Chapter 171: - The Loop
Seated behind her desk, illuminated only by a few candles littered across her desk, like the papers and reports she left unread, the women waited in the darkness. For hours now she had sensed something was coming, something was hiding in the shadows that masked its scent, its sound, its feeling for her. But her years as a commander of the army had given her enough experience with assassins. And if this was one, he would die before his dagger was drawn.
But she stopped believing that when her eyes panned the darkness of the tent several times, and only on the third did she see the man sitting in her leather armchair. And he saw her.
For several long moments, the two said nothing. Her face was like a wisp of bright smoke that fluttered with the wicks of the candles, while his was a mask of darkness, corrupted only by the bright red glow of his eyes. But the woman was done with the silence.
"I just dismissed my generals no more than a minute ago. I could call them back with the snap of my fingers."
"You would be dead before your voice reached the guards outside."
He had a deep and manly tone to his words, almost powerful, almost intoxicating to listen to. It was like they drew her in above the sounds of soldiers outside, stomping against the ground, hammering against steel, and raising the tents from the ground. It silenced all of that with just a few simple words.
"And how long do you think it will take before they hear me talking to an empty room. Your minutes are numbered."
"Then I'll make this quick. You've been through enough assassins to know how these things go, so why don't we change it up."
"...excuse me?"
The man seemed to smile, and thought it was a sinister expression, it was filled with humor and entertainment. He was toying with her already, and she hated him for it.
"You've come a long way from home, and for what?"
"I fail to see how talking this out will get you anywhere. Surrender to me now, and I'll make your death quick."
"That's a rarity. You don't often do that to your enemies, now do you?"
He scoffed, raising his hands to reveal that he was unarmed, completely defenseless, almost to say he was hers for the taking. She would have his head before the sun came down over the mountains.
"And what do you know about me?"
"Well, it's an assassin's job to know everything he can about his target. I'm just following the books."
"But look where those books have taken you. To my tent, to my camp, and to your own death. You don't look like an assassin to me, more like a spy."
It was true, he gave off the silver-tongued picture of a spy, and it fit no one better. He was everything she as a child imagined a spy to be, but when she got older, she learned not to trust her eyes so easily. Our eyes play tricks on us, and some have learned to use that to their advantage among other things.
"What would I have to spy on you for? Anything I want to know is right out that door, surrounding us."
"My plan of attack, my use of my men, or my reasoning. It could be anything, really."
He paused for a moment, almost like he was considering something, and in his hesitation the woman reached down below her desk, and removed a small, jeweled dagger from its sheath. He didn't see her, at least he didn't seem to notice, but the way he just stared into her eyes, as if to tell her, "Don't bother."
"...like your failed idea of using the marshes as cover?"
She froze, how could she do anything else? Those words were so shocking that she paused for several long moments, forgetting any idea of killing this man instantly. The only people who knew that were her two generals, and this man had obviously not been in the room at the time they discussed it, nor when she dismissed them.
And it wasn't even that long ago that the report of the marshes flooding reached her desk, and her idea of using them as cover was scrapped the moment, she read those words. So how could he have known?
"I'll admit that I wasn't expecting that. It seems those books really did give you more than I would have hoped."
"I like books. They tell you more with words than someone can with feelings. Books lie and fool you, yet comfort and console you. They play both sides of the same coin."
"Then you should know that in a game of words, you don't lay out all your cards on the table. You keep them to yourself to gain the advantage of knowing what the other does not. In this move you're mocking me."
"Mocking, no. Playing, yes."
The man slowly stood as the cloak of darkness flooded around him, floating to the ground as the illumination of the candles finally hit him, and the women realized he wasn't wearing armor. He was in casual clothing, with a casual face, and a calm expression.
How could such a man make it past her entire army unseen, and hide within the darkness of her own tenet, without her noticing? It should have been impossible, yet he was the living proof it was.
"It's always fun to play a good game. Would you like to join me for one?"
"Now you are mocking me."
"In this game things are simple; we ask each other a question, and we can either answer with a truth, or with a lie. But if you're discovered to be the liar…you die."
She didn't know whether to take his offer or not. On one hand she could just lie, get this over with and buy enough time for her to cut his throat open. But he wouldn't threaten her life in this moment, with what little he had to harm her, unless he knew he could.
But then she had to beg the question; how much did he know?
"...alright. I'll play your little game, but I'll go first. The challenger always gets the first turn."
"Of course. May I?"
He pulled back a chair and sat down with her permission, and the two finally came face to face without masks between them. The man was handsome, charming in many ways, and the woman could have seen him in a palace as the prince, or as the knight the princess always fawned over. But there was always an ugly side to such a pretty face.
If she was going to unveil his ugly side, she would need a good question. Force his hand into the lie, a lie so obvious that she would know, and then she would strike like the lion hiding in the grass.
"Who are you? In form, not logic."
"...My name is Cain. You could call me a traveler, wandering these lands for some simple entertainment. Something to tie me over."
"Do you often get so bored?"
He shook his finger, smiling, his red eyes gleaming in the darkness. That was more than one question, and she knew it, but there was something in her mind that told her to push on. Almost like she was afraid to hear him speak.
"This army is strong, mighty and powerful, loyal to you and you alone. But we both know that this isn't their first stop, nor will it be their last. So, how did you become queen?"
Such an odd way of phrasing it. To go from the idea of asking about her supplies or her plans of attack, her weak points and her strengths in her troops, only to turn around and ask such a simple question as the authenticity of her crown.
"I became queen when I married my husband. He was the heir to the clan, and when he took me as his wife, I was next in line."
"But he's not here anymore. So, my question remains; how did you become queen?"
It was a test, a ploy, she shouldn't answer. How could she answer, it was almost like he just wanted to hear her say it, but they both knew he already knew the truth. He just wanted to hear it from her own lips.
"...I killed him."
"And there we have it. The truth always finds the light, and the lies die in the darkness."
"How do you know I wasn't lying?"
The man tapped the edges around his eyes, its reddish hue dissipating into the air, like wisps of smoke that pulled themselves from a fire. They were entrancing, devastating, and held dangers the woman dared not to see.
"The eyes tell stories the mouth does not."
She waited for him to speak, because in her short-sightedness, she hadn't realized the caution she needed to take when asking questions. She'd already wasted her chance, but despite that, he remained silent, almost like he was offering her to go.
"Why are you here?"
"Curiosity. I made a promise a while back, and I wanted to know what you were like before I fulfilled that man's wish. That's the only reason you and I are talking right now."
Silence settled between them, and the woman couldn't help but fidget with the knife in her hands. She didn't know why she hadn't just stabbed him right at that very moment, but there was something about him that made her want to chase that silence away. She didn't like him quiet.
"What was your greatest failure as a mother?"
"...how did you know I was a mother?"
There was something about the way he smiled that sent a chill down her spine, the way the color in his eyes sharpened, how his voice didn't skip a beat. He knew things, a lot of things.
"So that's who you made your promise to. That's why you're here, to get revenge for my idiotic son, Alan. If you want me to show weakness, fine. The day I failed my son was the day I gave birth to him. I couldn't be the mother he wanted, he was too much like his father, and so unlike me."
"You must have hated that."
"I did. I wanted a son who would stand by my side when I took the crown, who believed in using our strength as a mighty clan to rule what we were born to rule. Not hide away in our palace with talks of peace and assembly. I failed to be the mother he wanted me to be, because he failed to be the son I wanted."
"We don't get choices like that. It's just not destined to be."
It was true to say that we couldn't pick our lives for the vines of destiny, but the greatest heroes and the vilest of villains made their paths through destiny, despite the fruits they were born with. If only the woman had met Lia, who was the living embodiment of such words, such wisdom.
Maybe then she could see the error in the way she lived.
"...He asked me to kill you. To bring your world crashing down on you. I didn't think you were the type of person who deserved such harsh words, but now I may be wrong."
"And do you think you will succeed? I have an army, you are but one man, who's here on the whim and wish of someone who no longer matters to me. Do you think you will win?"
She could cut his throat now, kill him before he could respond, she'd done it dozens of times before. There were those in her senate that didn't believe in her as queen, so she had them killed. He was just another senator, waiting for the blade in his back.
So why was her head screaming at her to run?
"You banished your son, killed your own husband just to take on the mantle of queen. You're egotistical, selfish and greedy. You want everything but in reality, you have nothing, yet you're fine with having nothing, because you can pretend that you have everything. In my eyes, I've already succeeded, despite having done nothing."
"You're wrong."
"Oh, but I'm not. You bring your own soldiers here, to conquer and to consume everything in their wake, because you want the world at your fingertips, even though you will control none of it. You will die before you can ever see the world fall under your banner and flag."
That had to be a lie, it couldn't be anything else. She had given her life to this cause, to fulfill the wishes of her clan's ancestors, to use their power for the greater good of them all. And it started with the world under one flag. Under her rule. She had given everything for this, it had to be destiny.
It had to be.
"But those that come after me will."
"Who? Your son, who now lies dead in a cave somewhere rotting away, consumed by maggots and worms. You have nothing, no one, and nobody to see your spirit rise from the grave and live on in your empire. It will die the day you die, because there was no purpose in your life, and thus it had no spirit."
"You lie."
Her soldiers would continue in her place, for the betterment of her clan, for the will and wishes of her ancestors and her people, they would fight on. Outside she could hear them sharpening their swords, stringing their bows, and marching on through the camp, ready for her words. They were waiting for their leader; they were waiting for their queen.
This man had nothing. There would be no one to save him from her wrath, no one to stop the marching of her soldiers. He couldn't stop this, he had nothing. He was nothing.
So why was she afraid to hear him speak?
"I do, because the truth is, it dies today."
Then she heard it. It started with a small scream in the distance, then it grew louder and louder until it was right outside her door. The sound was so loud she wanted to cover her ears, but she couldn't, the roar of the beast was too strong as the sound of fire burned away her soldiers. They screamed again, and suddenly the terror became real.
"Dragon."
She couldn't move, even as her tent snapped and flew away in the hurricane of wind this beast was causing, the sound of his wings deafening. She couldn't see him, but she could hear him, she could feel the monster in the air as its fire raced around her camp and turned it all to ash.
Everything she had made, everything she had worked so hard for, gone in a single breath. And it was all because of one man.
As the world began to fade, and the fire drew in close, the queen watched as her would be assassin became something more. His skin and flesh became fire, his breath smoke, and his eyes remained the same crimson color of blood she knew well.
"You lost the game! It's my right to end you!"
His touch burned her skin, his fingers tracing down her cheek, as he whispered into her ear. He was frightening, like a devil in the flame, but his words were the icing on the cake.
"You're wrong. I knew you were lying from the moment you opened your mouth."
But she did tell the truth, he made it so.
He just didn't care.
→End of Vol. 1 - The Lands of Morden ←
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A/N: With this, it all end in a loop. It took me a while to get a grip on the story, but now I think I can learn from my mistakes here and be better. Thank you for reading, but this is only the beginning.
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