The Offer

Oakbridge was a cannon-powder keg, and I smelled smoke.

By my estimations, the Tagrosi army outnumbered us ten to one at least, and they were far better equipped than we. Rising up to fight them was simply not an option, and fleeing the town wasn’t viable either. But the world was about to come crashing down around us, and I needed some way to ensure that Zac would survive.

As with all other situations where I found myself overwhelmed, I went to Benji for advice.

I found him back at the Chalice Inn, wiping down the tables I’d already cleaned. Just as I entered, he brushed the back of his hand on his cheek and sniffled.

“Benji… are you crying?” I asked.

“Of course,” he said, his mustache quivering. “You saw what happened out there.”

A pang of guilt struck my heart when I heard Benji’s words. Though Keren’s death had shocked me, I hadn’t shed a tear for her. What sort of monster was I if I couldn’t cry over a woman I’d known for years?

Benji pulled a handkerchief from his back pocket (which looked comically tiny in his wagon-wheel-sized hands) and blew his nose into it. He folded it over, used the back to wipe his tears, then returned it to his pocket. “Sorry… it’s just… she was such a sweet lady.”

“She really was,” I said, trying to bring the proper emotions of grief and mourning into my heart. They seemed, quite simply absent. “Umm… do you want a hug?” The words left my mouth before I’d really thought about them. Once they were out, I felt like an idiot. Why would Benji, the strongest man in the world, need a hug?

Benji hurried around from behind the counter and threw his arms around me, pulling me into an uncomfortably-tight embrace. He sniffled his dribbling nose again, and I felt something wet on my shoulder that I hoped was tears.

I attempted to wrap my arms around him in turn, to hug him back, but his chest was simply too big around. My hands stopped at his sides, where I gave him a reassuring pat.

A few moments went by like this and just as I finally got used to it he released me, and my body resumed its usual, non-crushed shape.

“Thank you,” he said.

“I… err… of course.”

After a firm pat on my shoulder he strolled back behind the bar and started wiping down glasses.

“Benji…” I began, “If you’re not too distracted at the moment, I was wondering if I might ask your advice.”

Benji gave me a firm look in the eye. “You can always ask me for help. Whatcha need?”

“After… you know… what happened today, the whole town’s ready to go to war with the Tagrosi, but we can’t win.” I wrung my hands. “I need to make sure Zac is safe when that happens, but it doesn’t seem like I can get him out of here.”

Benji curled the end of his mustache around the tip of one finger. “Yes, that is quite a predicament, isn’t it? Hmm… What if we let him hide in the cellar again? If and when the fighting starts, you and I will stay inside the inn and not get ourselves involved if we don’t have to. If any of those blackhearts comes in here…” Benji made a fist, which looked far more threatening than the head of a sledgehammer. “We hold our ground. They say I’m the strongest man in the world. Hopefully, the Tagrosi soldiers will be too yellow to come pickin’ fights here.”

“We can hope and pray,” I said with a shrug. “But muscles account for little in the face of Ancient weapons.”

Benji’s head tilted forward, the light casting a shadow from his brow over his eyes. Though I’d known him for years and during that time he’d only ever acted as gentle as a dove, the look he gave hinted at a deep ferocity he kept bottled up inside. “Ancient weapons account for little in the face of… face of me… in my face… Bah! I’ll snap ‘em in two!”

From the mouth of anyone else, such bravado would have seemed ridiculous, but when Benji said it I believed him.

The darkness fled from his face and his mustache pushed up into a smile. “So. Problem solved. But I hope it won’t come to that, myself. Folk here are pretty upset, but they ain’t stupid. They know we don’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell of winning.”

The sound of the door swinging open caught our attention. Three Tagrosi soldiers in white uniforms entered, followed by Eon Maganti and five more soldiers. Through the window, I could see many more standing guard outside.

Eon turned to Benji and gave a pleasant grin. “I understand your name is Mr. Strato, is that right?”

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“Yep,” said Benji.

“Mr. Strato,” Eon folded his hands, “I would like a moment to speak with Ahv alone, if I could.”

Benji looked at me, silently asking me something. I couldn’t tell if he was asking if I needed him to stay or for permission to leave.

I took a gamble and nodded my head to allow him to leave.

Benji turned to Eon and folded his arms. “Ahv works for me, and he’s a dear friend. Whatever needs to be said ta him can be said in front o’ me too.” He patted his own chest to punctuate his point.

Eon chuckled. “I like you, Mr. Strato. You have the sort of small-town manners I was hoping to see when I came here. A sort of… old-fashioned sense of honor that I admire. Very well, you may stay, but I trust your sense of honor will keep the content of this conversation a secret, yes?”

Benji nodded. “So long as it ain’t hurtin’ folk to keep the secret, yeah.”

“Sounds fair.” Eon turned to me. “First, I want to say that I am truly sorry things had to go the way they did this morning.”

“You mean, just a few minutes ago?” I grunted.

All pleasantness fled Eon’s face. For a brief moment I saw indignation there, but he quickly turned it to feigned sorrow. “Yes… what happened just a few minutes ago. It’s a terrible tragedy, it really is.”

It took every ounce of willpower within me not to lunge at him, beat him senseless for trying to shirk responsibility for Keren’s death. This disgusting, spider of a man who’d caught us up in his web of lies and threats.

But I stayed quiet, and allowed him to continue. He leaned back and held his fingertips together, forming a triangle in front of his chest, with his elbows on the arm-rests of his wheelchair. “But, let’s not forget, you are not the only ones to have suffered a loss in all of this. We, too, have lost someone dear to us. Private Avery.”

“I thought you said that was his fault,” I snapped, before my better judgment settled in to tell me this had been a mistake.

Thankfully, Eon nodded his agreement with me. “He disobeyed my orders and tortured a small boy. That’s inexcusable. Moreso even than Keren’s crimes. But, just as your people are furious about what happened to her, many of my soldiers are furious about what happened to Avery. Sometimes who was right and who was wrong in a conflict isn’t the important part, it’s what we can do to create peace after the fact, don’t you think?”

I shrugged. “Maybe…”

“That brings me to a solution,” Eon said. “Avery died because of venom in his blood. Since then, my physicians have already used his blood to make an antivenom. But what still puzzles me is just how that poison got into his system. There were no snake bites anywhere on his body. Thinking it over and over again, it seems to me that the only possibility is that you were the one who poisoned him.” Eon raised his hands to silence my objections before they left my lips. “You don’t have to explain yourself, apologize, or even deny it. I’m not here to punish you for that. Frankly, I’m impressed with you. Private Piers tells me you are a good man, and you’ve only risen up against us in violence when your son was threatened. You obviously have some sort of ingenuity if you could successfully poison Avery both undetected and in the middle of a fight.”

I folded my arms and leaned back against a table nearby. That simple gesture appeared to have startled some of the Tagrosi soldiers in the room, who reached for their swords.

“So,” Eon continued, “I propose a move which will surely make peace between our two peoples. I want you to join the Tagrosi army.”

I failed to suppress my amused snort.

Eon pointed his index finger at my face. “Hear me out now, Ahv. Joining the Tagrosi army means that you will be a citizen of the Republic from the moment you sign up. Citizens and their families have certain rights. Such rights will protect you and your son in the future, should any hostilities arise between my people and yours. Furthermore, being the sole Tagrosi citizen in Oakbridge will grant you political power. When my army has finished its trek across your bridge, we will appoint you as this town’s judge, and leave a small handful of soldiers to help you enforce law and order here.”

“Sheriff Jayden enforces law and order here,” I said flatly.

“He does.” Eon nodded. “But a sheriff is no substitute for a good judge, one who knows the law and how best to administer it.”

“The law? Whose law?”

“The Law of the Republic,” Eon said. “Don’t worry, we will be sure you are educated on the ins and outs of Republic Law.”

“You expect Oakbridge to submit to your country’s laws?”

Eon leaned in closer and brought his voice just a little lower. “One way or another, yes. But I’d prefer this transition be handled peacefully, and I believe that if one of their own is the first to impose Republic Law things will go far better.”

“What makes you think I want anything to do with Republic Law?” I asked.

“You called the condemned a traitor,” Eon said.

My heart stung at his words. I was the only one in the crowd calling Keren a traitor just before she was killed. The last thing anyone said directly to her was an insult, and it was a friend who said it in those final moments. It had been a desperate attempt to save her life, but it was also a cruel betrayal at the end of her life.

“I did…”

“So, you seem to me like a reasonable fellow.” Eon leaned back in his chair, a triumphant gleam in his eye. “The sort of fellow who can lead the people of Oakbridge into the much better world I plan to give them.”

My brain reeled with different possible ways to refuse his offer. I thought maybe I could claim that I feared punishment for treason if he should lose the war against King Octavian. I could claim that the people of Oakbridge were likely to turn on me if I threw my lot in with him. For that matter, I could have simply told him that because I had a son I had no desire to become a soldier and thus constantly risk my life for a Republic I didn’t even understand.

But the words which fell from my mouth were, “Piss off.”

Eon’s eyebrows raised and he laughed out-loud at my crude response. “You certainly don’t like to mince words, do you?” He shook his head, the amused smile never leaving his lips. “Well… you’re entitled to throw away my gift and spit in my eye, that’s fine. Just remember that I made this offer when the Republic is victorious and we appoint a judge over Oakbridge who… well, isn’t you.” He rolled his chair backward a few rotations, then turned it toward the door. “Come on, everyone, we’re moving out.”

The soldiers left with Eon, a few of them shooting me nasty glares on the way.

Once they were all gone, Benji patted my shoulder and said, “Proud of you, Ahv.”