Chapter Twenty-One

 

 

The children were ushered off to the neighbour’s for a night of fun and games with other children their age. In trade, they gave nothing more than thanks, making Av suspicious that his father was doing more than simply training the village.

Ervam had retired to the country. Retiring meant not working more than necessary. It did not mean training everyone for miles around, which apparently was the case. Trainers in their prime worked with villages or people nearby to train them to defend themselves. Not men past their prime who were retired.

When Av pointed this out to his father he had been given a look that strongly encouraged him to drop the topic.

Upon entering his home, Ervam immediately went to the cupboard and pulled out a bottle. Av grimaced and sat at the table. Jer took the seat across from him.

“One really shouldn’t drink so early in the morning,” Av said.

“If we get you drunk now,” Ervam said, setting a glass in front of Av, “you might be recovered by tomorrow morning, rather than having a hangover all day. As this isn’t for fun, I thought you might appreciate the extra time to recover before the children return screaming from the sweets they’ll be given before they come home.”

“Why are they being given sweets?” Jer asked.

Ervam opened the bottle and poured the drink before he answered with, “Because the last time I had their children, they found my sweets and ate the entire bag. Their parents blamed me for not paying close-enough attention.”

Av pulled the drink towards himself. “If I’m still aching, you two need to deal with them. Since this is your experiment and all.”

“Quit stalling and drink the damned thing,” Jer said.

Downing the alcohol in one gulp, Av shuddered. He set the glass down gently and took the bottle from his father when Ervam attempted to pour another drink. No sense wasting the time to pour it out if drunk was the state he was going for. The quicker he drank, the drunker he’d get.

“I’ll just pull from the bottle, if it’s all the same to you,” Av said.

Ervam took the seat beside Jer.

All was quiet as Av drank. The edges blurred a little, his limbs heated with the drink. Satisfied that he was not quite in his right state of mind, Av set the bottle to the side. He was determined to remember what they asked him, whether they wanted him to or not.

“Ask away,” he said.

“I don’t think you’ve had enough,” Ervam said.

“He’s definitely not blackout drunk,” Jer grumbled.

“Ask,” Av said, slapping a hand down on the table. “Or I stop drinking.”

“Fair enough,” Ervam said, adjusting in his seat. “This village you want to raze to the ground, you’ve been odd about it, so let’s start there. It could be the line of conversation that leads us where we need to go.”

Av nodded and took another swig from the bottle. He was thirsty suddenly.

“Can you tell us anything about the village?” Jer asked. “Fortifications, people, children? Population or placement in the land, even?”

“That’s a little specific,” Ervam said to Jer.

“None, there are, none, two, and by a little lake,” Av said quickly. “Come on, give me a hard one.”

“Did he just say the population is two?” Jer asked Ervam.

The older man nodded. “That he did. Doesn’t mean it’s completely wrong. He answered very quickly. Could be two ranks, rest commoner.”

“True,” Jer said with a nod.

Av sighed and picked up the bottle. “You won’t believe me until I’m blacked out, will you?”

“This is just an experiment,” Jer said.

“Yeah, well, it’s not my fault the information you’re hearing isn’t making sense because you’ve never seen a village riddled with lines,” Av growled before he swallowed as much as he could.

The edges were more than just blurred now. The warm tingly feeling flooded his senses, blurring his instincts.

“Is Aren all right?” Ervam asked.

“Define… all right,” Av said.

“Physically?” Jer asked.

“There’s a rank there, so she’ll be fine,” Av said, waving Jer off.

“Mentally,” Ervam countered.

“About the same as when she left,” Av said. “Maybe a timeout will make her better, give her time to think about things instead of being all impulsive and just listening to whatever is told to her.”

“That’s good,” Jer said. “Wonder what happened, then.”

Av slammed his hand on the table, which also happened to still be clutching the bottle. “Don’t bring that up!”

“We don’t have to talk about that,” Ervam said. “Maybe we could talk about the strength of this healer?”

“I don’t want to talk about that; there are other things to talk about,” Av grumbled.

“Like what?” Jer asked. “Aren is infected, there are things we need to know to keep her protected and we can’t exactly ask her right now.”

“How about we talk about…” Av slapped the table again and paused, making absolutely certain he had both their attentions before he continued. “…Whether or not any of you idiots has told Aren that she is infected?”

Silence.

Jer frowned in thought. Ervam’s face went blank for a moment before horror came over his features. The silence continued as Av gloated, rewarding himself with a sip from the bottle.

“Everyone’s talking about it,” Av said. “Everyone’s got an opinion on it and everyone says that’s why she’s acting the way she’s acting. That the infection is why these things are happening to her. But have any of you sat her down and really explained what’s gone on?”

“I’m sure someone—” Jer started.

“Must have, someone must have filled her in,” Ervam said.

“Unless one of you did it,” —Av waggled a finger between the two of them— “she doesn’t know.”

“Why didn’t you tell her?” Jer demanded.

“I been chasing after her and trying to break off an arranged mating,” Av slurred at his brother. “Why didn’t you tell her?”

“It’s not my place!” Jer protested.

“You adopted her before the thone,” Av said.

“The what?” his father asked.

“The throne,” Av repeated, making certain his mouth made the sounds he meant to make.

“As a ploy to keep her father off of it,” Jer said. “The lords and ladies recognize my right to sit there, but not any other connection to her.”

“Next you’ll say you stubbed your toe and got distracted,” Av growled.

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Ervam said to Jer as Av took another drink from the bottle. “Take the lumps with the answers. We should have sat that girl down and explained what was going on.”

“Fine,” Jer growled. “How do you destroy a link that is like the throne, but isn’t the throne?”

“Ask Telm,” Av said.

“Like we should ask her about her amulet?” Jer asked Ervam.

“She’s the only one who can say no to the connection,” Av said pointedly.

Ervam sighed. “Not the throne speaking, just Av.”

“Drunk Av,” Av growled. “We didn’t tell her when she was here?”

“No, we didn’t want to worry her,” Ervam said. “Why put a panic into her when we suspected it could be her last days?”

“When she took the throne,” Av countered.

“We didn’t have time between her parents arrival and all else,” Jer said.

“Maybe I mentioned it when she kicked me between the legs,” Av said, trying to get his mind to focus on that one place in time.

Nothing came to mind. He could not narrow his thoughts down to the present, let alone a moment days before when Aren had been upset with him. Upset, Av blew a breath through his closed lips.

Thinking was hard.

“I’m going to bed,” he announced and stood.

The room did a sickening spin. Jer and Ervam appeared at his side, hands getting in the way as they insisted on stepping into his path and moving about whenever he turned away for a moment. He grudgingly gave over the bottle he had been drinking from, but only because one of them promised to return in a little while with another full one.

“Wait, wait,” Av said when they tried to leave him. He motioned to the ring box on the nightstand, seemingly too far away for him to reach. “Open the box.”

“Open the…” Jer’s voice accompanied the blob that moved from the door, to the nightstand.

Not even his eyes were focusing any longer. What bottle had he pulled down to drink?

“There, see?” The box was shown to him, closed and set back on the nightstand. “It’s safe and sound.”

“No.” Av dragged out the word. “Leave it open.”

A sigh, and the box was opened once more, placed right on the edge of the nightstand. By him but still too far away to reach.

They left him then, turning out the lights as they went, closing the bedroom door. Av watched the ring in the darkness, ever aware of where it was despite the lack of light. Like Aren. He couldn’t see her, but was still aware of where she was in the world.

The bedspread whispered to him and Av rolled over, tugging the blankets up higher. He closed his eyes and tried to get the world to stop spinning.

“Can’t break it, just got to mash it in with the others,” Av grumbled to himself, tugging blankets over his head. “Not the first person stupid enough to make one.”