed.”

Katherine gritted her teeth, suddenly furious, then turned on her heel and walked back to Darl. “Can you believe this?” she hissed.

The Ferinan opened his eyes and studied her calmly. “What troubles you, Katherine?”

“Him,” she said, gesturing angrily at the door to Alesh’s quarters. “I understand that…that he’s upset, about, I mean what he did. I’m upset too. But gods help us there’s a war to fight out here.”

“He fights one already, Katherine,” Darl said softly, meeting her gaze. “And while you may be upset about his choice, you are not the one who had to make it. That burden is his and his alone.”

“But I need to speak with him,” Katherine said, the Ferinan’s unflappable demeanor, as so often was the case, serving to calm her own raging emotions. “To tell him that I understand what he did…to tell him…” She trailed off, not knowing exactly what she wanted to tell him. It had seemed so clear to her a few minutes ago when she’d been sitting with Merelda—what she would say, how she would say it—but now she was suddenly unsure.

“You seek to tell him that you accept his choice,” Darl said.

It wasn’t a question, but Katherine nodded. “Yes.”

“And that is good,” the Ferinan said, “but understand, Katherine, he does not accept it. It was a necessary choice, and he knows that. Yet he cannot accept what he did, and it is this war he fights, these two opposing things.”

“C-can’t we help him?”

Darl opened his mouth as if to answer, but there was the sound of shouting from down the hall. “—the gods, he’ll see me!” a voice roared. There was something familiar about the voice that Katherine couldn’t quite place. Darl uncoiled, like a snake preparing to strike, rising and withdrawing his spear in one motion as they both spun to stare down the hallway in the direction from which the voice had come.

“Please, sir,” a timid voice responded, “the Chosen has left strict orders that nobody is to be allowed into his quarters; what’s more, bringing a prisoner—”

“I’m not just some nobody, boy,” the first speaker growled, “and your Chosen owes me a castle, you want to know the truth. The least he can do is—” Just then, the owner of the voice rounded the corner, accompanied by what appeared to be at least twenty other people. The speaker cut off as he saw Katherine and Darl standing in the hallway, and although he was surrounded by at least a dozen guards—one standing in front of him with a red face, obviously the man who’d been trying and failing to convince him Alesh was admitting no one—Katherine could see him easily, so much larger was he than those around him.

“Larin?” she said in surprise, hardly able to believe her eyes, for the last time she had seen the giant Chosen she had been sure that he was dying.

The Chosen grinned widely. “Aye, that’s me, lass. Now, why don’t you tell this fella here that—” He cut off, grunting in surprise as Katherine brushed the soldier aside and wrapped Larin in a tight embrace. She hadn’t realized until that moment how much she’d missed the crass, often rude Chosen, but it wasn’t only that which sent a thrill of joy through her. For days, weeks, maybe, it had felt as if every surprise was destined to be a bad one, and to see the Chosen alive and well after she’d been sure he was dead struck her powerfully.

“Thank the gods you’re okay,” Katherine said.

“Well,” Larin said, “I will be, soon as you let me draw a breath.” He said it in his usual abrupt manner, but when Katherine stepped away, he was grinning.

He turned, and Katherine saw that Darl had walked up to stand beside her, his spear sheathed once more.

“Ah,” Larin said, offering his hand to the Ferinan who took it, “it’s good to see you’re both alive and well.”

“And you,” Katherine said.

Larin grunted. “I’m alive. Not sure I’d call myself well.”

“K-Katherine?” came a soft voice from somewhere behind Larin, in the mass of guards.

Katherine’s eyes went wide as she recognized it at once. No, she thought, it can’t—But it was. Grinning, Larin stepped to the side, and Katherine was left looking at Sonya standing beside a young boy, and a man wearing a cloak the hood of which obscured his features. “Sonya?” Katherine said, her voice catching.

There were tears in the little girl’s eyes as she nodded, and then Katherine could no longer see those tears for her own vision grew blurry, and she burst forward, pulling the young girl into a hug. “Oh, thank the gods,” Katherine breathed. “Thank the gods you’re alright.”

The girl said nothing, only crying softly, pulling Katherine tight against her. Larin grinned. “She told me about what happened on the trip here. Heard you misplaced her.”

“But…but how?” Katherine asked, still unable to believe that she was holding the little girl safe in her arms.

Larin was opening his mouth as if to answer, but he froze, his eyes going wide. There was a hiss from beside her, and Katherine saw that Darl had drawn his spear again, had it clenched tightly in both hands, his face twisted with a fury Katherine had never seen or thought to see on him.

“Darl?” she asked, unnerved by the uncharacteristic look in the Ferinan’s eyes. “What is it?”

“It’s him,” Darl said, his voice little more than a low growl.

Katherine frowned, confused as she sat Sonya down beside her. “Who? Darl, it’s just Sonya and Larin, wh—”

“He knows who he is,” Darl said in a voice shaking with barely contained rage, “he knows well what he has done, the crimes that might be laid at his feet.” It was then that Katherine realized Darl wasn’t looking at Sonya or Larin, but past them to the man wearing the cloak with the hood covering his face.

“I don’t understand,” Katherine said slowly. “Wh-who is he?” She looked from Chosen Larin who had a decidedly troubled, almost embarrassed look on his face, to Darl whose expression was so hard, so cold it might well have been carved from stone.

“Show her,” Darl snarled. The figure hesitated, not as if afraid, but as if considering, then slowly he raised his head, allowing the hood of his cloak to fall back.

Katherine let out a gasp, her breath catching in her throat. “I-it can’t be,” she managed.

The Ekirani known as the Broken, the leader of the enemy army and author of so much death and destruction stood calmly, with no fear or concern showing on his tattooed face.

With a hiss, Darl started forward, but Sonya stepped in front of the Ekirani, her hands held up, her eyes brimming with tears. “Wait, Darl, please,” the girl said.

Darl came up short, a shocked expression on his face as he took in the girl defending the Ekirani.

“Sonya,” Katherine said, “please, you need to move.”

The girl set her jaw, shaking her head. “H-he saved me,” she said.

Katherine’s eyes went wide, stunned to hear the girl say such a thing, and she glanced at Darl, but it seemed to be taking all of the Ferinan’s concentration, all his will, not to lunge at the Ekirani. The tattooed man said nothing to defend himself, only stood with his hands manacled, waiting for whatever would come with a calmness she didn’t think she could have managed under the same circumstances.

“I…I think you need to explain what’s going on, Larin,” Katherine said, only somewhat comforted by the guards surrounding the Ekirani.

Larin grunted. “Just heard it all myself, and I’ll admit it’s a bit hard to believe, but I thought it best to bring him here and let Alesh decide what to do with him. Perhaps it’d be wise to tell him now, that way we can all discuss it together.”

Darl still looked on the verge of attacking the man, and who could blame him? Because of the Ekirani, nearly all of Darl’s tribe had been killed. “Darl,” Katherine said softly, “I think…I think we should listen to Larin’s story first.”

Several tense seconds passed, a war of emotions raging in the Ferinan’s gaze, and Katherine was growing increasingly sure that he was going to attack the man regardless. In the end, he sheathed his spear once more, a look of such anguish passing over his face as he did so that Katherine felt her heart reach out to him, but it was gone a moment later, hidden behind an expressionless mask.

“We must speak to the Chosen.” Darl said in a hoarse voice, “for this one’s fate is not mine to decide.”

Katherine saw what it cost her friend to say the words, and once he was finished, he seemed somehow less, his shoulders slumping as if in defeat. Her heart aching, she turned to the guards. “I need to see him. Now.”

“Forgive us, Lady Katherine,” the guard who’d spoken before said, “but as I told you before, our orders—”

“I don’t care about your orders,” Katherine interrupted. “I mean to talk to him. I am going through that door one way or the other. If you want to stop me, you’ll have to kill me.” With that, she brushed her way past the guards, half-expecting to be cut down as she did, but the two men only watched, stunned, as she threw the door open.

Alesh was sitting in the chair behind his desk, though “sitting” might not have been the right word. He slumped in it, looking as defeated, in his way, as Darl did. He raised his head at her entrance, his eyes going wide when he saw that it was her.
“K-Katherine?” he asked. “What are y—”

“We have to talk,” she said.

He shook his head slowly, a wretched expression of grief on his face. “I know you probably hate me, all of you. I’m sorry…for what I did. I wish…” He trailed off, only shaking his head again as if unable to finish.

Katherine wanted to comfort him, to tell him she finally understood his decision, but now was not the time, so she took a slow, deep breath. “We’ll talk, Alesh, later. But for now, there’s something you need to see.”

As if on cue, the guards and the group, led by Larin, stepped inside Alesh’s quarters.

Alesh stared at the procession in confusion until he spotted the young girl. “Sonya?” he breathed.

She gave him a small smile, “Hi, brother.”

She’d barely gotten the words out before Alesh bounded from his chair, and scooped her into his arms. “Oh, thank the gods,” he said, holding her close. “I thought you were…never mind what I thought. Gods, but I’m glad to see you’re alright.”

Sonya hugged him back just as tightly, and for a time everyone remained silent, Katherine feeling a surge of joy to finally see Alesh seem alive for the first time in days. And not just alive—happy.

After a time, he put the girl down and saw Larin for the first time. “Chosen?” he asked, his eyes going wide. “I thought…but how—”

“Oh, I’m still kickin’ around,” Larin said, grinning. “Seems the gods have a sense of humor, alright. As to how, well, that’s a bit of a story, and I’m thinkin’ we got more pressin’ matters just now. Still, it’s fine to see you. Damn fine.” He started to offer his hand to Alesh, and grunted in surprise as Alesh embraced him as well. His grin widening, the giant returned the embrace.

“Whatever happened, I’m glad to see you’re alright,” Alesh said. He smiled, his eyes roaming over the rest of the group.

A figure stepped out from behind the broad-shouldered Chosen, a familiar figure with whorls of tattoos covering his face, and the smile froze on Alesh’s face.

Suddenly, his sword was in his hands, though he didn’t remember drawing it. “Get back, Sonya,” he growled, starting forward. But to his surprise, the girl didn’t listen. Instead, she came to stand in front of the Ekirani, blocking Alesh’s path.

Alesh frowned, daring to glance away from the tattooed man only long enough to look at the girl’s face. She appeared nervous, but there was a determined set to her jaw. Still, it wasn’t her nervousness or her determination that froze Alesh, that seemed to pin him there where he stood as if by magic. It was her fear.

Sonya, one of the very few who had been kind to him, who had not believed him to be cursed simply because of the scar on his shoulder, was afraid. And it was not the Ekirani who she gazed at with eyes wide with fear—it was Alesh.

“P-please don’t hurt him,” she said into that frozen moment of stillness. “He’s changed. H-he’s good.”

He’s good. Alesh wanted to be outraged by those two simple words, words that cut to his heart like a sharpened knife, but he found that he did not have outrage in him. He was not angry, not really. He was tired. So very tired. “Sonya,” he said, “if you had any idea of what this man’s capable of, of what he’s done—”

“He saved me,” she said, interrupting him.

Alesh frowned. “What?”

“T-those men,” she said, sniffling, “they took me, and…they hurt me. But Tarex saved me, Alesh. He…he made the men stop hurting me, and took me away.”

Alesh was shocked at that, but still he hesitated. He did not know what would possibly have motivated the Broken to save Sonya or how she could ever trust him. He only knew that he trusted her, but it was not just his belief in her that stayed the sword in his hand. There was some dark wisdom lurking at the back of his thoughts. Could the Broken have really become something else, something better? Alesh believed that he could. After all, if Alesh could become a monster, the type of monster who would order over a hundred defenseless prisoners killed, then it made sense that a monster might well become a man.

Still, he hesitated. The Broken was far from innocent, enough blood on his hands to drown in. Perhaps, Alesh was a monster. Perhaps, those in the castle had even been right so many years ago, and he had always been one. But monsters could do good, too, and he could not imagine how killing the exiled Ekirani could be anything but good.

But Sonya was still looking at him, her eyes worried, unsure, as if he were some beast capable of anything. The others were watching him too, even the Ekirani, appearing outwardly calm, only awaiting his choice. Finally, Alesh slid his sword back into its scabbard with a trembling hand, and everyone in the room seemed to take a breath.

“You know,” he said to Sonya, “this man is a murderer and worse.”

“He was those things, Alesh,” Sonya protested. “He’s not anymore.”

And for her, it was that simple. Alesh could not tell, not then, whether that was wisdom or only childish fancy. “Is that true?” he said, glancing at the Ekirani.

The tattooed man glanced to the side of the room, and Alesh felt a brief moment of embarrassment as he took in the shattered remnants of the glass candleholder which, in his anger, he’d thrown against the wall minutes ago. Then the Ekirani met Alesh’s eyes, giving the slightest of shrugs, perhaps all that the manacles clamped about his wrists would allow. “What is broken may yet be mended, Chosen.”

Alesh frowned, trying to decide if the man were mocking him somehow, but the Ekirani’s face was expressionless, and his words struck Alesh like a hammerblow. What is broken may yet be mended.

“We won’t kill you,” he said finally, “not now. Because then we’d be no better than you are.” He glanced around at the others, but if they had any opinions on the matter, any feelings about his pronouncement, they were keeping them close, all save Sonya who was grinning. “But mostly, we will not because my sister asked us not to, and I believe in her. But let me tell you something, Broken—”

“He’s not The Broken anymore, Alesh,” Sonya said, her relief that the Ekirani wasn’t going to be executed, at least not today, clear in her voice. “His name’s Tarex.”

“Very well,” Alesh said slowly. “Sonya says that you saved her and, for that, I won’t kill you, not yet. But hear me then, Tarex of the Ekirani, if I find out this is some sort of trick, some deceit to harm those I care about, then I will make sure you suffer before you die. Do you understand?”

“I understand. I will say only that I have been broken, but am broken no longer, and I would help, if I could, to right some of those wrongs that I have done.”

Alesh watched the man, searching for any signs of deceit. He saw none, but that, of course, did not mean they were not there. “Very well,” he said finally. “Then prove it. Tell me everything you know about the army approaching the city, it’s numbers, its disposition. How many archers, how many—”

“Chosen Alesh!”

Alesh spun with the others at the sound of a shout from the hallway just as someone burst through the door, and Alesh had his sword halfway drawn before he realized it was Captain Nordin.

“Chosen,” the captain panted, “it’s the enemy army.”

Alesh frowned, thinking he knew what the man would say but needing to ask the question anyway. “What is it?”

Nordin met his eyes. “They’re here.”

Alesh had been expecting this moment, of course, had been spending days and weeks since taking over the city doing what he could to prepare for it, yet now that it was here, he felt wrong-footed, off-balance, and unsure. And could it be coincidence that the leader of the enemy army had shown up in the castle shortly before the army itself? “Remember what I told you,” Alesh said, meeting the Ekirani’s eyes. “If it turns out you’re up to something, you die first.”

The tattooed man inclined his head, no more than that, and Alesh turned to the others who were all looking at him. Suddenly, the last several days he’d spent in his rooms refusing to speak to anyone, seemed foolish. Perhaps he was only a monster, only a weapon, but weapons could still do good, if they were pointed in the right direction. “Show me, Captain.”

Then a thought struck him, and he turned to Darl. “Look, Darl, we’ve tracked down all the traitors in the city that we knew about, but there might be more.” He glanced at Sonya. “I know it isn’t fair to ask you, but could you watch over Sonya for me?”

The Ferinan looked shocked. “Forgive me, Alesh, but are you sure? I already failed you once by letting Lady Sonya be taken and—”

“You did not fail,” Alesh whispered so the others could not hear as he clasped the man’s shoulder. “If you could not have protected her, no one could have, and there is no one in this world I would trust more.”

“Thank you, Chosen,” Darl said, inclining his head. “I will protect her with my own life.”

Alesh nodded. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“If the army is here,” Larin said, “I think I’d best be goin’. Me and Odrick and his da have been working on some surprises for our unwelcome visitors.” He glanced at the youth standing beside Sonya, one who Alesh was ashamed to say he had very nearly forgotten in the hectic last few minutes. “Come with me, Pierce, lad. We’ll get you sorted out.” The youth nodded, a dazed expression on his face as he followed the Chosen through the door.

Alesh watched them go, wondering at what the man had meant and what surprises he could be working on, but not for too long. After all, he had plenty to concern him just now, and he trusted Larin enough to know that whatever it was he’d been busy with, it could only prove a help sooner or later. “Alright, Captain,” Alesh said, “show me. And bring him along,” he said to the guards still surrounding the Ekirani. “If it turns out he’s plotting against us, I want him close.” Aware of Sonya watching him, he didn’t say what he intended to do, if that were the case, but judging by the knowing look in the Ekirani’s eyes, he didn’t think he needed to.

“Alesh,” Katherine began, stepping closer, “about before—”

“Find Rion,” he said abruptly, unable to hear what she would say and hating himself, in that moment, for his cowardice. “If the army’s here, we’re going to need all the luck we can get.” And that, at least, was true since whatever powers he had once been given as Amedan’s Chosen were gone, and he was only a man again. A man with no idea what he was doing.

If he hadn’t known better, if he hadn’t known that she had seen the monster he was, he would have thought the expression that flashed across her face was one of hurt to be so easily dismissed. “Captain,” he said, “with me.” Then he was out the door and running through the castle toward the western battlements, the group of guards escorting the Ekirani trailing behind him.