to the nearest village. Brotherless conduct. He had heard that phrase more than once, before his parents died. He had never liked it then, and he liked it less now.
Stormbreaker closed his eyes, and now he seemed to be laboring to speak instead of relating an enjoyable yarn about his past. “At first the Lady Provost’s protests came in the form of entreaties and letters. Then she began enforcing obscure agreements Thorn made with Dyn Vagrat upon the formation of their stronghold on the island of Eidolon. When her efforts to corral and control Lady Vagrat failed, the Lady Provost declared Lady Vagrat of infirmed mind, and asserted her right to act in Lady Vagrat’s stead.”
Silence fell between Stormbreaker and Aron for a moment, and Aron found himself looking back at Iko and Raaf. Part of him wanted to run away from Stormbreaker rather than hear the rest of his story, the story Aron himself had as much as demanded—because he had a dread sense of where the tale was headed.
“They were in our village at the time,” Stormbreaker said, and he stopped again when his voice broke.
“You don’t have to—” Aron began, but Stormbreaker plowed forward, now staring intently into Aron’s eyes.
“We hid her, of course. Lady Vagrat and her daughter.” His voice broke again, and he folded his arms across his chest as if to hold himself upright. “Thorn let it be known that Lady Vagrat must have been taken hostage. Since Vagrat had no army, the Lady Provost sent an armed contingent of Altar Dynast Guard to track and retrieve Lady Vagrat.”
Aron’s heart squeezed, and his own throat closed a little tighter.
“My village had no weapons. That wasn’t how we lived, or how we thought.”
Stormbreaker opened his hands and stared at his palms.
“No one made it out of the village,” Stormbreaker whispered a few moments later, his gaze so distant Aron feared he might be losing touch with here, with now, that his essence might sweep back to that terrible past and remain there, grieving for eternity. “Not even Lady Vagrat. Later, Thorn claimed it was a terrible accident, that her madness drove her to hurl herself against the blade of one of her rescuers.”
“How did you survive?” Aron asked, his question barely audible.
Stormbreaker gazed into the sky, into the brightness of the sun, and blinked over and over again. “My sister and I were at play with Rakel Seadaughter, Lady Vagrat’s heir, in the marsh leeway. Falconer, two other Thorn apprentices, and three Altar guardsmen took Rakel from us, but Tia and I escaped their vengeance by swimming away under the marsh surface. Then we walked to Dyn Cobb, and we were eventually discovered and dispatched to Lord Cobb at Can Lanyard.”
So that’s how he came to know Lord Cobb, and well enough to return to visit him later. And of course he would have wanted to see Rakel Seadaughter again, when he had the chance.
Aron could well imagine the surprise of Cobb villagers at finding fair-haired, fair-skinned children of Vagrat trying to hide amongst them.
“Lord Cobb took no position on the tale we told him, but it was clear he feared for our safety. He arranged for some visiting Brailing guardsmen to escort us to Triune to be sheltered.” Stormbreaker held out his arm and ran a finger across one of his dav’ha marks. A sun linked with Eyrie’s two moons. “The Brailing guardsman who personally saw to my safety on that journey gave me this to remind me that time passes, that the sun and moons rise no matter how deeply my heart may ache.”
Aron stared at the mark, his memory of his own father’s dav’ha runes flickering like a dim flame at the center of his essence.
“He helped me, your father.” Stormbreaker withdrew his arm, then met Aron’s shocked gaze. “I tried to help him in return, tried to save not just your life, but his and your family’s as well, but I failed. For that, Aron, I am sorry, and I’ll be sorry forever.”
Aron completely lost the ability to respond for a time. He stood on the byway with Stormbreaker, staring everywhere but at the man, until he was certain he could do so without losing what little control of his emotions he yet possessed. Through his teeth, he asked, “Why did Thorn never pay for their crimes?”
“Some did. Eldin Falconer’s guild master, for example, and a number of the Altar Guard. But in the end, the Lady Provost insisted the action