by Jesse Teller
“Your sweet man?” he said. “I have never been sweet, and I am not yours.” He laughed a humorless, dry abomination of mirth, and brought his fist down hard on the table. “More drink!” he shouted.
“You have had enough. Let’s go. We have a long walk through rough streets and you are beyond yourself.”
The waitress walked past the table, and he snatched her up in his arms and pulled her into his lap. Rachel stood, her hands dropping to her swords. “Let that whore go right now, Whelter.”
He grinned at Rachel and laughed as the woman squirmed in his lap.
“Maybe I should kiss her,” he said.
“If you do, I will carve off both of your lips. Get the hell off my man right now, bitch, or I will slice you to bits.”
“You’re fine,” Whelter whispered to the barmaid. He was sweating and looked about to be sick. “I’m not her man. Her man is perfect. He is a Flurryfist, a Son of the Seven. He will lead his people with her and make her very happy.”
Rachel fought back the tears. Whelter’s eyes rolled back in his head as he draped an arm across the barmaid’s shoulders.
“Their children will be gods and goddesses of the Ragoth people, and they will all be so perfect,” Whelter said.
“Goodbye, Whelter,” she said. “You are not perfect. You’re an ass. And I am done with you.” She grabbed the barmaid by the back of the hair and slammed her to the floor. With that, Rachel walked away.
She made it out of the building before she froze in the spot. Her papa was pulling up in a wagon with a full load of ales and wines. He looked down at her with confusion. “Rachel, what are you doing here?”
Whelter stumbled out of the bar door and grabbed her. He spun her around and looked her in the eye. Crying, he dropped to his knees. “Please don’t marry him. I’m sorry. I can’t live without you. I love you.”
She looked up at her papa and winced.
“Tell me you love me like you did that day,” Whelter said.
“Get your hands off of my little girl, or I will chop them off and feed them to you!” Gerber shouted.
Whelter turned to look at him and shook his head. “I love her, Beastscowl. I want her to be my wife.”
“Papa, you have to understand,” Rachel said.
“You sneak off every night and think I don’t know it. I know everything that happens in my home, girl. Your brothers told me to let you loose before they left. They told me you were a wild beast, much more so than any of us. They told me you should not be broken, and they told me to let you decide your life. And this is what you choose? You want a mutt! You want a worthless cur!” Gerber dropped from the wagon and stomped to face Whelter. Rachel stepped in the way, and Gerber shoved her aside with the slightest motion.
“You are trash!” he shouted at Whelter. Gerber smacked Whelter across the face and Whelter’s head dropped on his shoulders.
Rachel rushed to her papa’s side, grabbed his arm. One swift slice of his hand, and she was tossed back.
“Get away from him. I love him. I want Whelter. I don’t want that Flurryfist.”
“Look at this pile of dung!” her papa yelled. He kicked Whelter and spat on him. “On his knees where he belongs. Get over here right now, girl.”
Rachel stared at him and shook her head.
“Get over here and spit on him. He is where he belongs and you need to—”
“Beastscowl, how long has it been since you have been here?” Rachel heard a voice say. She looked up, seeing Brock smiling near the wagon. Gerber sputtered. “The thing about this pub is they water their drinks down terribly. I know a better place. Why don’t we go there, Beastscowl, you and I, and we can drink together?”
“Clay, as you can see, I have to take care of a vermin problem. I will drink with you another night. Rachel, get over here.”
“Beastscowl, I am thirsty now, and I know your greatest desire,” Clay said. “You want to have a drink with me. You want to let loose of Flak’s friend, and you want to walk away from this display of cruelty.” Brock shook a small bag of coins. “I’m paying.”
“Flak’s friend is a dog. He needs to be driven out of this town, and now I will have it done. When Erick gets here, we will beat this beast and throw him from the city.”
“See, Whelter is family to me, Gerber. Flak sent me to watch over them. To make sure they were left alone and that, well, that this didn’t happen. How about that drink?”
Gerber pointed a finger at Brock. “Leave me be, boy. I am Yenna’s bastay. I command you walk away.”
“But there’s one problem with that,” Brock said. “Normally that would be fine, but you can’t give me a command. Not one I would follow anyway. What kind of Clay would I be if I abandoned my post?” Brock walked closer, and he stepped slowly as he talked around and in front of her papa.
“Brock, your father is a friend of mine. A dear friend of mine, and if you walk away now, I will not tell him you got in my way tonight. But if you do not walk away now, I will tell him where to go to peel his son off this street.” Gerber spat.
“Danaman Clay,” Brock said. “By the Seven, that man is amazing. Served Jessop all of his life. When he was younger, he actually killed a tiger with a rock to keep Jessop safe. See, if you were to walk up to him right this very moment and tell him what I am doing here, he would pull his weapons, his short swords he has been using all his life. He would be so furious. He would pull those blades, and I would pull mine, and together we would beat you into the ground,” Brock said. “Because I am Flak’s Clay. And I have no problem killing you if I have to in order to protect the man I was sent here, by my Redfist, to protect.”
Brock positioned himself directly in front of Gerber. He stared at him and shook his head. “You have more honor than this, Gerber Beastscowl. If you leave now, the story is your progenitor’s passion rose up within you, and you lost yourself for but a moment. But the tale will also say in a moment of pure discipline, you caught your mistake and walked away. Much to the pride of Grethel.”
Gerber looked at Whelter and hocked up snot. Brock pulled his swords. “Don’t do it,” Brock said. “If you do, you will have to kill me. And say you killed a Clay doing his damn job!”
Gerber walked to Rachel and grabbed her by the arm. “You’re coming with me.” He shoved her for the wagon, and she climbed aboard. She turned to see Whelter being helped to his feet by Brock. Whelter held his head in his hands, weeping.
“What was the one law I gave you?” Gerber said. “I told you you could do anything you wanted to do, that I didn’t care how you lived your life after this one thing. What was it?”
“You told me to show respect to the Seven.” She wanted to be crying. She just left Whelter, and knew she would not see him again while she was unmarried.
“I told you that you would show respect to the Seven, or I would take it out of you by force,” he spat.
“What you did back there to Whelter was unforgivable.”
“How much honor are you showing the Flurryfist clan when you roll around with the worst this city has to offer? How much respect are you showing Erick when you are seen with that soulless dog?”
She looked at her papa, the man who had long been her most favorite person in the world, and realized that somewhere in the last two years, when she had been with Whelter, fully knowing her papa would never let her be happy with him, she had begun to hate Gerber Beastscowl. She had begun to hate her Papa.
She woke the next day and lay in bed. She stared out the window at Gerber’s streets, and decided she needed to flee them. He was worth it. Worth walking away from all her people. Worth losing every fine thing she ever had. Whelter was all that mattered. She opened the door to go tell him, and found Flak sitting in a chair outside her door.
He looked up at her and smiled. “Your father let me in, said I could wait for you to wake up.”
She snarled at him. “What do you want?”
“I came here to tell you a story,” he said. “It won�
��t take long. I will leave you to your druthers after, but I want you to listen before I go. This is a story my father told me when I was young. A story told to me as a cautionary tale.”
“Fine, Flak, but can we hurry?”
“Her name was Decimaia. She was a beauty beyond all others of her age, a beauty even to rival you. Though as I say it, it is hard to believe. She married a Stonefist but gave him no children. See, she believed everyone when they told her how beautiful she was. And though she had a Son of the Seven, it was not enough for her ego. So, she sought more.
“When her husband visited the Black Hand clan, she went with him. And she seduced the Black Hand patron. She made him love her. Made him crazy with passion for her, and when she went back home with her husband, Black Hand’s jealousy knew no bounds.
“He took his army and marched on the Stonefist tribe. They fought for months. Every other Son of the Seven went to try to talk them into peace, but her wiles were foul, and she stirred up their hate again when the worst of the war was over.
“Finally, though we had exiled ourselves to this city, the Redfist called up their army and marched on the mountain. My family hammered out peace, and my ancestor severed her head from her shoulders. Every one of the Seven is told the story of Decimaia. We are all told about the folly of following another man’s love into bed.”
“Whelter owns my heart,” Rachel said, ”and that will never change.”
Flak nodded. He lowered his head and sighed. “I wish he had come to me. If he had told me of you two, then I would have spoken to Yenna. I would have made peace between your father and him. I would have done whatever I could to bring you two together, but he didn’t. Whelter tells me everything. Everything. His entire life is laid bare to me, but this he kept for himself.
“If I had known, I would have done it another way. I would have made Gerber see. But I was not let in on the secret until it was too late. Now, Erick has been waiting for two years for his bride. He has been telling all who will listen that he is going to marry the most beautiful girl in the city.” Flak shook his head. “He has his pride to think of, and his solemn vow.
“Whelter is my brother. He loves you, and will suffer for a lifetime without you. But he knows the story of Decimaia. He knows the horror of a war for love. He values his relationship with Erick, and will not go to war with him for you.”
Rachel stared at Flak for a long time, and he shook his head.
“I don’t know what to do,” he said. “I always know what to do. I know the best thing for every situation. But you are going to lose your love. One of my best friends in the world will lose his love, and Erick will marry a woman that doesn’t love him.”
Flak shook his head.
“I’m going to ask you not to see Whelter again. I’m going to ask you not to bring these two great men to war. I’m going to ask you to bear the weight of pain for the sake of a nation.”
Rachel held the tears back poorly. She nodded and wiped her eyes.
“Thank you,” he said, and stood to walk away.
“Do you miss her?” Rachel said. “If I am going to do this for you, you are going to answer this for me. Flak, do you miss Madeline? Or have you cut yourself from her memory?”
Flak closed his eyes and his head dropped on his shoulders. “I have missed that girl for twelve years. She was stolen from me. And I will never get over it.” Flak walked away and Rachel went back into her room to cry.
*******
“Get your ass down here Erick and kill me or die!” Whelter yelled. Rachel spun on the dance floor of her wedding to see Whelter drunk and stumbling. He swayed on his feet and threw his head back to finish his bottle. He threw it at Erick as he roared in wrath and hate.
“Whelter, please don’t,” Rachel begged.
Erick stood and caught the bottle and set it down gently on the table before him.
“I won’t fight you, Whelter, my love for you is too great,” Erick said.
Whelter tossed his axe to the floor and held his arms out wide. “Then come finish me off.” He sobbed.
Gerber stood and pointed his spear at Whelter and cursed. “Get this beast off of the floor and bind my house to the Flurryfist. I demand a noble man, a man of Seven blood for my daughter and I have him. Swipe this foul beast away, Yenna, or I will.”
Betten stepped into the middle of the floor and pulled his bow. “No one will kill Whelter tonight,” Betten said. “My love of you is great Gerber, my fear of you greater, but I will not stand by and watch this farce any longer. Come and kill us both or walk away.”
Gerber stood and elbowed Brenden. They both grabbed their spears and stepped out to the floor. Rachel could do nothing but watch as they walked toward her. She stared at her little brother, so powerful, so unstoppable, and knew that after this, after he beat the man she loved, she would never feel the same about him ever again. She was losing too much today. Too many things she loved were being taken.
She looked at Brenden, and he winked at her.
Rachel’s heart stopped.
Brenden stepped before his father and lowered his spear.
“Rachel,” Brenden said. “Name your man.”
Gerber’s eyes flashed fire. “Boy, if you don’t put that weapon down, I’m going to break you in half,” Gerber said to his son.
“Rachel, sister, name your man,” Brenden said. “Name the man you love and I will see it done. No matter what that means.”
Whelter turned to Rachel, and held his arms out wide to her. “I have no noble blood to give you. I have nothing fine, and nothing of consequence. I am not wise, I am not cultured. I do not have vast knowledge or much—if any—honor. I am filthy and rude and coarse, and I will likely always be.”
Rachel felt her tears coming. She stared at him, watching him speak and knowing it would not do any good. She felt the ragged tear in her heart when she realized after he said all these things to her, she would still have to break his heart. But now, in this one last moment they were stealing from her future, she could memorize him. Remember everything about him as he laid it all before the city.
“Whelter, shut your mouth right now!” Gerber said. “You have defiled my family’s name enough.”
“Gerber,” Flak said. He stood up as Gerber turned to glare at him. “My friend and mighty ally, Brenden, has asked a question. It has not been answered. Curb your considerable wrath and let the Daughter of Beasts answer him. Whelter, my good friend, you were interrupted. Please finish.”
“I have loved you since that first night,” Whelter said. “The night we spent together was the day I started living. One touch from you made me understand what it was to be a man, and when you look at me, I can see my future. I cannot give you anything, nothing of worth at all. All I can offer you is my bruised and beaten heart. And my utter devotion.”
“Erick Flurryfist has agreed to marry my daughter, Redfist!” her papa yelled. “Will you take his bride from him?”
“Brock, what is it that you have there?” Betten said. Rachel turned to see Helena standing behind Flak. Erick looked up at her and emotion played across his face.
“He has my reason for living,” Erick said. “It has been Helena and only her my entire life. She did not love me until I went back home.” Helena broke out into sobs. And Erick looked at her. “She did not see what she had for me. But we found it. And now I am poised to lose all of it. Gerber, mighty Gerber Beastscowl, I have agreed to marry your daughter, and though my honor rests in the completion of my word, I would walk away from that honor, walk away from my life and my destiny to lead here with the Redfist clan, if in walking away I could spend a single night in her arms.”
Rachel turned to Whelter and stalked on him. He held his arms out to her, and she stepped into them. She kissed him and felt him close around her. He grabbed her up and hugged her so hard as to crush her.
“My sister will marry her love, Father,” Brenden said. “And Helena will marry her Erick. It is my decree as the new master of t
he house of Beastscowl. I ask you, as Yenna’s bastay, to bless my decision.”
“I’m so sorry, Whelter, I never should have hidden you from them all.” She sobbed and clung to him. “You’re my reason for life.”
Rachel felt a rough hand grab her and pull her away. Gerber stared into Whelter’s eyes with flames and death in his own.
“You are not worthy of licking the mud off my daughter’s boots,” he said.
Brenden stepped up to his father and took his spear. He handed it to Brock. Gerber stared with disbelief as Brenden took Whelter’s axe from his back and handed it to Helgor.
“We are Beastscowls,” Brenden said. “It is time for you two to get to know one another.” Brenden took Rachel’s hand and pulled her away.
“What are you doing? Papa will kill him,” she hissed.
“You can scratch and bite but no weapons,” Brenden said. Gerber looked at his son and his daughter and back at Whelter. “Father, give me your dagger,” Brenden said. The room hushed to silence.
“I will not,” Gerber said.
“Gerber Beastscowl, my friend and bastay,” Yenna said. “You may have misjudged this man. There is only one way to find out.”
Her papa unfastened his dagger belt and tossed it away.
Whelter pulled off his shirt to expose his scars and perfect chest. He tossed his own dagger aside, and turned to face Gerber. “Been saying a lot about me. Been talking about my worth and my breeding. You called me a dog and called me trash.”
Gerber pulled his shirt off and kicked off his boots.
She looked at the entire city of progetten around her. All seven ghettos had gathered for the wedding. Gerber cracked his knuckles and roared. It was the most terrifying thing Rachel had ever heard. An explosion of wrath the likes of which she had never heard from her papa before. The room pulled back in terror.
Whelter laughed. “For the most part, I agree with you. I am a mutt. I am a dog. I am trash. But you have also said I am unworthy of your daughter. Well, I leave that up to her to decide, but I will tell you this one fact. This one thing we can agree on. She is worth fighting for. She is worth dying for.” He strutted out his arms and slapped his own face. “You might be the mighty Gerber Beastscowl, but you will lose this fight, because you are only fighting for your pride, your misplaced desire to protect your daughter from the man you think unworthy of her.” Whelter stomped his foot and roared. “I’m fighting for my very life.”
