Authors: Mackenzie Morgan
“Fine. Just be sure you do. Callie doesn’t like it when her food’s wasted.”
After Ainsley brought Cpt. Garen’s lunch out, he and Cpt. Lawrence concentrated on eating. When they’d both finished, Cpt. Garen asked, “Want to tell me what’s going on?”
“Where are your men?” Cpt. Lawrence asked. When Cpt. Garen frowned, Cpt. Lawrence said, “The ones who followed you in here last week. Where are they?”
“I convinced them I was safe in here, but I imagine they’re somewhere outside watching the doors.”
Cpt. Lawrence nodded. “We’ll be leaving in a few minutes. I want you to find some way to let them know everything’s fine.”
“Where are we going?”
“You wanted to meet with Myron, didn’t you?”
“Are we going to the castle?”
Cpt. Lawrence shook his head as he drank the rest of his scog. “When we leave here, we’ll go to the chapel. After I make sure you’re not carrying any weapons, Chris will take you to meet Myron. I don’t know where, but if I know Myron, it’ll be somewhere private.”
Cpt. Garen took a deep breath and looked at Cpt. Lawrence.
“You can change your mind if you want to. You can walk out the door right now and keep on going, but if you don’t meet with him today, there won’t be a second offer.” Cpt. Lawrence stood up and pushed his chair back under the table. “I don’t mind telling you Cpt. Darrell and I are both against this, but Myron has some questions he wants to ask you. If you’re telling the truth, you have nothing to worry about, but if you’re lying, my advice is for you to walk away right now, and keep on walking until you’re out of Camden.”
Cpt. Garen let out his breath in a long sigh. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 35
Kevin Meets Cpt. Garen
By the time Cpt. Lawrence and Cpt. Garen got to the chapel, Kevin, King Merdin, and Dani were on the island and Chris was on the back porch. Theresa showed Cpt. Lawrence to a small room near the kitchen and pulled the door to after they went in. Then she went out to let Chris know they’d arrived. She’d only been back in front of the little room a couple of minutes when Cpt. Lawrence opened the door and told her Cpt. Garen was ready for Chris.
While Theresa led Cpt. Garen through the kitchen and out the back door, Cpt. Lawrence went out the front door. As he stepped outside, several men approached and by the time he reached the foot of the steps, he was surrounded.
“Where is he?” one of the men asked.
When Cpt. Lawrence didn’t answer, another one said, “Cpt. Garen. What did you do with him?”
Cpt. Lawrence shook his head. Too bad they hadn’t put in an appearance when Cpt. Garen could have explained things. “He’s where he asked to be, meeting with Myron. I suggest you go back to your camp and wait for him there. When he comes back, it won’t be through these doors.”
As Cpt. Lawrence started to walk away, one of the men grabbed his arm. “What do you mean he won’t be coming back out? What have you done to him?”
Cpt. Lawrence stared at the man’s hand on his arm until the man let go. “We haven’t done anything. Myron’s assistant, Chris, was waiting inside with the key. He’s taken Cpt. Garen to see Myron.”
“At the castle?” the first man asked.
Cpt. Lawrence shook his head. “I don’t know where they are, but I do know it’s nowhere around here. The best thing you can do is head back to your camp and wait for Cpt. Garen to join you there. Keep in mind he’s the one who asked for this meeting, not Myron.”
The men didn’t look happy, but they stepped out of the captain’s way. Cpt. Lawrence looked at the man who had spoken first. “I’ve got Cpt. Garen’s dagger.” He took the dagger and sheath Cpt. Garen had been wearing out of his pocket. “Would you give it back to him when you see him?”
The man frowned as he slowly reached out to take it.
Cpt. Lawrence sighed. “He’s meeting with the Master Sorcerer. He won’t need it until he gets back.”
Meanwhile, Chris was getting ready to take Cpt. Garen to the island. “Have you ever traveled by key before?”
Cpt. Garen nodded. “But it was a lifetime ago. I used to accompany Tsareth sometimes.”
“So you know what to expect.”
“Since it’s been so long, it’ll probably upset my stomach, but I’ll be all right after a minute or two.”
“Ready?”
Cpt. Garen nodded and put his hand on Chris’s arm.
A couple of moments later they were on the island. As Cpt. Garen waited for the bit of nausea to pass, he looked around at the barren rock surrounded by sea until his gaze settled on Myron.
“Good afternoon, Cpt. Garen,” Kevin said. “I understand you wish to speak with me.”
Cpt. Garen nodded. “Cpt. Lawrence told you what I told him last week, didn’t he?”
Kevin nodded.
“I imagine you have some questions.”
Again, Kevin nodded. “You say you were sent here to kill me, yet you haven’t tried, or if you have, it wasn’t much of an attempt since I didn’t notice.”
A smile tugged at the corner of Cpt. Garen’s mouth. “Or maybe we were good enough you didn’t notice.”
“Which was it?”
Cpt. Garen shrugged. “We did try at first, especially during the first few weeks, but we’re guards, not assassins. We weren’t willing to risk our lives to do Rolan’s dirty work.”
“You don’t like Rolan very much do you?”
“No, and neither do my men.”
“Why? You say you’re loyal to the House of Gergin. He’s the head of that family.”
“Only because he murdered his father and none of his brothers or sisters were strong enough to take the seat away from him.”
“Accusing a man of murder is a serious charge. Do you have any proof?”
Cpt. Garen shook his head. “But I know it all the same. At first, Rolan told us Tsareth decided to drink poison rather than face him in a fair duel, but none of us believed him and he knew it. When no one accepted suicide, Rolan changed his story and said Tsareth was an old man who had died in his sleep. No one believed that one either, but it’s the one he stuck with. Tsareth was perfectly healthy and strong as an ox.” Cpt. Garen shook his head again. “Everyone at the castle knew Rolan murdered him.” After a moment, Cpt. Garen added, “There is one person who might have witnessed it. His name was Taelor. If he’s still alive and if you could find him, he might be able to tell you what happened.”
Myron paused for a moment.
“Is he telling the truth?”
“So far everything he’s said is what he believes to be true. Doesn’t mean things happened the way he says though.”
“You told Cpt. Lawrence you and your men want to offer your services to Landis. You know Rolan’s put a bounty on her head. Are you sure you want to step into the line of fire?”
“Absolutely,” Cpt. Garen answered. “We want to see her become the Seated Sorcerer of Brendolanth.”
“But she may not want that.”
Cpt. Garen paused. “She will, once she realizes what Rolan’s done.”
“Is your goal protecting Landis or defeating Rolan?”
“The way I see it, they’re the same thing.”
“No, they’re not. You might need to convince her to go into hiding to keep her safe. Are you willing to do that?”
Cpt. Garen paused. “She won’t be safe as long as that man’s alive. Hiding her isn’t the answer. The only thing that’ll keep her safe is for her to become good enough to defend herself. We can’t help her do that. All we can do is try to keep her safe while you get her ready to fight him.”
“You really want to see him dead.”
Cpt. Garen didn’t respond, but Dani said,
“You hit on something there. Ask him about his family.”
“Are you married?”
Cpt. Garen nodded.
“Any children?”
“Two, a son and a daughter.”
Kevin looked at Cpt. Garen for a moment. “They’re still young enough to be living at home, aren’t they?”
Again, Cpt. Garen nodded.
“Is your family in Trendon?”
Cpt. Garen shook his head. “They live in a small village along the Serenity River.”
“Where’s the Serenity River? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it.”
Cpt. Garen hesitated. “It flows into the Kivee.”
“North or south of Glenarbour.”
“South.”
“So they’re in Nandelia.”
Cpt. Garen nodded.
“If you were living and working at the castle, why is your family in Nandelia?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Well, I’m not going anywhere.”
Cpt. Garen nodded. “Before you took your seat, Rolan sent us a message that he was watching over our families to keep them safe, which was his way of reminding us they were within his reach. He said as far as he was concerned, the only acceptable reason for us to fail to kill you before you were seated was our deaths, so if you attended the April meeting he’d assume we were dead and our families were his to do with as he pleased. He said he’d sell them in Glenarbour for whatever he could get.”
Chris let out a low whistle. “No wonder you’re not very fond of him.”
Cpt. Garen nodded towards Chris. “When you made it to that meeting, Rolan told Cpt. Yardner to sell our families in Glenarbour. Cpt. Yardner made the necessary preparations, but before they reached Glenarbour, they were intercepted by four of my men.”
“And Rolan’s men let your men have them?”
“Let’s say they had more sympathy for us than loyalty to Rolan.”
Kevin nodded. “Why did you only send four men? Why didn’t all of you go?”
“Two reasons. First, we didn’t want news of their escape to reach anyone in Trendon. We knew the men escorting them to Glenarbour wouldn’t say anything, but if we’d all traveled together, we’d have been noticed and someone would have started asking questions. After my men got the women and children across the river into Nandelia, they split up into four groups and went in four different directions.”
“And the other reason?”
“We thought Rolan might show up here to gloat.”
“So how do you know where your family is?”
“Before my men left, we agreed on a meeting place, outside a small town along the Serenity River. Once all the families made it, one of the men came back to let us know they were safe.”
“So why are you still here? Why didn’t the rest of you pack up and join your families?”
“That was the original plan,” Cpt. Garen said.
“So what happened?”
“Alyan didn’t make it back until towards the end of September. At that point we started getting ready to move out. Most of the single men had already decided to take off on their own and find work somewhere else, and as soon as Alyan got back, they left. But before the rest of us could get everything we needed together, some other men arrived. If we hadn’t been camped where we were, we’d have missed them, and there are times when I wish we had. I recognized one of them, and the last time I’d seen him he was with Rolan, so we decided to stay put until we could figure out what was going on.”
“Do they know you’re here?”
Cpt. Garen nodded. “After someone took a shot at Landis last fall, I introduced myself and asked a few questions. They haven’t met any of my men, but they think there are still seventeen of us. My men know who they are though. We’ve been keeping an eye on them. But even if I hadn’t introduced myself when Landis was attacked, I’d have had to a few days later.”
“Why?”
“I had a message from Rolan reminding me I was still under orders to kill you. He wanted me to let him know about any other assassins in the area, especially anyone from Landoryn, but I figured I’d better let him know I knew about the ones he’d sent down, too. He also said I should feel free to work with anyone else who had the same orders, so I thought I’d better find out what orders his assassins had, although I was pretty sure at that point they were here to kill Landis.”
“Do you keep in contact with them?” Cpt. Garen nodded, but he had a strange look on his face, so Kevin asked,
“What’s he thinking about?”
“Something happened last fall, something that looked like a trap to him, but none of the assassins were captured. He thinks you must have been behind it, but he’s not sure he should mention it.”
“How often do you see them?”
“I drop by their camp maybe once every couple of weeks.”
Kevin nodded. “All right. I want to go back to the families. Do any of your men have any family left in Trendon?”
Cpt. Garen shook his head.
“No parents, brothers, sisters, no one?”
“When Rolan took over, things changed. Trendon wasn’t the town it used to be. Under Tsareth it was a good place to live, a nice place to raise your children. But all of that changed. After Rolan banished his brothers and sisters, he started banishing anyone who’d ever been friends with them. That’s when most of us in the guard started urging everyone except our wives and children to get out, to go somewhere else. For one thing, we didn’t know when we might have to leave, and it would be a lot easier if we had family already living somewhere else.”
“And they all just packed up and left?”
“You don’t understand how much things changed. No one trusted anyone else any more. And if you had a daughter, you wanted her as far from Trendon as you could get her. Rolan has a tendency to consider anyone living in Brendolanth his property to be used as he sees fit. He takes whatever he wants, whether it’s food, horses, or people, and he likes girls, especially young ones.”
“Didn’t you say you have a daughter?”
Cpt. Garen nodded. “Kyali. She turned fourteen shortly after I got my orders to come here. While I was there, working in the castle, he wouldn’t have dared lay a hand on her. I’d have killed him and somehow he knew it.”
“He thinks that may be why he was sent here with orders not to come home until you were dead,”
Dani said.
“Think that might have had something to do with his sending you here?”
Cpt. Garen shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. I had a feeling... but he may have just wanted a captain in charge of this particular assignment. I was one of his two captains. The other captain, Cpt. Yardner, is still there.”
Kevin nodded. “You mentioned earlier you and your men have been in and around Milhaven for a couple of years now. You know people in town and they know you, right?”