Tales of the Vangen: The Dead King of Danic (Book 3)

Chapter 16: A Tale Worth Telling

Of all the things Brand expected tonight, eating dinner was not one of them. After the Captain's harrowing negotiations with the Lightbringers, the rebel leader Shayn had insisted they stay the night and eat a proper Danic meal. Moss and Cent were more than eager to agree, with Libro and Elba hesitantly following suit. And while the food had been bountiful and delicious, the table space was a different matter all together.

Brand sighed as he toyed with a handful of iron shavings, trying his best not to stare at the others. They sat at the head table with Shayn and a retinue of his rebel lackeys, eating, drinking, laughing to their heart's content while he sat alone in one of the corners. The meal beside him remained untouched, the meat on his plate having long since grown cold.

He wasn't jealous or anything. Cinnis would never waste his time on such a childish emotion. He was an adult now, a Stelecaster, the greatest in all the Medial for Nido's sake. Besides, he had better things to focus on, things worthy of his time. His eyes fell upon the metal shavings as his thoughts drifted back to the barn.

No normal man could crush an iron ball with their bare hands. The logic bound to this world denied such thoughts. Human muscles were not made for such a task, and yet the Captain had crushed the iron ball in his grasp as if it was made of chalk. Magick then, had to have been involved. To alter the world's logic and make the impossible possible

But as far as Brand knew, and he'd spent the better part of a year making sure of it, the Captain was not Talented in any conceivable way. He was as mundane as everyone else in the Vangen.

And yet Brand could not deny what he'd seen that day, what he'd felt. The tugging snap of his magick getting trapped in Libro's palm, the faint glow of the dark marks lighting up his forearm, the hazy shimmer forming above his shoulder. The scars of his Captain's past were more than they appeared, and Brand had spent countless hours pondering over what else they were capable of.

There was a loud crack as a wooden cup slid across the table, frothy beer sloshing onto his hands. Brand flinched as his concentration broke, bits of iron clattering onto the table as he lost his grip. He looked up, saw Tergrid leering over him as she sat into a nearby chair.

"Why aren't you sitting with the grownups?" She asked, taking a slurp of her cup with the slightest grimace. "Or do you Middenites prefer brooding in corners by your lonesome?"

"Maybe," Brand muttered as he flicked the last droplets of beer off his fingers. "Or maybe it has something to do with a lack of table space around here." They looked up at the head of the room, Shayn and his crew laughing raucously at some joke Libro had made.

"Sorry for that. Would have brought out the bigger tables had Shayn not turned them into shields for the rebellion. Could have dragged the one out from my home." Tergrid paused, staring vacantly into the candlelight for a moment before the mocking edge returned in her voice. "But who has time these days?"

She jabbed a calloused finger at the bits of iron on the table. "What's that?"

Brand cocked an eyebrow at her. "Metal."

"I can see that you ornery ass. I mean what are they for? I'm assuming you Middenites don't roll them around in your palm for nothing?" She paused for a second. "Unless, that is what you do. No judgment of course."

Brand couldn't tell if she was serious or simply mocking him. The slight curve to her lips said otherwise, but her shimmering eyes held genuine curiosity in them. Was this some type of game then? He remembered the earlier back and forth they'd had when she'd teased him about his staff. A joke then. It had to be. And he would not be mocked a second time.

His eyes settled on the cup, the beer within still frothy and fizzy with the scent of damp earth. "What's the cup for?" He asked, matching her question with his own. "Trying to get me drunk and make a bigger fool out of me? You did plenty back at the mill already."