Iron and Shadow, page 39
part #3 of The Iron Kingdom Series
Aiden nodded at the innkeeper gratefully, realizing how close Garyth and Ingvar had come to crossing swords. The guard captain stalked toward the door and paused briefly looking back at Garyth, who patted his sword and smiled wider. When Ingvar walked out into the street, his rage was shown so clearly on his mottled face that everyone, including his own warriors, gave him a wide berth.
“What is wrong with you?!” Aiden demanded, whirling on his brother. The tavern was completely empty, and he ceased trying to modulate his tone. “Have you completely lost your mind?!”
Garyth fired right back. “What’s wrong with you, brother?!” He said, still staring at the door. “Afraid I’ll kill your favorite pet?”
“Ingvar is a decorated soldier and has saved my life several times!” The prince said incredulously. “You’re just looking for a target to take your rage out on!”
“The man has been nothing but insulting toward me!” Garyth wasn’t having it. “We’re warriors, Aiden and he wants to disrespect me and then play at being insulted?” He walked toward the door, lost in the blackness of his fury. “I’ll call him out in the street and end his miserable life!”
“I forbid it!!!” The prince roared.
Garyth looked back at his brother, his eyes wide. “You forbid?” Then he laughed scornfully. “You forbid me nothing brother!”
“I am the crown prince, Garyth and you would do well to remember that!” Aiden said imperiously.
“Oh, there we are!” The warrior’s voice deepened with scorn. “It’s never very far beneath the surface, is it?! You’re the prince and I’d best not forget that fact, eh?”
Rage bloomed at the scornful words and the prince snapped back derisively. “You force me to bring it up, Garyth.” There was still a plea for reason in Aiden’s voice, but it was mingled with his own anger now. “You won’t allow a rational discussion, you simply rage at anyone who disagrees with you!”
“You’re the one who sides endlessly with everyone against your own family, Prince Aiden!” He said, making the title an insult. “You demand that everyone respect your title, while giving none in return.” Garyth’s smote his chest with a closed fist. “I am a lord of the realm or have you forgotten that little fact?”
The prince threw his hands up helplessly. “Of course, I haven’t forgotten, Garyth but you storm about like a petulant child who wants his own way and refuse the command of those who outrank you!”
“You want to speak of rank?!” Now it was Garyth’s voice that was disbelieving. “You fight our father at every turn!” Seeing Aiden quickly look around, he laughed bitterly. “You still fear that people will find out who I really am. Is that really your main concern in all of this?”
Aiden shook his head but inwardly, he knew that his brother had struck something true. “The king is wrong in many things, Garyth.” He said flatly, ignoring the question. “And so are you, brother.”
“Leave off, Aiden!” Garyth said contemptuously. “Don’t call me brother now that you’re sure no one can hear you. You say that I am wrong, and the king is wrong, but I think that you’re angry and afraid more than anything!” Seeing his brother flinch, he bulled ahead. “What exactly is your problem here, Aiden? You’ll side with your friend, Ingvar, against your own blood and with everyone who disagrees with our father, it seems. What is your issue?”
His temper finally snapping, the prince roared, “My problem is you’re a fool, Garyth!” He glared at his brother, realizing how angry Garyth had made him. “You and father are both stubborn fools!”
“Is that it, then?” Garyth said shrewdly. “Or are you angry that I’m the one who remains loyal and you know that you’re wrong?!”
“Loyal?” Aiden growled back. “You think blind stupidity and loyalty are the same thing?! Father will bring the whole nation to ruin and you’ll follow him blithely down that path of destruction!”
His blood up, Garyth turned fully and faced the prince squarely. “Those are fine words and to many they might sound like words of wisdom, but to me, they speak of something else entirely!”
“And what’s that?” The prince demanded, his eyes narrowing.
Pointing at his brother with an accusing finger that didn’t quite touch the other man’s chest, the lord said flatly. “You’re afraid.”
His tone lofty, Aiden snapped. “You’re ridiculous!” For all that he tried to hide it, there was real anger in the prince’s face now. “Seeking to provoke me, as though we were both still children!”
“You can’t hide it, brother, not from me.” Garyth said doggedly. “You seek to cloud the real issue with matters of state and politics but the real truth here is that you can’t get around what has to be done and it terrifies you!”
Recoiling as though his brother was pointing a sword at him and not a finger, Aiden hissed. “How dare you!” Part of him wanted to fight Garyth right there, which was what he suspected the combative lord really wanted. “I have fought many times for my country, I’ll remind you. To question my courage in battle is…”
Garyth cut him off with a gesture of his hand. “I’m not questioning your courage in combat, Aiden.” The two men stood very close now and the truculent lord half hoped it would come to blows. “I’m questioning your resolve.”
“My resolve?” Aiden’s voice was contemptuous now. “Who are you to question anything I say or do?!”
His voice triumphant, Garyth crowed, “Ah and right on schedule, the royal tone!” It was an old point of contention between the two. “Whenever you can’t win through logic or force, you retreat behind your title!”
“I’m not retreating, Garyth!” Aiden shouted. “I am facing you man to man to tell you that you’re wrong and you’d rather pick a fight with everyone that disagrees with you!”
“Hah!” His laugh contemptuous, the lord gritted his teeth. “You look at my duel with Lokkmar the same as you do our father’s prosecution of the war with the orcs; you can only think about what these things may cost you, rather than the need of them.”
Throwing up his hands in frustration, the prince tried to wrestle his voice under control. “I am thinking about the cost to the whole realm and not simply thinking of my own needs, like you and father!”
“Again, those are fine words, Aiden.” Garyth said, matching his brother’s lofty tone from earlier. “Yet I’ll tell you here and now that you’re afraid of the consequences more than anything.”
“And you aren’t?” Aiden countered. “You mean to tell me that you haven’t asked what will happen if Lokkmar slays you instead of the other way around?!” He was angry and worried and both things showed. “I love you Garyth and I don’t want to see you dead! I love my country and I don’t want to see it destroyed! But both you and father act as though you’ll do what you think is best and damn the consequences!”
“Yes.” Garyth agreed, his tone grim. “Damn the consequences.” He looked at his brother like the other man was a stranger. “You know, I’ve always thought that we were more similar than we were different. Oh, I knew that because you were the crown prince, you had to think differently about things, but I really believed that we understood the greater truths of life much the same.” He shook his head. “Now, I can see how wrong I was.”
Drawing himself to his full height, which had always been a bit taller than his brother, Aiden asked snidely, “Is that so?” He said condescendingly. “Well, you haven’t lived your whole life knowing that one day you’d be responsible for an entire nation, Garyth.”
“You’re right, prince.” The warrior shot back. “I’ve lived my whole life knowing I was an unwanted bastard who had to fight to prove he was worth anything!”
Rolling his eyes, Aiden asked, “How long are you going to beat that drum?”
“Oh, I’m done with all of it, my prince!” Garyth replied, still loading down the title with disparagement. “I don’t care what you or anyone else thinks. I have never failed to do my duty, to do what’s best for my family and my country. Can you say the same?”
Gritting his teeth, Aiden could have struck his brother just then. “You go too far, Garyth!” He breathed heavily, trying to remember that this was his kinsman. “You think just because your father’s favorite right now that…”
Interrupting the other man heedlessly, Garyth’s laugh was a thing of purest contempt. “By the gods!” Now he did poke his brother in the chest. “You call me childish and a fool and let slip that this is really all jealousy!”
“Don’t touch me.” Aiden warned, slapping Garyth’s hand away.
Scornfully, Garyth laughed again, it was forced but there was something very real and nasty there. “Oh, don’t worry, my prince.” He stepped away and bowed low, making the gesture an insult. “I apologize for crossing such a princely line, Prince Aiden. Allow me to offer a princely apology for offending the princely…”
“ENOUGH!!!” Aiden bellowed. His face was red, and he could have strangled the life out of Garyth then and there. “You think because you’ve been called a war hero, you can strut about and act any way you please?! Well, you aren’t going to talk to me that way, brother, no matter how popular you seem to have become!!!”
Far from being angry, Garyth’s face was satisfied. “I knew there was something deeper behind all this.” He said calmly. “You’re not just afraid but you’re jealous and what’s more you’re clearly more concerned with status and popularity than with what is best.”
“I know what is best.” Aiden said coldly. He was infuriated that he’d been baited so successfully. “Both for my family and for my country, despite what you may think. Were I king…”
Dismissively, Garyth cut him off. “But you’re not the king.” He said just as icily. “Not yet.”
“I will be king, one day soon, Garyth.” The prince said imperiously. “You forget who your monarch will be apparently.”
“Ah, brother.” The lord’s words were sarcastic but tinged with sorrow. “I have never forgotten that fact. I will remind you that when this is all over, I will leave, and you will never have to see me again.”
As if he already wore the crown, the prince now pointed. “You will do as I command when I am the Iron King.”
Savagely, Garyth stepped very close to his brother, his quickness startling. “I will be free of all of this and you, Aiden.” His voice was a low promise and violence lurked beneath it. “I will leave the country and I will kill anyone you send to find me if I must, but I will be free, brother.”
“I cannot believe what you’ve become.” Aiden said sadly, refusing to be baited again. “You act like a barbarian who’s unable to reason.”
Garyth snorted, stalking away and snatching the letter from the table. “And you act like a coward who hides behind the niceties of civilization to hide from the duties of a man!” He crumpled the letter in cold fury. “You’re more like Lokkmar than our father! Side with him, if you want, I’m sure he could use a capable second!” He was heedless of his words, having tried his best to hold them in, they simply burst out like water from a broken dam. “Maybe if I do lose, you can look down on my corpse and feel happy that I’m out of your way.”
“That’s ridiculous, Garyth!” The prince snapped, appalled at how badly this whole conversation had gone.
“Maybe.” Garyth allowed, trying to calm himself. “But the truth is Aiden, I think you’re more worried that people will find out I’m of royal blood and seek to undermine your claim to the throne.” Seeing the calculating look in the prince’s eyes, he nodded. “I knew it was so.” He said grimly. “Well, allow me to set your mind at ease, prince. I’ve no interest in the throne nor in ruling anyone else.” His voice grew incredulous. “Even if I did, surely you know that as a bastard I’d never be able to contest your rule?! All I want is to be left in peace!”
“I believe you, Garyth.” Aiden nodded slowly. “However, what about what others want? This has always been the danger and it is why your identity was a secret. You once understood the need for that secrecy.” He favored the lord with an intense gaze. “Has that changed?”
Now, it was Garyth who threw up his hands. “Of course, it hasn’t!” He looked closely at his brother. “I want to be done with all of it, Aiden.” There was a real concern that crept into his tone. “If you’re so worried about this, does it mean that I have to be worried about you?” He hated asking the question, but he truly didn’t know what his brother’s intentions were.
“No.” Aiden said emphatically. “I want what is best for my family and that includes you and yours, brother.” He sighed then, realizing that there was something between he and Garyth, who had always been one of his best friends, now. It was something tangible and ugly that hadn’t been there before, and he guessed that it might be there forever now.
Garyth nodded sharply. “Good.” He replied and turned away from the prince. “I’m going to kill Lokkmar or die in the attempt.” Holding up a hand to forestall further argument, he continued. “I will do as my king commands after that and when given leave I mean to be done with all of it.” He looked back at Aiden then. “No matter what, I will take my wife and children and be gone. You will have no further trouble from me, Aiden, I swear it to you by all I hold dear.”
Aiden knew that his brother had always been as intense as he was forthright and believed every word he said then. “Garyth, you’re no trouble…” He began but faltered as Garyth walked toward the door.
“Leave it, brother.” The warrior said to the prince. “Just leave me be and I’ll be out of your life after this is all done.”
Watching his brother go, Aiden felt many things. He felt angry for the insults that the other man had heaped on him, even though he’d done much the same. The prince felt fear that Lokkmar might kill his brother just as he feared the repercussions if Garyth slew the general. He felt despair at what he was beginning to realize was the death of their close friendship and the knowledge that it would likely never be repaired. Most of all, what the crown prince of the Iron Kingdom felt was sorrow, a deep and abiding sorrow and a creeping realization that worse things were coming. He didn’t know why he felt it, but the prince knew things weren’t going to get better, only worse.
* * *
A faint buzzing coalesced slowly into words that the man simply could not understand, no matter how hard he tried. His eyes seemed very heavy and when he sought to open them, they resisted at first, feeling heavy as stone. For an unknown length of time, he drifted in and out of consciousness but finally managed to open his eyes. Almost instantly, he regretted it. Bright sunshine flooded a spartan room through a window that allowed a summer breeze to flow. There was a strong, medicinal smell that seemed to lie underneath the scent of grass and freshly washed linens. For a while, the man sat contentedly there, listening to the distant sounds of voices in other rooms and the whisper of the breeze.
Wirt came to himself with a start, realizing that whatever medicine he’d been on had dulled his senses. He knew in that instant who he was and all that had transpired. His sword arm hurt abominably he realized, turning his head to see that it was swathed in bandages. The very movement of turning, set off a deep ache in the caravan captain’s chest and his breath shortened. He had barely turned his head and felt such aching pain as he’d never known. Carefully, he looked down to see that his torso was also heavily bandaged, and he was strapped to the bed that he lay in.
No storybook hero, there was no beautiful princess or exotic elven maid to gush and weep over his wounds. Instead, the captain awoke in an empty room, the sigh of the breeze, muffled voices and a chirping bird near the window, his only company. Exultation at the fact that he was still somehow, impossibly alive, warred with the memory of his friend Nilik’s death, along with the death of so many others. Memory of the man appearing impossibly on the battlefield and then, after wreaking so much carnage, disappearing with the fallen prince, galvanized Wirt.
Meaning to sit up and shout for someone, the captain was stunned when all he managed was to slightly twitch feebly and the mewling sound that escaped his gasping lips was pathetic. With his uninjured left hand, he sought to grasp the bed railing and try to sit up. Instead, he managed to flail about pitifully and knock a clay cup from a table that sat nearby. The full cup of water shattered when it hit the floor and Wirt could hear the sound of drumming footsteps approaching.
A stocky man clad in the vestments of a healer rushed into the room. “Please don’t try to move, Captain.” He had the look of a warrior but the manner of one skilled in the healing of wounds, rather than giving them out. A scar on the healer’s sword-arm revealed that he’d experience at both. Wirt’s chuckle was a sickly thing that came out as a faint, dry cough, like that of a sick infant. As a woman similarly garbed glanced into the room, the scarred healer said, “Water, please.” She nodded and left, and the man spoke calmly. “You shouldn’t talk much either sir.”
Frowning at the temerity of the healer, Wirt waited until the other healer brought water. When she helped him drink a bit, he was enraged at how weak he was as he slopped the water like a hog. Nodding, he gasped faintly as he lay back. Finally, he summoned the energy to speak. “Where…am…I…” He demanded.
The burly healer nodded his thanks to the other as she left and after a moment, looked perceptively at the injured warrior. “I know that you must have many questions and concerns.” When Wirt made to speak, he held up a thick, calloused hand. “I was a warrior myself and I have been in exactly the position you now find yourself.” The man’s graying hair and seamed face told of his experience. “You very nearly died, and I am a healer now and believe me when I tell you that I take that charge as seriously as I ever did my duties as a soldier. I will explain the things that I think you’ll want to hear and then I’ll let you ask me only as many questions as I think you need to.” His voice was firm as he finished. “When I think you need to be done, we will stop talking and you will rest.”
There was a command in his voice that made Wirt wonder what the man’s rank had been. However, his attention was quickly drawn to the man’s voice as the healer relayed all that had happened while he’d lain in the house of healing, inert and senseless. He felt sorrow at the count of the dead and injured and joy at the knowledge that the men of the Iron Kingdom and their dwarven allies had stopped the orcs. Wirt was puzzled to learn that the king meant to continue the war and angry to hear that they’d never found the body of the orc warlord. When the healer spoke of the funeral for the slain Prince Valun, however, Wirt couldn’t refrain.
