Chapter Sixty-One
Epilogue

Ahmorantha watched as the auction went on. Another of the Black Quivers stood in chains, this was the last of them. “Sold!” The auctioneer called out, and the labor sentence of Micah was passed to a mining company. From his place atop a distant roof, Ahmorantha felt relatively safe, and he etched a crude sketch of the crest beside Micah’s name on a piece of scrap wood. ‘If I know where they all are… I can… what? What can I do?’ He asked himself for the hundredth time.

He asked the question every time one of the mercenary company was sold, but he had no certain answer, and the truth was, ‘Even if I knew what to do, I’m not strong enough to do it. I am weak.’ He acknowledged and clenched his jaw.

‘I may be weak,’ he countered to himself, ‘but I’m exceptionally lucky… and luck is a strength all its own.’ He reassured himself as he watched the last of the mercenary company disappear into a wagon, scattered away from his comrades and toward an uncertain fate.

He looked at the little stack of scrap wood beside him, the charcoal marks were useless garbage by any standard, and yet they were the only source of ready knowledge about the fates of the Black Quivers.

In the aftermath of the vanishing of Speranzi from off her cross, she’d been searched for to no end, with the only clue being an empty boat found out on the lake. ‘She killed herself.’ He immediately thought of the rumor, but having been up close to her?

‘No. I don’t believe she did. She was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen… she may have fled… but I don’t believe she’s dead. But then… if she isn’t dead… where did she go?’ He wondered, and turned his face away from the platform, and looking down at the fruits of his labor he asked himself…

‘Where do I go from here?’ And that was yet another question for which he had no answer.

“You fucked up, nephew. I can’t protect you this time.” Amberose said from the other side of the bars. They were in a prison cell within the city’s castle, where only the most important or dangerous people were kept. For his ‘luxurious accommodations’ Corwin had a bed of new straw, a wooden piss pot, a half melted candle, and even two stones for striking a spark to it, not that he’d had much luck.

Amberose however, had lit the torch on the wall to give them abundant light, and the flickering flames let them see each other clearly. Corwin didn’t need his uncle to tell him things were bad, so he brushed it off, “It was Brotus, wasn’t it? He filled your head with lies like you filled his with bile… and now here we are.”

Amberose leaned back in his chair, “Lies?” he waved his hand in a dismissive gesture, “You know me better than that. Lies? Truths? That’s the talk of fools. There’s only opportunity and not opportunity. He gave me an opportunity. That’s all there is to it.”

“Opportunity for what?! All you did was-” Corwin stopped his own words when he saw his uncle drew out a simple piece of contract parchment from the pouch at his side. Contract parchment required a blood seal to be valid, and if it were applied by force, it would be nullified. His eyes scanned over the words.

“You want me to formally adopt Brotus?! After this?!” Corwin glowered at his uncle.

“You will adopt him, that will make him the lawful heir of your estate when you’re officially sentenced and it can pass to him, then I’ll make him my apprentice, and of course it will all pass into my hands since he can’t run a merchant company while not actually having been certified. Do this, and I will make sure your daughters are taken care of.”

Corwin spat between the bars, and the white glob landed squarely on the paper. “You’re going to cheat Brotus, don’t even pretend you’re not. And since you’ve gotten me thrown in here, and I’m your own nephew, I don’t believe for a second that ‘taking care of’ my family means anything favorable to them.”

Amberose stroked his snowy beard while he nodded, “You’re a lot wiser than your stupid apprentice. You know he didn’t even suspect I might turn this in my favor as opposed to his? Of course, ‘maybe’ I’ll let him inherit it all when I’m gone, but that’s not what he’s thinking. He thinks he’ll be a full member, a ‘true merchant’ after all this. Stupid boy.” Amberose shook his head, “Even so, if you’d only been smarter too, you wouldn’t be behind bars now, you’d have a hundred times your current wealth, and we could have dominated trade not only throughout North and South Qadish, but into the Divine Kingdom and all the way to Auxkos. But you had to be stupid, stubborn, and worse.” Amberose said with a plump face twisted in disgust.

“Now you will sign this document.” Amberose declared, “Or you will never leave here alive.”

Corwin crossed his arms. “No. And if you try to force me, you know it won’t be honored.”

Amberose sighed and stood up. “I figured you’d be stubborn. That is one of your better qualities, nephew, but it will be your undoing. And just so you know, this will happen every time I ask you to sign, and you refuse. If you should decide to ‘volunteer’ to sign, it will all stop.”

Corwin cocked his head, “What will?”

Amberose didn’t answer him directly, he only snapped his fingers and a handful of thugs came into view. “Beat him until he can’t stand up, and you’ll get extra food for the week.”

The door of the cell was flung open, and Corwin’s world became one of pain until his body fell limp and he could no longer even try to defend himself from the flurry of blows. A handful of guards came into Corwin’s blurred vision as the beating went on, but they did nothing to interfere, to the contrary, they were clearly directing the other prison thugs on how to administer the thrashing.

“Enough.” Amberose said, and the fresh stabs of pain ceased to tally up like an expense report in Corwin's mind.

Corwin could only see the feet of those who stood closest around him, but he could see through his hateful eyes how indifferent his uncle’s face had become. “Let’s see if a little time on that cold stone floor like that helps you make the smart decision. I’ll see you again soon, nephew.” He let out a cruel bark of laughter, and at another snap of his fingers, Corwin was locked up again and left alone to groan in pain, unable to move for hours after he was abandoned.

Skana felt the gentle hand patting at her back. “We meet again, Skana.” She recognized the voice, but couldn’t respond in kind as she spat up the waters of the lake. Her bleary eyes caught sight of her mistress, her commander, her idol and her love, still and having her own back slapped by a tall thin male of clearly nonhuman nature.

“Speranzi!” She spat the name out with the last of the water in her lungs.

“Will be fine.” The same voice said, and then she felt herself being rolled onto her back to look up. “Do you recognize my voice?” He asked.

“I- Old man!” She gasped, “You’re the one from Laylan…”

“Yes. That’s right. You helped me with my rocks, my prayers and wishes… and I remembered yours.” He was still more of a blur in her eyes, but as her vision slowly cleared in the dim light of the room, she saw a rugged looking face with a snow white beard. He had a stern expression, but he had a strange aura of care about him, more like a concerned grandfather than anything else. “That was brave and reckless of you to jump into the water like that. I commend your loyalty. In fact, that is the only reason you are still alive.”

“Loyalty?” Skana asked.

“Yes. Loyalty is highly prized in Tovenari. The greatest sign of love is laying down your life for your friends. Drowning with them may be unusual, but it counts.” The old man answered.

“So, what happens now… old man?” Skana asked and turned her head to watch as Speranzi’s body began to stir.

“Call me, Sevasmi. And as for next, you follow me to your quarters where I will assign you a servant, and you wait for the welcome of the Last God of this world.” The old man said, and extending a hand down to her, she accepted it with another lingering look toward Speranzi.

“You will be reunited with your companion soon, but it is essential that she face what comes next on her own, or she will fail, and so will you.” Sevasmi answered as she rose to her feet.

Had there been any hint of lie in his words, she might have refused, but the iron words were wrapped in a velvet tone, and she could not find it in herself to doubt that he meant it.

“I… I will go.” She promised, and as he turned to walk away, Skana followed after him, dripping water behind her with every step.

Speranzi woke up in a flash with water pouring out of her mouth, hacking, coughing, she felt a hand roll her over onto her side, a powerful hand patting her back, coaxing more coughing and so, more water, out onto a stone floor that would have been dry except for her expulsion of what felt like half the lake out of her body.

She shivered and spat the last vestiges of lakewater from off her lips and when the hand came away from her back she rolled over to look up.

Clad in the sort of formal suit popular among upper class merchants, with ruffled cuffs and thin stitch stripes barely visible against the black fabric, he would have passed for human if not for his long black tail that ended in a sharp spearhead shape, and his leathery wings that sprang from his upper back. His hands folded behind him, the demon with the silver eyes looked down at Speranzi and met her blank expression with a cockeyed curiosity.

“Curious. Very curious.” He said, and Speranzi darted her eyes to the left and right, her pulse seized up as she remembered her companion. “Skana!”

“Is alive, unharmed, and will remain so.” Damaxa answered, “Now, demon eyed human, I’m sure you have questions, but they will have to wait until I present you to your new master. There is time enough for only one question before I take you to awaken him and claim the soul you offer, so make it brief.”

‘What will she ask, I wonder? Will it be about her friends? Will it be about what happens next…? Will it be some plea for rest or time…? Or how I came to be here?’ All seemed practical questions in his mind, and that was why he lied, there was ample time to answer all her questions. But by giving her time to ask only one, he would know what was the most pressing in her mind.

“What you said, I made it here, like you told me. So will I really gain enough power to take my revenge on them all, to get justice for Illyana… for my soldiers… for everything and everyone…to burn Wenmark to the ground?” Speranzi asked, her body going limp, relaxing so thoroughly that she didn’t even feel the pain in her limbs anymore.

Damaxa chortled and bent forward almost as if he was bowing toward her, his fang filled mouth opened in a vicious smile, “Oh, Speranzi, no. No. A thousand times no. When all is said and done, if you succeed here, you will have the potential to burn ten thousand Wenmarks down to ashes… and nothing will rise again but under your new Lord’s banner.”

“Good.” Speranzi whispered, “Good. Then let’s not waste time.”

‘What a most unexpected human.’ Damaxa thought with a flutter in his heart as the woman rolled over to stand on the bare, cold, wounded feet to follow where the demon god would lead her.

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