19.13

"Are you sure they are back?" Portia whispered to Cai, eyeing the closed door to Blackpool's chamber.

"Positive. The grooms have their horses. Apparently, they've been back for hours," Cai replied, his irritation evident. Cai had been waiting all evening for the king to return. He had very nearly sent out a search party. There was urgent news from Tronin that required Blackpool's attention. "They came home with magic and sent a squire out to retrieve the horses. They avoided every guard and servant in the castle. It's like they wanted us to think they were still gone!"

"That probably means they want to be alone. Again." Portia smiled wryly. For her part, she had been worried sick since she heard that Zyrdicia had disappeared for a while yesterday. She could always find Zyrdicia in Lyr. This time, her mistress had utterly eluded her.

Dirk had never bothered to tell any of Zyrdicia's servants that she returned yesterday evening. They only learned she was back when Cai sent word through the trade gate. For the first time in her service to Zyrdicia, Portia had to rely on reports from outsiders to find out that her mistress was alright. She had shrugged it off. The important thing was everything seemed to be resolved. Portia had stayed in Lyr.

By morning, a second messenger from Cai informed her that things were in turmoil again. By mid-day, everyone in the castle had known that Zyrdicia and Dirk were fighting, and not in a friendly way. He had made quite a show of refusing to be in the same room with her today. If she walked in a room, he left. He would not look at her or speak to her. Zyrdicia's distress had grown by the hour.

By the time Portia had return from Lyr, things had suddenly changed again, and Dirk and Zyrdicia had left for a ride, telling no one of their destination. They had been gone a long time. Portia wanted to see Zyrdicia, to find out what was going on and how she could help.

Portia pressed her ear against the door. "It's so quiet. I don't hear voices inside."

"Maybe they worked out their differences and went to bed early."

"Oh, please. Without me to intervene they won't work anything out. They are helpless on their own. At least, she is."

Cai knocked loudly. No answer came. He opened the door to the king's antechamber slightly and called, "Sire?"

"Get out. I don't wish to be disturbed." Dirk's voice was exceedingly calm as it carried into the passageway.

"My lord, I wouldn't ask to if it weren't important. We have word of an attack on Tronin," Cai called through the doorway.

Portia and Cai heard a brief exchange of whispers without being able to decipher particular words.

"Come give me the report," Dirk commanded reluctantly.

Cai entered with Portia only a step behind. In the sleeping chamber, Dirk sat on the floor in front of the fire, shirtless. Zyrdicia lay across his lap on her stomach, naked but for a thick, black blanket wrapped around her. Her head rested on pillow, with her arms stretched out above it. Around the pair were strewn several blood-drenched towels, a small dagger, a basin full of water, and a silver bowl containing an impossibly large, black, pointed finger nail. One of Dirk's hands rested on a towel between Zyrdicia's shoulder blades. The other calmly traced the rim of a crystal snifter of brandy. Zyrdicia was perfectly motionless. A long trail of blood dripped from the wound hidden by the saturated towel at her back, down her side onto the blanket.

A small squeal of shock emitted from Portia's lips. Cai was speechless.

Dirk took a sip of brandy, regarding their reaction with an air of detachment. "You came at a bad time, I'm afraid. I can't get up without moving her," he noted nonchalantly as though nothing were amiss with the scene.

"Should I send for a healer?" Cai offered uncertainly.

"She hates healers. Leave her be."

"What did you do to her?" Portia demanded, thoroughly disturbed. She was afraid that things had gone much too far in her absence.

"Baal left a memento in her back." Dirk gestured with his head to the claw in the silver bowl.

"She had a fucking Sephiroth claw in her back all this time?!" Portia glared at Dirk, "And you just cut it out?"

"She's hard to refuse," he winked.

"You're both insane! That thing is utterly poisonous! I'm going to the Healer's Guild in Lyr to bring back someone to make sure -"

"Portia, shut up!" Zyrdicia interrupted weakly, turning her face on the pillow to regard the servants. "I would never let a stranger from the Guild put a knife to my back."

"But the poison-"

"No longer affects me. Go away."

Portia blinked in surprise. "You're sure you're okay?" she prodded softly.

"Perfectly," Zyrdicia sighed contently, closing her eyes.

"Now, what was this about Tronin?" Dirk demanded of Cai, his tone serious.

"One of the conquered villages near the Baaldorf border was secretly harboring enemy soldiers. They ambushed one of our patrols. We lost fifteen men. The same hour, a different village launched a similar attack against one of our supply caravans. Both attacks were exceptionally well planned and careful. They knew what they were doing."

Dirk swirled the brandy in the snifter, watching its amber hue in the firelight. He seemed remarkably relaxed, given the bad news. He noted thoughtfully, "They're using the Tronin villages for cover to get their troops into my territory."

Cai nodded. "It seems so. Geoffrey is already making ready to depart for Tronin. Unfortunately, by now, the renegade warriors will have already relocated."

"Their location doesn't concern me," Dirk replied indifferently, an amused gleam lighting his eye.

"My lord, they are testing your resolve! We must find the perpetrators and make an example-"

"My resolve?" the king scoffed, shaking his head.

Cai inhaled deeply, bracing himself to tell the king the rest of it. "There is a rumor circulating among southern peasants that you have lost interest in the war. They think you are consumed by -," Cai's eyes moved to Zyrdicia before finishing the sentence. "--Domestic affairs."

Dirk's jaw set. His eyes narrowed dangerously.

"I thought you would want to know the slanderous lies Greystone spreads to embolden the peasants, Sire," Cai offered hopefully.

Dirk's tone dropped to a lethal whisper, "The location of a den of scavenging southern dogs is of no concern to me."

The seneschal frowned helplessly. He could not believe his ears. It almost sounded as though Dirk Blackpool was going to let a challenge to his control of the conquered territory go unpunished. The rumors are true then, Cai thought grudgingly. "What are your orders, Sire?"

Dirk's lips curled as he watched his servant's discomfort. Cai did not have the nerve to contradict him, but he could see the apprehension behind the man's eyes. He turned his attention to the woman lying across his legs. Her breathing was becoming less shallow with each passing minute. The cut had been very deep. She had not so much as twitched while he had sliced into her. It was a lovely display of powerlessness and submission. In the dark world they inhabited, it was unadulterated affection.

Still, it was unfortunate that she was not feeling better. He could use her destructive talents at the moment.

He pulled the towel away from her back to see if the blood flow had stopped, ignoring Cai's befuddled stare. Miraculously, the wound had already closed. It looked as though it had almost healed on its own. A thin, straight, red line was the only sign of the dagger's path. "Amazing," he breathed, tracing the line with the pad of his thumb. "Can you move?"

"I think so." With his help, she sat up, moving gingerly. Wrapped in the blanket, she turned around carefully, then managed to settle between his leather-clad legs so that she could lean back against his bare torso.

"It still hurts?" he inquired curiously, encircling her loosely with one arm.

She nodded, then reached with her right hand for the brandy snifter he still held. She took a long swallow. Her purple eyes moved to the seneschal's expectant face. She rolled her eyes in annoyance as his thoughts fluttered against her. "Oh, Cai. You can't be that stupid," she exclaimed wearily.

The seneschal's eyes widened. "My queen?"

"Dirk doesn't care where Greystone's little soldiers are because he's going to lay waste to the entire region in response. Hunting for them is a waste of his time," she explained impatiently as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Cai was once again speechless. He looked embarrassed. His eyes moved from the king's very amused countenance back to Zyrdicia. He stammered, "Of course. I didn't think -"

"Yes, you did," she corrected.

"Your orders, King Blackpool?" Cai repeated, uncomfortable with the situation and more than a bit distressed. To him, nothing about the interaction made any sense. He was mortified to know that she had overheard his thoughts.

Amusement still glittered in the king's eyes. Zyrdicia had, of course, been quite correct about his intention. "Send word to General Desnon to dispatch a battalion from Castle Tronin to destroy fifteen villages - one for every Northern trooper the rebels killed. Leave no one alive, and leave no structure standing. By using the civilian population as cover, they've invited it on themselves. From now on, entire villages will pay for attacks upon my men."

"What do you want done with the women and children in those villages?" Cai clarified.

"Leave no one alive."

"Yes, my lord. By your leave."

"Go." He watched the seneschal turn his back to depart then added, "And Cai?"

"Yes, Sire?" Cai cringed.

"If you ever dare to doubt my resolve to conquer the South, I will use your bones to pave the road over which my troops will march into Camerand. Do you understand?"

"Yes, my lord."

19.13.1

Once they were alone, Cai and Portia stared at one another, dumbfounded.

"You always think you can read every nuance of their interaction. Care to explain what is going on?" Cai demanded.

"I-- I-- I have no idea. I should have never trusted him alone with her this long. She's in no state-"

"Portia, I think they would probably kill you right now if you tried to get between them and inject sanity into this."

"She won't even talk to me!"

"I'm sure he doesn't want her talking to you. He values his privacy," Cai smiled thinly. "You should have seen her face today when he was ignoring her. Miserable. Absolutely miserable."

"She's so helpless," Portia grimaced. "What is he doing to her?"

"Her?! You haven't been here to hear Anthony's jokes about him having taken a ship to Planet Zyrdicia. I didn't understand what he meant until now!" Cai exclaimed. "Since she's been back, she has not given him a moment's peace to deal with the kingdom's business."

Portia glared at Cai accusingly, not believing him.

"'Dirk, please read me a story!'" Cai mocked in his best imitation of Zyrdicia's exaggerated innocence. "Dirk, ignore the war council and entertain me."

"How do you know? They've been alone the whole time!"

"The librarian overhead them in the first case, and I heard the second one myself." Cai saw Portia's worried expression and shook his head. "You haven't seen them this week. She's hardly an innocent victim. She's incredibly demanding!"

"You saw them in there! She looked like she would let him cut her heart out if he thought it would be a good idea."

Cai pulled her near and conceded, "Blackpool is a man obsessed with power, Portia. I have no doubt that he is so far inside Zyrdicia's head that she doesn't even know what day it is. I also have no doubt she is exactly where she wants to be and would be furious if he relented. Stop worrying."

Portia nodded reluctantly.

"They are fine for now. Let's just make sure we don't get caught in the undertow when it finally implodes," Cai smiled.