Chapter 37 #3
I did as I was told and watched as Kahn finally received his rosette from the princess, his eyes wandering over her with all the hunger of a starving man. I didn't want Drake to win this, but Kahn claiming Austyn was an even more abhorrent idea.
I’ll cut his hands off before I ever let him lay them on her bare flesh.
The final fight took place between the Cartlanna sea captain and Prince Jah-Fal of Ageisha.
Captain Hariot fought with the strength of two men, battering the older man with more skill than I'd expected.
My brows rose as I watched him play out the same tactic several times.
Skirt around, aim for the backs of the knees.
I tucked that nugget of information away for Drake if he had to face him in his next brawl.
Hariot finally succeeded in bringing his opponent to the ground and Jah-Fal was defeated, Hariot taking sixteen points while Jah-Fal was awarded eight.
Hariot made it onto my list of concerns, the strength and skill he possessed clearly something to take note of.
I just had to pray luck was on my side and Drake would be able to win the next round.
I knew of the old pageants and the tales of the rounds growing in barbarity.
It had been many, many years since a princess had been the only heir to the throne, meaning it had been a long time since a pageant had been held in Osaria, so I didn’t know what of the old legends were true.
But the texts written about them spoke not just of savage brawls between the men, but fights with wild beasts, death-defying races, climbs, swims, all kinds of challenges to push the suitors to their limits and prove their worth as an emperor.
Drake may have been a damn good fighter, but what was to say he could win at the other brutal games he would face?
At least for now, he was not in danger of elimination, but I needed to escalate my plan against Magdor before he was.
He could even die in one of the rounds for all I knew, and then where would I be?
Turfed out onto the street with no chance of ever finding my way back into the palace.
The royals were escorted away and white petals were scattered over them as they went. I waited for them to depart as was customary before taking my turn to head back to the palace. Although, I planned on stopping by the stables on my way there…
Someone knocked against my arm and I spotted Kahn beside me, stroking the emerald rosette on his breast. I was disgusted with what Magdor had done to him, turning him into a beautiful vision despite the fact he was nothing but an empty-headed cretin.
Up close, the changes were all the more apparent, and I could almost sense the magic in his skin.
Though it didn’t feel the way Kyra’s did, this felt like something dark and ominous, something that shouldn’t ever have been let loose in our kingdom.
“Who trained your liege?” he asked bluntly, and I was more than happy for the opportunity to try and intimidate him.
“He was trained by a band of warriors in his youth in the treacherous foothills of the Greymorian Peaks to the north of Carubai,” I said, naming the ruinous mountain range which bordered the entire eastern edge of the empire and marked the end of the world as we knew it.
There was a single pass which led into those mountains, but none who had ever ventured into them had ever returned, and it was long rumoured that to cross them was to cross into death itself.
Fae of old once took that pass when they grew tired of immortality, walking into the unknown to face their end among those mountains in ceremonies thrown to celebrate their passage from this world, sometimes after hundreds or even thousands of years inhabiting it.
“Then he served in the royal battalion for four years before they had to remove him.”
“Remove him?” Kahn's eyes narrowed, his overly long lashes shadowing them.
“He spilled enough blood in one battle to stain a hundred miles of sand red. Though his skills were greatly admired, they feared his bloodlust was growing too keen and it frightened the men he fought alongside.”
Kahn ran a hand through his auburn locks, his face twisting with concern, though not nearly enough to sate the need to see this prick squirm.
“He always asks for a taste of his most fierce enemies too,” I said, letting him see fear in my eyes as I lowered my voice and glanced around like I shouldn’t be speaking of this.
“A taste?” he hissed, shifting closer with the need to know, but I shook my head and backed up.
“I’ve said too much.” I turned to leave, but he caught my arm and drew me closer to him once more.
“Tell me,” he demanded. “I am the empress’s son, and I command you to tell me.”
I took in a couple of breaths as though I were nervous of revealing this then leaned closer to him, speaking in a whisper.
“He has me carve pieces off of them and serve them to him like bloody steak. He savours each bite, and when he is done, he adds another mark to his skin. He was told long ago by a wandering Prophet that it was the key to absorbing their power. It is why he is covered in so much ink. He wears their deaths like a cloak.”
Kahn shuddered and my heart thumped harder with the game as I saw the terror crawling into his eyes over that.
“I must hurry to him now.” I clapped him on the back then hurried away through the crowd with a smile growing on my lips.
The lies tasted sweet in my mouth, and I swear I had never known a freedom quite like the life I was living now.
Though the price of it was another knife in the chest of the man I had been within these walls.
The man who was crafted by gruelling training and correctional punishments.
I still strived to be a good man, the kind the princess deserved to serve her.
But it felt as though I were splitting apart, torn in two by the man I should have been and the man I was becoming.
I forced away my discomfort at how far down the road of sin I'd come and made my way to the stables, aware that my sins for the day were not over. I knew my old captain well enough and he would not allow my old friend to go entirely unpunished, especially not while he could still claim that Gallow was a part of the royal cavalry. Until Drake’s purchase of the horse was official, he would use the time he still had to enact a punishment upon him, I just knew it.
And Gallow was my one friend in this world, so I would gladly protect him with my life.
The stables created a perfect square and I strode through the archway that gave me access to the cobbled courtyard at the heart of it.
Gallow stood there tied to a post beneath the baking sun, the white stones beneath his hooves reflecting the light and his black fur absorbing every drop of the heat it threw back at him.
I ground my teeth, both furious that Marik had continued on with this punishment despite the arrangement he had agreed to while not surprised in the least. He was a vindictive man, petty and cruel, and no doubt he planned on carrying out this punishment before arranging for the horse to be transferred into the ownership of my supposed employer.
All was quiet apart from one stable where a teenage boy was mucking out the shit and hay, shovelling it all into a barrow that stood to one side of the door. I whistled to catch his attention and his head snapped up, his eyes going wide at the sight of me.
“Can I help you, sir?” he asked quickly
I petted Gallow’s flank and he snorted happily in welcome before I walked over to the boy, taking my time to reach him as his eyes darted everywhere around me like he could tell trouble was descending on him.
I slid a gold coin from my pocket, one of the many Kyra had created for Drake – which he would no doubt notice was missing later and make a fuss over. I twisted it through my fingers and the light caught the boy’s eyes as he stared at it longingly.
“Here.” I tossed it to him, and he caught it automatically, releasing the shovel so it went flying towards the ground. I caught the handle, flipping it up into my grip as the boy admired the coin.
“For me, sir?” he asked in astonishment.
That coin was more than he’d be paid in a month but seeing as Kyra could make the damn things out of nothing, it was no skin off my nose.
Of course, there was a chance the coin could turn to dust in his pocket once the magic wore off, but perhaps not.
I knew nothing of such things. And she certainly had never suggested that would happen.
“Yes, on condition.” I moved forward, making him back up into the closest stable and the shade fell over us like a blanket.
The boy seemed to see the danger in me then, stumbling backwards a little too fast as he took in the size of me.
“Please,” he gasped. “I know some boys in town who work the brothels. I – I have no experience in such things, and they would please you far better than I could-” he stammered, holding the coin out like even the prospect of being well fed for a month wasn’t worth what he thought I was going to do to him.
“I’m not asking for that,” I said with a frown, but the fear didn’t slip from his gaze as if he expected me to grab him at any moment.
“I am here to ask one thing of you, and one thing only.” I used the shovel in my grip to point at my horse.
“You will feed and water that animal whenever possible during the next two days.”
“He is being scorched, sir,” the boy gasped. “The captain commanded it.”
That was Marik’s fun little name for this punishment. I had faced it myself more than once, but Gallow would not suffer under my watch.
“Then you shall have to ensure you are not seen,” I said, swinging the shovel towards him so the shit-stained end of it pointed in his face. “Do you understand me, kid?”