Dinavhek- The Fall Page 15

  The silence broke with a high-pitched shriek.

  It came not from behind, but from a direction they had not yet explored. Adsuni sprinted off without a second thought. Itholera trailed behind, struggling to keep up, but the prince was not paying attention. He stopped only when he reached a sharp divide in the road, not knowing where to go next. He waited, hoping for another sound that might clue him in.

  After a moment, another shriek came, this one louder than before. It sounded like it belonged to a child, and it came from the left fork. Adsuni took off again, oblivious to whatever danger might lie ahead.

  Arriving at the scene, he was greeted with a sight he never would have expected.

  Both of the guards he had brought were brutally restraining a young boy. The child was filthy beyond belief, dressed in tattered clothes that were much too big for him. He had only one eye, the other one seeming to have been lost from a fairly recent injury. Adsuni had gotten there just in time to see one of the guards backhand the boy.

  “Hegern!” Adsuni gasped. “What in Anikasi's name are you doing? You, too, Alaiph! Release him!”

  “Not a chance, prince,” the other man said. “We caught him stalking you and the servant. We found this on him,” he said, using his free hand to brandish a small knife.

  “Maybe – maybe it's just for self defense.”

  Alaiph snorted.

  “I doubt this child is an assassin,” Adsuni continued. “Look at him!”

  “Why do you think we were sent to accompany you?” Hegern asked. The boy attempted to squirm free, but the seasoned guard could have seen the move a mile away. He pinned the child, locking him in a choke-hold.

  “When father hears about this—”

  “My lord,” Itholera said from behind him, sounding pained. The prince risked a glance back to find her standing between two more guards. A third guard emerged from the shadows. As he revealed himself, the prince easily recognized him.

  “What is this?” Adsuni demanded.

  “Did you truly believe your father would allow you to stray so far from the palace, with only two men to defend you?” asked Konrad, his expression somber. “I'm sorry it had to be this way, but when I saw you desert this young lady, I knew I had to step in.”

  He turned his gaze upon Hegern. “You needn't be so rough with the boy. He is only a child, and he is no great threat to us.”

  Adsuni couldn't believe what he was seeing, or hearing.

  “If the child is no threat, why not let him go?” Adsuni asked, putting an emphasis on the world 'child.'

  “You heard them; he was planning on attacking you. We're going to have to bring him to one of our facilities. He will will not be abused, I assure you, but this threat must not go on ignored. He is probably working for someone... Children are impressionable, after all.”

  The child spat out at him, nearly hitting his boots.

  Konrad stared at the boy coolly. “Take him away. I will escort the prince back home.”

  “Yes, sir,” Hegern said. He and Alaiph half-dragged, half-carried the boy away as he screeched and kicked out.

  “I can't believe you,” Adsuni said, glaring daggers at Konrad. “What would Glanen say, if he knew about this? I wonder how he would look at you!”

  “Leave us,” Konrad ordered the other two men. He waited until he was certain they were gone before answering the prince.

  “You have no idea how fortunate you are that I was watching you,” Konrad said, not quite berating the prince, for he was still technically his subordinate, after all, but still disapproving. “I cannot believe you would display such recklessness as to go off, alone, into an area like this! Do you think your guards accompany you for the mere enjoyment of it? You put yourself in danger. You put your servant in danger. You put Dinavhek in danger.”

  “This is my own country!” Adsuni protested. “If I'm not safe enough just walking down the street so close to my palace, then maybe the Knighthood isn't doing a good enough job keeping things in order.”

  “Have you paid no attention to your councilors? Are you so blithely unaware of the political landscape at this time? It matters not that you are in your own land, one well-placed dagger is all it takes to doom a country.”

  “Dinavhek existed long before I was born, and it will continue existing long after I'm dead,” Adsuni retorted.

  Konrad's jaw tightened. “Dinavhek only exists now because of the tireless efforts of your father, and his father before him, to keep it that way. You erred greatly, my prince, and your father will not enjoy what I have to tell him.”

  The prince met his stare fearlessly. “Will Glanen like what I have to tell him?”

  If his words had any effect on the older man at all, he was doing a superb job of not showing it. Indeed, he looked at the prince coldly, as if he were entirely unmoved.

  “It does not matter. What we do, we do for the good of Dinavhek.”

  Chapter 14

  For the Commonfolk

  ∞∞∞

  As it turned out, Adsuni did not have the heart to tell Glanen about what he and Itholera had seen the previous day. Glanen and Aasimah did end up hearing a watered down re-telling of the last day's events, from Konrad himself, after he arrived home with Adsuni and Itholera in tow. His friends knew only that he had foolishly wandered off into a dingy back alley, and that Konrad had rescued him from a would-be assassin. They need not concern themselves with the details, though they surely pressed for them. A curt reminder that they had no right to such information, courtesy of Sir Konrad, was all it took to put them back in their places.

  Adsuni refused to meet their stares. He was aware of them, not to doubt. He could almost feel Konrad's eyes staring hard at him, as if to burn him. Daring him, perhaps, to speak up about the disturbing sight of his own guards manhandling a young boy, condemning him to imprisonment.

  Where, exactly? That was the question that troubled him the most. Was the boy simply to vanish? Would he rot away in an unkempt cell somewhere, neglected and forgotten?

  The prince felt Konrad's hand upon his back, felt himself being nudged away from his friends. He did not resist, and found himself being led toward his father's chambers. He heard Konrad knock on the door, heard it open, heard his father grunt in surprise. He wouldn't look at either of them. Instead, he kept his eyes trained on his feet.

  “Why – this is most unusual! Is everything all right?” he heard his father say.

  “Your son has something to tell you,” said Konrad in response.

  “Oh?”

  Adsuni was dead silent. He would not give Konrad the satisfaction of humiliating himself in front of both him and his father.

  “If I may, my King, I must be on my way.”

  The prince, still staring at his feet, heard a rustle, and the slight scraping sound of armor plates bending as the knight bowed. He felt a sudden longing to sweep one of his own feet out to trip the older knight. It wouldn't accomplish anything beyond petty revenge, and it would infuriate his father, but entertaining the thought was harmless enough.

  “Very well. Thank you, Sir Konrad, you may take your leave,” his father said. “Well,” he said to the prince, “come in. It would seem you have some explaining to do.”

  The king moved to the side a bit, exposing the doorway. Adsuni entered his study, his eyes taking some time to adjust to the light difference. With few candles lit, it was difficult to see much within the room. That was how his father liked it, anyway. During this time in the evening, he usually retired to his “study” for a good, hearty drink before bed.

  The prince found a cushioned chair to sit in, and his father sat in the one opposite of him, looking at him intently. The dim light magnified some of his features, such as his grayed hair, bushy eyebrows, and wrinkle lines, making him look much older than he otherwise appeared. Old and tired.

  “Why did Sir Konrad escort you up here?” King Zaeem asked his son plainly.

  “I was... I was at the market.”

&
nbsp; “By yourself?”

  “No, Itholera was with me.”

  The king's giant, furry eyebrows drew together in puzzlement. “Who?”

  Adsuni swallowed hard. “One of our girls. Itholera, she's the one I brought in the day after I found Aasimah. Anyway, she was with me. And two guards,” he added, catching the disapproval in his father's eyes. “The guards disappeared, so I went looking for them.”

  That was a stretch, and he knew it.

  His father knew it, too.

  “And?” the king asked, humoring him.

  “I found them assaulting a boy, father. A child. They claimed he was an assassin, that he was trying to kill me. Father, I... I don't believe them. He was so small. So frail... and he had one eye. They treated him as if he were a common brigand.”

  The old man scratched at his short beard, taking it all in. “Our men ought to know better than that. Are you sure about this?”

  Just like that, every trace of fear left the young prince. Was he sure about what he had just seen with his own two eyes? What a preposterous question! Just like that, all of the anger rushed back to the young man, hitting him full force, like a tidal wave. His father, the man he had known for his entire life, now so divorced of his own family and his own kingdom that he did not even know the names of the people living in his own home, was asking him if his perception of reality was accurate?

  “Am I sure about what I witnessed mere hours ago? Really, father? Yes,” he added, cutting the king off before he could answer, “I know what I saw. Our guards, the very same men that we arm in hopes that they will protect us, and the rest of our people, were maiming a child. I watched Hegern lock his arm around the boy's throat. I watched them drag him away.”

  The king stood from his chair, though not very quickly, slowed down as he was by age (and build). He hobbled over to the back window, staring out for a long while. This Dinavhek was not the same as the land he knew as a boy, even at his son's age. Had Dinavhek changed so much? Or was it merely he who had changed?

  “Who else was there?” the king asked.

  “Alaiph. He and Hegern were both in on it.”

  “I will deal with them. This cannot stand. You did well to inform me of their transgressions. Now, you may go.”

  The prince did not move. The king turned back around, looking at him curiously. “Do you have something else to say?”

  Adsuni took a deep breath, summoning whatever remained of his courage. He felt dizzy, as if he were about to faint.

  “This wouldn't have happened if you were more involved with Dinavhek,” he said, his voice cracking. “You've just... you've disappeared. From me, from Dinavhek. You have no idea what's happening beyond these walls. Father, you don't even know the names of our servants, and they've been here for months! You haven't even met either of them in person.”

  “I don't know what is happening beyond our walls? I traveled to Takirar to meet with its new king! You never travel beyond Aranaot, unless it's to that shabby little village.”

  The prince glared at him defiantly, eyes shining with barely contained tears in the candlelight. “What happened to you, father?”

  “I could ask the same of you,” the king retorted. “You used to listen to me. Where is all of this coming from?”

  “From – from – you!” Adsuni sputtered.

  “Me?” his father asked calmly.

  Breathing heavily, the prince sank back into his chair. He hadn't realized that he'd stood up; lost in the argument, he'd become entirely unaware of his own movements. His heart raced, his chest hurt, he felt light-headed, and he was certain that he was going to vomit at some point in the near future. Was this what Aasimah had felt after she and Glanen returned from Dre'shii?

  Old king Zaeem hobbled back over to his son, placing a hand on his shoulder. Shaking, the prince looked up into his father's eyes, only to find himself met with a look of remorse, perhaps the most profound appearance of heartbreak he had ever seen. Who was this man standing before him? For that matter... who was he? So much had changed, and was still changing, and the prince didn't like it one bit.

  “I know I've been distant,” the king admitted. “I have been uninvolved. What's transpired in Takirar... It worries me, son. I traveled there to meet with the new king, and he was nowhere to be found. Instead, I met with his attendant, and our meeting left me with more questions than answers.

  “I don't know what's happening to the world anymore. I can't keep control of my own council, my own knights... not even my own son. I fear I am becoming old and irrelevant, and you are not ready to take my place.”

  He wasn't wrong; kingship was a responsibility that Adsuni knew he would never be ready for. He had the ideals, the will to serve and protect the people, that much was clear, but he sorely lacked the emotional hardness that had to come with the “job.”

  “I...” the prince cleared his throat, shifting around in his seat a bit uncomfortably. He struggled, trying to find the words, but none would come to him.

  “You don't have to say anything,” the king said. “I am merely sharing what I have hidden from you for so long.”

  “And what of the king's attendant – the one from Takirar?” Adsuni pressed on.

  “She is a lovely woman. Hard to believe she's from Takirar at all, really. Her disposition is unlike anyone else's there. She'll be here next week, on a diplomatic mission of her own. We, of course, will be hosting her.”

  The prince blinked, not sure he'd heard his father correctly. “Come again?”

  “I have invited Lady Kharqa to join us next week, for an extended stay. And you will be on your best behavior,” the king added, suddenly stern, “no more sneaking off or trying to lose the guards. I expect you to be the polite young prince of Dinavhek that your mother and I raised you to be.”

  “Yes, father.”

  “One more thing: Hymuse has mentioned to me that you obtained these girls from a known slaver. Is that correct?”

  Adsuni's heart beat rapidly as he took in his father's question.

  “Yes,” he said reluctantly.

  “As soon as this matter with Takirar is settled, I should wish to speak to them. I haven't forgotten your desire to investigate into the trade. I would also have you give me everything you have on the man you obtained them from.”

  “Yes, father!” Adsuni said, hardly believing in his good fortune. Just how long had he been needling his father, pushing him into carrying out an investigation in earnest?

  “Now, it is late, and we both must rest. Off to bed with you!”

  Just like that, Adsuni found himself being herded out of his father's chambers. The king did give his son a brief hug, which the prince numbly returned. And, just like that, the door shut in front of him, leaving him alone in the hall to sort through his feelings.

  At the mention of his mother, the prince immediately lost any desire to argue back against his father. It was no slip of the tongue that led his father to mention her – though the prince had few memories of his mother, he knew her very well from the stories that his father and, on rare occasions, Konrad would share with him. The prince suspected that his mother had been brought up to confuse him, and if so, it definitely worked.

  He thought of the attendant to the king of Takirar. From there, his thoughts drifted back toward what he'd seen in the alley, to the boy who had been made to disappear upon Konrad's orders. What was happening in Dinavhek? Was this an isolated incident, or was his home always this unstable?

  He thought, too, of the next week. Apprehensive as he was toward the very idea of hosting the woman, he would have to grin and bear it, and hope that his father's assessment of this Lady Kharqa proved accurate, else there would be yet another threat to his countrymen.

  *​*​*

  Aasimah had plenty of questions for him the following morning. Normally, it was Adsuni who knocked on her door to rouse her, but he'd completely forgotten about that. Instead, he sat in his small office, which overlooked his mother's garde
n from the second floor. It was a nice office. There were bookshelves on each side of the room, his desk was one of few pieces of furniture that held up well over the years, and whatever wall space there was that hadn't been blocked by hundreds of books was instead adorned with various pieces of artwork. The room was rather small, but the location was ideal – or it used to be. Until recently, he'd greatly enjoyed the view from his window.

  He no longer found sanctuary in that place, and instead, he simply watched it from the safety of his window. He didn't even notice when Aasimah knocked on the door, and was roused from his thoughts only when he heard her footsteps as she drew near.

  “Prince?” she asked.

  “Ah!” Adsuni cried, sitting up as quickly as he could. In the process, he knocked over an ink bottle on his desk. He cursed under his breath as the liquid found its way onto his sleeves. He absorbed as much of it as he could with some loose parchment, fully aware that Aasimah was thoroughly enjoying the spectacle.

  “Is everything all right?”

  “Yes, yes. Well, actually, no. But it's not something a servant's meant to deal with. I'm just thinking, is all.”

  He looked up to see her smirking at him.

  “I can see that,” she said.

  “Please, Aasimah, I'm really not in the mood for this today.”

  She frowned, and strode up to him, standing over to his right and looking out through the window. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she simply said, “nice view.”

  “It used to be.”

  “'Used to?' Has something changed?”

  “Everything's changed,” he said with a defeated sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache coming on. How could he even begin to explain to her what was going on? He knew he really should; after all, she and Itholera were responsible for most of the work around the palace. It wouldn't be fair to blindside them by keeping Lady Kharqa's arrival a secret.

  He felt Aasimah's gaze turn upon him at that. She always looked at him severely, as if she were staring right through him. It was that odd stare that prompted him into picking her at the marketplace. It felt as though it were a lifetime ago! He'd known Aasimah and Itholera for such a short time, but the prince suspected that if he'd tried to remember a time in his life when they were not present, he would find it rather difficult.