Oath Breaker (Honour Bound Book 2) by Staten Adam

Author:Staten, Adam
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sharpe Books
Published: 2024-08-19T00:00:00+00:00

Nineteen

Cadman’s gaze ran over the stonework of their cell for the thousandth time. He and Bordan had been there many weeks. There was one small window, high up on the wall and barred in iron. Outside, the sounds of the city carried up to the little chamber that was high in one of the towers around the palace, the sounds of normal life serving only to make Cadman feel more captive.

He looked at Bordan who was drifting listlessly in and out of sleep on a wooden pallet. He looked thin and gaunt, his beard unkempt and matted with dirt. Cadman supposed that he looked much the same.

In the first days of their captivity, they had been beaten often. Now they saw no-one but the guard who brought a loaf of bread and a bowl of thin gruel to them once a day. Cadman did not know which was worse; being beaten or being forgotten.

The heavy door screeched on its hinges as it swung open. Cadman looked up and the figure of a large man was silhouetted in the gloomy light of the corridor outside the cell. Although the light was not bright, he still needed to shade his eyes from it, so accustomed was he now to the darkness.

‘I have seen you look better, Cadman,’ a deep voice said, speaking English with the accent of Miercna.

Cadman drew himself upright but stayed sitting on his pallet. ‘What are you doing here?’ He had intended to sound defiant, but his voice was hoarse and weak from underuse.

Faran ignored the question and stepped into the room, wrinkling his nose with distaste at the fetid smell. ‘You should have stuck with me, Cadman. Back at Manzikert.’

Bordan was awake now and sitting up, his eyes burning as he stared at Faran. ‘You treacherous bastard!’ he hissed.

Faran laughed. ‘Treachery is a way of life here, Bordan. You should have listened to me. I told you to pick the strongest man.’

‘Andronicus?’ Cadman scoffed. ‘He was too much of a coward to even join the battle. How can you serve a man such as that?’

‘I told you once before that I am done serving other men. I serve my own ends now,’ he replied calmly.

‘You know that Romanos is the better man,’ Cadman snapped back.

‘Was, Cadman,’ Faran replied with a smile. ‘He was the better man. He is dead now.’ He shrugged. ‘It is not uncommon for a man to die after his eyes are taken.’

Cadman swallowed hard and glanced at Bordan.

‘There is no-one to help you now, Cadman.’

Cadman’s mind raced as he took in this news. Romanos had seemed so powerful that, even having watched him being blinded, Cadman could not believe that his power was gone, let alone that he was now dead. And what Faran had said was true; there was no-one now to help him.

‘So, what will become of us?’ Cadman said after a few moments.

Faran shrugged again. ‘If you are lucky, they will kill you cleanly. If not, then they will take your balls like they did to your friend.

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