“My lady, I did betray you.” She said that it was her that had done that to him. That she didn’t consider that the king was his leader and he’d had no choice in the matter. “He said that you’d run in the opposite direction and never return. I’m not sure he wouldn’t have had the right of it. Correct, my lady?”
“He was more than likely right. Even knowing that this was as inevitable as things could get, I was rude and mean to you. I’m profoundly sorry.” She sat down again and noticed that the other brownies had left them. “I’ve interrupted your dinner time. I’m sorry. We can talk later if you wish.”
“Nay, they have work to do as well. I have been to the place where the slayer is staying.” She told him it was a hotel. “Yes. I keep wanting to call it a brothel, but I’ve been corrected on that too. Master Casdon, he is a good man. He’s been helping me with my wording on things.”
“I’m glad that you’ve made some friends. We both have been alone for far too long.” He nodded and sat down. “You’ve changed too, haven’t you?”
“Yes, when you did. It was a scary thing at first, not being with you when it happened. But as soon as I heard that you’d been given your freedom…well, I was able to put three and six together.” She told him it was two and two. “No matter, I can add them both up just fine. But I was glad for you, and for me. With your freedom, it means that my work can be lessened now and I can care for you.”
“Of course you can add, I’m very sorry.” She gave him a sip of water off her finger. “And I hope I wasn’t too hard on you, Tinsel. You’ve been my only true friend longer than anyone, and I dearly need you in my life again. I’m to meet with the slayer in the morning. I do hope that you’ll be there with me.”
“It will be my honor, my lady. Will you be killing him?” She said that she would. “Good. He needs to die. Did you know that he’s trying to gather himself an army? No one will work with him, knowing that you’re free and that he’s going to die. I’ve been spreading the word about that he will pay for his crimes. I think that has kept them away as well. No matter if he had ten hundred men, he’d still be a goner. You give it to him good, my lady.”
She didn’t bother correcting him this time. And she hoped that Casdon didn’t teach him too much. Bryn sort of liked the way he talked. It was annoying at times, trying to figure out what he was talking about, but it was fun too.
Chapter 9
He had an army. Not a large one, nor all that experienced, but Wilson had one that that was more than he had hoped for when he awoke this morn. Looking around the large open field where he’d agreed to meet Brynhilde, he was satisfied with the results. She would die here, close to where her family had, and that gave him a bit of happiness in his otherwise horrific life. All he could think about was that his Maureen was gone.
Today had been especially hard on him. He wanted to talk to her about what his plans were, but she was gone from him. He wanted to tell her of how he was going to celebrate with her when he was the winner, but that wasn’t to be either.
So, Wilson had gone to her grave to speak to her there. However, he was distracted when he saw that the flowers had died, all of them, and he hated to see them upon her. Having his staff clean up the area, he noticed that several of them hadn’t shown up, people that had worked for him for decades. He asked where they had gone. It was then that he’d been told that they’d left his service.
“Left? Just when things are about to come out better for us? How could they do that?” Pearson told him that they had primarily cared for his sister, and that their grief, like his, was too much to bear. “Oh. I understand, but I wish they had told me. I would have found something for them to do. As it is now, things might not get finished when they need to be. See that no one else leaves my house, Pearson. We’re going to be entertaining soon, and everyone will be needed. We’re going to have to have a large party when they’re all dead, and I’m going to invite all of my friends.”
The look he’d been given made him pause, but Pearson turned then. There were going to be changes soon, something that he should have done before now. His staff was getting older, and though he’d granted them immortality, he knew now that had been a mistake. He wanted fresh and new, like his home. Wilson made a mental note to take care of that as soon as he got home today. Yes, it was well past time to take care of things. Things for the better, for all of them.
When he turned and looked out over the field where her home had once been, he was surprised that Brynhilde wasn’t alone. They wouldn’t be able to help her, he knew that, but to have so many people there was going to mess up his plans slightly. He had told his army that if he should look as if he was losing the battle, which he didn’t anticipate, they were to kill her. Wilson didn’t care if people thought it was cheating. He was in this for the win, not rules. He was going to change them anyway when this was finished. Now, with all these people around, it would be harder to do. Not impossible, but much more difficult.
“Wilson, are you sure that you want to go through with this?” He laughed, showing her that he was more than ready to kill her. “It is my duty to explain to you that I’m a true immortal. That any wound that you inflect upon me will not kill me. Also, that I have been set—”
“Yes, yes, I know what you are. As immortal as me. You’ll see that I don’t care about your rules or what you have to say to me.” She shook her head, but he was too excited to let her speak when he had his own rules to impart. “I command that you raise your sword with me. I take you, Brynhilde, warrior faerie of old, to do my bidding as I see fit.”
“It won’t work.” He asked her why not. “As I started to tell you, I’ve been freed. No man can hold me anymore. The king, who held me in his services all these years, has given me my freedom, as well as forgiven me of my past deeds.”
“That’s ridiculous. You were born to serve. What good is it to have you born if you can’t take up your arms and fight for someone? Does he know what he has done? Not just to me, but to all mankind? No, that’s not right.” He looked at the men and women behind her. “I want you to kill them all. Now. Remove their heads and be done with it.”
“I cannot. No, that’s not right.” She lifted her sword and he smiled. Finally, she was ready to do as he said. “I don’t want to do as you say. I am a free person, held by no one, now or ever again. I don’t have to do what you tell me, and even if I were bound, I could not.”
“You can’t be serious. Why the hell would anyone do such a thing? That new king? Does he have any idea what kind of repercussions this will have on the outcome of today?” He looked at the man standing in the middle. A big man, but he waved him over anyway. The one standing next to him came as well. “Are you the king that I spoke to? The one that has set her free?”
“I am. Asher Benson.” Wilson nodded. “And I set her free because she has no reason to fight for anyone any longer. It’s about time that she was her own person, don’t you think? I mean, she should have things her way for a change. Not at the rule of—”
“No, I don’t think that at all. And no one in their right mind would either. You’re a moron. Do you have any idea what sort of power she has? The way that her mind works when she’s held by someone? Christ, man. She’s a weapon that only gets stronger as she gets older. And she is very old, so her powers would exceed any that man could ever make by machines. And her sword was there for anyone with the right amount of coin to hold.” The man only crossed his arms over his massive chest. He looked at the other man. “Are you any more reasonable than he is?”
“Doubtful. In fact, I’m betting that he’s the more reasonable of the two of us. With her being free, does this mean that you’re going to stop this nonsense and go away and leave us to ourselves?” Wilson wondered if these people knew what a dragon could do when they were pissed off, and asked them. “Yes, I know firsthand what a dragon can do when they’re mad. You should remember that yourself.”
“I’m assuming that you have been watching them at play.
While they destroy those around them, you’ve been pampering them. Giving them whatever they want. They’ll turn on you. I’ve seen what they can do when they do.” He asked if he was talking about the fire at his home. “Yes, I am. They hurt my sister, and she recently died from her wounds. The dragons did that. Anthony and Eve. They burned my house to the ground with my sister inside.”
The man touched his hand to Wilson’s head. It wasn’t painful, but Wilson fell to the ground. Memories, old and new, ran by his closed eyes, and he saw his home burning as if it were yesterday. And when he saw his sister’s body, burned nearly to death, he sobbed, thinking that she might have been better off dying then instead of suffering so much.
“You caused the fire.” He looked at the man who had touched him. “Christ man, you killed your sister by your neglect. What were you thinking leaving a candle burning in the kitchen? There were so many things in there that would catch that it’s small wonder that anyone got out of the house. Then when your family, rightfully so, refused to help you when they found out, you killed them as well. You’re the monster in this. And always have been.”
“No. The fire started in the top of the house. I saw it with my own eyes.” The man said that it had burned that far up before being noticed. “No. You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He touched him again, and this time it was painful. When his own memories betrayed him, he sat there on the ground and thought about the candle. It had been in a bowl sitting upon the table. Wilson had put it there to show the way when he returned. Which he was never able to do. Looking up at the two men, he could see their pity and scorn. Standing up, he called for Brynhilde.
Pain shot through him. His heart, broken already, shattered into more pieces. All his pain was for naught. There had never been any fire by dragons. Not that it mattered now. They were dead, and he was alone. He realized that these people knew his secret. That they’d seen what he’d done and would tell others. His mind kept going round and round so that nothing made sense.
“We will fight until you are dead.” She nodded, then bowed before him. Brynhilde didn’t speak, and he wondered if she knew what he was talking about. Nothing was clear to him. “And when you are dead, I shall have peace once again. The dragons will have no choice but to do as I tell them. I still want them all dead.”
“How do you suppose that’s going to happen?” Wilson told Brynhilde that it would. “Just because you say so? You think that’s going to work? It isn’t, if you want to know the truth. There is only one ruler, one man who can command them, and that is not you.”
“It will be me. I will not be made to look the fool.” He thought she snorted, a very unladylike gesture, but then she’d never been a lady. “Your army? You have brought them? Not that I have any use for them, but they’ll be mine as well.”
“They are here.” Wilson heard the buzzing before he saw them. There was an army, millions strong, and all wearing her colors. “And yours? You have brought yours as well?”
He was ashamed to call them forth. They were so few and so young that he was sure that she’d laugh at him, and that would not do. Wilson called them forward, and when their number was less than before, he looked to see them blending in with Brynhilde’s. He knew they were leaving him, and not joining the other team to help him. But that was fine too. He would figure out who they were and deal with them when this was over.
“Are you ready?” She said that she was. “And you will not bow before me? You’ll not allow me to take your sword?”
“Nay, I will not. I will fight you fairly, Wilson, but I will not give my sword to anyone else. Not so long as I am living.” Nodding, he moved back from her. This wouldn’t be as easy as he had hoped, but soon enough he’d have the dragons dead. As soon as the men with her stepped away from him, he watched in horror as they shifted. Christ, they were all dragons.
~~~
Bryn hated that it had come to this. Before meeting the Benson family, she might have just cut his head from his shoulders and been done with it, but now she wanted to give him a chance. Let him walk away from this all with not just his head, but his dignity as well. But as soon as his men, the few that he’d brought to the line with him, reached them, she let her own men fly free. His seconds lay in tattered clothing and blood in seconds. It was never a fight, but a slaughter.
“You have defeated them all. This is not the way that I wanted this to end. You’re supposed to be the one that is lying before me, begging me for your life. You have not played fairly this day, Brynhilde. And when this is over, I shall tell all who will listen that you have cheated me.” Saying nothing to Wilson, she watched as the fallen bodies were taken away. They’d be buried, as was their tradition, their forms giving back to the earth that had produced them. Wilson laughed, sounding slightly insane. “I shall enjoy this.”
He attacked her with magic. Bryn had no trouble moving from the arc of magic that came toward her. It was weak and without substance. Like the man wielding it, it was erratic and lackluster.
As he began to wear his magic down, she used her sword to deflect it all from her and the family. Finally, when he was spent, his body worn down from what he’d done, she stood over him with her sword at her side.
“Make it quick.” She nodded and waited for him to give her the victory. “I will not concede that you won. You have cheated me out of so much by being free. That man should be killed for what he has done. You have not won fairly. You have cheated me.”
“That’s the way it goes sometime.” She lifted her sword well above her head. It would be a quick death for him, and she looked down at him as he stretched out his neck for her. “You were a good adversary, Wilson, but this war was lost before it began.”
The blade came down quickly and strongly, the swing of her blade true and magical. She heard it hit bone, knew that she’d taken his head from his shoulders with one swipe of it. Stepping back from his body, she watched his neck separate from his shoulders and his head roll forward.
His head didn’t look up at her, but lay face down in the dirt. She could see the poison of his blood staining the grass, and knew that a great deal of black magic had been spent in making this man what he was. As his blackness boiled into the ground, Akassa came to stand beside her and asked her to step back. He would gladly take care that no one would know that anything happened here today, and that the earth would not remain scarred forever.
His flame burnt the ground deep. The roots would have a better chance at surviving if he killed the evilness that was spilled there. She knew that a faerie ring would be planted for the warriors that had given their lives, but nothing would be said or done for Wilson. He was gone, and the world was a better place for it. The army he had, they were following orders; this was of no fault to them.
Men that had been a part of Wilson’s group came from the woods. She did nothing more than watch them. If they wanted a fight, then they’d have it. The call to arms was met with a call to her own men, and in seconds they were ready. This fight was bloody and swift…her faeries made short work of the men there. In seconds, the hundred or so men that had wished to kill all dragons were as dead as their leader. Bryn hadn’t had the need to even lift her sword; her men, all of them, had done it for the Bensons. As it should have been.
The walk back to the house was made in silence. Not only did she not speak, but the babes that had been brought and left in the back of the stand of dragons never whimpered either. The thought was to keep them safe, in the event that Wilson had men to spare and would come to the castle. She’d never seen such a pitiful group as his army had been.
“So many died today.” Bryn nodded at Jacob. “Useless loss of life, if you ask me. And for what? No other reason than to come together. I don’t think I like people any more than I did when the first castle was taken.”
“It’s not the first castle. I mean, the one that Anthony lived in, it’s not the first one. There was one other.” Jacob asked her how she knew. “I was there. Whe
n it was built. It was small, of course, and had fewer people in it, but it was almost in the same place as this one.”
“And the king that lived there, was he a bad man?” She shrugged and said she didn’t think he was. “And then Anthony came along and made all our lives better. Too bad that he was murdered like he was. He was a good man.”
“He was. But the king before him, he wasn’t ruthless. I mean, he had some good qualities about him.” She grinned. “I think you know him.”
“Nay, I’d not know him. The king Anthony, he was the only king that I knew. He was a good one, like I said, but I wasn’t around for the other man.” She looked up and he did too. “Elbert know him?”
“It was Elbert. He and his wife were king and queen before Anthony came along. He was a good man, but not very good with people. Isn’t that right, Elbert?” Jacob stopped walking, and she did as well, when Elbert turned to look at them. “You stepped down when a better man came along, or so I was told. I’m not so sure. Had you baked for any man or woman that came along, I think you would have won a great many wars.”
“I was having my own set of troubles, my lady. And being king did not suit me as well as I would have liked.” Elbert moved on, his voice carrying back to them. “My wife did take on so when I stepped down, but I had me a child to raise up to be the mother of the future king. I had the best of both worlds if you ask me.”
As he moved into the castle to get things moving for dinner, Jacob turned and looked at her. He had such a comical look on his face that she couldn’t help but laugh. He asked her if she was joking an old man.
“Have you ever known Elbert to joke about anything?” He looked at the castle, then back at her before shaking his head. “He was a good king, as I said, but not very good at it. It would have been only a matter of time before he was killed for what he did. And when Anthony came along and offered him a job, he took it without any hesitation. His wife, as he said, was not happy. I think she made his life more than a little miserable for a great many years before she passed in her sleep.”
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