I was sicker than I'd ever been in a short but healthy life, so sick I couldn't sleep but lay watching imaginary bugs crawl up the walls. And of course it had to be while I was like this--just about the lowest I'd sunk yet--that the Marquis of Shevraeth chose to reappear in my life.
It was not long after the single bell toll that means midnight and first-white-candle. Very suddenly the door opened, and a tall, glittering figure walked in, handing something to the silent guard at the door, who then went out. I heard footsteps receding as I stared, without at first comprehending, at the torch-bearing aristocrat before me.
I blinked at the resplendent black and crimson velvet embroidered over with gold and set with rubies, and at the rubies glittering on fingers and in pale braided hair. My gaze rose to the rakish hat set low over the familiar gray eyes.
He must have been waiting for me to recognize him.
"The King will summon you at first-green tomorrow," the Marquis said quickly, all trace of the drawl gone. "It appears that your brother has been making a fool of Debegri, leading him all over your mountains and stealing our horses and supplies. The King has changed his mind: Either you surrender, speaking for your brother and your people, or he's going to make an example of you in a public execution tomorrow. Not a noble's death, but a criminal's."
"Criminal's?" I repeated stupidly, my voice nearly gone.
"It will last all day," he said with a grimace of distaste. It was the first real expression I'd ever seen from him, but by then I was in no mood to appreciate it.
Sheer terror overwhelmed me then. All my courage, my firm resolves, had worn away during the time-measures of illness, and I could not prevent my eyes from stinging with tears of fear--and shame. "Why are you telling me this?" I said, hiding my face in my hands.
"Will you consider it? It might…buy you time."
This made no sense to me. "What time can I buy with dishonor?" All I could imagine was the messengers flying westward, and the looks on Bran's and Khesot's faces--and on Julen's and Calaub's and Devan's, people who had risked their lives twice trying to rescue me--when they found out. "I know why you're here." I snuffled into my palms. "Want to gloat? See me turn coward? Well, gloat away…" But I couldn't say anything more, and after about as excruciating a pause as I'd ever endured, I heard his heels on the stone.
The door shut, the footsteps withdrew, and I was left in silence. It was that I hit the low point of my life.
It was not long after the single bell toll that means midnight and first-white-candle. Very suddenly the door opened, and a tall, glittering figure walked in, handing something to the silent guard at the door, who then went out. I heard footsteps receding as I stared, without at first comprehending, at the torch-bearing aristocrat before me.
I blinked at the resplendent black and crimson velvet embroidered over with gold and set with rubies, and at the rubies glittering on fingers and in pale braided hair. My gaze rose to the rakish hat set low over the familiar gray eyes.
He must have been waiting for me to recognize him.
"The King will summon you at first-green tomorrow," the Marquis said quickly, all trace of the drawl gone. "It appears that your brother has been making a fool of Debegri, leading him all over your mountains and stealing our horses and supplies. The King has changed his mind: Either you surrender, speaking for your brother and your people, or he's going to make an example of you in a public execution tomorrow. Not a noble's death, but a criminal's."
"Criminal's?" I repeated stupidly, my voice nearly gone.
"It will last all day," he said with a grimace of distaste. It was the first real expression I'd ever seen from him, but by then I was in no mood to appreciate it.
Sheer terror overwhelmed me then. All my courage, my firm resolves, had worn away during the time-measures of illness, and I could not prevent my eyes from stinging with tears of fear--and shame. "Why are you telling me this?" I said, hiding my face in my hands.
"Will you consider it? It might…buy you time."
This made no sense to me. "What time can I buy with dishonor?" All I could imagine was the messengers flying westward, and the looks on Bran's and Khesot's faces--and on Julen's and Calaub's and Devan's, people who had risked their lives twice trying to rescue me--when they found out. "I know why you're here." I snuffled into my palms. "Want to gloat? See me turn coward? Well, gloat away…" But I couldn't say anything more, and after about as excruciating a pause as I'd ever endured, I heard his heels on the stone.
The door shut, the footsteps withdrew, and I was left in silence. It was that I hit the low point of my life.
( Sherwood Smith )
[ Crown Duel ]
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