Free the Darkness (King's Dark Tidings Book 1) (45 page)

“No matter what you decide,” he continued, “I will always
honor and protect you so long as I am permitted, but I hoped you might consider
accepting me as your prime suitor. When it is time, I will make sure you have
everything you need and anything you desire.”

Frisha’s mouth gaped like a fish a few times. As Frisha stared
into Rezkin’s beautiful topaz eyes, she could see that he meant every word he
said. She truly believed that if she asked for it, he would find a way to give
her the world. The fact that he promised to be there for her, whether she
accepted him or not, told her that he sincerely loved her. “Oh Rez, yes, yes,
yes, yes, yes! We’ll have to convince my uncle, but I don’t care what he says.
I say, ‘
Yes
!’”

Frisha flung her arms around Rezkin’s neck, and he did not
even tense. He decided that he must have unconsciously anticipated the move.
Rezkin released a heavy breath he did not realize he had been holding. Now that
the issue was out of the way, he no longer had to worry about his
friends
replacing Frisha or her uncle marrying her off before he had a chance to
promote her to Wife status.

Rezkin thought he should have felt more concerned about
entering into a contract of any sort at this point, but he was simply relieved
that this was one less problem with which to be concerned. Now that he had a
future wife lined up, he had no need to revisit the issue in the future;
although, he was not certain he would have addressed the issue at all if
circumstances had been different. Having a wife and offspring seemed tedious at
best.

Rezkin’s instincts went on alert when he noticed Tam was
moving in on them quickly. Tam threw his arms around both his friends and
squeezed. “Congratulations! I’m glad you two finally got that worked out. I
thought I’d be an old man by the time you two got through your courtship. It
took you nearly a month!” Tam teased.

Frisha giggled and swatted at him. Rezkin did not
understand. A month was on the lower end of decent for a courtship that had not
been pre-arranged by family. After a moment, Rezkin realized Tam was making an
attempt at humor. Rezkin was not sure he could pull off laughter at this time.
He had not prepared for it since he was not playing any particular role. He
settled for producing his best smile.

“Absolutely not!” barked General Marcum. “Last night you did
not even know what a prime courtship was, and now you are ready to enter into
one? Well, I know
you
did not know,” he said to Frisha, “but
he
knows much more than he wishes us to believe.”

The three friends, the general, and Lady Adelina were
gathered in the study. Rezkin and Frisha had planned to discuss the matter with
her family after dinner, but the general returned home early, and Frisha just
could not wait. Rezkin had approached the general and his wife asking for a
word. Tam and Frisha, refusing to be left out, joined them.

“
You
are up to something,
Rezkin
, and I will
not let you dupe me or my family,” the general continued as he paced angrily
across the floor. Rezkin stood stoically watching the man stomp back and forth.
Everyone else was seated watching with wide eyes. Even the Lady Adelina did not
seem inclined to interrupt her husband’s tirade.

“I assure you, general, I have no ulterior motives,” Rezkin
asserted.

“Ha! Like I would believe
you
,” the general remarked.

Rezkin considered the situation objectively. Besides
Marcum’s general dislike of him, to what aspect was the general most opposed?
He seemed most concerned that someone was trying to swindle him out of his
estate.

Making a quick decision, Rezkin offered a concession,
“General Marcum, if your greatest concern is that I am attempting to claim your
estate against your wishes then I will gladly remove it from the terms of the
agreement. In fact, I do not require that Frisha come to the agreement with any
kind of dowry at all. My only desire is to retain Frisha.”

General Marcum stopped in his pacing and stared at Rezkin
like he was some fantastical creature. Lady Adelina gasped and covered her
mouth with her hand as her eyes darted to her young niece. Frisha had tears in
her eyes and was grasping Tam’s hand. Tam simply wore the biggest grin he had
ever seen.

“You do not want the dowry?” the general asked uncertainly.
After a moment, he collected himself, and his anger returned. “Oh, you are
good. You are bluffing, though. You do not really believe I would consider
sending my niece out into the world without a dowry. Her father would
disembowel me. Besides, I have already named her my heir. You know I will not
retract that for
your
sake.”

Rezkin restrained his frustration before the audience, and for
all appearances, he looked steadfast and earnest with a hint of boredom. He
asked, “What exactly would convince you of my sincerity, General?”

“To start with, a
name
!” the general barked.

“A name?” Rezkin asked with confusion.

“Yes,
your
name. Your family name, to be specific. I
do not believe for one minute that you were raised as some commoner orphan,” he
stated.

“I would gladly give it if I had one to give. I truly do not
have a family name. If my parents had one, I would not know since I never met
them,” Rezkin explained, a bit of his frustration breaking through.

“Fine, then where are you from? Give me the name of this
fort in which you were raised,” Marcum ordered.

Rezkin rubbed at his jaw in an uncharacteristic outward
expression of discomfort. This was going to be more difficult than he thought.
“I am afraid it also does not have a name, or if it does, I do not know it.”

Frisha gasped, “Rezkin! Just tell him!” Rezkin looked at her
apologetically.

“A fort with no name,” the general stated flatly. He looked
over at Frisha in exasperation, “You see? A man with no name from a place with
no name.”

“I have a given name. It is Rezkin,” the young man replied.

The general scowled, “That is not a name! It is a character
– a joke!”

Rezkin frowned. “A character?”

“I tell you this!” the general continued. “None of my forts
are without a name and neither do they take to raising and training orphans!”

The light tapping at the door sounded like thunder in the
booming silence that followed the general’s shout.

“Enter!” he barked.

Steward Narus entered the room and announced, “General
Marcum, there is a Lieutenant Jimson here to see you.”

The general paused. He glanced at Rezkin and then Tam and
Frisha, who had been the lieutenant’s traveling companions. “He said he wishes
to see
me
?”

“Yes, My Lord, shall I show him in?” Narus asked, his tone
filled with boredom.

“Yes, Narus, bring him here. Perhaps he can help to
straighten out some of this mess,” the general muttered.

A few moments later, Lieutenant Jimson entered the study
surprised to see such a gathering. Maintaining his attention on the general, a
man he never thought to meet in person, he saluted smartly and said, “General
Marcum, I am Lieutenant Jimson. I have a letter for you from Colonel Simmons of
Fort Maneske.”

The general narrowed his eyes and said, “You carried this
message yourself?”

“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant replied.

“You arrived in Kaibain more than two days ago in the
company of my niece, her escort, and this…
rogue
…” he motioned toward
Rezkin with irritation, and Jimson’s eyes briefly met those of the man in
question with surprise and confusion. The general continued, “…and you are just
now delivering the message?”

“Yes, sir,” Jimson replied anxiously but without a hint of
apology.

The general huffed. “Just give it to me,” he barked. The
general had been in a foul mood to begin with, and this was not making it any
better.

Lieutenant Jimson confidently strode forward, handed the
sealed letter to the general, and then backed up a few paces to resume his
stance at attention.

General Marcum checked that the seal had not been tampered
with, and then opened the letter from the colonel. As he read, his brows rose
higher and higher. At one point his attention flicked to Rezkin’s swords, and
his hand shook slightly before he steadied them. Once he finished reading the
letter, he read it again. After reading it the second time, he took his time
folding the parchment, cleared his throat and, without looking up, quietly
said, “You may be at ease lieutenant.” Lieutenant Jimson relaxed but remained
standing in place.

The general’s anger had clearly dissipated, and the Lady
Adelina was concerned by his reaction. “What is it dear? Are you unwell?”

Marcum looked at her as though he did not really comprehend
what she asked, and then he finally turned his attention to the warrior he had
just been berating for the last twenty minutes. Rezkin’s icy stare was
arresting. The young man reached into a pouch at his waist and pulled out a
small silver tube, which he held out for the general. General Marcum realized
that Rezkin knew exactly what was in the letter.

Marcum took the silver tube and carefully removed the cap
and contents. He unfolded the parchment and read. Even without the enchanted
seal he would have known Bordran’s hand. He lowered himself into a chair as he
studied the familiar script of his old friend. To Marcum, Bordran had been more
than a king. He had been his closest friend and confidant. Marcum, being quite
a bit older, had known Bordran all of the man’s life. He truly missed the man,
and he missed the king. Bordran had been a king Marcum was proud to serve. When
Bordran gave an order, Marcum felt confident he could follow it without
reserve. Things had not been the same since Bordran died. Things were not the
same with Caydean on the throne.

The general finally was able to focus his attention on the
content
of the parchment and was shocked that not only did the Certificate of Authority
bequeath the warrior with
two
Sheyalin blades, but it also did not
specify or limit the young man’s authority in any way. The fact that Rezkin’s
name and description had been written in by a different hand was odd. It seemed
absurd that the king would compose a non-retractable certificate of unlimited
authority and leave the name of the recipient blank. Anyone could have written
any name in the blank and had the authority to do whatever he wanted in the
kingdom. No, that was impossible. The mage seal would have prevented it.

The other oddity was that Rezkin’s name lacked not only a
family name and place of origin, but also a title of any sort. By kingdom law,
he truly was just
Rezkin
. He was not lying about that. A sobering
thought crossed the general’s mind.

Still gripping the certificate, he looked up at Rezkin and
said, “You could have just claimed her all along.”

Rezkin cocked his head in thought and then simply nodded
once.

“Why did you not?” the general asked. “Or is that why I am
receiving this now?”

“It was purely coincidence that the lieutenant chose to
deliver his message to you at this time, and I would prefer to discuss any
other details with you in private,” Rezkin stated.

“They do not know?” General Marcum asked in surprise.

“No, and I would prefer to keep it that way for now,” Rezkin
responded.

Tam, Frisha, and Lady Adelina were all astonished and
utterly confused by the entire spectacle. Whatever the lieutenant delivered had
clearly unnerved the general, and then the note Rezkin handed the man had taken
the wind right out of his sails. Now, they were talking about some secret.

Tam and Frisha shared a look. A secret
they
did not
know? One about Rez? What could Rezkin be hiding, and how could it be so
important as to affect the General of the Army in such a way? It had to be
important to Marcum in his capacity
as
the General since the missive
came to him via one of his lieutenants from the colonel at Maneske. What did
the general mean when he said that Rez could have claimed ‘
her
’ all
along? Was he talking about Frisha? That made no sense. People could not claim
other people. Was he talking about a weapon? Sometimes men referred to their
weapons as
she
.

Marcum glanced over at Lady Adelina, Frisha, and Tam and
said, “If you would all please excuse us, we have some business to discuss.”
With the strange change of mood and Rezkin’s insistence on a private
discussion, Frisha decided not to argue. If Rezkin could convince the general
to accept him as her prime suitor, then she did not really care what was
said…for now. She
really
wanted to know the secret. What was in those
notes? With a questioning backward glance at Rezkin, Frisha followed Tam and
Lady Adelina out of the room.

“Lieutenant, will you be staying for a while?” the general
asked.

Jimson looked uncertainly at Rezkin, “I had hoped to visit
for a bit. We were to discuss our travel plans.”

Rezkin nodded once and said, “The lieutenant may stay. He is
already aware of the contents of both of those documents.”

The general realized he was still holding Rezkin’s
Certificate of Authority. With one last perusal he rolled it back up and
replaced it in the metal tube before giving back to Rezkin. Marcum strolled
over to his desk where sat a wine carafe and a set of goblets. He filled three
of the goblets and then handed two of them to Rezkin and the lieutenant. “Shall
we sit?”

The men seated themselves in the three high-backed chairs.
Rezkin examined his goblet. Under the circumstances and having seen the general
pour the wine, he decided the threat of poison was minimal. Besides, he was
aware of only two poisons in existence that could dissolve that quickly, and
neither were fast acting. He had antidotes for both in the pouch at his waist,
along with several others.

A few moments of uncomfortable silence ensued before anyone
spoke. The young warrior’s Certificate of Authority was more than just a
parchment bestowing the Sheyalins upon him. It was an authority that should
have been outlined clearly. The general found himself in a quandary. The
failure to define that authority meant the young man had both a complete lack
of authority
and
an authority to rival the king –
literally
.

“I take it you are the reason I did not receive the
lieutenant’s message on the day of his arrival in Kaibain?” the general
directed at Rezkin.

“Yes, I requested that he not deliver the message
immediately. The lieutenant felt beholden to oblige.” The general eyed the
lieutenant attempting to discern the man’s motives. Lieutenant Jimson held his
head proudly and met the general’s eye.

General Marcum nodded and said, “Yes, I can see that he did.
I understand your difficulty, Lieutenant. We are all in a grey area, here. This
young man,” he indicated Rezkin, “has been given the right to enforce his
authority within this kingdom, and yet, it seems, that he is the only one who
can determine what that authority
is
. I cannot imagine what Bordran was
thinking.” But that was not exactly true. He had an idea. Actually, he had two,
and he was not sure which was worse.

Rezkin said nothing. He had no idea what the old king had
been thinking, either. He was not even sure the king had meant for the swords
to belong to
him
in the first place. His name had been written in a
different hand, and it had not been that long ago, since the description of him
was a recent one. Two years ago when the old king died, Rezkin had been several
inches shorter.

Breaking the silence, General Marcum continued, “Bordran
died a little over two years ago. You claim to be nineteen, so you would have
been sixteen, maybe seventeen, when these were bestowed? There was no
celebration. There were no announcements. Even I, the General of the Army of
Ashai, was not told. Whatever it is you did to earn the honor of carrying not
one but
two
Sheyalins was kept in complete secrecy. Does King Caydean even
know?”