Ravensworn by Adam Lofthouse

Author:Adam Lofthouse [Lofthouse, Adam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-05-17T16:00:00+00:00

NINETEEN

‘You speak first,’ I said to Eadger. Rudi and Mellow had dragged Wilhelm’s corpse through the mud ridden streets of Tastris, throwing the body on the floor outside his hall. If anything, the greater feeling among the surviving citizens of the Cimbri seemed to be nothing more than disinterest.

That confirmed to me that their chief meant nothing to them. That he had been a ruler in name only, and not a man his people respected. And that was good. The last thing I needed then was a revolt, a panicked population rising up and causing chaos in a time that was already drenched in their warrior’s blood. What I needed was a moment of calm, to think. And to learn.

‘I don’t know where you want to me start,’ Eadger said, his voice melancholic.

We were in Wilhelm’s old bedchamber, shut away from the noise outside. Rudi and Mellow were with us, of course. Hands bound, they sat on stools in the corner of the room, and I disdained to look at them until I was ready for them to speak. Sedric was with me, stood at my right hand. He had wanted to kill the two brothers the moment we returned and I had given him a brief overview of everything I had learned. But I had calmed him for now, though I could feel the anger pouring from him. This venture north had already taken one friend from him, and though Kai was not dead, he would never be the same care free youth that had drunk and whored freely with Sedric. For that he wanted revenge, and in good time, I would let him have it.

Isvilt and Hilde made up our little party, the former pouring wine into cups whilst the latter lounged on her dead lord’s bed. Neither seemed to feel the loss of their chief greatly. Again, I was not surprised.

‘Start with what you told me in the ruins of your sad little town. Begin with your wife and daughter. I want to know how much of the tale you spun me was true. It was quite a performance, if that’s what it was. Perhaps you should think of going to Rome, from what I hear there are always openings for actors in their theatres.’

Light flooded in through the room’s only window, the odd patch of darkness marking the passage of clouds. It took Eadger a while to find his voice, and he picked his words carefully when he did.

‘All of what I said was true, lord.’ He took an offered cup of wine from Isvilt and drained its contents in a single gulp, leaving a red stain in his beard that trickled down like blood.

‘Then what didn’t you say? What did you happen to skip over when you told me the story of your woes?’

‘The offering,’ Eadger mumbled, his eyes fixed on a time somewhere in the past. ‘It happened before my wife and daughter were taken from me. The first one, anyway.’

‘You are referring to

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