Page 31 of Artemysia
But I want more information, so I unclench my hand and try a different tactic.
“I like when you’re honest. It’s important to me. Plus, I bested you in the alley—” Riev snorts, but I cut him off faster than he can spew out another snide comment “—and you promised not to lie, but then you claimed to be a messenger. So you owe me one. I’ve won the right, and the respect.”
He actually considers this.
Our tall elks’ gaits sync up, and we ride side-by-side. The road outside of Stargazer is worn and wide but unpaved. The agricultural villages are grouped closer together at first but will become fewer and farther between in about another two-hour ride north.
“Agreed,” he finally says. “I’ll never lie to you again.”
Now we’re getting somewhere. “What do you have on the king for him to grant such irreverence? Such leeway?”
“It’s their own doing. I’m the devil they created, killing on command from the shadows. I don’t ask questions, and they don’t ask me to be human, because in their eyes there’s no way I can be human and do what I do.”
I don’t know if he realizes his teeth are grinding, so we ride in silence for a bit. My gut says there’s more to his story, and I give him the space to gather his thoughts rather than interrogating him.
It works.
“Plus, I saved the king’s life,” he continues. “Galke’s caravan was attacked while he was visiting his brother, and I slaughtered the band of Syf after his guards were killed. With an old pitchfork.”
“When?”
“Fifteen years ago.”
“You were…”
“Ten years old. I wanted to see his procession and the six cream elk that pulled the royal carriage. I suppose I have a propensity for killing. Since then, he’s provided for me, from afar, and had me trained as an assassin, a spy, or whatever they needed thatyourpretty, uniformed,face-of-the-military couldn’t be asked to do.”
I scoff and start a protest, but he cuts me off.
“Either because you’re not capable of doing what I do or because it didn’t fit with defending the people. Let’s say my duties are more of the covert, preemptive tactics of offense type.”
“Like?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“I’m asking, aren’t I?” I’m presuming it’s a dark, violent answer. I resist looking at him, so as not to pressure him, and instead stare out at the empty dirt road ahead that carves through the farmlands of South Kingdom.
Riev doesn’t reply.
We pass another field of golden wheat stalks cut short by the autumn harvest. I scan my surroundings; there’s a small farmhouse in the distance. Everything looks normal so far. Not much can hide in the dense, short pastures around us.
It never hurts to be vigilant.
Just as I’m about to give up waiting for an answer, he speaks, his voice so low that I strain to hear him. “I was sent to assassinate a lord of the outer villages near Serpent’s Moon Mountain who controls the mines there.”
I subtly steer my elk closer, because he’s mumbling.
“He denied residents who wished to join the Academy. Instead, he formed his own army, aspiring to rule his own country. His lands were far enough from theforest that they didn’t have to worry about Syf.”
“And you killed the lord,” I say as neutrally as possible.
Riev turns to me as if to gauge my reaction. “I did. Along with the colonel colluding with him. Executed her for treason.”
“Colonel Vanna’s disappearance was because of you?” I try to hide my shock behind a steady voice, but I have no idea if I’m successful. My heartbeat drowns out the sound of my own words.
I search his face for regret or remorse, but there is none. No emotion. At first, it disturbs me to the core, but when I place myself in his position and imagine having to kill a man that way, I’d try not to feel anything either.
A heavy exhale escapes my lips. “You…kill people as well as Syf.”
