Frostfell_ The Wizards - Mark Sehestedt [33]
Her voice was breaking. She was about to get up and go for her waterskin when Gyaidun handed his to her. She nodded her thanks and took a long drink.
"You're a renegade then," said Gyaidun. "You disobeyed and went anyway."
She held herself erect, proud, ready to defend herself, but much to her surprise she saw approval in Gyaidun's frank gaze.
"I'm here, aren't I?" she said.
He smiled. "Go on."
"I am not without resources, and I organized my own party. Swords for hire, a few good scouts I knew, and even two thieves I thought might prove useful. We ran into one of the 'official' expeditions in Nathoud. Had I run into Strirris or Jamilan's party, they might have arrested me on the spot, but it was Mursen. He and I have a… history together, you might say."
Amira watched Gyaidun for a reaction. There wasn't one.
"His knights wanted him to arrest the lot of us, but I talked him out of it. I agreed to submit myself to his authority and face formal charges when we returned to Cormyr, but until then it made more sense to join forces. The knights balked and complained, but Mursen agreed. My family has contacts in Nathoud, and we obtained the finest horses in the area and set off into the Wastes."
Her breath caught. She took another long drink and stared into the fire.
"How many?" asked Gyaidun.
"What?"
"Your parties joined together. How many were you?"
"A score and three. We set an unflagging pace. Lesser mounts would have died, but these were the finest Nathoud horses. We caught them. We caught the whoreson bastards who had Jalan. We saw them around midday and chased them until nearly sunset."
She needed a moment to compose herself. She tied the waterskin shut, tossed it back to Gyaidun, then put a bit more kindling on the fire. The flames burned low, down to little more than embers in ashes, and the fire would go out if no one tended it.
Gyaidun threw some of the dried dung on the fire and said, "What happened?"
"We fought. Those white-skinned barbarians fought like devils, but still we were beating them. Until the sun went down."
"The sun?"
"That… thing. The one in the dark robes. He fled before us and hung back. At first we thought him no more than a decrepit old man. But when the sun went down, he… he…"
"What?"
"It was like… like watching a petal unfold. No, it was faster than that. Like throwing oil on a fire. Once darkness was upon us, he became terrible. Knights fell before him like wheat under a scythe. Mursen tried to stop him, and that… that monster blocked the spell and snapped Mursen's neck."
Amira closed her eyes, hoping to push back the tears, but it only brought the image back, stark and clear-seeing the slate-gray sky and under it Mursen's head forced all the way around, hearing the final snap. She opened her eyes and wiped the tears away on her sleeve.
"Mursen was your… I don't know your word. Lover?"
Amira tried to smile, but she could feel it twisting into something else. "Not in a long time, but… he…"
"I am sorry for your loss. He died well."
"Died well?" The tears were flowing freely now, but she didn't care. "That monster snapped his neck like a twig. Died well or died poorly. Died brave or died a coward. Does it matter?"
Gyaidun's eyes were hard, but there was a gentleness in his voice that Amira had never heard before. "He died fighting. Fighting to save your son. Fighting beside comrades. Better that than a drooling old man whose heart stops in his sleep."
Amira wanted to rail and curse him, pummel him with her fists and maybe sear that damned calm look off his face, but all she said was, "Fool."
Gyaidun sat unfazed. "I did not know Mursen. I do not know your western ways. If I offended, I apologize. I am sorry your… friend