Mickey Reichert - Flight of the Renshai

Saviar took a deep breath before continuing. He did not want to stretch his luck too far. "If it also pleases His Majesty, I would like to borrow one of your knights."

The grin broadened, revealing pearly teeth. "You may use the services of even my captain, if you need him, Saviar."

"Most generous, Your Majesty." Saviar would have settled for his father, but he dared not belittle such a charitable gift. He turned his attention to Knight-Captain Kedrin and bowed again. His mouth formed the words, "Come along, Grandpapa," but his mind knew better than to speak them as such. Instead, he kept up the necessary ritual, "If you would be willing, Sir Captain?"

Kedrin saluted Saviar, bowed to his king, then dismounted. Leaving the charger to his own devices, Kedrin came to Saviar's side, then followed him past the gathering, through a small field, and into the shade of the first row of cottages. There, Saviar loosed a pent-up breath but dared not drop all pretenses. Kedrin was on duty.

Upending an empty rain barrel, Saviar sat.

Kedrin settled onto a low wall of rock surrounding a small garden. "Would you like some help making sense of that document?"

"I would," Saviar said. "I'll get the gist of it, I think. I'd just like to be sure I don't lock us into something I don't understand." There was more to Saviar's concern. He wanted the chance to read the words in a hush that allowed him to absorb and make sense of them, but he also worried about misunderstanding. He could never forgive himself if he comprehended every word and still advised a course of action that endangered the tribe. Unable to continue in this manner, he finally dropped pretenses. "What's this all about?"

Kedrin studied Saviar without a hint of emotion. "Are you asking me as a representative of the Renshai? Or as my grandson?"

Saviar attempted to consider the question, but found himself too inexperienced to know which one he wanted. "Which will give me the most direct answers?"

"Grandson."

Saviar made a straight line gesture. "Speak frankly, Grandpapa."

Kedrin attempted a smile, though it came out tired and lopsided. "I've read the whole thing, Saviar, even helped draft portions of it to keep it fair."

Saviar unrolled the next paragraph, bobbing his head. It made sense that the king would employ the Knights of Erythane to keep the matter impartial and the contract binding. He read the next several paragraphs in silence. "The Northmen want to battle us? In single combat."

"One to one," Kedrin confirmed.

Saviar continued reading. Despite the excessive verbiage, he believed he teased out all the salient points. "If the Renshai win, we get back our ancient homeland in the North: Renshi." For once, the words on the document seemed too simplistic for what they described. Hundreds of years ago, Renshi had become divvied up among the neighboring tribes, and Saviar wondered how anyone could still recall the ancient borders. At the time of the Great Banishment, the North had consisted of seventeen tribes. Now, there were only nine. Even if they could redefine Renshi, it meant displacing the Gjar, Blathe, and Shamirins who currently resided there.

Kedrin anticipated the question, "Historians and mapmakers spent a long time defining the proper location. The Northern captain, Erik Leifsson, does have the dispensation of the high king in Nordmir to endorse the agreement."

Verdondi's father. Saviar could not help smiling. It had to have caught the young man by surprise to find his sparring partner, the son of a knight, was also a budding leader of Renshai.

Kedrin folded his arms across his chest. "Assuming they won, the Renshai would also keep the Fields of Wrath in Erythane. The Paradisians have agreed to fully surrender their claim to the land in that circumstance."

Saviar bobbed his head thoughtfully. Thialnir might see the gestures as immeasurably small.The Paradisians had no legitimate claim to the Fields of Wrath anyway, and the Renshai could take back Renshi by force if necessary. Still, Saviar could see the significance of these places to the Northmen. Sacrificing the land up North meant acknowledging the Renshai as one of them, a real tribe with an actual right to existence. Giving up the battle of the so-called Paradisians would force them to stop fueling the prejudice growing rampant in the Western world.

Saviar went back to the scroll to discover the penalty for a Renshai loss. Not surprisingly, it called for the Renshai to give up the Fields of Wrath and become exiles not only from the Northlands, but from the West as well. The rest involved assuring the compulsory nature of the contract, the conditions necessary to render it, and the proper signatories, with their endorsers described.

"Do you need me to explain anything more?" Kedrin prompted.

Only then, Saviar realized he had sat in silence for quite a long time. "No." He met the sea-foam eyes. "Grandpapa, what should I do?"

"You should discuss the details with Thialnir." Though true, the answer gave Saviar nothing. He tried to read the emotions hidden behind his grandfather's blank expression, without success.

Saviar sighed. "I mean, what should I do about the contract? Should we accept it? Decline it? Burn it at their feet?"

"That," Kedrin said, "is entirely up to the leaders of the Renshai."

Leaders? Plural? "Of which I am one?"

"Yes.You and Thialnir."

Suddenly, Saviar understood Ra-khir's lament about Kedrin and his riddles. "What would you do in my place?"

Kedrin rose and put an arm across his grandson's shoulders. "Saviar, I can't make this decision for you."

"Of course not." Saviar shook off Kedrin's touch, growing irritated. "But you can advise me. What would you do in my place?"

Now Kedrin sighed. He lowered his arm awkwardly, as if uncertain where to place it. "If I were you, Saviar, I'd be Renshai. I'm not. I can't take any responsibility for a group of people I can't possibly fully understand."

"You understand the politics. Things Thialnir can't… won't…"

"Give Thialnir some credit for experience," Kedrin said softly. "Do not underestimate his knowledge or his intelligence."

Thialnir was known for neither, rather for abruptness in everything, including decisions. "But-"

"And, I believe you understand the politics every bit as much as I do, Saviar. Perhaps more."

No longer confused, Saviar trembled with building anger. "Let me speak with Papa, instead."

"Sir Ra-khir will not make this decision for you, either."

Saviar spoke through gritted teeth. "Perhaps Sir Ra-khir would like to speak for himself."

"Not necessary." Kedrin tipped his head. "Sir Ra-khir is a Knight of Erythane, and I am his superior. In situations such as this, we're both sworn to objectivity."

Rage warmed Saviar's blood momentarily, then disappeared. He no longer wanted to punch his grandfather, only to cry and beg for his help. He did none of those things, though tears stung his eyes. "Please. I don't know what to do, what to say. Thialnir takes my suggestions very seriously."

"As he should." Kedrin remained maddeningly unhelpful. "I will send him over." He headed back toward the gathering.

As his grandfather walked away, Saviar found himself trembling, assaulted by uncertainty, by fear, by loathing at once. A tear slipped from his eye, and he wiped it away fiercely. He dared not let Thialnir catch him weeping. He concentrated on the details of the contract, rewording it as clearly as possible in his head, blocking out the emotions the issues raised. By the time Thialnir arrived, he knew exactly what he wished to say.

Saviar launched into the short version of the venture: the proposed one-on-one combat so like the one that had allowed the Renshai to claim Devil's Island in the North long after their initial banishment; the rewards in plain language without the attendant baggage; and the consequences of failure. He had only just taken a breath to explain the underlying politics when Thialnir raised his giant hand.