by Megan Derr
Cos looked ready to drop, but that was normal. Roark usually forgot about him during the afternoon, therefore he always worked harder than he should—another thing Roark disliked about him. He didn't know his own limits, or paid no mind to them.
Roark finished out the row of plants he was working on, then helped Cos finish his. They headed back to the house together, though Roark had to slow his steps to keep pace with Cos. They didn't speak, but they didn't usually. Really, what was there to say?
And maybe that was one thing Cos had going for him—he knew how to keep his mouth shut. Roark was sick and tired of people who had to chatter to fill a silence.
Ejoc and his cousins were coming in from the west field as Roark and Cos approached the house. They'd been working in the west field because Roark didn't like spending any more time than was necessary with the farm hands.
Roark slowed his steps further, hoping to avoid talking to them at all. Normally, he'd just call Ejoc out and be done with it, but that would distress Amara, so Roark was just doing his best to avoid Ejoc and his cousins.
Unfortunately, Ejoc didn't seem to be on board with Roark's plans to keep his distance that night. He was heading straight for them, Roark realized dismally. Cos shied away a bit, which only pleased Roark because it was Ejoc—normally Roark hated it when Cos played skittish and shy.
"Roark," Ejoc said as soon as he got close enough. He shoved his hands into his pants pockets and nodded cordially at Cos, who nodded back awkwardly.
"Yeah?" Roark asked, not bothering to disguise his irritation.
Ejoc grimaced, likely not pleased by Roark's tone. "I wanted to discuss our schedule with you," Ejoc he said stiffly. "We've been over here more often than at Griften's farm, and he's starting to complain about it."
"So spend more time over there," Roark said dismissively, shrugging. He made to move past Ejoc, but Ejoc stopped him with a hand on his arm.
Roark stopped, turning deliberately to face Ejoc. "Was there something else?" he asked in a low, dangerous tone, faintly amused when Cos took a few quick, unsubtle steps away.
Ejoc's mouth twisted in frustration, but he dropped his hand. Still, he appeared to have no sense of self-preservation, because he went on to say, "You could be civil. For Amara's sake, if nothing else."
"This is civil," Roark said, glaring. He didn't move, still standing in Ejoc's personal space. They were on par for height, and Roark wondered with relish which of them would win the looming fist fight.
"You're lucky," Roark continued in a menacing tone, "that I'm being this nice."
Ejoc snorted, obviously unimpressed. He narrowed his eyes and apparently he was spoiling for a fight as much as Roark was, as he leaned closer, his eyes glinting dangerously. "What the hell did I ever do to you?"
"You did nothing," Roark replied viciously, balling his hands into fists. He didn't want to be the first to throw a punch, even if he was sure the 'he started it' excuse wouldn't fly with Amara. "You did fuck nothing about the wizard and Kiran paid the price for it."
Ejoc's face flushed under his dark tan, and that was the right thing to say, because he snapped, throwing a punch at Roark. It almost felt good, the impact of Ejoc's knuckles against his face, and Roark grinned fiercely, returning the favor with a hard right to Ejoc's jaw. Ejoc stumbled back and spat off to the side, where Cos was standing, looking terrified.
That distracted Roark for a second, but then Ejoc hit him again and Roark lost track of everything but the fight and how fantastic it felt to finally get some of his aggression out.
The fight didn't last as long as Roark would've liked. Amara was yelling at them both as Ejoc's relatives pulled them apart. Roark put up token resistance, but it was more for show than his desire to get back into the fight.
Ejoc looked satisfyingly battered. His lip was split, there was a bruise forming around his left eye, and he was prodding at his ribs gingerly. Roark wasn't much better off; there were half a dozen places that were aching and probably bruised, but that was just as satisfying as Ejoc's battered state.
"What is wrong with you two?" Amara demanded, her voice approaching shrill. That dimmed some of Roark's satisfaction—Amara looked on the verge of tears. She opened her mouth to yell some more, but a faint cry from the house made her mouth snap shut. She made a frustrated noise and glared at them both. Ejoc wilted under the glare, but Roark just stubbornly met her eyes, shrugging off Negan's hold.
"Work it out. You have to get along," she ordered, turning sharply and storming back towards the house.
Shotan let Ejoc go, asking him something in a low tone. Ejoc shook his head, prodding gingerly at his puffy eye. Negan gave Roark a dirty look before moving to join Ejoc and Shotan.
"We didn't do nothing," Ejoc said quietly, but fiercely, meeting Roark's eyes with a glare.
"Oh? What did you do, cower in your house, hoping you weren't next?" Roark asked, sneering. "Look, just do your job here. I'll be civil, but I won't be nice."
"We wrote letters asking for help," Ejoc said, ignoring Roark's proclamation. "We never got any replies. We sent people out to get help, but they never came back, and help never came. Whenever we tried to organize an assault on the fortress, the strongest among us would disappear or be afflicted by mysterious diseases. We didn't do nothing. We tried our damnedest—Kiran was taken because he was heading the next attempt to kill the wizard."
"Of course he was," Roark muttered, because that was something Kiran would do, no matter that he had a wife and baby who needed him. Ejoc was scowling at him expectantly and Roark glared at him in return. "Fine. I'll be actually civil."
Ejoc rolled his eyes, and his cousins didn't seem appeased, not even when Roark reluctantly offered his hand to Ejoc. Ejoc shook it readily enough, though, smiling a little though that made him wince.
"Nice fight," Roark said, his good mood returning slightly, even as he wondered how the hell Amara's letter to him had escaped the wizard's notice when all the others had been intercepted.
"You weren't half bad yourself," Ejoc said, smirking. "For a city boy."
Roark scoffed, but didn't dignify that with a real reply.
"Go eat before Amara decides our dinner privileges are revoked," Roark ordered, turning to collect Cos... only to discover he'd disappeared. Rolling his eyes, Roark headed for the stables to drag Cos to the house for dinner.
*~*~*
Roark let himself into the house through the kitchen door, allowing it to crash shut behind him despite how much he knew Amara hated it when he did that.
Oddly, Amara was nowhere in sight. The kitchen only held Gaima, slowly kneading bread at the counter. She glanced over her shoulder at him curiously, but Roark dismissed her, going for the water skins he'd thoughtlessly left tucked into the corner of the table that morning.
"You might—" Gaima began to say, but she didn't get any further than that before Amara walked into the room, dropping two letters and a small, twine-wrapped parcel in a bare spot on the kitchen table.
"What are you doing here?" Amara asked shortly, apparently displeased that he'd broken habit and returned to the house before dinner.
"Water," Roark replied just as shortly, scowling as Lehan strolled into the room like he owned the house. "What is he doing here?"
"Delivering the post," Amara said, rolling her eyes dismissively. "He was just about leave."
Lehan smiled smarmily over Amara's shoulder, but he was apparently smart enough to keep his mouth shut so Roark couldn't do more than glower at him.
"How's Cos holding up?" Amara fretted, smoothing down her apron. She turned around, freezing for a moment when she realized how close behind her Lehan was, then skirted around him to the bassinet where Harro was sleeping.
"He's fine," Roark said shortly. He'd already promised Amara a dozen times that he'd send Cos back to the house if he overheated or if he exhausted himself. So far Cos had managed to do both, but had resisted both times Roark had tried to make him leave.
"So, Roark," L
ehan spoke up, drawing everyone's attention. "When are you planning to return to the capital? That is where you live, right?"
"Lived," Roark said, glowering at the brat. "I live here now. Weren't you leaving?"
That Lehan didn't look thrilled at that news made Roark feel a little better. Especially when he glanced at Amara for confirmation and she just stared at him stonily.
"Surely you miss it," Lehan said, and Roark rolled his eyes at his lack of subtlety.
"Weren't you leaving?" Roark said threateningly, in no mood for Lehan. Probably he wouldn't ever be—he'd had his lifetime fill of Lehan.
"Roark," Amara said in a scolding tone, but she didn't say anything more, just fussed with Harro's coverings for a moment. "You should get back to the fields. I have work to do, and you're both—" she paused to shoot Lehan a dark look that cheered Roark even more "—in my way."
"Fine," Roark said, but he made no move to leave. He stared at Lehan darkly until Lehan finally turned to Amara.
"I'll be around, if you need anything," Lehan said, smarmy smile back in place like it hadn't ever gone away. Roark rolled his eyes, but Amara waved at Lehan dismissively.
"You know the way out," she said, turning to glare at Roark when he made no move to leave. Lehan hesitated, but finally moved, disappearing into the hallway. Roark waited until he heard the front door open and close before relaxing.
"I'll talk to him," Roark decided after a moment. "He shouldn't be bugging you like that."
"I can deal with it, Roark. Let it be," she said, giving him a scowl that didn't really reach her eyes. Roark glared, but decided not to contest it for now. He'd threaten Lehan the next time he saw the bastard anyway, for Kiran. Amara could probably handle it... but she really shouldn't have to.
"Fine," Roark said, lying through his teeth. Amara narrowed her eyes at him, but she didn't call him on the blatant lie, just shooed him back to work.
*
*
*
Part Four
Roark was spending a rare day in the house instead of in the fields when the reply to his letter came. He was fixing a number of little things Amara had been complaining about—a broken cabinet door, a sticky door jamb, a broken chair, and other household repairs.
He was reattaching the cabinet door when someone knocked on the front door. No one knocked in the village, so Roark dropped the heavy oak cabinet door on his foot in surprise. Amara quickly smothered her smile—not quickly enough, Roark thought, making a face at her—and waved her flour covered fingers in the direction of the front door.
"Can you get that?" she asked, returning to kneading her bread without pausing to see if he'd agree.
"Yeah, yeah," Roark grumbled, propping the door against the cabinet. He paused to tickle Harro's feet on his way out of the kitchen, earning a giggle and a wave of Harro's rattle before the baby returned to his systematic kicking of the end of the bassinet.
The visitor knocked again as Roark approached the door, and he muttered a few insults under his breath for impatient people who couldn't wait a reasonable amount of time before knocking again. Opening the door, he scowled in surprise at the man standing on the other side.
"What are you doing here, Bralin?" he demanded suspiciously.
The tall, copper-haired man standing on the front stoop just grinned at him—but he'd always been unperturbed by Roark's temper.
"Charming as always, Roark. Can I come in, or do you want to know first so you can decide whether or not I deserve to?" Bralin asked cheekily, his thin face sliding easily into a wide grin.
"Come in, then," Roark said ungraciously after a moment. "We can talk in the kitchen."
Bralin nodded agreeably, following Roark into the house. "I left my horse at the farm to the east. They said you'd have no room for it here."
"So you met Ejoc then," Roark grumbled. Ejoc and his family were off working on Griften's farm that day, and they knew there was no more room in the stables.
Amara looked up curiously when they entered the room. She was done with the bread, apparently, and was playing with Harro.
"Amara, this is Bralin," Roark introduced him, rolling his eyes when Bralin gave a short bow. "He's a curse breaker. I used to work with him in the capital. Bralin, Amara is my sister-in-law." Roark said the last part warningly, narrowing his eyes at Bralin to drive the hands-off message home.
"A pleasure to meet you," Bralin said solemnly, folding his hands together. "I'm sorry for your loss."
"Thank you," Amara said quietly, smiling weakly. "You're here to help Cos?"
"Partly," Bralin said, twisting to dig into the bag he had slung over his shoulder. He handed a bundle of papers to Roark. "Your formal discharge papers. Lamin said he understood, but that you were a good soldier and he'd miss that, at least. He wrote you a letter."
Roark nodded, ignoring the weight in his chest. He'd been half-hoping Lamin would refuse to accept his resignation and he'd have to return to the city.
"Do you still have a wizard in residence here?" Bralin asked casually. Too casually, and Roark narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"No," Amara said, her brow furrowing in curiosity. "Why?"
"Thinking of leaving the city?" Roark asked, shaking his head slightly when Bralin turned to look at him.
"It is a pretty village," Bralin said lightly. "Maybe I'll retire here."
"I'd wait a few years," Amara said wearily. "People wouldn't be happy with another wizard, not so soon after the last. Oh, I'm sorry, forgive my manners. Would you like something to eat?"
"No, I stopped down the road, but thank you," Bralin said, shaking his head a bit.
"All right," Amara said, smoothing down her apron. "You'll stay here, of course. I'll go make up a room for you. Cos should be out in the stables, if you'd like to meet him."
"Thank you, ma'am," Bralin said courteously and Roark snorted at that.
"Come on," Roark said, heading for the back door. He waited until they were outside and the door was firmly shut behind them to turn to Bralin and demand, "What's this about a wizard in the village?"
"This place is rife with magic, Roark," Bralin said, frowning at him pensively. "It's not malicious and it's certainly not your last wizard's. These sorts of spells draw on the user, so they would've died when he died."
"So he's not dead?" Roark asked, his blood running cold. He should've searched harder to find the wizard's body before he had counted the man dead.
"Actually, I think he is. Playing with people like he was, it taints all of your magic. It would show up in these spells, and it's not," Bralin said, gesturing at the fields for some reason. "You have another wizard here."
"Fantastic," Roark groused, wondering who the hell would be stupid enough to do cast spells in this village after the havoc the previous wizard had wreaked.
"Your new wizard is only doing you good, Roark," Bralin chided, smiling crookedly. "There are spells on your fields to keep the plants healthy and strong. There's a half-finished protection spell on the house to help deter everything from illness to robbers."
"What the hell?" Roark asked, confused and annoyed. "Does everyone have those? Or just us?"
"Not just you, but not everyone, either," Bralin said, shrugging. "There's no pattern that I can tell. I can show you the houses later, see if you can make anything of it."
"Fine," Roark muttered, tugging open the stable door. "Just what I need—more mystery."
Bralin snickered at him, but he'd always been an unsympathetic ass so Roark really shouldn't have expected anything else.
"Cos?" Roark called into the stable, though that rarely got any answer. That time was no exception and Roark stalked into the stable, working Bralin's news over in his head. It couldn't be any of the villagers—the wizard wouldn't have stood for any of them being able to challenge him magically.
"Don't make me climb up there," Roark said menacingly as he checked the stalls to find them all empty. Probably Cos was asleep—he spent a lot of time sleeping, after we
aring himself out so badly. Ignoring the amused look Bralin was giving him, he picked up the pitch fork and hit the bottom of the hay loft with the handle. Scraps of hay rained down from above, but more importantly, there was a scrambling noise that meant Cos had woken. Roark set down the pitchfork before turning back to Bralin.
"You have no finesse," Bralin said, walking over to where Roark stood, just under the overhang of the hayloft.
Cos was clumsily clambering down the ladder, and he all but fell on his face when he reached the ground. His hair was a mess, completely mussed with bits of hay sticking out of it at strange angles. He turned towards them, and Roark stubbornly did not notice the way Cos's eyes were still soft and melted with sleep.
Cos froze when he caught sight of Bralin, as he normally did whenever he met anyone new.
"Well, there's your wizard," Bralin said, apparently oblivious to how easy it was to spook Cos. Roark swore, moving too slowly as Cos bolted out of the stable. Roark followed, nearly tripping over the doorway, and he cursed again when he realized that Cos had well and truly disappeared. And if he was a wizard, Roark thought bitterly, there was no reason he couldn't do so literally.
Turning back to the stables, he found Bralin leaning against the stable doorway. Roark swallowed down the reprimand on the tip of his tongue—telling Bralin off never did any good—and settled for glaring.
Bralin shrugged unrepentantly, looking past Roark's shoulder and towards the farm house. "That's not the only thing he didn't tell you. If there was a curse keeping him from talking about the wizard's doings, it wasn't stable. It died with the wizard."
*~*~*
A few hours later and Roark was still fuming. It would've been funny under any other circumstances, but he'd been played for a fool. Who knew what else Cos had been keeping hidden—obviously he was a better actor than Roark had given him credit for, no matter what pretty excuses Bralin thought up for him.
"He took off as soon as Roark introduced me," Bralin said, giving Amara a smile that made Roark glare at him. Amara was off-limits, at least for a few years. Maybe forever. "I think he was lying about the curse because he didn't want to deal with whatever happened to him up there."
