Divided (64 page)

Narrowing his eyes, he darted forward again, pushing around
the man on the pale horse just enough so that he was given a free space to run
in.  “This guy is incredible,” he heard one of the men mutter in annoyance. 
“Circle that way!”

Taeru wished he knew which way that was.  He kept moving,
though, knowing that any slowing of his speed would get him killed.  His leg
burned, and his vision was obscuring as the pain became more of an issue in his
mind.  His breath was running short, and his body begged him for reprieve.  At
last, a body slammed into his side, wrestling him to the ground in a quick
motion.

Taeru growled, fighting with every ounce of strength he had
left in his body.  The guard spoke harshly in Taeru’s ear, working to restrain his
wrists.  Then, he was calling to the other guards, and Taeru knew he had to get
away now, or he wasn’t going to get away at all.  By some miracle, he managed
to free one of his hands enough to reach up and bring his fingernails across his
assailant’s cheek.  When the guard jerked back in pain, Taeru brought his good
leg up into a kick that sent the man scuttling backwards.

Then, Taeru twisted up onto his feet once again.  He only
managed to get a short ways, though, before another man slammed him with untold
force against the very wall that he had been trying to reach.  Taeru reacted,
pushing away from the wall and managing a swift blow to the man’s teeth.  A
hard shock caught him across the jaw, though, and then his back was slammed
against the stone again.  When he fought further, the slamming motion repeated. 
After three evenly spaced punches to his jaw had his head spinning, his body
was twisted and smashed viciously against the wall a final time—this time with
his face slamming against it first. The final impact brought a fog into Taeru’s
head, bobbing in and out.

Somehow, he realized that he’d fallen to the ground, and there
was a heavy weight pressed against his back.  When he tried to move, the
insurrection was met with a powerful force against his ribs.  His arms were
immobile, caught behind him.  He realized belatedly that his stomach was
against the ground, and the man behind him was binding his wrists unnecessarily
tightly.  “Oh-h, look at this.”  With cruel force, someone yanked the ring off
Taeru’s finger. 
Putting that on was probably the most foolish thing I’ve
ever done. 

Someone grabbed the back of his head and pressed his face
against the dirt mercilessly.  He closed his eyes and mouth to ensure that he
wasn’t eating it.  “I’m sure this is worth a good sum of gold over in Cathalar,
huh?” the man mocked cheerlessly.  Taeru growled. 

Vaguely, he could hear voices, but his ears were ringing
from hitting the wall so hard.  Inevitably, though, a few of them came into
focus.  “Where is your brother?” one man asked warily.

“I’m not sure,” someone else answered.  “He was chasing after
you all when I went another direction.”  Taeru knew that they were talking
about Calis.  Despite being unable to form words, he did manage a thought.

Coward.

“What do you want us to do with him?”  The force on the back
of Taeru’s head had been released, though he’d determined that keeping his head
lower to the ground was the safest way to keep from having the process
repeated. 

An unforgiving kick crashed into his ribs, and his head swam
again.  When another one followed it, he let out a startled whimper.  “Bind his
ankles too—he is apparently quite skilled with his feet.”  Taeru could feel the
moment someone began obeying that order.  His heart pounded against his aching
head.  How had he let this happen?  What had he done?  No—no, he couldn’t
panic.  He had to remain calm.  If he fell to pieces, then he would be much
easier to interrogate.

Surely, Lavus would contact Cathalar about this.  There was
no other means of proceeding forward.  Still, Veyron ought to know it was a
trap—perhaps Ryo could stop him.  Perhaps they wouldn’t want to go to war while
Aela was still missing. 
Oh, Aela…
Taeru had failed in a very big way.

A third kick brought Taeru’s vision back into clear focus. 
There were several men standing about, idly.  He was obviously on the ground,
and someone was on top of him, straddling him—while someone else bound his
ankles together. 

“Father is going to be
so
pleased,” another man
remarked.  Whoever had been on top of Taeru got off, and someone else moved to
take the spot, though rather than sitting on him—they put a knee into the
center of his back, just above his hands.

Suddenly, noise erupted through the area.  Taeru could see
the men who had been idle scrambling to get their weapons.  Managing to turn
his head weakly, he saw the cause of the commotion.  Someone flung a sword
across the throat of one of the guards, and with a slew of blood, the man fell
to the ground—silenced.  Taeru felt his heart accelerate. 
Calis
.  Calis
had just murdered one of the guards!

Then, Calis turned and ran his sword through one of the
others.  He made short work of all of the men who had gone to stop him.  They
fell by the wayside as though they were nothing more than children.  Calis was
merciless, and Taeru was in awe.  He hadn’t known Calis was so formidable.  Nor
that Calis would kill so readily.

“Stop, brother,” Tareth hissed.  Taeru realized that
Tareth’s knee was the one pressing into his back.  Then, Tareth grabbed his
hair, pulling hard so that his head was tilted upwards.  A sharp, stinging bite
pierced his neck, then.  The warmth spread, spilling outwards.  Blood—Tareth
had the sword to his throat.  He was going to die, he realized dismally. 
Working to keep his breath steady, he closed one eye, then both, then he opened
one again.  “I’ll slit his throat right now,” Tareth menaced.

Oddly, Calis did stop.  Though, Taeru wasn’t sure why he
should be surprised.  After all, Calis had just been murdering guards without
thought, presumably to reach Taeru.  “Leave him alone, Tareth.  This isn’t
about him.”  Calis’s voice did not sound at all as expected.  Taeru had assumed
it would match the ruthless demeanor with which he’d slain at least seven men. 
But, no, Calis sounded frightened, vulnerable.

“Oh, this is very much about him.  A Cathalari prince has
been living in Telandus for—we have no idea how long!  This is huge, and I am
going to get credit for personally bringing him to our father.”

Calis looked sick.  He took a weak step forward, and there
was a plea in his eyes.  He was deliberately not looking at Taeru.  Perhaps he
harbored resentment, after all?  Though, it appeared his chivalry wasn’t
letting him back down.  “All you want is for Father to favor you.  I’ll tell
him that I was still seeing a commoner.  He’ll hate me for it.  I’ll say you
discovered me, and that is why I’m confessing.  You don’t have to hurt
him
.” 
He sounded so horrified, and the sound bothered Taeru immensely.  Calis should
never sound that way.

“Oh, but imagine how much more he’d favor me if I brought
him Taeru bloody Lassau.”  The sword moved deeper against Taeru’s skin.  His
body twitched, but he worked to calm himself.  He was trembling, though, and
Tareth surely felt that. 

“Please,” Calis begged.  “Tareth.  I am your brother.  You
don’t understand.  That boy hasn’t done anything to you.  I will tell Father
that I was seeing the prince—that he got away because of me.  I am begging you,
Tareth, do not do this!”  Calis’s voice cracked over his final words.  Finally,
and rather abruptly, Calis’s eyes dropped to look at Taeru.  An odd, sort of
strangled noise escaped him as he opened his mouth. 

“Are you crying, Calis?” Tareth sneered.  Taeru felt a very
strong hatred for Tareth in that moment.  How could he do this to his own
brother?  Then, with unprecedented horror, Taeru realized that Calis was
crying.  “Drop the sword,
now
,” Tareth demanded venomously.

To Taeru’s dismay, Calis obeyed, dropping the sword, which
clattered to the ground.  The moment he did, though, one of the soldiers
slammed him up against the same wall that Taeru had been forced against.  As
Calis fought to get away from the several people who had grabbed him, Tareth
yanked his sword very lightly over Taeru’s throat.  His world spun, and another
blunt force to the back of his head sent him spiraling into absolute darkness.

As he felt his consciousness abandoning him, he heard one,
solitary, agonized cry.  “Kilik!”

“Oblivious to his own worth, and that was his weakness. 
She had always known that would be his weakness.”

-A Hero’s Peace v.ii

Calis yanked against the restraints on his hands with
strength that he hadn’t realized he had.  His lying, cowardly, pathetic excuse
for a brother.  Tareth was gone, though, off to retrieve Lavus—no doubt. 
Though, Calis’s anger felt oddly weak.  All he could see when he closed his
eyes were those uncertain, unfathomable blue ones staring at him.  Kilik. 
Taeru.  Whatever his bloody name was.  Calis felt terrified out of his mind.  What
had he done?  Oh, if he had only responded differently.  Rather than staring at
the boy like a raving moron, he should have held him—assured him that Calis had
truly meant that nothing Kilik, or Taeru, said would ever change the way Calis
felt.

In that moment, he had been shocked, clearly.  Of all the
things he had anticipated, he had not thought that Kilik was Taeru Lassau. 
Oh—and the way Kilik had flinched!  He’d thought Calis was going to hit
him—he’d been trembling.  Calis ought to have held him then, promised him it
was alright—but he’d waited.  Waited because the shock of taking everything
Calis had ever idolized, and making it better was still ringing in his head. 
Why was there something so alluring about the fact that Kilik was Taeru?  That
this vulnerable person had acted on an instinct to help everyone—gotten up the
courage to leave his homeland—and travel to Telandus?  Calis’s shock at who
Taeru was had ended moments before Tareth’s arrival, though his shock at
himself—for enjoying the truth—continued to do so.

Kilik—Taeru was so small, so innocent.  Every action he’d
ever endeavored to commit had been guileless.  No wonder the Magister of Manipulation
was so easily able to confuse him—Taeru didn’t have a manipulative bone in his
body.  Oh, the way he’d constantly shrank back from Calis’s revealing of castle
secrets.  He was so innocent of any crime, so innocent in all things… and yet…
and now… because of Calis—what were they going to do to him?  No, no… no. 
Calis fought against the restraints.  “Don’t make me hit you again, sir,” one
of the guards said.

Calis let out a low growl, and unsurprisingly, the coward
backed away.  Even with his hands bound, he could probably have fought better
than the fools in this room.  A few moments later, Lavus appeared with his
deceitful and hard eyes.  Calis glared back at him, and for once in his life,
he felt no fear.  Despite having thought that his life had not been in fear of
Lavus, at this moment, nothing Lavus did to him mattered. 
But what of what
he does to Taeru? 
Fear strangled Calis, then. 

The blow to Calis’s face was quick, instant, and Calis
responded by spitting upwards, directly into his father’s face.  Lavus hit him
again, and this time, Calis just brought his head back into position with a
glare.  “He has no information.  You will gain nothing from keeping him here. 
He’s renounced his own name.  Prove, for once, that you are a man and not a
beast, Lavus.”  The words were a snarl, and he emphasized the name that his
father had so often said for him never to use.

“You lied.  I ought to have seen this coming.  You insolent,
pathetic, knave.  You fell in love!  And as if the concept itself wasn’t
pathetic enough, you fell in love with our sworn enemy.”  His words were harsh,
and Calis steeled himself for another strike across his face.

“
Your
sworn enemy,” Calis said sharply, and the blow
he had anticipated came quickly and effectively.  Calis could feel, more than
see, his cowardly, sniveling brother over in the corner.  Oh, if only he knew
that this would bring him no favor of Lavus’s.  “He is no longer a Lassau.  You
have no reason to keep him here!”

“Oh, but he has information.  Information that you could
have obtained if you had not been so foolish in your feelings for him,” Lavus
returned with a snap.  Calis’s eyes narrowed, but fear pulsed through him,
renewed.  Taeru wasn’t going to give any information on his family, and Calis
knew that.  No, they would torture him.  Every nightmare that Calis had ever
had seized his body, and he started to tremble. 

He needed any way, anything, to try and get Taeru away from
these people.  “Then, let me go get it now.”

“You think me a fool, boy?” Lavus shouted.  Calis thought
about shouting that he thought Lavus far worse than a fool.  Unfortunately,
Taeru’s well-being was hanging in the balance.  Calis’s body twitched as he
thought of that small form on the ground—the bruises that had already started
to form along his face.  Kilik had watched him with such intensity, then, so
frightened and worried.  “I ought to have you hanged, too.”

Too?
  Calis’s body sagged in disbelief.  No.  No,
this could not happen.  This could not be happening.  This was all his fault. 
Why hadn’t he been able to protect Taeru—Kilik?  The person that he’d fallen in
love with?  Why?  “What do you have to gain from hanging him?  No one knows who
he is.  He hasn’t tried to do anything wrong!” Calis choked.

Lavus growled in disgust, and then he glanced to one of the
soldiers in the room.  “Go get his advisor,” he said shortly.  Lee—oh, this
couldn’t end well.  Of course, if only Lee had realized that Tareth had
replaced the feeble, weak guards with stronger ones—if only they had realized
it was Tareth at all, maybe they could have stopped this.  How could they be
expected to, though?  After all, Tareth had never acted so cleverly before.

A few moments later, Lee walked in, and his eyes widened
only briefly as they glanced at Calis.  They seemed much calmer than Calis had
expected.  “What is this?” he asked, sounding legitimately confused.

“Your master was seeing a commoner, were you aware of this
fact?”

Lee blinked for a few moments.  He blinked quite a lot for
those few moments, Calis thought.  What would Lee say?  “I knew he was spending
time in Dark District, I hoped he was there for the same reason I was, to
gather important information—though, I had my suspicions.”  Calis’s eyes
widened.  Lee intended to betray him, now?

“Well, it just so happens that he was.  He was fraternizing,
and the very commoner that he fancied happens to be Prince Taeru Lassau.” 
There was a flash in Lee’s eyes, a strange one, and then the shock appeared, on
cue.  He let out a strangled breath, and he stared at Calis as though the blond
had betrayed him personally.  Calis narrowed his eyes, gritting his teeth as he
regarded Lee. 

“The Cathalari?” Lee spat.  His eyes flashed a little when
they met Calis’s.  He looked shocked, and to Calis, he looked like a traitor. 
Calis tried to assure himself that nothing Lee did now would help either of
them, but being forsaken so quickly felt a bit like salt in the wound.  In a
moment of annoyance, Calis jerked his head away.  “Where is he now?” Lee
asked.  There was trepidation in his voice.

“The prince?” Lavus asked. 

Lee nodded once, though Calis refused to look his former
friend in the eye again.  Oh, what he wouldn’t have given to run a sword
through the throat of everyone in this room.  His teeth ground painfully
against one another, threatening to abrade into oblivion. 
Taeru, Kilik,
Taeru, Taeru…

Nothing mattered here if Calis couldn’t get these restraints
off his hands.  If Calis couldn’t find some way to get to that bloody dungeon. 
How had this happened?  “I believe Tareth had one of the guards take him to the
dungeon.”  Calis worked to force the words away from his brain, so that panic
would not become him entirely.

“Oh,” Lee said.  He seemed to relax a little, though Calis
wasn’t going to risk a glance at his traitorous friend to see if he had.  “What
of Calis, though?  Surely he did not know the commoner that he was dating was…
an enemy?”  Lee sounded perplexed, and Calis longed to break his jaw.

Tareth let out a laugh.  Calis’s anger found that its
obsession with Lee faded at the sound of Tareth’s voice.  He let his eyes move
to his brother, seeing that smile on his face.  If only he realized that he
would be
nothing
—ever.  The ruby that Calis had bought him still dangled
from his neck, and Calis wondered if Tareth was even aware. 
Wearing a gift
from your enemy.  You really are a fool, Tareth. 

Another moment passed, and Calis was sure Tareth was trying
to create a dramatic silence.  It was failing, Calis thought irately.  “Calis
defended him.  My own brother killed my men in order to try and get the prince
freed!” Tareth pretended to be aghast, but Calis knew that he enjoyed speaking
every word. 

Once again, Lee feigned shock.  Perhaps he wasn’t feigning
it.  Perhaps he really hadn’t known Calis well enough to understand that Calis
would have killed every man, woman, and child in the kingdom if it meant that
Taeru wouldn’t come to harm.  “Surely not!” Lee said.  Calis thought he sounded
humorously cavalier about it.

“I’m afraid so,” Tareth pretended to be mournful.  There was
no debating whether or not he was faking his sadness.  Lavus would see that,
Calis thought bitterly, and he would never let someone so willing to usurp his
own brother come too close to the crown. 

Much to his relief, no one else spoke to Calis.  They had
probably deemed that he would do nothing but spit in their faces.  Lee had said
nothing, though that did seem rather like him.  He was probably processing the
events in his mind, and most likely in a cold, calculating manner that scarcely
considered the pain losing Kilik would inflict upon Calis.  Calis would
not
lose Kilik…or Taeru, rather.  “This is quite the turn of events,” Lavus said,
“and you knew nothing of his treachery, Keiichi?” Lavus requested formally.

“Nothing, sir.  I will tell you all that I know, if you
think that may be of service.”  The rat!  Calis’s body trembled in anger for
the first time.  Though, the gesture made him realize that he’d been subtly
quivering in fear the entire time.  To think that Lavus would be interrogating
Taeru soon, for information that he likely didn’t have—and if he did, Taeru
would never give it.  Calis closed his eyes against the onslaught of pain.

When he did, though, he was greeted again by the eyes that
he’d looked to.  That knife, pressing just enough against the skin of Taeru’s
throat, drawing blood.  Calis could see the bravery that Taeru was trying to
maintain as he lay there.  He hadn’t wanted Calis to know he was as terrified
as he was.  “Obliged, Keiichi.  I will speak with you on the matter shortly. 
For now, there is the matter of my traitorous son to deal with.” 

Calis would have accepted a noose, if he hadn’t known that
his death would be followed with Taeru’s.  As it was, he didn’t want to die. 
He would spend every waking moment trying to find a way to free the young
prince in the dungeon.  “Do whatever you want with me, Father.  I understand
your dealing with me—but why him?  You know he isn’t a Lassau.  Not anymore.” 
Calis glared at his father.  Why was he even bothering?

“Be silent,” Lavus said, with growing annoyance.  Calis
wanted to kill him—he wanted to do worse than kill him.  “As much as it would
be justified, I am not going to kill you.  I feel like, given the time and
proper punishment, you could still be the man that you were before that boy
showed up and poisoned your thoughts.  When did you meet him, and how?” Lavus
asked the question with meticulous scrutiny.

Narrowing his eyes, Calis searched his father.  Lavus wasn’t
going to kill him, which meant that he thought he could bring about more pain
than a noose would.  There was only one way anyone could do that to Calis, and
Lavus wasn’t a stupid man—not when it came to causing pain.  “I won’t tell you
anything.”

“Tell me,” Lavus said, “or I will ask
him
.”  The
final word rolled off Lavus’s tongue, ringing with menace.  Calis’s heart
constricted and twisted about a center point of unbridled agony. 

Calis felt frantic.  He had to give an answer, lest these monsters
try to wring it from Taeru.  “I… I… I met him one moon that I went to Dark
District.  I was tired of being in the castle.  I met him on the street… he was
going home.”  That sounded believable, and it didn’t implicate anyone that
Taeru knew.  “It was shortly after I got back from Dokak.”

This seemed to satiate Lavus, who seemed very capable of
forgetting that Calis was a phenomenal liar.  Calis knew he probably shouldn’t
get too excited about that fact just yet.  His eyes skimmed to Tareth, who was no
longer smiling—he looked uneasy.  “The name he told you was Kilik, correct?  A
few of the men had seen him before.”

Calis’s jaw clenched.  He didn’t like the idea that they
already knew who Kilik was.  Surely, Alyx and Juliet would be placed into
harm’s way.  When Calis didn’t speak for several moments, Lavus continued. 
“There is no need to withhold information.  I already have guards out to find
out everything they can about the deceitful little creature.  Defending him
with silence will only lead to a harder interrogation for him later.”

“Yes,” Calis answered immediately.  He tried not to let his
mind linger on the word interrogation. 
Taeru… I’m so sorry.  I will find a
way to get you out of this, I swear it.  Even if I have to die to save you—I
will find a way.

“And he said nothing of his past?  You didn’t find this
suspect in the least, you stupid child?” Lavus asked harshly.  The silence in
the rest of the room allowed Calis to focus only on his father, to see the
answers he anticipated—to see what he intended to do later to Taeru Lassau. 
Calis’s body convulsed without warning.  The restraints bit into his wrists
when he fought against them.  One of the guards tightened their hold on Calis.

Calis spat to the side, and his words were barely audible.  He
snarled them more than said them.  “He said he didn’t remember.”

Lavus actually laughed at this assertion.  Calis didn’t
bother looking at him, as there was no point.  Magisters forbid that Calis
actually trust Taeru—and why shouldn’t he?  Taeru had proven himself—more than
proven himself.  “You are very gullible.”