The Prison of Angels

4

The crowd was twice the size it had been a week before, and ten times larger than the week before that. Kevin Maryll did well to hide his satisfaction. By leaving, Antonil had done more to undermine his own rule than anyone else over his five year reign. Any other human, at least.

“But what do we say to these angels?” he cried, his hands shaking to convey the sheer depth of rage boiling within him. “What do we say when they declare us liars, thieves, adulterers? Do they give us proof?”

No! the crowd shouted.

“Do they give us witnesses?”

No! they cried again.

“That’s right! Nothing, they give us nothing but their word. They give us nothing, then take from us everything, our land, our possessions, our very lives. And what do we say? What can we say, when their word is the only law that matters?”

A chorus of denials washed over him, varied in wording but similar in tone. Kevin drank it all in, at last letting himself relax. These were the fruits of his labor, hard-fought and long won. For years he had spoken out against the rule of angels. When the Gods’ War first ended his cries had fallen on deaf ears. No one would listen, for surely he was mad to say they should not trust the saviors of Dezrel. But patience and time had proven him right. Now over a hundred men and women surrounded him in the streets of Mordeina, blocking off a large portion of trade just so they might hear his truth.

“The gods started this war. The gods and their followers tore this land asunder, filling its rivers with blood and its fields with corpses. Yet now the puppets of the victor, these enforcers, these so-called angels, would lord over us. Who will protect us from them? Who will stand tall when they execute an accused thief yet let a confessed murderer go free? Who will represent us, who will be our voice to the heavens to shout in a loud and clear voice that we will rule mankind, not them?”

“The king will!” a man shouted from somewhere in the back, perfectly on cue. Easily worth the three copper he’d paid him.

“The king?” Kevin asked. “The king will protect us? The king will speak for us? Aye, a good king that is, my friend, so bring him to me. Show me. Tell me his name. Where is our king? All of you, I ask, I beg, tell me where is our king?”

Missing, the crowd shouted, and the chant soon was on the lips of all hundred. The Missing King! All hail the Missing King!

“To him I go!” Kevin shouted to them. “Let the castle hear my words, let the throne be painted with the truth. I will not walk to my death across a bed of angel feathers, nor bare my neck to gilded blades whose gold hides metal long stained red with blood. My fellow man, we will have a voice, one that will be heard!”

Their cheers urged him on, and as he walked down the street dozens flanked either side of him. Just before the hill he looked up to the floating city of Avlimar. Several angels circled the clouds, watching, waiting. Protecting, they claimed.

“Do you see me?” Kevin whispered to the sky. “Do you still think you can stand in my way?”

Up the hill to the castle gates he went, knowing they would not, could not, stop him any longer.

Harruq slammed the door shut, flung his back against it, and let out the most heartfelt groan his tired body was capable of.

“How?” he said. “How does Antonil not go mad?”

Aurelia looked up from where she sat on the floor. They were in a small room adjacent to the throne room. The furnishings were few, the windows slender and tall. The floor was carpeted, though, and Harruq flung his boots off so he could feel its softness on his toes. Before he could complain further he heard his daughter call out to him, using the name he was most proud of.

“Daddy!”

She raced barefoot across the room, instinctively weaving through the mess of wood-carved toys. Without slowing she slammed into his leg, hugging his thigh.

“Hey Aubby,” Harruq said, rubbing the top of her head and making a mess of her long brown hair. “Give daddy a chance to breathe.”

She squeezed tighter, then returned to her toys. Without bothering to find a seat, Harruq slumped to the carpet, still leaning against the door. He didn’t want to say anything, do anything, just sit there.

“Things haven’t gotten easier?” Aurelia asked him as she absently made one of the toys, a cat painted blue, spin and dance through the air as if on invisible strings. Aubrienna watched, delighted. Telling her mother to wait, she grabbed another toy, that of a dog, and began having it chase after.

“Easier?” Harruq said, rubbing his temples. “Dealing with Velixar was easier. These people are insane. Six hours I listened to them grumble. They want land, they want food, they want soldiers. Bandits are here, demons are there, and each person acts as if our entire army didn’t just leave for the other side of the continent. And they were the reasonable ones! I’m beginning to think the castle guards hate me, because they didn’t turn anyone away. For Karak’s sake, I had one woman ask if I’d touch her hands to cure her arthritis. Who do they think I am?”

Aubrienna looked his way, and he could see the vague worry in her beautiful brown eyes.

“Daddy…daddy’s upset because he had to listen to people,” she said to Aurelia, who kissed her on the nose.

“That’s right,” Aurelia said. “And people can be silly sometimes.” She turned her attention back to Harruq. “How many requests did you turn down?”

Harruq rolled his eyes.

“Five…maybe six if I count the hand lady.”

His wife laughed.

“You’ll have the kingdom bankrupt within a week.”

“I’m not made for this,” Harruq insisted, not seeing the humor in the situation that his wife did. “Some old woman comes up saying she needs money to feed her grandbabies, but the money lenders won’t help. Now what do I say to that? I’m not a big enough bastard for this job, Aurry. They should have picked Qurrah instead. He’d know a clever way to tell these people to go home and leave him be. Not me, oh no. I just…I just couldn’t sit out there anymore. I couldn’t listen to another word.”

“Are any still waiting?”

Harruq felt his neck flush.

“I may have left a few standing out there,” he muttered.

Aurelia shook her head.

“Get over here,” she said.

He got up with a groan, then sat down beside his wife. As she cuddled against him she lifted her free hand, sending more of the toys dancing. Aubrienna frowned, for they were moving too fast for her to catch.

“Mommy, slow down,” she said, holding up her toy. “My puppy can’t reach them.”

The whirlwind of cats, trees, horses and soldiers settled, and one by one Aubrienna began knocking them from the air with her toy.

“Ruling isn’t easy,” Aurelia said, watching their daughter play. “You need to stay calm, and know when you’re reaching your limits. When it comes to your decisions, remember, everything is a balancing act. Help those who need it, and encourage those who would falter, but not so much that they depend on you when they should instead depend on themselves.”

“Figures an elf would mention something about balance,” Harruq said.

“Are you saying I’m wrong?”

He turned and kissed her.

“I’m saying I’m tired and can’t think straight. Just ignore me.”

The door cracked open. Harruq felt a surge of panic. They wouldn’t follow him in there, would they? A paranoid delusion of beggars, petitioners, and politicians trailing around his bed day and night filled him, and if it had been anyone else than Queen Susan who stepped through the doorway he’d have screamed.

“Am I interrupting?” she asked.

When he shook his head she opened the door wider, and in rushed little Gregory Copernus, heir to the throne of Mordan. He was six months younger than Aubrienna and a good three inches shorter. His hair was short and blonde, neatly trimmed like the little lord he was. Every time Harruq saw Gregory and Aubby together he kept thinking how tall his little girl would grow up to be. Orcish blood, he thought. At least it had some benefits.

“I thought the two might play for a time,” Susan said.

Gregory was immediately at Aubrienna’s side.

“Here,” she said, handing over the blue dog after an intense period of mental debate. “You can have this. I’ll play with the kitty.”

She grabbed a purple kitten from the floor, meowing with it. Gregory began barking, and in no time they had chased each other into a corner. Harruq watched with a smile on his face, but the smile couldn’t last. Susan remained standing, and he sensed she’d not come just so their children could play.

“How are things out there?” he asked, glancing up at her.

Susan carefully shut the door, then crossed her arms. Her skin wasn’t nearly so pale as during the parade, and with her straight hair falling free about her face she looked far more pleasant than when dolled up with jewels and dresses. Antonil was a lucky man, he thought. Shame he didn’t have the brains to stay home instead of constantly fighting wars against orcs.

“I listened to a few more, then sent the rest away,” she said. “As you can do at any time. Harruq, if you feel overwhelmed please call for me, or send the petitioners home. You’re the steward. They will wait for you. Even coming into your presence is a gift they have no right to demand.”

“I know,” he said. “But I should be able to handle this. I’m sitting on a stuffed chair, half-drunk, making arbitrary decisions. This isn’t hard. I can do it.”

“You’re wrong, Harruq,” Susan said, her voice firm. “It is hard. And the more you convince yourself otherwise the more frustrated you’ll become. You didn’t grow up with this, didn’t train for this. You’re more at home with a sword than a scepter.”

“There were several I did want to hit with a sword,” he admitted. “Safe assumption that’s not an acceptable diplomatic response?”

Susan laughed.

“When it is, I will let you know,” she promised.

A knocking came from the other side of the door. Susan cracked it back open and leaned out. Harruq heard muffled talking, then saw the queen’s shoulders visibly sink.

“Harruq,” she said, pulling back inside. “There’s one more guest that refuses to leave.”

His left eyebrow lifted.

“Hit him with a sword?”

Susan’s smile didn’t reach her eyes.

“It’s my brother,” she said.

Harruq held back his groan.

“All right,” he said, pushing himself to his feet. “I guess we can’t be rude. Aurry?”

“I’ll be fine,” Aurelia said, standing as well. “But I’m not staying cooped up in here. Aubby, Greg, let’s go to the gardens.”

With a quick motion of her hands she ripped open a swirling blue portal, kissed Harruq on the cheek, and then pushed the children through. After she stepped inside the portal vanished, leaving Harruq and Susan alone.

“Lead on,” he said, and the queen did. Back into the throne room they went, Harruq plopping into a seat he had already grown to hate. The long hall before the throne was empty but for a single man, who entered through the double doors without waiting for approval. Harruq reminded himself to yell at the guards.

“Welcome,” Harruq said, his voice anything but.

“Yes, welcome,” Susan said, having waited to speak as a sign of respect. She opened her arms and smiled.

Kevin Maryll accepted the embrace, then kissed his sister on the cheek. He had the same soft face as his sister, but his eyes were hard. His hair was dark, cut short, as was his beard.

“My dear Susan,” he said, “my sympathies for what you must yet again endure.”

“The castle is not so empty that I will suffer,” she said, then stepped back so she might gesture to Harruq. “Besides, I have a steward to train, and he does much to keep me entertained.”

Harruq opened his mouth, then closed it. For once, he really didn’t know what to say.

“Ah yes, the Godslayer,” Kevin said. He walked to the foot of the throne and then bowed to one knee. “Consider me honored to be in your presence.”

Harruq bit his tongue. He’d met Kevin several times, and each meeting had been painful, filled with awkward moments due to Kevin’s inability to discuss anything other than what was most pressing to him. And since the Gods’ War, that had been one thing and one thing only.

“I hear the city has taken a restless turn,” said Susan, trying to draw his attention back to her. “I pray your travel here was uneventful.”

“Oh, far from,” Kevin said, his eyes never leaving Harruq’s. “But for my safety, I trust my sword, not prayers. Men surrounded me from the moment I stepped into these streets. Everywhere I went I heard their shouts. Unrest, fury, distrust and betrayal all about me as I made my way to the castle.”

“What did they want?” Harruq asked.

Kevin gave him a look, a combination of condescension and inflated self-worth that nearly ignited his temper.

“Why, for me to continue talking, of course,” Kevin said. “For at last I was telling them the truth they’ve been aching to hear.”

And that was it, of course. Harruq tried, and failed, to hide his annoyance. Of all the opponents to the angels’ new role in society, none were more vocal, and more popular, than Kevin Maryll. The fact that he was the queen’s brother gave him a freedom to speak and act that many others could not, or dare not, use so blatantly.

“The angels are here to help,” Harruq said. “And it’s only because of them we’re not bowing to Karak.”

“And so instead we bow to Ashhur and give thanks for being spared such a horrific fate. We bow, even as they raise their executioner’s blade.”

“Enough, please,” Susan interrupted. “I will have no bickering. Kevin, let me fetch you a servant. There are dozens of rooms here in the castle, and they are all available to you during your stay.”

Kevin took his sister’s hand and kissed it.

“I have places to be, and goals to accomplish,” he said. “And sadly, I cannot do either cooped up in the castle. I merely wished to ensure my little baby sister was doing well in her husband’s unnecessary absence.”

Harruq swallowed hard. Every sentence had a jab to it, hidden or otherwise. As with the angels, none were more outspoken against King Antonil’s rule than Kevin. With the army marching east for another war, it took little for Kevin to draw an audience for his grumblings. But how many listened? Harruq didn’t know. That type of politics was beyond him. He had a sword, and he smacked things with it really good. Now if only he could do the same to Kevin…

“My lord and husband’s absence is for the good of Mordan, and for all Dezrel,” Susan said, a bit of fire leaking into her voice.

“Of course it is,” Kevin said, all smiles. He bowed low, winked at Harruq, and then turned to leave. Harruq watched until he was gone, the guards shutting the doors behind him with a heavy thud, and then smacked the arm of his chair with his fist. The outburst seemed unusually loud, and he immediately felt childish when he saw Susan watching him.

“Do you remember when I said I’d let you know when striking someone with a sword was an appropriate diplomatic response?” she asked. Harruq lifted an eyebrow. “Sometimes I wish we didn’t have to act so appropriately.”

Harruq laughed. It felt good to do so.

“Come on,” he said, standing. “I don’t want to sit here fuming about your idiot brother. Let’s find where Aurry’s taken our kids.”

“I have other duties I must attend,” Susan said, offering him a curtsey. “Go be with your family.”

“Is it anything I should know about?” he asked, not liking the worry she hid behind her eyes.

“If Kevin is rallying people, giving speeches…I despise the need, but he must be watched. Let me handle this matter, Harruq. He is still family, despite how much he might hate my husband.”

“Whoever you have watch him, make sure it’s not an angel.”

Harruq grinned, but the humor fell flat. There was too much worry, too much truth to the joke to laugh. On impulse he took her hand and kissed it, much like Kevin had.

“You’ll do fine,” he said. “We’ll all be fine. No matter how many speeches your brother gives, there’s only so much he can accomplish. We’re guarded by angels, Susan. It’s not like he can start a war. And if he does, well, you’ll have the nastiest bodyguard around. I’ve killed a god before, did you know that?”

“I’ve heard rumors.” She pulled free her hand, rubbed it with her other. “Take care, Harruq, and pray the time passes swiftly. Antonil will be gone for so long, and in my nightmares I see him returning to a kingdom of ash.”

“No,” Harruq said, shaking his head as he headed for the door. “I gave everything to save this city, this land. It won’t be ash, Susan, no matter how hard anyone might try.”

“And if someone does try?” he heard her ask.

He looked over his shoulder, flashed his best smile.

“Then I’ll act inappropriately.”