CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO #2
“You might captain a ship and command men, but you failed at city rulership.” He never was one to pull his punches, with fists or words.
“Prince Bart was hated, and you had your reasons, but you destroyed this city for what? Because he was breeding and selling hippocamps?” He pointed out the window to the darkness outside.
“It’s not like there aren’t plenty more swimming out there in the seas. ”
I gritted my teeth. He was right. Absolutely. He just left out the most important part.
“You told me to go!” The words burst out, and angry as I was, there was also a stab of pain for the loss of my friend.
“Yes, I left, but only because you swore to me you could handle it. You wanted this city, and I didn’t.
Remember that part, old friend?” I growled.
It was useless to keep tugging at the bindings around my wrists and ankles; the ropes held me fast. I couldn’t shift my legs or arms more than a fraction from where he’d tied them behind my back and to the legs of my chair.
“Or are you forgetting how you told me to go?”
His eyes crinkled in amusement at my struggles.
“You were a wreck. Crying over Ozora leaving when you should’ve been praising Nahit she took her crazy elsewhere.
Seeing you like that...” A slow headshake dismissed our years of history.
“What kind of man would break apart because of a woman?” His scorn was obvious, his sneer lifted enough to show teeth. “I would never follow someone so weak.”
Is that what he saw? My pain as weakness?
“We lost contracts. We lost money because of her.” He ticked off his points on his fingers.
“She sinks your ship, and you shrivel and weep like a child with a broken toy.” His disdain rolled off him, carrying his long-bottled hatred.
“You were a bloodthirsty beast when you swam above the waves all those years ago and took revenge.” Gordon flung his arms wide for emphasis. “Took Skirmisher!”
Then he lunged at me. I steeled myself not to react.
“Drove a sword through your father’s belly without regard for such a paltry thing as a heart.
” He matched the motion to words, and mimed a sword thrust at my chest with an empty hand.
His gaze locked on mine down the straight line of his extended arm.
“That man was my brother. I would’ve followed that Fraser into hell.
” He straightened from his lunge, never breaking his stare.
“That man would’ve killed that mage bitch for what she did. ”
A red haze clouded my vision, but Gordon didn’t stop there. “Where’s Fraser Connell?” He made a show of shading his eyes as if searching for something.
“Dead!” He dropped his hand, then poked me in the chest with two stiff fingers. “Because the Fraser Connell I knew would’ve killed both those women up at that keep a long time ago.”
Pressure built in my gut, and I strained against the ropes, despite the futility. The chair creaked in protest and my heart soared. He straightened abruptly but, to my dismay, the wooden dowels held up under the strain.
“Instead, you let Taenya and her brother escape, then turned into a weeping baby over Ozora.” He took several steps back, and despite my restraints, I bared my teeth in a threatening smile to see his caution. I didn’t care what names he called me; tied up, I’d still scared him for a moment.
“There really is more to life than killing, Gordon,” I said, “Taenya and her brother were idiots, and their scheme never had a chance. You know that. You always were a bit of a cold-blooded fellow but, this is a new side to you.” He laughed at my question and answered with one of his own.
“Do you want to know why I volunteered to stay?” His gloating, twisted grimace of a grin said he was about to drop a juicy tidbit he’d been hoarding.
“You never asked me back then, just said ‘thank you’ and took off. Do you want to know why I stayed in Hastrior? Instead of sailing with you to rescue still more hippocamps from Duke Pastainell?” Gordon rolled his eyes and took two steps closer, bent over so his scornful gaze hit mine.
“Because a Cilirian elf offered me a prince’s fortune.
All I had to do was let them in.” He was enjoying every minute of this, and I’d bet hard cash he’d practiced this speech more than once to get it just right.
“And, get you, and Ozora out of the way.” Again, I tested the ropes holding me out of frustrated rage.
Maybe? While the bindings and chair creaked promisingly, I remained bound fast.
“For some reason, they wanted all the mages in Hastrior gone.” He had me, and he knew it.
“House Vallar offered me more. More money, land, and women than I’d ever get sailing off with Captain Connell on his hippocamp crusades, just to drive off mages.
It even worked, until she showed up and ruined everything by catching your fancy. That did complicate things.”
No one could accuse Gordon of stupidity; he’d brought me far inland.
I had no idea how long I was out, but I couldn’t feel the ocean from there.
No trace of moisture touched the stale air and my numin was only a faint trickle, barely enough to sustain me.
The land around the house was dry as old bones; no water anywhere nearby to replenish my energies.
Gordon knew me well, including my weakest point.
He’d brought me there to cripple me, make me easier to kill.
Otherwise, I could’ve snapped out of those ropes and shattered that chair. My numin, and my strength, flowed from my nereid blood and that far from water, that dry, I had next to none.
“But Ozora wasn’t your only weakness. Those damned hippocamps.
” He threw his hands into the air as if to toss away his frustration.
“You crumpled the day you saw those pitiful sea nags.” Gordon snapped his fingers dismissively, and biting scorn coated his face, distorting his features.
“Turned into a spineless, sentimental fool.” He gave his elegantly-styled waistcoat a tug to settle it after his exertions.
Clearly, Gordon did not sleep rough in some abandoned brewery. He was clean, impeccably groomed, and his fine linen and silk clothes were tailored to his form. He always did have a taste for luxury.
“You were so ready to walk away from wealth.” Gordon held up two fingers, then inverted and wiggled them as if they were walking.
“I just gave you both...a push.” He matched actions to words and made a scooping motion with both hands as he strolled over to the table against the wall.
I heard him shuffle through my belongings, but with his back turned, I couldn’t see what he was doing.
Before long he moved to the fireplace where I lost sight of him.
“So you sold the city to foreign invaders?” I asked, my senses heightened when he disappeared from view. “Why would you even consider that?”
“Because there is no stopping the emperor.” His whole being glowed as he stepped out from behind me. My breath stopped at the unexpected sight of my old friend alight with a magic not his own. A sigil floated above his head.
The icy pale glow that limned his form cast a pallor over his face to magesight. “Hastrior and Athypsos'inar will once more fall under their rule. Once they get your mage, that dragon’s plans will fall apart.”
He said the one thing that guaranteed his death, nor would I be quick or merciful if he ever laid hands on Ozora.
“You will never have her.” The words came out with a calm that did not match the blazing inferno of violence that rose in me with Gordon’s threat. For the first time since I woke, I was glad we were far from the keep.
“You’re not exactly in a position to make that sort of promise.” He sounded pleased with a bit extra, delight sharpened with an edge of malice.
He was going to kill me. I knew that look on his face.
“While I live, you will never have her, and even if you kill me,” I said, “you still have the dragon to deal with.”
He threw his head back and laughed, a full belly laugh. “So, I should just kill you now?”
The unmistakable sound of a dagger being drawn from its sheath was a slow, and almost silent hiss of metal against leather.