Bounty (45 page)

Catris, however, was not so quick to accept defeat after going to such measures to free him. Taking a step back, she blocked access to Godren. “This man is not what you think,” she objected.

“Tris, step away from him,” Talivor said very evenly. “He is wanted for murder and countless other crimes in my city.”

“Murder which he did not commit and other crimes that he only engaged in for survival.”

“I am not asking you to defend him, Tris. Step away.”

“Father, this man saved my life. He is the one who rescued me from the cottage in the woods.”

The king seemed taken aback by that, but he stuck to his initial sentiments. “And how do we know he did not deliver you for popularity, only because he was seeking some manner of clemency?” He nodded to his men, not waiting for an answer. “Get her away from him.”

“If he had wanted popularity, he would have sought it,” the princess protested. “You forget he disappeared without showing his face.”

“Well he was both wise and deceitful not to,” Talivor said.

Catris did not defy the guards as they removed her from Godren’s presence and began shackling him again. She was too focused on getting through to her father. “Father, they have denounced the accusations of murder, and surely a smattering of small crime can be pardoned in exchange for him delivering me from my captors in the woods. If you had seen the grievances he suffered to get me out safely, you would not think twice about whether or not to pardon him.”

The king turned to the constable. “Is this true? The murder charges have been dropped?”

The constable inclined his head, looking more humbled and awkward by the minute. “Indeed, your majesty. Just now.”

Talivor’s eyes shifted to Godren. “What grievances were these?

Godren opened his mouth, but found himself faltering at what to say, and how to say it.

Seth cleared his throat in the background. “He…ah…was a walking horror of wounds and lacerations, Sire,” he volunteered a little hesitantly. “Stabbed, scored by glass he used as his own weapon, beaten to a pulp by fists, and, ah…caught in a game trap.”

The king glanced at Seth as he spoke, but returned his eyes to Godren as soon as the account was spoken. “You endured that in the sole interests of my daughter?”

“Someone had to,” Godren replied, and then remembered himself and thought to add, “Your Majesty.”

“And you are responsible for rendering her captors to the state we found them in,” Talivor wanted to confirm.

Wanting to squirm with the increasing urge to preserve his modesty, Godren nevertheless answered the question. “That depends on how you found them, Sire. But if they were still unconscious by the cottage – then yes.”

“By yourself?” came the next doubtful question.

Cringing inside, Godren hesitated as he wished he could find a more comfortable answer.

“He’s afraid so, your majesty,” Seth tried to help once again.

Ignoring Seth, Talivor’s steady gaze pressured Godren to give his own answer.

“It’s alright, Godren,” Catris urged.

Seeing there was no help for it, Godren nodded once. “Yes.”

Considering him with great intensity, Talivor let a small suspenseful silence settle over the yard. “What crimes have you committed, Godren?”

“Father–” Catris protested.

“Be still, Tris.” He waited for Godren’s reply.

Feeling a grave lump form in the pit of his stomach, Godren resigned himself to it and gave a report. “Theft, evasion, trespassing and breach, vandalism…and a manner of treason,” he finished.

“Godren!” Cat exclaimed in objection at that last item, but he didn’t look at her.

“And what manner of treason would that be?” Talivor pressed.

“Fraternizing with an enemy. I was contracted into the services of Mastodon, Sire.”

The silence grew pale.

“You work for Mastodon?” the king asked very dangerously.

Godren shook his head. “My services have been terminated.”

“On what grounds?”

“I fulfilled my contract as quickly as possible.”

“And what was your contract?”

“To round up the bounty hunters that posed a threat to her.”

“You knowingly thwarted the noble attempts to bring in a great terror of my city,” Talivor interpreted.

“Father–”

“Hush, Tris.”

“I hunted them,” Godren elaborated honestly.

“So you did worse than thwart them. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

“Only that I have been fighting for justice all along, so I will accept the consequences of my actions.”

Talivor did not immediately reply to that. Catris took the opportunity to meekly penetrate the conversation again;

“Father?” she tried very docilely.

“Yes, Tris?” he granted without looking at her.

“He is also the man who felled the wolf from the shadows when it attacked me in the city. I would have been gone twice if not for this man. If you cannot bring yourself to give him thanks for saving my life twice over…at least let him go.”

That additional revelation broke through some of the king’s unwavering sentiments, but he did not let them go completely. “Get on a horse, Tris.” As she moved to obey at his no-nonsense tone of voice, the king addressed Godren one more time. “Because you have done me an unthinkable personal service, apparently twice over, I will choose to overlook the crimes that others seem to have forced you to commit. But if you know what’s good for you, you will not show your face in my presence again. And if you ever aspire to come near my
daughter
again, it had better be because you’re saving her life. Do you understand?”

Somehow, even though his freedom had finally been granted by the greatest authority, Godren found himself stung. He blinked against the unfriendly restrictions, but could make no objection. “I understand.”

Giving a curt nod, the king reined his mount around, and the rest of his men followed suit like a flock of birds. They fanned around in an arc and cantered away from the yard, down the road and over the bridge.

35:
Forbidden Ambition

G
odren ignored the blow of being forbidden to see the princess in order to dedicate himself to a long-overdue family reunion. Rather than beating, his heart throbbed, but he had denied himself the princess before and he had a great deal to be thankful for, just now. Ilsa and Carra were both overjoyed with relief – heartbreakingly so. It was a miracle to see his family again, especially happy. Their radiant joy brought back memories of festive nights in town, whenever the townspeople could find something to celebrate. The dazzling strung lights that criss-crossed over the streets, the girls running around with flowers in their hair, the quaint melodies of folk dances that drifted in tempered waves to those who dodged the action and ate candy in the companionable shadows… He smiled fondly remembering when he and Seth used to do that, retiring to the edges of the party and finding a cozy nook where one house overlapped with another, bonding to the tune of peace and happiness around them. There was something about standing back and observing the liveliness that just encouraged a homey vibrancy in your soul.

But there were no lights strung over the dormant streets of Wingbridge, and though a homey sense of familiarity was awake in Godren’s soul, the vibrancy wasn’t there. A pale, broken shell of it flickered inside him, haunted and still restless. The town had been shaken – by a murder, a resulting injustice, and an unlikely confession – and the depth of the scars was not quick to level out and repave itself.

After spending the rest of the evening and half the night catching up with his family, Godren left them to restore their sanity with some sleep and went to find Seth. His friend had been welcomed with equal enthusiasm, but had declined joining them in order to reunite with his own family, and now Godren came upon his dark house and continued on to the bridge.

Seth stood at the water’s edge, a smooth stone in his hand. He only stroked its texture absently as he stood there, though, and the water looked undisturbed. Godren wondered what he was thinking.

“You haven’t lost your touch, have you?” he asked to announce his presence as he came up behind his friend.

Seth glanced over his shoulder. “I don’t know, I haven’t tried yet. I’m a little cautious of the memories I’ll set loose when I break the surface of that water.”

Nodding in understanding, Godren stopped before the water’s edge. “How’s your family?”

“Like yours. Overjoyed They had a lot to say about me running off without word, though, when I had nothing to do with any murder and had no business involving myself.”

Godren avoided looking at Seth as guilt rose to his eyes, but Seth saw it anyway.

“Don’t worry, they don’t hold it against you,” he assured him. “They have utmost sympathy for you, and can’t imagine… In the end they couldn’t fault what they called ‘a noble act of loyalty’ on my part.” A smile touched his lips. “There’s a lot to restore, but it’ll come.”

“If there’s anything I can do,” Godren reminded him, “you’ve only to say the word.”

Seth nodded. “I know.

“Is something else bothering you?”

“They never…exactly…pardoned me of
my
crimes. Am I supposed to expect further grief? I mean,
I
didn’t save the princess from any life-threatening tight spot. Instead, I encouraged her to defy her father’s sentence of safety and helped her break her way out of her holy haven in the mountains.”

“How
did
that come to pass?”

“Evantralis told me you’d gone home and how her Highness had prompted it. All I could think was how brainless you were and that the princess had no idea what she’d done. I don’t know what I expected to achieve, but I had to make her understand what she’d done. I certainly wasn’t going to stick around Mastodon’s at that point, and staying in the city just didn’t have a ring to it. I also knew I’d be completely powerless to do anything at home, so I took off into the mountains seeking the princess’s hideout.”

“How did you get in?”

“I played an estranged traveler on his last legs, collapsing on their doorstep in the middle of the night. Of course they took me in.”

“How did you convince Cat to defy her father again and come to my rescue?”

“She was already second-guessing what she’d charged you with doing. Said she’d been foolishly inspired and put too much faith in greater influences, leaving it to the justice of fate. I just told her fate was all good and well but one time I aspired to kiss a girl and lost my nervous lunch as I leaned in instead, and sometimes things just happen that aren’t supposed to. It was the last straw in convincing her that she’d asked something unreasonable of you, and then the defiance part came pretty naturally.”

Smiling at how loyal to characteristic that sounded, Godren envisioned the princess casting off her habit and rebelling against the nunnery. Then he sobered. “She won’t tell them you were involved,” he told Seth, remembering his friend’s concern.

“They can still find out. The convent saw my face. The guard that accompanied us saw my face.”

“Where did he come from?”

“He caught us in the act and tried to obstruct us, but the princess told him to either come along and fulfill his duty of protecting her or stay behind and fumble to compile some heroic attempt of retrieval that would only earn her wrath for the rest of his life, but the gods had spoken and we weren’t waiting. I think he chose wisely. The princess promised to report that he’d tried his best to redirect her but had been left without a choice.”

“Hm,” Godren chuckled. “You know, if she said ‘the gods had spoken’, I don’t think the convent will give you any trouble. If she discloses to them the manner of inspiration that drove her, I don’t believe they’ll raise any opposition against her case. Loyal to the ruler of their nation they may be, but the gods earn their superior dedication in a controversy.”

“But will she think to tend to those loose ends in my interests?”

“I’m sure she will, Seth.”

“I just don’t think I came out very much on top of this one. I know I jumped in willing to make sacrifices, but now you’ve been pardoned and my fate is still up in the air.”

His despair rang true, stirring a loose end of anxiety in Godren.
How can I settle for this?
he wondered. His predicament had been terrible, but Seth had not had to do the things he had done, and now he ended up in a worse position than Godren? It wasn’t right. Godren could not accept an injustice to his friend when Seth had sacrificed so much to right his own.

“You’re right,” he said. “This is not the deliverance you’ve earned.” He turned to Seth. “I will go to her, and obtain your pardon.”

“We all heard the king, Godren. You’re forbidden to show your face.”

“It doesn’t matter. You would do it for me – have already done an inexcusable amount more. I will not settle for being excused if you aren’t.”