Chapter 31 Refusal

All the tricks my parents have taught me helped me keep a hold of the back legs of Prince Eater #46 when he went down in a fight a couple dimmings ago. What’s that? Why not eat each other? We need food to stay alive and once someone is so injured that they can’t stand, they’re done for anyway. I was able to bring both legs and a good part of the rump back to my parents. – Prince Eater #34

It took Annie three-quarters of an hour to respond to the message Erienne sent via Kenzie. Two of her personal mercenaries broke down the locked door and burst into the small attic room. Annie and three more mercenaries flung themselves through the entryway after the first two. All six had their swords drawn.

Padraig stood in front of the fireplace, an untouched mug of ale in his hand. Alec stood beside him with one arm propped casually on the mantel. Jon and Seán were each in an upholstered chair. Erienne and Fia sat on her cot with the dividing curtain hooked completely open and Erienne clinging tightly to the wolfhound’s collar. Ringing the room were members of SnakeIn’s Armed Watch with their crossbows raised and aimed at the six intruders.

“Annie,” Padraig said, feigning hospitality. “How nice to see you again. I hope you don’t mind that I invited a few of my friends.”

“Stand down,” Annie snarled.

“Why would I be the one to stand down?” Padraig questioned. “You’re the one who barged in with swords drawn and not even the courtesy of a polite knock.”

“You know very well that we need Jon,” she growled. “He’s our future.”

“He’s abdicated,” Padraig said.

“I know. That’s why I’m here. He can’t!”

“He did. It’s completely legal,” Padraig said undaunted. “Your own words demanding Holy King Harrison’s abdication gave Mr. Holdingfree a way to rid himself of the Kingdom of Midhe Nuae once and for all.”

As they spoke, Annie’s soldiers sheathed their swords, which provoked Annie’s anger even more. She turned and yelled, “Raise your weapons and fight like true patriots.”

Fia lurched forward to spring from the bed, but Erienne reinforced her grip on the dog’s collar.

The mercenaries looked at each other, shuffled their feet, and moved around nervously, nearly bumping into each other in the crowded space. Finally, their leader said, “our business relationship is over, Contingent Jarek. Thank you for this opportunity. As a professional courtesy, we will deduct our fee for this excursion from the amount due us. Thank you again.”

The mercenary strode through the shattered door and led his fellow soldiers down the stairs. Annie gaped after them for several seconds, then turned back to Padraig and the others. Her fingers instinctively ran over her mouth as she realized that none of the Armed Watch had lowered their weapons. She eyed each of their positions, gauged the distance to where Alec stood and the number of people between them, and then lowered her own sword.

Padraig lifted the uncomfortable wooden chair, banged it down in the center of the room, and said, “Please sit down.”

She dropped into the chair and rested her sword across her lap. Padraig signaled to the Armed Watch to stand down, and then he retrieved a second mug of ale from the mantle. He handed it to Annie with a smile, saying, “Here. This might help un-muddle your thoughts.”

She sipped the ale and muttered, “What are we going to do? We need a king.”

Padraig relaxed his shoulders, and finally took a sip of his ale. As soon as the edge of the mug touched his lip, Annie hurled her mug aside and lunged at Alec with her sword. Sensing her movement before seeing it, Seán leaped from his chair, snatched Jon’s cane, and swung it up against Annie’s sword arm. The sword’s blade missed Alec’s chest and only sliced a shallow groove across his arm before clattering from Annie’s grasp. Her agonized scream of defeat rattled the windows in The Exiled Soldier and turned heads as far away as the ground floor pub.

Fia sprang from the bed, dragging Erienne after her until the young woman was forced to release her. Padraig snatched the cane from Seán and returned it to Jon. When he reached to grasp Seán’s arm, Fia slammed her front paws on his back, shoving him to the floor. Padraig rolled over to find Fia growling into his face. The Armed Watch swung their crossbow toward the wolfhound, forcing Erienne to hurl herself over Fia to protect the dog. Alec angled Seán behind him and faced Annie with steely determination. Padraig’s head and shoulders sagged. He said softly, “Don’t shoot the dog.”

“Fia sit,” Jon said. The dog backed up and sat beside Jon without taking her eyes off the man threatening her family. Erienne sighed and scrambled back to her cot.

Padraig rose, keeping a vigilant eye on Fia, and approached Annie where she sat on the floor crying. As he knelt to examine her injury, he chided, “You deserved that.”

“I had to try,” she said, defeat making her voice sound hollow. “I had to.”

Without looking up, Padraig said, “Lynch, run for Healer Callahan. This arm is broken. Oh, and before I forget, Lynch, fair play. Excellent work ensuring that Erienne would be able to tell Kenzie what happened so she, in turn, would get word to Annie. They may also need to be charged.”

Watcher Lynch acknowledged Padraig and ran out the door.

Annie tossed a hard look at Erienne and jeered, “You’re done. I’m not paying you one single coin more.”

“But Alannah,” Erienne protested, lurching to her feet but not crossing the room.

“Figg’t your daughter,” Annie snarled. “You’re both done.”

Erienne sank back onto the cot as Padraig helped Annie to her feet and escorted her back to the wooden chair, where she sat silently scheming her next move as she surveyed the room slowly.

“Don’t, Annie,” Padraig warned when he saw the look in her eyes. “I will tie you to that chair.”

She didn’t answer the Commander of the Armed Watch, but her eyes settled on the younger of the two brothers and she exclaimed, “Seán!”

“I abdicated, too,” Seán said evenly. “I guess that leaves Gunnar. He’ll love it, that’s for sure.”

“Gunnar’s dead,” Annie corrected. Seán sprang to his feet in shock, looked to Jon for guidance, and then, realizing there was nowhere to go and nothing to be done, sank back into the chair dolefully. Jon leaned forward to reach for Seán’s hand. His brother clasped it desperately, and together they listened to the rest of what Annie was saying. “A red messaging bird arrived just before I left. The king demanded his execution and when Gunnar charged at him in anger, the king killed him, but not before he got the king with Jon’s sword.”

“I don’t understand,” Seán muttered, unable to comprehend the turn of events. “Why are we all suddenly dying? Is our father dead?”

“How’d he get my sword?” Jon asked, having trouble processing the information himself.

“From Sargent MacDonald’s dead stomach,” Annie said, still speaking softly. “The king is badly injured, perhaps fatally injured, but I have not heard that he has died. It’s imperative now more than ever, that one of you step up to be king if we’re going to end the unholy magi.”

“Start a council or something,” Padraig commented. “It works here in SnakeIn. Why can’t it work throughout Midhe Nuae?”

Annie bit her lip as she considered his suggestion. Thundering footsteps sounded on the stairs, and Tom raced into the room, Healer Callahan and Watcher Lynch behind him. Fia rose to her feet to defend them against the new intruder but resumed sitting when Jon’s hand waved downward in front of her.

“Annie, are you okay? Alec? Jon? What’s going on,” Tom asked loudly, the words faltering over his tongue. “Why are so many of the Armed Watch here? Who broke the door? Seán! Seán, were you attacked again? Or you Jon?”

“Annie tried to kidnap Jon and kill Alec so she could make Jon king,” Seán clarified matter-of-factly.

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“You what!” Tom said as he stumbled forward to where Annie was sitting.

Healer Callahan tried unsuccessfully to push Tom aside so that he could get to his patient but was forced to step back to let the storm pass.

Padraig singled out Watchers Lynch and Logan to stay and then sent the rest of the Watchers to their other duties.

“You make it sound criminal,” came Annie’s retort. “You know that we need one of them: Jon or Seán.”

“It is criminal. What is your problem, Annie?” Tom asked angrily. “Where is the person I married? The woman who hid under a wagonload of willow branches to gain her own freedom? Why can’t you accept that other people have choices, too? SnakeIn can be an evil city where monstrous things happen, but the people who live here have choices.”

“They’ve abdicated, Tom,” she spat out, leaping to her feet. “Both of them. We’ve got no one to hold up to the people as a fresh hope. Without a ruler, a leader for the ordinary person to get behind, we’ll lose everything. They already love Jon. They’re ready to revolt because of what happened. It’s perfect.”

“Figgict,” Tom yelled. He clenched his fist, his face turned scarlet, and suddenly he spun around and crashed a fist into the wall. Annie leaned backward in shock, almost tipping the chair over. Padraig darted between them and held out his arms as a barrier. Tom held his breath for a split second and then continued, “Can you blame them, Annie? Both of their older brothers were mutilated and killed. Their father – he’s your father, too – is permanently deformed and sick most of the time. There’s nothing there for anyone honest and compassionate.”

Annie stared at him without responding, so Healer Callahan used the stand-off to seize his chance. “Mrs. Jarek, please roll up your sleeve.”

Noticing the healer for the first time, she tugged at her sleeve obediently. When he probed the area with his fingers, Annie’s face paled and she started to lose consciousness. She began to tip sideways out of the chair, and Callahan called out, “Tom, a little help here, please.”

Tom didn’t move. Instead, he stood with his feet apart and his fists clenched as if he were about to charge into battle. Alec flicked his gaze between Jon, Seán, and Padraig, and then stepped forward himself and held Annie upright. When Callahan was satisfied that the bones were realigned, he painted a cast on her arm and fashioned a sling for her.

Healer Callahan stood and looked toward Tom to explain the care she would need, but when Tom didn’t acknowledge him, he said to the room at large, “She needs to keep from using that arm for the next several dimmings. Fortunately, the fracture is not as severe as it might have been if she had been hit with more force. I’ll look at taking the cast-off in six dimmings, but it will take a very long time beyond that before it heals completely. Resting it is critical.” Callahan turned to Alec and added, “If you’ll roll up your sleeve, Alec, I’ll see what’s to be done for that bloody arm. ”

The entire room waited in silence as Alec stood motionless while the cut was repaired. Callahan straightened at the end of his task and said, “There. That will do it.”

“Thank you,” Alec responded politely. “Tom, would you like us to make a good faith payment for Healer Callahan’s services until you can get home and straighten things out?”

“I just came running,” Tom stammered uncertainly and began patting each of his pockets.

Callahan held up the palm of his hand and said kindly “Stop by when you can, Tom.”

He nodded to the room at large, excused himself, and left the room.

“This does not change our relationship,” Tom said, trying to summon a kind look of friendship despite his anger. “Unless you want nothing to do with us anymore.”

“Annie has to stop,” Jon said. “But you, Tom, are always welcome in our lives.”

“Annie, too,” Alec added. “If she lets this go.”

“What about me?” Erienne asked. “Am I still welcome?”

Jon ran his hand over his forehead, looked at Seán and Alec, and then said, “You’ve got several things to atone for, Erienne, and we have to set down some new rules, but yes, this is still your home.”

“I won’t help her,” Tom countered. “Not financially. I’ll always help you Jon, Alec, Seán, but that traitor won’t get a penny.”

“That’s your decision to make,” Alec agreed. Looking at Erienne he continued, “Tom makes a good point, Erienne. One you need to think about. Personally, I don’t know when I will forgive you for endangering Jon again.” In his mind, the sounds of groaning and pleasure from the evening he heard Jon and Erienne together broke in waves against his thoughts. He tried to ignore them. “And I don’t know how we’ll go on from here, practically speaking, Erienne, but we need to work with each other not against each other.”

“I won’t stop the financial support for the rest of you,” Tom reiterated. “I wouldn’t anyway, since that was part of what Harry…Holy King Harrison stipulated when he arranged everything. Members of our family who escaped were to be helped in any way possible, but especially financially.”

“Thank you, Tom,” Alec replied as Jon and Seán agreed.

“Technically, all Erienne did this time was let Annie know about the abdication,” Jon pointed out to Alec and the room at large. “That will be public knowledge soon anyway.”

Alec shrugged and nodded, both at once. As he did, Annie realized for the first time that the person she had tried to kill only a few minutes prior was the one to come to her aid. She lifted her head and shoulders away from Alec and shifted her eyes to Tom in confusion. Tom didn’t meet her gaze.

Freed of Annie’s weight, Alec strode over to where Erienne still sat on her cot, folded his arms across his chest, and said, “Tell us about your daughter. How old is she?”

“Two.”

“What’s her name?”

“Alannah.”

“Why isn’t she living here with you?”

“It was too risky,” Erienne admitted without looking up. “It seemed safer to leave my baby with my old neighbor, the one who took care of Fia when I was looking for customers. I don’t like the way she treats Alannah, but I didn’t have any other options. Now I don’t have a way to pay her.”

Alec tossed a questioning glance over his shoulder toward Jon and Seán and then he strode over to his duffel bag. Rummaging into the depths of it he retrieved a sizable, but not large, pouch of coins, strode back over to Erienne, and asked, trying to sound stern and kind simultaneously, “How much do you owe her?”

Erienne continued to look at the floor and mumbled, “It doesn’t matter. No one will ever want Alannah. Her skin isn’t soft like most people’s. It’s tough, and her eyes are nearly hidden behind those lashes. She’s ugly.”

“Don’t call her that,” Padraig objected. “Those are simply characteristics of Midhe Nuae’s original people.”

“I don’t know what will happen to her, now,” Erienne offered with despair.

“Tell me how much you owe the caregiver,” Alec repeated. “This is the last of my savings. If there’s enough here, I will pay off your debt and bring Alannah here to live with us.”

Erienne’s head sprang up. “You would do that?”

“The child needs a home,” Jon interjected. “She could have moved in as soon as you did. You have a lot to make up for, but the child is blameless. We’ll make space for her.” Erienne ducked her head to wipe tears, while Jon mouthed at Alec with guilty concern, “The last of your savings?”

“Why don’t you like how the caregiver treats your daughter?” Padraig asked.

“Bruises. Sometimes I find bruises,” Erienne answered. “And she weeps so pathetically when I leave after a visit. It makes me afraid that there’s more.”

“Bruises?” Padraig said with abhorrence. “Let us know when you go to get her, Alec. If I’m available, I’ll go with you. Otherwise, two Watchers will join you.”

“I’ll go just as soon as we’re done here,” Alec replied. “Erienne, you’ll come, too.”

“Oh, please,” Annie said impatiently. “We have an entire kingdom to gain control of and all of you are whining about a snotty-nosed brat.”

“Don’t Annie,” Tom warned. “Do not.”

“We need to talk about Ava,” Annie plunged on. “The Most Revered is the pinnacle of all the evil in Midhe Nuae. She controls everyone, regardless of what they want in their lives.”

“Like you do?” Tom asked bluntly. “You’re just as bad. Maybe worse because you’re not running a kingdom. As evil as she is, that’s at least part of what’s behind her actions. You’re just demanding people do whatever you tell them to.”

Jon and Seán rose from their chairs and started to step toward the argument. Alec stepped between them and Annie, waving at them to move back. Fia stood and placed herself in front of Jon protectively.

As Annie bit her bottom lip pensively and stepped toward Tom, Padraig said, “First Contingent, you are under arrest for attempted kidnapping and attempted murder.”

“Padraig wait,” Alec interjected. “There’s another way.”

He kept his arms outstretched to prevent either Seán or Jon from moving closer to Annie, but said calmly, “The entire Contingent is royalty. Stop and look at yourselves. There’s bound to be a leader among you. Think about what Tom just said. Why don’t you rule? You could be the king and run the kingdom. That’s a natural extension of what you are doing now.”

“Men rule,” she replied, calmness returning to her voice. “Women become priests, magi.”

“The king is not ruling. Ava Most Revered is. More importantly, why does that matter?” Alec asked. “You’re already doing things that have never been done before.”

Padraig moved toward Alec and the others while Tom stepped closer to his wife. He squeezed her uninjured arm and said, in almost a whisper, “You’d be a good queen, Annie. You understand how all of it works, and how much better it all could work. I think Alec’s right.”

“Do you?” she asked softly, raising her eyes to his.

“Yes,” he responded, his fury draining and his affection for his wife returning.

“I don’t,” she said, bluntly.

When Craig and Rory came up to the attic that evening hauling a new door, they found Alec with his shoes off and his feet on the footstool with Jon’s. Alannah sat on Alec’s lap, but every few minutes the pretty child would change her mind and beg to be held by Jon and the two obligingly handed the fussy baby back and forth.

Seán sprawled on the floor with his back leaning against Fia and worked, inexpertly, on fletching. From time to time he held up a shaft and feathers to Alec, asked for advice, then settled back to his task.

Alec wondered if all of SnakeIn had heard the curses of the woman who had been providing childcare when Padraig confronted her and refused to allow anyone to pay her. He was sure that stress was the reason Erienne had complained of a bad headache. She was resting on her own cot, leaving Jon and Alec to attend to Alannah who had been crying off and on since they had brought her home.

As they sat with the frightened, unhappy toddler, Alec said, “We can’t raise a child, Jon.”

“You saw how bad the conditions were,” Jon responded.

Alec nodded his agreement and began to sing a lullaby softly in his deep, velvety baritone:

The suns are sleeping, my beautiful child.

Tomorrow is waiting, my beautiful child.

Sleep, my child, slumber, my love,

Tomorrow is waiting for my beautiful child.

The song calmed Alannah and she contentedly stuck her fingers into her mouth. Before long she used the wet fingers to climb across Alec’s legs, over the footstool, and into Jon’s lap where she sagged trustingly against Jon’s chest.

“That was a pretty song,” Craig Docherty said as he and Callen hauled the door in. “We could hear you as we came up the stairs. Did your mother sing that to you?”

“My father,” Alec responded, blushing. “My own mother passed when I was too young to remember.”

“You could probably pick up some extra coin singing in the pub downstairs,” Craig continued. “If you want to, that is.” He noticed his son wrinkling his nose and glared a fatherly warning at the youth to stay silent, but said, “Callen, lad, run down and ask your mother for some of the cloth naps she keeps in case any guests have a child who needs changing. We have one here.”

The youth trotted quickly down the stairs. Jon and Alec looked at each other, and then Alec cleared his throat and said, “I’m sorry. What did the new door cost? I’ll pay for it.”

Craig shook his head but didn’t smile and didn’t shift his concentration from repairing the door frame. “Wasn’t you who broke it. Annie has a way about her, that’s for sure.”

©2022 Vera S. Scott