Chapter 18: Sehn’s Big Break

“Now look, Sehn,” Rillith began. “I know you don’t want to hear this from me, but please, just ask yourself: are you sure this is a good idea?”

Sehn frowned at the idiot. “Of course it’s a good idea, you fool!” He was running out of patience for Rillith; he was running out of patience for all of them.

“I just…I’m not trying to upset you, Sehn,” Rillith said. “But it’s just that you’ve never done this before, and it looks really dangerous.”

Sehn tied another rope around his shoulder and connected the second wing. ”Well, it’s a good thing I’m an immortal God then, isn’t it?”

Earlier that day, Sehn had seen a small Dwarf use some kind of gliding device, constructed out of wings, which were attached to a frame by ropes. The Dwarf had soared through the skies. How dare someone fly through the sky if that someone was not Sehn?

“Nero, do you remember what to do?”

Nero ran over and danced as he recited what Sehn had instructed. “Yes, once you are flying in the sky, I am to recite the flight-poem, and say prayers in your name.”

“Excellent, Nero. And you, Rina?”

Rina beamed. “Rina will go around town and make sure that everyone sees the Great Sehn flying over them, and Rina will make sure they chant your name.”

They were standing on the top of a large Koringrathian Inn, several stories above the ground. With a rueful laugh, Sehn turned one last time to Rillith, Rina, and Nero, who were watching him in awe. He waved. “I am off. Let the seeds of envy bubble in your hearts, peasants!” With that, he leapt.

*****

“I don’t know how you managed not to break your legs,” Cah’lia mumbled. “You’re lucky you can still walk. What the hell were you thinking, Sehn?”

Sehn growled at the woman. “Silence, Cah’lia! I was merely trying to test how far my legs could fall and still remain intact. I have determined from this experiment, that the Great Sehn’s legs can remain intact from a fall from up to one hundred thousand feet. Now, get these fucking bandages off me.”

“No, Sehn, things are going to change around here,” Cah’lia demanded.

The nerve. How dare it speak to me in such a way?

The door to the inn opened, and Sehn jumped as he saw who entered. It wasn’t Patrick that bothered him, but the Elven prince and the young woman with him.

“You!” Sehn roared. “So, you have come to finally challenge me, have you? Very well, I’ve been waiting for this moment.”

The Elven woman next to Saerith stepped forward and gave Sehn an evaluating, almost demeaning look. Sehn burned her face into memory so that he could torture her later.

“Sehn,” the woman said. “Do you know who I am?”

“Hmm, let me see,” Sehn responded. He took out a piece of paper and quill. He wrote down formulas, numbers, and other random mathematical equations. After almost five minutes of silence, he held the paper up to the woman. “By my calculations, you’re a bitch in very desperate need of a fireballing.”

The woman was wearing ornate jewelry on her fingers, around her neck, and she had large diamonds on her ears. She wore a robe spun of the finest silks. She pulled back the hood on her robe to reveal one of the most beautiful faces among all living Elves. She had dark red eyes like the prince, but hers were softer in tone and added an indescribable beauty.

“I am Princess Saerina, sister to Prince Saerith.”

Patrick looked as if he’d been hit in the face as he turned to face her. “I offer you my deepest and most sincere apologies for my behavior earlier, Princess. When I engaged in negotiations with your brother…I had no idea. I did not address you with the respect you deserve, and for that I am truly sorry.”

“It is fine,” she said. “I did not wish to make my identity known at the time, at least not until I had met with Sehn.”

Sehn grinned. “Ah, so you wish to visit the Great Sehn, do you?” He stood, ignoring the…pleasure he felt in his bruised legs.

“Very well, I shall permit you to converse with your champion. All I ask is ten Elvens per word, plus the five thousand Elvens in tribute.”

Cah’lia slapped him in the back of the head, causing him to turn his head toward her and growl. “Cah’lia, this disrespect is really starting to get out of hand. Are you asking to die?”

“You’re the only one showing disrespect, Sehn. Do you not realize that in this small inn room are three of the most powerful people alive?”

“I think you meant four,” Sehn corrected.

She sighed. “You’re hopeless, Sehn.”

Saerina chuckled at all of this. “Sehn, you are quite the funny man if not a bit easy to predict.”

Sehn bit his lips. “You dare challenge the Great Sehn to a—”

“Prediction-war,” the princess said before he could finish. “Ah, I have made Cah’lia tell me all of your stories, and I value myself an excellent judge of character. In fact, back home my father would ask me to meet with his greatest political rivals for just one hour a day, and afterwards I would tell him every move, every plan they were going to make. It is a gift I was born with. And no, Sehn, I will not pay you four-thousand Elvens per story told. Don’t give me that look. You were just thinking to yourself, ‘How dare Cah’lia tell my stories without charging the appropriate story-tax.’ Weren’t you?”

Sehn didn’t respond, his mind scrambling to form some kind of a response. How did she do that? Sehn would not be made to look like an idiot in front of this woman. He would do something no one would expect.

Never in his entire life had he been so thoroughly humiliated, so thrashed by others. This woman had the nerve to say she knew Sehn…no one knew Sehn! He needed something, anything. He needed something that would make them stand in awe. Something that would make this princess fall over in surprise.

“Cah’lia, have you ever seen this before?” Sehn asked, pretending to reach for something in his pocket. Cah’lia walked over.

“Seen what?”

“This.”

Before she could react, Sehn grabbed her, pulled her in, and sealed her lips with a kiss. He could feel her heart beat faster and her body stiffen. Around the room, he heard gasps of surprise: from Nero, Rina, and even from the Elven woman, but what shocked him most was that one came from himself.

He tried to pull away, but Cah’lia refused to let go, and Sehn’s mind exploded with conflicting emotion. As he kissed the woman who was his sworn enemy, feelings that shouldn’t have been possible began to rise; he struggled to bury them deep inside of him.

When they finally separated, his face was only a few inches from Cah’lia’s. There was a tear in her eye.

“Why…did you let me?” he asked.

“It’s not fair,” she said, shedding another tear. “You finally kissed me, and it doesn’t even matter anymore, because you won’t even live for…”

She slapped him and ran out of the room.

What was that for? he wondered.

“And this,” he said to the amazed, awestruck men in the room, “is yet another example of why women make absolutely no sense.”

Saerina smiled and looked at her brother. “Do you see, Saerith? It is like I have said. You must put your grudge with him aside. There is so much more to him than you know.”

The prince shook his head. “He is a disgusting animal, sister. I can’t understand why we don’t simply bind him in chains and be done with it. He has no redeeming qualities.”

“Do you still require more proof?” she asked.

“Show me, then.”

Saerina turned to Sehn and gave him a mischievous look. “Sehn,” she said, unsheathing a small dagger from her robe. “I am going to stab myself in the neck in front of you, in sacrifice to my God, will that be okay?”

Sehn laughed. “Of course. The Great Sehn accepts all living sacrifices.”

She held the point of the dagger mere inches from her throat. “Very well, I shall end my life now, in your name.”

Sehn laughed again at the woman. Was he supposed to care? After all, many lives would be sacrificed in his name after he had enslaved the world.

The woman brought the dagger closer to her throat, almost touching the skin with the bejeweled blade. Sehn watched as it drew closer and closer to her neck. Was she serious?

“Saerina, hold a moment,” Sehn demanded. “You do realize that you must first serve me for a period of no less than four years before you are granted the honor of self-sacrifice, yes?”

“Ah, but for you, Sehn, I can wait no longer. I must sacrifice myself now.”

The tip of the blade punctured her skin, sending a small trickle of blood down her throat, causing Saerith to stare worriedly at his sister. Sehn couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

What is she doing? Is she out of her mind?

The blade penetrated even deeper, resulting in another drop of blood. Any farther, and it would begin to do real damage, yet the woman showed no inclination of stopping.

Sehn’s body acted on its own accord. Despite the incredible pain in his bandaged legs, he leapt across the room and knocked the dagger out of the princess’s hands before falling on his face.

“Idiot! What did I just tell you? You must first serve me for the right to…ah fuck, my legs!” From the ankle up, Sehn’s legs throbbed with a constant pain.

Saerina glanced at her brother, who nodded. “I see,” he said. He looked down at Sehn. “I am coming with you on your journey, Sehn. You have spent too long in Koringrath wasting time. We will leave tomorrow morning. I understand you were originally meant to leave today. Well, you will have one more day, and then we are off.”

Sehn looked up at the foolish prince who dared to give him commands. “Hah! You’re a fool if you think I’m letting you journey with us, prince.”

A dangerous glare entered the Elven prince’s eyes. “What makes you think you have a choice, Sehn, son of Suhn?”

Sehn once again rose to his feet. “Because if you go,” he spat. “I won’t.”

Saerina stepped in-between them. “Sehn, you are going. I was in Elvar just a few days ago, and everyone there has heard the tale of the Great Sehn, setting off to look for treasure. Imagine what they will think when you return empty handed.”

Sehn blinked. The woman was right, damn her. If he returned without the treasure, he would become the laughing stock of Elvar.

“Very well, but the prince may not come along.”

Saerina whispered something into the prince’s ear, and he nodded. “Oh really?” he asked. “Sehn, my sister has just informed me that the only reason you don’t want me to come along is because you are afraid of me, and you fear my presence.”

Sehn bit down on his own tongue. “I demand you journey with us this instant! Or so help me Gods, I shall…wait a minute, did I just? Fuck! You tricked me.”

Saerina laughed. “Cah’lia has told me that not even the Great Sehn may disobey the Great Sehn. You can’t go back on your word now, can you?”

Sehn walked back to his bed and sat down, grumpy and bitter. “Whatever, I don’t care, let the prince come along. As long as he understands that I am in charge. Let’s just send Nero and Rina home and get a move on. This is already taking too long as it is.”

Nero and Rina were on their feet in an instant, a repeat of what had happened that very morning. “No!” Nero yelled. “You can’t make us go home. Please, Sehn, I don’t want to.”

Sehn heard the creak of footsteps outside the door and noticed that Cah’lia had returned. She appeared to have composed herself. She entered the room, her eyes red from crying, and both she and Sehn avoided looking at each other.

“Nero, you’re going home, today. Look at me, Nero. I’ve whipped you before, and I’ll do it again.” There was a dangerous look about her, and Nero showed a fear Sehn rarely saw in the boy.

He sighed. “Do I still get to take Rina with me?”

The former slave girl’s eyes lit up. “Does Rina go too, Mistress?”

Cah’lia knelt down and embraced them both in a hug. “Of course, you’re both going.”

“No!” Saerina shouted, causing all in the room to turn to her. “Those two are coming with us, and that is that. If anyone attempts to countermand this order, then they themselves shall be sent home. Sehn is the only one here who is indispensable.”

Sehn’s ears twitched at the compliment. “Princess Saerina, congratulations. For your words of wisdom, you have just been promoted up to the rank of uncommon-whore, from common-whore. Keep this up, and someday I may even see fit to allow you the position of bathroom-keeper.”

She ignored the remark, instead choosing to keep her gaze focused on Cah’lia.

“I don’t understand,” Cah’lia said. “Why does my little brother have to go too?”

Saerina’s voice turned dark as she spoke. “Because,” she said. “I have commanded it so. That is all you need to know.”

Sehn watched as Cah’lia bowed before the woman—and why? Simply because she was commanded to do so? Hah! What a weakling.

Nero and Rina seemed overjoyed by the news, and Rina was imitating several of Nero’s dance moves. Sehn didn’t know how he felt about Nero coming along—not that he cared about his life or anything—but if something happened to his greatest disciple, it would be a pain to train another one.

“Now,” Saerina commanded. “Sehn, you are to get some sleep, and then tomorrow we will set out. Everyone else, leave him be, he needs his rest. Follow me, and Patrick will take us all to other rooms.”

Sehn shook his head, do women never learn? “Listen to me, woman! You do not get to make demands of—”

“Sellos Miyas!” she shouted.

A fatigue greater than any Sehn had felt before, washed over him as his head hit the pillow and he allowed exhaustion to take him.

“Did she just…” he trailed off to sleep, too tired to think.