out into the breezy afternoon. He could see over the tall wall from there. A large mass of people sat casually outside the gates. He shivered at the sight of them. Kenton gave him an encouraging smile and disappeared back down the stairs.
Kenton Morzha rushed to the front doors of the castle where King Chellias stood waiting for him. The king gazed out the doors, which were opened only a crack. He noticed his commanding general and nodded slowly.
“Are you sure about this?”
“It’s the only thing I can think of.”
The king shrank back, appearing as nothing more than a lost child. “I’ll let you get to it, then.”
Kenton slipped out of the doors. Instead of heading straight to the gates he made his way along the side of the castle. He ran across the lawn to the large stone wall and felt around for the access point. He found it and on his hands and knees crawled through the tunnel. He came out into the little garden. Chellion told him where the door to the outside was, but it was hard to find. Eventually, after looking around for a good bit, he found the hidden doorway behind some ivy. He pushed it open. A cool damp breeze rustled his hair. The dark stone path was just high enough for him to walk through. It curved a little this way and that, meandering towards the back of the castle. It ended in a stone wall with a notch carved into it. He took hold of the notch and pulled the stone door back, revealing the outside world. He carefully pushed it back in place, took note of where it was along the wall, and walked bravely towards the Welgos.
As the wall curved to reveal the horde of large scruffy warriors Kenton’s pace quickened. It only took a second for one of them to see him. They ran towards him, sword held high. Kenton lifted his arms in defeat and shouted the only Welglandish he knew.
“Thwarlick niron Victor!”
The Welgo stopped short, his face contorted with a mix of surprise and anger. He put his sword away, grabbed Kenton by the arm, and proceeded to drag him to a small tent that had been pitched right in the center of the lot. The other Welgos jeered and spat at him, some of them recognizing him from the town.
Kenton was hauled into the tent and thrown to the ground. Three Welgos stamped their feet on him so he couldn’t move. Kenton heard movement and then saw two feet appear before him.
“Adjutant, what a surprise!” Victor said happily. “Who knew you’d be here? I did, but I mean who else did?!”
Victor then said something to the Welgos and they removed their feet, pulled him up, and dusted him off so hard he almost ended up on the ground again.
Kenton looked around the small tent for any sign of escape. Welgos blocked the only entrance. Victor sat down on a small wooden table and had the chair he had been sitting in brought around for Kenton, who refused to sit.
“So, how’s it been?” Victor said brightly.
“Why are you here?” Kenton coughed, barely able to get his voice out.
“To see my friend of course.” Victor teased.
Kenton stared into Victor’s joyous gray eyes, searching hard for some type of humanity. “We had a deal.”
Victor drummed his fingers on the table, looking bored. “We did. I agree that we did. However—and you may not realize this, adjutant, but for a deal to go through both sides have to do what they promised. And I don’t believe you’ve held up your end of the bargain.” Victor looked on both sides of Kenton as if trying to see if something were behind him. “Unless you brought it with you—of course it’d still be barking stupidly, now wouldn’t it?”
Kenton clenched his fists, which brought the Welgos in a little closer. They rubbed up against him threateningly.
“Now, now, let the boy have some room.” Said Victor sternly. “He’s by best friend in this wonderful kingdom, after all.”
The Welgos backed up.
Kenton stepped forward, his mind racing furiously through the speech he had prepared. “You ask too much from me. Just leave this place and you can have most of Chell. Leave us a little land right around here. We will build a few towns. We’ll gladly sell you whatever we make and give you at least half of whatever profit we have. We will acknowledge again and again that we are Welgos, through and through. Allow us this, allow us to live and you will be rewarded.”
Victor had been glancing around at the other Welgos while Kenton spoke. He smiled at one and did some kind of hand gesture that brought laughs. When Kenton finished he looked at the commander through narrowed eyes.
“Most of Chell?” Victor said, his eyes gleaming with power. “Do you think that we went through all this trouble for Most of anything? When you bake a cake do you hope that most of it gets done?” Kenton sputtered, but Victor continued. “When you’re in battle do you hope most of you survives? When you eat a berry do you hope most of it isn’t poisonous?” He grew angry, rising from the table menacingly. “I don’t adjutant. I go into something wanting the whole thing.”
“I just—” Kenton stammered.
“I don’t want most of our deal. I want the whole thing. Now where is it?!”
Kenton stepped back, right into the Welgos, and lurched forward. “I said that we will be Welgos. I mean it. I want to be a Welgo. I told you before. I only want land inside Welgland. This land here. It won’t be Chell—forget I said the word.”
Victor sat back down on the table and rubbed his eyes. “Do you even remember what our deal entailed? You may not you—what were you doing—I think you were on the ground bleeding. Maybe some of it slipped through.”
“I remember.” Kenton said through gritted teeth.
“Then you remember what I promised you. I already told you that you could have this castle and the land surrounding it. You’ll be a Welgo lord. I’ll leave you and your brother alone and let you do whatever you want. Now doesn’t that sound nice?”
Kenton stared at the ground.
“Doesn’t that sound nice, adjutant? Answer me.”
“It does.” He whimpered.
“Now what did you have to do to get that great deal?”
Kenton refused to answer. He refused to do anything but stare at the floor between himself and the table.
While Kenton grew smaller Victor grew larger.
Victor sighed loudly and threw a leg onto the table and rested his hand on his knee. “I’m going to give you two hours.” He said quietly. “Then, when its night and all the little families and rich nobles are scared of the dark and the creatures outside their gates I’m going to come in. I’m going to murder every one of them until I find your king. And I’m going to figure out which one’s your brother and I’m going to have him skinned right there in front of you. And then I’m going to do what I told you to do in the first place. I’m going to behead that oaf and everything will be mine. And then to finish off the night I’m going to start a great big fire right out here and throw you into it. Oh, am I going to enjoy the moans of my best friend.” Kenton stood rooted to the spot, too afraid to move. “And then in the morning when everything’s mine I’m going to send word to Welgland and we’re going to come in droves, adjutant. We’re going to make this huge empty kingdom our own and be done with that tiny speck of land that your Honias ancestors left us and your Chell friends kept us in.” He stared at Kenton so hard and so angry that the commander forced himself to look into the cold gray eyes defiantly. “All that is going to happen tonight, unless—” Victor smiled warmly and the cold anger vanished. “Unless you do what you promised. Then there will be no skinning, no fire, and best of all, no need for me to murder so many people. After that you can have this fine castle and I’ll never bother you again. I’ll even send you monthly food allowances provided you don’t make me angry. You see, I like you adjutant. I really feel that your non Chellness makes you trustworthy.”
Kenton shook from head to toe. “I’ll—I’ll see what I can do.”
“No, you’ll do it. Because that was the deal that kept you alive in that town. I let you go on a
promise, and so far you’ve done very little with the gift of life I gave you.” Victor jumped off the table and put his face inches from Kenton’s so that he couldn’t look away. “I let you keep your life, friend. Everything you do from here on out is because I allowed you to live. Now go get me the head of your king or I’m going to have to revoke that gift.”
“Whatever I do,” Kenton said slowly, staring into Victor’s eyes, “Whatever you do—do not touch my brother.”
Victor smiled. “You do what I’m telling you to do or I’ll chop him up with the dullest knife I can find. You have no more power as a commander, as a brother, as anything until I say you do.”
He said something else to the Welgos and they grabbed him and threw him from the tent. Kenton landed in a heap on the grass. Several Welgos whisked him up and carried him away, punching and kicking him as they pleased. And then they dropped him about a hundred yards away from the wall and went back to their camp.
Kenton struggled to his feet. His eyes glanced up to the roof of the castle, just visible over the wall. He could make out his brother’s form watching him.
24.
Ackerley Morzha watched as his brother was thrown from the tent, carried away, and beaten by the Welgos. He tensed up, but knew he was useless. He watched his brother slowly walk around the wall and out of sight.
He rushed down from the roof and down
The Chellion Days Page 43
