Don Bassingthwaite - The Grieving Tree

The ogre mage’s grip was surprisingly gentle, as though he was used to handling delicate things, but her fingers still disappeared between his. He turned, guiding them back the way they had come with Dandra on his right and Singe on his left. Ashi, Orshok, and Natrac fell in behind. “You’re tense, lovely kalashtar,” he said.

“We’ve had an … eventful day,” Dandra answered.

Tzaryan nodded. “I apologize for the trespasser that troubled you in the ruins. Do you know him?”

She wondered briefly what report Robrand had given Tzaryan. She tried to exchange another glance with Singe, but with Tzaryan between them it was impossible. “One of our guards had things in his past we didn’t know about,” she said-then winced at the truth behind her own lie.

“I was in my observatory and saw what happened,” he said. “Such things usually don’t happen in my domain. I’m pleased the General was in a position to help you.” He glanced over his shoulder and his black eyes narrowed. “The shifter isn’t with you.”

“No, my lord,” said Singe. “We left him in your dungeon.”

A gash of a smile opened on Tzaryan’s face. “Were the things in his past that bad?”

Singe was silent. Dandra found she couldn’t even manage a false smile. Tzaryan looked back and forth between them. “A joke,” he said.

“I’m re-evaluating his service to me,” Singe replied. “For now, he’s standing guard over Ekhaas.”

They stepped into a long room lined with tall wooden columns painted the same green as the tiles of the keep’s roofs. Between some of the columns, corridors opened, leading deeper into the keep. Between others were mounted the trophies of a warlord: battered swords and shields, a suit of armor with a crest Dandra didn’t recognize, another with a crest that she did-the emblem of the Church of the Silver Flame. She tried to ignore them, to pay attention to their ogre mage host. Tzaryan looked down at Singe as they walked. “That’s unnecessary. If you were in my dungeon, you’ve seen that the cells are quite secure. I’ll send one of my servants to fetch him for dinner.”

Singe hesitated. When he spoke again, his voice was cautious. “He’s not trying to prevent her escape, Lord Tzaryan. He’s watching over her. The General dismissed Lor, but we were concerned he might come back-”

Tzaryan’s eyes narrowed and his grip on Dandra’s hand tightened slightly. He cut Singe off. “Lor? What was Lor doing there?”

Dandra heard the wizard hesitate again and wished that she could escape Tzaryan’s grasp.

Singe recovered himself quickly. “When the General took our attacker to the dungeons, we went along with the intent of speaking to Ekhaas as you and I had agreed, my lord. We found Lor getting ready to … ah …” He swallowed as pretty words failed him. “Torture her.”

“Lor started without my permission?” The ogre mage’s voice was like distant thunder. “I’ll whip him for this!”

In Dandra’s head, Tetkashtai stirred uneasily. Something’s wrong , she said. Her yellow-green glow arced and snapped like captured lightning. Dandra, something’s wrong!

Suspicion sank into Dandra as well. I think you’re right , she told Tetkashtai. Robrand had said that Tzaryan had ordered Lor to begin torturing Ekhaas. But if Tzaryan hadn’t known that Lor was in the dungeon …

“Perhaps I misunderstood what he was doing, my lord,” said Singe. “I’m sure the General had a better explanation for what we saw when we-”

“I’ll be certain to ask him,” Tzaryan said. He quickened his pace, releasing Dandra’s hand. She snatched it away as the implications of the ogre mage’s words settled into her. Robrand had left them in the dungeon with Ekhaas to go and report to Tzaryan-but it almost sounded as if Tzaryan hadn’t seen him.

Robrand had lied to them. Twice. Why?

Dandra , Tetkashtai said urgently, listen to me! Do you feel-

Not now, Tetkashtai! Dandra took a step back, moving a little closer to Ashi and Orshok as Singe hurried to keep pace with Tzaryan.

“My lord,” the wizard said, “the point is that we spoke with Ekhaas and she co-operated with us. She told us what we wanted to know about the ruins. We agreed that if she spoke, you wouldn’t have her tortured.”

“I recall our agreement.” Tzaryan nodded. “Very well. She won’t be tortured. You have my word.”

Singe relaxed, but only slightly. “My lord, what she had to say was extremely helpful to us. Her attempt to follow us from Vralkek was nothing by comparison-it’s forgiven. Would you consider letting her go free?”

Tzaryan stopped and turned to look down at Singe. His lips drew back from his square black teeth. Dandra caught her breath. Holding back Tetkashtai’s frightened ravings, she reached out to brush her mind against Ashi’s and Orshok’s. Stay alert! she warned them. Something is going on here!

Tetkashtai lunged for the mental opening of the kesh. It’s not Tzaryan! she shrieked. Listen to me-

Ashi flinched at the presence’s sudden outburst. Orshok’s hand tightened around his hunda stick. Dandra cursed and hauled back on Tetkashtai, reining her in like a runaway horse. Tetkashtai, be quiet!

The warning and Tetkashtai’s outburst had taken scant heartbeats. Tzaryan still stared down at Singe while the wizard did his best to look strong yet optimistic. Tzaryan’s eyes flickered. “After dinner,” he said finally. “Let us discuss the matter after dinner like civilized folk.” He stood straight.

Singe took a long breath and stood straight as well. He nodded slowly. “Certainly, my lord.” Tzaryan held out his hand, gesturing for Singe to continue along the hall. The wizard bent his head and the pair resumed their progress. The need to reach out to Singe with the kesh and offer him her warning as well burned in Dandra, but she didn’t dare. Tetkashtai’s ravings had become a desperate, mad struggle that took all of her concentration to maintain. She shouted at the presence, but Tetkashtai seemed beyond hearing.

The long hall ended in a pair of tall doors as green as the columns. Two orcs stood ready beside the doors. Tzaryan beckoned one forward. “Go to the dungeon,” he told him. “Tell the shifter that Ekhaas is safe and that he is summoned to dinner. Guide him here.” He frowned. “If you see the General, tell him that he is summoned to dinner as well.”

“There’s no need.” Robrand came striding out of one of the corridors that opened onto the hall. Chuut was close behind him. Robrand’s face was set in a stony mask. He marched up to Tzaryan and dropped down on one knee. “Lord Tzaryan, I’ve just come from the dungeon. Ekhaas and the shifter are both gone. He helped her escape.” He glanced sideways at Singe and added, “Whatever trust you had in him, he broke it.”

Singe’s body stiffened as if someone were holding his feet and his neck and stretching them apart. His eyes opened wide, staring at Robrand with an angry intensity. His lip curled. He trembled. “No,” he breathed-then he flung his head back and screamed, “Twelve bloody moons! Geth, you hairy traitor!”

Abruptly, everyone was talking at once. Robrand was on his feet, explaining to Tzaryan how he’d gone down to the dungeon only to find Ekhaas’s cell empty and that a preliminary search of the keep had turned up nothing. “I doubt they’re even here any longer,” he said. “Ekhaas probably used magic to get them past the guards at the gate. I’m organizing patrols now. We’ll find them.”

Singe was ranting, stomping back and forth in the hall, his hand clenched around the hilt of his rapier. “I’ll kill him!” he spat, his voice seething. “This time I will kill him. Devourer take him, I knew I couldn’t trust him.”