Page 4 of What Fury Brings
Then Olerra left to find a hot bath.
2
Sanos rode hard for home, eager for a respite after months away on the battlefield. The campaign was grueling work. He spent his days slaying Ephennans and his nights strategizing for more battles with more Ephennans. He caught sleep when he could, but it was becoming rarer and rarer.
Thank the gods for his upcoming birthday. It was one of the few times he was permitted to visit home, get a full night’s rest, and see his family. Though his mother and sister wrote to him weekly, he was eager to see with his own two eyes that they were well.
He never knew what his father would do while he was away.
Thankfully, the king had been engaged in plans to reclaim Shamire from the Amarrans of late. Brutus needed the extra income the city would provide in their campaign against the Ephennans.
Knowing his father’s temper, Sanos hoped the king had good news for him upon his arrival.
As his horse drew near the castle gates, Sanos had to weave through an unexpected crowd of soldiers and nobility. They seemed to configure around a central point, and the prince decided to see what caught everyone’s interest.
“Sanos!”
The prince turned his head and found all four of his younger brothers grouped together. When he reached them, Canus, third-born,practically wrestled him off the horse, and all his brothers joined in on an enormous hug, nearly squeezing the life out of him.
“All right. All right.” Sanos smacked their backs in return. “Let me go before I put you all on your asses right here in front of this crowd.”
They stepped back, and he asked, “Whyis there a crowd?”
An unnerving grin took over Canus’s face. He pointed up ahead, and Sanos followed the line of his brother’s finger.
He blinked twice to ensure his eyes weren’t failing him.
The king was strapped to a wooden post in the middle of the road, and he was as naked as the day he was born. Ropes spread his arms and legs wide, ensuring nothing would be hidden from the crowd’s eye.
Atalius appeared to be unconscious, though Sanos had to ask, “Did anyone check if he’s breathing?”
“I got close,” Ikanos, the youngest of the Ladicus brothers, said. “No such luck. He’s alive.”
“And no one has bothered to get him down?”
“Doyouwant to be the one to wake him?” Andrastus asked.
Sanos most certainly did not, but this couldn’t continue. More and more courtiers were pouring out of the castle to see if the rumor was true. The crowd was growing in size, and the fallout would only get worse.
Sanos sighed. Sometimes he hated being the oldest.
He handed off his horse to the nearest guard with instructions to stable him. The soldier frowned, clearly put out to miss the excitement, but he did as he was told.
“Welcome home, Prince,” he said as he left. “It’s good to see you well.”
At his words, more surrounding guards turned and spotted his arrival. Some of them had the decency to look guilty for making a spectacle of the king.
“You,” Sanos said, firming his tone. “Go fetch a robe for the king.You lot there, go untie him. And the rest of you, start clearing out this crowd. Now.”
His orders were quick to be followed, but not before he received more greetings and well-wishes regarding his return. He was proud to be so well-liked by his fellow soldiers. He was prouder still that people listened when he spoke.
“Spoilsport,” Canus said.
“You should all go,” Sanos said, “before he—”
“Get me the fuck down!”
Sanos turned. The king was very much awake now. His face was turning bright purple as he discovered his state of undress and the too-slowly receding crowd.
