It made him feel powerful.
He strode over to the seated Lord Frey. The old noble gave him a grin.
“You wish to wager boy? I sent your Sir Theodore packing. Nearly snapped his wrist.”
“I am no Sir Theodore,” Gar’rth growled, and the man raised an eyebrow.
“Gar’rth you mustn’t,” Arisha told him sternly. Someone laughed.
“Listen to the barbarian, if you wish to keep your money,” an anonymous man joked.
Gar’rth dropped his belt pouch on the table. Lord Frey overturned it and then gave a gasp. For it was a gem, worth a small fortune.
“I won’t take your money, boy,” he said, looking up. “Not this. It is too much. I will not risk bad feeling between us over such a contest.”
“Very well,” Gar’rth countered. “Then we play without betting.”
Gar’rth put the gem back in his pouch and returned it to his belt before driving his elbow onto the tabletop. Lord Frey stared bemused as the cries of the onlookers grew louder. Finally, he nodded.
“Fine, boy. Fine. I don’t know what you wish to prove, but you have your game.”
Lord Frey grabbed hold of the table edge with his free hand and brought his other arm onto the surface, mirroring Gar’rth’s actions.
“You ever done this before, boy?” Lord Frey asked.
Gar’rth simply nodded.
“Then you know the technique.” He nodded again. “Good luck.”
“Stop humouring him, Lord Frey! The boy’s arrogance has earned him a lesson.”
Gar’rth looked to the stage and saw Lady Anne watching him fearfully. His behaviour had not gone unnoticed by his friends, either. Theodore and Kara were also staring anxiously, and Ebenezer, Doric, and Castimir were already walking down the steps toward him…
Lord Frey suddenly gave a push.
Gar’rth’s arm lurched backwards before he corrected it, slanting at an angle.
The crowd yelled.
“You are a strong one, boy.” Lord Frey grinned. “I’ll give you that.”
And so are you, Gar’rth realised. Maybe more than I. He gritted his teeth as he summoned his strength. He felt his bones creaking under the strain.
But slowly-near imperceptibly-Lord Frey’s arm was pushed back.
Yet the older man laughed.
“By the gods, boy, it’s been long since I’ve had a match with such as you. Maybe if I were younger…” He breathed in deeply, most likely in preparation for a final attempt to force Gar’rth’s arm back.
But Gar’rth would show no mercy. Not today.
He was waiting for the push when it came. His arm was like steel.
“That’s impossible,” Lord Frey moaned as the crowd shouted and clapped. Gar’rth added to the pressure, and the old man’s wrist snapped back onto the tabletop. There was a tremendous yell from the onlookers. Lord Frey rubbed his arm and looked at Gar’rth with a mixture of respect and concern.
As Gar’rth stood, he was aware of that look-of every eye upon him. He saw Theodore’s face, noted Kara’s sudden fear, and then he saw Ebenezer, marching toward him with black thunder all over his features.
“Outside,” the alchemist ordered in a cold fury. “Outside. Now.” Gar’rth nodded, but Ebenezer’s anger couldn’t wipe away the sense of accomplishment.
It was worth it. They know who is the stronger now.
Kara knows it.
Theodore knows it.
Gar’rth nodded and turned on his heel, back toward the terrace that seemed his constant destination for the evening.
“What in Saradomin’s name do you think you were doing?” The old man’s face was an angry bright red, his eyes wide behind his glasses.
Gar’rth didn’t reply.
“Answer me, Gar’rth!”
Booted feet crunching the gravel underfoot were the signal that Theodore and Kara had joined them. He was alone with his friends. Their faces wore concerned masks. Castimir’s hand was in his pocket, Doric stood with his arms crossed, Arisha looked on sympathetically, and Kara and Theodore waited patiently for an explanation.
“I just… I don’t like this. Here.”
None of his friends moved, or said a word.
But are they really my friends? He wondered silently. Kara has hidden things from me, Theodore sees me as a rival, and whose side would the others take? Finally Ebenezer spoke again.
“That’s no excuse. You cannot endanger yourself by such foolishness. You’re-”
“I’m different,” Gar’rth gritted. “I know. I know I am.”
“Gar’rth, what’s wrong?” Kara asked. “It’s clearly something more than just not liking this place.”
Gar’rth laughed as his eyes watered.
“You ask me that?” he said. “You? You have kept secrets, Kara, from me.”
Kara shook her head.
And now she tries to deny it.
“A dagger,” he continued. “The one Pia hurt Jerrod with. You took it. You didn’t tell me.”
Kara’s face fell, and in a suddenly triumphant moment Gar’rth knew he was right.
“I know why,” he said. “You don’t trust me.” He turned to look at them all, one after the other. “None of you do.”
He could feel the tears on his cheeks now.
“Easy lad,” Doric said. “That’s not true. We’ve fought side by side. I trust you the same as I trust Kara and Castimir.”
Gar’rth ignored his words.
I will hurt them now if I can.
“And Theodore, Lady Anne read your letter to Kara. She told me. The letter Kara has in her satchel.”
Theodore exhaled, and avoided Kara’s stare.
“You didn’t tell me you had that, Kara,” the knight said after a moment. She didn’t reply, and her eyes showed anger and confusion.
Gar’rth lowered his head and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. As he did so a strange song sounded from the palace, an odd tune which defied his attempt to imagine what person would sing it.
“I trust you Gar’rth,” Kara said finally. “I really do. There is no way I would have ventured into The Wilderness with you if I did not.”
“That’s true,” Arisha added. “You know it is Gar’rth. Our lives were in your hands on a dozen occasions, at least. You’ve never let us down.”
“And you saved my life on the glacier, Gar’rth,” Doric said. “When I was out cold-I’ve never forgotten that.”
“All things I have done for you,” Gar’rth snapped. “But what have you done for me?”
“Have I done nothing for you, Gar’rth?” Ebenezer said in a whisper, and at the sound of his voice, Gar’rth’s anger died in sudden humiliation. “Is that what you truly believe?”
Guilt and shame twisted their ice-cold hands in Gar’rth’s stomach.
He’s right. I’ve acted like a fool.
But then the anger returned.
“No! That’s not…” His words were a growl now. “You are right. But…”
He couldn’t think straight. The sounds coming from the hall wouldn’t let him.
“What is that singing?” he demanded.
Theodore shared a look with Castimir, who shrugged.
“There is no singing,” the wizard said. “The music in the hall has stopped.”
But to Gar’rth, it only seemed closer now-as if from somewhere high up above.
“But I hear it,” he protested. “Singing. A strange song-do none of you hear it? Have you gone deaf?”
Suddenly Theodore’s eyes widened.
“Of course,” the knight said urgently. “Castimir, run and get Lord Despaard. Tell him I think the Wyrd is here. We must arm ourselves at once.”
“I’ll get my sword,” Kara said as she followed Castimir back into the hall, holding her skirt up to avoid tripping over it.
“Gar’rth, can you follow the song?” Theodore asked.
He listened carefully, turning his head from side to side.
“It is strange, Theodore,” he said tentatively. “Not just a song. I can feel it. Yes. Yes, I can follow it.”