by John Marco
"Good luck," called Alain, stepping forward. "Bring Del back safe."
"No promises, except to try," said Jahl. He mounted his horse. "Have faith, boy. We go with God."
Then Jahl Rob rode away, not waiting for his three comrades, beginning the steep decent down the mountainside. He had until noon to make it to the Tollhouse, and the sky above promised a favorable day. The priest patted the bow on the side of his horse. Being sequestered in the mountains had given him plenty of time to practice. He had become remarkably proficient with the weapon. He was almost as good as Leth's lap dog, Shinn.
One hour before noon, Del Lotts waited in his closet-sized cell, staring out through the iron bars of the Tollhouse at the crowd gathering below. His place in the tower afforded him a view of the prison grounds not far from Aramoor's town square. Near the bottom of the tower facing the growing crowd was a small dais, remarkable only for a round block of oak and a vacant basket laying near it. A handful of Talistanian soldiers stood guard around the dais, keeping the curious gathering in check with halberds. Several horses pranced across the ground policing the flow of onlookers. Del hadn't expected such a crowd, and the sight of it heartened him a little. He wanted all of Aramoor to see his execution. He wanted it burned indelibly into the minds of the children.
"I'm not a hero," he whispered, putting his hands on the bars. "I'm just a man."
Occasionally, someone would look up at his perch, wondering if the prisoner they saw behind the tiny square of bars was him. But Del didn't wave or call down. They would see him soon enough. He took measure of the sun, gauging its height, and realized noon was near. He closed his eyes and started to pray, a desperate prayer to a God he didn't really believe in. If he had sinned, he wanted forgiveness; if there was a heaven, he wanted entrance. And if his brother Dinadin was there, he wanted to spend eternity together.
" . . . and protect Alain, dear Lord," Del added desperately. "Keep him safe from Leth and his men."
Del still didn't know if Alain had made it to Rob safely. As he'd suspected, Dinsmore had sent his soldiers to the House of Lotts. They had arrested Del and dragged him away in manacles and they had thrown him into the Tollhouse, refusing to let him see a single friend. Now, without a trial or the chance to speak his defense, he was going to be executed, and all for the crime of speaking out against slave labor.
"Let my death have meaning," Del continued. He kept his eyes closed and his hands clasped before him as he prayed, the way he had seen Jahl Rob pray countless times before. "God, if You're really up there, don't let all this be for nothing."
Del opened his eyes, satisfied that any merciful God would willingly grant his requests. He wasn't really ready to die, but he thought he had enough strength to not start screaming when he saw the axeman. Jahl Rob had promised him that there was indeed a Master of everything, and that this life was merely a doorway into a grander one beyond. It had always seemed like a fine fairy tale while Del was growing up, but now he wanted to believe the priest. More than anything, he wanted Jahl Rob to be right.
"Praying won't save you now," said a voice.
Del turned to see Viscount Dinsmore at the gates of his cell looking in with a malicious smile. Del's heart sank when he saw him. Was it time?
"If you're here to take me, I'm ready," said Del defiantly. "But don't expect a confession. You won't get it."
Dinsmore laughed. "It's too late for that, believe me, Lotts. We've already made arrangements, and I would hate to cancel them. Have you looked out the window yet?" His smile sharpened. "Yes, of course you have. Looks like everyone can't wait to see your head roll into a basket."
Del folded his arms over his chest. "I'm not afraid. You won't get me to grovel."
"Not yet perhaps," mused Dinsmore. "You know, I've heard that a severed head can go on seeing after it's been chopped off. Do you think that's true? Tell you what--I'll hold up your head and show you your decapitated body, and you let me know, all right? How about one blink for yes, two blinks for no?"
"How about you go to hell?" growled Del. "You won't get away with your crimes forever."
Dinsmore held out a hand. "Look how I'm shaking."
Besides the bodyguard Shinn, Viscount Dinsmore was Elrad Leth's chief enforcer. He was the one who made Leth's orders a reality and put men to the block. He was in charge of the slave project, the same mysterious enterprise that had gotten Del in so much trouble. It was said that Dinsmore was collecting slaves for some great project near the shore, but neither Del nor his compatriots knew what it was. They only knew that able-bodied Aramoorians were being taken from their homes and farms. And the worst part was that the Talistanians like Dinsmore seemed to love their work. Del supposed it was all part of the long animosity between the two nations. Now that Aramoor was back under Talistan's boot, they were gleefully taking their revenge.
"There's not much time for you, my friend," said Dinsmore. "Less than an hour, actually. Tell me, how does it feel, being so close to death?"
Why don't you tell me? thought Del. If he knew Jahl Rob as well as he thought, today might be Dinsmore's dying day, too.
"If I only have an hour, I'd rather not waste it looking at your face," said Del. The viscount turned purple.
"I can't wait to see you die, Lotts," he said. "I'll be right there with you, watching you squirm."
Dinsmore stalked off, leaving Del alone again in his chamber. Del watched him go, satisfied to have been such a thorn in the bastard's side. Even if he did die today, it had all been worth it.
The center of town had been fairly well emptied by the upcoming event at the Tollhouse. The markets were still open in the square, but the avenues and lanes were sparsely populated for the middle of the day and those who did remain behind spoke of the only thing on their minds--the execution of Del Lotts. He had been a popular and well-liked nobleman from one of Aramoor's finest families, and the shopkeepers muttered to themselves as they arranged their vegetables, lamenting the loss of so decent a man. Women meandered through the square shopping with vacant expressions, desperately trying not to think about the thing that would happen in barely an hour, but their children craned their necks westward toward the prison.
Jahl Rob, alone and on horseback, moved inconspicuously through the square, his face obscured behind the hood of a cloak, his pace easy and unperturbed. He didn't look at anyone straight on, but he did not look away either. Today, he was merely another of Aramoor's people, and the pretense came as naturally as breathing. He imagined that Ricken and the others were equally comfortable in their roles. The three of them were already approaching the Tollhouse, hopefully going unnoticed by the hundreds of people. Today he would move like a spirit and strike like a serpent. No one would notice them until it was too late.
At the corner of the avenue ahead stood a row of brick buildings. Near a vacant smith shop was a cart with a single horse and a driver absently studying his fingernails. In the cart was a lumpy collection of bric-a-brac covered by a brown tarpaulin. Jahl trotted toward the cart whistling softly in signal. The cart driver glanced at him and gave a slight nod. Then the driver snapped the reins and drove the cart behind the buildings.
Jahl followed, his heart racing. Roice was never late for anything. Behind the brick wall of buildings, another man waited in the shadows, someone Jahl didn't recognize. The stranger was supposed to take Jahl's horse to the Tollhouse, leaving it to wait at the ready. Like Roice, he said nothing to Jahl or to Ricken as they approached. He merely waited for Jahl to stop his gelding, dismount, and take his bow and quiver from the side of the horse. Then the stranger mounted the horse himself and rode back out onto the street.
Still atop the cart, Roice was utterly silent. He didn't say a word as Jahl Rob, burdened by his weapons, climbed into the back of his shabby vehicle and pulled the dingy cover over himself.
At a few minutes before noon, two soldiers from Talistan entered Del's cell with a pair of iron manacles. They were alone, because Dinsmore was already down on the
dais. The soldiers were rough with their prisoner, cuffing his wrists behind his back and pushing him toward the door. Del didn't resist. In the last half hour of his confinement, he had come to an almost peaceful acceptance of his fate. He walked out of his cage in a fog, letting the soldiers guide him through the dingy corridors of the tower and down a flight of twisting stairs. As he walked, he tallied the steps, counting over a hundred by the time he reached the bottom. His mind seemed to seize on little things, grabbing at them for support. Yet for all the fear screaming somewhere in the recesses of his mind, his body obeyed him without the slightest hesitation, and when he was taken out into the sunlight, Del smiled.
He heard a wave of murmurs break as if from a distance. The gathering outside the prison had swelled in number, and now they were pointing at him and talking loudly, their faces white. The dais Del had seen from his window appeared larger, and the cutaway of the oak tree was as wide around as a barrel and as high as a man's knee. In the center of the wooden block rested a gigantic axe, its blade buried in the oaken flesh, and beside the block stood the owner of the axe, a muscular man in black trousers and formfitting shirt, whose enormous chest swelled beneath the fabric of his tight clothing. The axeman wore no hood, but instead left his bald head exposed for all to see, and when he noticed Del there was none of the expected glee in his eyes, only a resolute sense of duty.
But the executioner wasn't alone on the dais. With him was Dinsmore, sweating in the sun. The viscount beckoned Del closer with a finger, taunting him. Now was the moment Dinsmore had been anticipating and Del had no intention of making the experience pleasant for him. He would go to his death without a cry or a whimper.
The soldiers guided Del up a small flight of wooden steps, pulling him onto the dais. Del looked over the crowd. He could see soldiers moving among the Aramoorians, their green and gold uniforms recognizable. There were familiar faces in the gathering, people Del had known for many years, but in his daze he couldn't place their names. Men on horses had stopped to gape and there was a cart nearby, just to the right of the dais. Del knew the driver of the cart, and for a moment stared at him. His heart was racing and he thought he would faint; the smell of the giant axeman was in his nostrils with the stench of death. Del looked away from the cart at once.
Roicel
Then he heard Dinsmore talking.
". . . for his crimes against the rightful government of Aramoor province. For the treasonous speeches he has given, for the slander of our good rulers Elrad Leth and Tassis Gayle, and for his constant refusal to act for the good of Aramoor, Del Lotts will be beheaded."
Del's eyes scanned the crowd. Where was Jahl? Was he here? His darting vision picked up more familiar faces. He saw Ricken standing by a horse near the cart, his face obscured by a hood that covered everything except his remarkably hooked nose. For the first time that morning, Del felt a surge of hope.
Dinsmore stepped up, asking if he had anything to say. Earlier in his cell, Del had thought up a stirring final statement, but now he couldn't recall a word of it. The viscount grinned.
"Very well," he said. "Now you die."
The axeman took his blade out of the block. Ricken slid his arm beneath his saddle blanket. The soldiers pushed Del toward the block, forcing his neck downward. Roice's face began to twitch. And something in his cart began to move beneath the tarpaulin.
" . . . and for his constant refusal to act for the good of Aramoor, Del Lotts will be beheaded."
Jahl heard Dinsmore's speech from beneath the heavy canvas. He fixed an arrow to his bow and kept another in his teeth. Peeking out from beneath the fabric, he watched the viscount ask Del for a final statement. Del shook his head, and the executioner retrieved his axe.
The world was soundless and in perfect focus. Everything just fell away, time slowing like treacle. Taylour and Parry were in position at the sides of the dais. Roice and his men were armed in the crowd. Ricken already had his bow out.
Jahl pulled the tarpaulin off his back and knelt in the cart, pulling back his arrow and drawing a bead on Dinsmore. Ricken had his own bolt ready to fly, and the ring of swords being drawn stirred the air. Someone shouted in the crowd. The axeman lifted his blade.
Then Dinsmore noticed Jahl. The viscount gave a scream, pointing at the cart and its assassin. The soldiers on the dais lost their grip on Del. The moment had come.
"I am your instrument, Lord," growled Jahl through gritted teeth. "Command me in all things!"
Jahl let his arrow fly. It pierced Dinsmore's throat. A bloom of crimson splashed from his neck as the arrow passed through him coming out the other side. Dinsmore screamed, falling to his knees and clutching his neck to stem the tide. The axeman followed him down as Ricken's bow twanged, burying its arrow in the big man's chest. He fell with a bellow, dropping his axe and collapsing next to Dinsmore. The soldiers on the dais panicked, looking around in horror and hurriedly drawing their blades. But Taylour and Parry were already on them, their own swords out. Del scrambled backward from the block. Everywhere throughout the crowd men drew hidden weapons and turned against the Talistanian soldiers.
The commotion was perfect. Jahl took the second arrow from his teeth and nocked it to his bowstring. A green and gold horseman thundered toward him shouting as he brandished his sword and swooped toward the cart. Jahl closed an eye and drew back the string. The horseman cried out in rage. Jahl said a prayer and prepared to fire.
"Though I dwell in a house of demons I drink from the cup of heaven."
He let the arrow go. The bolt bit into the horseman's chest, knocking him from his galloping charger. Jahl jumped from the cart and slung his bow around his shoulders. His horse was there, saddle empty and waiting for him and the man who had taken it was on top of a nearby soldier, slicing his throat with a dagger. Jahl pulled himself onto his mount and surveyed the bedlam rising up around him. Taylour had gotten Del off the dais and was pushing him onto his horse. Still manacled, Del teetered in the saddle as he tried to right himself. Roice and his men had their weapons out and were swarming through the crowd like angry wasps, falling on the men of Talistan. Hastily Jahl rode his horse up to the dais. The two soldiers were dead. The axeman lay suffocating and gasping for air. Remarkably, Dinsmore was alive, still clutching his throat. He lay on his back at the edge of the dais, his fat face twisting when he noticed Jahl. He tried to speak, but only a gargling issued forth.
"For Aramoor," said Jahl, holding up his sword. He brought his horse to the very end of the dais where Dinsmore lay. Jahl lowered his blade and put its tip against Dinsmore's chest. "Now, you die," he said, and slowly pushed against the sword. Dinsmore shuddered, cursing and contorting as the sword pierced him. His eyes flashed and blood spewed from his lips.
"Damn you!" he gurgled. Then his eyes dimmed, his breath slackened, and he died.
Jahl Rob stared at the corpse. Around him, men were calling his name, urging him to flee. The crowd had scattered and only soldiers and loyal Saints were clustered around the dais, battling desperately before the Talistanian reinforcements could arrive. Taylour had Del on the back of his horse. Roice and Ricken were shouting. Jahl Rob drew the sword from Dinsmore's body. The viscount's blood slicked the blade. Jahl said a silent prayer, begging forgiveness for the deed.
With the men of Talistan decimated and a whole new group of Saints to join his army, Jahl Rob rode away from the dais, then broke into a mad gallop for the Iron Mountains.
The Talistanians had not followed.
It was another quiet night in the mountains and the lookouts on the surrounding cliffs reported no pursuit. After hours of patient filing, Del's chain had been severed, but he still wore the metal bracelets around his wrists, and would until they could work the locks free. But Del was happy. He had been reunited with his brother and they were both safe now. The caverns rang with laughter and cheer, and fires had been lit to roast the birds Fin had caught while hunting. The Saints had scored an exceptional victory, publicly dispatching one of their wo
rst enemies. Tonight, none of them brooded.
Except for their leader.
Jahl Rob sat on the edge of a cliff, far from the caverns he and his Saints called home. The moon was high and reflected off the icy mountaintops, making them twinkle like stars. It was a cold night, and his breath drifted off in front of him like the fog shrouding the peaks. Somewhere in the distance he heard the merry voices of his friends, laughing as they told of Dinsmore's death. The viscount had died with the most ridiculous expression on his face. Some of the men thought it hilarious, but not Jahl. He would remember that fat face forever, cursing him even as he slipped into hell. Jahl didn't regret having murdered Dinsmore. The viscount was a devil and a dog of Elrad Leth. He deserved his gruesome death. But killing was never easy for the priest. Life was supposed to be precious, and it seemed fitting to Jahl that he should mourn its loss.
He picked up a handful of stones and started tossing them over the edge one by one. They disappeared into the darkness below him, then echoed when they finally hit bottom. Jahl smiled. It was like throwing stones into a well, only better. He liked the mournful echoes.
Everything here was better. It was safer and more serene, and he was close to God, so close it seemed he only needed to reach up his hand to touch the Master's face. Jahl emptied his palm of stones and leaned back on his elbow comfortably, glad to be alone.
But soon a shadow approached over his shoulder. Turning, he saw Del standing alone. He smiled warmly at Jahl.
"Am I bothering you? I can leave if I am."
"No," replied Jahl. He sat up and waved his friend closer. "Come ahead."
Del walked to the edge where Jahl was resting and looked out over the vista. He let out a low whistle.
"It's beautiful up here," he said. "So calm and peaceful. I think I could get used to it." He glanced down at Jahl. "I want to thank you for what you did for me. It was very brave. I owe you."
"You owe me nothing. You've already given us too much to repay. And now you're an outlaw like the rest of us, so don't be so quick to thank me."
