C14 Chapter 14
”Anything at all.”
Brenn thought for a moment. ”My friend died in the...event. It's against his faith to be burned, and I would like to give him a proper burial.”
”Is that all? I'll have my people see to it immediately. We can find him a wonderful spot, out of town or course. Now, if you would, please kneel.”
Brenn's head tilted. ”Sir?”
”I would like to make you a knight.”
Brenn frowned inwardly, but Lady Ning and the chancellor were all smiles. ”You honor me greatly, your excellency. Thank you.”
”Kneel.”
He knelt. The chancellor took a tin sword that hung on the wall above the massive hearth. He tapped Brenn's shoulders with it and said, ”Rise, Sir Brenn, knight of Meijo Guenzi.”
Brenn felt no different as he stood. This had all happened quickly, and he wondered if he would have put up more of an argument if he wasn't sick from drinking.
The chancellor shook Brenn's hand, then Lady Ning, both saying congratulations, and even the chamberlain smiled and nodded at him. Brenn wished Captain Wu was in the room. He thought Wu was a pleasant man.
”Now that's taken care of,” said the chancellor, returning the sword to its place on the wall, ”I would like to speak with Sir Brenn alone for a moment.” Lady Ning and the chamberlain left the room. ”Have a seat, Sir Brenn.”
Brenn sat in a chair in front of the large desk. The chancellor opened a few drawers, rummaging through them and mumbling to himself.
”Ah, here we are.” He found an envelope and waved it. It was stamped with the snowy owl sigil of King Ulfhrem. Bile rose in Brenn's throat. ”Know what this is?”
Brenn remained silent. A cold sweat rose on his neck and chilled his spine.
”Allow me.” The chancellor cleared his throat and read the letter.
”To His Excellency, Zhen Bo, Chancellor of Methyo Genlas; From His Highness, Ulfhrem Lundstrom, King of Esterlenth.
”Greetings, my friend. I hope this letter reaches you without trouble and that you are in good health. I regret that we have not spoken face to face in over ten years, but I am happy that our two great nations have remained allies since Krazor Gaeten and his followers were eradicated.
”I am writing to ask you for a small favor. My Holder, Brenn Ragnir of Hirnhyo, has been missing for some time now. In fact, neither his family nor his friends have seen or heard from him in over two years. Of course, I have sent men all over Edorath to search for him, but the challenge is proving difficult. Edorath is a vast place, and Brenn Ragnir is an intelligent young man. I am asking you to issue a command to your armies (nothing too major) to keep a lookout for a large blond Northerling with blue eyes (I am aware this does not narrow your search much), about sixteen years of age. He may or may not be using a false name, as Ragnir is a common name, at least here in the north.
”As you will no doubt understand, finding Brenn Ragnir is not only a concern of mine or Esterlenth. He does not yet have children and is the only Holder of the Power of Creatures (or Languages) now that Deohild Ragnir is dead. He must be found, and his safety guaranteed, lest we as a species lose a Holder, and the very fabric of the universe be torn asunder.
”I am sending multiple letters of this sort to Lesh Kalae, Hanoa, Sawelas, Danuras, and many smaller countries that I imagine Brenn might have wandered to. But, knowing him and his family, I suspect that he will be attracted to knowledge and experience. My councilors believe he may have found his way to Goryeo and enrolled in the university.
”Of course, you and the Commonwealth will be well compensated with any gift Esterlenth has to offer if Brenn Ragnir is found within your borders and is delivered safely back to his rightful place in Ekkio.
”Eternally grateful and faithfully your friend, Ulfhrem Lundstrom the Third, King of Eirmanlenidh and the Valk.”
The chancellor folded the letter, placed it back inside its envelope, and smiled at Brenn. ”This was delivered to me three years ago. Your king has been missing you.”
Brenn swallowed. His throat was tight, and he coughed. ”Sir, I—”
”Where were you three years ago? I know the answer, I just want to hear you say it.”
”I was here. Attending the university.”
”You never finished your studies, though. Why is that?”
He decided not to lie. ”Because I knew about the letter. I heard that Ulfhrem may have learned where I was, so I left.”
”And now you're back.”
”Just passing through. Believe me, I thought a lot about whether I should risk coming.”
”So, why did you?”
”To visit a dying friend,” Brenn said. ”And I guess I thought three years was enough time for you to give up the search for me.”
The chancellor nodded. ”For an ordinary man, we would have given up. I would have called my men off the hunt after a few months, perhaps a year if the target was important enough. But you aren't an ordinary man, are you?”
Sweat beaded at Brenn's forehead. He wiped it away with his new sleeve.
”To be honest,” the chancellor continued, ”I had given up hope of finding you. Oh, it was a grand dream for a while. One of the Holders, and the only Holder of the Power of Tongues, in my own country, within my very city perhaps, totally within my grasp.” He held his hand out in front of himself and grabbed something invisible in the air. ”And then the university told us you had taken off in the night with no warning, and I was...disheartened. But, praise the will of the gods above and below, you are now sitting in my office. All thanks to those sackhead terrorists. No one else in Goryeo could match the description of a huge Northerling who carried a dozen people from the rubble.”
Brenn stood from his chair. The room swayed around him. ”Please. Your excellency. Don't send me back.”
The chancellor laughed. ”Send you back to Esterlenth? So that Ulfhrem can have you to himself? Why would I send my most valuable knight thousands of miles away just as I'm about to declare war on Sawelas?”
Brenn forgot the feel of sweat and the pumping of his heart. ”What? Your knight? War? I don't... What?”
”I've waited so long for an excuse to take back what was once ours, and Sawelas cannot go unpunished for the attack. As a knight of the commonwealth, you will be required to fight on the front.”
Brenn's nostrils flared. ”I will do no such thing.”
The chancellor smiled and shrugged. ”You always have a choice. Sawelas or Esterlenth. You can decide.”
”Are you in the habit of blackmailing people?”
”I'm a statesman,” he said as if that answered everything. ”Though I would like to let you know that desertion from the Meijo Guenzi army is a crime punishable by death, and no one who has ever tried to...run out...has ever succeeded.” The chancellor walked around the desk and leaned against it, putting his hands in his lap. ”Please see this from my perspective, Brenn. I have a Holder here with me. Sure, your Power isn't as impressive or useful as Time or Space, but I'm certain you will be a great asset, regardless.”
”You're attacking Sawelas with intent to conquer it just because some fringe group of religious extremists attacked a dragon-fighting tournament?”
Zhen Bo licked his lips. ”Sawelas belonged to us less than two hundred years ago. The Soduqir have turned it into a second holy land, and everyone who lives there has a holier-than-thou mindset, and that always leads to nationalistic thinking.”
”Isn't that how everyone here thinks?” Brenn was now seething, partly from anger, partly from the anxiety that came with the thought of returning to the Valk.
”There can be only one greatest nation on Earth.”
”Sir,” Brenn explained, ”you're a bastard.”
”Better people have called me worse things. Don't think of sneaking away. My men will be watching you from all sides.”
”And after the war is over?”
The chancellor raised an eyebrow. ”Wars don't end, Sir Brenn. They just change locations.”
Captain Wu took Brenn back to the carriage, and Brenn asked to be taken to the university. Again, Wu pulled the curtains closed.
”Are you afraid I might see your soldiers doing something I won't like?” Brenn asked.
”Yes,” said Wu.
”What difference would it make?”
”Sir Brenn, you are a knight of the commonwealth. Address me as Captain.”
”Sure, Captain.
Wu looked at him and chewed at the inside of his cheek. ”Have you ever been to war?”
”I was too young to fight Krazor.”
”I was just a private when Gaeten invaded the Oyer. The first time I watched a man die, I was seventeen. He caught an arrow through the eye and struggled for a few seconds.”
”Okay.”
The carriage stopped, and Wu said, ”We're here. Don't be long.”
Brenn crossed the familiar campus. It was empty of students and professors. He knocked on Ilisso's door, and a few minutes passed until the old magister opened it.
”Who's that?” Ilisso grunted out the door.
”It's Brenn. Where's Maso?”
”Oh, Brenn, come in. The boy went to visit his family, up north somewhere. His cousin died in the colosseum.”
Once inside, Ilisso sat in a tattered chair. Brenn went to the kitchen and cringed at the flies buzzing around the basin filled with dirty dishes.
”Should I make some tea?” he asked.
”Please,” the old man said. ”I can't find the tea leaves to save my life.”
Brenn put the kettle on and found the tea leaves on the topmost shelf of a cupboard.
”I was there,” he said.
Ilisso gaped. ”Have mercy. Are you being honest with me?”
Brenn nodded, forgetting his former teacher's lack of sight. ”Denzin was killed. Bryden was kidnapped.”
Ilisso picked at his beard as he said nothing.
”Zhen is going to declare war. I've been drafted.”
”I thought he might,” Ilisso said with a sigh. ”The world's gone mad.”
”What should I do?”
”About what?”
”Should I run?” Brenn asked. ”Where should I go?”
The water boiled, and Brenn mixed in the tea, after the fashion of the Jonguans. Ilisso stood with a grunt to make his way to the table. Brenn looked into his old foggy eyes.
”Would you listen to an old man's opinion?”
”Of course, Ilisso. That's why I'm here.” He poured the tea for both of them.
”How many others know your story,” Ilisso asked. ”Or is it just me?”
Brenn allowed his tea to cool. It steamed slowly and smelled like mint. ”Keren knows. Maybe Ana. I wrote her a letter, but...I left before she read it. If she read it at all.”
”Then I'll speak to you as someone you trust enough to open up to.” Ilisso leaned forward. ”Go to Sawelas.”
”But we just came from there. Or do you mean to look for Bryden?”
”I mean, go to war like you've been ordered.”
Brenn snorted. ”You're getting old, magister.”
Ilisso didn't smile. ”You left home when you were fourteen because you were afraid you would end up like your brother or father, and you ended up here where you thought you'd get educated. But then you got scared and ran away to a country where no one knew your family name, and you met Keren. You haven't told me that story, but I assume something scared you out of Lesh Kalae as well. Am I right?”
Brenn felt the warmth of his mug with both hands.
”You left Ana without so much as a note of explanation. Why do you always run, Brenn?”
”I can't answer that.”
”Yes, you can.”
”You know why,” Brenn said.
”You're a Holder. You can't run from that. You can't run from destiny.”
”There's no such thing.”
Ilisso sipped his tea. Some dribbled into his white beard. ”Go to war, Brenn. Stop running for once in your life and pay attention to where the universe is trying to take you.”
”What about Keren? She can't go to war with me.”
”Perhaps you've protected her long enough. Perhaps it's time she stood on her own feet.”
Brenn shook his head. ”No way. I can't do that to her, Ilisso. Not after what she's been through with...” He sighed. ”The last few days have been so hard on her. She cut herself this morning.”
”Really.”
”Yeah.”
Ilisso hmm'd and sipped his tea. ”Well then, Brenn, I don't know what to tell you except that your life is yours to live. But if I were you, I'd look back and see the pattern and ask myself if I wanted more of what I've had so far. Go talk to Keren. Tell her what happened. I guess if you want to keep running, that's your choice. But no good ever came of running from one's own life.”
