Sentinelspire - Mark Sehestedt [75]
He stopped himself. He'd been about to say, What if I go back to the fortress and tell Talieth everything-that you are on her trail, aware of her entire conspiracy? But he caught himself just in time. Saying that would be as much as admitting he was involved, confirming the Old Man's story, and no matter how sincere the man seemed, Lewan could not ignore the fact that he was sitting naked and alone in the middle of nowhere with a complete stranger, one who controlled some of the best assassins in the known world.
"Despite what you may think of me, boy, I hold no ill will toward you, and it grieves me to see you so ill used. Taken from your master, held captive, used as a pawn in Talieth's game. I am no monster. You have never done me any harm, and as a guest in my home, it is my duty to help you. However, I must confess that my motives and my reasoning for meeting you here are not entirely… altruistic."
Lewan wasn't sure what that word meant, but he took the general meaning behind it.
"If Talieth asks you what we spoke about," said the Old Man, "tell her. Hide nothing. As I said, deceit is not one of your strengths. Do not be ashamed by that. Revel in it. Sauk will certainly ask you. He's watching us now, I'm sure, though I don't know if he's close enough to hear." He shrugged. "It does not concern me. As soon as I'm gone, I'm sure he'll be along. Tell him everything. However, to answer your question at last-why I have come to speak to you. To put it plainly: in a short time, I will need your help."
Lewan chuckled, though it was from sheer exasperation, not humor. He'd been captured, watched his master die, and involved in a conspiracy to depose a supposed mad master of assassins, and now the very man he'd been asked to help defeat was standing here and asking for his help-while Lewan himself was naked and shivering. Lewan felt trapped in some sick bard's tale, and all he really wanted was to take Ulaan and go far away from all this.
"How could I possibly help you?" he said.
"Nothing too drastic," said the Old Man. "I'm not expecting you to grab weapons and defend me against the assassins of Sentinelspire. Your word, Lewan, is all I ask. In a short time, I will need your word of support. My plans will still succeed without you, Lewan. But things will go better for a great many people-yourself included-if you speak on my behalf. But don't worry yourself too much. I am not asking for your false witness. When the time comes, you will want to support me. You will see things my way. All I ask is that you take the courage to do what your heart knows is right."
Lewan heard the man walk away, and when he looked up a few moments later, he saw no sign of him. The Old Man of the Mountain had faded into the gathering gloom of evening. Something occurred to Lewan in that moment. The Old Man had called him Lewan. Repeatedly. Lewan had never given the Old Man his name. He was sure of it. Still… Talieth had told him that her father had ways of seeing things beyond spies, and he certainly seemed to know a great deal already. If he knew what had happened to his master, knew of Talierh's plans against him, knew even of Ulaan, then the Old Man knowing Lewan's name hardly seemed notable. Still… Lewan could not shake the feeling that there had been something oddly familiar about the Old Man.
Chapter Twenty-Four
When Lewan reached the door to his room, he was breathing heavily and his legs felt like they had turned to granite. After the Old Man had left him on the mountainside, Sauk had come running up, his eyes as large and hard as river stones, and demanded to know what had been said. Lewan told him everything, even that the Old Man told him to tell everyone and that there was nothing Talieth's conspiracy could do about any of it. When the tale was told, Sauk simply stood there, staring at Lewan and chewing on his bottom lip. Lewan couldn't tell if the half-orc was furious, or terrified out of his mind. A little of both, he decided.
"Impossible," Sauk had said, seemingly to himself, then broke into a long