“I’ve taken it upon myself to prepare your defense, so I’ve been talking to every witness to your duel that I can find.” Hamil pointed an accusing finger at Geran. “The next time you find yourself embroiled in a fight like the one that preceded your duel, I advise you to kill your enemies rather than wound and cripple them. You left House Veruna with four more witnesses than you needed to, and they naturally have agreed upon a version of events that depicts you in a very poor light. Though I suspect the one with the badly broken jaw and no teeth remaining doesn’t really remember anything that’s happened since last month and is making up his story outright.”
“Then go to it, Hamil. I’ve got every confidence in you.” Geran took his hand, and then Hamil nodded and followed the guards out. The council soldiers swung the door shut and locked it with a heavy iron clanking. Geran looked at the door for a long moment; he’d been in one cell or another for days now, and he was well and truly looking forward to his liberty. But it sounded as if it might be a few more days. He shuffled over to look out the small window-it was not much more than a foot square-and to watch the town slowly wake up to another dreary spring morning.
An hour later he discovered that his comforts were not limited to simple furnishings; the castle kitchens provided him with a hearty breakfast of eggs, ham, cheese, and bread with good apple cider to wash it down, which he was able to eat while seated at his table. After days of sitting on the floor of the council’s cell eating bland porridge, it was a significant improvement. “The only thing I lack is my freedom,” he observed when the servants and guards withdrew.
He selected a book at random from the shelf and passed much of the day with a long lay written three centuries before about the fall of Ascalhorn and the escape of one of its lords and his family. He spent an hour pacing and exercising as best he could in the small space allotted to him and even tried to practice his forms by imagining the weight of a sword in his hand and ignoring the shackles on his wrists. Eventually he grew tired and stretched himself out on top of the bed to sleep for a time. Long, cold nights on the stone floor of the council dungeon had not given him much opportunity to sleep well at night. He arranged his irons as best as he could and drifted off while lying on his back with his hands at his waist and the chain over his belt.
He found himself caught between a dream and a memory, something perhaps a little like the Reverie of elvenkind. He stood in the thin frost of a forest clearing in Myth Drannor, watching as Alliere turned her back on him and fled into the shadows under the dying leaves. She wore a dress of rich blue with delicate silver embroidery and a light hood of pearl-gray over her shoulders; she held her skirts as she darted away, her long dark hair streaming behind her. “Alliere, come back!” he called. “I love you!” She paused once, a single glance over her shoulder. But when her eyes met his, she turned away. He took a step after her, and-
The dream ended then, as it always did. Geran came to wakefulness and found himself staring up at the ceiling of his small cell. The light from the window had changed; it was the middle of the afternoon. He’d been asleep for a couple of hours. He started to sit up, found that his shackles hampered him still, and carefully gathered them up so that he could put one hand to the side of the bed and push himself upright. A year and a half now, and still that memory torments me, he reflected. He deserved worse. All of his life he’d wandered with his eye on the road ahead, never content to be where he was, seeking something that seemed to retreat away from him every time he drew near to it. In Myth Drannor he’d found what he was longing for, at least for a short time. And yet he’d managed to ruin it so completely with one self-destructive act he still couldn’t explain to himself. It was as if some hidden part of him recognized that he’d found contentment and deliberately sought a way to restore his wayward heart to its true nature. All of his life, his passion, his heart had been waiting for a love such as the one he’d found in Alliere, but he’d driven her away, and he still didn’t know why.
He sighed and looked at the small cell. “Maybe I belong in here after all,” he murmured. To keep his mind from memories of Myth Drannor and Alliere, he chose another book and tried to read some more. Eventually the afternoon passed, and he found that the shades of the past didn’t trouble him so much.
At sunset Hamil came down and joined him for supper, which cheered him. His friend had little news to report other than the growing anxiety in town about the Bloody Skulls.
“Where are they now?” Geran asked him.
“Raiding parties have ventured into the Vale at several points, but they haven’t done much damage yet,” Hamil said. “Kara got her soldiers up to the post-towers at the north end of the Vale, or so I’m told. What are they, anyway?”
“Watchtowers, really. Each has a small barracks that can accommodate about ten soldiers, and a small stone tower. There are about half a dozen scattered around the borders of Hulburg’s lands.”
“That doesn’t seem a very useful fortification.”
“They aren’t. I expect that Kara’s simply mustering her forces near one of the watchposts that overlooks the head of the Winterspear Vale. There aren’t many trails a large army can use to descend into the Vale safely, so I’d guess she’s trying to defend the most likely routes. If the Bloody Skull horde is as large as it’s been reported to be, then she’s got a chance to bottle them up on a narrow track and take away their advantage in numbers. On the other hand, if she lets them get into the Vale, they’ll be able to spread out again, and there really isn’t anything to stop them before they reach the city.”
Hamil grimaced. “Murder, vengeance, tomb-robbing, and treachery are one thing, Geran, but I didn’t come to Hulburg for a war.”
“You don’t have to stay, Hamil,” Geran told him. “In all seriousness, someone ought to be looking after Red Sail business, and I might be stuck here for days whether you help or not. Maybe you should leave.”
“I’ll give it another day or two.” Hamil rose from his seat and set his napkin on the table. “I’ll be back tomorrow to look in on you again. I don’t entirely trust these council thugs, even if they’re in the middle of your family’s castle. There are ten of them now, just to keep watch on you, Geran.”
Geran saw his friend out-not very hard to do, given the size of the room-and returned to the bookshelf, looking for something new. Late in the evening, a knock at his door interrupted him. Keys turned in the lock, and the Council Watch soldiers admitted Sergen. The lord stepped in with a look of distaste on his face, frowning as he took in the bed, the books, and the desk. “Well, it seems that there’s some justice in this world after all,” he said. “A cell is a cell, regardless of its comforts. You’ve finally found your proper station in life, Geran, and I’m here to ensure that you remain in it for the rest of your days.”
“There’s much to recommend the room, if you like it, Sergen,” Geran said. He rose to face his stepcousin, clenching his fists beneath the shackles. He could loop the chain around Sergen’s neck and strangle him easily enough… but the council soldiers standing behind their master would likely interfere. There was no point in allowing Sergen’s barbs to anger him. “You can’t paint the truth for long, Sergen,” he answered. “It has a way of showing through the lies you slather over it. I’ll go through the trial your dear Darsi Veruna is demanding for me, her mercenaries will be shown to be liars, and I’ll be freed soon enough.”
Sergen smirked. “Spare me your sanctimonious metaphors, Geran. Of course the charges against you have no merit. But still, here you sit incarcerated in this small room until you can defend yourself against them. And who knows how long it might take before the eyewitnesses you referred to can be spared from the vital duty of defending Hulburg from the orcs? Why, it might be days.”