David Dalglish - The Cost of Betrayal

“Could have fooled me,” Harruq said. Tarlak pulled a pink wand out from a pocket and waved it menacingly. The half-orc feigned terror, then sat down next to Aurelia and started wolfing down his food.

After breakfast, the two left the tower, Harruq eager to speak with his brother.

S o are you going to be staying?” Harruq asked as they walked, the tower a fading image behind them.

“That is what I came to tell you, brother,” Qurrah replied. “We have a home now, far from others. It is peaceful there. More than we deserve.”

“What’s going on?” Harruq said, crossing his arms. “What is with this girl? You barely know her, yet you’re going to live with her in the middle of nowhere?”

Qurrah shrugged. “Yes, that is our plan. Does this bother you?”

“Of course it does! I’ve spoken to her, what, three times? I don’t even know her!”

“I do,” Qurrah said, a cold look entering his eyes. “And your opinion doesn’t matter. I will be with her, regardless of what you say.”

Taken aback, Harruq could not keep the hurt out of his voice.

“What’s happened to you?” he asked. “Your opinion was all that ever mattered to me.”

Qurrah felt guilt creeping in his heart, strange and unwelcome.

“You have found a new home, one I cannot be a part of. I dare not say I love Tessanna, but I will be with her until the day of her death. Please, try to understand.”

“I’m going to marry Aurelia,” Harruq blurted, immediately regretting it. He stood there, waiting like a man with his neck on the chopping block. When the axe fell, it was soft as a feather.

“Do as your heart wishes,” Qurrah said. “As will I. She is a fine woman, elf or not.”

The warrior bobbed his head up and down, wishing he didn’t blush so easily.

“At least you’ll come visit us here in the tower, right?”

“Yes, I will. This is not abandonment, only a mere separation. Our paths broke and split with the death of Velixar. We both know that.”

Harruq gestured to the black cloth his brother wore. “Is that the path you took up?”

A bit of sadness flickered in Qurrah’s eyes, like the glow of a firefly.

“I chose the only path before my feet,” he said. “Goodbye, Harruq. Live well, and be happy. Nothing more could we ever have asked for.”

He turned to leave, stopping only when Harruq called his name.

“Yes?” he asked.

“If you need anything, I’ll be here for you,” he said. “Anything at all.”

“I know,” Qurrah said. Pulling his hood up to guard against the increasingly cold wind, he returned to the tower. Harruq stared a long while after as he vanished behind one of many rolling hills.

T essanna was waiting for Qurrah when he returned, sitting beside the front doors of the tower with a guilty expression on her face.

“I got in trouble,” she said in response to his questioning look.

“Then all the wiser to return home,” he said, offering her his hand. She took it and stood. Before he could leave, the door cracked open. Tarlak emerged, beckoning the necromancer with his hand.

“A moment, if you would, before you go,” he said. Qurrah shrugged and stepped inside. Tarlak slammed the door shut after him, his face deathly serious. All the others were gone, except for Delysia, who sat at the table and stared at her hands.

“What is it, wizard?” Qurrah asked.

“I know I owe her for saving my sister,” he began, “but I am begging you, reconsider what you are doing. She is not well!”

“I know better than you what has been wrought upon her,” the half-orc said, his tone vile. “Do not dare tell me what to do.”

“Right now you are in my tower, so I’ll do as I damn well please,” Tarlak said. “And you best listen. She hurt my sister, half-orc, and I don’t take kindly to that type of thing.”

“Hurt her? Why?”

“She knew,” Delysia said, her voice shaking. “Somehow, she knew. She asked for my hand, and I gave it to her. She cut my palm and…”

She could not finish.

“Wanted to taste such aged purity,” Tarlak finished, his voice a whisper. “It’s like wine, she said. I don’t care what you say has been done to her. Her mind is not right!”

“I know that,” Qurrah shouted. “That is exactly what I wish to heal. She saved Delysia’s life, so consider the debt repaid. She has suffered beyond what you can imagine, so before you impose your limited view, know that I have been inside the chaos that is her mind. I will fix it. I will put it right, and not a soul is going to stop me.”

“Her mind cannot be fixed,” Tarlak shouted back. “Even Calan and all the priests of Ashhur are not strong enough to heal her.”

“Then I will become stronger than Ashhur!” Qurrah screamed before doubling over in a violent coughing fit. All was silent in the room except for his labored breathing.

“Leave my tower,” Tarlak said, his voice eerily calm. “You are free to return, but Tessanna is not allowed within my walls until you pull off this miracle you delude yourself into searching for.”

Tessanna leapt to her feet as Qurrah stormed out of the tower.

“What is it?” she asked.

“We’re leaving,” he said. “Let’s go home.”

The two slipped behind the cover of trees and were gone. Harruq returned much later, and with stones in his gut listened to what his brother’s beloved had done.

T hey were a sullen pair sitting around the fire, faces dark, mouths closed, and thoughts turned inward. Qurrah poured over Pelarak’s spellbook while Tessanna traced her dagger across her skin. A soft giggle brought his attention to her smiling face.

“I’ve forgotten how good this feels,” she said, tensing her arm so that the blood fell on the fire. “Qurrah, why did we not go to Veldaren and take someone for you to experiment upon?”

The half-orc closed the large book.

“I realized something as I read over the tome. Even if I can mimic the way your mind has become, I know little of how to affect it.”

Tessanna licked her bloody arm, staining her lips. “So what do you plan to do?”

“Pelarak recorded all his knowledge on the darker side of magic within this tome. He also has many spells, but it will take time to study them. Until I have mastered these spells, we can delay the messier side of our undertaking.”

“What am I to do while you study?” she asked, her eyes locked on a rune she carved across her arm.

“Cut. Sleep. Return to Veldaren. You are free to do as you wish.”

“I wish to stay with you,” she said. She ran her hand down her arm, smearing blood all across it.

“I wish you to stay with me as well,” he said, opening his book. “I’m sure we will think of ways to pass the time.”

Tessanna looked at the half-orc, smirking. “Oh, I bet we can.”

“I wasn’t thinking sex, but yes, that would be one of the more preferable ways to pass the time.”

“More preferable than reading some old dusty book?” she asked, crawling around the fire like a cat.

“Much more preferable.”

To his surprise, he didn’t really mind the blood from her arm smeared across his naked skin.

H arruq’s days began with Haern’s training, and they ended with Aurelia and the stars. The half-orc tested the waters by holding her hand one night, and he found the lightness of his heart and the fierce tingling of his fingers quite addictive. Soon, they relegated the stars to only occasional viewing, as they found each other far more interesting.

Qurrah had been gone for a month when Harruq popped the question… to Haern.

“If I wanted to propose to someone, what should I say?” he asked after a rigorous morning of sparring. Haern removed his hood, shook his blond hair, and then raised an eyebrow.