Kingsbane

Chapter 20

After blowing the entrance, they'd walked on in the dim light for hours. Sverre seemed adept at ignoring his pain and weariness, but Grayson saw it worsening with every step. At this rate, the man would die before they got out. He stumbled and staggered had not stopped to rest more than a moment to catch his jagged breath.
    "Do you think we could stop for a little while?" Gray inquired, putting his hand in a trickle of water running down the rocky wall. "Do you think this is safe to drink?"
    "Are you not feeling well?" Sverre inquired, turning the lantern light on him, nearly blinding him with the sudden brightness.
    "I'm tired." He replied. He was beginning to feel the heavy weight of his sickness again. The ache in his bones was tolerable, but his stamina was all but gone. Though he had a little more of Hannigan's gift left, he was hoping to save it for a more dire situation.
    Sverre sighed, worried that if he stopped now he'd never start again. "I suppose there isn't any sense of running you ragged. I'm sorry. I can get carried away." He nodded to the floor. "Sit."
    Grayson stepped around the trickle and the puddle it was making on the floor and took a seat. Sverre touched the dripping stone and put his fingers to his face, first smelling then tasting. He made a face, but filled his palm with the liquid and drank nonetheless.
    "Tastes like dirt, but it shouldn't do you any harm." He decided, taking another small palmful before easing down on the opposite side of the puddle and turning the lantern low. "Have a drink. There's probably food in that bag Sed gave you."
    Grayson took a few refreshing sips of the wall water and then turned his attention to the satchel he'd been carrying. Food would be nice. He didn't have much of an appetite, but he knew he needed to eat and perhaps it would give Sverre a bit of a boost.
    Helping himself to the lantern, he threw back the flap and stared inside. "Well," He dug around a little. "There's this."
    Sverre chuckled gingerly and took the bottle from the boy. Popping the cap with his teeth he took a whiff. "Wine." He muttered, taking a long drink. "Strong wine."
    "There's a pipe and some tobacco, I think. And, is this cheese?" Gray pulled out a hard, yellow block.
    "Yeah. Troll cheese. Sounds terrible, tastes terrible, and smells terrible, but it'll fill you up fast and keep you that way for a long time. Have a mouthful." Gray took a chunk from the block and offered it to Sverre. The man shook his head. "Couldn't stomach it. He breathed, closing his eyes and resting his head on the wall.
    Grayson forced it down and then placed it's horrible origin back into the bag with the rest of it's contents which included: a pipe, tobacco, and an assortment of medieval looking first aid supplies.
    Glancing over at Sverre, he found the man staring blankly at the dark ceiling above them. "What was Siva like as a kid?" He inquired, genuinely curious, but also hoping to keep the man's mind functioning.
    "A brat." Sverre snorted. "Selfish, stubborn, and passionate to a fault. He hasn't changed much." A small, tired smile touched his lips briefly as the memories momentarily lifted the fog from his thoughts. "My life was pretty boring before he came along. Avalbane wasn't much of a playmate."
    Grayson tried to imagine a little Siva and Sverre, but it was hard to picture them as children. Filling his palm, he took a drink of the water running between them. As he went for another, however, it began to rapidly dry up, drawn against gravity toward the ceiling. "Is that normal?"
    Sverre looked over as Gray held the lantern up toward the bizarre upward trickle. "Siofra must be calling on Faery to put out the fire." He explained. "The Queen is the vessel in which the land protects itself and it's children. It must be quite the tragedy going on up there. Faery didn't even step in during the war."
    "Surely a war would be worse than a fire." Gray muttered, watching the water begin to turn to vapor and seep through the stony ground above them.
    "The Queen at the time, Sio's mother, asked many times for Faery's help against Unseelie, but Faery denied her."
    "Why?"
    "I would assume it was because it didn't like that we were fighting with one another. It never took a life, but when it was over, it did allow the Queen to lay down the curse that would give each Fae a Bane in the human realm." Sverre took another drink of the wine.
    "Did it curse Unseelie too?"
    "No. We did that ourselves." He whispered. "All the blood spilt there tainted the soil. We poisoned Faery with our hatred. When Unseelie blooms, we will know we are forgiven. Until then, we're as filthy as the land we live on."
    "Is that why you don't have magic like Siva and your sister?" Grayson didn't mean to pry, but all this was so fascinating to him, he could hardly help it. Besides, speaking seemed to be helping Sverre remain coherent name kept both their minds from their discomforts.
    "No. I was simply born without any special skills. Faery chooses who can harness power. It simply denied me that right."
    Sverre watched as a look of puzzlement came over the boy. "That Goblin guy's fire was magic, wasn't it?"
    "Yes."
    "Faery let someone like him have magic?"
    "Yes."
    "Why would it do that? It had to have known that, that dude was an asshole."
    Sverre winced as he chuckled. He wasn't sure what a 'dude' was but he skipped the inquiry. "I'm sure that someday Faery will reveal it's reasons."
    Gray hugged his knees and stared out into the shadows. He was getting more and more tired the longer they sat and the swelling in his side was becoming painful. "We should go." He suggested, his eyes becoming difficult to keep open.
    Sverre agreed. He was beginning to become lethargic, and if he stopped now, he'd never live long enough to get Grayson to the exit. They rose slowly like a couple of old men, and then pressed onward into the maze of tunnels.

                    * * * *

    "This is it." Rafferty shouted, kicking soggy ashes around what had once been Tang's fire pit with the toe of his boot. "It's still open."
    Siva rushed over, dismissing the soldier's that had thought to do the same with a sharp look and a wave. As they dispersed again to search through the charred remains of the encampment, Siva squatted beside the Illegal Circle. He touched it lightly, feeling the energy radiating up his arm.
    If he used it, he could find out whether or not Sverre had brought Grayson over. If he hadn't, at least he could say goodbye. Did he want to say goodbye? The thought made him sick. And what of his brother? Had he even made it through the Circle? Had he been captured and killed before then? The questions were torturous.
    "Maybe Sverre made it through and hasn't come back yet." He whispered, feebly clinging to a dying hope. It was that or accept that both his brother and Grayson had been killed by goblins or burned alive.
    "I don't know." Rafferty looked up as one of the solider's approached. "Siva."
    Hearing the distress in his friend's voice, the King rose and turned to see what had caused such malcontent. The solider knelt before him and offered him a burnt and blackened blade. "We found it not far from here, My Lord. It bares the late Queen's crest. We thought it may be of some interest to you."
    "Yes." Siva breathed, his heart dropping to his feet. "Good work." His hands shook as he accepted the old sword, and Rafferty quickly sent the solider away.
    "Let's get you back to the carriage, okay?" The General breathed, trying to usher his sovereign toward the buggy they'd come in. "Siva?"
    Siva shrugged away and turned back to the Circle. "It's over." He whispered, plunging Sverre's sword into the dirt at it's center. "This doorway is closed."
    Tears ran openly down his face and he did not care who saw it. Let them stare. Let them look upon his grief, witness the King of Faery mourn. Had they asked, he probably would have told them the truth. Despite it's damning consequences, at that moment he wanted to scream it at the sky.
    I killed my brother.
    As green light radiated around the weapon, signifying the closing of the portal he took off his crown and balanced it on the sword's hilt and lay his robes reverently on the ground around the tang. Sverre had been more a king to Faery than he ever had. Hell, he'd practically abandoned his people in an effort to escape the fate he so detested where as Sverre had done his best with what he had, and never stopped loving his country.
    I killed my brother. It was all he was able to think. I killed my brother.
He took a jagged breath inward and released it on a silent sob. I killed my brother.
    Rafferty swallowed his own sadness and looked away, unable to bear his friend's suffering. "Get back to the border." He hissed at his men, consumed by grief and angered by the way they stood staring at their sorrowful king. "See that no one comes near here."
    They did not listen. Instead, to Rafferty's surprise, they formed a circle around their king, and kneeled, heads bowed.
    So, they knew to whom the weapon had belonged. That, or they simply loved their king enough to disobey a direct command in order to pay respects to someone he had obviously loved. Either way, Siva was touched. He gave them a miserable smile and then began to lay every ounce of jewelry he wore on the discarded robes around the makeshift grave marker.
    Rafferty let his command go ignored and took up a position beside his king. Standing tall, head held high, one hand on his belt, the other on his sword, he stood watch.
    Time passed slowly, but as the morning advanced into the afternoon, Siva rose at last, his tears spent. With him, the soldier's also stood, bowing to him and then to Rafferty, who dismissed them again. This time, they did as they were asked.
    "What do you want to do now?" The General inquired softly as they began toward the carriage. "Maybe Siofra will open the other Circle-"
    "No." Siva denied. "The Circle will remain closed. It is time Faery had the King it deserves."
     "What about Grayson?"
    Siva grimaced at the sound of his name, but gave his friend nothing more in response.