In Dag’s opinion, it was a highly sensible precaution.
His eyes fell on Yemid, on foot now and in rapid pursuit of a retreating servant. flag caught the captain’s arm. “Where is the woman?”
Yemid blew out a sharp, frustrated breath. “Gone, my lord. The men have searched the fortress from dungeon to turret.”
Dag’s brows drew down into a deep, angry frown. He had not considered the possibility that his sister might possess magic. She was said to be a merchant, not a mage. But he knew as well as any that magical trinkets were available, provided one had the gold to trade for them. Even so, most devices he knew of had limited range and power. If she had escaped in this manner, she had not gone far. “Send out patrols, range out as far as needs be. Find her!”
Yemid spun and bellowed out the orders. A dozen men took to their horses and galloped from the gates.
“And the keep commander?” flag persisted, determined not to be cheated entirely. “Where is he?”
The captain hesitated, then nodded toward the line of Zhentish bodies neatly laid out, prepared for cremation, resurrection, or undead animation, as suited flag’s whim. “There’s some of his handiwork,” he said. “They pinned the old man down in a tower chamber. Even so, it took some doing to drop him.”
“Drop? Him?”
The deadly chill in those words stole the color from the huge soldier’s face. “I swear to you, Lord Zoreth, the man was alive when I saw him. He took a wound, though. Looked serious.” He tossed aside the spiked cudgel he liked to use for in-close fighting, and turned his back to the furious priest. “I’ll take you to him.”
Dag followed the soldier to the back of the fortress, up winding stairs to a tower room in the keep. A pair of guards bookended the shattered door, barring the entrance with crossed spears. flag took note of their small wounds, their slashed tunics, and the bright marks on the chain mail beneath where a keen sword had slashed or stabbed. These men were numbered among the elite of Darkhold, fighters hand chosen by the Pereghost himself, yet even they had not remained unscathed by Hronulf’s blade.
A small, tight smile stretched flag Zoreth’s lips. It was rare that childhood memories lived up to their luster. His perception of his father’s battle prowess clearly proved to be an exception.
“The paladin commander lives?” he demanded.
“Aye,” one of the guards said grudgingly. “On your orders.”
Dag nodded in satisfaction. “Step aside.”
The guards hesitated, exchanging a glance that mingled foreboding and indecision. “I would be doing less than my duty if I didn’t warn you,” ventured the man who had already spoken. “Several good soldiers died underestimating that old man.”
“So noted.” Dag’s eyes narrowed in menace. “Fortunately for me, I am not a good soldier, but a priest of Cyric. Do you understand me, soldier?”
The threat was a potent one. Both men saluted smartly and moved aside. Dag stalked past them and into the room, dark head held high, his black and purple cape flowing behind him like a storm cloud. He was exhilarated rather than daunted by the prospect of facing the tall, powerful paladin who even in his late years could dispatch a half score of Darkhold’s best. Perhaps he might still have to look up at Hronulf of Tyr, physically, but he would do so, for the first time in his life, from a position of power. There was an irony in this that pleased him.
But flag was robbed of this small triumph. The father he had come so far to vanquish was no longer a warrior to be hated and feared, but an old, dying man.
Hronulf of Tyr sat stiffly upright on a chair. He held his sword out before him, the point resting on the floor, one hand on the hilt, in a manner that recalled a monarch and his staff. His other hand was fisted, and driven into a gaping wound just below his ribs.
Dag Zoreth turned slowly to his guide. “It is as you said. He was gravely wounded, against my express orders.”
The captain nodded and swallowed hard. The knowledge of his coming death was written clearly in his eyes.
But Dag shook his head. “I do not kill bearers of bad news, either for entertainment or to demonstrate that I am a man to be feared. Good messengers are hard to find, and good captains even harder. You’ve served me well, Yemid, and I will award you accordingly. But if you fail in the assignment I am about to give you, you will taste my wrath.”
“Of course, Lord Zoreth!”
“Go find the man who dealt this wound and do likewise to him. But first, stake him to the ground. Gut him so that he dies slowly, so that his screams will call hungry ravens to help finish the task.”
Again Yemid swallowed hard—bile, if the sudden greenish tinge to his skin was any indication. “All will be done as you say.” He saluted and left the room with a haste that spoke more of grateful self-preservation than of any real zest for his duty.
flag dismissed the guards and shut what was left of the door. When he was alone with his captive, he folded his arms and stared down at him coolly.
“I am a priest,” he said in a coldly controlled tone that revealed none of his wrath, or his elation. “I could heal you. I could stop that pain instantly. I could even offer you protection from the soldiers who stormed your fortress, or a quick death fighting, if you so prefer.”
Hronulf lifted his eyes to Dag’s pale, narrow face. “You have nothing that I could desire.”
“That is not strictly true.” Dag made a quick, complex gesture with both hands, unleashing a spell he had prepared. An illusion rose in the air between them, the glittering image of an ornate golden ring. “Unless I have been misinformed, you want this very much. And it is mine.”
The paladin’s eyes blazed. “You have no right to it!”
“Again, not true. I have every right to the ring.” Dag lifted his chin. “I am your second-born son, whom you named Brandon in honor of my mother’s father. I took the ring from the hand of my brother Byorn, after he fell in a battle he should never have had to fight.”
“Lies!”
“Cannot a paladin discern truth? Test me, and see if there is any deceit in my words.”
Hronulf fixed a searching gaze on the priest. His eyes went bleak as the truth came to him, but his face hardened.
His gaze pointedly swept flag’s black and purple vestments, then fixed upon the symbol engraved on his medallion. “I have no son, Cyricist. My son Byorn died a hero, fighting against the Zhentarim.”
Even though he had expected them, these words struck flag’s heart with painful force. “Did he really? Have you never wondered how the closely held secret of your family’s village reached Zhentarim ears? Or for that matter, how a Zhentilar band managed to unravel the secrets of this fortress? Look, and wonder no more!”
Dag snatched the black globe from its hiding place and held it before his father’s eyes. The purple fire burned high, casting unholy light upon the face of Hronulf’s oldest and most trusted Mend.
“How may I serve you, Lord Zoreth?” inquired the image of Sir Gareth Cormaeril.
Shock, disbelief, and sudden bleak acceptance flashed through Hronulf”s silver-gray eyes. He lifted his gaze to flag’s coldly vindictive face. “Gareth was a good man. To corrupt a paladin is a most grievous evil and a black stain on the souls of all who had a hand in his downfall. You will not find another here who will have aught to do with you, Cyricist.”
With great effort, flag kept his face neutral. “I’ve come to claim my heritage and meet my sister,” he said. “Where is she?”