He led me about a hundred feet north where a battle camp was located. He owned the largest tent for some reason. He still hadn't told me what he did. I sat down waiting for him to explain himself as he dismissed all the people in the tent except for one servant. "Would you like some oolong" he asked me.
"Oolong"I said, barely able to pronounce it.
"You look rather thin, maybe a real meal" he commented looking me up and down. I couldn't afford to make every meal, but I made ends meet. "Bring us your best roast" he said then dismissed the servant. They nodded and left.
"Are you done being pretentious?" I asked bluntly.
He chuckled. "There he is." he said. "The great man I deem my brother"
"You had it coming" I said with a laugh.
"I can't say I haven't missed honesty." he said. "People don't tend to be truthful with me"
"Must be the armed guards outside your tent. I've heard that makes people nervous"
"You've got a quick tongue." He said. "By the way the next time you call a woman bitter, make sure she's not a athletically inept"
"And how was I to know she was an Amazon?" I asked.
He laughed and pulled out a pocket watch. "Do you remember this?" He asked, changing the subject.
"Sure, the watch dad gave you when you were fifteen"
"Yes. He gave it to me with the promise I gave him. I told him I would always protect you"
"Well you clearly didn't keep that promise" I said. "Where did you go?"
My words sounded harsh, but I honestly hadn't seen Andrew in a while. After we fled our home in King's Port, we went to Farendale in Kaer Brun, one of the worst places I'd ever lived in. He placed me in a monastery and told me that he was going to find dad. That was the last I'd heard of him.
"I found our father, or rather his grave I should say." he explained. The question begged me for a while. If he had survived or not. I hadn't even gotten to visit or mourn. "That's when I was captured by soldiers and forced to serve. Though my outstanding ability to devise battle plans sent me through the ranks"
"So that's where you got your fortune?" I asked.
"More or less" he answered vaguely.
"So what, you fight for the crown that murdered our father?" I asked. "Willingly"
"And what, you think I should abandon my post. Forever be hunted down and branded as a deserter?"
"Better than the coward I call you now." I said.
"Yes, because you're living such an indulging lifestyle yourself." He shot back.
"I like to call myself a minimalist."
He calmed himself down. "Look Aven. You're my little brother. And I don't want to argue with you." He spoke. "There's actually something I must ask of you"
"I'm not joining your military." I said.
"No it's much greater than that you see. This task only you can do"
"You don't need a liver do you?" I asked. "I would but mine would probably make you worse. Alcohol and all."
"Would you stop interrupting." he said. "Now I know how father felt" I halted the urge to interrupt him, and he continued. "There's a plan that would win the war." He began. "The Orlesian Prince has allegedly fallen victim to a typhoon off the Staggered Coast"
"I don't know if I can find him. I never learned to swim" I joked.
"I don't need you to find him you idiot" he said. "Their king and queen were poisoned a few months ago and Arik is dead. The crown will fall to the duke, Gerad."
"Sounds like a coup" I observed.
"There are many that despite their rule, would rather see another at the head of the table. We are allied with members on the court who prefer a shift in power" he answered.
"And what would you need me for?"
"All you'd have to do is sabotage the last member of the family, by poisoning the duke."
I waited for him to say something else but he wouldn't go on. "You're being serious." I said, surprised. All I've known Andrew as, my whole life was an exemplary, by the book kid. I guess life's trials had turned him dark.
"As you can see, I don't kid" he said with a stern look on his face.
"You want me to assassinate a duke?" I repeated. "And how would I complete that insanely impossible task?"
He pulled out a frame of a rather dashing young prince. "That is Arik. Prince Arik." He spoke. "You bare an uncanny resemblance to him"
I began laughing unable to see the similarities. "We look nothing alike." I said as he refused to wrinkle his frown. "You expect me to impersonate him?!"
"I know it's a lot to ask, Aven." he agreed.
"What you're asking is that I commit a murder." I clarified. "What makes you think I'd be capable of that?"
"I know why you left that very first orphanage." he said. "I know all your secrets"
He couldn't have known. That night was the darkest night of my life. I thought I'd put it behind me, but it'd followed me here. "And what secrets might those be?" I asked, trying to call his bluff.
"I know your thirst for fire almost outweighs your passion for stabbing saged priests" he said bluntly.
"I hope you're not thinking of blackmailing me" I said to him.
"What I am thinking of doing is laying out my cards, and hoping you'll lay yours" he said. Sounded like a coated way to say he was indeed blackmailing me. I hadn't seen this side of him. In my mind I glorified him. My big brother. I'd assumed he'd been killed rather than abandoned me. Any lie I could tell myself to make him look like a hero.
He sat up, and offered more ridiculous words. "Look Aven. We all have some pretty cold skeletons in our closets. I'm not judging."
"You have no idea what I've been through." I said to him. I felt like I didn't even know who this man was.
"No, I'm giving you an option." he said. "If the high courts were to stumble upon your indiscretion, well it'd be hard to plead your case. Even in my position."
I chuckled, humoured. "If you think that your court and your jesters scare me, then you're confused. I hold my sword strongly by my side."
"Just like dad" Andrew said. "And yet you weren't even of his seed"
I had my reservations about that ever since that night when I had heard too much. It was apparent that I was not his son. "Jonathan was a good man.'' I said standing up, "It's good he didn't live to see his son become a dissapointment."
Andrew laughed as I began walking out of the tent. "If you believe that, then you didn't know him like I did." he said. I flipped him off, refusing to listen to anymore of his babble as I stepped out of the tent.
I headed back towards the wagon where the jerks who'd taken me stood battered. I moved towards them, and they flinched, quickly backing away from the wagon. I took one of the horses and set off back to King's City so that I may put this experience behind me.
