Gavriel didn’t have to wait too long; Leo came striding through the forest soon enough, walking like a man comfortable in his surrounds. Gavriel marvelled at the figure approaching. He’d left Leo as little more than a youth, but now he walked tall and strong, with a proud chin. His hair had darkened but he still resembled his beautiful mother, while having the more powerful build of his father. Gavriel felt a spike of pride accompany the rush of relief that Leo had survived.
He stepped out from his hiding place suddenly, deliberately, but Leo didn’t break stride, not at all unnerved, and Gavriel was reminded that his old friend had been living as an outlaw for more than a decade. Leo would know forest life better than most.
Leo grabbed Gavriel into a bear-hug, slapping him on the back. ‘I can’t tell you how good it feels to see you alive,’ he remarked, ‘although my fist twitches to punch you for leaving as you did.’
Gavriel grinned. ‘I should punch myself.’
‘Where is he?’
‘Safe with Elka.’
‘Tied up?’
‘No need. He’s going nowhere with her around.’
‘I don’t feel I need to apologise regarding Elka, Gav; she should never have challenged me. But at the same time any friend of yours is certainly someone I feel obliged to respect.’
‘I’m sure she hasn’t given it another thought.’ Leo looked as though he wanted to say more but Gavriel was glad when the young king chose to hold his tongue. That was a relief; he didn’t want to have to defend Elka against the king … although he would, of course. ‘As much as I want to sit down and learn about your life, time is our enemy. How’s Faris?’
‘Brighter. The sickening has passed but, like Loethar, he’s quite beaten up.’
‘Leo, we both have good reason to hate Loethar. That grudge has to be kept separate from how we feel about his stealing the Valisar throne.’ Leo stared at him, but said nothing, so Gavriel pressed on. ‘My point is I hate him too. It wouldn’t take much for my heart to get in the way of my head and order my hand to take up my sword and run him through.’
‘So what’s stopping you?’
‘My instinct is stopping me.’
‘Instinct, or Elka?’
Gavriel didn’t rise to the bait. He fixed Leo with a hard stare, glad that he was still taller. ‘Elka has no loyalty to either you or Loethar.’
‘Is that so?’
‘Why would it be otherwise? She owes neither of you anything. Her loyalty is to me. I’m sure I don’t deserve it most of the time but that’s how it is and her commitment to me means that she understands the need to protect you at all costs.’
‘Protect me? Why didn’t she let me kill my enemy, then?’
‘Because murdering him in that manner wouldn’t have solved anything. Her actions have given you the opportunity to consider your position and make an informed decision. If killing him is your decision, you’ll make it in a mood of calm, not in a bloodrage. Frankly, I think you would have regretted it if you had struck him dead then. This way you get a chance to question him.’
‘That’s what Kilt thinks.’
‘Then listen to him. We’re all on your side, Leo. Come, we can speak alone later but first talk to him, ask him your questions.’
Reluctantly, Leo followed. They found Loethar talking quietly with Elka as though they were old friends. Gavriel bristled at their familiarity but disguised it with his introduction.
‘Here we are, Leo, the great and now very humbled and hurt man who calls himself emperor simply by sitting a false throne.’
Loethar looked up and laughed. ‘You amuse me, de Vis. Greetings, nephew; I was just telling Elka here how fortunate you are to have such loyalty still burning so fiercely for you.’
‘From what I hear you can’t claim the same,’ Leo said, regarding him as though tasting something bad.
‘You are right. I am surrounded by treachery at every turn. Even my newborn daughter turned away from her father and died on me.’
‘A girl?’ Leo exclaimed.
Loethar gave him a humourless grin. ‘Yes, and like all Valisar daughters she barely survived her birth.’
‘Not all,’ Leo said. He grinned humourlessly at Loethar’s puzzled expression and squatted next to the barbarian. ‘You clearly haven’t spent much time around the family or you’d know we’re famed for our secrets.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Loethar asked.
‘What do you know about the Valisar Legacy?’ Leo responded.
Loethar tried to shrug and grimaced in pain. ‘I’ve learned plenty over the anni with the family library finally at my disposal,’ he said. Gavriel noticed how he couldn’t hide his feelings; his expression clearly betrayed the anger he was feeling. ‘I know that there is the legacy of the aegis magic and the near enough immortal protection it offers. I know about the so-called Enchantment that says that the females born of the line possess the greatest of all powers … to coerce at will.’
‘Why is that so different from what some Vested can do?’ Gavriel asked.
Leo turned to him. ‘The magic of the Vested can be impressive, but even so, any sort of coercement of theirs is of a low form and can probably only be sustained for short periods. The magic of the Valisars is said to be much more powerful, or so my father and grandfather told me.’
‘And I’m sure you are looking to gain some of that power for yourself,’ Loethar said and Gavriel noticed a look pass between uncle and nephew that spoke of a respect for each other’s cunning. ‘Anyway,’ Loethar continued, ‘my heir is dead, my mother has been murdered, my wife has been banished, my brother turned traitor, my closest friend has been killed. All in all, life is hardly an orchard.’
‘Aludane save us! And I thought your life was complicated,’ Elka remarked, glancing at Gavriel.
He smirked at her as she turned back to Loethar. ‘I’m sorry to hear of your losses. No one should lose a mother and a daughter in such a short time.’
‘I’m not sorry,’ Leo said coldly. ‘The more of his kin that is gone, the better. Besides, I’m sure he and his ill-bred horde killed whole families when they came rampaging into the Set.’
‘You are my kin, Leo,’ Loethar said, with an equally wintry tone. ‘And you’re right. I deserve no pity from anyone here.’
‘Nor will you get it,’ Gavriel remarked.
Loethar shrugged, clearly ignoring the pain it prompted this time.
Elka looked from Loethar to Gavriel. ‘Why don’t you just kill him and be done?’ she said, so sarcastically that Gavriel flinched inside. ‘I hardly recognise you when you act this way.’
‘We’re here to talk,’ Gavriel said to Loethar, covering his dismay at Elka’s attack. ‘Why did you come north?’
Loethar sighed. ‘It’s complicated. In short, the death of my child and my belief that my wife murdered my mother conspired to make me want to get away from the castle. In order to do so I brought our mother’s ashes to my half-brother, whom I suspected was considering rising up against me. Now I know that those suspicions were right.’
‘So your trip to the north was all about delivering your mother’s ashes to Stracker?’ Gavriel asked.
‘No, that was my excuse I gave myself. My real reason for heading north was to find out who killed Freath and why,’ Loethar explained.
‘I can put you out of your misery on that question,’ Leo