The Invisible Chains - Part 2: Bonds of Fear (16 page)

dismal state than had been apparent at first. Some forts were so

badly neglected, they couldn’t be repaired. The most cost efficient

procedure was to simply tear down what remained of them and build

new ones in their place. The bulk of the army lay some forty miles

inland, strategically placed, so that any part of the border that the

enemy could attack was within easy reach. Costing a fortune each

day. Doing nothing.

The treasury was hemorrhaging gold and silver. The worst was

not knowing. Every last one of his spies, informers, and agents

in Lorsanthia had fallen silent. It was as if they never existed. No

diplomatic protest was lodged either, though he was certain at least

some of them must have fallen in the hands of the enemy. It was an

insult in itself. They were swatted as flies with no importance. Which

meant Ximerion was not important. He was not important. He had

even lost contact with the small underground resistance in Trachia,

and his efforts to find the last descendant of the royal House, who

had fled over the border about a year ago, had all come to nothing.

He had hoped for a second front, but that possibility became more

remote every day.

It looked as if Ximerion would stand or fall on its own. Of course,

none of the independent city states had reacted with any enthusiasm,

let alone firm commitments, to the discreet feelers he had put out. A

lot of double talk, evasive mumbo jumbo, and polite, empty phrases

Bonds of Fear

119

were all he had gotten. Yet they must know, they had to realize that,

should Ximerion ever fall, they were next, and that Vartoligor would

take them out one by one.

To make matters worse he was not sure where he was standing

in the north. That damned firebrand of a son of his was recruiting

as if there were no tomorrow, and a Ximerionian expedition was

going to penetrate the Renuvian Plains within the next days. An

armed, military expedition, no less. As if he hadn’t enough worries.

The bloody fool didn’t know what he was doing. Yes, the king knew

he had only himself to blame. By rights he should have taken his

youngest son into his confidence. But that was out of the question

for the moment.

“Damn you, Anaxantis. You and your brother were supposed to sit

on your princely asses, organize the occasional banquet, use your high

sounding titles to ravish the local girls, or boys, or sheep, whatever

takes your fancy for all I care, and leave serious matters to your elders.”

He smiled sadly.

If they had done that he would have despised them... And yet. The

last reports indicated that Anaxantis wasn’t aware of any threat to

his authority. Initially that had put him at ease, but gradually he had

started worrying. What if the little blond devil kept his own counsel

and was pulling the wool over everybody’s eyes, including his closest

friends? He took after the august founder of the dynasty after all. Oh

yes, he was without the shadow of a doubt half Tanahkos. The other

half was probably worse.

His manservant entered after a perfunctory, faint knock on the

door.

“Your majesty, your guest has arrived.”

120

Andrew Ashling

“Show him right in, Dennick.”

The man looked at someone out of sight from where the king was

standing.

“His majesty is ready to receive you right away, my lord baron.”

“Excellent,” a far-carrying, booming voice hollered. “I was not

planning on sitting in his antechamber holding my dick, fuck you

very much. Fetch me some wine, will you? And none of that sweet

stuff the old moose is drinking himself, but wine for men. With a bite

to it. About three pitchers of your best will do very nicely to begin

with, I reckon.”

Bonds of Fear

121

Chapter 4:

Sleeping Giant

“Really?” Loduvant of Brynmark said, arching his eyebrows.

“That still works?”

“Of course,” Lorcko of Iramid replied casually. “Mind you, the

result depends a lot on the delivery. At heart they’re all romantics,

so no need to be too subtle. Lay it on thick with a mason’s trowel, I

say. For good measure add a generous amount of self deprecation. It

both surprises and charms them. It gives them ideas. Could they be

the one to comfort you?”

He let his beautiful smile rest on his friend. Loduvant smiled

back.

“Sometimes I think you’re too dangerous for this innocent world.”

Lorcko’s smile grew just a little bit wider.

“Wouldn’t you melt when I confessed my fundamental loneliness

to you, made you part of my insecurities about fading beauty, my

boredom with the all too easy conquests, my secret hankering for

real bonding on a deeper level?”

He tilted his head, so that a strand of his thick black hair fell

on his full, slightly parted lips. His magnetic eyes seemed starving

for kindness. Loduvant laughed nervously, partly to disguise that

122

Andrew Ashling

Lorcko’s sheer attractiveness, his raw sexuality, made him uneasy.

“Yes, I can see it before my eyes,” he said. “To someone like Keyld

you would be irresistible. So, why haven’t you fucked his brains out

yet?”

Lorcko shrugged.

“This little rabbit is not only shy. It is also very much afraid its

poor little heart will break if it lets bad, bad Lorcko play with it.”

“Nonsense. Never heard of such a thing. Hearts don’t break. They

merrily continue beating on. Little rabbit might be wise though to be

wary of big bad Lorcko.” Loduvant smirked. “How are you going to

lure it out of its burrow?”

“I’m going to woo it, pure and simple. By the time I’m done, he

will be convinced that refusing me any longer would be tantamount

to supreme cruelty.”

“Poor little rabbit.” Loduvant shook his head in mock compassion.

“Oh, rest assured, he is going down. Going down on his belly,

holding his ass wide open, begging me to enter it,” Lorcko said with

total conviction.

“I can’t wait till you tell me all about it,” Loduvant leered. “Oh shit,

I have to go, Lorcko. My shift is coming up.”

“I know. I think I’m going for a stroll by the sea.”

“The sea? Whatever for? It’s wet, the wind blows you away there,

and it stinks of rotting seaweed and dead fish. Not to mention the

awful noise those flying rats make and that irksome thundering of

the waves. Lorcko, there are reasons why nobody who doesn’t need

to ever goes there.”

“I kind of like the naked force of nature and the vast stretches of

water remind me of eternity.” He laughed. “Believe it or not, it is as

Bonds of Fear

123

if the wind clears my head. Somehow, I do some of my best thinking

there.”

Loduvant shook his head.

“You’re a strange one, Iramid. Wooing plain old Keyld and going

for fun to unhealthy, barren places. Oh well, got to run.”

A vigorous walk of some twenty minutes in a northwestern

direction brought Lorcko to a place near the sea where a small path

descended to a beach that stretched for about three miles. Usually

when he came here there was nobody else, with one exception. A

close friend of the prince seemed to be in the same habit of taking

lonely walks. Rumor had it there was something going on between

the two of them, but Lorcko had observed them discreetly and

decided that, although there was an unusually strong bond between

them, it was not of a romantic nature. None of the little signs showed.

Not even those nobody could hide. The furtive looks that lasted only

fractions of a moment, the lighting of the eyes when they crossed each

others path and, most importantly, that unspoken, secret, but for the

connoisseur all too obvious, conspiratorial feeling that seemed to be

able to blot out the rest of the world and make two lovers have only

eyes for each other amidst a seething crowd. He found out that there

had indeed been the budding of a one sided affair, but that it was all

in the past.

He expected to have the beach mostly to himself like always, but

today was different. When he descended the little path to the beach,

he found an old man sitting on a knoll of dune grass. He looked a bit

confused, but harmless.

“Are you all right?” Lorcko asked.

“What? Oh, quite all right, young man, thank you for asking

124

Andrew Ashling

though,” the old man said, blinking his eyes. “I come here often, when

I am in the neighborhood, which is not often. I don’t make any sense

at all, do I? Not important. I find simply looking at the sea calms my

mind.”

“That’s exactly why I am here as well. How very strange.”

“Not at all. Great minds think alike,” the old man said and

scratched his beard. “I suspect there is something in the air that is

very beneficial.”

“I always feel invigorated, renewed when I come here,” Lorcko

said.

He hesitated.

“You’re sure you’re all right?”

The old man nodded and smiled.

“You know, while you’re walking, you sometimes get that special

feeling as if all the lines between you and the rest of the world get

blurred — you must know what I’m talking about — and ideas come

to you? Pay heed to them is all I am saying.”

Lorcko nodded, surprised that he knew precisely what the

stranger was talking about. While he took the last steps down, he

heard the old man shouting something at him. He turned around.

“And prunes. Plenty of prunes. Must keep the system going, you

know. You’ll feel a lot better.”

Lorcko smiled and waved.

After five minutes he saw someone coming from the other

direction. When they passed each other he greeted him with a nod

and smile, without saying anything. Hemarchidas nodded back but

didn’t smile.

Bonds of Fear

125

“Careful now. After all, I’m going after his old love interest. I want

him at least neutral in that respect. It would be nice if I could make

him look favorably upon me, though. I urgently need to find out more

about him.”

Meanwhile there was Ambrick of Keyld. Yes, the delivery of his

amorous overture had been impeccable. Just the right tone, the right

mixture of honest self recrimination and unfulfilled longing. He had

looked up, just at the right moments, through his long eyelashes, and

exactly as the occasions required he had produced his irresistible,

bitter, surrendering, and regretful smile that made people almost

tear up and want to hug and comfort him. Only once his long, elegant,

immaculately manicured fingers had merely brushed Ambrick’s

hand, but it should have been enough to send shivers up his spine.

No, upon reflection, he could find nothing wrong with his alluring

opening bid. Except maybe one thing. What he had said had been

perfectly true.

All of it.