The man approached a table where five other men in similar attire were sitting having drinks. "Dugan, there you are. What kept you?" The man Aram had followed, Dugan it seemed, quickly sat down, pulled out a kerchief and with a shaking hand mopped the sweat from his brow. Seeing this, the other men all leaned in. "What has happened?" asked the man who had greeted him.
The man to his immediate left said. "By the gods, man, you look as if you have seen a ghost!"
Dugan nodded quickly. "That I have! I have seen it up close and personal! It was the ghost of King Aramis himself that I saw not five minutes ago!"
The other five men listened in rapt attention as Dugan explained what had happened and what he had seen. Knowing the man had no reason to lie to his fellows, Aram came to believe what he'd thought was going on in that alley was indeed the truth of it. The king's men were nothing more than thugs, hired by the crown to intimidate the people. Whether or not King Langstam was a murderer, he did need to be taught a lesson. Aram was about to leave when he heard Dugan comment, "They took everything I had. I shall have to beg a loan just to feed my family." Aram reached into his cloak and pulled out the purse he had taken from the guardsman, just before he had taken the fool's sword and tossed it onto the table. All six men jumped up looking around in wide wonder! As Aram walked out of the tavern, he heard Dugan’s voice. "Thank you, King Aramis, praise the gods you have returned to us!"
Aram made his way back to his room at the inn. As he climbed back into his bed, he felt truly good about himself. His last thought as he drifted off to sleep was, perhaps using my skills for justice isn’t such a bad thing.
Aram awoke late the next morning and noticed a pile of clothes beside his door. On top of the pile was a note. Aram scooped up the clothes and note and carried them over to the bed. He sat down to read.
Aram,
I took the liberty of bringing you some clothes this morning so you wouldn’t have to walk through town in your acrobatics attire. You were sleeping soundly, so I just left them here. I will be in the common room having breakfast if you awake before I’m done.
Your friend,
Arlaina
Aram looked down at himself and blushed. Thank the gods it was dark last night; he had totally forgotten what he had on! Then he barked a quick laugh, imagining the guardsman explaining to the king that a man in a leotard killed two of his men and bested his captain! Aram quickly dressed and rushed downstairs, intent on catching Arlaina.
The common room was nearly at capacity! The whole town, it seemed, was in an uproar. Aram spotted Arlaina sitting at a small table with Dimsey. He carefully picked his way through the crowd and sat with them. "Good morning, sunshine! I see you found your clothes."
Aram smiled. "Yes, thank you. I had totally forgotten what I had on. Breakfast would have been interesting to say the least if you hadn’t saved me. What’s going on with all of these people? Is this a normal morning in a town?"
Dimsey laughed out loud. "There is nothing normal about today. To be honest, we were hoping you could tell us. It would seem King Aramis has returned from the dead!"
Aram’s jaw nearly hit the table. Arlaina, chuckling, reached over and gently lifted it back up. "It would seem there were two royal guardsmen found dead in an alley. There is also a quickly spreading rumor that King Aramis’ ghost is the reason. The people don’t know if they should rejoice or cower in fear that their town is apparently haunted!"
Aram started to speak, but Arlaina placed a finger over his lips. "Not here. Perhaps you would consider cutting your little hiatus short and return with us to the Order?"
Dimsey scoffed out loud. "After breakfast, I hope! I am starving. You wouldn’t let me eat till sleeping beauty here decided to crawl out of bed." Arlaina and Aram both laughed at his exasperated plea and they ordered breakfast.
The three of them had just entered the compound when they were accosted by Rix. "There you are! I have been turning this place upside down looking for you. I even had to drop a few bribes! Fat lot of good that did me; the scammers didn’t know squat. Anyway, you’re here now and that’s what matters. So what we need to do is …"
Rix looked up and saw Arlaina and Dimsey looking at him with amused smiles. "Oh, I beg your pardons, Masters, but I need Apprentice Aram desperately! I do believe it is a matter of life and death!"
Dimsey placed a hand on Aram’s shoulder and made a dour face. "This seems serious. Perhaps you should help your friend with such important matters. Arlaina and I will meet you in my office say … after dinner?"
Aram bowed deeply to Dimsey and Arlaina. "Thank you Masters, for your graciousness in these troubled times."
The two masters held their troubled expressions until they were well out of sight. They both glanced back every few steps with deep concern on their faces. Rix just shooed them away in agitation. "You’re my only hope! We have to get started right away, come on!" Rix started walking, but Aram just stood there. "What are you waiting for, didn’t you hear me? This is an important life or death situation we have here and we are running out of time!"
Aram just looked at Rix with a small smile on his face. He was seeing similarities between his and Rix’s features he had never noticed before. He had a brother! One he truly loved!
Rix heaved a sigh, grabbed him by the lapels and started shaking him for all he was worth. "Snap out of it, man! Now is not the time for you to go all moony eyed and start drooling on yourself!"
Rix had always been a little high strung and therefore easily excited. Aram could never tell an emergency from a simple flight of fancy with him. So this could mean anything from 'the Lord of Darkness was about to swallow the world whole,' to 'Rix couldn’t find the match to his favorite sock.'
Aram looked him in the eye. "Rix, you have to calm down. Take three deep breaths."
Rix stopped shaking him and inhaled, deeply and rapidly, three times. "There, I’m calm, now let’s go!"
Again, Rix tried to pull Aram along the hallway. Aram pulled his arm free of Rix’s frantic grasp. "Look, just tell me what’s going on."
Rix dropped his arms, limp, along his sides. "He is going to kill me, okay? Dead, no more Rix. You and Tollis will have to keep me alive in your memories." Then his voice rose into a scream. "Because you’re just standing here, instead of helping to save my life!"
Aram grabbed him by the shoulders and looked around to see if anyone had noticed his outburst, then led him to a bench sitting along the wall. Aram forced Rix to sit. "Who is going to kill you and why?"
Rix sat there with wide eyes and a look of terror on his face. "I was walking through the kitchens minding my own business, when I found a plate of chocolate chip cookies someone had just left there!" He looked into Aram’s eyes, trying to determine if his story of how the cookies were acquired had passed. "Anyway, so there I was with this plate of cookies, still warm mind you and ever so delicious. Well, I wasn’t paying any attention to where I was walking and ended up in the Arena.
That’s when I saw him. Fat Willie was sparring, getting ready for our trial and who do you think was helping him? Stolly! He was showing him everything! Every dodge, every counter, all of it! But besides that, Fat Willie can move! I mean seriously move! I have no idea how he can work a sword so fluidly with all that fat in the way, but he does. Then it gets worse! I set the plate, containing now just the one cookie, on the rail of the arena and ran. I looked back when I heard a yell and saw the cook screaming at Fat Willie for stealing the cookies! Fat Willie turned just in time to see me and I ran!"
Aram could tell Rix was seriously worried, but he couldn’t help but laugh. "Let me get this straight. Your ace in the hole turned out to be an arrow in the bow, he got blamed for the cookies you filched and Stolly is trying to hurt Tollis through you? That about sum it up?"
Rix nodded. "That’s about it, except I found those cookies. So now will you come and spar with me? I need help in finding a way to beat him."
Aram clapped him on the back. "You’re in luck
, my friend. You have come to the right guy. Follow me. I doubt Master Arlaina would mind if we used the mat in the gym for awhile."
The two of them arrived at the gym and found it completely empty. Aram looked around, found a yardstick he could use as a sword and met Rix in the center of the mat. "Okay, you already know martial training so there isn’t anything I can teach you there. What we have to overcome is his speed and skill. Since we can’t make you faster, we will need to make him slower and less skilled and I know of only one way to accomplish such a feat."
Rix grinned. "Right, I’ll poison him!"
Aram looked at Rix with a little trepidation. "No, we will not be poisoning anyone. Anger! Anger will be your best weapon. When a fighter lets anger drive him, he fights with basic instinct. One of the first things they teach in weapons class is to control your anger."
Rix looked confused. "Well if he has been trained to control his anger, I don’t see how that will help me."
Aram barked a quick laugh. "Have you ever met yourself? He has been trained to control his anger, not the rage you are so skilled in evoking."
Rix shrugged in acceptance. "So I piss him off; then what?"
Aram smiled. "Once he is truly pissed, he will do one of these three things." They spent a good two hours going over the most likely attacks and counters and they were both confident Rix could prevail, given he could enrage Willie early in the match. Then they went to dinner.
Aram had just gotten his food when an apprentice he had never met walked up to him and said. "I don’t know what you did, but Master Camen asked that you sit at the masters’ table."
The apprentice turned and left. Aram chuckled to himself. Usually when an apprentice was summoned to eat their lunch at the masters' table, it was so they could be given an ear full before being sent to be strapped. Aram walked slowly towards the table with his head held in shame.
When he sat down, Victor, Arlaina and Dimsey all looked at him like he had lost his mind. Victor leaned forward. "You are making it appear as if you are being punished. Is sitting with us truly such torture?"
Aram looked up and grinned. "The only time an apprentice is invited up here is just before a strapping! I wouldn’t want everyone thinking I enjoyed it!"
Victor threw back his head and laughed heartily. He then stood up and addressed the assembled Order. "I would like to make an announcement! Last night, Masters Dimsey and Arlaina, along with myself, were witness to Apprentice Aram’s completion of his final trial. Henceforth, he shall be addressed by all as Master Aram."
There was applause and mutters all around. Several times, Aram distinctly heard the question, "Didn’t he just graduate martial training last week?"
When everything settled back down, Victor was beaming with pride. Aram looked at him. "So I take it either A: you haven’t heard the news from town. Or B: You’re not upset with what I have done."
Victor sputtered. "Upset? Why, in the name of all that is Holy, would I be upset that the ghost of my dearest of friends has returned to protect the innocent from the ravages of a corrupt government? The only thing upsetting me my boy, is that it would be improper of me to come and give you the hug I so desire to give! I shall, however, want details; but not here with so many ears around. Dimsey tells me you will be in his office after dinner. Will you still be able to make the meeting, or has Apprentice Rix well and truly pickled his own feet this time?"
Aram laughed. "No, Rix is fine; I will be there. By the way Arlaina, I borrowed your gym for a couple of hours and no one was there. Am I missing something?"
Arlaina held up a finger while she finished chewing. "It is the duty of my class to prepare the arena before a trial. So they were all there today, getting ready for Rix and William's match tomorrow."
Aram swallowed a mouthful of roast without chewing. "Tomorrow? I thought it wasn’t for three more days! No wonder Rix was in a state."
Victor leaned in. "There were circumstances that I will explain later." They finished their meal, making small talk and enjoying each other’s company.
The four of them gathered together in Dimsey’s living quarters. There were two rather comfy couches set by the fireplace, where they could all sit comfortably and talk. Aram spoke first. "I know you all are dying to hear of my adventure last night, but Victor, before we get started on that road, what has happened to Rix and William's trials?
"Victor cast his eyes to the floor. "I am afraid I have troubling news. It seems events are spiraling out of my control. Rix’s father has been killed in a terrible accident. It seems he was taking a wagon of grain, just in from the field, to the granary. The axle on the wagon broke at a most unfortunate time and he fell into a ravine. Now your mother has nowhere to go. She came to me yesterday, heartbroken and afraid. Even now she is using my quarters. Dimsey here has been kind enough to let me bunk with him a few days. I did, however, get the chance to discuss you with her. She agreed that you should know the truth. It may prove important in the near future. Beyond that, the only family the two of you have besides Rix is the Blackenwoods. Lord Blackenwood already knows my little secret about you. I had to explain it to him on the day of Tollis’ trials."
Aram held out a hand to stop him. "I am Aram Blackenwood. My mother is Queen Mayla Blackenwood. You hid me for her when I was four years old while she went and made an unassuming life for herself as a farmer’s wife. Lord Blackenwood recognized me because of my close resemblance to my father, King Aramis Blackenwood, so you had to tell him. It is all starting to make sense! I knew Dugan couldn’t have heard what I said to that guardsman, but I couldn’t figure out until now why he had called me King Aramis. He saw my face! He recognized my father in my face, just as did Lord Blackenwood."Aram saw the puzzled looks on their faces, so he took that moment to relate his tale of the night before.
They all talked for a couple of hours, then Aram left to go to bed. He walked out of Dimsey’s office and it occurred to him he didn’t have a bed to go to. He was about to go back and ask Victor, but changed his mind. If anyone had a problem with a new master bunking for a night with his little brother, they could shout it to the wind and see if it cared.
Aram knocked lightly on Rix’s door. He knew his brother had an important day tomorrow and if Rix was already asleep he would find somewhere else to sleep. He had a quick vision of knocking on Arlaina’s door and thought suddenly, I hope he is asleep. The door cracked open a bit, then swung wide. Rix exclaimed, "Are you insane, or just stupid?" He looked out into the hall both ways, grabbed Aram, pulled him quickly inside and shut the door.
Aram laughed. "I am your friend, so insane would just about be a prerequisite."
Again Rix just shrugged acceptance of the statement, then went and sat on his bed. "So how did I get the great honor of your esteemed company on this fine eve?"
Aram walked over to his old bed to lie down. "I needed a place to sleep." As expected, he was shortly accosted by a pillow.
"You’re an ass! Your best friend in the whole world is taking his trials tomorrow and you, knowing he would be all alone tonight, just happened to need a place to sleep?"
Aram threw the pillow back with a confused look on his face. "Tollis already took the trials, weren’t you there?"
Rix grinned from ear to ear. "You truly are an ass, but I’m glad you’re here; now put out that damned lamp. I have a big day tomorrow." With that, he rolled over and went to sleep. Aram just chuckled and blew out the lamp.
The next morning, Aram could tell Rix was nervous, even through all his fake bluster and bravado. Before they left their room, Aram grabbed him by the shoulders and looked him in the eye. "You’re going to do fine. Just remember what we worked on yesterday. Now, just relax; you cannot evoke rage when you’re afraid. You need arrogance and swagger on your side."
Aram started to turn away when Rix grabbed him and looked into his eyes. "Thank you for being here. Thank you for helping me and I will thank you in advance for never bringing this up again. Showing gratitude like this is so
against my nature it hurts; it truly hurts."
Aram actually saw a small tear in the corner of Rix’s eye. Whether it was due to heart-felt emotion, or that Rix was truly in pain from showing gratitude, he would probably never know. Then Rix slapped him on the shoulder and turned to walk away.
"One more thing," Rix said. glancing back. "After the match, you, me and my mom need to mingle!" He held the fingers of both hands toward the floor, wiggled them around and nodded.
Aram smiled. "I wouldn’t miss it for the world."
Chapter Six
Family
Aram found a seat near the rail at the arena. He didn’t want Rix to see it, but he too, was nervous. On the other side of the arena he could see Victor sitting beside a beautiful woman. He wondered to himself how much was beauty and how much was bias, because he knew beyond doubt that she truly was his mother. Aram’s attention was drawn away from his mother by a loud burst of laughter coming from Rix in the arena.
Willie had just entered the arena and Rix was laughing. "I see you found someone to "Roll" you out of bed there tubby. I am surprised you made it past the kitchen on your way here."
Aram could see the heat rising in Willie's face. "Keep it up, Rix." He thought to himself.
Rix was just getting into his groove. He found the more he taunted Willie, the more confident he got. Willie’s hand was opening and closing on the hilt of his sword and Rix noticed. "What are you trying to do, milk that sword? Looks like you’ve had plenty of cream already. There is something I have been wondering for a long time, Fat Willie and I am almost positive you’re the one to answer my question." He looked towards Willie with his eyebrows raised like he was waiting for a reply, but Willie didn’t comply, so he just continued.
"What I was wondering was if stupidity is painful? Is that why you eat so much, to lessen the pain of being a great fool?" The masters in the witness booth rang the bell one time and Willie charged. Just as Aram had predicted, he drew his sword on the run, brought it straight up over his head and charged in for a great downward strike. Rix was prepared. Instead of dodging to the side or backpedaling, he stepped into the strike, too close for the sword to be of any use and kneed Willie right in the groin.
The Trials (Assassin's Intent Book 1) Page 6
