The False Prince (3 page)

M
ott laid out a sack of fresh fruit and salted meat, but other than him and Conner, none of us touched it.

“It’s your last chance until breakfast,” Conner said. “You’ll want to keep your strength up.”

Roden shook his head at Conner. He didn’t look like he could stomach a bite of food anyway. Tobias had been nearly frozen since Latamer was killed. He’d barely even blinked. I’d gone numb. Literally. I felt nothing.

Conner and Mott ate their meal while the rest of us sat. Slowly, the shock wore off and we began to accept that as long as we did what we were told, we’d live to see another morning. Conner offered the food to us again.

“We have more traveling ahead of us, so you’ll only hurt yourselves if you don’t eat.”

Roden reached for the food first. He handed it to me and then Tobias. The piece of meat I took was unbearably salty and forced me into taking an apple, even though I had no appetite for it. I don’t think Tobias or Roden enjoyed their food much either. A wave of nausea threatened me every time I looked in the direction where Latamer had fallen.

At the orphanage, we’d all seen our share of violence and brutality. I once saw an older boy start kicking a younger one just for rolling over onto his mattress. It took five of us to stop him. But Conner had told Latamer it would be safe to leave. He baited Latamer, to teach us a lesson about leaving. The knowledge that Latamer had been brought along only for that purpose consumed my thoughts.

If I’d figured out what was happening even a few seconds earlier, could I have stopped it? Were any of the rest of us here as no more than a lesson to the others?

“Now that you’ve eaten, we can continue our conversation.” Conner nodded at Tobias. “Stand up. I wish to get a general understanding of who each of you is.”

Tobias stood stiffly. His knees were rigid and he looked like he was about to be sick.

“Tobias, you and an opponent are engaged in a sword battle. It’s meant to be a battle to the death, but it’s also clear that he’s better than you are. Do you fight on, knowing you’ll likely die, or stop the battle and beg for your opponent’s mercy?”

“I beg mercy,” Tobias said. “If it’s clear I won’t win, then nothing is accomplished through my death. I’d hope to live and make myself stronger for the next battle.”

Conner nodded at Roden. “What about you?”

Roden stood. “Fight to the death, even if it’s my own. I’m a good fighter, sir, and I will not live as a coward.”

Tobias flinched at that, but he said nothing. A slight smile crossed Roden’s face; he knew he’d taken an edge with his answer.

“Have you been trained with a sword?” Conner asked.

Roden shrugged. “An old Carthyan soldier lives near my orphanage. He used to have me do rounds with him, to keep up his skills.”

“Did you ever win?”

“No, but —”

“Then you haven’t been trained.” Conner turned to me. “Sage?”

“Beg mercy.”

Roden snorted.

I continued. “Then when my opponent lowers his guard, certain of his victory, I’d finish the battle.”

Conner laughed.

“A violation of all sportsmanship in swordplay,” Tobias said. “What do I care about sportsmanship?” I said. “If I’m about to get killed, it’s not play anymore. I won’t check the rules to see if my survival fits with someone’s codebook of fair play.”

“You’d never win that way,” Roden said. “Any master swordsman won’t lower his guard until you’re disarmed.”

“Conner didn’t say he was a master swordsman,” I said. “Only that he was better than me. And yes, I would win.”

Conner walked closer to me. “Stand when I address you.”

I obeyed. Conner was taller than me by several inches and stood closer than I liked. But I refused to step back. It occurred to me that he was testing to see whether I would.

“Are you standing straight?” Conner asked. “You slouch so much, I might mistake you for a hunchback. And with all that hair in your face, you might be a criminal too.”

I straightened but made no attempt to push the hair out of my eyes. I could see him just fine, which was all I cared about.

Conner asked, “Who do you look like? Your mother or father?”

“That’s hard to say, sir. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen myself in a mirror.”

“You have a clever tongue and an arrogant tilt to your head. I’m surprised Mrs. Turbeldy hasn’t beaten it out of you.”

“You mustn’t blame her. She beat me the best she could.”

“You’re a trick to figure out, Sage. Would you ever be on my side, even if I chose you above the other boys?”

“I’m only on my side. Your
trick
will be convincing me that helping you helps me.”

“What if I did?” Conner asked. “How far would you go to win?”

“The better question, sir, is how far
you
will go to win.” I looked him steadily in the eyes as I spoke, although his back was to the fire and his eyes were set in shadow. “You killed Latamer. So we know you’re willing to murder to win.”

“I am.” Conner backed up, speaking to all of us again. “And I’m willing to lie, to cheat, and to steal. I’m willing to commend my soul to the devils if necessary because I believe there is exoneration in my cause. I need one of you to conduct the greatest fraud ever perpetrated within the country of Carthya. This is a lifetime commitment. It will never be safe to back down from my plan and tell the truth. To do so would destroy not only you but the entire country. And you will do it to save Carthya.”

“To save Carthya?” Tobias asked. “How?”

“Later, later,” Conner said. “Until then, boys, Mott has laid out a blanket for each of you by the fire. Tonight we sleep, and sleep well, because tomorrow our work will begin.”

I chose the blanket closest to me. Roden lay near me and wrapped his blanket tightly around him.

“Remember when I said I never won rounds against that old soldier?” he asked. Without waiting for an answer, Roden added, “It’s because I knew he’d stop if I won. I’m good with a sword.”

“Maybe you can use some of those skills to get us out of here,” I mumbled.

“You saw what he did to Latamer.” Roden was silent for several minutes, then whispered, “They just killed him. Told him he was safe to go, then they killed him. What is Conner planning that would make him willing to kill?”

“He’s planning a revolution,” I whispered back. “Conner is going to use one of us to overthrow the kingdom.”

S
ometime during the night, I tried to roll over in my blanket. A tug on my ankle awoke me and I sat up to find myself chained to Mott, who was sleeping beside me. I grabbed a pebble and flung it at Mott’s face. His eyes flew open and he sat up, glaring at me.

“What?” he snarled.

“You chained me up?” I said. “Not the others, only me?”

“The others won’t run. You might.” Mott lay back down. “Go to sleep, or I’ll knock you out cold.”

“I’ve got to go.”

“Go where?”

“To
go
. I’d have just taken care of it myself, but it looks like you want to come along.”

Mott cursed. “Wait for morning.”

“Wish I could. I’ve been cursed with my mother’s pea-size bladder.”

Mott sat up again, fumbled on the ground for the keys to the chain, then unlocked himself. He grabbed his sword and directed me to stand, then escorted me over the cold ground to some bushes a little ways from camp.

“Go here.”

I did my business, then we walked back to camp. Mott grabbed the collar of my shirt and shoved me back onto my blanket. “You ever wake me in the night again and I’ll hurt you.”

“As long as you have me chained, prepare for waking up a lot in the night,” I said. “I’m not a quiet sleeper.”

He replaced the chain, tightening it, I noticed, from what it had been before. I stretched and yawned and rolled over, pulling my chained leg as far forward as I could. Mott yanked it back. Even though I knew I’d pay for it the next day, I couldn’t help but grin as I pulled my leg forward again.

Surprisingly, that morning Mott made no mention of the previous night. I got a kick awake, but so did Roden. Tobias was up walking around, so he must have been awake already, and smirked a little to see Roden and me groan in our blankets.

Roden seemed to have recovered from the shock of Latamer’s murder last night, or at least, he was back to his old self, assuring Tobias and me as we cleaned up that he intended to be the boy Conner chose. Tobias and I glanced at each other. Tobias’s expression was clear — he intended to win too, only he clearly planned on pursuing that goal more quietly than Roden.

“I have bread for breakfast,” Conner announced. “A mouthful for any boy who correctly answers my questions.” He broke off a piece of bread and asked, “Who are the current king and queen of Carthya?”

“Eckbert and Corinne,” I said quickly.

Tobias laughed. “King Eckbert is correct, but the queen is Erin.”

Conner tossed the bread to Tobias, which I thought was unfair. I’d already given him half the answer, yet he got the entire bite. Conner broke off another piece, then asked, “How many regents sit in King Eckbert’s court?”

Tobias guessed ten, but Conner said that was incorrect. Neither Roden nor I answered.

“The correct answer is twenty,” Conner said. “No matter how many nobles of wealth or stature exist in the land, there are always twenty regents given a seat in the court. They advise the king, although Eckbert too often ignores his regents.” He popped the bread in his mouth, then took another piece while he chewed. After swallowing, he asked, “How many sons does King Eckbert have?”

“Two,” I answered.

“Wrong again,” Tobias said. “There is one, the crown prince Darius. There were two until four years ago, when the younger son, Prince Jaron, was lost during a sea voyage.”

Conner tossed the bread to Tobias, and then said to me, “Your accent is Avenian, so you’re not originally from Carthya. What brought you from Avenia to Carthya?”

“That orphanage was the farthest away I could get from my family,” I said.

“Are your parents still alive?” he asked.

“I have not sought out any information on them for some time,” I said. “As far as I know, I’m completely alone in this world.”

“Avenia is a violent country,” Conner said. “If disease doesn’t strike, bandits will. Few live to old age in Avenia.”

“Consider me an orphan,” I said. “An orphan of family and of country. Is loyalty to Carthya a requirement for you?”

Conner nodded. “It’s a must. It will take you more effort to learn facts about this country, which Roden and Tobias have grown up knowing. Are you up to learning?”

I shrugged. “Tell me about the regents.”

Conner rewarded my question with a chunk of bread, and then said, “I am one of the twenty regents, albeit a minor one. My father was a man of great influence in the court, so upon his recent death, I inherited my position in the court. Thirteen of the regents inherited their positions, the other seven earned them through great acts of service to the king. Three of the regents are women; two are old men whose sons can’t wait for them to die to take their places. For every regent in the court, there are five nobles in Carthya who would love to see them fall from grace so that another Carthyan can be brought into council with the king. All of the regents claim loyalty to the king, but few actually practice it. The secret none of them keep very well is that they wish to have the throne for themselves.”

“Does that include you?” Roden’s question was not rewarded with bread.

Conner pressed his lips together, and then said, “As I told you, my status in the court is minor. It’s useless for me to aspire to the throne. It would be taken over a hundred times before I attained enough power to acquire it.”

“He didn’t ask whether you’d get the throne,” I said. “He asked whether you wanted it.”

Conner smiled. “Is there anyone who bows to the throne and does not wish that he was the one who sat on it? Tell me, Sage, have you ever lain on the hard floor of the orphanage, staring at the stars through cracks in the ceiling, and wondered what it would be like to be king?”

I couldn’t deny that. Beside me, Roden and Tobias were nodding their heads. In the few moments at night before sleep came upon us, when all orphans do their best dreaming, we’d all thought about it.

Conner continued his lesson. “Second in power to the king is the high chamberlain, Lord Kerwyn. But Kerwyn is a servant to the king and could not become king himself. The most powerful of the regents is the prime regent, a man named Santhias Veldergrath. He’s ruthless in his ambitions. He’s climbed the ladder of power by destroying those with influence greater than his. I suspect there are more than a dozen nobles either dead or in the king’s prison because of Veldergrath. He wants the crown and works the king’s armies to his favor. If anything were ever to happen to the royal family, Veldergrath would be first to reach for the throne. The other regents would either bow to his will or send Carthya into civil war in pursuit of their own ambitions.”

“I know of Veldergrath,” Tobias said. “He owned the land my grandmother lived on. One day a messenger came ’round and told her the rent would be doubled. She hated him to the end of her life.”

“He has his enemies, yes, but he also has powerful friends. Veldergrath has no compassion for the people and will suck every good thing from Carthya to himself until it’s swallowed up.”

“So which do you prefer?” Tobias asked. “A reign of Veldergrath or civil war?”

“Neither. That is why you are here.” Conner tossed the remaining bread to the ground for us to divide amongst ourselves, then brushed his hands together and said to Mott and Cregan, “Wipe away any trace of our being here as best you can. I wish to leave within the hour.”

Roden and Tobias dove for the bread, but I stayed where I was, watching Conner walk back to the cart. The hints he left for us about his plan were not subtle. It was clear what he wanted. But there was obviously some crucial information he was still leaving out. I didn’t dare wonder what that might be.

Conner met my gaze as he passed by, and stopped walking. He gave me an appraising look as we stood there, then slowly nodded his head before walking on.

I closed my eyes, horrified that my suspicions might be true. Conner was holding us on the brink of treason.