The Shattered Path

Chapter 21 - The Prisoner

Aerham opened his eyes. His left shoulder throbbed with screaming pain. He blinked at the ceiling of a brown tent. He lay on a bedroll covered with a blanket. Someone had placed a dressing on his wound. He tried to sit up but dizziness drove him back down like a hammer. This was one of the Brotherhood's tents. At least, it seemed like one.

When he moved his right arm, it jerked his left arm sending an intense rush of pain through his shoulder. Confused, he slowly moved his right arm and heard the clinking of chains. His arms were bound by manacles. He moved his feet and found that his ankles were bound as well. He was a prisoner. There could have been other long boats further down the shore, meaning more soldiers about. Erinyr was an empire that often took slaves.

Aerham remembered. He had killed three men. His father and Deivean were gone. The soldiers had burned the estate to the ground and murdered the tenants. He could only assume that they had all died, though he didn't want to believe it. He was trapped in a nightmare and couldn't awaken. He fought to hold back tears.

The curtain hanging in the doorway of the tent snapped aside and a man entered. Aerham blinked several times, trying to focus his eyes properly. He recognized the scruffy gray beard and leather jerkin. It was Captain Meagus. The aging soldier knelt beside him on the ground.

"So you finally woke up," the elder man said quietly. "The guard came and got me right away as I had ordered."

Aerham grimaced in pain as his shoulder throbbed angrily. Through gritted teeth he asked, "How did they capture you? What about the others?"

Captain Meagus looked concerned. "Son, I am not a prisoner."

Aerham's mind spun at that. Captain Meagus was a traitor? Impossible. He had gotten to know the man too well over the past months. He was as loyal to the Brotherhood and Saroken as anyone could be. He would never sell out to Erinyr.

"Uth Garenthil sent out the other Initiates and his bannermen to bring you back," the captain explained. "They returned sometime after dark with you over a saddle. I had our surgeon stitch and bandage you and you slept for an entire day. They found you bleeding on the beach, they said. Lucky for them, I say."

Aerham was a prisoner of the Brotherhood of Light, not Erinyr. He couldn't believe it. Uth Garenthil, the coward, had arrested him for desertion and who knew what else. This really was a nightmare. He had lost everyone and everything dear to him and now he was a prisoner of the one order which he had spent his entire life training to join. He would have screamed in rage if only he had the strength.

Captain Meagus pulled something from his belt and held it close to Aerham's face. It was an iron key.

"I'm going to unlock your chains so you can escape. I have some coin for you, too. You should have no trouble finding help at a farm. Perhaps you can find passage in Ornek. It's a port city. You can go anywhere from there."

"No," Aerham grunted. He wouldn't flee persecution at the hands of the cowardly Uth Garenthil. Let the man explain his cowardice to all of the Brotherhood. If Aerham fled, the coward could spread any tale that he chose. His wound had him feeling too weak to travel on his own anyway.

"I am an old man. It matters little what they do to me. You are too young to be mistreated in such a way, for such a selfless act. You will escape. Consequences be what they be." The captain showed surprising selflessness. He might have made a good Brother of the Sun, if not for his drinking.

"No. The coward will answer for his crimes," Aerham gasped the words. He needed something for the pain. His shoulder and arm burned like he had been stabbed with a hot brand.