by K. J. Parker
Merebarton. 3 a K Mersilia, AUC 1095.
Lycao Pandocytria to General Senza Belot, greetings.
I am being held here against my will.
I can’t actually complain about how they’re treating me. They brought me here in a grand carriage, and this place I’m locked up in is quite comfortable, and the food’s nice and the people are quite kind. But I don’t want to be here. You know what I’m like about being cooped up. I feel like I’ve been buried alive or something. I can’t stand it. I just want to howl and scream.
I know that after what I’ve done and what’s happened between us, I have no right to expect you to help me. But there’s nobody else who can help me. I can’t trust anyone. Obviously they’re doing this to get to you. I know they are, they’re not exactly making a secret of it. They’re going to keep me as a hostage to control you, which means they can control the war. They’re up to something very big and very dangerous. I’m scared to death of them. I’m pretending to be on their side so they won’t just kill me out of hand, but I don’t suppose I can keep it up for very long. You know what a terrible liar I am.
If you get this letter, please give the messenger a lot of money. He’ll have earned it.
You will come, won’t you?
K. J. Parker is the pseudonym of Tom Holt, a full-time writer living in the south-west of England. When not writing, Holt is a barely competent stockman, carpenter and metalworker, a two-left-footed fencer, an accomplished textile worker and a crack shot. He is married to a professional cake decorator and has one daughter.
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Read on in The Two of Swords: Part 9.
