CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
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Urman Gant
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19th of Decepter, 935 PC
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Urman crossed his arms and studied the board intently. He had no idea what he was looking for but he’d seen the khet players in Locke do it years ago. Figured if it helped them, it could help a dunce like him. Kathar sat about the same way, but with an extra hint of know-how, no way his heart was beating on his chest like Urman’s. Why in the three hells am I gettin’ worked up over this stupid game? Just pick a damn piece and move it. He leaned forward, eyeing a wooden tile in the middle of the board that he hadn’t moved in awhile. Doubt seized him. There was a reason he had put that piece there, but lords he couldn’t remember why. He froze, bent over the board, staring at Kathar. Not a single clue anywhere to be found. He leaned back in his chair and searched for a different move. The four-legged masterpiece fit his ass so perfectly he considered bringing it with him on the trip to Locke – never a good seat in the forest. How’s he get it so perfect? The importance of his next move slipped to the back of his mind.
“You will have to make a move eventually,” Kathar said.
“I’m thinkin’,” Urman said, looking back down at the board. Whole thing looked foreign again. Maybe this is why he wins every time. Oh, well. Haven’t gotten this far in life by playin’ it safe. He moved the same tile he’d reached for initially. The one holding the whole operation together. “Khet.” As if Kathar needed to be told of the threat.
Kathar made his move before Urman’s hand was back on his lap. It only took a few seconds before Urman’s shoulders slouched. “I’m absolute rubbish…” He left it there, knowing the words meant more than just being bad at some game.
Kolton climbed from his knees, smiling at his daddy’s success and headed off for his blocks.
“Ah.” Kathar waved at Urman dismissively and began resetting the board. “Don’t fret over this silly game. I spend most evenings staring at the board as if it were a beautiful woman.” He did. Urman had seen him do it. Sitting there, locked in a trance like the board was talking to him about future games. Or maybe they were chuckling about how bad Urman was? They’d made it a routine. One game in the morning, one game at night, sometimes two at night, and Urman had lost every time. Horribly. Lost to Kolton too. That there was enough to make a grown man feel something less than good.
“I just wanna beat ya once.”
“Don’t get your hopes up. You’re not exactly made for khet.” Kathar stood, taking his cup of wine with him.
Urman glared at him, feeling like he did when anyone gave him a slight jab. “What’s that supposed t’mean?”
Kathar’s grin quickly turned into a soft laugh. “Khet’s a game you must study until you know it like the back of your hand. And you, my friend, you do not have the patience to study anything, let alone a game you don’t enjoy.”
“And how’d ya get so patient yourself?” A single wave of Kathar’s arm insinuated that living in the woods might help with that. His eyes ended up on Kolton and that made even more sense. Urman couldn’t argue. And his ass itched, so he did that instead. “They play khet in every city in the empire, ya know. Why don’t ya make your way over to Goro? Play with someone besides yourself.”
“I do. Once a month. I’ve met some good people there.” He has other friends. The fact stung like a bee; briefly but sharply. The fact that Kathar’s strange life in the woods was still a better life than his own made him feel something. Sad? Embarrassed? Who knew? All he knew these days was anger and fear. All the other emotions were like puzzles he had to solve just to know what in the three hells he was feeling.
“Good,” Urman said softly, nodding his head. “Good.” His second attempt was more genuine. No sense in bein’ jealous, just need t’get my own.
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Kathar knelt in front of a tree, looking at another wooden box no larger than his boot. Twelfth one that afternoon. An iron chain wrapped around the tree and laced through two holes in the side of the box.
“Couldn’t ya have put these damn things a little closer together?” Urman said. He hadn’t been cold in a few days. Amazing how quick your body can learn to love warmth. He was tired too and not getting any thrills from this work. Not sleeping when you were on the run was hardly a problem but not sleeping and then trying to stay awake through a day a monk would call boring was tough.
Kathar kept looking at the chain like it was something other than a plain old string of metal, checking for signs of intruders and rust. “Do you think all the animals live in one part of the forest?” He dropped a handful of berries and two strips of dry meat into the box and stood up.
“Gotta say, I don’t really care much about the animals or where they live.” That wasn’t true though. He loved animals, just not when he was cold.
Kathar rolled his eyes. He considered himself something of a guardian of the Emerald Forest. “Every prized jewel has someone that protects it.” He started off down the trail.
Urman followed along like a boy annoyed with his father about how long the errands were taking. Except, Kathar’s boy was there and he wasn’t complaining at all. Maybe it was the man, not the age, that made someone impatient. “Why ya always saying that?”
“Because the Heart of the Emerald is like a precious artifact. There’s more history in this part of the forest than the rest of the empire combined.”
“Three hells, don’t kid yourself,” Urman said, trying to blow life into his fingers. “I’ve been all through this damn forest and all I ever find is ugly tree after ugly tree.”
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“You see beauty about as well as you see the right move on the khet board then,” Kathar said. “And history isn’t always beautiful. You of all people should know that.”
He stood there thinking about that, unwilling to pull his hands from his warm breath until he said, “Let’s go home.” The words embarrassed him when he realized he wasn’t sure if he’d crossed some kind of line or not. “I mean back to your den.”
“There’s one more,” Kolton said. He was bundled up in so many layers of clothes he almost had to waddle when walking. Wouldn’t have caught Urman’s daddy wrapping him up in too many clothes. Come to think of it, he’d never had too many clothes to put on.
Kathar barreled down the trail behind his boy. “Couple more things. Then we’ll go home.”
The Emerald Forest was a quiet place for as big as it was. Too quiet. He’d spent nights with Ezil’s company begging The Creator to let him hear something in the trees, knowing no matter what she sent him, it wasn't as scary as what his imagination could come up with. He’d even had a dream that the Lotus Queen herself was lurking out there, waiting for him in the shadows. At least today the sun was bright and he could see through the leafless trees for several hundred feet in every direction. He liked his chances in damn near any fight when he could see a bastard coming.
Kathar led him up a long slope with no trail. He slipped all over the dead leaves and had to begrudgingly use his hands as he cursed the frozen ground for nipping at his fingertips. They could see for miles and miles from up here. Parts of the forest were still alive but a lot of it looked like the trees had forgotten a towel after a bath. Too ugly a sight for Urman to feel lucky though.
Kathar let out a long breath like he’d been thinking about something for too long without coming up with an answer.
“What?”
“Can you get Kolton and yourself home from here?”
A strange question. The kind that instantly made you feel guilty even when you hadn’t done anything. Of course, Urman was seldom innocent. “I think so. Why?”
Kathar tilted his head, giving into some responsibility he knew he had to do. “I need to check on Steppe. I haven’t been over there in a while.”
Panic rose in Urman’s chest. Not a chance I’m letting him go over there. It wasn’t like Kathar was some kind of noble knight that would throw him behind bars if he found out what had happened to the Steppes, but knowing would crush him. Urman wasn’t all that sure why though, chalked it up to some kind of bond between forest people. No reason to put him through that. Not yet anyway. “That’ll take ya four days to get over there and back.”
“Such is my duty,” Kathar said. “There’s no artifact as precious as that village.”
“I can’t wait that long. I gotta get to Locke by the new year.” He hid his desperation better than he expected.
“You can wait four days. The lords know you could use the rest.”
“Goin’ without ya then,” Urman said. Couldn’t have sounded more childish if he tried.
“Must you do this? Must you be so difficult?”
Urman swung his hand toward Steppe. “Go ahead. I’d rather go to Locke alone anyway. I’ll feed the little fella and tuck him in before I go.” His tone was sharper than he’d intended. Kolton wasn’t all too thrilled by the idea of being alone with Uncle Urman.
“Why are you being such a prick?” Kathar looked at him with those damn eyes. Always the damn eyes. Couldn’t hide shit from them. “What did you do?”
“Nothin’. I’m just in a hurry. Like always. And it’s fuckin’ cold. I wanna sit by the heat for a bit before I have to walk through this shit for days. Goin’ off on some check up ain’t in my best interest.” The only sound in the forest were dead leaves sweeping across the ground. It made all his stupid babbling even easier to hear, to pick apart. “And my feet hurt. Ya know how I get when my feet hurt.” He’d never once mentioned sore feet to Kathar. The boots his pa had given him were mighty comfortable. Missed them something fierce.
“What are you talking about?”
“My feet hurt because these fuckin’ boots are too big,” Urman said, kicking a foot up, dragging leaves through the air. “Blisters are gonna form any second.”
“Then take them off! Go without, ya ungrateful ass. But I’m checking on Steppe… Unless you have a reason for me not to waste my time.” Urman pinched his temples and noticed little Kolton’s head peeking out from behind a tree. “What did you do, Urman? Look at me!” Urman turned, jaw clenched, fists clenched, abdomen tight. He was about ready to fight this fucker until he remembered who it was. “What did you do, Urman?”
“I didn’t do it!” Urman screamed. The world melted away around them. Their eyes were locked so tight the forest could have burst into flames and the two men wouldn’t have noticed. Urman cracked first. “The Lotus lit ‘em up and took the Marsallas.”
Kathar swallowed. Then let out a breath. “And you were involved?”
“No. I mean, yes, but not like ya think. I never drew a blade, never hurt a soul.” The image of blood puddling around Ezil’s head flashed through his mind. That bastard didn’t count though. He had it coming.
“What were you doing with Lotus?” Kathar asked, but didn’t need help with the answer. “The formula. The fucking formula. You sold out an entire village to save your brother…”
“Ain’t the worst thing I’ve done to save him.”
Kathar shook his head in disbelief. “But Steppe, Urman. Steppe! They were incredible people.”
“That got mixed up with the wrong plans.”
“Helping keep two people safe is hardly something to shun.” Kathar’s skin was pale. He looked around the forest like there was some kind of answer in the trees as touched his forehead and covered his mouth.
Kolton’s shoulder was the only part of him that could be seen now.
“I did what I had to do. Like I always have,” Urman said. Kathar walked to a tree and leaned against it, fingers laced on top of his head. It was like each dead villager was lining up to punch him in the gut like the little pricks at the dock used to do. Seeing his friend like that, his only friend, squashed Urman’s anger like a bug. “I didn’t know they was gonna kill ‘em all,” he whispered.
Kathar exploded unexpectedly. “They’re Lotus, it’s what they do!”
“It’s what I do too!” Urman screamed. He looked at the ground but could feel Kathar staring at him. “I’m a killer, Kathar. Plain and simple. I slit throats and break necks. I do whatever I have to do to stay alive.” Their eyes met. “I didn’t know they was gonna kill ‘em. I really didn’t. But I didn’t care either. Not at the time. Just stood there and watched like a fuckin’ maniac.” He shook his head. “I dunno who I am anymore.” He’d never heard such a terrible silence. He couldn’t understand how it felt so heavy. All he knew was that it was crushing any bit of his old self that was still alive in him. “Ya wanna know why I don’t want ya comin’ to Locke with me? Because I can’t trust myself not to kill ya if I have to. Think of that. I’m worried I’d kill ya if I have to. My only friend.”
Kathar walked right through all the horrors that surrounded Urman like one of those heroes that comes strolling out of the fire carrying someone on their shoulder. How could he be such a good man?
Urman made a twisted up face he’d never look at in the mirror. “I just want him back so bad.”
Kathar put his hands on Urman’s shoulders. “And you’ll have him back. I swear to it.”
“Don’t say that.” Urman shook his head. “I don’t even know if he’s still alive.”
Kathar spoke quietly. Almost eerily. “Well, if he isn’t then we’ll just have to kill the son of a bitch that took him from you.”