Path of Tears (Saga of The Wolf Book 2)

by Kris A Hiatt

  “Fine by me,” Shamir said. “Disdane?”

  Brental hoped the man would agree. When he first told the captain of the plan, Disdane had baulked at the idea of Drokier being his successor. Only after convincing him it was the best option to assure he’d supplant Raythien did he agree.

  “Agreed. He’s been…helpful,” the large man said.

  “Then it’s done,” Shamir said, frowning.

  Brental could tell the man held Raythien in high regard and didn’t like the idea of replacing him. It didn’t matter. Even with the admiration he held for the man, he couldn’t rescind his new decree. Raythien was sure to protest his involvement, and, even if he did know of what his man said, he was certain to state that his man never came to him. It didn’t matter. That’s all it would take to have concern over his leadership abilities. While Shamir may have said the promotion was a temporary one, Brental was confident it wouldn’t be long before it was permanent. “Shall I make myself useful and draft a letter to notify the men?”

  “No, hold off on that for now,” Shamir said absently.

  “Very well. Good evening, my King,” Brental replied, bowing deeply.

  He walked away, leaving the others to figure out where to go from there. His job was done.

  As he walked, he mused over how things had transpired and the events leading up to the decisions for each. He had told Treace that he had done nothing to deserve his reputation and, in fact, it was sure to grow because of his supposed escape.

  He thought of how it applied to others.

  Drokier had now become third in command, after Shamir and Disdane, but not out of any accomplished deeds, but simply because he overheard a discussion and brought that information to him.

  Raythien was about to be punished for allowing Treace to escape, something the man had no part in and could not have prevented, and Disdane was being promoted. Not because of any great deed, but just because another had failed at their job.

  Even Moffred’s family was killed over something they didn’t do. He knew full well the two men had nothing to do with Moffred’s decision, so did Shamir, but the idea of their transgression was too much to allow them to live. It was for much the same reason that Raythien wouldn’t be allowed to continue to lead. At best, the man would be lucky to still be employed. At worst, he’d be lucky to have his life.

  He thought of how Destin and Joran feared him for what they thought he could do to them. No matter that he actually couldn’t, they thought that he could stone-face them so they feared him. They feared him so much that Destin was now making himself very useful. He had shown him a few new ways to help make magic more powerful. Now that he thought about it, Destin himself seemed more powerful the last couple of days. Perhaps the old magister in him finally broke free.

  Whatever the reason, Brental was certain his power was about to grow exponentially.

  Now all he needed was to be left alone to practice his magic. Once the chase to find the escaped prisoners was given up, he had full confidence things would return to normal.

  Chapter 27

  It was still a long way off, but Haven came into view. It was barely more than a speck in the distance, but still, Treace breathed a sigh of relief. It had been a long five days at sea, although with food and water his strength had finally returned.

  “What is it?” Kiril asked from beside him.

  He found himself near to her more often than not. A majority of the time they weren’t more than a few feet apart. Not that the ship was so large that they could avoid each other completely, but they were often closer to each other than to anyone else. They shared a few ‘accidental’ touches and lingering looks, but neither openly said anything of their feelings for one another. She had cried softly on his shoulder more than once after talking of her father. It was difficult for her to talk about it at first, but she opened up and he was glad to comfort her. “Haven.”

  “Where? I don’t see it.”

  He pulled her in front of him and pointed at the speck in the distance.

  “When I saw the ship behind us, I was scared,” Kiril said, still in front of him and looking down his outstretched arm. “I have been up until now. But now, seeing a new city ahead of us, I’m relieved. I don’t feel like my life could end at any moment anymore.”

  Treace understood her meaning. He felt much the same way. When a ship appeared behind them the afternoon of their first day, he began to worry. The ship had trailed them until it became too dark to see. Had Treace not convinced the captain to navigate by the stars, they probably would have been caught the next day. But Treace did convince the man, offering his knowledge of the stars and training the man of what he knew. It wasn’t formal, but it was enough to allow the fisherman to guide his boat in the dark. When the man returned to his normal duties, it would give him an edge over some of his competition, so he went along with it. “You’ll feel even better when we are fully on solid ground. Then we’ll truly be safe.”

  “I can’t wait,” she told him, pulling herself from his grasp and moving to stand beside him.

  He stepped to the rail of the ship and stared at Haven in the distance. “Me either.”

  Kiril moved to stand next to him and leaned against his shoulder.

  “Hopefully Moff will be more like his old self too,” Kiril added.

  At the start of their journey home, Treace had tried to console Moffred, but the man had retreated to his shell. He supposed that now that he knew he was going to live, Moffred had to process the death of his family. Treace understood that. In time, he knew Moff would find a way to deal with the death of his family. He just wished his friend would allow him to help. Moff had helped him many times. He wanted to be able to do the same for him.

  Standing there with Kiril leaning against him made him realize that Moff was right. He had to tell her that he loved her. It wasn’t the best timing, he knew, but he felt as if he didn’t tell her that he’d regret it the rest of his life. Who knew where she’d go after they arrived in Haven. He might not get another chance.

  He turned to face her. “Kiril, I—”

  “I know,” she interrupted, placing a finger over his lips. “But I still need time. Be patient with me, okay?”

  His heart beat faster than it ever had and he felt joy, and relief, like he’d never felt before. The sense of relief was different, but just as powerful, if not more, than the relief he felt when he realized he wasn’t going to die in a fight he wasn’t allowed to win. He couldn’t speak, so he nodded. He knew he had a stupid grin on his face, but he couldn’t help it.

  She removed her finger, leaned in and kissed him sweetly and gently. Her soft lips lingered on his and he didn’t want them to part.

  After a few seconds, she backed away from him and walked toward the stern of the ship.

  Beyond her, Moffred was looking at him, or Kiril, of which he couldn’t be certain, but he thought it was him. His friend flashed a smile and gave a quick, yet deferential, nod in his direction before putting his head back down and most likely returning to thoughts of his family.

  The captain motioned for Snail to take over the wheel and he walked up to join Treace.

  “If she was my girlfriend,” Captain Jons began. “I wouldn’t be smiling at you after she gave you a kiss.”

  “Neither would I, I suppose,” Treace agreed.

  “It’s a shame what they did to your friend’s family,” Jons said a moment later.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re safe now, no need to play coy. Shamir had no right killing those two and everybody knows it.”

  “You knew and yet you helped us?” Treace asked confused.

  “Of course I knew. I saw the three of you drug into town.”

  “Then why help?”

  “She ain’t done nothing wrong, and I doubt your friend did either. I reckon they were in trouble because of you, but I ain’t heard nothing to indicate you’re a bad person. Good with a sword, sure, but nothing saying you deserved to be
drug behind a horse and put in a cell. As far as I’m concerned, none of you deserved any of what you got. She lost her father, he lost all of his family, and you were about to be paraded around and killed.”

  “How do you know so much?” Treace asked, half expecting Red’s typical retort.

  “People talk more than you think.”

  Treace did know that people talked a lot. For some reason, he seemed to be a popular topic in Haven. He nodded at Jons.

  “If my King and your baron don’t get their heads out of their asses, the rest of us are going to pay for it. You think any of us want to go to war? For what? So one of them can put a few more kadens in their pocket? And all at the expense of my friend’s and your friend’s lives,” Jons finished, spitting overboard.

  “No one on our side really wants to go to war either,” Treace pointed out.

  “I’m sure that’s true. But us commoners don’t get to decide, do we? It’s the assholes in charge. I’ve got friends in Haven. Once this war breaks out, and I’m sure that it will since egotistical idiots never seem to agree, I’ll probably never see them again.”

  “There has to be something we can do to make them see our side of things,” Treace pointed out, speaking of the common people. “There’s far more of us than there are of them.”

  “You want to know what you can do about it?”

  Treace nodded his head.

  “Take my advice. Take that pretty young thing over there and get as far away from this war as possible. Live your lives together, have a few kids. Just stay the hell out of it,” Jons advised. “It won’t do nothing but get her killed. You’ve already cheated death once. You want to try it again?”

  Treace instinctively looked back at Kiril who returned his gaze with a smile.

  Treace thought he’d be wise to consider the man’s words.

  Jons patted him on the shoulder and walked away.

  Treace turned around and looked at Moff. His friend still hadn’t moved from his seated position against the railing of the ship. He was certain Moff was thinking of his family then, and of their deaths.

  He walked over to join him.

  “Hey,” Moff said at his approach.

  “Whatever blame you are placing on yourself, it’s not justified,” Treace told him. He wasn’t expecting a reply. So far, every time he’d tried to talk to Moff about what had happened to his family, he had said nothing in return. But this time he was more forward with his words than he had been previously.

  “Justifiable or not, it’s there,” Moffred stated, looking down.

  Treace wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass to speak his mind. “If you’re going to blame someone, blame Shamir. If not him, then blame me.”

  “Shamir, sure. I get that. But you? Why in the world would I ever blame you?” Moffred asked.

  “You went home for money to support me. If I had never agreed to become The Wolf, you wouldn’t have returned,” Treace pointed out.

  “If you think about it that way, perhaps I should just blame Nimbril then. He’s the one that sent you on the mission,” Moffred suggested.

  “That’s not the same and you know it,” Treace argued. He knew he should have said more, but he couldn’t think of anything just then.

  “Exactly,” Moffred stated. “Neither you or Nimbril could have known the outcome, nor could you have predicted it. When I made the choice to take the scroll, I knew there was a possibility that it would somehow implicate my family.”

  “Possibility. Somehow. Those words aren’t convincing, neither are they damning. Shamir’s decision to kill them was both. Blame him.”

  Moffred didn’t reply, but he did lift his head and regarded Treace with a sad, yet somehow thankful look on his face. He nodded slightly and looked back down.

  Treace decided it best to leave it at that. At least it gave Moffred another angle to view things from, or so he hoped. After a long silence he decided it might be better to change the subject entirely. “I’m not even going to see Drevic first. I’m taking a very long bath as soon as we get there, then I’m going to see Red and getting whatever his special is for the day. I don’t care what it is. And I’m getting wine. I won’t even bother with a glass, I’ll drink it right from the cask.”

  “Count me in on that,” Kiril added, walking over to sit on the other side of Moff.

  “You’ll need two casks then,” Moffred chimed in, finally looking up. “One for me, the other one the two of you can share.”

  Treace was glad to hear there was some of the old Moff left in him.

  “Drevic’s not going to believe Brental helped us escape,” Treace said a short time later.

  “He won’t have to,” Moffred stated. “You’re the one that helped us escape. You broke us all out. Remember? And keep your voice down, we don’t need Jons hearing any of this.”

  “That’s not what happened,” Treace pointed out. “And Jons knows who we are.”

  “It is exactly what happened and Jons may know who we are, but he doesn’t know the truth. Better he only know the lie,” Moffred said, seemingly unfazed that their real identities were known.

  “Do you really think I’m going to go along with Brental’s lie?” Treace asked. He couldn’t believe Moff would think he would do such a thing.

  “You should,” Kiril told him.

  “Why?”

  “Because everyone will know they should fear The Wolf,” Moffred explained.

  “I don’t care if people fear me,” Treace argued.

  “You agreed to go along with it,” Kiril said, ignoring Moff’s statement.

  “I agreed because it was the only way I could see to save our lives.”

  “I don’t know what his reasoning is for asking us to lie, but I see no harm in doing so. But should two differing versions of our escape get out, I don’t see it doing any good. I see that being bad news for us. I think it’s best to go along with it until we see a reason not to,” Kiril explained.

  “Exactly,” Moffred said. “This version only benefits us. You most of all. The fame of The Wolf grows ever more.”

  He didn’t like the idea of agreeing that he murdered a dozen men. It just didn’t sit well with him. But, ultimately, he knew they were right. If everyone knew that Brental had helped them escape for reasons unknown to them, there would be more questions he didn’t have answers for. They may even question their loyalty. But, he didn’t care about his fame. That was always Moff’s idea, not his. It was enough for him to know that they were out of Shamir’s clutches and on their way home. The lie stood, for now.

  ~~~

  Treace tried relaxing in the bath, but images of the man he killed on Shamir’s balcony kept flashing through his head. He was fine until he poured the hot water into the bath. Bucket after bucket he poured and each time, the sound reminded him of the crashing waves beneath that balcony. On that balcony, the soulless eyes looked back at him. There wasn’t anger or sadness, only confusion.

  As the man died, he did so without knowing why.

  Now Treace couldn’t get that face, or those eyes, out of his mind.

  He was thinking he should just get out of the bath and dry off. The idea of a long relaxing bath no longer appealed to him. The hot meal, however, was tantalizing.

  “You about done in there?” a voice that he thought he recognized called from outside the door.

  Had Heral already returned with Exodin? Had that much time already passed?

  “Treace? You about done?” the same voice asked loudly.

  “Exodin? Is that you?”

  “Get out,” Exodin instructed as he entered the room.

  “Good to see you too,” Treace said sarcastically. This wasn’t quite the way he’d envisioned it going after seeing his old friend for the first time in three years.

  “It is good to see you,” Exodin replied, grabbing a towel and holding it out for him to take. “But you’ve still got work to do and there’s other things you’ll need to know.”

  “Li
ke what?”

  “I’m sure Drevic and Liernin will be interested in hearing what happened while you were away. You didn’t bring Kint back, but instead brought that woman-Kiril-with you. I’m sure they’ll want to know why,” Exodin explained.

  Treace took the towel and Exodin turned around.

  “I see you’re up to speed on current events,” Treace told him as he toweled off.

  “I am. You need to tell them what you know so that we can leave.”

  Leave? He just got here. He didn’t want to leave. “Who’s we and where are we going?”

  “You’ll find out the details later. First your report.”

  “Fine. I didn’t realize it was so important,” Treace said dismissively.

  “More than you know.”

  Treace dried off and put on the fresh clothes purchased with the money that Jons returned to them. He said he never would have allowed his men to touch Kiril anyway, so he gave Treace the kaden back. He used it to buy himself, Moff, and Kiril fresh clothes and a bath.

  “It is good to see you,” Exodin said again once he was fully clothed.

  Exodin looked him up and down before pulling him in and hugging him. It wasn’t quite a bear hug, but it wasn’t far from it. It reminded Treace of when Plent nearly squeezed the life out of him.

  “I can’t believe the man I’m looking at is you,” Exodin said, pushing him back to arm’s length.

  Treace knew he’d grown some since the last time they’d seen each other, but he didn’t think it had been such a drastic change as Exodin’s words would make it out to be. “It’s me.”

  “I know. Now let’s get moving,” Exodin instructed as he moved toward the door.

  “We should stop and get Moffred. Drevic had us both on the assignment.”

  “No need, he’s already there,” Exodin said, never stopping.

  Both Kiril and Moff had bathed before Treace, so he assumed Exodin had already sent Moff to see Drevic before coming to get him out of the bath.

  ~~~

  “So how did he get out of the chains?” Edas asked as Treace entered the room.