Reign of Madness (Revised Edition) (30 page)

“What did you say to
that
?” Malcius asked curiously.

“I told him not to be so cruel and to keep his undesirables
to himself,” Tieran scoffed. Brandt, who was feigning disinterest in the entire
conversation, snickered and slapped the table with approval.

The baron gasped and exclaimed, “You are talking about the
Crown
of Ashai
, not some dirty laundry! I would have you show some respect,
Lord
Tieran
!”

The duke’s son scowled at the baron and said, “You think
every man who falls in the line of succession is capable of bearing the weight
of the crown? If King Bordran
did
name his own successor, it was because
he knew the man was better prepared and more capable of running this kingdom
than the rest of us.” He turned his eyes on Rezkin and asked, “Why would the
man want to give the throne back to Thresson, anyway? Does he not desire it for
himself?”

Kai crooked a brow at Rezkin, but Rezkin ignored the
irritating striker. “He is not the sort who desires power for the sake of
having power. He will do what is necessary for the good of Ashai.” The striker
grinned broadly as he took Rezkin’s words as confirmation that he would claim
the throne. Rezkin had a mind to consider all of the other options, however.

“Caydean has been king for two years. Why did this man not
come forward before, and why does he not do so now?” the baron inquired.

Seeing that Rezkin was not going to answer, Kai scratched
his chin thoughtfully and said, “I imagine it is because King Bordran died too
soon. The true king is a young man, and I presume he was not yet prepared to
make such a claim. Besides, what Rezkin says is true. The true king has proven
that he would not claim the power and assert his authority if it was not
necessary.”

“I make no statements of support,” the baron anxiously
remarked. “It is merely an observation when I say that if this young king hopes
to save the kingdom, he needs to do it sooner than later or there will be
nothing left worth saving.” Lord Nasque was uncomfortable, to say the least,
with the conversation that could see them all hanged for treason. He had to
admit, though, that just the thought of a solution and savior lifted his heart.

“I-I have a question,” Tam suddenly broke into the
conversation between the nobles. Several heads bobbed assent, and Tam swallowed
nervously. Avoiding Rezkin’s gaze, he asked. “Um, if a king is so terrible…
a
king… not King Caydean, of course…but some
other
king, why go through
with a rebellion and war at all? Why do so many people have to die when all
someone has to do is just, you know, kill the king?”

Kai’s brows rose. “An assassination, you mean?” Tam
swallowed again and shrugged noncommittally. “Of course, it has been done, but
it does not always solve the problems. Firstly, it is illegal and could lead to
the claimant losing his right. Even if it were not, nobles would mostly be
unwilling to follow someone who gained his position through assassination,
assuming it can be proven, of course.

“Secondly, killing the king does not always root out the
problem. The king surrounds himself with likeminded people or those who are
easily swayed to his cause. Whoever claims the throne needs supporters, and he
would have a difficult time digging out the corruption. Someone would probably
assassinate
him
to regain the power. In open war, people are forced to
choose sides. The opponents are clear, for the most part, and all who support
the losing side are divested of their lands and titles or are killed.

“Thirdly, kings are surrounded by guards, mages, and elite
warriors such as strikers like myself. It is not so easy to get to the king. It
would take the Shadow Knight himself,” Kai remarked.

Rezkin cocked his head curiously. Tam was always reading
that book about the Shadow Knight. Rezkin considered that it might be a useful
read after all. He doubted Tam would still be willing to lend him the book,
though. Rezkin felt a slight tightening in his chest and shoved the thought
aside.

“An Ashaiian king would be particularly difficult to
assassinate since he would be a mage,” Wesson remarked.

“What?” Tam questioned in surprise. Several others echoed
the sentiment.

The journeyman looked around slightly startled at the
astonished reactions. “It is not a secret. I am surprised that so many people
do not know. All of the past kings of Ashai have been mages. It is passed down
in the bloodline. Princes, princesses, cousins,” the mage listed nodding toward
Tieran, “always have the
talent
. It begins to dilute after that –
hit and miss, really.”

All eyes turned to stare at Tieran. “What?”

“
You
are a mage?” Malcius asked almost accusingly.

Tieran rolled his eyes and waved a hand. “Yes, yes, for the
little good it does me. I am a regular magical
farmer
. Had I been a
battle mage like Journeyman Wesson, I might have pursued it, but as it is, I
grow weary of making my mother’s petunias look perky.”

Even Rezkin was a little surprised, although he had
suspected the possibility. It was not something he had known about the duke’s
son. He knew the duke and duchess had powers, but his quick investigation into
the heir had not revealed any evidence of the
talent
. For some reason, a
significant amount of knowledge regarding mages had been omitted from his
education.

The young lord frowned and said, “I suppose, after Rezkin’s
speech to Mistress Reaylin about mastering her talents and such, I really
should not make excuses. I just wish my power was something more exciting.” He
noticed Reaylin’s scowl and added for her benefit, “And,
no
, despite
being a
life mage
, I do not have much talent for healing, which makes me
virtually useless as a mage according to my father.
He
is an elemental
mage with an affinity for earth. He is always spouting tiresome maxims about
building a sturdy foundation and keeping your walls strong and thick.”

Wesson’s eyes widened, and he said, “I did not know your
affinity. If I could trade with you, I would. It is disheartening to always be
destroying. I would much rather encourage growth and harmony.”

“Which is all the more reason for
you
to have the
power given you,” Rezkin remarked. “I can only imagine the damage Tieran would
do with your powers of destruction,” he added.

Tieran frowned and said, “What is that supposed to mean?”

Rezkin quirked a brow and said, “Have you already forgotten
our first meeting?”

The young lord opened his mouth to protest and then stopped.
“Ah, yes, I see your point. You may be correct,” he said with embarrassment. “I
was a bit…brash.”

“And immature,” Frisha said with a huff.

Tieran flushed and replied, “Yes, that is true. I
am
sorry, Lady Frisha, truly.”

Frisha rolled her eyes and said, “It took you long enough.
You still owe me a dress.”

“Yes, my lady,” he said ducking his head. “At the first
opportunity, I will take you to the best seamstress in Skutton and have one
made to your liking. Or two or three, if you like.”

“You would take
her
shopping and leave me to while
away in boredom?” Shiela pouted. The woman had nothing to say during talk of
kings and power and rebellions and magery, but she perked up at the first
mention of shopping.

Tieran was taken aback by the young woman’s boldness,
although he realized he should have expected it by now. “I owe the lady a debt
that must be repaid,” he explained, glancing at Malcius.

Shiela opened her mouth to speak, but Malcius struck his
fist on the table interrupting the presumptuous young woman. “Shiela,
please
conduct yourself as a respectable lady. You are not some street beggar looking for
handouts.”

The young woman sniffed disdainfully and replied, “I only
meant for him to provide
escort
. Of course, I would not expect him to
pay
.”

“Your excuses are thin and your reasoning weak. We go to attend
the kingdom’s greatest event, and we will encounter nobles from all of the
major Houses and distant lands. I will not have you shaming our House any more
than you already have. Since you cannot seem to recognize polite conversation,
you will simply
not speak
,” Malcius commanded.

“Oh, Malcius, that is absurd. You are such a boor. You
cannot order women not to speak. Besides, father would be furious,” Shiela
remarked as she dismissed his admonishment.

“I am not ordering
women
to not speak. I am ordering
you
not to speak until you learn proper decorum,” Malcius replied. “I do not care
what father says. While on this voyage,
I
am responsible for upholding
the family name. As to father, I believe even he would have a care if Lord
Tieran were to report your behavior.
He
is someone to whom father would
listen.”

Shiela flushed and smiled sweetly as she batted her lashes
at the duke’s son. “Lord Tieran knows I only care to spend more time with him.
It was complimentary, really. Brother, you make more of an innocent remark that
needs be.”

Tieran rolled his eyes and remarked, “I do not envy you,
Malcius. It is best your father marry her off as soon as possible.”

Malcius grunted and said, “If only.”

Shiela huffed and rose from her seat, which prompted the men
all around to rise in her wake. “Well, I have had enough of all this boring
conversation. All you men want to do is discuss politics,” she complained as
she turned and floated through the door within a silken sea of green crested
with white lacey foam.

After Shiela left, everyone else decided they were in need
of fresh air, and the cadre spilled out onto the deck. The young men and
Reaylin were anxious with the tournament looming less than two weeks hence.
They were to arrive in Port Manai by that evening, where they would stay two
nights in the port city. After that, it would take four days to sail to
Skutton. The schedule left the competitors with a week on dry land to brush up
on their skills before the commencement of the tournament.

Throughout the morning, the competitors occupied the
quarterdeck. Rezkin stayed among them giving lessons for over an hour and then
retired to his cabin. Once there, he withdrew from his trunk a stack of
parchment, a bottle of ink, a quill, a wooden box containing wax in various
colors, and an assortment of forged seals he had carved. He organized his
thoughts, reviewed the handwriting samples in his collection, and then began
composing. Before he had even finished the first missive, a heavy fist pounded
on his door.

Rezkin rose to his feet and opened the solid wooden door.
Kai shoved Tam roughly from behind, and the young man stumbled into the berth.
“I found this lurking in the passage,” the striker asserted.

Tam scowled and straightened himself. “I wasn’t lurking. I
was coming to speak with Rezkin, and it’s none of your business.”

The striker shoved the door closed and slammed the bar in
place. “I am a striker. It is my business to protect my king.”

“You don’t need to protect him from
me
,” Tam argued.

“So you say, when only yesterday you were publicly
besmirching him and trying to turn his woman against him,” the striker
retorted.

Tam flushed as his eyes darted over to meet Rezkin’s cold
stare. “I-It wasn’t like that! I mean, it sort of was, but not really. Gah! I can’t
do this with you here!” he shouted at the striker. “You make everything sound
worse than it should, and you’re determined to believe the worst of me.”

“Not unlike the way you treated my liege,” Kai remarked.

Tam slumped onto Malcius’s bed and buried is head in his
hands, his elbows resting on his knees.

“That is enough, Kai. You do have a habit of making
every
situation more difficult than it needs to be,” Rezkin remarked.

The striker scowled and said, “It is not my fault you cannot
accept things for how they are.”

Rezkin pointed to the corner and stated firmly, “You may
leave or may can stand there and be
silent
. Master Tamarin and I have
business to discuss.”

“Yes, your majesty,” the striker said seriously with a
fisted salute. He followed this with a bow before taking up the position of
silent sentry in the corner. Rezkin took a seat on his own bed across from Tam
and waited for the young man to collect himself.

When Tam finally looked up, his watery eyes traveled
everywhere but to Rezkin. He noted the papers and seals and asked, “What are
you doing?”

Rezkin placed the stopper back in the inkbottle and said, “I
am making new arrangements.”

Tam did not know what that meant, but he nodded anyway. The silence
stretched uncomfortably until he finally said, “Look, Rezkin, I can’t continue
like this.”

Rezkin nodded and replied, “I know. I assumed you would
eventually come to inform me that I am no longer welcome in your life. As I
said before, you have no need to fear me. I accept your decision and apologize,
again, for my presumptiveness. I accept full responsibility for your distress.
I did not properly understand my place in your life.

“Regardless, I will ensure you are protected in the only way
I can,” Rezkin continued. “I cannot purchase a commission for you in the army
since you are not a noble, but this document will allow you to draw funds from
an account at any of the branches of the Golden Trust Bank. You will find them
in all of the capital cities and a number of the smaller ones. I believe the
sum is sufficient to see you comfortable,” he said as he handed the parchment
to his former friend.

Tam took the proffered parchment, and his mouth dropped.
“Rezkin, I cannot accept this,” he said handing back the document.

“Is it not enough?” Rezkin inquired.

“N-No! It’s not that,” Tam replied hastily.

Tam could see the pain of self-recrimination in Rezkin’s
eyes. The stoic warrior appeared to deflate as he replied, “That is it, then? I
have failed in my duty to you? There is nothing I can do to make things right?”

Rezkin was at a loss. Tam would leave, and he would take
Frisha with him. Would he ever acquire new friends or was he destined to be a
failure without purpose? If they left, then Jimson was sure to follow. The
soldier was already uncomfortable with Rezkin’s status. Once word of Kai’s
designs for Rezkin to lead a rebellion reached the captain’s ears, Jimson was
sure to reject Rezkin as well. How was he supposed to maintain his friendship
with these people when they were appalled by his very existence?

“No, Rezkin, you don’t have a duty to me! You never had a
duty to me,” Tam replied quickly. “I truly appreciate everything you have done
for me, and you are ridiculously generous, but I don’t deserve it. I didn’t
come here to reject you. I came to apologize. None of this was your fault. You
were simply honest with me about your past, and I reacted terribly. I’m not
used to the kind of lifestyle you lead. I was shocked and didn’t really
understand. I know, now, that there are fundamental differences between us that
I will probably never understand. You have responsibilities that I cannot
fathom. I’m a mere carpenter’s apprentice and you…you are a
king
.”

Rezkin scoffed, “I am not a king.”

“No, you
are
. I’ve been thinking hard since our
argument. Even before the conversation this morning, you had my complete
loyalty. I just had no idea how to prove myself to you. I listened to what all
of the nobles and the striker were saying at breakfast, and I think the striker
is right…in that at least,” he said with a scowl directed at the corner for the
man.

Turning his attention back to Rezkin he said, “This kingdom
needs you, Rezkin, and I cannot imagine a better king. I know I was afraid when
first I heard, and I was afraid when you said you killed so many people, but
now I realize why you had to do it. I also think that you, more than most
people, understand what it means to serve. You understand the consequences of
such orders. You know what it means to sentence someone to death, and you know
what it means to kill. I do not believe you would give such orders lightly.
Somehow, despite your brutal upbringing, you’re compassionate, generous,
dependable, and idealistic. I’m not an expert in such things, but I can’t image
better traits for a king.”

Tam slid to his knees on the floor between them and said, “I
don’t know the proper words, but I swear my fealty to you, Rezkin, as my king.”
Remembering what Malcius said about how he would prove his friendship to
Tieran, Tam continued, “When you require something of me, I will seek to
provide it. When you need my support, you will have it. I will speak only your
praises in public, and I will ever strive to serve you loyally.”

Rezkin stared at the young man unable to believe what he was
hearing.
How did this happen,
he asked himself. He thought his
friend
had come to reject him, and now Rezkin had another vassal. The warrior cocked
his head thoughtfully. It would certainly make
Rule 1
easier if he was
in charge of the young man. Actually, the
Rule
made much more sense this
way. It was the king’s duty to protect and honor his people. Was this what the
Rule
meant all along?

Rezkin finally said, “Tamarin Blackwater, I, Rezkin, do
hereby accept your oath of fealty and in return offer you protection and
sanctuary, in so far as I am capable of providing.”

Kai cleared his throat from the corner and remarked, “I must
say that was the most sincere oath of fealty I have ever heard.”

Tam beamed and released a heavy breath. “I was worried you would
reject me.”

Rezkin asked in surprise, “
Why
?”

“Well, because you have been so angry with me,” Tam stated.

The young warrior shook his head and said, “I was not angry
with you, Tam. I was angry with myself. I failed you, and I had no way of
repairing the damage.”

“No, you didn’t fail me at all. Truly, it was my failing,
and I’ll eventually prove my loyalty,” Tam said with what he hoped was a
reassuring grin. Rezkin only hoped Tam’s loyalty was true, for it would surely
be tested when the young man learned that Rezkin was also The Raven, the
Riel’gesh criminal overlord.

“Now that the matter between you two is resolved, perhaps we
can discuss the others?” Kai remarked.

“The others?” Rezkin queried.

“Yes,” the striker said. He paused and asked, “May I leave
my post, now?”

“Yes. What is this about the others?” Rezkin asked again as
Kai crossed the short distance.

The striker took a seat on the trunk at the end of Malcius’s
bed so that he was not standing over the king. “They wish to meet the true
king,” Kai said looking pointedly at his liege.

Rezkin’s eyes darkened, and he said, “No.”

The striker huffed and argued, “My king, you cannot gain
support if you do not allow them to know you. I believe many of those onboard
would swear fealty to you if they knew who you were. You already have the trust
and loyalty of most of the young lords.”

“They are young, Kai, and they do not fully comprehend the
consequences,” Rezkin retorted. It would have been an odd statement coming from
a nineteen-year-old about young men who were mostly older than he, but Rezkin
was no ordinary young man.

“Yes, they are young, but they will be the Heads of their
Houses. You will need their support,” Kai countered.

“They are not yet the Heads, Kai,” the young warrior argued.
“
If
they did join me and their fathers discovered their new loyalty,
every one of them could be disavowed before being summarily hanged for
treason.”

“Of course there are risks, my king, but this is war, and
you cannot win if you are unwilling to make sacrifices,” the striker argued.

“First of all, this was not
my
war,” Rezkin stated.
“I have no desire to pursue the crown. I only consider doing so because it
could
be what King Bordran intended when he arranged my training and bestowed upon me
such authority. It is a responsibility I accepted when I claimed these blades.
Second, I understand the requirements of leadership, but I will not make
needless
sacrifices simply because it is easier at the time. This discussion is over.
You will not reveal me to them until I say otherwise.”

Kai leaned forward in a seated bow and said, “As you
command, my king, so shall it be.”

Tam glanced wide-eyed between the two men. He did not
understand their interactions at all. One moment Kai was overbearing and
argumentative and the next he became submissive and placating. The man seemed
to switch between the two without any forewarning or reason. Tam decided it
must be another difference between nobles and commoners.

Since Tam decided to stay in Rezkin’s company, the warrior
had no need to make new arrangements, so he quickly packed away his supplies.
He gripped Tam’s shoulder and said, “There is still an hour before the midday
meal. It is time to increase your training, Tam. You have been lax.”

“Of course…ah…your majesty,” Tam said, stumbling over his
words.

Rezkin frowned. “There is no need for that, Tam. I would
prefer no one hear such things, so please just call me Rezkin or Rez, as usual.
I would actually prefer the striker did not do so, either,” he said looking
pointedly at the striker.

Kai’s face scrunched in a pain-filled expression as he said,
“Very well, but it will be difficult to convince others to respect you as king
if your own subjects do not show you the proper respect.”

“I am not trying to convince others that I am king,” Rezkin
retorted. Seeing the disgruntled look on his vassal’s face, Rezkin added, “You
can do so once my status is made public –
if
it is made public. I
still think I should simply dethrone Caydean and hand the crown to someone
else.”

 Anger flooded the striker’s face, but he spoke with
deference, “With all due respect, that was not King Bordran’s intent. Master
Tamarin and I are of two completely different backgrounds. He is a simple
commoner craftsman, and I am a noble elite warrior, yet we can both agree that
you
are the best candidate for the position. Others will recognize it, as well. You
are always telling the others to accept who they are and embrace it. As your
loyal servant, I am advising you to do the same.”

“I have had enough of this discussion for now. I will deal
with those concerns when it becomes necessary,” Rezkin asserted. “Right now, we
go to the quarterdeck.”

The two warriors and Tam joined the others on the
quarterdeck for the morning training exercises. Nobody said anything, but everyone
was secretly relieved that Tam and Rezkin had apparently worked out their
differences. Malcius was particularly pleased with himself for having had some
impact. The noble had never really stepped outside of his own interests to
affect anything, so it was especially gratifying.

Conversation during lunch was kept light, and everyone
steered away from the subject of kings and rebellion. After the meal, people
ambled about entertaining themselves however they could. Sergeant Millins
obtained a couple of fishing poles from one of the sailors, and he, Tam and
Frisha sat on the poop deck in light conversation while the lines dragged
behind the ship. Captain Jimson managed to corner Reaylin, and they were
engaged in private conversation.