Deciding A Fate

Chapter 2

As the men joust, I feel restless and uneasy, but I can't figure out why. I fiddle with my thumbs, trying not to squirm. As it turns out, jousting is relatively boring, just men riding horses and occasionally knocking each other out of the saddle. Most of the time, however, the round ends with one of the men simply giving up on trying to stay put and falling off themselves.
As the tournament comes to a pause for a short break, I feel extremely uneasy. Renja stands.
"We might as well stretch our legs, Mali." He says, looking down at me, and I nod.

Then all hell breaks loose.

Arrows rain down on the nobles, and on us. I shriek and duck into the stands, and look up at Renja, about to motion for him to do the same.
Renja stands with his mouth open in shock, a dribble of blood coming down his chin. An arrow shaft pokes out of his chest, the shirt around it slowly turning dark with blood. I hear pounding footsteps behind me, and to both sides. The nobles who were once shouting seem to calm down. Tentatively, I poke my head above the seats. The Royal family is gone, replaced by guards. At the bottom of the stands, a group of men are being roughly tied up, all except one young boy, who holds a bow and arrows, staring at the box behind me with dark, stormy eyes. He is gripped on either side by a guard. His eyes bore into Renja, and then flick to me. I still as his eyes meet mine. Then, he is hit over the head with a piece of wood and crumples to the ground, carried away by the guards. The bow slips to the ground, snapping in two as a guard steps on it. Beside me, Renja drops to the floor of the stands.

***

Dead. He is dead. Renja is gone forever. Which makes me the Fate Chooser. I grip the slender, strong piece of wood in my hands. It's the bow that fired the arrow that killed Renja. It is smooth, and warm from me grasping it for the past hour. I don't know why I grabbed it. I just did. After the chaos had ended, I had gone back into the palace, straight to my room. I slept and cried and stared at the ceiling and thought all night. I close my eyes and picture Renja's face, his dark skin, his gray hair tied back behind his head, his red robe that marks him the Fate Chooser. The palace tailer was going to make me one that actually fit. Renja hadn't been wearing his robes to the tournament, so they were available for me to wear, but I didn't fit in them.
I sighed. My eyes opened, and then closed again. The picture of the boy's face came back into my mind. His dark stormy eyes, so full of anger and hatred. His tight grip on the bow. The way he wasn't surprised by the guards, like he'd known he was going to get caught. And yet, he still did it. He'd known, and he'd chosen to die. Because that's what his punishment would be. He killed my master. An innocent man! I frowned. Was he innocent? He'd killed so many... But they were bad people, right? Criminals. I sighed. I had to face reality sooner or later. King Herald wanted me to deal with the assassins, and the spies, who had apparently been working with them. He trusted me to deal with them. Did I trust myself? I grit my teeth. I had to face the assassins sooner or later, and I had to trust myself to do what was right. I had to avenge Renja's death. I didn't want to face the prisoners without a robe, though. I don't know why. I just felt like it would help. I frowned. My robe wouldn't be finished for two or three more days, though. But I knew I couldn't wait that long. The assassins weren't the only criminals, I had a few I needed to decide for soon. My gaze drifted to Renja's robe. I stood and slipped it on, pulling the hood over my head. The robe was baggy and too long, but it would have to do. I rolled the bottom up so it wouldn't trip me up, and the sleeves, too. Then I held my chin high and stalked out of the room.

As I walked down the stairs to the dungeon, I felt the confidence I had waver, and then fade. My chin shivered for a moment, and then I steadied myself with a breath. I opened the door with Renja's old keys, which were now mine. The same guard that had been reading the book was on shift now, and his eyes went to me, but instead of going back to his book, they stayed on me as I walked away. As I disappeared around the corner, I heard him clear his throat suddenly. I rolled my eyes and glanced at my paperwork. Earlier, I had made a mark next to the new arrivals, just to narrow down the assassins. I wondered which one would be the boy that killed Renja. I stopped in front of each cell today, dealing out sentences like the Angel of Death himself. But I didn't even care. I was angry at them, about Renja's death, about our nice day being ruined, about stupid stuff and important stuff alike. Then, I stopped. In the cell directly in front of me, the young boy who had killed Renja sat huddled in a corner on his cot. His body was bunched into a ball, his eyes alert and tracking my every move. But they were filled with something. Not fear, as the other's had been, though. It was something else I just couldn't place.
"Excuse me?" He asked, his voice quiet. I froze. No one had ever tried to talk to me before.
"What is it?" I snapped, sounding harsher than I intended, but I didn't care.
"I have a request. Please. Do with me what you will, but please. Just grant me one last request." He pleaded, and I frowned. Surely I couldn't deny a last request?
"The guards usually take last requests." I reply, uncertain.
"No! Please!" He yelped, and I was startled. "It has to be you." He said, composing himself. I sighed.
"What do you want?" I asked.
"I want to tell you a story." He said. I blinked, surprised. "It might take a while." He added, and I shrugged.
"So long as it won't take more than 30 days." I said this as a joke, but he nodded solemnly. I bit my lip. What had I gotten myself into now?