Durban nodded.
"Oh yes. Don't think that you went unwatched in my absence. You, a guardian against the predators preying upon my wife. You, the sneaking wolf who wasted no time bedding her at the first opportunity."
Sweat beaded upon the merchant's forehead as he went on.
"That is to say, where is your honor, sir, if ever you had any?"
Alexandre drew back, releasing the merchant as he sheathed his weapon.
Where is your honor, sir?
The merchant's question echoed in his mind as he strode past the smaller, portly man, before the swordsman turned to say, "Nevertheless, my promise to you holds. If you lay hands on her again, it will mean your ruin. I swear it."
He did not wait for the merchant's response as he went to Lady Keld, hearing at his back, "Fornicator! Get out of my home."
Alexandre did not give the man the satisfaction of a response. Instead, he went quickly to Lady Keld and knelt at her side.
"How badly are you hurt?" he asked her as he put a hand to her chin and tilted her face gently up to see for himself.
She sniffed, then smiled a rose-tinged smile, "I think my pride was hurt more than anything else."
Alexandre shook his head.
One side of her face was already swelling with a red hue that he knew would soon turn a dark blue.
"My apologies," he said, "I should have been there to stop him."
The ragged smile she wore faded, then fell away altogether as tears welled at her eyes.
"If you care at all about my welfare, then do what you have come to do. I cannot bear the sight of that odious man any more."
He leaned back from her upon his heels.
"And just what do you suppose my role is other than that of your protector?" he asked.
She sniffed, her mien as tragically sad as could be, yet he did not miss the cold glint that crept into her gaze as she spoke again.
"Kill him and be done with it. That is why you are here, is it not? Discover the source of his secret riches, then do away with him. Once done, Cuixart Bleu and Modest Klees will find me a much more manageable partner in business than my cursed husband."
Alexandre stood, towering over her, and the truth of both of their positions was not lost on either of them.
"I am no assassin," he said, his voice low.
Where is your honor, sir?
"Stop playing at your infuriating game, Alexandre. Have at him and be done with it for once and all."
He took a step backward from her.
Have I gone too far? Is not what I do in service to a greater need? he asked himself.
"I tell you once again, that is not my purpose here."
He said it clearly, but absently, his mind elsewhere. Visions of battlefields and the grim faces of fellow soldiers long since fallen to dust came to him. A grizzled, old general he had greatly esteemed and a woman general that he had held tenderly in his arms came to him, both of their faces as clear to him then as they had been one hundred years earlier — as if he had bid them farewell but the day before.
And yet I never bid them farewell at all. Isn't that the truth I find so bitter? Is it not that error, my error, that has filled me with undying hatred all these long years for the source of the goblins' power in the war? The thing that taught them to wear the skins of men …
And then, when rumors of strange murders reached him at his post as Marechal de Barristide, crimes that could not be elucidated by local authorities, his memories from so long ago came surging up from the only past he knew. The victims had been discovered with their skins removed in a way that reminded him far too much of things best forgotten.
"You are mistaken," he said, taking another step away from her.
Lady Keld nodded.
"Of course … yes, of course. It is only because I am in a state of shock." Her face reddened, then she sobbed, "Please forgive me for thinking such a thing of you."
Alexandre looked down at her. Her face was downturned and tears fell to the floor.
His own visage was grim as he approached her once more to take her shoulders in his hands and help her stand.
"You are not safe, my Lady. I fear you will not see the dawn should you stay under this roof without me."
She looked him squarely in the eyes and without flinching, she said, "Then save me, Alexandre."
He nodded, then with no warning he took hold of her and threw her over his shoulder like a miller with a sack of grain.
With one hand he held her, with his other he drew his sword and rushed out of the room with long strides.
The house guards were waiting for him in the corridor beyond.
The points of their swords swung in his direction, and their eyes went wide with who they saw slung over Alexandre's shoulder.
"Men. We have worked well together until now," he said, his voice fierce, "But make no mistake, if we come to blows, I will be the sole person to walk away from the fray."
What he did not say to them was that if they did not give way, then he would. While he would take no lasting damage no matter what happened, the same could not be said for Lady Keld.
The head of the house guards shook his head, then looked round at his fellows.
To a one, each of them trembled like autumn leaves in a chill breeze. Apparently this decided him.
"Aye. We're no match and we know it. Lower your swords, men."
Alexandre nodded but he did not smile.
"It is the wisest choice you could have made, sir."
The head guard replied, "P'raps, p'raps not, but I tell ya now that the city watch's been called already and yer'll be run through before it's over."
But the scarred man was already pushing past them, Lady Keld still over his shoulder.
Then he broke into a run as he said to no one in particular, "Perhaps … perhaps not."
Alexandre burst through the front gates and made for the wooded paths that encircled the manor.
"Put me down," Lady Keld said, and it was not for the first time since their short flight had begun.
"I can run," she said, "if you would just let me."
He did not answer her, nor did he put her down. Instead he moved swiftly along the paths he had come to know so well during his rounds.
And without warning, he veered off the path and streaked over the close-cut lawn toward the manor.
Once at its stone foundation, Alexandre moved more slowly, as if searching for something.
Suddenly, he stopped and lifted his charge from his shoulder and set her down.
"Finally," Lady Keld began, before stopping short at a furious sign from him.
"Softly goes it, my Lady," he whispered, then turned back to the manor wall as black as pitch in the night shadows.
There was the faint jingle of keys, then the sound of a door being opened slowly enough that the whine of its hinges was but a sigh instead of a screech.
"Beyond this door is a corridor that leads through the old wine cellars, then up to servants' quarters not in use at the moment. From there, Lady Keld, you can make your way to your bedchamber using the servants' passages and, if you take care, you can do so entirely unseen."
"What?" she hissed.
"You will be safe now. The guards were witness to my spiriting you away. No one, least of all your husband, will think to find you in your own bedchamber. On the morrow, I will return for your sake, if you ask it of me."
Understanding dawned in her eyes, then Lady Keld leaned close to him and said into his ear, "What I ask of you is to accompany me. I beg it of you, for where else do you have to go?"
Alexandre paused, searching for an answer, then finding none, he simply nodded and stepped into the bowels of House Keld with its Lady at his side.
Where is your honor, sir?
The scarred man smiled at the darkness within. He knew his honor had sifted away as had the long years of his life.
It pained him more than he was willing to admit, but he had become a shadow of what he once stood for.
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He followed after a woman who manipulated everyone around her, and he would allow her to do so once more with him.
As she had said — he had nowhere else to go.
Alexandre had spoken truly. While both of them took great care in the dark passages of the manor, it was hardly necessary. They encountered no one and once inside Lady Keld's chambers, she produced a key of her own and locked the door behind them.
"And what now?" she asked, her voice low.
The scarred man shrugged then went to stand next to the chamber door. He pressed his ear against it, listening.
Stepping away from it at last, he said, "It appears our ruse is a success."
Lady Keld folded her arms and simply stared at him, waiting.
"I do not know," he said. "I am here for your protection, not your amusement."
She shook her head.
"That is where you are mistaken, Alexandre. We are here to amuse ourselves as best we may before the night flees and all opportunity to be together flees with it."
She approached and took his hand to place it upon her chest.
"Do you not desire me?"
He held her regard, unblinking, then sighed.
"I cannot deny it. But would you feel as you do if you knew my real reasons? Would your ardor not cool to know that I have come here with falsehood in my heart?"
Lady Keld did not relent.
"Tell me more, Alexandre. Tell me how it is that despite the beginning to this tale of yours, you cleave to me now as my protector when any other would have simply gone on his way, his task done."
He turned away from her to stride across the room. Once there, he slowly drew the curtains so that they covered the glass paned doors behind them completely.
“Perhaps it is because you remind me of someone.”
Lady Keld’s eyes narrowed.
“Was she so special as that to you, then?” she asked.
Alexandre kept his back turned to her as he lit a single candle. Its light was dim and unlikely to be noticed, their own voices being the chief danger at hand.
“I cannot say. It is more of a feeling than a memory.”
He shielded the candle as he came back to her and the effect of its dancing light made of him a ghostly, scarred being that would have frightened anyone.
Lady Keld closed the distance between them and took the candle to place it in a sconce next to the bed.
Her features were hidden with the source of light at her back as she returned to him.
“You have no memory of her? Do you speak the truth now, or is this part of the falsehood you claim to be at the heart of your presence here?”
Alexandre opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, she pressed a finger across his lips.
“Let us finish, then, for once and all with our mutual subterfuge,” she whispered, then drifted down to her knees and set to undoing Alexandre’s belt and trouser buttons.
The scarred man did not move as she set his sword belt to one side, then reached inside his clothing to hold him, to cup him.
“In this way,” she breathed, “we must speak truth, for intimacy like this requires nothing less.”
He reached down to her.
“Nevertheless, I must refuse you.”
His fingers toyed with her hair, twining among her curls, menacing to take hold and wrench her away from him if need be.
Lady Keld hissed then got to her feet at once, her eyes blazing in the dim light.
“Truth then, if the promise of my embrace does not suffice,” she said. “As for your honor, you need not fear. It is intact as far as conjugal matters are concerned. Otherwise, you have only your own heart to decide as to the rest.”
He shook his head. Alexandre had expected more from her. Any woman might snarl with bitterness and spite when spurned, but he had esteemed Lady Keld to be more subtle than that.
“What do you mean? And I am warning you, speak plainly,” he said. “The time for misdirection between us is, as you say, come to an end.”
Her gaze was baleful as she spoke again.
“You honor is intact because you did not bed the wife of Durban Keld.”
She spat out her words with a venomous tone that Alexandre realized was turned against herself as much as it was intended for him.
“You speak madness,” he said quietly.
Her intensity did not diminish.
“No. What is madness is that everyone he has told this lie to has believed him without question.”
She whirled away from him, and Alexandre took the opportunity to fasten his pants and buckle his sword at his side once more.
“Shall I assuage your doubts and curiosity in one blow? Then it is simple, really,” she said, her mouth trembling. “I am of House Hidalgo. To my knowledge, I am the last living vestige of one of the most ancient noble families of Yberique. My father did not give his leave for my hand in marriage to a dog such as Durban Keld.”
Her entire body trembled and her voice rose.
“No. I was bought and paid for. My so-called husband’s great secret is that he is a slave trader south of the Ardoise Mountains. That is the source of his wealth that L’Anguille and his henchman so dearly wish to tax. Except …”
The scarred man finished for her.
“… except that slavery is forbidden in these lands as are any dealings with such a reprehensible activity.”
Lady Keld nodded.
“That is correct. It has been outlawed in Yberique as well. Our king is young and progressive, yet his arm is not long enough to control all the disparate clans of the Kaure. They carry on as they always have and, no doubt, if they could ever stop feuding amongst themselves, they would overthrow the king and restore slavery as fair a trade as any other.”
“Were you sold into slavery by someone, then?” he asked.
She shook her head furiously.
“No. Our lands were overrun by three Kaurish tribes. As I said, if they ever would organize themselves on a large scale, they would be a force to be reckoned with. As it was, three tribes sufficed to breach our stronghold’s walls and sweep my family aside as if they never existed.
“I saw my own mother’s and father’s throats slit before my very eyes. My eldest brother fought and died at their hands as well. All that saved me was my maidenhood.”
He shook his head.
“A shame that virginity should be your saving grace while doing nothing for the rest of your family.”
Lady Keld continued as if she had not heard him.
“I have mourned them in the years since then. For a long while I dared hope that my youngest brother survived, telling myself stories of how he would grow up to be a strong, brave man who would come rescue me one day.
“In time, I accepted that surely he did not survive that dark day. No one did, except for the strongest of our field hands, and me. We were worth most in the slave market. Later the Kaure who took me squabbled amongst themselves and their short-lived union came to a bloody end.”
“And yet, through it all, you remained unspoiled.” He said it more as a statement than as a question.
“Of course,” she answered. “The Kaure have their ancient traditions and notions of taking whatever they want from those weaker than them, as if by divine right, but despite themselves, they have become nothing more than the people they claim to so despise — lowly merchants, their wares human flesh.
“I was an investment to them, like any other.”
Alexandre began to pace back and forth in the room, quietly so, but his visage was serious, lost in thought.
Then he stopped and said, without looking at her, “Do you attempt to bend me to your will even now, Lady Keld?”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” she replied.
“Oh, I think you do. You would win my sympathy and incite me to end your husband’s life, thus arriving at your already stated ends. You would have all that your husband has under your sole and unique control as a result.”<
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“No,” she replied. “You are mistaken.”
Her voice rose with her next words and he was forced to turn to face her.
What he saw made him close his mouth around what he had meant to say next.
Lady Keld had disrobed in silence while he had been pacing. She held out her hand to him.
“Come to me and seek the truth written upon my warm skin, Alexandre. Even if it is a fleeting one, it is the only one that matters at the moment.”
Her breasts were high, her nipples rigid and erect.
The swordsman licked his lips despite himself and his misgivings.
“You would ply me with your own flesh.”
She smiled despite the serious situation.
“And if I do, then I do so willingly. I am no slave to you.”
He turned away from her, his back straight and his decision made.
“Yet you would make me your slave, in one way or another. I have tasted this fruit and while I cannot deny its sweetness, I have no desire for more.”
Silence answered him for a time.
“Very well,” Lady Keld said at last. “You may turn around if you like. I am clothed. Or you may continue to turn your back upon our present circumstances, if you wish.”
He hesitated.
“If you will refuse to satisfy my cravings, then perhaps you will agree to satisfy my curiosity,” she said.
“Who are you, really? What brought you here to Haccia, for it is obvious you are not a man of the environs, nor a religious pilgrim on an overlong pause before taking up the holy trail running over the mountains to southern lands.”
“You speak truly,” Alexandre said. “I seek no enlightenment for a shaken faith in religion. Rather I search for answers to questions that have plagued me for a very long time. That in itself is as much as I am willing to say as to who I am.
“Be satisfied to know that I am simply a man who has nothing left him but the pursuit of an explanation.”
She sighed.
“Have you ever considered that perhaps the error is in the questions you pose? It is possible that you have missed a greater truth while focused on whatever this thing might be.”
He nodded without looking directly at her.
“As for that, I no longer have any doubt. Error after error, these have been the only constant in a life without meaning.”
The Marechal Chronicles: Volume VI, The Crucible: A Dark Fantasy Tale Page 6
