Reign of Madness (Revised Edition) (24 page)

Rezkin felt the familiar tightening of his chest. He was
coming to realize that the manifestation of pain was a physical response to a
negative emotional response. Tam saw the change come over the warrior. It was
as if a cloud had descended to envelope the man in an invisible cloak of
detachment. Where before Rezkin had been open and straightforward, he was now
distant and cold.

“I have never lied to you, Tam,” Rezkin stated, his voice
flat and emotionless. “When you did not know me, you were quick to claim me as
friend. Now that you
do
know me, you believe you were mistaken.”

Tam shifted uncomfortably but said nothing. He was suddenly
afraid. Rezkin had taken him into his confidence, and Tam had thrown it back in
his face, despite his earlier assertion on deck that he was a loyal friend. As
he considered his situation, he realized that Rezkin was the kind of man who
would have no compunctions with solving a problem by killing the source. Would
Rezkin kill him if he rejected the friendship? Tam’s mouth had gone dry, but he
forcefully swallowed the tight knot that was forming in his throat, anyway.

Rezkin considered the imminent loss of Tam as his
friend
.
If Tam rejected him, then Frisha would surely follow. Would Jimson reject him,
as well, if the man knew who he really was? If Rezkin lost all of his
friends
,
then he would have no purpose. Had he dishonored his friends in some way simply
by being who he was? If that was the case, it seemed as though
Rule 1
was in direct conflict with the nature of his training – with his entire
existence.

When Tam did not respond, Rezkin continued quietly, “I will
not dismiss you so quickly. I will give you time to come to your own
conclusion. Must I prove myself to you? What more can I do to prove my
intentions toward you? Toward Frisha?”

Gathering the threads of his courage, Tam said, “It’s not
about your intentions, Rezkin. It’s about
who
you are. You’re a killer!
Hundreds
,
Rezkin! You’re a mass murderer!”

“Hey, now!” Kai interrupted. “Be fair. Is an executioner or
a soldier a mass murderer?”

Tam scowled and shouted back, “That is not the point!”

“Well, I think it
is
,” Kai remarked, “if you are
going to judge him for his actions when performing his duties.”

Tam shook his head. His fear and shock had compounded into
anger. He said, “I just don’t know if I can be friends with someone like
you
,
Rezkin. You’re not the man I thought you were.”

“I see,” Rezkin stated flatly.

“What now, Rezkin? Will you kill me if I refuse you?” Tam
snapped. He had not intended to voice the concern, but now that it was out, he
longed to hear a refusal.

Rezkin said nothing as he stared at his one-time
friend
.
Tam’s earlier fervent declaration of friendship and loyalty seemed to have
dissolved and blown away on a non-existent wind in the stifling cargo hold. He
felt anger boiling up at Tam’s questioning of his honor but managed to bury the
feelings as he would when facing battle. Perhaps he had misinterpreted the
nature of
friendship
.
Rule 1
only guaranteed that his
friends
could trust and depend on
him
. It said nothing about the opposite being
true. It was not Tam’s failing, then. It was his.

Rezkin sighed and said, “No, Tam. I will not kill you. It
seems I misinterpreted the nature of our relationship. I thought that I could
honor your desire for adventure by including you in my own. I did not consider
that you might object to
me
, personally. You are my
friend
, and I
will continue to protect and honor you as such, even if you reject me. If you
wish for me to do so from a distance or to remove myself from your presence
altogether, I will honor your wishes.”

Rezkin suddenly wanted to be away from the confines of the
small, stuffy space. He looked over at Kai who was scowling at the other young
man and said, “I think we have said enough for today. Neither of you will speak
of this to anyone.” To Tam he said, “The fewer people who know, the safer it is
for everyone.”

Tam scowled and said, “I wish I didn’t even know.”

Rezkin snapped his mouth shut and nodded curtly. He knew for
certain, now, that he had made a mistake. He had felt some unnatural drive to
include Tam in the details of his life. For some reason, he had wanted the
young man to know who he really was, and he had convinced himself that it was
in Tam’s best interest. Rezkin turned and strode from the small space, quickly
disappearing into the darkness. Kai and Tam followed with the lantern but found
that within a few steps they could no longer find the young warrior, despite
the fact that there was only one passageway.

Kai suddenly turned and slammed Tam against the wall of the
passage. He held the smaller man by the throat as he gritted between his teeth,
“What, by the Maker and the Hells, is wrong with you?”

“What…are you…talking about?” Tam choked out through a
constricted airway.

“That is the deadliest man in Ashai, perhaps even the
world,” Kai hissed. “He is a Sword Bearer, entrusted with the authority and
responsibility of the entire kingdom. He seeks answers so that he can fight
against the wrongs that have been committed both against him and
by
him
on someone else’s command. From what I have seen and heard of him, he fights
for those who cannot fight for themselves, he speaks in elegant prose of the
obligations of nobles toward the commoners they govern, and insists on the
accountability of
all
men of power, including the king.

“I have seen no evidence that he is deserving of your foul
treatment and inglorious accusations. Do you think a man such as he trusts
easily? I doubt he has
ever
revealed so much to anyone. He included me
for the sake of the information and assistance I can provide, but as you so
rightly pointed out,
you
are nothing special. What does he gain from
trusting you with such information? I will tell you. He thought only to keep
his friend in confidence, and you scorned him. Had any friend of mine been so
hateful, he would never have walked away of his own volition.”

“You know nothing,” Tam spat. He was angry, particularly so
because he could not find fault in Kai’s words. “You speak of him in such high
praise, but have you ever considered why a man like him would have any need of
me
as a friend? What use does some super elite soldier-assassin have for a friend
like me? What sense does it make for a
king
to befriend a carpenter’s
apprentice?”

“Is that what this is about? Your ego? Is your petulance due
to some pathetic perception of inferiority? How do you select your friends? Do
you choose them for their power and influence? Do you find those without to be
unworthy?”

“No, of course not,” Tam argued weakly.

“Then why should Rezkin?” Kai asked with irritation. “Do you
think he had friends in that brutal fortress he calls home? To be honest, you
are a more logical choice of friend than any wealthy noble or high-ranking
official. Men of power will want him dead. If not, then they will try to use
him until he loses his usefulness, and then they will want him dead. You…you
are not a threat. Or perhaps, you only wish to use him, as well? Would you take
his protection and lessons and give nothing in return?”

Tam shoved back at Kai to no avail. The man was built of
solid rock. “I was scared, okay! I just…I don’t know what to think. I’ve never
had to deal with anything like this. At home, it was only a big deal if we were
running low on wood or the sand barrel tipped over. You two were talking about
killing people and usurping the
throne
! What do
you
care,
anyway?”

Kai leaned in closer and spoke through clenched teeth,
“Rezkin is my liege, my king. At first, I chose him mostly because he was not
Caydean; but I have since come to realize there is much to respect and admire
in the young warrior. I would have no man dishonor him the way you did.”

The striker released the young man roughly and brushed past
him toward the steps leading to the upper deck. Tam was left standing in the
darkness with the flickering lantern. He sunk to the floor and buried his head
between his knees. He allowed himself to cry. It was all too much. He achingly
longed for the simple life of a carpenter. Perhaps he was not cut out for
adventuring.

Rezkin’s muscles were tense, and he needed to think over all
of the information he garnered from Kai. It had not been as helpful as he had
hoped, but it was more than he previously possessed. As he strode up the steps
and across the deck, he grabbed the first viable weapon he found. It was
comprised of a long pole about his height with a hand-length hook attached to
one end. The crewmen used the pole hook to grab and guide ropes, but Rezkin
intended to use it in an entirely different manner. Many of his training
sessions at the fortress revolved around him entering an area without a weapon
and using whatever he had at hand to defend himself and defeat his attackers.
Most of the objects he found were far less suited to operating as weapons than
the pole hook, so he felt himself lucky this day.

As he made his way to the quarterdeck, he passed Shiela who
was seated on a stool beneath a frilly parasol that matched her daisy yellow
dress. Her unobtrusive maid was crouched at her side with a vacant stare.
Despite the steady breeze blowing across the river, Shiela was waving a lacy
yellow fan in front of her flushed face. Although the evenings were becoming
more bearable, the summer’s heat was still sweltering during the day. Rezkin
could not fathom why the woman would willingly suffer beneath a few dozen
pounds of fabric just for the sake of fashion.

“Lord Rezkin, how good it is to see you. You are looking a
bit tense. Perhaps some feminine company could relieve some of the strain?” she
proposed with a flutter of her lashes and an undisguised perusal of his form.

Rezkin did not stop walking as he delivered his reply,
“Thank you, Lady Shiela, but no. I have other means of working out my tension.”

Shiela pouted as she rose and followed after him. “Are you
to grace us with a show, then?” she asked.

Rezkin did not like having the woman at his back, but he
decided it was unlikely she would attempt to attack him with her parasol. He
considered the techniques required for use of such a weapon and the resultant
damage.
Perhaps I should ask to borrow one to test the methods
, he
thought. He immediately tossed the idea aside. He did not think Shiela would be
willing to subject one of her lacy luxuries to his training regime.

“I am not a performer, Lady Shiela. I go to train and
nothing more,” Rezkin replied.

“Yes, but I imagine even your training is entertaining,”
Shiela remarked. “Will I get to see your enchanted blades?”

“No, I do not intend to practice with the swords,” Rezkin
replied. His voice was calm and impassive, despite his rising frustration.

“Then you are to practice with
that
?” the woman asked
incredulously as she spied the pole hook. “Is that even a weapon?”

“Anything can be used as a weapon. This is not so different
from a staff or spear.” Rezkin stopped abruptly and turned to face the woman.
Shiela was not expecting the sudden cessation and nearly collided with the
handsome man. Rezkin looked down into the woman’s startled eyes and said,
“Unless you would lend me your parasol. I am considering a number of
interesting and unique techniques for such a weapon.”

Shiela’s brow furrowed as she petulantly replied, “Lord
Rezkin, my parasol is
not
a weapon. Have you not enough sharp and heavy
things with which to play?”

“The pole hook it is, then,” Rezkin remarked as the item in
question appeared between them. Rezkin turned and stepped onto the quarterdeck.
Palis and Waylen were having a discussion complete with waving hand motions but
stopped when the Swordmaster approached.

“May I?” Rezkin asked as he hefted the pole hook before him
and motioned to the surrounding deck. Palis and Waylen both looked at him
quizzically but moved to the side with interest. Rezkin removed his doublet and
made to lay it over a railing, but Shiela skittered forward and took it from
him with a gratuitous smile.

Rezkin ignored the curious onlookers and focused on his
techniques. He had trained all his life to develop
Skills
he thought
were necessary for
everyone
to learn, and only since leaving the
fortress did he come to realize he was unique. It seemed obvious, now, that
King Bordran had a plan for him, and that plan did not seem to have anything to
do with his purpose as stated in
Rule 1
. Aside from that, his
friends
,
who were the focus of
Rule 1
, did not seem to appreciate who he was. Why
would King Bordran desire for his elite warrior to protect and honor a couple
of commoners and a simple soldier with no major House ties? Even though Frisha
had been named the general’s heir, she held no real power or influence. She
could not inherit the general’s position, and once she married, the general’s
wealth and estate would be absorbed into her husband’s House.

The young warrior was more frustrated now than ever. Brandt
had referred to his upbringing as harsh, but Rezkin had always believed it to
be normal. He knew no other way. Now, he was starting to see that there were
multitudes of other ways in which people were raised. He had a scholarly
understanding of relationships among various groups of people, including the
family unit, but it had always been a foreign concept to him. Even though he
knew the facts, he had always had difficulty accepting them as a reality, and
it had been difficult to imagine a life lived any way but his.

As Rezkin exercised, the part of his mind that was
constantly monitoring his surroundings noted a number of people coming and
going. They came to watch for a while and then left again. Most had tried at
one point or another to engage him in conversation, but he continued to ignore
them, saying nothing. Shiela got tired of holding his doublet long ago, and it
now lay wrapped over a rail, as he originally intended. His dripping shirt hung
beside it, having been discarded after a few hours, as it was drenched with
sweat.

Rezkin worked through form after form, and when he was
finished with the pole hook, he moved on to unarmed combat techniques. When he
was finished with those, he found a thick rope and tied a heavy ring-shaped
weight to the end. The rope darted out and spun around as he twisted and
turned. After the rope and weight, he plucked up a couple of wooden shafts
about the length of his arm. The warrior worked his way through the midday meal
and into the evening. Someone placed a water bucket and cup to one side, but no
one attempted to disturb the focused warrior any longer.

By the evening meal, Rezkin was famished. He dredged up a
few buckets of cold river water and scrubbed himself clean before changing into
fresh clothes. He forewent the doublet and breeches and adorned himself in a
more comfortable pair of pants and a well-made but plain tunic. First
impressions had already been made, and the others considered him to be a
powerful noble with idealistic views. Now, they knew him to be a
dangerous
noble, for surely no commoner would have had the resources to achieve what he
had.

When the young warrior entered the mess, voices hushed and
eyes stared. Rezkin was used to people staring at him. He had been observed
nearly every waking moment of every day. Men had watched him and evaluated his
every move, his every expression, his carriage and gate, always looking for
error and weakness, seeking that moment for derision and correction or outright
attack.

Rezkin realized during his exercise that he had become
complacent. He mistakenly thought that because these people did not live to his
standard, they would not hold him to it either. He had attempted to fit in and
adjust to their society, but it seemed that, unless he was actively playing a
role, he was not meant to meld. Just because he now lived among the outworlders
did not mean that he was one of them.

The warrior sat at his regular seat and nodded a greeting
but said nothing otherwise. The masters had said it was usually better to allow
others to speak first. Keeping silent meant more opportunity to listen and less
opportunity to reveal anything. Rezkin had already revealed too much to Tam, in
breach of
Rule 3
, and had failed at
Rule 1
as a result. Aside
from his desire to find Farson, Rezkin had not thought he was on a mission when
he set out from the fort. After speaking with Kai and considering the manner in
which he had been trained, Rezkin now realized that his entire life was the
mission. He needed to stay diligent and compliant with the
Rules
at all
times. Rezkin kept silent and looked at no one in particular as he ate. He
listened carefully to the subdued whispers, which, it turned out, were mostly
about him and his odd behavior. People wanted to know why he was upset.

Kai glared at Tam every time the young man looked up from
his plate, so Tam found his food to be extremely interesting this evening.
Frisha noted Tam’s odd behavior and stared at her friend questioningly. It was
just one more reason the young man considered his potatoes to be particularly
glorious.

Finishing his meal in record time, Rezkin’s eyes glanced
over each of his companions, not staying on anyone long enough to connect. The
others, sensitive to the warrior’s detached mood, were attuned to the man’s
every move.

Rezkin said, “Striker, you have been remiss in your training
for several months. You may join me on the quarter deck in an hour, if you so
desire.” It was a loosely masked command.

Without missing a beat, Kai responded, “Yes, my lord.”

Around the room, brows furrowed and mouths turned down at
the striker’s subservience. Rezkin had already realized that Kai was going act
however Kai wanted to act, and there was nothing Rezkin could do about it,
short of killing the man. Unfortunately, Kai could still be useful. The young
warrior decided he was just lucky the man was not calling him
king
in
front of the others. Thus far, Rezkin had been able to acquire a decent level
of respect and approval from the nobles, but if that was not enough to keep
them quiet about anything that should not be discussed, he could always resort
to threats and blackmail.

Rezkin nodded once and then turned to Wesson and said,
“Journeyman, how goes your training with Reaylin?”

Wesson shifted uncomfortably and glanced at the woman in
question furtively. “Ah, well…”

Reaylin stood up and shouted, “I won’t do it! I told you I
am not a healer!”

Rezkin stood slowly and appeared to loom over the tiny
woman, despite the fact that she was several seats removed and on the other
side of the table. “You
will
,” Rezkin commanded. Reaylin started to
protest when Rezkin continued, “You think you are a warrior, but you refuse to
accept one of your most notable talents. A true warrior hones
every Skill
available to him or
her
. You do not discard a natural talent simply
because you view it as unworthy of your attention. A
true
warrior does
what is necessary without a care for the opinions of others. You view healers
as weak, and you are truly a weak healer. A true warrior harbors no weakness.
You will take what you see as weakness and make it a strength or you are no
warrior.”

Reaylin shied away from the imposing man she typically admired.
His eyes were cold and hard, his tone unrelenting. “I-…”

“You will train,” Rezkin ordered.

Reaylin clamped her mouth shut and nodded with wet eyes.
Rezkin had never treated her so harshly. At times, like when she kissed him, he
had been kind and understanding. She did not like that he had turned his foul
mood on
her
.

“If you give the mage any trouble, we will have words
again,” Rezkin asserted.

Reaylin shrugged one shoulder and retorted smartly, “They’re
just words.”

The warrior narrowed his eyes at the stubborn young woman.
“You would not like to see how I solve problems without them.” Reaylin bit her
lip and shrank back into her seat. Eyes were wide all around as the warrior
stalked from the small space into the waning light of the evening.

Frisha turned an angry scowl on the young man across from
her. “What did you do, Tam?” she heatedly asked.

Tam frowned and said, “What makes you think
I
did
anything?”

The woman narrowed her eyes and said, “I’ve seen Rezkin upset
before, but this is by far the worst. I can tell from the striker’s anger that
it has something to do with
you
. What did you do to Rezkin?”

“I didn’t
do
anything,” Tam argued.

Kai slammed a fist on the table and said, “Let no lies and
half truths spew from your vile mouth, Tamarin Blackwater. Your disrespect and
accusations were enough to set any man on a warpath. Had Rezkin not claimed you
as friend despite your remarks, you would be resting in the scum beneath the
river, and I would have felt no remorse in putting you there.”

“I am entitled to my own opinion,” Tam shouted defensively.
“I’m not like
you
, Striker. I do not see his…” he paused as he noted the
number of ears in the room and said, “actions as so forgivable.”

“There is nothing to
forgive
! He was performing a
duty
– a duty assigned to him by the
king
! When your king gives you an
order, you follow through or suffer for treason!” Kai replied with vehemence.
“The fact that he has done so well should be commended. Any warrior could only
dream of achieving what he has, and you scorn him!”

“What are you two talking about?” Frisha demanded.

“It’s nothing, Frisha! Just let it go,” Tam insisted as he
lurched from his seat and stumbled through the door.

“Someone needs to give that boy a lesson in respect,” Kai
grumbled as he got to his feet. “I have training,” he mumbled in explanation
before he left.

Waylen turned wide eyes to the other nobles and asked,
“Rezkin works for the king?”