by Loki Renard
It was with great reluctance that she admitted to herself that Isodor had indeed improved the place quite considerably. Things were brighter and cleaner. That which had been left to decay and rot in her father’s time had been restored or removed entirely. There were new paintings hanging on the walls, freshly woven banners. It was almost as though she was walking into an entirely new palace.
She still had sufficient gravitas among those who served the royal family that the lower guard, unlike the rural peasants, recognized her and did not dare block her path. They allowed her entrance into the castle. It was not until she reached the inner sanctum that any blocked her way. The higher guard, those who wore fuller armor and looked at her with glaring derision not only stopped her in her path, but held her at bay with the points of their swords until their captain made an appearance.
“What is it?” He did not bother using her title, or even her name. She had been deprived of both in the royal hold.
“I beg audience with King Isodor,” Sabine said, trying not to grit her teeth at the phrase ‘King Isodor.’
“The king has no time for audiences with outcasts,” the captain of the guard growled at her. Sabine did not know his name, but she memorized his face. He would pay the price for this in good time.
“I lay myself at his mercy, and promise that I have a message of importance.”
“Give it to me and I will see if it interests the king.”
“I have reason to believe a treasonous plot is afoot.”
The captain of the guard narrowed his eyes at her and for a long moment she was sure that not only had she not been believed, she would be severely punished for her brazen return to the castle.
“Wait here,” he said. “Do not let her move,” he growled to the soldiers. “She is not to be trusted.”
Sabine waited with sharp blades mere inches from her neck, wondering what might happen if Isodor did not deign to see her. There was real danger, here in his lair. He had let her go once, but to have returned was to invite his anger.
The captain of the guard returned, his craggy features unreadable.
“The king will see you,” he said. “Let her pass.”
Sabine nodded to those who lowered their blades and passed through, every step toward the throne room taking more courage than the last.
The fact that Isodor was going to allow her into his presence did not mean that he was going to show her mercy. It could mean he simply intended to torment her.
Isodor was sitting upon the throne, the worst of the scarring masked as was apparently his new habit. Seeing him sitting in her father’s place made Sabine seethe, but she kept her anger restrained. She had to be careful with Isodor. He was not a stupid man, and she did not wish her plot to be immediately transparent.
She felt his gaze on her, calculating and cruel as she walked down the aisle toward him, the moment a mockery of what would have been their future if only she had submitted at the outset. Fate, it seemed, was unavoidable one way or another.
“Ah, the princess whore,” he said with a harsh laugh. “What brings you here, Sabine?”
“I come to throw myself on your mercy,” she said with a quaver in her voice. “I have made many grievous errors. I see that now.”
“You see that far too late for me to care,” Isodor growled. “You had your chance. You had two chances really, one before you fled, and one when you returned. You chose your defilement. I hope you have not come here to complain.”
“I have not,” Sabine said. “I know I deserve no mercy. But I wished to warn you.”
“Warn me? What makes you think you can tell me anything I don’t already know, slut?”
Sabine bit her tongue to keep from cursing him. Isodor was not fit to sit on the throne of Ere. He was brutal and he was base and he may have known everything there was to know about conquest, but he knew nothing about how to rule.
“Very well,” she said. “I see my help is not wanted here. I apologize, your majesty.”
She turned and made to leave, but Isodor came swiftly down from the throne and grabbed her roughly by the arm. He loomed over her, as frightening as he had ever been with that single malevolent eye.
“What is it you had to say to me?”
“Maxim,” she said, not having to pretend to tremble. “He intends to move against you. He has been forming an army to come here. There are allies in the other world who are willing to help him.”
“And you came to warn me out of the kindness of your whore’s heart?” Isodor shook his head. “You are lying. You’ve come here in an attempt to distract and mislead. You will pay for this, Sabine. I let you go once, but your return tells me my mercy was ill considered.”
He dragged her out of the throne room and through the halls to a semi-private chamber where he usually dressed. It was full of wardrobes and various accessories, including a rack full of thick leather belts. He grabbed one of them and brought it down across the backs of her thighs with a wicked hard stroke.
Sabine shrieked as the belt landed against her legs and she twisted as hard as she could in his grasp. “Mercy, my liege! Mercy, please!”
He gave her a rough shake. “You came here in defiance of my order! You came here to spread misinformation and lies! You came here thinking you could fool me, and for that you will suffer.”
“No!” she cried out in a shriek. “I came here because he is weak and I knew he would fail. I did not want to die with him.”
“Your plots are so transparent,” he laughed. “You lie to me to try to confuse me. Whether you come on my brother’s behest or not, you are foolish. Tell me why you are really here!”
“I want my throne back,” she hissed as his belt lashed her again. “I want to be queen. You think I want to live in a hovel, when I could be living here, in the very center of two kingdoms?”
“A ruined slut does not make for a good queen,” Isodor laughed in her face.
It was Sabine’s turn to smirk. “You fear you could not match your brother’s performance in the bedchamber. I understand.”
Isodor’s outrage and anger exploded in a brutal laugh. “You taunt me! Well, Princess! That is a surprise. You tease the tiger when it is your tender flesh that will bear the brunt of his fury.”
He brought the lash down again, thrashing her rear and thighs with vicious swats that marked her skin with every impact. She did not know how long or how hard he intended to beat her, indeed nothing stopped him until a rumble like an earthquake shook the room in which they were standing and suddenly they were both blinded by a glow that was so powerful it was painful.
A gate, just like the one which had snatched her from the other world had been opened, and Maxim stepped through it, black-plated armor gleaming as he stared daggers at his brother.
“Unhand her.”
Isodor hauled Sabine close and wrapped his hand around her throat. She felt his grip around her neck, his hand large enough to close her windpipe at any moment. Her back hit his armored torso, hard metal digging into her soft flesh.
“Maxim…” she managed a frightened whimper before Isodor clenched just enough to cut her voice off.
“How did you open another gate?” Isodor demanded the answer.
“I have a friend in the other world,” Maxim declared. “Many friends, actually. I know allegiance is something quite foreign to you, but my years on the other side were not entirely in vain, brother. When I discovered Sabine missing, I played my last card. I need tell you no more than that. You have stolen my pet for the last time,” he growled, drawing a weapon from his belt. It was no gleaming sword that threatened Isodor, but a gun that would have shredded the king’s armor as if it were nothing more than silk.
“Stolen your pet?” Isodor sneered. “I have stolen nothing. Your pet ran away and returned to her previous home. She was here begging me to take her in.”
“Liar!” Maxim’s tone held real rage.
Isodor released his grip a little. “Tell him what you were doing here,
Sabine. Tell him how you came to me and told me of his weakness…”
“Maxim,” she said weakly. “I…”
“On your knees, pet,” he ordered, keeping the weapon trained on Isodor.
She fell to her knees, tears welling in her eyes.
“Crawl to the corner,” Maxim ordered harshly. “Now.”
Sabine did as she was told, her thighs and bottom stinging terribly as she put cowering distance between her and the regal brothers. Isodor could have called for the guard, but he seemed to have the sense not to do that. In that moment, all that mattered was the weapon trained on him. A thousand guardsmen could not intervene if Maxim were to pull the trigger. Indeed, calling them would almost ensure that he did. Regicide was a valid means of succession in Ere, and Maxim being Isodor’s brother, blood succeeding blood, in all likelihood the guard would immediately swear fealty to Maxim, just as they had to Isodor on the death of Sabine’s father.
She crouched as comfortably as she could, forgetting her pain in the tension of the moment. Last time the brothers had met, Maxim had been at a serious disadvantage. That was no longer true. He held his brother’s life in his hands, and there was nothing to say that he would be as merciful as Isodor had been. Indeed, she was not sure he could afford to be merciful. If he did not remove Isodor from power now, then Isodor would certainly kill him. The brothers had arrived at an impasse that did not seem to leave the possibility for them to both survive—and Sabine was not sure who would triumph.
“Kill me this time, brother,” Isodor purred. “Do not maim me again.”
“Again?” Sabine found her voice.
Isodor replied without taking his eyes from Maxim for a moment.
“You did not know it was Maxim who did this to me? Oh, yes, your owner has quite a history of violence himself. Of course, he was sent to the other world before his reputation could grow, whereas I stayed here and served your father.”
“Killed her father,” Maxim corrected. “As you killed ours to take the family lands. Your first conquest—and also how you got that scar.”
“There is no evidence of that. Not a shred,” Isodor hissed. “You make accusations and that is enough to poison soft minds accustomed to living within castle walls. You were not here when the king died. Nor was she. You took a vow to return her and instead fled with her. Some say the king died of a broken heart. He was not killed by me, brother. He was killed by you.”
“It matters not,” Maxim said. “What is done is done and here we are, you with my pet and I with your heart in my sights.”
“End this,” Isodor said, resolute and brave in the face of his death. “It is right that you do.”
“I have no intention of killing you,” Maxim said. “You have much to atone for, brother, and I will make sure you atone for it all. No more victims will cry your name in vain. No more villages will be razed, no more enclaves will fall. This is the end of it all.”
Isodor’s eye sparked with malevolent wisdom. “As long as I draw breath, it is not the end. And as long as you draw breath, I must say the same. We have been fighting this battle since before our birth. It is time to bring things to a conclusion.”
“This is the problem,” Maxim said. “You have never cared if you lived or died, and so you have never cared if anyone else lived or died either.”
“Oh I cared, on at least one occasion,” Isodor said with no small amount of bitterness. “And it has been my undoing. You should have been put to the sword. But I let you go, and here you are.”
“Has it occurred to either one of you that you could work together?” Sabine’s voice broke through the tension.
Maxim and Isodor looked at her, their expressions as blank as if she had suggested they settle the matter by standing on their heads.
“It does not have to be a matter of either one of you ruling alone. There are two worlds and two brothers to rule them. Maxim knows the other realm in a way no soul in Ere does. And you, Isodor, you know this one. You are both capable in your own ways in your own worlds. And you are both weaker without the other. There is no way Ere will hold the border with the other world if you do not join forces.”
“You would want him to rule here after how he has treated you? After what he has said to you? He was beating you when I arrived,” Maxim said incredulously.
“He has called me names,” she said. “And he used a belt, but he could have done far worse. Far, far worse.”
Indeed, for all Isodor’s unpleasantness, he had never forced her against her will, and given that he could have done so without question, that was no small thing. Were he truly evil, he would have slaughtered Maxim and taken her as his unwilling bride, or concubine.
Isodor’s eye was fixed on her keenly. She looked at him, wondering if he was about to call her something nasty, or decry the entire notion, but to her surprise he stayed silent. He seemed to be considering the idea.
“She has a certain point,” he rumbled eventually. “If we are not willing to slay one another, dear brother, we must come to some kind of arrangement. Neither you nor I will stay in exile for long. If we do not make peace, we will be forever at war.”
“Peace?” Maxim snorted. “I didn’t know you were aware of the concept.”
“You speak like a petulant child,” Isodor growled at him, his shoulders heaving with fury. “I must forever be a monster to you, is that it? No matter how much mercy I show you, or what lengths I go to in order to help you, you squeal and flee and fight.”
“How can we possibly trust one another?” Maxim threw up his hands. “We have been tormenting one another since the nursery!”
Sabine answered the question that Isodor did not seem able to. “You can trust one another because without one another, you are in great peril. I have seen a fraction of the other world, but it was enough to know that the pair of you…”
“And what of your treachery?” Isodor interrupted. “You fled your master and turned on him.”
Maxim looked at her with an expression that told her he was in agreement with his brother. He was very, very displeased with her and she knew that she would pay for this, every last little bit of it.
“I fled him because I knew something had to be done,” she said. “And because he would not listen to me. He told me to be patient, but there are some things one cannot be patient for. I came to you and told you what I knew you needed to hear. And he found me here, as I knew he would.”
“You forced my hand, in other words,” Maxim said sternly. “You put yourself in great danger to attempt to unite two brothers born in loathing. It was a foolish thing to do, and would almost certainly end in disaster of one form or another.”
“You schemed us into this standoff. Forced us into a situation where we would either have to kill one another or create some kind of pact,” Isodor more or less repeated. “What foolish reason could you have had for such a thing?”
“I know you love each other,” Sabine said, her voice quavering as both large men looked from her and back to one another with expressions rather far from love. “It is not the kind of love healthy men share, but it is love and it will suffice. There is more at stake than any of us. There are many thousands of people who owe us their lives. We cannot squabble and fight until the end of our days. The other world will move against us and we will be destroyed.”
“She believes in love,” Isodor snorted. “Ridiculous. I will consider a pact with you, brother. On one condition. You must prove to me that you are capable of controlling this girl. From the beginning, she has precipitated all manner of chaos, and must not be allowed to do so again.”
Maxim cast a look over at Sabine that made her quiver. “Oh, I believe I can do that, brother,” he said. “It would be my pleasure.”
“Maxim…” Sabine started to protest.
“Enough!” He growled the word at her before turning back to Isodor. “We need speak further, brother. But not in front of present company.”
“I have a cage you could use, if you lik
e,” Isodor suggested. “In the bedroom.”
“Why do you… never mind,” Maxim said with a smirk. “A cage would be perfect, thank you.”
Sabine took a quick step back, her eyes wide, her hands held up in surrender. “A cage? What? Why? But… I…”
“Silence, pet,” Maxim said, striding toward her. “You have said and done quite enough for one day.”
Chapter Twelve
Sabine found herself taken from Isodor’s dressing room further into the royal quarters, where, as he had said, a cage stood waiting. It had been made after the fashion in which one might keep a wild beast captive, but it had clearly been made to contain something human sized.
She tried pleading with Maxim as he more or less dragged her there, his hand firmly clutching the back of her dress.
“You have to understand, I did this for Ere. I did this for the subjects I have owed allegiance to all my life.”
“You did it because you thought you knew better,” Maxim said. “You could have gotten yourself killed, or worse. You could have gotten me killed. You could have started a war. There were endless possibilities, and most of them were horrific. But you did as you pleased. And now I shall do as I please. You have forced me to reconcile with a man I would happily never have seen again. You will pay for that.”
“Oh, I do apologize,” Sabine replied as they came to a halt in front of the cage that was about five feet high, tall enough to sit up in, but not tall enough to stand up in. “I think Isodor is right. You object most to the notion of not hating him. But you know I was right to come here, and to attempt reconciliation. At least he can admit that.”
“Silence,” Maxim growled. “I do not want to hear any more chatter from you. Your words and deeds have caused enough trouble for one day.”
“You cannot…”
He interrupted her, his green eyes flashing with emotion. “Do you know how it was to return and find that you were gone? I thought I had lost you, Sabine. Forever. I thought you had been taken, perhaps killed. I interrogated every peasant from here to the wilds for information about you. I would have torn two worlds apart to find you. I almost did. And here you were, inching your way toward Isodor. The very man you sought to avoid in the first place. A world has been invaded on your behalf, Sabine. The fact that Isodor now straddles two realms and is at risk of losing both can be laid squarely at your feet.”
