Chapter 23 -Luck

The next few days passed in the blink of an eye. I spent as much time with family as was possible. I had very little else to do. Administers had come to interview me and prepare documents for me. My position as a student and gladiator of the Queen’s Arena was to be made official, and my crimes were to be acquitted so long as I did not leave my ‘employment’ in the coliseum. Not that I would receive substantial pay. For the first few years, a large percentage of my payment would be sent to the families I had wronged. Blood money. I did not see the justice in it. They had gotten what they deserved.

I only regret missing out on staying next to what truly mattered. I had been the wedge, and Aryel’s death had been the hammer. Struck by the blow, I split the family. Now I laughed and talked with them, but the four of us knew time was limited. Soon Garent and I would be on the road. Mother and father would be alone. Three children they had birthed, and still they would be left alone. My happiness around them was fleeting. Every time I met their eyes, shame and regret surged in the depths of my empty heart. Is it right to be so duplicitous? To believe they got what they deserved but regret my actions?

Reassurance came from the strangest of places. The day before we were to depart, I decided to experience Chereba from outside the walls of the coliseum. One last chance to mingle with the people I called rats. When we took to the streets as a family, I experienced a warm welcome. They recognized my missing ear and my walk.

“Hail Khaisar!”

“Come try this drink!”

“I knew you could do it!”

“Gelas, terror and tyrant of the arena!”

“Lunch on the house, for you and your family!”

“I bet on you from the beginning!”

To think that I had a presence, that everyone knew me. Was that the sort of fame I wanted? Still, I was not one to turn down free food. I glanced at my family, and raised an eyebrow, questioning. “Why not.” Mother answered. The food was bland but filling, heavy on the fat and the grain. We ate until we were full, and as we ate, a crowd began to gather. They congratulated me, and I thanked them for their words. As they sat in the increasingly stuffy room with us, they grew comfortable. Then, from one of those nameless faces the ‘reassurance’ reverberated through my body. “Those bastards had no right talking about your sister. They got what was coming for em!”

Coming from anyone else, the words may have served their purpose. But coming from the people of Chereba who cheered the humiliation people suffered in the arena? It left a bitter taste in my mouth, and I wished nothing more than to leave. My family was ready to go, so we did not stay for anything else.

-

The next morning, after tearful farewells hugging mother and father goodbye, I was faced with horses. Giant, towering horses. Sitting in the back of a carriage was entirely different from riding one, and my last experience with riding was from Navitrag or Orid-narr. Give me a river raft any day. How do you control one of them? What if it decides to buck me off? Does is not cause pain between the legs? What if it bounces and I land on my balls?

Why did I have to ride anyway? And this stupid cloak was getting in the way. I felt the sweat trickle down my ribs. My shirt stuck to my back and the cloak only made it worse. Whose idea was this? I kicked a stone away and eyed the beast.

“What do you want?”

It chuffed in my face, and from behind me I heard the clip-clop of approaching hooves. Garent’s voice carried over the heavy footsteps, “Talking to your horse is always a good practice… so long as you don’t agitate it.”

I didn’t need to turn around to see the grin on his face, but I turned anyway.

“When did you get so good at riding?”

“I’ll tell you on the way.”

“Oh, just like the whole reason for you accompanying me.”

“Yes, exactly!”

He was insufferable. When had he become so annoying? I shook my head and stepped towards my horse. It felt warm under my hand, and the rough hairs hardly budged as I tried to soothe it.

“So how am I supposed to ride this?”

“Just hop on. Put a foot in the stirrup and swing yourself up. I’m sure it should be easy for the terror and tyrant of the arena.”

“You know, I could do without the extra commentary.”

He shrugged and raised his palms. A guard from the rest of the company rode up to join us, “What’s the hold up?”

Garent answered for us with an easy smile, “Nothing friend, my brother has not ridden before, so he needs a minute to mount. Is everyone else ready to go?”

“Almost.” With that, he rode away.

“Hm, talkative fellow.” Garent remarked.

I grunted in response. Taking a breath to brace myself, I stretched my arms up to the saddle, wincing as the tension pulled at the stitches in my torso. I placed my foot in the stirrup, but before stepping into it, I hesitated. Should I ask? I bit my cheek and sighed. Why did I feel the need to be proud in front of my own brother?

“Can you demonstrate for me?”

He looked at me for a moment. In the split second he studied my face, I saw his lips part. He closed his mouth and nodded.

Five minutes later we were in the thick of the procession. And it was an utter disaster. Already I felt the heights of discomfort from ‘riding’ the horse. I can hardly even call it that. The first hour I only did my best to hold on. I squeezed with my legs (probably much too hard for the poor beast) and I tried sitting comfortably upright like the rest of the people around us.

To that point, I should add that I saw the princess conversing with Pirveli. How that ear-chewing bastard managed to sidle up next to her I had no idea. Not that I cared. It was the ease at which they were able to ride that had me clenching my teeth. But Terlan’s cautionary words forced me to relax my jaw, “…take care when you go to the Katentin. Things are different there, and keep in mind, you are no longer a criminal. So, you cannot fight like one.”

Fine, I was no longer a criminal by law. But I will be damned if I did not want to knock over that prim, smug, goody, sword-wielding, horse riding, ear biting ass. They could change my status on paper, but changing my way of thinking? Good luck.

Still, I reasoned with myself, he had done it in the arena. He probably thought I was going to kill him. I would have done the same, if not worse in his place. Don’t judge, learn. With that in mind, I cleared my head of the sixty-two different methods of revenge I had devised. I studied his hands, his posture, hips, legs and the way he held his head.

I compared his style of riding to the princess, and as I watched, I saw her stiff back. Strange, earlier she had been more relaxed than Pirveli… I snorted, what did she expect would come from associating with criminals? I saw her head turn and her eyes locked on to mine. Fffuuu.

My head snapped forwards and I gulped. Why was I watching them anyway? I should just study my brother. Inside though, I knew I was studying them because I believed them to be my enemies. Was it right for me to take so much more from the people I disliked, over the people that I liked? To that effect, Garent surprised me time and time again. He had changed during that year. I mentioned it before, but to see my younger brother, who had always been so mature acting in such a way… How to explain…

The boy who had once followed and cleaned up after me, now rode in front. His reserved attitude was still there, but it did not hold him back. He held himself with his chest high and had an assuredness that I would have once been jealous of. Whatever had changed him, did so for the better. He, for lack of a better word, functioned.

And when we finally got around to talking, I realized the extent to which he did so. As he sat and swayed, I bounced around in the saddle. Poor horse was stuck with me. Chereba was two hours behind us before he began to tell me of the happenings back home.

“Not long after you were taken away, a representative from the Fair Merchants came down to Orid-narr to survey the place. Naturally, they stayed with us, their first investment. The timing was… rough. At first. But what better to distract us from the absence than the presence of a guest? And it gave the empty room a purpose. I can’t begin to express how angry I felt at this representative before they even arrived. My sister dies, my father begins to lose himself, you start to help, only to be taken away once more. Then we receive a letter telling us that a surveyor would be joining us in a few days…"

"Do you have any idea how I envied you? Always free to do whatever the fuck you want. No care for what may happen afterwards. Then there was me. Always questioning my every word. Should I say this? Should I say that? It was torture. But you, you were free."

"When I read that letter, I wanted to tell them to buzz off and mind their own business. But how could I? In the face of the Fair Merchants, financers, and investors in our affairs. Technically, our business was their business. So, we welcomed them into the house. To my surprise, the surveyor was a young girl, incredibly bright and inquisitive. She came with a bouquet of white roses and offered her condolences. She was only a few years older than myself and I remember finding her strangely appealing to watch. It’s not that she was not beautiful, but if you look closely then the strangeness of her features become apparent. The space between her eyes was just wider than you would expect, and her nose was slightly crooked -as were a few of her teeth. But believe me brother, when I saw her smile, it softened my heart. Any anger I had towards the Fair Merchants for their terrible timing vanished."

"Evelilas forgive me, but I left mother and father alone to take her around the town and introduce her to what she referred to as other potential business ventures. I wished to find reason for her to stay, to remain in her company… but not long after that, she was called back…”

He trailed off and we rode in silence for a while. I could relate to his guilt, perhaps selfishness ran in the family. And how were we not supposed to feel guilty at the strife we cause others, but regardless we think first of ourselves. Case in point, I was happy he had made that decision and been selfish. It meant that he was not perfect, and for the first time in ages, I was able to relate to him. Eyeing the horse beneath me, I relinquished my clamp-like grip on the reins to scratch the back of my neck. Why did I have to be this way? So ashamed in my own humanity, my own weakness that I took joy in my own brother’s suffering. I should comfort him.

“Well, if it’s any consolation… at least you did not kill anyone and get sent away.”

Shit. Terrible attempt.

To my surprise, a smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. Maybe I wasn’t so bad at this older brother thing after all.

“No, I suppose I did not kill anyone.”

He stayed silent for a while longer, but this time it no longer weighed down on us, and minutes later he resumed.

“Tell me, what do you know of the Fair Merchants?” Garent asked me.

“Not much, father used to work for them as a sailor in Navitrag before they offered him a position in Orid-narr. They also funded the start up of mother’s tavern. They’re… merchants… I guess.” I shrugged and raised my hands.

Garent pursed his lips, perhaps in awe of my ignorance. “You are not wrong. They did those things but its not what they are. The name says merchants, but in reality, they do much more. You can say that they have fingers in all the pies, or, most of them. While trade, shipping, buying and selling was how they got started, the money they made allowed them to branch off. Eighty years ago, they were known for selling the highest quality grain which they would redistribute after buying from select farmers. If any sack was defective or damp, they would not sell it. Nor would they engage in underhanded tricks like adding weight to the scale prior to purchase.”

“Wait so the name means fair as in just, or equal?”

“That and beautiful.” He replied with a grin.

I nodded my head and waited for him to continue.

“So, they made a name for themselves, and soon everyone went to buy stuff from them. It was two sisters at the time, Zana and Inita. It was said that even if their wares had not been the best in town, people would have bought from them solely for the chance to see their beauty. But being both fair and fair? Few others stood a chance. With their growing wealth, they expanded their reach. Selling grain to neighboring cities. But that was not enough, and soon they began to import rugs from across the sea. This is where father comes in. However they did not deal only in large scale -as we can see with mother’s tavern. Tell me, in the time we spent at Orid-narr, did we ever truly have competition?”

Despite knowing the question was a rhetorical one, I thought back to those distant days. He was right, we were the first proper tavern to open up. I remember thinking that it was way too big when we had first moved there, but the town grew up around us and before Aryel had fallen ill, a person would be hard pressed to find a seat in the damn place.

“Of course, in return for their investment in us, a percentage of our earnings goes to them. Now, one would think that with an operation as large as the one the Fair Merchants are running, a small investment like our tavern may not be given as much attention. But they did. A testament to their meticulousness. In the year before you left, less customers came to us, perhaps to give mother more time with Aryel, or maybe for some other reason I don’t know. Our sales had dipped considerably, which is why they sent Zana.”

“Zana?”

“The girl who visited.”

“Was the Zana who founded the Fair Merchants her grandmother or something?”

“Or something. Truth be told, I never asked her if she was named after that Zana… If they are related, it is a distant relation.”

He smiled at nothing then, and looked at the world with wider eyes. Is that what it was like to be in love? Tell me brother, does it make colors brighter and more colorful, or is that all lies? But I saw his happiness, and I let him be. I only wanted to stretch my legs and get off this damn horse.

And he still did not tell me why he was riding with me to Katentin. Hopefully we could stop soon. When we finally do, I need to remember to wring the rest of it out of him.