The Long Road To... - 18. Double Trouble

“Caught assassin,” Ismenios said between mouthfuls. “Two killed. Three sent. Captain on trail.”

“Coward stayed out of the city. Let others do his work.” Artor spat on the floor.

“What happened to the other man then? The third assassin?” Trajan asked over his tankard.

Ismenios reddened. “Followed to captain. Killed in fight. Stabbed two of mine.”

Indeed it seemed a lot happened since the time we had left. Justinian sent out his men out to scout and watch the roads. Ismenios and his men ambushed the captain and the remaining assassin. The man was killed in the fight and the captain was captured. Justinian decided to send him to Ambrosius and let him decide if he were ready for war.

“Father has troops ready,” Ismenios said. “King men and ours.”

“What are we waiting for then?” Marius slouched back against the wall.

“For the right time,” Phaetheon said as he sat next to me smiling. “And I think it is nearly here.”

“What did the captain say?” Trajan leaned in as we all did.

“Plenty. Most not unexpected. You will hear more of it tomorrow. Ambrosius arrives tonight and will hold audience midday.” He looked at me. “We will talk before then.” Everyone at the board looked at me.

~ ~ ~

I retired to my room. I sat in the dark trying to relax when I heard commotion below. Horns sounded and men shouted. I ventured to the window and spied a group of men on horseback come though the gate. Approaching from the inner wall below me I could see the bright color. His orange-red capes told me who he was even if I could not make out his face or crown. The king dismounted and walked towards the doors before he became lost to my sight.

I watched the men below dust off and unpack from the trip. A baggage cart of sorts had followed and I could see the servants unloading it. A few were singing some work song in another language. Before I realized it, the courtyard was empty. Stars shown in the sky on one side, flame of sunset in the other. The torches had been lit.

~ ~ ~

I was greeted, very early, by Marius knocking at my door. “Come, come. I was told to see that you eat and wash before seeing the King.”

The King had kept me awake all night. I could not fathom being able to talk in front of a court of people about everything that I had seen. Maybe I wouldn’t have to. The captain was here and that might be enough. Maybe. Still, I had to trust in the kindness of Phaetheon and the others to help me through this and get me out of here.

“Come on. No time to waste.” Marius smiled at me. He knew something. He stared at me and I had to grin slightly. So young.

We ate quietly off to the side in the hall. The area around the head table was being re-scrubbed thoroughly and the head chair polished. The only singing today was coming from the wash women.

“I remember that song from when I was a child. It is about a maiden enslaved by her family, forced to work as a scrub maid. She meets a beggar, who is really a knight in disguise. They fall in love but she knows she cannot leave with him because he is a lowly person and would never be able to buy her freedom. He asks the family for her hand anyway but they refuse. He promises to return and buy her. He goes on his adventures and true to his word comes back in one year with the gold. They still refuse to give her up and demand more. With help of the local Lord, the family is made poor and they finally agree to free her. He reveals whom he truly is. Everyone has learned their lesson and the knight and maiden live happily ever after. True love perseveres.”

He smiled at me.

“I think many of those women there are waiting for their knights in white armor.” He grinned once more. “It would be much easier to leave here I should think. I understand that many are granted dowries by the King.”

I looked at him plainly. No worries creased his brow. In some ways he was like Joachim. I wondered what Joachim was doing right now. Marius would make some lady a fine and true husband someday, better he get his adventures in now. Settle down in the city later. Follow Artor’s example. His life was secure, other than his job. His road was set and lay directly ahead. I watched him watching one of the ladies, a younger one. She looked up suddenly. They caught each other’s eyes and she blushed. With a prompting nudge from and older woman, she returned to her work.

Marius smiled and reddened. After a few more moments appraising the girl he sprung up and gestured to me. “Ready? We are off to the bathhouse. It was reserved for you specifically. Phaetheon saw to it.”

The bath was empty other than Marius, myself and a servant. I disrobed and slid into the warm water. Marius entered across from me.

“What is that scar from?”

“Don’t remember.“ I shrugged.

“You have so many. You are quite brave to have seen so many battles. Maybe I will have some like that someday.” He glanced over my chest and shoulders. “Phaetheon said there are many wars where you come from. Is that true?”

“Yes.”

“Is that why you came here? I mean so far away. To get away from all of that?”

I nodded.

“Will you go back?”

I shrugged.

He frowned. “What do you intend to do then?”

~ ~ ~

New clothes were waiting, they had been tailored to fit to me. Handsome ones. Not Artor’s spares. Clean tanned leather complete with lined cape. The crest of green-blue with black crescent was stitched onto the chest. I had been officially marked as one of Phaetheon’s men.

We were met cordially by Budeck. The king had requested my presence in his private audience chamber. I flushed slightly, my worries were finally coming true. I looked at Marius who smiled.

“Don’t worry. It’s a private audience.” He laughed. “Much better than in there.” He gestured down toward the great hall.

I sighed in relief. Then held my breath. I still had to speak.

We followed Budeck around through corridors I had not seen before. My anxiety was increasing and I was doing everything I could not to trip and fall.

“Now this meeting is in the King’s private study.” I heard Budeck say. “He does not require a formal greeting or anything like that there, however, a courteous bow or something along that order will be seen as most respectful.”

A small flight of stairs led us to two guards standing before a large, solid, wooden door. On the door was a carved sun-disc.

A quick and hard rap on the door was followed by a murmured greeting from within. Budeck opened the door. I followed slowly. I looked back at Marius who had stopped. He smiled and shook his head.

The room was overwhelmingly chaotic. Books, charts, chairs, things, everywhere. Behind a large wooden desk sat Phaetheon.

My jaw dropped.

He rose tall in a red-orange shirt emblazoned with the symbol of the sun. Gold on his head and around his neck.

“Sire. I present Talon…” He coughed and looked at me.

I made a small bow at the waist and sweated where I stood.

How different he looked.

“Thank you Budeck.” There was something not right about his voice. “You may go. I will send for you when I need.”

Budeck bowed and left quietly, closing the door behind himself.

Ambrosius looked at me with no particular expression. I looked down and suddenly at the crest I now bore on my chest. Suddenly, I was different. Alone again.

“Have you been treated well since you have come here?”

I looked up into his large brown eyes. Not the same somehow. Not the calculating mind behind them that I had seen before.

I nodded.

“Good. Please…” he gestured to a fine chair and tankard to the side of his desk.

I made my feet walk toward this man, this stranger that I thought I had known.

Once seated, he pulled his chair closer to me on the end and sat.

“I’ve been told you may have information that I might find useful. The captain below, he will give us all he can. Please…” He gestured to the drink.

I took up the mug and sipped cautiously. A faint smile crossed his face and he scanned his desk for something. He found it underneath a few other papers.

“Can you read maps?”

I nodded.

He turned a page around and pushed it to me.

“This it where we are now.” He pointed easily. “This is Justinian. The Duke, Stag’s Pass, and Greenwater.”

I looked and could see the positions. We were on the other side of this island, this landmass, away from Greenwater. The Duke sat in the middle, between two mountain ranges. He sat effectively on the best route from the sunset to the sunrise sides of the island.

“These kingdoms…” He pointed past the Duke and lower than Greenwater. “They could be closer friends, allies, traders if it were not for what lay in between.

The mountains and the Duke.

“Stag’s Pass stands to gain too. Other than the Duke, they are the only other peoples in those valleys. They would see trade pass near on the way to Greenwater and the cold seas. Trade would come through the valley.”

He stopped and let the map sink in to my brain.

They stood to gain much with the routes opened. Would they even want to be part of it?

“There is another thing.”

I looked up once again into the eyes that were not his eyes.

“The Duke, well, is not only bad for business, he is bad for peace. It is in his blood. His grandfather started all this when he came to power. His father continued to consolidate and added more fear of outsiders and taxed anyone going in or out heavily. My Aunt was to marry the Duke’s father to solidify a sort of peace and to bring them back into the kingdom. She was to be the Duke’s stepmother of sorts.”

He stopped and took a sip of wine.

“It never happened. Now both sides are all but cut off.”

We sat in silence for a while. I did not know what to say or ask. He drank more from his cup.

“I believe myself to be an honest man, as I understand you to be. I tell you the truth.”

I could almost hear Thorn.

“He is.” The familiar voice said calmly next to me. In spite of the relaxed and gentle tone, I jumped and turned to see Phaetheon dressed in his plain brown robes.

“Sorry Talon.” He put a hand on my shoulder and smiled slyly. I looked back at Ambrosius who sat plainly, back in his chair with his brows furled.

Twins.

Maybe not.

Had I been tricked? I looked back and forth a few times. The differences were becoming apparent. The nose maybe, the general size of the body. I knew the eyes and voice weren’t the same.

“Are you alright?” Phaetheon leaned down closer to me.

I choked out the question. “Twins?”

“No.” We both turned to look at Ambrosius. “Our father, the King…”

“…liked the ladies.” Phaetheon finished for Ambrosius. I watched him casually round the desk to stand next to his…

“Half-Brothers.” Ambrosius said without much emotion.

“Sorry Talon.“ Phaetheon watched me, deep in thought for a moment and Ambrosius pulled his map back across the desk. It was uncanny.

“So…?” Ambrosius craned his head to Phaetheon.

“The captain was very forthcoming. I have some ideas about what to do with the Duke and his city. As for Stag’s Pass…” They both turned to me. I looked down.

“Talon?” I looked up and found Phaetheon’s eyes. “Do you think Stag’s Pass will fight with us against the Duke?”

“They cannot have much of an army…” Ambrosius suggested.

I shook my head. They both looked at me expectantly.

I sighed. “Wall themselves in.”

“They can withstand a siege from the Duke then?” Ambrosius sat back. Phaetheon’s face changed, the eyes registered activity within.

I shrugged and nodded. Only if they finish the inner wall and or fix the outer one. Efforts would have been doubled to cut themselves off by now. If the Duke were really alone in his fight against them, they would be safe. If Ambrosius attacked with a larger force however…

“Good, we have time,” Ambrosius breathed out.

“I will check with the astrologers.” Phaetheon smiled to himself.

“But how to we talk with the Pass?” Ambrosius sounded exasperated. “To assure them we mean peace?” He twisted and looked up at Phaetheon. “As it stands, they may not know us any different from the Duke. They will fire on us before we even get to the walls. And then the men will defend themselves.”

Phaetheon looked at me. “I could try to speak with them alone…”

He was sincere, I could see it. They did want peace, not the Pass itself.

“Oh, they don’t know you! Why would they listen?”

“A token,” I whispered.

Phaetheon’s jaw threatened to drop, but he forced it into a smile. His head nodded.

“What do they want? Gold?” Ambrosius sat up straight leaning in earnestly.

I shook my head.

“Something meaningful?” Phaetheon suggested.

I nodded and wondered if I were doing the right thing.