Chapter Nine #2
But he had grown up hated by everyone else in the city.
They called him a trega half-breed. Kicked dirt at him and spat at his feet.
The idea of him ever being accepted by a Krizan woman was ludicrous, so he lived alone now that his parents were dead.
He bunked in stables or dark places where he would not be noticed too easily.
He worked in the shadows doing whatever he could, whatever they would let him do.
But today his trega appearance would serve him well.
He gripped the small leather pouch in his hands for all he was worth, scurrying like a rat toward the food in the kitchens.
All he needed was the right moment. A single right moment.
Then he would be given, for the first time in his life, one gold coin in trade for his day’s work.
He had been promised it by the finia’s fortunary.
One gold coin that would allow him to finally leave this horrid city where he was so thoroughly rejected day after day.
He could afford to leave, could go onto the road where travelers from different lands were found all the time.
His differences would be expected there, not questioned.
He didn’t know what he would do exactly, but at least he would be able to find work or earn his way in fair trade.
It couldn’t be worse than this life. Nothing could be worse than this life in Kriza.
He had of course toyed with another idea.
Perhaps he could join the trega army. Perhaps his looks would go unremarked in a group of men and women who all looked so different from one another.
He had never seen such a mix of races before, so many different types.
Skin of blue, eyes of yellow, hair of green.
This one looked one way and that one another.
He would blend right in with such a noise of races.
But for all that he could be one of them, the trega frightened him.
They were a warring lot, made to kill others.
He wasn’t able to lift a sword, so what could he possibly do in an army?
It left him little choice, really. He could take his chances trying to find something to do in the trega army or he could be loyal to his people, earn his gold coin, and be on his way.
Even though his people had never been loyal to him.
Dremu ducked into an alcove just outside the kitchens, pressing his back against the wall and breathing hard in a panic.
He shouldn’t do this. He had never killed anyone before.
He didn’t have it in him! He clutched the leather pouch so hard his nails dug into the soft skin of it.
He needed that gold coin. Desperately needed it.
Needed it more than he had needed anything in his scraping, needy existence. One gold coin for the price of … death.
He glanced into the kitchens. They were abustle with preparations for the evening meal, loud and boisterous cooks singing as they worked. All Krizans had been banished from the kitchens; only trega were allowed. It was why he was the only one who could do this thing.
He loosened the drawstring of the pouch and peeked at the white powder inside.
He was careful not to get any of it on himself.
If he should accidentally ingest it, he would be dead within seconds.
One sure way of ending his quandary as to what to do with his life.
He looked around for something he imagined everyone would be eating.
He needed to slay as many with one blow as was possible.
As soon as one fell, the others would know and would stop eating.
But the most important thing was to get the leaders.
That was his goal: to kill the trega leaders as directed by the fortunary.
The fortunary had even been so kind as to provide the poison.
Kill them or join them.
In the end, it was the guarantee of that gold coin that made the choice for him. The trega had made no such offer and likely wouldn’t even if he went to them and exposed the poisoning attempt. They were, after all, barbarians … weren’t they?
No. He must have his gold. Then he could run away or even … even join the army anyway! How would they ever know it was him? If he snuck in and out fast enough, if he escaped unseen, how would they ever find out?
They wouldn’t. They simply wouldn’t.
With a deep breath, he moved quickly into the kitchens.
Soup. A pot of soup. It was the first thing he saw that he knew he could dissolve the powder in unseen.
He walked up to it, looked furtively left and right, waited until no one was paying any attention, then dumped the white powder within it.
He hastily stirred it in using a large wooden spoon he found nearby.
Now all he could do was hope no one tasted the soup before it was served.
But he had done his part. All they had to do was die.
One or all, the fortunary said. Whatever he could manage.
One death at that table or all. One death would earn him the coin … All would earn him more, he had said.
More! Imagine more than a single gold coin! It was more than he could ever hope for!
He hastened away from the pot of soup before someone could see him there.
He found a shadow to hide in just outside the kitchens and kept his eyes glued to that pot of soup.
He now had to keep someone from tasting it before it was served.
That was all he had to do. So he sat in the corner and he prayed to Hella, the goddess of fate and fortune, that she would be with him this night.
Dethan sat back in his chair at the dinner table and exchanged a look with his brother, who was seated across the table from him.
“I don’t think he’s coming,” he said with a chuckle.
“Coming is not his problem,” Garreth quipped dryly.
Dethan laughed aloud at that. “Let us eat without him,” he said as a bowl of soup was placed in front of him. “No reason we should starve just because he prefers to. Unlike my two brothers, I must eat to survive.”
“Tch,” Garreth scolded. It was not widely known that the brothers were immortal. Nor was it widely known what Jaykun suffered each night. There were rumors and such, to be sure, but that was amongst the troops, not amongst their enemies.
Dethan ignored his brother’s admonishment and picked up his spoon. “I was in the library most of the day and you wouldn’t believe the stories I found. Most of them are in Krizan so I could not read them for myself, but the scholars were surprisingly helpful about the local legends. There was—”
“Good evening, brothers!”
Garreth and Dethan looked up at the jovial greeting. Jaykun entered the room and clapped Garreth on the back as he passed by him. He flung himself into his chair at the head of the table and beckoned to Jileana so she might sit beside him.
“Good evening, brother,” Dethan greeted in return, a grin on his lips. “We didn’t think to see you.”
“Ah. Well. I find I am famished!”
“Is it any wonder?” Garreth muttered.
A servant put two more bowls of soup on the table in front of Jaykun and Jileana. As was the common manner, no one ate until the most senior of the group began to eat first. Now that Jaykun was here, that fell to him. He picked up his spoon and so did Jileana.
Jileana, unaware of the fact that she was supposed to wait, scooped up a spoonful of soup and brought it to her lips. She was starving, having eaten nothing but fruit for the whole of the day.
But the very instant the soup’s aroma hit her nostrils she blanched and cried out.
“Cogzinia! Don’t eat it! It’s poison!” She grabbed Jaykun’s bowl and threw the hot soup onto the floor.
“What in the eight hells?! Jileana!” Jaykun protested.
But Jileana had leapt onto the table and was shoving the bowls of hot soup away from whomever she could reach.
“It’s cogzinia! It’s a shellfish from the ocean that’s pure poison! Why are you eating this? Surely you don’t mean to eat this!”
“Jileana!” Jaykun reached for her and dragged her down from the top of the table. “It’s all right!”
“No, it’s not!” she shouted into his face.
“I mean it’s all right, we won’t eat it. Here, now! Be calm!” He caught her face between his hands and was shocked to see how stricken she looked. He had never seen her so upset. She had always been so calm … unflappable. For something to upset her, he knew it must be true.
“How do you know what it is?” he asked her gently.
“I can smell it. Can’t you smell it?”
“No. We can’t.” Jaykun looked at Dethan and sudden panic rose up in him. “Did you eat any, Dethan?” Garreth and he were immune, but Dethan …
“I was about to when you arrived. But no,” he assured, “I did not eat any.”
“Thanks be to the gods,” Jaykun exhaled. “Any of you others?” All the generals shook their heads and were grateful they had observed common courtesies. They all turned an appreciative eye on their leader’s woman. “We are very fortunate, then. I thought our people were in charge of the kitchens.”
“They are. Someone must have gotten past them,” Dethan said.
“From now on, brother, you do not eat until we have tasted your food first,” Jaykun said to Dethan. “We will get to the bottom of this. I will not have this.”
“We need control of this city,” Garreth said darkly. “It’s time we settled some things here.”
“We will,” Jaykun agreed. “The people must learn that their lives will be made better by our arrival, not worse and not more troubled. We will begin to make proclamations the day after tomorrow. We will spend tomorrow drawing them up.”
“It will be good to have you with us again, brother,” Dethan said, amusement touching his tone.
His heart was still racing as he thought of how close he had just come to making his wife a widow, his children fatherless.
The idea sickened him. Yes, his brothers would care for his family as if they were their own, but he did not want Selinda to suffer the loss of him.
He knew exactly what it would do to her.
As strong as she was, she would find it difficult to survive without him.
He owed a debt to this woman who had latched on to his brother. “Jileana, you have the gratitude of my wife, my children, and myself,” he said to her gravely.
“I am grateful. So grateful,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “When I think of what might have happened …”
“Hush. All is well now,” Jaykun soothed.
“Let us find something safe to eat. Some fruits and cheeses perhaps. Cured meats. I will eat first, then you will share my plate. I’ll not have you harmed in any way.
You have saved the life of my dearest brother and have become precious to me because of it.
Come. Sit beside me while this is all cleared away. ”
“Very well,” she said, letting him sit her back down in her chair beside him. “Very well.”
The table was cleared and reset, this time with foods deemed safer. The meal went long as everyone ate more cautiously. But Jileana sensed no other poisons in the foods brought to her. Eventually she began to relax and found herself cautiously enjoying Jaykun’s company once more.
Jaykun was feeling the guilt of his unbridled day.
He had responsibilities and he had ignored them all day.
He could not afford to do so a second time, as much as he was craving another day in bed and in Jileana’s body.
He would have to be satisfied with having her for the night.
As it stood, dusk was fast approaching and they would barely have time to make it to the cove.
They left the table and traveled on horseback this time, sharing a saddle as they raced the beast down the beach in order to beat the setting sun.
Jaykun barely had time to tether the animal and strip off his clothes before his curse was searing through him and scorching him with blinding agony.
He had known such pleasure all day that, in contrast, his torment seemed to be especially brutal.
When it was over he shuddered with the pain of it, crying out through clenched teeth as the salt from the ocean waters penetrated his raw flesh. Jileana gathered him close again, drawing him gently into her lap as she softly began to sing to him once more.