Gregory Keyes - The Blood Knight

“Could you repeat that last bit?” Stephen asked. “About how you serve me now?”

“That’s how it is,” Fend said. “I’ve been trying to find you for months, to offer you my services.”

“You’ve been following me to find this mountain,” Stephen said. “Don’t let him fool you, Adhrekh. He hasn’t come here for any good purpose.”

“Only you could find the mountain,” Fend replied. “And it’s probably true that if I had managed to catch up with you earlier, I would have had a difficult time at best convincing you to come here. But this is where you were supposed to be, just as I was fated to accompany you and now to serve you. It really won’t be so confusing once you understand things.”

He stepped forward, drawing a nasty-looking dagger from his belt. Stephen flinched, but Fend offered it to him hilt first, then knelt at his feet.

“It was better this way” he said. “I am here; I’ve found the secret mountain and the armor of my station. Now I offer you my life.”

Stephen took the blade, wrapped in a miasma of absolute disbelief. Fend was evil; there was no doubt about that. What was he playing at here?

Aspar wouldn’t hesitate, would he? He’d plunge the knife straight in and try to figure out what the Sefry was up to later. And he owed Aspar so much, owed him at least the death of this man…

But he wasn’t Aspar, and even Aspar might not be able to strike down someone kneeling in front of him. Stephen liked to think even Aspar couldn’t do that.

So he dropped the knife on the ground.

“Explain this to me,” he said, gesturing first at Fend, then at the rest of the party. “Any of you. Tell me what is happening.”

“You are Kauron’s heir,” Zemlé said.

Startled, he whirled on her. “Did you know, then? Were you part of this trap?”

Her eyes widened in hurt. “No. I mean, I didn’t know the particulars. I knew that you were Kauron’s heir. I don’t know this man, Stephen. I’ve never met any of these people.”

Studying the group more closely, Stephen noticed another figure, standing beyond Fend. To his surprise, he realized it was a human in the robes of a monk.

“You!” he shouted. “Who are you?”

The man stepped forward.

“My name is Brother Ashern,” he said, bowing. “I am also at your service.”

“Are you Hierovasi or Revesturi?”

“I am neither,” he said. “I am pledged to the saint of the mountain. That appears to be you, Stephen Darige.”

“You’re all mad, aren’t you?”

“No,” Fend replied, “not mad. Determined, yes. And unfortunately, there isn’t time enough for the sort of discussion that will clear things up entirely. Praifec Hespero and his men are nearly here. It would be a mistake to let them enter the mountain. Even on the slopes, Hespero might be able to draw on the power of the seven fanes. If he enters the mountain, even the woorm might not be able to stop him.”

“Yet if Brother Stephen had time to walk the faneway—” Brother Ashern began, but Fend shook his head.

“That would take days. Hespero is approaching. I’ve seen him. Isn’t that right, Stephen?”

“He’s been following us,” Stephen admitted. He looked sharply at Fend. “But you and he were allies.”

“I once worked with him,” Fend admitted. “It was necessary to reach this present point. But our interests no longer coincide. He wants what is yours by right. You wended the horn that woke the Briar King. You found this place.”

“But I don’t even know what this place is!”

“Don’t you?” Fend asked. “Don’t you know who your first predecessor was? The first of your kind to come here?”

“Choron?”

“Choron? No, he was merely returning something to its proper place. It was Virgenya Dare found this place, Stephen. This is where she walked the faneway. This is where she discovered the magicks that destroyed the Skasloi. Would you give that kind of power to Hespero?”

“No,” Stephen said, his head whirling, “but I wouldn’t give it to you, either.”

“I’m not asking for it, you half-wit,” Fend snarled. “I’m only asking you take it for yourself.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s the only way ,” Fend replied. “The only way to save our world.”

“I still don’t understand what you expect me to do.”

“I am at your command,” Fend replied. “The woorm is at your command. These warriors are at your command. Simply tell us what to do.”

“You expect me to believe all this?” Stephen snapped, his frustration reaching a boil. “I was brought here against my will. Now you claim you’ll follow my orders? It doesn’t make sense!”

“We had to bring you here,” Adhrekh said. “I’m sorry we had to use coercion to get this far, but we cannot force you any farther. You are Choron’s heir. If you want to leave, leave. But if you do, this other one will take your place.”

“Are you saying you would obey Hespero?”

“It’s the geos of this place,” Fend said. “If you do not take up the scepter, someone else will. And when they do, we must follow them. You must decide.”

“If I agree, and if I tell you to destroy Hespero and his forces?”

“We will try,” Fend replied. “I think we will win. But as I said, his power waxes. Unlike you, he has dreamed of this place for decades.”

Stephen glanced at Zemlé, then turned his gaze to Adhrekh.

“I want to be alone with Sister Pale for a moment,” he said.

“Don’t take too long,” Fend warned. “A decision delayed may be a decision denied.”

“There’s something really wrong here,” he told Zemlé once they were alone.

“It’s certainly confusing,” she admitted.

“Confusing? No, it’s more than that. It’s madness. Do you know who Fend is ? The things he’s done? Whatever else I know or don’t know about this situation, I know Fend can’t be trusted.”

“That may be so, but if they’re right about Hespero, maybe we should worry about the Sefry later.”

“You mean I should do what they’re asking? Order them to attack Hespero? I—No, this makes no sense. If Fend is eager for me to do something, that’s an excellent sign that I shouldn’t do it. Besides, Fend and Adhrekh seemed agreed on the matter of the praifec. Fends been riding the woorm, so I assume he has some control over it. Adhrekh and his people have been acting pretty freely. So why do they need me to tell them to do what they already want to do?”

“They said something about a geos—”

“Yes,” Stephen said, “I know. Yet it sounds wrong .”

“Maybe…” Zemlé began, then shook her head.

“What?” he said.

“You’re already—”

“What?”

She let out a long breath.

“It’s what you were saying, days ago. About how you keep getting off your path. You’ve been living for other people, Stephen. Even the way you talk about Aspar—you were his companion, never his equal. Could you—just consider this—could you possibly be afraid of the power you’re being offered? Could it be you don’t trust it because you can’t , because if you’re in command, you’ll have no one to blame but yourself if things go wrong?”

“That’s not fair,” Stephen said.

“Maybe it isn’t,” Zemlé said. “I haven’t known you that long. But I think, ah, I think I know some things about you. I think maybe I see some things about you far more clearly than you see them yourself.”

She reached out and gripped his hands in hers.

“Think, Stephen. Even if Fend is lying, even if Virgenya Dare was never here, still, what secrets might this place hold? What might you learn? I can feel the power here, so I know you must, as well. This is what you came for, and all you have to do is submit to leading .”