Chapter 15 – A Feast of Kings

Soft footsteps creaked in the distance. Adam shook awake and gasped wide-eyed. In a reflex from the War of the Prophet, he madly reached for a weapon and tried to get to his feet to face any intruders. His knees buckled with a sharp, burning pain and he flopped down. He squeezed his eyes shut and bared his teeth. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Adam exhaled and focused on the sound of the footsteps. The soft, stealthy paces down the stairs undoubtedly belonged to Emily; he sighed in relief.

Light poured in when the door to Adam’s cellar swung open. Adam lifted an arm to shield his painful eyes and craned his neck up with difficulty. Charming as ever. “Ugh, could you close the door?” Adam grumbled.

Emily snickered when she saw him crumpled up on the floor. Carrying packages in her arms, she opened the door a bit wider to let more light in. “The fearless knight took some well-earned shut-eye, I assume? Are you sure you’re still alive?”

“I don’t know, in the time this took you I might as well have died. Maybe you should throw some food at me to check?”

“Ooh! Who’s a hungry fella?” Emily said in a silly voice. “Who’s always grumpy when he’s hungry?” She wiggled an old lump of cheese in her hand.

Adam’s stomach growled like an earthquake when he saw the cheese. “Do I look like a dog to you?! Give it to me!”

“Sure! But just because you’re asking so nicely.” She threw the lump of cheese and giggled as it bounced off his forehead.

FOOD. The cheese was old and stale, yet he wolfed it down like a feast of kings. Relief washed over him as the knots of hunger and worry in his stomach loosened.

“Ah, the knight still has some movement left in him!” One corner of her mouth curled upwards in a mischievous smile. “With the dignity of a lost man in a desert, sprawling towards a cup of water.”

“Har har,” Adam said as he checked for any crumbs of cheese that he missed. “Could I get some more? Or do I have to suffer through more witty nonsense first?”

Emily held up several strings of meat. “And what do we say to people who just saved your ass?”

Adam raised an eyebrow. “That for all her talk about ‘safety and preventing to be heard,’ the princess may be lacking herself. You left the door wide open.”

Adam couldn’t remember being so happy to eat such an old, dry meal. Slowly, his left heart started to pump comforting heat through his body. Despite the guilt, he couldn’t deny being relieved as his pain gradually ebbed away. After a while, he was able to sit upright again with difficulty.

While uttering a short prayer to Aves, Emily held up the first bite of her food to ‘offer it’ to the owl god, as was tradition among members of the Starwing Order. When she had eaten her fill, she walked around the ravaged cellar, pretending to inspect the rubble for anything useful. However, Adam clearly felt her studying glances, although he pretended to be too focused on his mushrooms to notice.

“So,” she said eventually and sat down in front of him.

“Hmm?” Adam raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Do you have anything to explain to me?” There was no hint of a smile on her face.

Adam swallowed the last bits of mushroom. “I’m afraid that since we had the delight of visiting this picturesque township, I’ve got a lot more questions in store than explanations.” Wait, does she mean my use of the Forbidden Arts?

Emily’s big, orange eyes didn’t leave his. “Really? How about that woman just now? Seemed rather agitated with you, don’t you think?”

Adam sighed. “She seemed ready to pull my head off. Sorry, I don’t have a clue who she is or what she was talking about.”

Emily’s eyes narrowed.

“Honestly!” Adam continued. “The only thing that was vaguely familiar to me was the way she fought! But I can’t match that with any martial art or warrior tradition I know of.”

Emily was silent. Her gaze darted over his face, probably looking for signs of a lie.

Bending forwards a bit, Adam told her what he’d learned from eavesdropping on Jeremiah, Horace, and Osterhild. How Jeremiah wanted to be in full control of how the Tainted and Penduli were handled in Gotterburg. This included sending his bannermen and their soldiers south; an operation which Caine and his Penduli had been suspiciously well-informed about. Adam also explained about the mysterious location which was supposedly described by the Tainted.

“So, I think that is where we are right now,” Adam said. “The ‘endless tunnels’ seem to match and I’ve surely seen an ‘abominations with wild emotions.’ So far, I haven’t spotted any relatives who’ve been deceased though.” He rubbed his beard. “The snake kinda reminded me of my dad’s butt-ugly mug when he’d just woken up, but that’s about it.”

Emily didn’t laugh at his sorry attempt at a joke.

Adam sighed. “Believe me, I’m just as puzzled as you are. With the library, the Roots, that charming lady who nearly killed us… it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. However, these people surely know about us.”

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Emily’s eyes darted towards a ripped painting of Caine on the wall. “True.”

“And they’re so obsessed with Catherine they have a whole library about her. About the person who is probably Tainted and tried to kill me.”

“ ‘They,’ huh? Don’t you think it’s just a bit unlikely that that woman was part of the blue people? She looked completely different.”

Adam threw his hands up in frustration. “Fair point! But what do you want me to say? I don’t know who she is! What I do know is that Caine or maybe even Catherine are able to Taint people, as my own son didn’t recognize me! Maybe they Tainted that warrior to hate me as well!”

“Or you’re hiding something big and you’ve spent your time hiding in here coming up with that excuse!” Emily snarled. “Everyone is mind-controlled to hate you, eh? How awfully convenient it’s always someone else’s fault!”

“I’m. Not. Lying… ugh.” Adam sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Let’s calm down for a second, okay? We’re both confused and want to go home.”

Adam looked up at the woman who used to be one of his closest friends and smiled. “I’ve really missed you these past years. All the pranks, the careless fun, and our nights out with the four of us. Back in the Starwing Grove, and just now in the pyramid, I was so relieved to see that you were okay. Not just okay, you were giving those Penduli and Roots what they damn deserve. Is there any chance we could work together? If we trust each other, as we used to in the old days, maybe we can find Oliver and make it back in one piece.”

Emily pulled up her knees and wrapped her arms around them. Resting her pale, heart-shaped face on her knees, she looked at him warily. “Trust? In this war, I’ve seen a lot of anger and hatred. However, I’ve never seen anything like how that woman looked at you.”

Adam swallowed, remembering how the endless disappointment in her eyes had cut him even deeper than the cold fury.

“Must’ve been quite something she… thinks you’ve done,” Emily muttered.

Adam looked into her eyes, trying to make her see that he spoke the truth. “I know, and if I were in your position, I’d ask the same questions. I wish that I could give you the answers.” Adam looked away for a moment, knowing he had to breach that one subject. The conversation he’d been preparing, and dreading, for years. “I know I’ve been gone for a long time, after the War of the Prophet and my trial. I can imagine it’s hard to trust me after that.”

Emily winced. There was a hint of old pain and sadness behind her hard eyes. “Why did you do it?” she asked softly. “The three of us have mourned for you, can you imagine? I got nightmares from your… execution. When I heard from Oliver you were alive it was… unreal, as if you came back from the dead. I was so happy!” Her voice broke a bit. She clenched her hands into fists and punched the ground. “But why? Why hadn’t you told us, or contacted us for all that time? Didn’t we deserve to know?!”

Adam looked her in the eyes, no matter how hard it was to do. “Emily, I am so, so sorry.” He sighed deeply. Although he’d practised the conversation so often before, now that the time had come, all the carefully planned words seemed meaningless. “After my execution, I was confused and hurt to my core.” He winced as painful memories tried to resurface, which he hastily repressed. “The disaster of Ziecherhein was… I have no words for it. Ziecherhein’s Menhir League, the Starwing Grove, the Badger—all gone. So many good people died that day. So many lost fathers and mothers, hopes and dreams. And for some reason, Aves, or whatever Gods may be up there, let me survive that shit.” Adam gave a barking laugh. “Can you imagine? Only me, instead of all those who actually deserved it!”

Adam squeezed his eyes shut, trying valiantly to repress the gruelling memories. He tried not to think about the dead blue eyes of Alef again.

“However, that everyone thought I’d conspired with the Prophet for causing the disaster, that’s what really hurt me.”

Emily’s expression had softened a bit.

“I thought everyone, all of Dorenland, believed I was a monster and a traitor,” Adam said. “I barely survived, and I thought they would try to kill me again if anyone knew. In my panic, I shut down contact with everyone and hid behind a false name. And I know, I know I should have trusted you, Oliver, and...” He paused for a moment. “To still believe me. I apologize.”

“I can only imagine what that was like,” Emily said softly. “That… must’ve been traumatic.”

Adam nodded slowly, with a vacant expression. Kind of an understatement.

They looked at each other for a while. Until she closed her eyes, let go of her mask of doubt and worry, and smiled at him. An earnest smile without mischief. “I am glad you survived though. And I can imagine that must’ve been horrific to experience. And, I mean, there are less capable people to have beside me in a fight.” She laughed. “So yeah, let’s work together.”

Adam smiled with relief as tension at the sides of his head loosened a bit. One step at a time.

Emily clapped her gloved hands together. “So, maybe we should think about our next move! I’d actually prefer not to get kidnapped or whatever these Roots are planning.”

Adam pressed a finger to his lips.

“Right, sorry,” she said with a soft voice.

“I wouldn’t mind paying a visit to Caine,” Adam said. “He has some explaining to do, to put it mildly, and I want my family back. However, I think our first priority should be to find Oliver. He was in the same room as us when Caine did his Invocation and I’m not going to lose two of my oldest friends.”

Emily nodded. “Agreed! Plus, having him on board would increase our chances of actually surviving this place or getting to Caine. But we—or I, at least—have no idea where to find either of them. And we don’t know if we can keep finding food or drinkable fluids in the meantime.”

“True,” Adam said. “However, there must be some kind of logic or system to this place, this bizarre civilization, wherever we might be. We just need to figure it out. Just like this strange kind of sorcery that is practised by Caine and the Shepherds.” Adam rubbed his beard. “All sorcery is based on rules, just like the laws of nature. And if we can understand how their Invocations work, we can learn to deal with them. And, hopefully, even learn how to cure the Taint.”

Adam cracked his neck and sat up a bit. Although his body still hurt, he could feel the soothing heat from his heart slowly return as he digested his food. “Oh, and I’ve got an idea of how we could find Oliver! Back during the War of the Prophet, he was captured by the Pure. Caine was… I mean, we were able to find where they’d bound him because Oliver had subtly influenced the flows of Oquira in the air along the way.” Adam smiled vaguely. “Back when we were kids, that’s the way they marked the path to our secret hideout in the woods.”

Emily laughed. “Hah! ‘Secret hideout?’ You mean that drafty cabin?”

Adam felt blood rush to his cheeks. “What? It was amazing! The three of us ate sweets and played card games all night in there. We hunted and sparred… wait, you weren’t part of the group yet back then, how do you know about the hideout?”

Emily raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “Please. You three were whispering and acting excited all the time, so I knew something was going on. I was kinda disappointed when I followed you there though. From the way you talked, I expected a castle at least.”

“You’ve always been a nosy piece of work, haven’t you?”

She stuck her tongue out at him.