Page 2 of Of Kings and Thieves
I nodded, and I could feel the truth of it in my bones. “This may be the opportunity we’ve been waiting for, but we’re going to need all the help we can get.”
“It could take weeks to bring them all together.”
All of them were fugitives, scattered to the four corners of the map and beyond.
“Yes,” I replied. “But I think now, more than ever, we need their friendship and alignments.”
“As you will.” Magnus nodded. “And what do you and I do in the meantime?”
“There’s no time to wait for them. We must act on our own. But I want the rest on their way before I surrender myself to Harrowfell.”
Magnus reined in his horse so quickly that it reared in protest. He spoke soothing words to it in apology and then glared at me. “I didn’t come to tell you about The Harrow’s ultimatum so that you could throw yourself into his clutches, Col.”
“What other choice do I have? I don’t have an army with which to lay siege to Iron Deep, not that I want to. I don’t have a company of Deviants or even apprentice mages from the training grounds. But if I surrender, I give us a chance.”
“Fucking hell. You might as well go down to the Bitter Realms now. The Harrow will surely kill you, slowly and painfully, and then, just before you are dead, he’ll give you to his pet as a plaything. And that’s only if he hasn’t given orders to behead you on sight.”
“If he has me killed on sight, then he can’t claim the victory for himself.”
Magnus shook his head. “He can claim anything he likes, and has been doing so for years. If you turn yourself in, you are condemning yourself to death.”
“And you don’t think he would use me as his puppet?”
“He would kill you one way or another. Either immediately, or after dragging out your suffering. What does it matter if it’s a few days or a few decades? I think if he wanted to make you his puppet, he’d make sure you were submitted to him first, by any means necessary. It wouldn’t be pleasant, and you might as well be dead because your life would belong to The Harrow. And then what am I supposed to do? Because I sure as fuck can’t sit back and watch you commit suicide. And that’s what this would be.”
“I hoped we would be smarter about it than that.”
My friend sighed and turned his face toward the west and the setting sun.
“Will you follow me, Magnus, into the dragon’s jaws?” I asked. “Will you keep your vow?”
The giant man turned back to me. “I will always follow you, no matter how stupid your decisions. I’ll keep my vow until I no longer have breath, and when that’s gone, I’ll still find a way back to fight by your side.”
I nodded. “I expect nothing less from you, except I won’t ask you to die for me.”
Magnus smiled grimly. “And yet, it is for that very reason that I would die for you.”
* * *
Finding ravens was easy enough—they flocked to this area. Using a spell from my ancestors, whose author had long been forgotten, I called down five of the intelligent birds. They responded with calls of their own, alighting on my shoulders and arms and waiting for my message.
I spoke to each of them in turn, giving them the same message but for different people, and with a word of warning to watch out for enemies, released them.
Magnus watched it all with a quiet fascination. “Only the king of Iron Deep could do that—the Iron Raven,” he said, as we watched the birds take off in different directions.
I shook my head. “There is no more Iron Raven. There will never be another.”
“With all due respect, my prince, that’s horseshit.” Magnus began pulling out food and drink for a cold meal. “I grew up on tales of the kings of Iron Deep, perhaps as much as you did. The signs are there. You just have to know where to look.”
“My father never fully came into the power of the Iron Raven, and I don’t expect I will, either. It’s not my fate, Magnus.”
“But you are working to save our people, to free them, even. Once your task is complete, will you abandon them, or will you claim what is rightfully yours?”
“I may not survive.”
Magnus shook his head and handed me some food. “You’ve survived so far, and that means something.”
A rustling in the undergrowth caught my attention, and I turned to see a tall, cloaked figure step into our small camp. Magnus tensed, reaching for his ax, but I held up a hand to stay him.