Soldier Saved Read online

  3

  The inside of the officers’ hall had not changed in the last year. Food remained available at all times, piled on tables for easy consumption, and there was a tapped keg of ale in one of the corners. Mugs were stacked next to it. It was one perk of serving as a ranking officer, and one that Endric had not taken full advantage of prior to his departure. Pendin, on the other hand, had often enjoyed the officers’ ale.

  When Endric entered, he had expected to see the room empty. A solitary figure sat near the hearth, his head bowed as he scanned the pages of a book, a steaming mug sitting on the table next to him.

  Endric tensed as he entered.

  “You don’t have to stand in the doorway,” Urik said.

  Endric suppressed an annoyed sigh and entered the room, closing the door behind him with more force than was necessary.

  Urik glanced up from his book. His eyes had taken on a weathered expression and his face continued to share that neutral, average look to it that had made him so dangerous and so easy to overlook. “You weren’t pleased to see me when you returned.”

  Endric resisted the urge to let his hand slip to the hilt of his sword. Hopefully, Urik had spent the last few months locked in a cell, his skills languishing, though Endric no longer knew if that were the case. How long had he been freed? That was the question he hadn’t asked Senda—or Pendin, for that matter.

  “I would have been pleased to see you in your cell,” Endric said. He made his way to the back table and grabbed a chunk of bread as well as a stack of smoked sausage before leaning against the wall.

  Urik sniffed. “Yes, I imagine you would have been quite pleased to see me confined in the cell.”

  “You may have convinced my father that you are no longer a threat, but you will not convince me.”

  Urik tipped his head to the side. “I’ve convinced the only person I must convince.”

  Endric gritted his teeth. There was nothing he could do to override his father. Dendril commanded the Denraen, and if he said that Urik was to be trusted, then there was nothing Endric could do that would change that. That didn’t mean he had to like it. That also didn’t mean he wouldn’t make it difficult for Urik. The man had betrayed the Denraen, which had set up Andril’s death.

  “Your father will not return for some time,” Urik said.

  “Now you know my father’s schedule?” Endric asked.

  Urik looked down at his book once more and shrugged. “He listens to my counsel. That is all.”

  Endric took a bite of his bread to keep from saying anything. At least it was only counsel, not anything more. It would be much worse were Dendril to have welcomed Urik back into the Denraen.

  But, wasn’t that exactly what he’d done? Hadn’t he welcomed him back simply by allowing him access to the officers’ hall?

  Endric ate in silence, watching Urik as he did. He kept his focus on the book, unmindful of the fact that Endric glared at him, shooting daggers from his eyes. Were Endric to unsheathe, he could end Urik in little more than a simple sword thrust.

  That would accomplish nothing other than bringing out Dendril’s ire. Would it even satisfy Endric’s desire for vengeance?

  In between bites, Endric decided to ask Urik a question. “What do you know of Tresten’s death?”

  Urik glanced up, his expression unreadable. That had always been a trait of the man, and he rarely revealed what he was thinking. “A tragic accident. He was a respected Mage, one of the Council of Elders.”

  “You think it only an accident?”

  A hint of a smile spread across Urik’s mouth. “I’ve known the Magi many years,” Urik said. “Age gets to the best of them eventually.”

  The comment mirrored Endric’s own thoughts, but there seemed a strange intensity to the way that Urik said that.

  “It is convenient that he fell.”

  Urik arched a brow. “Convenient? I would say his death would be considered most inconvenient.”

  “Not for the Denraen. I imagine the Denraen consider his death inconvenient. But for you.”

  If Endric had hoped for some reaction on Urik’s face, he was disappointed. The man made no sign that Endric could read into, no evidence of anything that would betray him. It would be an interesting challenge trying to obtain information from him. Had Endric changed enough that he could do so?

  “I suppose it could be viewed in such a way,” Urik said.

  Endric shrugged. “And now that I’ve returned, it seems my presence is quite inconvenient.”

  “How so?”

  “If my father allowed you to leave your cell because of your knowledge of charging teralin, he will no longer need you now that I’m here.”

  “Ah,” Urik said. “Your ability to charge the teralin. That is quite surprising. There aren’t many who have that particular ability.”

  “How is it that you managed to learn it?” Endric asked.

  “I’ve learned a great many things in my time.”

  “Such as how to betray everyone you care about?”

  Urik’s face remained unchanged, but he gripped his hands together, keeping them resting on top of his book. His knuckles whitened slightly. “I’ve done everything that I have for those I care about,” he said.

  “Your children? Is that why you did all of this? If that why you betrayed the Denraen and the guild? Do you think they would understand the sacrifices you’ve made, and the people you’ve hurt, for simple revenge?”

  He shook his head. “There was nothing simple about revenge. I saw what needed to happen. I saw the depths the Deshmahne would go, the extent they would push, in order to fulfill what they considered to be their destiny. Do not lecture me about misunderstanding them when you only became aware of them after your brother passed.”

  “Was sacrificed.” When Urik said nothing, Endric went on. “I wouldn’t have known about the Deshmahne until you sacrificed Andril. That’s what you mean.”

  “All of us must pay a price,” Urik said, looking back at his book.

  “A price for what? For your vengeance?”

  Urik glanced up briefly. “For peace. Is that not what you serve? Does that not fit within the ideals of the Denraen? I may not have been the soldier you thought I was, but I never abandoned the ideals of the Denraen, much as I have not abandoned the ideals of the guild. The Denraen use force to establish peace. The guild seeks knowledge. You think I cannot be both?”

  What would Novan think about such a response? The historian was touchy about all things relating to the guild, and Endric doubted that he would have much sympathy for Urik, especially with how he had used the knowledge of the guild in ways that Endric still didn’t understand, other than knowing it went counter to what Novan considered appropriate.

  “Both? It seems to me that your betrayal has made you neither.”

  Urik took a deep breath and let out a sigh. “If that’s the price I have to pay, so be it.”

  Endric shook his head, suppressing a frustrated laugh as he took another bite, this time shoveling in one of the smoked sausages. The meat was savory and not gamey, not at all like most that he’d eaten over the last few months. “Such a martyr,” Endric said.

  Urik looked up but said nothing.

  They remained in silence for long moments before the door to the officers’ hall finally opened. Dendril stepped in and noted Endric standing against the wall with Urik remaining seated, and grunted. “Out,” he said.

  Urik glanced up with a smile, meeting Endric’s eyes.

  “No. You. Out. I would talk to my son in privacy.”

  “I could remain and offer my guidance,” Urik said.

  Dendril grunted. “I don’t need your guidance to speak to my son or to one of my officers. Do not think that your position places you above them.”

  The smile faded from Urik’s face. At least Endric understood where the man stood. Urik believed that he still had Dendril’s ear, and maybe he did. But he also wasn’t nearly as ingrained as Endric had feared. The
re was that much to be thankful for.

  Urik gathered his belongings and made a show of departing, casting a long glance at Endric before he left. When the door closed, Dendril motioned to the chairs stationed by the hearth and waited for Endric to take one. When he did, Dendril threw himself into the other, sitting down with a loud sigh.

  “This does not have to be so difficult,” Dendril said.

  “Difficult? You made it difficult by allowing him access to the Denraen.”

  “Access? He has nothing but the freedom to move around this terrace. There is no other freedom that he has been granted.”

  Somehow that did not reassure Endric. Urik would know how to access the network of tunnels beneath the city. He’d already shown that he had discovered Listain’s network, and if he knew how to access the teralin mines, he could get many other places within the city.

  “Why?” Endric asked.

  Dendril glanced at the door. “I admit it wasn’t my first choice. Or my second. When options become limited, a soldier must make the least dangerous one.” He turned his attention back to Endric. “Using Urik allowed me to ensure others remain safe. When you retake your command, you will understand.”

  Would he understand? Would he ever know what it was like to ally himself with the man who had betrayed everything the Denraen stood for in his quest to either get revenge, or to destroy the Deshmahne?

  How could he understand that?

  “Has he provided you any actionable information?” Endric asked.

  Dendril grunted. “He’s provided what I expected that he would. Little more than that.”

  “You didn’t expect him to.”

  “I let him believe that I did. It made him relax, which opened him up to mistakes.”

  Endric allowed himself to smile. He thought his father had been swayed by the need to use Urik’s knowledge, and perhaps he had to a certain extent, but not nearly as much as Endric had feared. His father was far too capable for that. Endric should have known, even before letting his anger get the best of him.

  It seemed another lesson, and one that Endric did not need, not at this stage. He should be past needing these small lessons from his father.

  “What happened with Tresten?”

  “You heard.”

  “Of course, I heard. Did you think that I wouldn’t?” He debated telling his father about Tresten’s summons but decided to wait.

  Dendril sighed. “I knew that you would, eventually. I hadn’t expected that to come out quite so soon…” He frowned, studying Endric. “Senda told you, didn’t she?”

  “She did. Was she not supposed to?”

  Dendril grunted. “I did not give her explicit instructions not to. I hadn’t thought that she would find you quite so soon.”

  That seemed an odd comment. Why would his father offer direct commands to Senda anyway? “You knew about our relationship before. You are the one who encouraged it.”

  His father held his gaze for a moment too long.

  “What is it that you’re not telling me? What is it that she wasn’t telling me?” Endric asked. Hadn’t Pendin told him to seek out Senda?

  “It matters little.”

  Endric wasn’t certain that was entirely true. From the look on his father’s face, it seemed that perhaps it mattered more than he was letting on, though Endric also doubted that he would convince his father to share.

  “You haven’t answered. What happened with Tresten?”

  “He fell.”

  Endric grunted. “I continue to hear that. What I haven’t heard is a reasonable answer as to how he fell.”

  “And we will not. The Magi keep quite tight-lipped about what happens within their palace walls. Were Listain alive, we might have heard something, but without him…” Dendril shrugged. “Senda attempts to regain those connections, but she will never make an effective spymaster, not nearly as effective as Listain.”

  “Because she’s a woman?” Endric asked.

  “Because she was outed far too soon.” Dendril took a swig of ale and wiped his arm across his mouth. He sighed, shaking his head. “Listain was outed, eventually, but he had time to develop his network before that took place. Senda… she has not had the necessary time.”

  “Just because she’s known doesn’t mean that she can’t still develop those connections. Others could report to her.”

  “You sound like her.”

  Why would Senda have to argue on her own behalf? Worse, why would his father not have listened? “You don’t think that she can be effective?”

  “When my own informants are more effective than hers, I know exactly how effective she can be.”

  Endric took a deep breath. “I hope you will give her time.” This wasn’t the conversation he expected to have with his father, and it wasn’t the one that he thought he would need to have, but he had observed how sharp Senda’s mind was, and perhaps Dendril had not had such an opportunity.

  “As there are no other alternatives, what choice do I have?”

  “Not allowing Urik into the officers’ hall.”

  Dendril snorted. “If that’s going to offend you, you could always refrain from coming here.”

  They fell into a tense silence. “Tresten wouldn’t simply fall,” Endric said.

  He couldn’t let go of it. He didn’t know the Mage well, but knew him well enough to know that he simply wouldn’t have slipped. There had to be another answer, though what would it be? Maybe the answer simply was that Tresten had slipped, but he owed it to the Mage to ensure that was all it was.

  “Tresten wouldn’t simply fall,” Dendril agreed.

  It seemed as much an admission as any that Endric was going to get from his father.

  Both men sat drinking, remaining silent as they did.

  After a while, Dendril set his mug down. “How was Melinda?”

  Endric sniffed. “She’s the one you ask about?”

  “I imagine that if you spent any time in Farsea, you would have been around Melinda. She can be difficult in the best of times.”

  “Why not warn me of what I would find there?”

  “To them, I was no longer Antrilii. I’m not certain that I can even make that claim with what you have done, but perhaps more than I could have a year ago.”

  Endric thought he understood. To the Antrilii, betraying their people to outsiders was not allowed. Had Dendril shared what he knew of the Antrilii, he would have broken another oath, one that might forever taint him.

  When Dentoun had found Endric, Dendril had not betrayed the Antrilii to get Endric to help. The Antrilii had revealed themselves to Endric, which was allowed. And Endric had gone north, searching for more answers about them on his own, guided at first by Brohmin, and then—after they had been attacked by the groeliin—he had managed to make it to Farsea by himself.

  “The Yahinv have been reunited.”

  Dendril frowned. “They were not united before?”

  “There was disagreement amongst them as to what to do with the groeliin.”

  “There should be no disagreement. They consider it an oath to the gods that they have made to continue their hunting of them.”

  Endric smiled. “I am quite familiar with their oath, Father.”

  Dendril studied him a moment. “I suppose that you are, now. How did you survive?”

  Endric closed his eyes, letting out a soft breath. The story was a long one, and one that his father deserved to hear. He shared as much as he could, trying not to relive the horrors of stalking through the northern mountains naked and afraid, only a club for support at first. When he’d finally reunited with the Antrilii, when he finally found a weapon, he thought that he would be saved, but that had only been another beginning.

  Dendril listened, nodding every so often, twisting a dark band of metal that ringed his finger, the marker of the Conclave. Endric knew two others who were members of the Conclave, though not what such a position meant—or entailed.

  “You discovered more than the An
trilii have learned in hundreds of years.”

  “Even with what I discovered, I don’t think they will use it,” Endric said.

  Dendril grunted. “How can they? Doing so places too many of them in danger. There is a balance, one the Yahinv have understood. The Antrilii must maintain their numbers in order to face the ongoing threat of the groeliin. Risk sacrificing too many and the Antrilii will collapse.”

  “Nahrsin doesn’t see it that way.”

  Dendril smiled slightly. “Nahrsin has always been more like his father. He is a good man. You will need to keep working with him.”

  Endric frowned. “You would have me return to the Antrilii lands?”

  “That’s not what I suggested. I’m suggesting that you will one day replace me.” When Endric opened his mouth to object, Dendril held his hands out, placating him. “I’m not saying that it will happen anytime soon. I intend to continue leading the Denraen as long as I am capable, and as long as they are willing to have me, but at some point, there is no man who will be better equipped to lead them than you.”

  Endric sat in silence. It was a life of service. It was a life his brother had wanted, not one that Endric had ever thought he would claim for himself. After everything he’d seen, he no longer thought he could refuse it. He understood that he could be both Denraen and Antrilii. His time in the north had demonstrated that. But he still didn’t know how he could be general. It required a different set of decisions, and perhaps a different type of knowledge than what he possessed. Perhaps it required a different commitment than Endric had.

  Watching his father, he wondered if he understood the difficulty that Endric had.

  Likely he did.

  “First, you’ll have to defeat me,” Dendril said.

  Endric grinned. “I defeated Urik.”

  Neither of them needed to be reminded that Urik had very nearly defeated Dendril. Had he done so, he could have claimed command of the Denraen. That was a tradition as old as the Denraen. It had been the maneuver that Endric had not expected, and in all of his time sparring with his father, he would never have expected that Urik would have the ability to challenge his father, but his father would have fallen were Endric not to have interceded.