Volithur only got through half the bottle that evening before hiding it on the floor and ying down to sleep. He had a pounding headache from his smashed radius and ulna bones and the horrid substance he had been drinking. The disgusting beverage had proven its value. He barely had to work to drag energy into his soul. It automatically seeped where he wanted it to, as if it wanted to help him. Probably because it felt guilty for what it had done to his taste buds and stomach lining.
He was half asleep when Khana entered. She quietly prepared for bed and then left a space between them. Volithur was tempted to reach out for her in the dark. Despite the words that had been spoken between them, their chemistry was undeniable. Yet pride held him back. He had been called a commoner like it was a vile insult. After he rescued her from becoming a servant. It was far too soon to forgive such a thing.
She was gone when he woke the next morning. Volithur set to finishing the rest of the uncut spirits with a vengeance. That took him several hours, after which he settled in to cultivate chaos until lunch. He ate at a table quickly by himself before returning to his room.
Three days passed in simir manner, then the soldiers returned. Volithur sought out the Marshal, finding the man gring at paperwork in his office. “I’m afraid it’s not a great time, Ward Harridan.”
“Did something go wrong, Master Marshal?”
The Marshal sighed. “The Jinn pulled out as soon as we arrived.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“You will learn, Ward Harridan, that what is best for the soldiers is not always what our masters desire. The Lord General is not pleased. He wants battles and the Arahants have not engaged him in quite some time – since the fall of Aes. There are rumors the Jinn are shifting to a defensive stance as well. If true, that would not be great for the soldiers of the Lord General.”
“I’ve heard of Aes. That’s a world that monsters destroyed, isn’t it?”
“Monsters can’t destroy a true world. They ravaged it and killed off most of the native human popution.”
“Master Marshal? What are monsters?”
The Marshal snorted. “How are we to know? Every religion has its own expnation for them. Punishments from the gods, spirits of the dead escaped from the underworld, the taint of evil made manifest, the children of Tiamat. It’s all nonsense. Monsters emerge from angry rifts and take on the forms of mortal creatures. Then they rampage until someone with power stops them.”
“Could they come here?”
“If they wished to die quickly, they could come to New Mart. This world may be unempowered, but it has over a hundred thousand Xian among its mundane popution. That’s more than enough to handle an incursion. Now, the sympathies your injury aroused have been exhausted. I’m still in a poor mood, so go away, Ward Harridan.”
He returned to his cultivation. That night, Khana stroked his face and showered him with shy kisses until his pride failed. They had to be slow and gentle due to his injury, but they made love five times before morning dawned. His anger at her vanished during the marathon of activity.
They ate breakfast together, neither of them acknowledging their first fight. Volithur let himself forgive the words said to him in anger. He knew how she felt being slighted by everyone around her. As far as the accusation that he was just a commoner… that would only be true until he reached level ten and became a Xian Lord. If she didn’t see his true value now, surely she would then.
Several more days passed. His forearm hurt a little less every day, though it still smarted if he forgot about its status and wasn’t careful. He cultivated with a purpose, made love to his wife, and did his best to remain patient.
Then the Marshal came to him during lunch. “Ward Harridan, I have an assignment for you.”
His boredom had been grating, so Volithur jumped to his feet. “What do you need, Master Marshal?”
“I would like you to speak to the new ward of the Fifth Household.”
Volithur blinked. A new ward? This was news to him. “What would you have me say?”
The Marshal made a dismissive wave with his hand. “Just let him know how your life has improved. The boy is a mess. I worry he will harm himself in his grief.”
“I can do that.”
“That would be greatly appreciated. He is assigned to your old room in the barracks. His name is Kyle.”
So Volithur walked across the grounds to the barracks and his old room. His former roommate, Jay, gred at him when he arrived. “Great. As if dealing with the crybaby isn’t bad enough, now the false noble is back to make my day.”
“Go away, Jay. The Marshal wants me to talk to Ward Kyle.”
Jay muttered as he stomped out of the room. Volithur approached the hammock that was once his. A form was curled up on it, facing towards the wall. “I don’t want any more lectures.”
“I’m Ward Harridan,” he said.
The form rolled over, sending the hammock rocking. “Are you a ward the same as me?”
“Pretty much. I was abducted from an unempowered world and sent to study with the soldiers of the Fifth Household. Sound familiar?”
The boy rolled out of the hammock and stood up to face Volithur. His gray eyes did a thorough study. “What’s wrong with your arm?”
“It’s in a splint due to a training injury.”
“Is that why I haven’t seen you around?”
“Well, that and I live in the pace now. I married one of the nobles.”
Volithur had expected any number of reactions, but not the one he got. Kyle’s lip curled up in a sneer. “Then you’re nothing at all like me.”
“Look, Kyle, these people can make your life better or worse with very little effort. Trust me, I’ve had it both ways from them. I can understand if you don’t want to cozy up to the family. My friend was released from his wardship after he got a girl from the city pregnant. So there’s an option for you. Knock up the first willing girl you find.”
Kyle spat in his face.
Volithur wiped himself clean with the sleeve of his good arm. “You shouldn’t do that again.” He managed to keep his tone level despite himself.
“Why not? Are you going to crush my head with your Domain like the Sergeant did to my parents?”
The heat that had been rising in him after the gesture of disrespect was doused by a sudden chill. “What did the Sergeant do?”
“He murdered my parents right in front of me and my sister!”
“With his Domain? Their heads? He popped their heads?”
“That’s what I said. Now they expect me to py nice and work for the murderer of my parents. Fuck no. They can kill me if they want, but I’ll never stand his presence.”
He felt like his stomach was full of uncut spirits. “Are you sure it was the Sergeant?”
Kyle sputtered in outrage. “Of course I’m sure. Do you think I could just forget the face of the man who killed my parents?”
Volithur had forgotten those faces. More accurately, he had never made note of them in the first pce. He thought that might be even worse as far as filial responsibility went. Not knowing those faces… could he say for sure that the kindly Sergeant hadn’t murdered his own parents?
No. It couldn’t be the case. Volithur clenched both fists, flinching as his injured forearm protested. He couldn’t be friends with the man who killed his mother. He couldn’t see a father figure in the man who ended his real father.
“If you want to sell out to these savages, that’s your business,” Kyle snarled. “But don’t you dare tell me to get on with my new life. I don’t have a life anymore. I just haven’t finished dying quite yet. Go get fucked, Harridan.”
Volithur backed out of the room and stumbled away from the barracks, his mind refusing to believe what he had been told. At the same time, he couldn’t focus on anything else. The question refused to go away. Had the Sergeant done the deed? It was impossible and probable all at once.
He eventually returned to cultivation to escape the insane loop his mind could not escape. There was another question that lingered in the background. One that he didn’t dare think on too deeply: if the Sergeant had sin his parents, what ought Volithur do then?
