Fallen Tiers

by Cheryl Matthynssens

  He took a sip of her offering and grimaced at the bitter taste. Why did her healing concoctions always taste so vile?

  “Drink!” she ordered.

  He gulped as she poured. Two big swallows and the evil stuff was down. He just hoped he could keep it there until he was able to spoon in some soup over it.

  “Keelee?” he asked. She was his first thought after his stomach and the shock of Auries arrival.

  “She’s in the room down the hall,” Alador volunteered. “She and Auries have become close friends.” He winked at the woman standing over his brother.

  Sordith looked from Alador to his former lover. Keelee and Auries had been talking? Best friends? Oh, this just was not right, and could not be good for him.

  “Friends?” he asked. The last time he spoke of Keelee with Auries she had thrown a perfume bottle at his head and ordered him out of her quarters.

  “She is a… unique… young lady,” Auries said under a hooded gaze.

  She put the cup back on the side table.

  “I must see her.” Sordith started to rise, but two sets of hands forced him back down onto his bed.

  “Not until that potion takes effect and you have eaten. If you can keep your food down, then I will allow Lord Alador to help you down the hall to say hello, but I warn you,” her tone grew stern, “only a few minutes. She has lost a lot of blood, and she needs rest more than anything else right now.”

  Sordith reached out and captured his former lover’s hand as she continued to fuss over the arrangement of his blankets. “Thank you, Auries.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles.

  She gave him a grudging smile, but anything she might have said was interrupted by the arrival of the tray.

  “Thank you, Betra.” She took the tray from the child, and the youngster slipped back out of the room.

  Alador helped his brother sit up and propped the pillow up against the wall behind him at the head of the bed.

  Auries set the tray down on his lap. “Eat… I will be back to check on you later.” She turned toward Alador. “The slop bucket is under the bed if he needs it for either end.” She swept up her skirts and left the room.

  For a few moments the room was silent as Sordith dove unhesitatingly into the soup and bread. He hadn’t been this hungry since he was an orphan in the trench trying to make it on his own!

  While Sordith ate, Alador sat back and marveled at the strength, and run of good luck, that had saved his brother. Keelee had not been able to sleep when they first arrived at the makeshift healer’s clinic. As exhausted as she was, Auries had had trouble finding a potion that would relieve the pain in the injured leg. Sordith was out cold, unable to comfort Keelee, so Alador sat by bedside listening to her tell of their near brush with death and their escape through the caves below the city.

  He realized what she was talking about long before she revealed the discovery of the dragon skeleton. Renamaum had deep seated memories of those caves, and they bubbled to the top when Keelee started to describe them. If only something had triggered the memory prior to the storm, Alador could have opened them up to shelter the populace. But, perhaps there was a reason Renamaum had not revealed them. Perhaps Alador’s dragon-self had other plans.

  They spoke quietly out of respect for the other patients, but when he heard of where the tunnel came out, he swore her to secrecy and excused himself. He hurried down to the well and closed their entry back up, taking his time and making sure the rocks were set exactly as they had been in the past. He did not want anyone else knowing of the tunnels’ existence just yet.

  Uninterrupted by conversation, it did not take Sordith long to finish off the soup and bread. Alador took the tray from him and sat it on top of his own, on the floor.

  “You ready to go see Keelee? She has been asking about you.” He offered his brother his arm to rise.

  Sordith took it and stood, pausing to be sure he was steady enough on his feet.

  Alador was so happy to have his brother back. The thought of his death had haunted him the past two days. They had not spoken of the flood yet, but he was anxious to explain to him, as he had to Keelee, what he believed had happened and who was responsible for the trench being walled up.

  He turned to Sordith, but his vision was filled with a fist. He hit the floor. It took a moment for his head to clear, before he managed to put up a staying hand toward his brother.

  “Wait,” he stated firmly. Feeling something moving about his mouth besides blood, he spit. There on the floor was a tooth. “Dammit Sordith! And, I think you broke my nose too,” he managed to squeak out.

  “Good!” Sordith snarled down. “Stand up and let me see to the rest of your teeth.”

  Alador knew at that moment that he had better not get up just yet. He had no doubt where this was coming from. Sordith thought he had known about Luthian’s walling off the ramps.

  “How about we save this until we get to my home and I explain. If you still want to punch me out, well then you can have your go.” Alador formed a cloth in his hand and pressed it to his bleeding nose. He slid the bone into place, cursing as he did so.

  “Deal.” Sordith put a hand down to help him up.

  Alador was a bit hesitant in taking it. “I didn’t know,” he gave as a short apology. He winced at his nasal tone.

  Sordith helped him to his feel, but grimaced at the effort.

  Alador walked over to the side table, fumbled off the lid on the jug of healing potion and poured himself a shot. He downed it and stood for a moment sniffing.

  “Feel better?” he asked Sordith sarcastically.

  “Much!” The Trench Lord turned and headed out the door and up the hall, with Alador following in his wake.

  He entered the room just in time to see Sordith lean over Keelee and kiss her. “How do you feel?” his brother asked with genuine concern.

  “Tired, but I think part of that is Auries’ potions. She has been controlling the pain while I heal.”

  “She can be moved to Lord Alador’s home tomorrow,” Auries said from the doorway. She must have seen them headed down the hall and followed. “We need the room here for the more seriously injured.”

  “I have already arranged for the men to transport you both tomorrow morning,” Alador said between snuffles. His voice was sounding a little less nasal to his ears as the potion took effect. Whatever Auries had concocted to heal Sordith’s ribs was doing a fast job of healing his broken nose.

  “We can go home to my manor,” Sordith objected.

  “Not yet,” Alador said. “You both need care and my home has already been repaired by the staff.”

  Sordith realized that probably meant his home was damaged to a lesser or greater degree – probably the latter – since his home was in between the trench and the first tier. Even his brief glimpses had shown that not much had been spared on those two levels of the city.

  Sordith looked at Keelee, and then at Alador. Keelee had been his younger brother’s bed servant. He was not going to take her into his home without first claiming her permanently, and totally, as his.

  “We will go, but under one condition,” he looked at Keelee and gave her his best smile. “Keelee, I want us to be wed - now. This very moment. I came so close to losing you; I don’t want anything to ever take you away from me again. We will have a formal wedding when things are more settled, but for now, I need to know you are mine.”

  Keelee reached out and grasped his hand. “I am yours and ever will be, milord.” She smiled at him and pulled him down toward her for a kiss.

  “Will you do the handfasting?” Sordith asked of his brother as he raised his eyes from her.

  “It would be my pleasure.” Alador had only seen one handfasting since he had become a high mage. He hoped he remembered what was done. The fact he was performing the rite for Keelee barely even registered as he materialized a long, blue, velvet ribbon in his hand.

  Auries stepped up quickly and removed a ring from her finger.
“I know it is used, and worn in the past by a whore, but it is offered with love to you both,” she said in all sincerity. She could not doubt how much Sordith and Keelee loved each other, and was that not what you wanted for someone you loved, for them to be loved too?

  Keelee nodded to Sordith, and he took the ring from Auries. “Thank you.” He slipped it on Keelee’s finger.

  Auries stepped back and started to leave.

  “Stay, please,” Keelee called.

  Auries looked toward Sordith for approval.

  “Please, you are one of my closest friends.” He beamed with his current happiness, both for his bride and his mended friendship with Auries. She smiled and settled in on the other side of the bed.

  Alador moved from the foot of the bed to where the two sat, hands clasped. He wrapped the ribbon around their hands and up over their wrists, securing them gently together. He placed his hand on their joined hands.

  “With this handfasting we secure the hearts of Sordith, Trench Lord of Silverport and Keelee, hereby to be known as wife of Sordith, the Trench Lord of Silverport, together for their lifetime. Let all know that they are one in body, soul and love.”

  “One in body, soul and love,” Sordith and Keelee repeated in unison.

  Sordith bent over and gently kissed her. Keelee closed her eyes with the kiss and did not open them as he pulled away.

  “Keelee?” he questioned, almost verging on panic.

  Auries reached across the bed and felt the pulse at her neck. “She sleeps. It is not your lack of masculine attraction, it is the potion,” she assured him.

  Sordith pulled the ribbon from around their hands, rolled it and placed it on her pillow.

  “Back to bed with you.” Auries shooed him out the door. “You need your rest as well.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Alador appeared in his library holding the traveling amulet in his hand. He had sent one of the children who were running errands and messages home ahead of him and asked Radney to lay the fire in the study and prepare a room for Sordith and Keelee’s arrival.

  The fire was already working at taking the chill out of the library. Henrick’s magic had always kept the fire burning brightly, but Alador was forced to import the wood for his fires, being a water mage. The cost was high to have it all either carted in from the forests beyond the plain or brought in by barge through the harbor and up the tiers. However, Alador noted that Radney was his usual efficient self and obviously used household money to purchase scrap wood gathered after the storm by the locals. They were pedaling it to any who passed at the bridges from tier to tier. It smoked and streamed from the water captured in it, until Alador put out his hand and drew the water from it in a cascade that fell through the grate and evaporated in a puff of steam. The fire leaped into a new, stronger life as the wood dried, and the room immediately took on a nice woodsy aroma.

  He snuffed, which reminded him of his still healing nose. He made his way to the desk and dug out a healing potion. He downed it and closed his eyes. Relief flooded through his pounding head and jaw. He put a tongue where his tooth should have been. He would have to see to a spell to replace it. Fortunately, it had not been a front tooth.

  Alador knew his brother was angry at him for stopping his assassination attempt on Luthian. But the High Minister was good at playing a crowd, and at every tier he had spoken on he had been well received. He stopped Sordith because he had not wanted Luthian to die a martyr’s death. The man deserved to die as the bastard he was, not as the loving benefactor he was pretending to be to the surviving tier inhabitants.Alador knew Luthian was responsible for the walling of the ramps from the trench. He all but admitted it when they met after the council. Even though Lady Caterine had done the actual deed, Alador knew his uncle had given the order. It had taken a twisted mind to give that command. The horror of their death masks in the stone walls would haunt him for a very long time.

  He stepped to the table between the two chairs where Radney had thoughtfully placed a tray, three glasses and a carafe of smalgut. He poured himself a glass and collapsed into a chair. Sordith and Keelee would be here soon. Alador had arranged with Bariton to have an escort transport them by wagon; he still did not trust his uncle to not try and assassinate the Trench Lord.

  He ran over his last conversation with Luthian when he returned to calm him after delivering his brother and Keelee to Auries for healing.

  He knew his uncle saw the dagger in Sordith’s hand and the look of murder in his eyes. “Lord Guldalian,” he said as he slid to a halt at his side, “I have taken the Trench Lord and his partner to the healer. He was overwrought by his near-death experience. He had not heard the news of Lady Caterine’s evil deed.” Alador looked into the older mage’s eyes. “I fear the look he gave you was founded in misunderstanding of the true culprit responsible for this horrendous crime.” Alador pressed his point. “The Trench Lord is a well-respected man. You will need him to reestablish the trench.”

  “Surely, he could not think I was involved,” Luthian said for the benefit of those who might overhear their conversation. “We have Lady Caterine’s body and the obvious connection between her sphere’s powers and where she was found.” Luthian frowned.

  Alador knew while those words implied his innocence, Luthian was even now considering his next move. He hoped the High Minister would choose to follow his suggestion and not just remove the Trench Lord.

  “I believe given his experience, he may just be fueled by the trauma he witnessed. We are good friends,” Alador added. He continued hands palm forward and arms out. “Let me secure him to our cause and calm him down. A healer’s touch, good drink, a bath, and some food in a safe location should do him well.”

  Luthian conceded. “Very well. I will continue here; you see the man shored up. I will not tolerate dissension when the people need unity.”

  In this, Alador agreed with his uncle. The people of the city did not need an uprising at that moment. He nodded at the High Minister and merged into the crowd to head back to Sordith’s side. He breathed a sigh of relief. He knew his brother was angry and did not have the full picture.

  Alador rubbed his face, took a sip of his smalgut and wondered just how to present the full picture to Sordith once he arrived. He stood and pulled the bell cord by the fireplace. Radney came almost immediately.

  “Get a message to Lady Aldemar and to General Levielle to join me for a meal. Ensure they know it is urgent.” He ordered quickly. “The Trench Lord and his wife will arrive shortly. Have you finished preparing their room?”

  “Yes, Lord Alador.”

  Alador was so lucky to have Radney at the helm of his household. The man may not have possessed magic, but he worked miracles.

  “We will need a full meal for five,” he added, “and enough smalgut to put Sordith and I both beneath the table. The General will probably drink with us, as well.”

  “Right away, milord.”

  Someone pulled the bell at the door. Radney started toward it to answer.

  “You see to the meal, Radney, I will get the door,” Alador offered, knowing it would be Sordith and Keelee.

  Sordith had helped Keelee from the wagon and was shutting the blanket around her, murmuring words that Alador could not make out.

  “Thank you,” Alador said to the escort as they dispersed. He handed up a slip to the civilian wagon driver who had been pressed into service to transport his brother and his new sister-in-law.

  Sordith gathered Keelee to his side and they limped in.

  “You said we would discuss the walling of the trench when I arrived.” They followed Alador to the study. “Start explaining,” Sordith said, as he eased Keelee down on the couch and turned toward his younger brother.

  Alador closed the door to the study behind them. He leaned against it and pinned Sordith with a solid gaze.

  “First, no I did not know what Luthian was up to. Secondly, I agree that the man had a part in it.” Alador took a guarded breath under the
look his brother was boring into him. “Next, yes, the High Minister needs to die. However, if you had succeeded just then you would have made him a martyr.”

  “I didn’t care. He would be dead. Problem solved,” spat Sordith as he moved to the fire. He picked up the poker and started to take his aggression out on the wood. He jabbed at it as if he were stabbing a dagger into a victim.

  “I am trying to ensure he is replaced by someone who cares more about the city and its residents then he does.” Alador pleaded.

  “You mean, you are trying to become the next High Minister. A feckin’ half-breed with no real anchor in Lerdenian ways,” Sordith snarled still not looking toward his brother.

  Alador winced, “Yes, meaning me.” He pushed off from the door and came closer to the fire and his irritated brother. Whether that was a wise move or not, he was not sure. “The only person I admit would do better is Lady Aldemar. Perhaps she should be the next High Minister. If she can get away, we will know soon enough.” Alador took the chance and reached out to his Sordith. He placed a hand on his shoulder. “Brother, I would never hurt or kill your people.”

  Sordith stood and turned toward Alador. He wanted to see his eyes. “Even if it made you the next in line?”

  Alador’s hand dropped. “Especially if it made me next in line. I have more regard for life than that. Those were your people, your friends, the ones you protected and watched over. I am not a cad that uses or hurts family in such a manner.”

  Sordith replaced the poker in its holder. He let out a sigh and turned back to Alador.

  “Promise me, Luthian will die.”

  “I promise, Luthian will die.” Alador let out the breath he had been holding when Sordith turned away with the poker. He had been preparing himself for another punch just in case.

  “Now, let’s get you both up to my room and into the bath.” Alador paused. His bath was ready, but the egg was there. He decided a show of trust was needed and after a long moment exhaled his breath. “Just… don’t touch the dragon’s egg.”