Spellscribed Tales: First Refrain (7 page)

Leona frowned. "Then did you run into any other swordsmen that locked with you before the match?"

Joven scowled. "No. What's this about?"

Leona held up the broken handle, staring into the jagged broken edge. "Because there's some damage to the blade I can't account for."

"Mom," Joven replied. "I exchanged blows with Korvos for over five minutes. You can't possibly account for every time our weapons clashed."

Leona rolled her eyes, still examining the sword. "You keep telling yourself that, honey. There's some scratches along the blade near where it broke that didn't match any of the hits on your weapons. Didn't you inspect the weapon before you went to the match?"

Joven nodded. "I went over my weapons the night before. Everything was pristine and oiled."

Leona looked up at him, irritation on her face. "Then the blade must have been sabotaged."

Joven blinked, confused. "Cheating?" Joven asked. "It's not like Korvos to cheat."

Leona looked Joven in the eyes. “The house was locked up last night. No one could have gotten in without..." she said, her voice hardening.

Joven felt a brief moment of panic, remembering when that voice meant he was about to get into serious trouble.
 

"Uh..." Joven muttered, trying to change mental tracks. "Talen
 spoke to me last night before he left."

Leona looked over the sword again one more time. She left the room, returning a moment later with tools. She carefully dismantled the pommel, and
unwrapped the leather grip. She pried out the anchoring pin from the tang, and pulled the broken blade free from the pommel.

She stared at it, surprise evident on her face.

"What is it, mom?"

Her eyes narrowed as she looked over the tang, the bit of the blade that extends into the handle. "This is
 Rathe craftsmanship." she declared. "How did that get into our house?"

"Rathe?"
Joven asked. "I'm not sure. It's not yours? It looks like yours."

His mother shook her head. "The Rathe craftsman uses a narrow headed smithing hammer, and doesn't polish the metal down through the tang before assembly. I do."

Joven shook his head, confused. "So, that's not my sword?"

Leona slammed a fist into the table, causing a vibration Joven could feel through the floor at his feet. "Damn it!" She exclaimed. "Talen wanted Korvos to win. He must have
 replaced the weapon after you were asleep."

"Hold on! Why would he want me to lose?" Joven demanded. "What does he gain from it? And how did they craft it, if the match was determined only a day before?"

Leona dropped the broken handle on the table with disgust. "I don't know. Maybe he took a defective blade from their forge that night and replaced it here. He knows enough about weapons to change the blade. But him running off like this makes more sense now. He knew he'd get found out."

"If he knew, why did he come to apologize?" Joven asked. "That just makes no sense."

"I don't know!" Leona exclaimed. "What I do know is that Daelen is going to be pissed."

"Who's going to be pissed?" Daelen asked, walking into the kitchen. He was dressed in leather armor covered in molded metal plates. "Don't tell me the boar's all gone."

Leona tossed the broken weapon handle at him, and Daelen caught it without so much as a glance in the direction it came from. "Throwing knives now?" Daelen said jokingly.

"That's Joven's sword handle, the blade that broke yesterday. It's been tampered with."

"We locked up last night."

"That's true."

"So you're saying one of us did it?"

"Who's missing all of the sudden?"

Daelen froze, his grip suddenly tightening on the weapon handle. "What?" he said, his voice low.

"He had a Rathe crafted blade, and he
 replaced Joven's sword with a defective one in the middle of the night before the match." Leona continued.

"Enough." Daelen replied. "I'll find the boy when I get back, and I'll deal with him."

Daelen threw the useless handle hard enough that one flange of the guard hit the stone wall across the kitchen and cracked.

"Where are you going?" Joven asked.

Daelen struggled to contain his temper. "King Gurn's son 'requested' that I accompany his father on his yearly hunting trip. I'll have to be out for the next few days. Unless he's lucky and catches something worthwhile on the first day."

"It's still a great honor to be requested to join." Leona replied. "Show him what we can do. We'll look into this trickery."

"It was Kalenden's suggestion." Daelen replied. "He said that we would save face if I were to be there."

Joven felt a sharp sting in his chest hearing those words. "Dad…,” he started to speak.

"No." Daelen interrupted. "That's not why I'm doing it. I'll be back soon. But I'm going to be taking the Inheritance with me."

"What?" Leona exclaimed. "You know it drives me crazy when you use that thing!"

Daelen shot her a grin, one that Joven had learned to emulate over the years, though his eyes did not reflect any joy. "You're just jealous that I'm not using one of yours." he said, teasing.

"But why are you using it?"

Daelen shrugged. "Kalenden wanted me to accompany Gurn on this hunting trip. That would mean he wants me around for his protection, not because I'm an excellent hunter."

"So you want to be there to protect him." Leona concluded.

"And the axe is more than a weapon." Daelen added. "It is also a powerful weapon. Bringing it shows him that I'm serious about being there."

Leona stood, walking over to him. She embraced him, Daelen barely needing to bend down to be on level with her. She kissed him firmly on the mouth before parting. "Just be safe." Leona demanded. "Or I swear I'll kick your ghost in the..."

Daelen rolled his eyes. "It's a hunt. That's safe enough." he replied. "Now, what happens to Talen when I find him after that..." he turned and started walking away. "It won't be safe for him."

As Daelen left, Leona looked Joven in the eyes. "He's going to be gone for three days, minimum." she stated. "Gurn refuses to
 return unless he's had a challenge."

"
Which means I have three days to find Talen." Joven concluded. "And get some answers before dad tears apart half of Balator."

"You have always been the clever one." Leona said, nodding. "Now go. Find out what's going on here, and bring Talen back."

"I promise." Joven answered.

Joven left, heading towards the first and only solid clue he had.
Korvos, the one who benefitted directly from his loss.

* * * *

Joven walked onto the grounds of the Rathe household and felt a moment of concern. Though the Rathes were more numerous, having nearly fifteen members living in-home and another dozen abroad, their numbers were all apparently too busy to take the time to clean and maintain the fine details of their home. Mountain weeds sprung up between cobblestones, checked only by the cold and the tramping of feet. The walls were intact, but showed wear and a lack of maintenance as the mortar was crumbling around some of the stones, a few of them were even missing.

To the untrained eye, the house would look fine; but Joven's dedication to his duty and the honor it earned made him feel deeply concerned.
 Was this really the people who would guard the Spengur?

He stopped at the door and knocked. Adjusting his belt to accommodate for the number of new weapons on him, he realized too late that being armed as much as he was looked like he was ready for war.

The door opened just a crack. "Who're you?" a young voice called out.

"Joven, son of Daelen."
Joven replied. "I wish to speak to Korvos."

"He ain’t here!" the kid called. "Come back later!"

"How much later?" he asked. The kid instead slammed the door closed. Joven could hear several locks being engaged.

Joven growled. He needed answers and the brat just shut him out. He could wait, or he could take a page out of Talen's book and do some slinking about of his own.

He turned to walk out of the grounds, and just before passing the outer walls stepped to the side. Between the open gate and the wall, there was enough obscurement that no passersby would see him unless he made a lot of noise to call attention to himself. Speaking of noise, he looked down at all the weapons he had strapped to him on harnesses and sheaths. He would need to have his mother make him some armor with sheaths built into certain places. Streamlining his profile would make him able to move more quietly.

He slipped off the harness holding most of the weapons and laid it on the ground at the crux
 where the gate and the wall met. He kept the Rathe bastard sword with him, and he crept along the side of the house. He knew there would be a few walls that broke up the grounds, but he could try to glean some kind of useful information by listening or peeking through windows. He had to be cautious; there were far more people in this house than his own.

He made it to the first set of windows without incident. He
 crouched low, underneath the windowsill. Nothing could be heard, so he slowly raised his head up to look through the window. He saw a dimly lit bedroom, but no one inside. He shrugged, dropping back low and moving forward. The next window also divulged nothing of note, leaving him up against one of the dividing walls.

He tensed, getting ready to jump, when he heard something that sounded like a conversation. He put his ear up near the wall and listened carefully. A few people were having a muted conversation on the other side of the wall. Joven pulled his head back and scanned the wall, finding a section where the mortar had fully fallen out. Putting his ear to it, he could hear almost all of the conversation.

"What the hells went wrong?" one man asked, sounding older than Korvos. The other, definitely Korvos' voice, replied after a short pause. It sounded like he was taking a drink of something.

"Look, Daelen's left with Gurn." Korvos replied. "He's out of the way for now. I've won the guardian position, so I'll be able to get closer."

"You're going to need to look above any kind of reproach." The other voice replied. Joven frowned. Was it Davik?

"Joven's not going to cause any more trouble," Korvos replied. "As far as he's concerned he lost fair and square."

"Fair and square?" the other voice said. "You're the one who nearly lost."

"True, but I had that in mind." Korvos replied. "His brother was quite capable at preventing that."

Joven's expression became a grim mask. He knew now without a doubt that Korvos had cheated him.

"It was a pretty fast reaction considering we had less than a day of notice." Davik stated.

"Talen was already nearby, so I just thought to ask him to do it. You should stop distrusting him, he's been loyal to us for years." Korvos replied.

"I still don't see how paying
him would earn his loyalty."

"Greed is a powerful motivator." Korvos replied. "But that's not all I have."

"Whatever. Are we ready for the next step?"

"Yes. King Gurn should have left by now, and we'll take the castle in cover of darkness tomorrow night."

"By the time Gurn returns from his hunt, the guard will be loyal to us, and he'll have to fight his way through the city to try to reclaim it." Davik continued. "Excellent. I'll rule this mountain by week's end."

"Do I still get to remain the Guardian?" Korvos asked.

"Of course." Davik replied. "We just need to get rid of that bastard and his bastard of a son. They've been denying our heritage, and stomping on our people long enough. There's something very wrong with him."

"What is it?"

There was silence in response. "Just do your part." Davik replied. "It's not something I can explain."

Joven had heard enough. He backed away from the wall and slipped back to the gates. He recovered his weapons and stepped out into the street. He had to do something. His brother Balen would have an idea. He knew military procedure like no one
else, maybe they could come up with a plan.

Someone trying to take over Balator was not an unusual thing. People tried from time to time to challenge the king for the right to rule.
 It was not even considered dishonorable to do so; if you could prove you were more fit to rule, why wouldn't you?

However stealing the throne by deception and trickery.
It just didn't sound right. Joven knew that Balen would be on his side.

Joven jogged up the mountain, doing his best to ignore the sting in his leg where Korvos' sword had cut him. He reached the
 army grounds just barely thirty minutes later. After catching his breath, he walked into the yard. The military kept its presence so high up the mountain for several reasons; one was the proximity to the castle. Another was to acclimate the troops to working in higher altitudes; while yet another was even simpler – in order to capture the command structure of the military, one had to capture almost the entire city.