by A L Issett
EPILOGUE
Tanner got out of his bed when the door to his room opened, it was Farald who probably came to yell at him about whatever. Tanner put his hand up to silence the man until after he had a good stretch. Tanner stretched and yawned loudly and then motioned for Farald to say whatever he had come to say.
“The King is here to see you,” Farald said.
Tanner loudly groaned. Tanner had left the wedding at Duke Wayne’s as soon as Duke Wayne had died and the King and Queen were no longer in danger. Out of respect he had taken Lena with him and dropped her off at the inn they were staying in and departed. They had nothing they had to say to each other, now the man was in his home. Tanner looked around and grabbed the pair of pants he wore the night before and put them on. Farald looked at him shocked that he would see the king dressed like he was but the old man said nothing. He knew of Tanner’s history with the king and knew what Tanner thought about the man. Tanner walked out of his room wearing just his pants and found Golden sitting down at his table.
“What the pit are you doing in my home,” Tanner said irritated. “I don’t give two shits about your fancy title.”
“Tanner it has been too long,” Golden said. “Are you ready to end our feud?”
“We don’t have a damn feud. I don’t like you and I have made that clear. If you die today you won’t see me shedding any tears.”
“You are lying like a thief to a magistrate. If that was the case you never would have showed up to the wedding. You knew what the entire thing was about.”
“I showed up because Carolina and Tanner are my family,” Tanner said. “And family doesn’t fuck each over or leave them to their enemies. Of course I wouldn’t expect you to know anything about that.”
“You still saved me. After what happened with Duke Pithington I have not had any problems out of Tavor. And after what happened with the Waynes I have not had any problem with the rest of my nobles. Even Queen Darlene came clean about Carolina’s kidnapping, the part her advisor played in it as well as the part she believed the Wayne’s played in it. I was angry but I could not fault her. These were the people that killed her father and she had to take a gamble.”
“So what, for a reward you decide to punish me with your presence? I have seen more of you than I care to.”
“Tanner, it has been a long time. I thought it would be foolish to fight Edward, he had every base covered and we would have died. You remember how the people loved him. Even if we managed to kill him, then what? We would be hunted down by the Black Hand until the end of our days. I loved her too Tanner, she was my sister.”
“Don’t you dare bring her up. You stayed with Edward like a loyal hound. When she stopped talking to you, you should have known something was up.”
“Mary was stubborn Tanner. She wouldn’t tell me anything because I didn’t leave with you. How could I? It was out of protecting my sister or protecting my brother. I would have expected you to stay with Mary as well if our situations were reversed.”
“You didn’t protect shit though. You let Todd Greenley have his way with her whenever he wanted. You didn’t give a shit about her, you only cared about pleasing that tosser Edward and smiling in Caroline’s face.”
“What could you possibly do to me worse than I have done to myself? My relationship with Edward was not what you thought it was. We barely spoke and I didn’t make any small talk him. I thoroughly throttled your man Nance and anyone else I thought had a hand in Mary’s death. The Black Hand eventually stopped coming to the palace. None of that brought Mary back. Edward built that monstrosity that used to sit in the square to placate me and to save face. That was not me but what could I do? You could have killed the man yourself but didn’t for the same reason I didn’t. The people did love him and he made the kingdom a better place.”
“I didn’t sit back and watch my so called friend go off to die and my sister tortured to death. Don’t you dare claim we are the same. I recognize snakes when I see them. If I never see you again King Golden I can die a happy man. You should have been with me fighting in Tavor. Instead you stayed safe. You never lost me, I lost you. If I needed help right now, the kind of help someone had to risk their life for, you would not help.”
“You know part of your healing is eventually forgiving me. I have kicked myself many times for my part in Mary’s death. Right now I am someone you can direct your anger to. Do you honestly believe I wouldn’t prefer to have you and Mary here by my side? I was a blind idiot and I have kicked myself over it many times. I cannot change the past, I can only move forward and it has served me well.”
“Then why are you here? If you are doing so great then why are you in my home? Go run off with your people. I only came back to Ketol to teach Carolina, not to be besieged by you.”
“I am here because I love you Tanner. It pains me to have a field as wide as Baronet Greenley’s wheat field between us. That thing with girl Tara was my way of letting you I know I accept her. I wasn’t trying to get into your business, I wanted other nobles to know I approve of the match. If we did not have this between us you probably would have been with her even now. Instead you ran her off because of some irrational love for my sister. You weren’t even together for two years, I think each year her legend grows. That is no way to get your happiness.”
“And you have the way do you? I don’t plan on letting folks kill my family to get there. I don’t care what they are offering as a reward.”
“Tanner I didn’t strike Quet out of respect to you. All of my being wanted to cleanse that country. The barbarians and none of their neighboring kingdoms scared me. After what happened to my sister I feared the worst. Even after I got my baby back I wanted to send a message no matter how desperate the Quetian Queen was. I didn’t because of you, I still love you Tanner.”
“And why wouldn’t you? I haven’t did shit to anyone. Anyone who knows me knows I am simple country trash from the backwoods of the kingdom. I am just Tanner from Kol and will always be Tanner from Kol. I never crossed a man that didn’t deserve it and I am always there for those I call a friend. You can't say that. I don’t trust you to do right by me and I never will. Before you bring up the various nobles who hate me, all you did was stop them from getting themselves killed. If you want to attack Quet then do so. I owe them no allegiance and I don’t want shit from you. I would rather have a tickle fight with a rabid badger before I let you go around saying you did me any favors.”
“Tanner what can I do? If you were me right now, right at this moment. What could I do?”
“I don’t know if there is anything you can do. I am not just being mean when I say I don’t trust you. I do not see how we can have any friendship if I don’t trust you. I don’t even trust your wife. I only see you having a guilty conscious is the reason you want back in my good graces.”
“Tanner you are still helping take care of my mother. I miss you for you. I don’t have many friends, it is lonely being king. Those who I do have a friendship with I know it is because of my position. You see Jennifer Soves didn’t even show up when she knew what was happening. She wanted to stay out of it and would have been content with whoever the winner was. I only have suspicions about who stood with Wayne, they were not dumb enough to stand with him after Perry died.”
“So the great King wants a protector, find someone else.”
“You know Jessica only broke things off with you because of her father? She has already talked to Carolina about what a horrible mistake she made and has plans to get you back. Especially since she knows you showed up with Lena Cohenny and that Queen Darlene is another possible match.”
“My love life doesn’t concern you. Now are you done with whatever this is? We are two people who hung around each other more than twenty years ago. That’s it.”
“Tanner you remember that time I crossed a battlefield? You had just gotten back from slavery in Tavor. I crossed that field with arrows and magic being thrown at me for you. I grabbed you and Stephen a
nd took arrows for my trouble. All because it was my brother laying there on the field.”
“You want an award for that? I can talk about all the times I bailed your ass out with your good friend Todd Greenley. Or how I got you off the frontlines to serve as Caroline’s body guard. Did you know that if Caroline refused I wanted to be let out of my contract with King Tazor so I can go fight on the frontlines with you? I was even ready to fight an entire kingdom to get back your little girl.”
“You are taking everything and twisting it Tanner. If our friendship is truly over then I can respect your wishes. Some mistakes are impossible to come back from. I know why you are angry and I am no one to tell you that you cannot be. My son is going to be king when I pass. He is a good boy with a big kind heart. I want you to get to know him better. Having a man like you around would keep him from getting a big head.”
“I already have a relationship with your boy. Mary would want me to and Tanner deserves at least one person to teach him good morals.”
“I love you Tanner,” Golden said as he left. “And Mary would not want you having the life you do now. She would want to see you happy.”
Tanner thought about how defeated the king looked and sighed. Perhaps Mary’s legend did grow in his mind and it was unfair to anyone who had tried to get close to him. Golden could have been right and Tanner needed to work on himself. That did not mean he needed to be chums with Golden, the man was a snake. Tanner thought the only reason he hated the king more than the people who snatched Mary or those who killed her was because he did nothing. Golden had been a friend that stood by. Perhaps he didn’t know Mary was being tortured, he did know Tanner went to fight and didn’t go with him. Perhaps time is what Tanner needed to heal. Time was something he had on his side as he hefted his Hammer of Champions from its place on his floor. Tanner figured he had all the time in the world and might as well do something constructive with it.
