Chapter V

“Rain! I hate the rain!” Shael, the youngest of Tamas and Aryn's children, stared out the window and pouted. The sky was covered in gray, and great big drops fell against the windowpane.

Khol ignored his brother's whining by playing chess with Dara. Muriel, the middle child out of Tamas and Aryn's children, who was also the only girl, patted Shael on the head. “Don't pout. We need the rain.”

“Why?” asked Shael.

“Because it makes the crops grow.”

“Why?”

“Because the crops need water.”

“Why?”

“Because all living things need water.”

“Why?”

“Because that's the way God made it.”

“Why?”

“...Good question,” Muriel said. She wasn't sure if her younger brother truly wanted to know the answer to why all things were the way they were, or if he was just playing some sort of game where he tried to see how long it would take to stump her.

Macrae, the second to youngest child, walked over to Shae and said, “Hey, I found some new rooms in the castle you might think are fun. You wanna explore?”

“No,” Shael said and pouted some more.

The door swung open and in walked Tamas. He was still in the process of removing his riding gloves when he walked in. “Khol, I hate to interrupt your game, but it seems the prisoner is ready to tell us everything.”

Khol looked up from the chess board. “Do you really want me to be there? Isn't this a 'matter of state,' one of those things I'm not supposed to worry about?”

Tamas chuckled. “When you were younger I kept a lot of things from you simply because you were so young, I know. But you're only five years from coronation now.”

“IF the Council coronates me,” Khol interjected.

“Yes, if the Council coronates you,” Tamas conceded. “And more than likely they will, so you'll want to be in the know about these things.”

Khol shrugged. “Sorry, Dara. Looks like we won't get to finish this game.”

“Lucky for you,” said Dara. “Two more moves and I would've had your queen.”

“Three more and you'd have been in check-mate,” said Khol.

“Liar,” Dara said with a laugh.

“Son, let's get going.”

As the two of them walked down the narrow halls of the castle there was an uncomfortable silence. Well, uncomfortable for Tamas anyway. The revelation that Sitri was not only real but also his son's Familiar was nerve-wracking news. He wished he could simply say, “My son has a supernatural being protecting him. Good,” but the truth was he didn't know for sure if that was a good thing. Familiars attached themselves to people whom the daemons of the Void had chosen for an important destiny. While some daemons were now dedicated to maintaining peace on Erets so that Erets would never again be the prison they'd long railed against, there were still some daemons in the Void who wanted to see Erets destroyed. Tamas couldn't be sure that Sitri was part of the former group of daemons and not the latter.

“Khol...” Tamas began.

Khol waited patiently for his father to speak the rest of that sentence. Several seconds went by, with only the sound of their footsteps on the stone floor filling the silence. “Yes, Pa?” Khol finally said.

“Does...well...do you still talk to Sitri?”

“Of course.”

“I mean...has he spoken to you since the tournament?”

“Aye, but only at night.”

“What does he say?”

“Mostly we just talk about the day. He asks me what I thought of things that happened, we'll tell each other jokes, and occasionally he'll give me advice.”

“Advice?” Tamas went cold at the sound of this. Could this daemon be corrupting his son? “What advice has he given you?”

“Not to gamble with Akim anymore. I know, I never listen. Sometimes he suggests a book that I should read. Don't eat too much candy. Let my friends win at chess sometimes. Write to Zill more often.”

Tamas nodded. “That last one's the best piece of advice I've heard so far. I should probably write to Zill more often too.”

“How long will it be before his paladin training is done?”

“Most trainees graduate at about seventeen or so,” said Tamas. “But, from what I've heard, your brother...well...it may take a little more time than that. He's a slow study. Takes after me that way.” Barzillai, Tamas and Aryn's second-born son, had been asking from back when he first learned to speak to be trained as a paladin. Tamas didn't want to allow it because it would mean sending the boy away to Caelum Academy to study until he was fully-grown. Aryn argued, however, that if this was their boy's dream they should do whatever it took to make sure he achieved it. Besides, as she said, it was always good to have a member of the royal family of Arx trained as a paladin. This was just one more argument Tamas lost.

Tamas got so wrapped up in thinking about it that he completely forgot all of the questions he wanted to ask Khol about Sitri.

Khol followed his father down to the dungeons, where his mother and the castle interrogators were already waiting. The scar-faced archer from the tournament was chained up, though it appeared he hadn't endured any torture at all. Good. Aryn had not broken her decree against torture, even when her son was threatened.

Aryn embraced Khol and kissed his forehead as he came in. “How have you been? Shaken?”

“Not really,” said Khol with a shrug. “Everyone else is worrying far more than I am. He was caught, now it's over, right?”

“Not entirely,” said Aryn. “We still don't know why he tried to...why he did what he did.”

“Tell them your name,” said one of the interrogators.

“Shess,” said the scarred archer.

“Why did you try to shoot the young prince?”

“I was hired to,” said Shess.

“Who hired you?”

“I don't know,” said Shess. “I insist that all of my clients wear masks for this very reason.”

“So, someone you don't know hired you to kill the prince at the tournament?”

“Yes, his instructions were very specific, in fact. I was to get in as one of the archers and shoot him. It was to look like a terrible accident.”

“You didn't think this plan was too foolhardy? You had to know your chances of success were slim.”

“Were they?” asked Shess with a cocksure smirk. “If the prince's Familiar hadn't jumped in the arrow would have hit him, and he was the only one who even noticed that I wasn't aiming at the targets. The guards only chased me because he told them to. Were it not for that demon he'd be dead and no one would have known it was my doing. Besides...” Shess hesitated. “I am already dying. Look at my left hand. I have the Gavish.”

Khol squinted until he saw the tiny crystals forming on Shess' left hand. It was true, he had the Gavish, a disease which slowly turned the infected person's entire body to stone, and then to sand.

“I had priests try to heal it,” said Shess, “But apparently faith isn't enough. I've been a bad, bad man, and this disease is my punishment from God.”

“So,” Khol began, “Rather than seeking out redemption you tried to kill one more target?”

“Money for my family,” said Shess. “Besides, little prince, do you know how many good deeds I'd have to do in order to make up for all the people I've killed? All the wrong I've done? It would take two lifetimes. Maybe more. No, there's no redemption for me, little prince. I'll die, and if the stories about your father are true he can banish my soul into the Void.”

“I can,” said Tamas. “And I will. Execute him. Immediately.”

“No!” Aryn interjected. “Wait...Shess, you said your employer wore a mask, but even with a mask you should know a few things about this person. Man or woman?”

“Man, judging by the deep voice and broad shoulders,” said Shess. “But then, I've known a few women to fit those features as well.”

“Old or young.”

“No. I mean...neither. Mature, I guess?”

“Tall or short?”

“Short. If he was a man, I mean. About average for a woman.”

“Any distinguishing characteristics at all? Color of his skin? Color of his eyes?”

“Brown eyes. Don't know about skin-tone, he wore gloves too.”

“And how much did he pay you for this job?”

“He didn't. He said he'd pay either me or my family once it was completed.”

“Technicalities. I don't care. What was the amount?”

“Five-thousand talents,” said Shess.

Everyone in the dungeon gasped as they heard this amount. Except for Shess, who laughed at their reaction. Aryn raised a questioning eyebrow. “And you believed he could actually afford this?”

“He showed me one-thousand talents in a chest he'd brought with him,” said Shess. “He offered me two choices. One-thousand in advance, or five-thousand after the job was done. I opted for the greater reward.”

“Well, that at least narrows the search a little,” said Aryn. “Clearly, we're looking for someone who has five-thousand talents to spare. Someone so rich they can carry one-thousand talents around in a chest and not worry about someone taking it. Khol, have you heard enough?”

“Pardon?”

“Have you heard enough from this prisoner? Or did you want to know more?”

Khol shrugged. “I can't think of anything else I'd like to ask him.”

“Then you may sentence him,” said Aryn.

“Excuse me?” said Tamas. “Aryn, it should be we who sentence this man, and the sentence is obvious! He committed high-treason, tried to kill our son! Death by stoning!”

“Tamas, one day Khol will have to run the empire. He'd better get used to passing sentences.”

“He's a bit young to learn what it feels like to condemn a man to death...”

“I'm not going to,” said Khol.

“Son, you can't tolerate assassins!” said Tamas. “Believe me, if word gets out that you showed him mercy people will think you're weak, an easy target...”

“Mercy has nothing to do with it,” said Khol, flatly. “You heard him, you saw his hand, he has the Gavish. He'll stay in this cell until the Gavish kills him. In the mean time, if we happen to find someone whom we believe was the one who hired him we can ask him to identify the man's voice. He actually has some value alive.”

“A wise decision,” said Aryn as the three of them left the dungeons. “Good job, Khol.”

“Thank you, Ma. I thought that's what King Ari would have done.”

“You've been reading the Chronicles of King Ari?”

“Indeed I have,” Khol told his mother with a proud smile on his face. “Everyone always says he was the most righteous king in Arx's history, so I want to be like him. Besides, they're fun to read.”

Aryn laughed. “A lot of battles, yes. Ari was a warrior king, no question about that. He fought in many battles against the Nihilites, against Shadian raiders, and even against some Arxian lords who'd been abusing their power.”

“Is the story about him and Akhert true?”

“Akhert? You mean, the Necromancer King of Subra?”

“Yeah. It wasn't actually in the chronicles, but I read a book about that legend,” said Khol.

“If it wasn't in the chronicles it's probably not true,” said Tamas. “Every time a great man, or a great woman, comes along and does amazing things people add extra stories, things that didn't happen. Or, sometimes these things did happen, but it was actually someone else who did it. Someone less famous. You've heard the story about how I defeated General Val, the only Nihilite general more brutal than Meriel?”

“Yes, I've heard about that.”

Tamas shook his head. “It's not true. None of it. General Val died a long time before I even arrived in Nihilus. People just like to tell that version of the story because it's more satisfying than the truth.”

“Hmmm.” Khol considered this for a moment, and then said, “Oh, Pa, I wanted to talk to you privately about something.”

Tamas looked up at Aryn. Aryn simply nodded, gave Khol another pat on the shoulder, and continued on while the two of them stayed behind.

“What's the matter, Khol?” asked Tamas.

“Well...” Khol looked down the hall to make sure that his mother was, indeed, far out of ear-shot. “How do you make someone fall in love with you?”

Tamas chuckled. “If I knew how to MAKE people fall in love I'd be a rich man indeed...”

“Pa...you are a rich man. You're the Emperor of Arx!”

“I'd be even richer,” said Tamas. “I'd have enough to buy up all the pastries in Arx.”

“You know what I mean, Pa, stop stalling.”

Tamas nodded. “Is it Dara?”

“Never you mind who it is!”

“Oh? Is that how you speak to your father?”

“Pa!”

“Alright! Alright! Well, everyone is different, son. No two people are alike, certainly no two girls are alike. The best way to get someone to develop feelings for you, though...well, being nice to them is important, of course, but that can't be everything you do. Contrary to what some, bitter, lonely hearts will tell you being kind actually does attract people, it's just that other factors are much more important. So...let's just assume it's Dara we're talking about for the sake of argument. You've already become good friends with her, that will help...most of the time. Well, passion is attractive, you know, passion for a hobby or art or something.”

“I'm not that artistic...” said Khol.

“Well, what do you know a lot about? What do you have fun doing?”

“I'm good at archery.”

“Well, there's only so much you can say about archery before you'll bore the poor girl to tears,” said Tamas, chuckling. “You can ask your mother all about that.”

“I like to read.”

“That's a better place to start,” said Tamas. “Share with her your favorite book, and show her all the reasons why you love it. You're a smart lad, and she's a smart lass. You'll connect that way. Really, you're lucky you inherited your mother's brains rather than mine.”

“So...if I share with her my favorite books she'll love me?”

“I don't know,” said Tamas. “Truth be told, no one, not one person in all the world, truly understands what it is that makes people fall in love. Sure, we can figure out what makes some people attracted to others, but real love is always a mystery. All I can say is...if there is any chance that Dara will fall in love with you that's the best way to...help that along.”

“I see. Thanks, Pa.”

Tamas placed a hand on Khol's shoulder. “You're growing up, my boy. Slowly but surely you're becoming a man. Listen...let me tell you what the man who raised me told me. His words have stood out to me for many years. 'Growing up isn't easy,' he said, 'It'll be full of heartbreak, tough times, and you'll shed many tears. You'll have your love rejected, your feelings trampled on, you'll get into fights, and at times you'll want to just give up. You'll have your view of the world shattered, you'll learn all about loss, and you may even lose your faith at some point. But in you I see the makings of greatness, and if you weather that storm you'll grow into a fine young man. All of your trials and tribulations will be worth it, and at times you'll even look back at those times as the best days of your life. When all's said and done, neither being a child nor being grown up is anywhere near as wonderful as growing up. Cherish these days, these hard times, because every heart-wrenching moment is something beautiful. That's what life is made of.' I really believe that's true, Khol. And I believe for you it's even more true than it was for me. You see how people revere me and your mother as heroes today? Well, one day they'll revere you far more.”