Chapter 2 : Long Live the Thane! (Part 1)

Vasper left the hall and went out onto the walkway that encircled the exterior of the hall and looked out upon Serapis’ capital city. Though it was a cold and snowy night, Vasper noted that it was much warmer and the snow fell with noticeably less gusto than was usual for this time of year. Most of the homes in Verdistat and the outlying areas had long since put out their lights and gone to sleep, though the city itself was still bright and alive with the sounds of late-night inn-goers and travelers. Verdistat was well known for its particularly active nightlife.

Bey was already standing there, looking out at the city as Vasper approached him. His icy tone was barely louder than a whisper.

“We have much to discuss, you and I.” Bey said, turning to stroll down the walkway.

“Of course,” Vasper walked alongside, adopting his most ingratiating tone, “I am honoured to have the opportunity to speak with you privately, Count Bey. You are, after all, a noble among nobles.”

If Bey’s tone changed it was only to become subtly cooler, which belied the venom in his words.

“I could stand here and trade pretended niceties with you, Thane, but the time for subtlety is at an end. Your feigned magnanimity is even shallower than your purposes in this tawdry affair,” he said, indicating the festivities going on inside. “Honestly, I’m amazed you actually had the audacity to do something so ludicrously obvious. I used to respect your cunning but I see now that you have become merely desperate and sad. You will have trouble controlling the nobles after this.”

Vasper seemed honestly hurt as he regarded his smug detractor with a sideways glance and responded.

“I see your manners have not improved, Count,” his voice crackled emotionally, “and I will not tolerate your petty diatribes. If you have a point to make then I suggest you make it quickly, before I lose my temper. These scurrilous accusations that you make against me are like a wound to the very soul of my being!”

“And which soul would that be, Vasper? The one you sold to Anak all those long years ago?” Bey smirked, “You think too little of me if you honestly expected me to be fooled. You’re hurt in the same way as a thief who is caught while sneaking out the back door with the treasure that will make him rich for a lifetime. Though it is clear I have struck something.”

“How dare you!" Vasper growled back.

"Knowledge is power, Thane. And if knowledge is power then you should bow before your master, for I could break you with all that I know. I know all about the women you snatch from their beds to bring to Anak's alter as offerings to his lust for torment and terror. The more terror and pain you produce in your victims, the greater you are rewarded. So you break them slowly, and savour every cry, every whimper.”

Vasper took a step back and looked at Bey, furious.

"This treason ends now, Bey. You have gone too far this time and I will see you burn! Your baseless accusations have put the seal on your coffin!"

Vasper turned on his heel and started to walk back toward the entrance to the hall. Bey's triumphant response was barely louder than a whisper.

"She came to me."

Vasper stopped in his tracks, back suddenly rigid. After a moment of silence he seemed to relax and cocked his head slightly in Bey's direction.

"I am afraid I do not know whom you mean."

"Don't play innocent with me," Bey whispered in Vasper's ear, "you know exactly who I mean. She's the only one who has ever managed to escape you with her limbs intact. More or less intact, anyway. The Kadorite girl – I believe her name is Mynara..?”

Vasper turned to speak, eyes wide in apparent unbelief, but seemed unable to form any words.

“I see you remember her.” Bey cut in, “That’s good – it was her wish that you should know who it was that helped bring you down. She’s a ferocious creature, that one. I would have brought her with me and let her tell you all this herself if she weren’t in such a sorry state, courtesy of your gentle treatment. When I first saw her collapsed on my doorstep she seemed nothing more than a bloody pile of burnt flesh; I was actually surprised to see her breathing. When she was finally able to speak she told me all about how her captor made her watch while other women were bludgeoned, scourged, burned, suffocated and maimed.”

“Eventually, she told me, if they were lucky they were torn apart or strangled and died relatively quickly. If unlucky they endured long enough to die from the pain or the terror. She endured days of continuous and increasingly horrible torture before her tormentor was interrupted and she was left locked in a small, dirty cell with the promise of his swift return. She didn’t remember much else, not that I could blame her.”

Vasper was silent, so Bey went on.

“For some time I listened intently to her story, exhilarated by the possibility that I had caught you in the midst of a truly horrible act but frustrated by the fact that I had no proof that you had done it. The girl didn’t know the identity of the tormentor, and while her descriptions gave me a clue there was nothing solid enough to bring down a thane. She also had no recollection of where she had escaped from or how she had ended up at my door. I was all but ready to give up and admit defeat until one day I noticed a small mark on the back of her neck that had been covered up before by bruises and scabs. Her captor wanted to remove all doubt that she belonged to him, so he burned his mark into her skin.”

Bey looked into Vasper’s eyes.

“You can’t imagine my joy when I first saw the insignia of House Vasper permanently etched in the helpless girl’s broken flesh. I couldn’t have produced that kind of evidence no matter how hard I’d have tried. The thing I love the most about it is I didn’t even have to do a thing; you provided me with the key to your own downfall.”

Vasper’s usually pale face seemed to have been even more totally drained of colour as he responded, miserably.

“What is it that you hope to gain from this?”

Bey made a pyramid with his fingers and turned to continue the casual stroll down the walkway, grinning victoriously.

“Your time as thane is over no matter what happens now, Vasper. You have only to choose the manner in which you will live out what remains of your life. Were the other houses to learn of what I know you would soon find yourself the victim of your own torments after which you would be painfully executed and the arduous task of selecting a new thane would begin.

“What I offer is the chance to avoid such a premature end by allowing you to step down of your own accord and then go free wherever fortune takes you. I honestly don’t care if you empty entire villages of their inhabitants and then raze everything to the ground to cover it up. All I ask is that you name me as your successor and leave Serapis forever. If you do this, Mynara will discreetly disappear and all of this will be our little secret. If not, I’ll feed you to the wolves.”