Page 84 (1/2)
Then it was gone, Mustor’s face once again the mask of confusion from a second before It was clear to Vaelin that Mustor had no knowledge of what had just transpired So that can speak with his voice And he doesn’t know
“Hentes Mustor,” he said “You are called by the King’s word to answer charges of treason and murder” He held out his hand “Your sword, my lord”
Mustor looked down at the sword in his hand, turning the blade so it gleaht “I washed it and washed it Ground the blade on the stone for hours But I can still see it, the blood…”
“Your sword,closer, hand outstretched
“Yes…” Mustor said faintly “Yes Best if you take it…” He reversed his hold on the hilt and lifted the sword towards Vaelin’s hand
There was a sound like the beating of a haing, a soft rush of air on Vaelin’s cheek and a blur of spinning steel The blood-song roared, full of wrong and warning, er with the force of it He found hi for the empty scabbard on his back and felt an instant of complete and utter helplessness as Hentes Mustor took the axe full in the chest The i him arms outstretched on the cha from the shadows “A fine throw, if I say so-”
Vaelin’s blow caught hi up!” Anger boiled in hi his hands itch for his weapons “He was surrendering, you stupid bloody oaf!”
“Thought-” Barkus coughed red spit on the floor “Thought he was going to kill you… Had a sword, you didn’t… Saw the sister lying there I didn’t know” He seery
The certain, awful truth that Vaelin had been entirely willing to kill Barkus in thathis hand “Here”
Barkus stared up at hi on his jawline “That really hurt, you know”
“I’ht Vaelin looked over at Mustor’s body and the dark pool now spreading out fro to the body, Barkus’s hateful axe still buried in his chest Is this why I couldn’t touch it? Did the song know this is what it would be used for?
He had hoped there would be soh breath to impart a final answer to the od But there was no light in Mustor’s eyes, no movement in his slack features Barkus’s axe had done its work all too well
He knelt next to the body recalling the man’s fevered words: the Eternal Fields would finally be opened to me where I was denied before He laid his hand on Mustor’s chest, reciting softly, “What is death? Death is but a gateway to the Beyond It is both ending and beginning Fear it and welcome it”
“I hardly think that’s appropriate” Sentes Mustor, undisputed Fief Lord of Cu down at his brother’s body with a led from his hand and his chest heaved with unaccustomed exertion Vaelin was impressed he hadto trouble himself with any part of the battle “He would want the Prayer of Leaving from the Tenth Book,” Lord Mustor said “The words of World Father…”
“A god is a lie,” Vaelin quoted harshly He rose, offering the Fief Lord the most cursory of bows “I think your brother knew that”
“How hty-nine in all” Caenis nodded at the bodies laid out in the courtyard below “No quarter asked and none given Just like the Martishe” He turned back to Vaelin, his expression sombre “We lost nineto them”
“Impressive,” Prince Malcius coht about his shoulders, his red hair fluttered in the chill wind sweeping the battleainst so many”
“Between our pole-axes and Brother Nortah’s archers on the walls…” Caenis shrugged “They had little chance, Highness”
“Does the Fief Lord have any instructions regarding the Cumbraelin dead?” Vaelin asked the prince Lord Mustor had been notably absent since the conclusion of the battle, apparently busying himself with a close inspection of the keep’s wine cellar
“Burn theh to care e to the prince’s voice this e through the gate, Alucius Al Hestian close behind him There had been a brief but frenzied defence of the courtyard by twenty or so of the usurper’s followers, Alucius tu under the crush After the battle he was pulled from beneath a pile of bodies, alive but unconscious, his short sword dark with dried blood and a large lump on his head He was in Sister Gilma’s care now and still hadn’t woken
Make him play with a sword for ten days and lie to hiht heavily Better if I’d tied him to his saddle on the first day and set the horse on the road back to the city Vaelin pushed the guilt away and turned to Caenis