From Darkness Won Part 18

Sir Eagan s.h.i.+fted on his chair, looking as if there were more to confess, but he switched topics altogether. "Now, my best moment, I'm afraid, has yet to be lived. Should I survive the coming war, I shall waste no time making amends with those I have wronged. Forgiveness and reconciliation will be, I have no doubt, the greatest moments of my life."

"Why wait?" Achan asked. "Can't you do it now?"

"Why, indeed? It is always best to wait on Arman's timing. The battle for Er'Rets must come first. I pray Arman will give me opportunity to reconcile after the war."

Then it was Shung's turn.

Of all the men, Shung's voice was the lowest. "Each year Shung's village sent one young man to Berland for tournament. Winner would become squire. During tournament, Shung fought too hard. Wanted to impress Father. Shung's friend Arluk fell."

Even the knights were staring at Shung, surprise evident on each face. Achan recalled how horrified he'd been to kill his first deer, and later, the Poroo soldiers. He could not imagine having killed a friend. "How old were you?"

"One and ten."

So young to deal with such guilt. "Were you arrested?"

Shung snorted. "Not in Therion Duchy. Not for that. Shung tried to withdraw from tournament, but Arluk's father made Shung swear to become great warrior. To bring honor to Arluk's death. When Shung became Sir Koyukuk's squire..." He banged a fist on his chest. "Proudest moment. Until Shung became s.h.i.+eld to future king and was knighted." He nodded to Achan and banged his chest again.

"You are a great warrior, Shung," Achan said. "You have brought honor to your friend's life."

Shung glanced to Sir Caleb. "The lion's turn."

"Very well." Sir Caleb released a shaky sigh. "My brother's wife, Ambrosia, liked to walk in the forest and often went alone, despite Baruch's pleas that she take care. As the head of her guard, he often sent me to fetch her when she was gone too long. Until the day I found her half dead. Poroo had attacked, beaten her to within an inch of death. To this day she cannot speak properly, and she limps..." Sir Caleb's eyes were gla.s.sy and wet, staring into the past. "I was responsible for Ambrosia's safety. I was to blame. It is still the most horrible experience of my life."

A deep breath seemed to bring him back to the present. "When I saw Esper's husband strike her that day in the marketplace in Armonguard, I lost all sense. I saw a chance to save a woman from Ambrosia's fate and took it. Some believe I stole a married woman from her husband, but I never believed Esper was that man's wife. Not of her own will. She was his prisoner. His slave. His pell."

No wonder Sir Caleb obsessed over safety. "Do you miss your wife?" Achan asked.

"Very much. When Sir Gavin called me to Mahanaim to free you from the dungeon, I did not know I would be gone so long. May Esper forgive me. I do send letters, but it is not the same as my return."

"May you forgive me as well," Achan said. "It never occurred to me you might rather go home than be one of my advisors."

"I am called to serve my king. Esper knows that. Besides, none of us have any sort of life to return to until your rule is settled."

Achan sat in awe of the men around him. Each one had shared so freely, encouraged him in ways he had never expected. It made him wonder what bits of wisdom King Axel might have shared had he been present. Achan took the coin in his hand and studied it. These men, as honorable and good as Achan knew them to be, had all struggled in some way. Surely his father had, as well.

Achan only wished he knew if the mysterious Hadad had killed his parents. Every time he heard his family name "Hadar" he thought of that faceless man from the pit in Barth. He frowned, brus.h.i.+ng the troubling thought aside. This was a celebration. He had been a man for months, but tonight, for the first time, he truly felt like one.

When Achan awoke the next morning, he found Matthias standing beside his bed. Achan yawned long and hard. "Good morning, Matthias."

"You've lots of wounds, sir."

Achan glanced down to see that he had, as usual, kicked off his blankets in his sleep. He rolled his sore shoulder in an attempt at a stretch and yawned again. When he looked back to Matthias, the boy held his hands before his face, knuckles facing Achan, fingertips blackened with soot.

"I've wounds too, sir."

Upon closer inspection, it was clear that Matthias's fingertips were not covered in soot, but black for another reason. "What happened?"

"I was hunting with Father but got lost. A long while pa.s.sed 'fore he found me. I was frozen."

Achan recalled Master Ricks's words when he'd offered the boy to Achan back in Tsaftown. He's a good boy, but took a bad frost to his hands. He can use them fine, just not for the detail of tying knots.

Frostbitten fingertips? "Is it painful?"

"No, sir. Can't feel a thing."

"And here I thought you'd been playing in the fireplace."

Matthias giggled. "I know better than that."

The boy's contagious laugh made Achan chuckle until Matthias pointed a blackened finger at Achan's chest.

"What happened to you, sir?"

Achan glanced down. "Oh, a host of things."

Matthias's expression fell. Everyone who had seen Achan's scars was always fascinated-or horrified. Why would little Matthias be any different?

"Pick one," Achan said, "and I shall tell you the tale."

Matthias's eyebrows lifted into a pale arc, and his eyes flickered over Achan's chest. He pointed to the still purpled scars on Achan's right side and shoulder.

"Good choice. Those are bite marks," Achan said in as eerie a voice as he could muster. "A cham tried to eat me."

Matthias's eyes widened and flicked to Achan's neck. "Is that why you wear that?"

Achan fingered the claw. "It is."

"You killed it?" These words were whispered with awe bordering on disbelief.

"With a knife to its throat." Achan couldn't help but enjoy the look of admiration on the boy's face.

"That's why Sir Shung calls you Little Cham?"

"No. He calls me that because Cham is my surname. Was." Achan frowned. His answer had clearly confused the boy. Matthias may as well know the full tale if he'd be working with Achan for the rest of his days.

"I grew up as a stray in Sitna Manor," Achan said. "Worked in the kitchens as the cook's boy. I milked the goats, got firewood, and kept the hearths hot. One day Sir Gavin offered to train me as a squire. It's against the law for a stray to serve in the Kingsguard, so I trained in secret. But Lord Nathak found out and banished Sir Gavin. I'd learned enough of the sword by then that Lord Nathak made me one of Prince Gidon's squires."

Matthias's brow crinkled. "But you're Prince Gidon, sir."

Achan smirked. "Aye, but only Lord Nathak knew that. And with Sir Gavin gone, I had no choice but to travel with the fake prince to Mahanaim. On the way, Poroo attacked."

"I've never seen a Poroo, sir."

"Well, they're ugly to look at, but not the best warriors. Still, they struck me down." Achan touched a white knot on his shoulder, one of the scars from the Poroo arrows. "I woke in the Mahanaim dungeons. Lord Nathak had accused me of trying to kill the prince, but of course I'd been protecting him. A week later, Sir Caleb broke me out of prison. He and Sir Gavin dressed me in a lot of finery, took me to Council, and revealed the truth."

Matthias was mesmerized. "What truth, sir?"

"That I was the Prince Gidon. That when I was just a babe, Lord Nathak switched me and his son, Esek, branded me a stray, and gave me to his cook to raise." Achan turned to show Matthias the mark of a stray, an "S" still branded onto the back of his shoulder. "So, though my real name is Gidon Hadar, I've always been known as Achan, and those closest to me call me such."

Matthias's lips turned into a grin. "Father says 'achan' when he's angry."

"Does he?" Achan meant "trouble" in the ancient language. It had humiliated him for years, but now he rather liked it. For Achan planned to cause trouble for any foe who stood in Arman's way. "It's never been the kindest of names, but it's mine." Achan's stomach rumbled. "You hungry?"

Matthias nodded.

"Fetch us some breakfast, then. But first we must wake the doorstop. I'd have you pounce on him, but he's a mean one in the mornings and might wring your neck."

Matthais's eyes went wide as he regarded the lump of furs on the pallet by the door.

Achan jumped up in a crouch on his bed and waved to Matthias. "Reach under his pillow and take his knife."

Matthias hesitated, then padded to Shung's pallet. Quiet as the mouse Shung had ent.i.tled him, he pilfered the knife and backed up against the wall, clutching the bone hilt to his chest with two hands, the s.h.i.+ny steel blade pointed down.

Achan winked at the boy and bellowed a war cry.

Shung sprang into a crouch on top of his straw mattress, arms tense and bulging, brown eyes wide and bleary. He wore black trousers and nothing else. Curly black hair covered his muscled chest.

Achan pounced from his bed to Shung's. They slammed into the door, slid along the wall, and tumbled to the floor in a tangle of arms and legs. Achan pinned Shung for two seconds before the hairy man flipped him onto his back and pressed his forearm over his throat. "You think you can beat Shung, Little Cham? Where you hide my knife?"

Achan's eyes rolled back to where Matthias stood.

Shung looked up and laughed. He pushed off Achan and sat with an arm propped over one knee. "Mouse is your new ally, Shung sees."

Achan scowled. "The lad is hungry, Shung. How is he to eat with your bed in front of the door?"

Shung fumbled along the side of his pallet until he found his s.h.i.+rt. "You must wait for Shung."

Winking again at Matthias, Achan said, "If I wait for you each morning, I'll never eat breakfast again."

"A warrior must sleep." Shung tugged a white s.h.i.+rt over his head and laced it up. "Sleep renews strength."

"Fine. But must you sleep in front of my door?"

"Shung swore to protect the little cham. Promised-"

The door opened against the pallet. "Your Highness? Are you well?" Sir Caleb's voice.

Achan bloodvoiced his answer. I am fine, Sir Caleb. Matthias and I were only trying to wake Shung.

Shung stood, pulled on his black leather jerkin, and pushed his pallet away from the door.

The door swung in, and Sir Caleb stepped inside, followed by Sir Eagan, Sir Gavin, Inko, and Kurtz.

"What in flames is going on?" Sir Caleb asked. "We thought you were being attacked."

"Not him." Shung walked to Matthias and s.n.a.t.c.hed his knife away. He pointed the blade from Matthias to Achan. "They attack Shung." He tucked the blade into the sheath on his boot.

"The troops have arrived from Berland and Tsaftown," Sir Caleb said. "Matthias, choose the prince's best ensemble and see that he's bathed and dressed. Once the soldiers from Zerah Rock arrive, the war council will meet one last time. During the meeting, pack the prince's armor and clothes. We hope to leave this day."

"Yes, sir."

Achan might have glared at Sir Caleb at the mention of the boy bathing and dressing him, but the idea of leaving Carmine banished the thought from his mind.

"Until then, Your Highness, put on a s.h.i.+rt and get back in bed. The d.u.c.h.ess wants to share her strategies for storming in the meeting and would like to give you a lesson before then so that you have at least experienced it."

But the d.u.c.h.ess didn't visit Achan's chambers this time. He was sitting in bed eating breakfast when her knock came.

d.u.c.h.ess Amal.

Even her voice tangled his nerves. Yes, my lady?

Good day, Your Highness. Since you will be leaving, I think it wise to begin our instructions in this method, as that is how we shall work together in the future.

Whatever you think best, my lady.

I understand you once stormed someone.

Achan hadn't thought her statement was a question, but when she didn't speak, he fumbled for an answer. Yes, I stormed Sparrow. Uh, Vrell Sparrow, my lady. We were learning to s.h.i.+eld our minds. Sparrow knocked without giving her name. Since I didn't know who she was, I tried to... He searched for words to describe what he had done. Push her away.

That is the basics of storming. You combine your push with the element of surprise. I gather Miss Sparrow was surprised when this happened?

She fainted. Bloodvoicing sometimes makes Sparrow weak. Sir Gavin said that's what saved her from the Veil that day.

How fortunate for her.

A silence stretched on. Achan s.h.i.+fted in his bed, wondering where d.u.c.h.ess Amal had gone. Matthias shuffled around the end of Achan's room, stacking mounds of folded clothing into the clothes press Sir Caleb had brought up.

Her voice came again, suddenly, as if she had never left. The trick to storming is to utilize the moment of surprise. First you must enter the Veil and approach the person you want to storm. Is someone there with you?

Matthias is here. And Shung is on guard outside.

Call another guard so Sir Shung may sit with you.

Achan reached for Shung's mind. I need you in here. Find someone else to guard the door and come in.

Shung grunted, and the connection vanished. Shung was the only person Achan had met who grunted with his bloodvoice. The idea made him smile.

His s.h.i.+eld entered the chamber and closed the door.

"Pull up a chair, Shung. You're to guard my body so no one kills me while I learn to storm." Shung is here, my lady.

Good. Your Highness, your responsibility whenever entering the Veil is to be wise. Overconfidence has killed more men than I dare recount. Do not ignore your man. He is there for your safety. Unless it is imperative, do not shut him out. If he is going to help you, he must hear you. Now, I am in my study. Do you remember where that is?

I do, my lady.

Come to me through the Veil. It may take you a while as this is your first attempt alone.

What is the trick to moving faster?