Nightsworn | The Whispering Wall #2

Sixty One: Pawns

I feel just as stupid as I expected to.

Arlen straightened up with some difficulty and looked around the small graveyard. The castle loomed overhead, silhouetted against the rising light. He was alone - Usk lingered with the wagon behind the chapel - and he was glad no one had witnessed him here. He wasn't sure what he'd been hoping for, and hated even more the idea that Darin had managed to prick him into feeling bad about not doing it.

He walked away from the grave, angrier than when he arrived. The dirt over Ana Blackheart had turned flat and compact in the rains and begun to sprout. Soon only the stone marker would be evidence that she was there. Except she isn't, he reminded himself, scowling. She was dead, had been dead for weeks now. Her mind had left her years ago. What difference would it make to her if he came and stood in front of her stone marker every now and again? He'd had no revelations while doing so. He felt far from comforted. The whole exercise had been a waste of time.

"Done?" Usk grunted. He reappeared from behind the news poster he'd plucked off the chapel noticeboard, folded it up and stuffed it in his pocket.

"Darin can't complain anymore," Arlen said. He hooked himself back into the wagon bed and sat down with a groan. "Don't know why I bothered. It's not like I can talk to her. Or make up for not visiting while she was alive, which I think Darin is hoping for somehow."

"Maybe he just does not want to be the only one who remembers her as she was."

Arlen glowered at the Varthian out of the corner of his good eye. "Sometimes you make me regret telling you things."

The brute chuckled and got the wagon rolling by way of an answer. Arlen settled back on the bench, bracing his false leg against the opposite side. His hand drifted to his belt where the two witch-man blades now resided. He hadn't called Haverford back in the couple of days since he'd returned, as he wanted to puzzle out what the boy had meant by it first. Was it showing willing, or defiance? It was impossible to know without seeing the kid's face. Certainly he had been angry enough to make it an act of defiance, but if it was then Arlen was having a hard time deciphering the intention. Yet if he interpreted it as willingness, that just didn't make sense. The boy had come to pick a fight over Arlen's impromptu visit to Yddris's house, that much was clear. It seemed a big leap from that to finally conceding to his place with the Devils.

Not that Arlen was entirely certain of his own position. Haverford's return had been a relief. Marick had made no mention of any overthrow rumours, not even in the guild meeting a few days prior. Granted, he had also not requested a private audience with Arlen. The man had seemed distracted, had left the hall quickly after warning them not to tangle with the Caelumese delegation unless they couldn't help it. Arlen had lingered to see if anyone else was talking about it or would confront him about the rumours, but no one had. He had started to entertain the possibility that someone had instead located a crack in his group's cohesion and was trying to drive the wedge in further. Unfortunately that theory narrowed his suspects down to everyone in the dark-damned guild.

"I have an appointment this afternoon," he said to Usk. The brute grunted an acknowledgement. "Do you know what the others are doing?"

"Kicking about, I think," Usk replied. "Akiva's hoping for a chance to take Haverford out again. I think Jes is, too, he just hasn't said as much."

Well, Arlen thought, the kid certainly wasn't going out with Jesper alone for the time being. Arlen had taken the man to task over the rumours, but still wasn't convinced he'd made the point thoroughly enough. He didn't need Haverford getting any ideas.

"I don't think either of them should yet," Arlen said, and was surprised when Usk agreed.

"I think you need some time with him, Arl. There's stuff you can teach him without taking him anywhere. And he needs some time with you after so long away, or you won't find that gap easily bridged by the time the leg is finished. Akiva and Jes can wait a week or two. He's your apprentice, not theirs. Don't give up on teaching him so easily."