remember. The ship carried away the only peace he had ever found. Peace that he had destroyed for the love of loyalty and duty.

  More and more he had been questioning his loyalty, and questioning his duty. He had

  seen too much death, too much ugliness, too much destruction. He had sought the village where Aren had lived, and died. He had gone to apologize.

  The body had been burned. That was what the soldiers had reported. They had confronted

  him, he had run, and a Mediator was sent to retrieve him. To hear them tell it, he had killed two soldiers before he and the Mediator had killed one another. He was a powerful Cursed, they had said.

  He couldn't be sure how much of it was a lie. Aren had been an intelligent boy, a scholar.

  He had made plans for the event of his death, as though he had known that it would come about sooner or later, one way or another. That had been the thing that had surprised him the most, when he had entered that three room inn in Heathers, four years after his son was killed.

  He had told the innkeeper who he was, and asked for a meal and a room. Instead, the

  innkeeper had handed him a sealed letter.

  "I told him he was crazy to think that you would ever show up here. Addleton's a good

  day's ride out, after all, and you being a General in his army. The boy insisted that you would show, even if it took you a hundred years. I've never seen anyone so sure of anything."

  Talon patted the chest of his jerkin, where he had spread the ashes of the letter to his skin after he had read and then burned it. He had cried while he had done so, the guilt multiplying and coalescing with a new anger. If it was true, he had to have known, and he did nothing to stop it.

  Then there was the thought of what it all meant, beyond his own family. Aren had

  claimed he had learned things that he had never wanted anyone to know, and that he had gone through great lengths to prevent anyone from knowing. So many lost, so many dead.

  Iolis Elling. He still couldn't believe he had placed the youngest son of Harran Elling as Overlord of the province, over his older brother Colm. There had been no reason to it, he knew.

  Except for one. It was why he had come.

  He pulled himself out of his thoughts, and followed Abitha's head. They had nearly

  reached the front gates of the palace, and already the guards there were busy having them opened before he was forced to wait.

  They went to their knees as he went by, showing utmost respect for their General, their

  hero, who had defended his rule from a half-dozen random uprisings throughout his years. For many of those, he had bought into the celebrity and the accolades. He realized he might find himself wishing he had been on the other side.

  He rode Abitha right past the ornately carved wooden doors, into the large marble foyer

  where the petitioners would wait every morning for the Magistrate to determine which cases the Overlord would hear. There were fifty or more merchants, landlords, nobles, and the like milling about inside, papers in hand, and they stared and muttered about the horse entering the palace, until they saw who was astride.

  "General Rast," the Magistrate said, pushing his current conversation aside and

  approaching him. "Your visit is unexpected."

  "I need to speak with the Overlord," he said. "It is quite urgent."

  The Magistrate nodded. "His Excellency is currently hearing the-"

  Talon put his hand on the man's shoulder. "Urgent."

  A weak smile, a bob of the head, and the Magistrate exited out of the room to the right,

  where a curved staircase led up to the throne room.

  Talon stood and waited, while a soldier came and took Abitha's reins, bringing her from

  the foyer. The petitioners kept a wide berth around him, and their conversations had died out while they waited for him to move on.

  The Magistrate returned a few minutes later.

  "He will meet you in his private chambers," he said.

  Talon nodded, and headed for the smaller door on the north wall of the foyer. He knew it

  would take him back, beneath the throne room to a spiral staircase that rose behind the dais of the throne, up to the third floor of the palace. There was a study there, a large room with a desk, quill, and books of law, where the Overlord spent the majority of his time when not holding court.

  Iolis was already waiting for him when he entered without knocking. He had his back to

  him, an open book in one hand that he traced with his other while he feigned reading.

  "Is it true?"

  That was all he said to the Overlord. Iolis turned around.

  He is so young, Talon thought, and not for the first time. He looked barely more than eighteen, with short black hair, thin lips, and a forced smile.

  He closed the book, and placed it onto the desk. "Is what true, General?" he asked.

  "The Curse. Is it true?"

  Iolis spread his hands in supplication. "General, I'm afraid I-"

  Talon stepped towards him, putting his hand on the hilt of his sword.

  "Don't play games. Tell me if it's true," he screamed.

  Iolis backed up a few steps, his calm demeanor unbroken. "What if it is, Talon?" His eyes were challenging.

  He could feel his anger rising. "My son."

  "Your son was a dissident, Talon. A traitor, and a rebel. You refused to see past his blood to the truth."

  "He was a scholar," Talon replied. "A man of books and learning. He didn't sew dissent, he sought the truth. Truth that was written long before he came into power. Truth that he has worked very hard to erase."

  Iolis laughed softly. "Truth is dissent," he said. "Why do you seek that which is forbidden, unless your aim is to cause trouble with it? Why did a man who didn't have the Curse work so hard to discover its origins?"

  "Why is he killing them?" Talon demanded. "Why did he let me kill my son, when he could have cured him?"

  He slid his sword from it's scabbard, the bright, etched alloy reflecting in the light like a crystal.

  "Why did you sicken him with it?"

  "Are you mad?" Iolis shouted. "You've never been the same since your wife left you, but this is lunacy. You can't cure the Curse, and you certainly can't give it to someone. You either develop the Curse when you reach adulthood, or you don't. Some hide it better than others, and it takes more time to catch them, but that is the only way it happens."

  "You're lying," Talon said.

  " He's been worried about you, Talon. Now I know why. Your grief has made you

  delusional. Where have you been, anyway?"

  Talon put his hand to his chest, remembering the letter. He had memorized every word.

  He spoke some of them to the Overlord.

  "There are many things I have learned, father. Things that I was never meant to know.

  Things that no man was ever meant to know. You are reading this letter because they found out.

  It is because for as careful as I was, I was not careful enough."

  Iolis' eyes widened, but he didn't speak. He walked calmly over to an armoire, placing the

  key into it and turning it while Talon spoke.

  "The Curse. The Curse is not some punishment from Amman, some disfavor of a

  wrathful god. The Curse is a sickness, a disease. It is carried in the blood. It changes people. It gives them a power I don't understand, but it also makes them sterile, and it makes them sick. If he didn't take them, they would die in a few years."

  Iolis opened the armoire, and pulled out a small wooden box. He came back and placed it

  on the desk.

  "As a General, you know that the Mediators are Cursed. They have the power of the

  Cursed, and yet, they live. They live because he has a cure. He doesn't have to kill any of them.

  He can cure them, but he chooses not to. He can even let them be, to die on their own, but again he chooses not to."

  Iolis unlatched the box, and reached inside, pulling out a simple ring of shining alloy,

  with a gold stone on the top. He slid it onto his finger.

  "Why is he killing innocent people he could save? Why does he save those who show the most proficiency with the power? You've put down rebellions, father. You know the answers to those questions. He says they take the Cursed to protect everyone else. The only one he protects is himself."

  Talon walked towards the Overlord, tears forming at the base of his eyes. "If you're

  reading this, I'm dead, and have been for some time. I don't know if you will ever find this, but I write this with a prayer to Amman that you will. The Overlord sent an assassin to kill me. Not with a dagger, but with a much darker poison. He gave me the Curse. He probably had you give the order to have me taken, so that you would never question my death, or wane in your loyalty to him."

  He brought the sword up, ready to strike. Iolis stood calmly, looking up at him.

  "Mother will never forgive you, and though it may take time, I believe you will never

  wane in your loyalty to her. They've miscalculated you. I forgive you. I love you. Aren."

  Talon looked at Iolis with eyes filled with tears and anger and hate.

  "I used to believe that he was a good man. That he was hated for the things he was forced to do for the good of us all. He took my son. He took my wife. I'm going to kill him, but first, I'm going to kill you."

  His arm started to move, to come down on Iolis and sever his head from his body. Then

  the Overlord whispered something, the ring on his hand began to glow, and every muscle in

  Talon's body froze.

  "No," Iolis said. "You aren't."

  Talon's face twisted from the effort he was putting into finishing his stroke and ending

  the Overlord's life. Muscle didn't matter now. If he had known Iolis was Cursed, he would have been more cautious.

  Iolis reached up and unbent his fingers, one by one, until the sword clattered to the

  ground. "As I've said, he was worried about you. He was afraid you might become... confused. I wanted to kill you. I've wanted to kill you since we found out that your son had taken some things he shouldn't have. It was his idea to make his death your idea."

  The ring on Iolis' hand continued to glow, and blood started leaking from the Overlord's

  eye. Talon looked at him, his heart filled with hate and rage, his body unable to move. All of these years, all of the people he had killed in his name. For what? Nothing but lies.

  " He refuses to let me do it," Iolis said. "For as cruel as you probably think he is at this moment, the truth is that he is soft. His loyalty to you remains, even as you turn your back on him."

  The Overlord returned to the box, and lifted out a brown stone. He stared at it a moment

  before bringing it over.

  "You're fortunate that we have other ways of making sure you don't cause any more

  trouble. I'd say more, but you aren't going to remember anyway."

  The brown stone began to glow.

  Talon's eyes shifted to watch it.

  Iolis put it to his forehead.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Eryn

  Come on, Silas, Eryn thought, hearing the clapping of boots on the marble floor, getting closer to where Silas was kneeling. She knew she had to take the risk. She stuck her head out from around the column, so she could see what was happening.

  The Overlord's advisor was only two columns away from where Silas was kneeling, his

  head still in his hands. Her heart pounding, Eryn pulled her sword from its scabbard, and

  smacked it against the column, as if by accident.

  The man's head snapped towards her, and a look of confusion crossed his brow.

  "Assassin," he called back. "Come out and die like a man."

  The sword came to his hand so fast, she didn't even see him move. Behind him, she could

  see the Overlord and the soldiers shifting to see what was going on. The soldiers started to move, but he put his arms in front of them. A smile extended across his face.

  Eryn stepped out into view, but she had no intention of attacking. She only had a couple

  of months of training, hardly enough to beat anyone of real skill. She needed to distract him until Silas recovered. If he recovered.

  She ran towards the swordsman with her sword up, the way Silas had shown her, and

  screamed. He smiled at that, and set his blade back in preparation. When she was still twenty feet away, she turned to face the throne, a large, ornate wooden chair at the top of a tall set of carpeted stairs. She ran for it.

  She could hear him laughing at her back.

  "Where are you going, boy?" the swordsman shouted, not following after her. "You must have some skill to have gotten in here unseen, and they saw fit to arm you with an ircidium blade. Why don't you come down here and try your hand? If you're good enough, I'll forgive you for coming to assassinate the Overlord, and you can join my battalion."

  Eryn reached the throne and ducked behind it. The man was a soldier. No, more than a

  soldier, he was a commander of a whole battalion. She had been right not to challenge him. Now she just had to keep him busy.

  "I don't want to fight," she said in her deeper, boy voice. "They said the Overlord would be alone. 'Just sneaks up on 'im and poke 'im with the sword,' they said. 'You'll be a hero,' they said."

  The man's laughter got louder. "A hero, eh? I'm afraid the Overlord isn't as easy of a target as he may look from down with the rest of the commoners. How old are you, boy?"

  "Feng, stop chatting with him and bring him down here," the Overlord said. He had left the balcony, and was approaching the swordsman. The two soldiers stayed behind, watching the crowds.

  "I'm fourteen, My Lord," Eryn said, coming out and standing next to the throne. "Been thieving my whole life. There's nothing I can't get into." She looked over to where Silas had been kneeling.

  His boots and empty scabbard were there, but he was gone.

  "There's something you can't get out of," the Overlord said.

  "Iolis," Feng said, "I've made the boy an offer. I'm a man of my word."

  The Overlord shook his head. "Fine. Come down here boy, and show the General what

  you can do."

  Eryn started to step forward. Then she saw Silas.

  He was charging at them from the side, out from behind the closest column. He had

  removed everything but his pants in order to be as quiet as possible.

  "No, My Lord. I can't fight you. You'll kill me for sure." She took her sword and threw it, so that it rattled and clattered down the steps. Their eyes followed it while Silas got right up behind them, his sword raised to slash the Overlord across the back.

  Feng turned, his own weapon coming up impossibly fast, and smacking Silas' out of the

  way.

  Silas rolled away from the return cut and got to his feet.

  "Ahh, there you are," Feng said. "You've been a hard man to find."

  Silas stood with his sword raised; his chest heaving, his eyes on fire.

  "You don't remember, do you?" Feng asked. "Your own brother."

  "Talon," the Overlord said, looking over at him. He turned his head back to Eryn. "I didn't think you still had it in you, to use a child to try to draw me in. Feeling more like yourself these days?"

  Silas didn't say anything. He just stood there, looking at them.

  "Nothing to say?" Feng asked.

  "You aren't my brother," he said.

  Feng laughed. "Not by birth, no. We all took an oath, Talon. Don't you remember? No,

  you don't. If you had remembered it from the beginning, we wouldn't be here now."

  "It was already broken," Silas said. " He broke it."

  "Your son was Cursed, Talon. He didn't make it happen. You did what you had to do.

  Blaming him, or the Overlord isn't going to help anything."

  Silas shook his head. "You don't know?" he asked.

  "Know what?" Feng replied.

  "The Curse. It's a sickness. Aren wasn't born with it. He gave it to him." He motioned at the Overlord. "He injected it into him, to make him sick."

  Eryn couldn't believe it. She was sick? She remembered Malik's journal. Was that what

  would happen to her? She felt the fear starting to overwhelm her, and she forced herself to be calm. Silas needed her right now.

  "Is it true?" Feng asked Iolis.

  The Overlord nodded. "It's true. But don't you think he had his reasons, Feng?"

  Silas looked at the swordsman, his eyes pleading. Feng looked back and forth between

  him and the Overlord.

  "I'm sorry, Talon," he said at last. "Your grief has overcome you, and your loyalty has fled if you don't believe there was a good reason for what he did. He didn't break the oath. You did."

  Silas lowered his head, still shaking it. "Why would he want Aren dead, when he has a cure?"

  Eryn's heart lifted. A cure? She didn't have to wind up like Malik. It was a sickness they

  could fix.

  "I'm sure there is a good reason, Talon. Have you ever thought that your son was a rebel, a traitor? That he was trying to undermine all of the hard work we've done?"

  Silas' head shot up. "He knew. The truth that I refused to see. The truth that you refuse to see." He looked at the Overlord. "Freeze me, Mediator. Hold my body so that you can end my life. If you don't, I'm going to kill you."

  The Overlord smiled, and held out his hand. Eryn could see a gold stone sitting on top of

  an ircidium ring. " He's given me permission to kill you, Talon. It didn't come easily, but I talked him into it."

  Eryn's heart jumped into her throat. The Overlord was Cursed? She had to do something,

  or he was going to kill Silas.

  She saw the stone on the ring begin to glow. Silas' sword came up, and he hopped

  forward, a quick slash intended to cut Iolis' finger off. Feng's blade met his, and batted it away.

  "Don't make him do this, brother," Feng said. "We can work it out. It's all been a misunderstanding."

  Silas was the one laughing now. "A misunderstanding? He killed him!" He went for the Overlord again, but Feng intervened. He blocked two quick thrusts and went on the offensive.