The Invisible Chains - Part 2: Bonds of Fear (27 page)

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“I thought that with the prince away for at least ten days, we

would get some more free time,” Ambrick said.

“They simply doubled our training schedule.” Lorcko laughed.

“We can’t complain, really. We do have a lot of free time.”

They were riding on horseback, at a leisurely walk, through the

wood.

“I know this place, where nobody ever seems to come. Real quiet

and secluded. A beautiful spot near the river,” Lorcko said. “Let’s eat

there.”

“Oh, I don’t know…” Ambrick answered doubtfully.

Lorcko sighed, but smiled.

“Still scared I will attempt something? Well, don’t be. I like you a

lot, but I promise you I won’t lay a finger on you that you first haven’t

approved of.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, I will wait patiently for you to make the first move.”

Lorcko smiled. “Meanwhile, I’ll be more than satisfied with your

company.”

Ambrick didn’t respond for a while.

“And what if I never make a move?”

“Then I will have had the pleasure of getting to know you and

having spent time together. I’m fully aware that it doesn’t always

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work out.”

Again Ambrick took some time to digest Lorcko’s words. He

looked, stealthily he thought, at his companion. Lorcko feigned not

to notice.

“You really are a strange one, Lorcko. I had braced myself for a lot

of tricks, and my friends have warned me for a few I didn’t know of.

This, however, this, I hadn’t expected.”

Lorcko flashed his most innocent smile.

“I realize that you can’t rush these things, Ambrick. I also know

that my reputation must scare the living daylights out of you. But

maybe people do change. Maybe it just took meeting you.”

“I find it hard to believe that, Lorcko.”

“You said yourself that you would abandon your means of

obtaining, eh, sexual gratification from the moment true love

presented itself. Is it such a stretch of the imagination that the same

could be true for me?”

“Frankly? Yes. And why me? Of all people.”

“There is no why. I like you. A lot. That is all there is to it. I like

you so much that all the rest doesn’t seem that important anymore.”

“Still. Me?”

“And why is that so hard to believe? You’re funny, you’re very

bright, you’re charming, you can hold your end of an intelligent

conversation, and you’re not conceited. I like all those things. I’m

never bored in your company.” He produced his most coy smile, and

looked from under his downcast eyelashes. “In fact, I have, what is

called, a thing for you, I believe. There. I’ve said it.”

“Honestly?”

Lorcko laughed out loud. The sound of his laughter, like that of a

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waterfall, blended with all the other noises of the forest.

“Yes, honestly. But there’s no hurry. Maybe the idea will grow on

you, and I am perfectly prepared to wait for that to happen. You are

in full control of this relationship. That is, if there is ever to be one.”

“Did you just explicitly ask me to become your… eh, boyfriend?”

“I suppose so,” Lorcko said lightly. “It’s in your hands though.”

Ambrick kept silent for a long, long time.

“Lorcko, it’s not that I’m not flattered,” he said slowly, as if tasting

every word separately. “In fact, I’m honored. But we’re not in the

same class.”

“No, I know. Don’t worry about it though. I don’t.”

“I think we got a small misunderstanding here, Iramid. I wasn’t

referring to your looks.”

Lorcko pointed at a small path that meandered through the trees.

“That’ll lead us to the spot by the river I was talking about. Listen,

Ambrick, I don’t expect an answer immediately. I know you have to

think about this. Take as long as you need. I’m not hurrying you. I’m

not putting any pressure on you. The only thing I ask is that you keep

an open mind, and that you judge me by what you see for yourself

and not by what you hear.”

“To be honest, I’m not certain I can do that. Lorcko, you’ve been

known to snare your innocent victims in your charming nets. Once

they’ve fallen for you and surrendered completely, you use them and

leave them. For you, it’s easy. For someone like me, not so much.”

“Explain,” Lorcko said mildly.

“I told you how in my dealings with young men, I take care not to

involve my heart. I’m afraid, really afraid, Lorcko. I’m afraid my heart

could get entangled in this. You see, as long as I don’t give in to you it is

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fairly easy for me… not to give in to you. Does that even make sense?

Yes, you are handsome. Very. Yes, normally I would give an arm and

a leg to sleep with someone like you. All the same, I can easily resist

you. But once I give in, if only once, I will fall and fall hard. There will

be nothing I can do about it. You will have me. Completely.”

Lorcko looked at Ambrick, his great eyes wide open, his lips

slightly parted.

“I will go for nothing less. And once I have you, I will never let go.

I’ll make you see you have me as much as I have you. Have you ever

thought that this could work both ways? Do you doubt yourself that

much? What if it were me who would fall? Who couldn’t get up? Who

would be at your mercy?”

Ambrick looked at Lorcko as if he expected him to start chuckling

any moment. But he didn’t.

“Why don’t we take this slow. Very slow. Just so I can get used to

the idea. Tell you what. Let’s spend more time together and try to get

to know each other.”

He looked uncertainly at Lorcko, who was patiently waiting.

“I know it isn’t what you expected,” he continued. “I just can’t...

not that I’m not tempted.”

“No, it’s all right,” Lorcko said reassuringly. “Really. It’s fine. Let’s

take it easy. I would love to get to know you better and spend more

time with you. The rest can wait... Oh, there it is. Isn’t it beautiful?

Have I exaggerated? Let’s tie up the horses and have a drink.”

“How does he do it? Look at him. All the easy grace of a wild animal

and the self assurance of a young God who knows worship is his due.

How easy it would be to fall in his arms, to say, ‘Yes, take me, do what

you like with me, just hold me and kiss me. Just love me and let me die

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right afterwards that I may never know what it is to be without you.’

“How does he do it? How can he lay the promise of a brand new

world in a single smile? How can he make his eyes caress you, making

the shivers run down your spine? He’s so beautiful. He’s so perfect.

“He’s so dangerous.”

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“Bad news from home?” Arranulf asked as he entered the barrack.

Rahendo sat at the table, intently and sadly staring at a parchment

as if it were his death warrant.

“No, no...” he mumbled, distracted, his elbows on the table and

supporting his head with both his hands.

“Ah, still working on that song for the contest in The Hole?

Looking for a good rhyme? Maybe I can help.”

“No, no... gave that up.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I thought you said you had a rather funny

idea.”

“I couldn’t get the meter right. Besides, I think poetry is bad for

my health. It gives me the runs.”

Arranulf decided he’d better not ask for further clarification.

“So, what is it then?”

“Oh, Nulfie, I spent three lessons explaining the difference

between d and th and teaching some difficult words to Obie. Then I

wanted to test him and dictated a few simple sentences.”

He held out the parchment.

“Read for yourself.”

“How dare day tell us day ware dare all day, wid all dare frendz,

wen we cood see wid our own i’z day warent. Dare lyin end Landemeer

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iz a stoopit dikhed.”

“Hm... yes, I see. I’m going to assume that he added that last part

completely by himself,” Arranulf said after having read the document.

“Oh yes, and moreover he misspelled your name. Again.”

“And you’re worried because he spelled my name wrong, but not

because of
what
he wrote about me.
Again
.”

“Oh, right... I see your point. That is indeed definitely not how

you write stupid and dickhead.

Arranulf rolled his eyes and cursed silently. Rahendo sighed.

“I just don’t understand it. I really don’t. It’s not like he’s dumb.

I said to him that he had made two mistakes in your name and he

insisted there was only one. See what I mean?”

Arranulf looked at the parchment.

“No. You were right. He writes Landem-e-e-r while it should be

Landem-e-r-e. Where there should be but the one e, he writes two

and at the end, where there should be an e, he writes none. Two

mistakes.”

“Precisely. That’s what I said. He kept insisting there was only

one mistake.”

“That doesn’t seem right.”

“Depends on how you look at it. He said the e’s were exactly

where they should be, but that he made a mistake in putting the r at

the end. It should be one place to the left. One r. One mistake.”

Arranulf looked at him and laughed.

“No, our boy is not stoopit... damn, stupid. Where is he, by the

way?”

“He got a letter from his father and retired to his bedroom to read

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it. He doesn’t want us to see his finger moving over the parchment

while he is mouthing the words. Actually, I am surprised he already

reads that well.”

At that moment the door to Obyann’s bedroom opened and the

grim looking occupant emerged from it.

“Ha, there you are, you thief,” he shouted at Arranulf.

“Whatever do you mean?” the accused said, totally taken aback.

“Don’t act all innocent with me, you heartless thief. And to make

matters worse, my father writes that a lot of our peasant women are

pregnant. And I mean a whole shitload of them. Damn you.”

“Hold your horses, Ramaldah. I can honestly swear that I had

nothing to do with that. As you know my taste runs—”

“Don’t joke about it, you filthy thief. I have a good mind to hurt

you severely.”

“Obyann, calm down and explain, because, really, you’ve lost me,”

Arranulf said, trying to defuse the situation.

“What is there to explain? Even you can see that if a lot of our

peasant women are pregnant, there will be a lot of babies come

winter.”

“Yes, so what?”

“So what?” Obyann exploded. “So what? So what, the thief asks.

I’ll tell you what. Most of them will die, thanks to you lot.”

“Thanks to us lot? Whose lot? Obyann, please, explain from the

beginning, because you’re not making any sense at all.”

“No? A lot of babies means we’ll need a lot of food. Food we can’t

grow, because there isn’t enough arable land. And why isn’t there

enough arable land?”

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“Obyann, honestly, I wouldn’t know.”

“The Merlinger Meadows.”

Obyann crossed his arms and his angry eyes looked furiously at

Arranulf.

“The Merlinger Meadows? What, in the name of all the Gods, are

the Merlinger Meadows?”

“The Merlinger Meadows are the meadows we used to keep our

livestock on. Used to. Before you stole them from us. So now we have

to keep the animals on land that before we used for growing grain

and celery. Those Merlinger Meadows, sir I-don’t-care-if-dozens-of-

babies-die.”

Arranulf frowned and then seemed to remember something.

“Ah... No, no, no. You’re not going to pin this on us, Ramaldah. I

distinctly remember my grandmother telling me about this. Obyann,

you’re talking about the Landemere–Ramaldah border dispute of

1416. Damn it, man, that was in the time of our grandfathers.”

“Well, babies are going to die in our time, Landemere.”

“Now wait a moment,” Arranulf said, “that dispute was settled by