Kingdom's Fall

Chapter 1, Part 1

Kara went into the invalid’s room and bolted the door behind her. Downstairs, the inn door clacked shut as it swung back onto the latch. Garven - her father - was gone to find the peace-men, and she didn’t have much time. On the bed, the man lay on his back, fast asleep. For a time he’d looked dead, and it had only been the money from his companions that had kept her father from grumbling over the room. With the money gone, there was no reason to keep him any longer. Too cowardly to put a knife in him and not charitable enough to give him board on account, Garven had declared the peace-men the solution. They could feed and shelter him on the King’s account, and he would keep first pick of his belongings. Kara went to the bed, and shook the invalid on his uninjured side.

“Wake up,” she said. He had a long, angular face with thick brows that hung in a natural frown to give him, even in sleep, a calculating look. He was clean shaven. He’d come to them with a neat beard lining his mouth, but Kara had neither the hand nor the patience to maintain it. She’d shaved off the lot while he was out. She shook him again. “Come on! Wake up!”

The man’s eye’s opened, from closed to fully awake in one unnerving motion, looking straight at her. “Where am I?”

“An inn,” she said. “Your friends brought you here, but you can’t stay. The peace-men are coming to arrest you.”

“Arrest me? On what charge?”

“The innkeeper’s. He wants his room back and whatever he can find out of your belongings to sell.” She hauled on his good arm and pulled him unwillingly up into a sitting position. “You’re lucky to be alive. If you’d died he’d be haggling over a price for your teeth.” The invalid winced and sucked in a painful breath through his teeth. As she let go, he reached across his chest and poked gingerly at the thick wad of bandages that covered his right shoulder.

“And you’re the innkeeper’s…wife?”

“I'm Kara. His daughter.” She reached across the bed and took hold of his knee, pulling on it so he turned to face outward.

“So why are you helping me?”His bare legs were out from under the blankets now, shocking in their whiteness, and he tested his feet against the floorboards. Kara wondered if he would be able to stand at all.

“Because he’s an ass,” she said. The man on the bed looked up at her sharply, dissatisfied with the answer.

“Everyone’s an ass,” he said. “Why?”

“Because I want to get out of here, and you can help me.”

The man rocked forward, putting weight onto his legs. Slowly, he stood up, the blankets falling away from his body. He was so thin, Kara was amazed they didn’t snap under him.

“How do you know that?”

“Your things,” she said. “I mean, I took them, to keep them safe.”

“And you just happened to go through them while you were there?”

“So what if I did? If I hadn’t found out who you were, I might not be helping you now.”

He smiled, and Kara saw in it the ghost of a drunkard’s cheek. She bit back the urge to slap him. The grin faded and his expression was suddenly uneasy. “What…” He swayed for a moment, his eyes distant, before recovering. “What’s my name?”

“You can’t remember?”

“I don’t know.” He shook his head, and as he did it he seemed to lose his balance, falling back to sit down heavily on the bed. It was a poor frame, and it creaked under the strain. “It’s…I don’t know.”