An Aimless War - Chapter 19: Chapter 19

"It is him, then?" Kalvahi asked.
I blinked, struggling to wrap my head around what I was seeing. Kassia was dressed in a sweeping red dress instead of a simple tunic and pants. Her ears glinted with jewels, her neck sparkled with gold, bracelets dangled on each wrist. She had lived with us for months. She had tended to my injuries. She had kissed me. I never had any idea who she was. I still didn't.
I tried to speak up. "What are you—"
Kassia waved her hand and two guards moved forward to grab my arms. I didn't struggle.
"Of course it's him," Kassia said to Kalvahi, ignoring me. "How many thieves named Finn do you think Lord West Draulin knows?"
"That isn't the name he gave me," Kalvahi said.
"Well," Kassia switched languages suddenly.
They went on for some time before my patience ran out. "Kassia! Talk to me!" One of the guards moved to hit me, but Kassia said something to him curtly.
"I'm glad you're not dead, Finn," she said, elegantly sidestepping Kalvahi to approach me. She reached up to touch my cheek and I forced myself not to flinch away from her. "When I chained you to that wall, I thought you'd be killed. It really was nothing personal. You were convenient." Her bracelets swayed and clinked together as she slid her hand up to run her fingers through my hair. Her voice wasn't like it had been in Zianna, where she had fooled me with a good accent and a sad story about a dead mother. "And it really was such a shame. You have incredible potential. You've changed, you know. Matured. You would never have yelled at a lady a year ago. You've grown, too. Tandrix is feeding you well, isn't he? And you're holding yourself differently."
I narrowed my eyes. "You're still a lying murderer."
Kassia smiled. "I didn't murder King Zianna, Finagale. You stopped me."
"But then you went back and finished the job."
"Oh, I like this ferociousness. No, that wasn't me. Your stunt actually lost me quite a bit of respect. Nobody could understand how a thief from the streets managed to stop me. So I was given a less important task. I was in West Draulin. And how could I possibly be in two places at once?"
I understood, but I didn't know what to say. I just stared at her in shock. I didn't even think to pull away from her hand. The hand that had probably—
"I was hoping he could be useful," Kalvahi interrupted my thoughts. "He seems to understand what we're fighting for."
Kassia's earrings caught the light as she shook her head. "He didn't even tell you his real name. He's much more clever than he lets on." She finally dropped her hand, and her piercing gaze shifted to land on Kalvahi. "He's been playing you."
"No," I protested. It was easier to think when she wasn't touching me. I needed Kalvahi to like me. "Your highness, please don't believe her. I do understand what you're fighting for. Old Zianna. My people, back in power, where we belong. I serve you now."
Kalvahi was frowning. He spoke in Deoran. Kassia replied. I heard Tannix's name again.
As if on cue, new guards joined us, leading Tannix between them. His wrists were cuffed together in front of him, but that didn't make him look any less noble. He managed to make being led around in chains look dignified. My guards tightened their holds on my arms.
"Kassia," Tannix said steadily, his voice betraying no surprise. "Pleasure to see you again."
"And you, Lord West Draulin," she said. "But surely you know to address a lady properly."
"I would, if I knew what to call you," he said.
"Lady Kassiandra would suffice. It isn't my proper title, but Teltish is an ugly language so that can't be helped."
Tannix ducked his head, a slight imitation of a bow. "Lady Kassiandra, my apologies."
Kassia smiled. "You're quite the gentleman, Lord West Draulin. I'm glad you managed to save Finn."
Tannix's eyes flickered over to me, but he was putting on a good show. No one could have guessed how he really felt.
Kalvahi placed a hand on Kassia's shoulder. "Kassiandra, what of B—Finn?"
"I told you, he hasn't betrayed his lord. He wouldn't."
"No, I wouldn't," I agreed instantly and little more enthusiastically than was probably necessary. "And you're my lord, Prince Kalvahi. Please, you've opened my eyes to the cruelty of the Telts. He has no claim to the land of our gods. I want our kingdoms to be like they were when the pyramids were built. I want my people to be free to worship our own gods and out own language. Kassia—Lady Kassiandra, please believe me. You saw firsthand how I lived. You saw what my family went through every day. Castin would have died without you. You saw what the Telts did to my back and my shoulder. He helped me." I jerked my head at Tannix. "But the kindness of one Telt doesn't make up for the tyranny of the rest of them. Besides, he tricked me into helping him stop you. He told me the king would reward me, but instead he arrested me. I thought we were friends, but—"
"You're a Native," Tannix growled. "Men like me don't associate with Natives unless we have a very good reason."
I knew he didn't mean it, but the words felt real. It wasn't hard to keep up my act. "I... I've realized that now."
"I like him," Kalvahi said. "You said yourself that he's clever. He's finally seen the truth."
Kassia sighed. "This is what he does. He talks. He lies."
"Yes, but maybe—"
"Do you really want people to think you're keeping a little pet the way the king is?"
Kalvahi's face darkened. "My brother—" He cut himself off abruptly and put on a smile that didn't look real. "The whole kingdom knows we're to be married, my love." He snaked an arm around Kassia's waist from behind and drew her a step backwards. With his other hand, he brushed her hair away from her neck and leaned in to kiss her bare skin.
Kassia let him kiss her for a moment, then pushed him away. "He's lying to you. Trust him if you'd like, but I suggest you lock him away with the rest of Lord West Draulin's men. If they try to kill him, then you'll know he's truly betrayed them."
"Prince Kalvahi, please," I tried again. "Don't make me go back to them. They'll know."
"Put him with my men." Tannix shrugged like it didn't matter to him either way. "They'll gladly deal with him for you."
"Your highness," I pleaded, looking at Kalvahi again. If he locked me up I wouldn't be able to help Tannix or the knights. "Please don't."
Kassia shook her head. "Begging is beneath you, Finagale. Even fake begging. Kalvahi, why do you even want him?" She spun to face him, her fists resting on her hips. "What use is he?"
"He knows Zianna."
"So do I. So does every Native who lives there, any of whom would be willing to help us given the right price."
"He knows West Draulin."
"So do many of our spies."
"He knows Lord West Draulin. He knows the king. He can help us."
"He's useless," Tannix said. "He can climb, he can steal petty objects, but what good is that? He can't fight, he's illiterate, he can't speak Deoran, he knows next to nothing about politics. What good do you think he'll do?"
Kassia turned again. "If he really is that useless, we'll have him killed."
I flinched, Tannix didn't visibly react. "Prince Kalvahi, do you really kill innocent, useless boys off of the street? It's hardly any wonder the people of Deorun hate their royal family."
Tannix had pushed too far, and obviously on purpose. Kalvahi said something sharply to the guard on Tannix's right, who quite happily punched him in the face. I bit my lip to stop myself from calling to him, remembering Kalvahi's trick on the ship.
Tannix did nothing for a moment, then he rolled his shoulders slowly and straightened up. He smiled, despite the blood trickling from his nose and the red bruise already forming around his left eye.
"I've hit a nerve, it seems."
Kalvahi shouted at his men in Deoran, and they began to drag Tannix away. Then suddenly Kalvahi was standing in front of me. "You are going with the knights. If you're really loyal to me, prove it by gathering information on them and their plans. I'll talk to you again in a few days."
That wasn't the outcome I wanted, but I had to keep up the act. "Thank you, your highness. I won't let you down."
"You had better not." Switching to Deoran once again, Kalvahi addressed his guards. They led me down the road, and I didn't fight them.
For the first time in my life, I found myself locked up with people I liked, and I had never hated being in a cell so much. Tannix wasn't with us, they'd taken him to another cell. A private cell. Knowing he was alone somewhere horrified me.
I sat in the corner of the cell, with my knees drawn up to my chest and my head buried in my arms. If the knights hadn't been whispering among themselves, it would have been exactly like the last year of my life. I should have been used to this. But for a whole year I had only had to worry about myself, now I had to worry about Tannix. I tried not to think of him being tortured. Maybe a private cell was a good thing.
A hand on my knee shook me out of my thoughts and I opened my eyes to see Acen sitting in front of me. "Did you learn anything from Kalvahi?"
I shook my head listlessly. "He mostly spoke in Deoran, so I have no idea what they talked about. But I know the lady who met us here. She's an assassin. She's the one who tried to kill..." What she had implied on the pier came back to me. "She's the one who killed Tannix's father. He doesn't know. I wanted to tell him, but... we had to fight, for the act. I know it was an act but what if those are the last things we ever say to each other?"
Acen reached up to scratch the back of his neck. His hair hung around his shoulders, reaching midway down his back. It was such a drastic change from his usual neatly tied up knot.
"Let me tell you something about our Lord Tandrix," he said. I liked the way he said it. Our Lord Tandrix, like he was one of us. Like I was one of us. "I'm six years older than him. I was sixteen when I joined his personal guard. Imagine a sixteen-year-old respecting a ten-year-old. Imagine Mandell and Jalor respecting him. He was a child, but he was immediately worthy of our respect. We spent the first two years training constantly, and he was almost always there with us. He could have had private trainers but he preferred to train with us. When Tannix was twelve he knighted us and named me captain. We kept training, but it wasn't only about being good at fighting anymore. It was about being perfectly in tune with each other."
"Why were you chosen?" I asked, letting his story distract me. It seemed too simple to say it was just because he was a proper Telt lord.
Acen smiled. "Because the men who were training us realized that I had a good eye for our individual skills, and I'm good at putting those skills to use. I'm good at reading people."
"I guess that's a good skill for a captain to have." I said.
"At the beginning it was in no way easy," Acen said. "We were all cocky, we were all excellent at what we did and we knew it. It was hard to figure out how to work together. Kor and Ender were absolutely infuriating. Not much has changed there, honestly." He said it lightly, and glanced affectionately across the cell. Ender was drifting in and out of sleep, which was certainly better than being unconscious, and Kor hadn't left his side.
"But Tannix had a way of making us want to work together," Acen continued. "He treated us like brothers and not like subjects. We became a family. While his brother was flirting with maids, Tannix was training with us. He's always been a soldier. He's also always been a leader, but I don't think he's aware of that. He identified with us and not the nobles he was supposed to."
I nodded. None of that surprised me. I had seen it every day since arriving in West Draulin.
"He also never made other friends. Staying behind when he was sent to Zianna was one of the hardest things we have ever had to do, because we knew he'd be alone. We weren't worried about his safety because he was more than capable of taking care of himself. We worried about him being lonely. When he wrote to me about you I almost couldn't believe it, but then I realized that you weren't a lord, and it made more sense."
"He wanted them to like him," I said quietly.
"Of course he did. And they would have, if they had gotten to know him," Acen said. "That's what set you apart from the start. You didn't see his name, you saw him."
"He's so much more than his name."
Acen nodded. "When we met, right away I could tell there was something different about you. About the way he treated you. He's fiercely protective over you, I could see it in the way he introduced you to us. Whatever he said to you during your fight, you must know it hurt him as much as it did you. And you must know that he did it to protect you. The less important you seem, the less likely it is that you'll be hurt to get to him."
"I know." And I did know that, but I was still scared. I didn't want our last words to each other to be cruel ones, even if they were fake.
Acen let silence draw out between us for a moment, before he seemed to make up his mind about something and added, "Finn, you're part of our family now. We'll protect you the way we protect Tannix and each other. No matter your background, or who you are. That kind of thing doesn't matter to us. And we certainly don't care about the fact that you're a servant. Or that you share his..." Acen's pause meant everything. "... chambers. Do you understand me?"
I looked up, meeting his gaze. He really was good at reading people. "You all feel that way?"
"Absolutely."
Until that moment I hadn't realized how concerned I had been about the knights finding out, and rejecting me or judging Tannix. Despite everything that was going on, I smiled shyly. "Thank you."
"Like I said, you're part of the family." Acen patted my knee again. "Now, when you feel better, come join us. We could use your help planning an escape."