in between in these troubled times.
“I have been to Yrany. I was a goldsmith with my son. Perhaps… perhaps you might recall him better than I. Skeln?” The die was cast. Urake had no reason to conceal that portion of his past if he expected this new fraction to assist in his search.
“No, no, it’s not possible. He died in the fire! We found the skeletons.” Redzyn was taken aback by Urake’s comment and protested while peering at Urake with his bushy eyebrows contracted in a frown.
“There were another two of Reigns’ men buried out back in the trees. They came after Skeln so I eliminated them.” Redzyn simply stared for a few seconds before he snapped his mouth shut.
“I take it that you aren’t a brewer or a goldsmith. Who are you then and why are you accompanying the Princess?”
“No, not a brewer or a goldsmith, although I had talent at both trades. My past is a little more colorful. I'm the Asgare. I'm protecting the Princess, or more accurately, the Queen. Illiad is dead.” Redzyn handled the revelation far better than Urake had anticipated.
“The Asgare. Living under my nose for nigh onto fifteen years. Incredible… What happened to Skeln?”
“That is part of the reason that I'm here. He somehow knew that the men were after him and escaped. I went after him as soon as I had disposed of Reigns’ men, but I lost the trail in Warton. Been trying to find him ever since.”
“That’s a shame. If things had turned out differently, I had been planning on offering him a job in my fields.” Urake finally freed the strap and lifted the saddle off the tired horse. Aleest appeared and led the horse to what stood for the stables, leaving Urake with the saddle and his pack.
“He mentioned thinking about asking your foreman. By the way, how did you managed to get here?” Urake swung the saddle over his shoulder and hefted the pack with his free hand. Redzyn began moving towards the mouth of a cave so Urake followed.
“I used to be an officer under Balinor during the Clan Wars so he sent me a message asking to meet me. I suspected that something was up and was making plans to meet him when a man arrived at my door with a scroll authorizing him to take possession of my lands in the name of the King. A landmaster, if you will. He had one for Rothac also. The sniveling bastard had the nerve to try and disguise the obvious and told us that the crown was concerned for our lands, considering that we were heirless and all. No thanks to Reigns. He also explained that only a trueborn heir could be considered legitimate so on our deaths the land would go to the crown. Until then, he was just there to assist us in our old age.”
“Sounds like something Reigns would do.” It turned out that the cave was an elaborate network that extended into the hillside for some distance.
“Precisely what I thought. I politely thanked the son of a rat for his kind offer of assistance. On the other hand, Rothac screamed bloody murder and called it for what it was. He suffered an accident the next day and broke his neck on the way to the garderobe. A couple days later I informed the new landmaster that with him to keep an eye on my lands, I could finally go visit an old friend in Cercha. Naturally I feared bandits and brought my household servants and guards with me. They in turn secreted everything of value that I owned in their baggage. The next thing I know, Balinor puts me in charge of this place.” Redzyn finished his tale with a laugh and stepped into a side cave with a table and a bed. “I hope this is satisfactory. I am afraid our accommodations are rather spartan.”
“I’ve been in far worse. If I could get an extra bed in here for my assistant, it would be perfect.”
“Of course. It would save us a bunk in general quarters. We don’t have many private rooms, but I think the Asgare deserves one.”
“I appreciate it. It is nice to have some privacy. Emeck gets uncomfortable around too many people.”
“Training a new assassin?” Redzyn asked with a raised eyebrow and a smile that betrayed a joke.
“He has… other talents that assist me in my work.”
“Prodigy tracker or something?” Redzyn shrugged and crossed his arms.
“You could say that.”
“By